Slavery, politics, and Amour

Quite predictably, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln became the leader in the number of Oscar award nominations (12), and Life of Pi by Ang Lee occupied the second place (11 nominations).

Besides the two mentioned above films, such films as Amour by Michael Haneke, Argo by Ben Affleck, Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin, Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino, Les Miserables by Tom Hooper, Silver Linings Playbook by David O. Russel, and Zero Dark Thirty by Kathryn Bigelow were nominated for the Best Picture of the Year Award.

This listing contains really remarkable figures. First of all, whether intentionally or not (the shortlist of nominees is created by the Academy members), a few theme and genre pairs were created. Django Unchained and Lincoln are historical films about the fight against slavery. Argo and Zero Dark Thirty are political thrillers based on real events that took place in the Middle East. Beasts of the Southern Wild and Life of Pi focus on relationship between human and nature, and also, the main characters of both films are children.

Les Miserables (based on the novel by Victor Hugo) fill the invariable musical spot, Silver Linings Playbook represents melodramatic genre.

Out of all listed films, Amour baffles the most. This masterpiece by the Austrian director Michael Haneke was shot in France and awarded with Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. According to the unwritten rule, non-English nominees participate in the best foreign language films category. Amour is presented there as well, but participation in the main competition with commercial Hollywood films changes the situation completely. A reviewer from the British Guardian hurried to proclaim that this event “is an evidence of the golden age of subtitled films.” Let us remind that such attempts were made before, but the result was always the same: a film which was not made by American producers in any other language than English had absolutely no chances beyond the foreign nomination. The exceptions Talk to Her by Pedro Almodovar (reward for the director’s work, film financed by the United States with the participation of American producers), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Ang Lee (American-Chinese co-production, four Oscars), or The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius (a masterly French stylization of a Hollywood silent picture, five Oscars) only prove the rule. The motives that made producers of Amour nominate the film in contradicting categories are unknown, but this decision seems wrong: by doing so, they scatter the voices of potential supporters.

The list of directors repeats the main category: Haneke (Amour), Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Ang Lee (Life of Pi), Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), David O. Russel (Silver Linings Playbook). There is also a surprise in this category: the Academy members blackballed Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty). This is even more strange, since the picture, which is about capture and execution of Osama bin Laden, gathered mostly positive reviews in press.

As for foreign language films, the contenders list includes, besides Amour, the Canadian director Kim Nguyen’s War Witch, Pablo Larrain’s No (Chile), Nikolaj Arcel’s A Royal Affair (Denmark), and Joachim Ronning’s Kon-Tiki (Norway). The choice is quite diverse. War Witch is a sad story of a 12-year-old African girl, abducted and forced to fight in a war for one of the numerous insurgent troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Rachel Mwanza was awarded the Silver Bear as best actress at the Berlin Film Festival). No is a dynamic and witty story of an advertising company which preordained the results of the 1989 referendum, which proved disastrous for the Chilean dictator Pinochet. A Royal Affair is a cumbersome historical drama depicting the 18-century Danish kingdom (it has been shown in Ukrainian movie theaters). Finally, Kon-Tiki is an adventure film about the legendary explorer Thor Heyerdahl’s epic 4,300 miles crossing of the Pacific on a balsa wood raft in 1947. None of these films can claim to pose a serious challenge to Amour; but given all said above, Haneke’s victory seems questionable.

The award to the best actress in a leading role will be contended between Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), Naomi Watts (The Impossible), and Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild). The nine-year-old Wallis has become the youngest nominee, while Riva, at 85, is the oldest.

The nomination for the best actor in a leading role has traditionally assembled strong claimants: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), Denzel Washington (Flight), and Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook).

In the nomination for the best supporting actor Oscar can be awarded to one of the following: Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook), Alan Arkin (Argo), Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master), and brilliant as usual Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained). The nominees for the best actress in a supporting role include Sally Field (Lincoln), Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables), Helen Hunt (The Sessions), Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook), and Amy Adams (The Master).

Four films were handpicked to compete for the best original screenplay: Django Unchained, Flight, Moonrise Kingdom, and Zero Dark Thirty. Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, Lincoln, and Silver Linings Playbook will contend for the best adapted screenplay.

The shortlisted animated feature films are Brave (directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman), Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, ParaNorman (directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler), The Pirates! Band of Misfits (by Peter Lord), and Rich Moore’s Wreck-It Ralph.

Making forecasts is in any event a thankless task, but I cannot resist the temptation. I will presume to predict that Spielberg, whose impact on the American movie industry has been colossal, may win. On top of it, Lincoln exploits the story of America’s legendary president and ever popular theme of the Civil War. Day-Lewis has already got an Oscar for his role in There Will Be Blood (2007); however, his appearance as Abraham Lincoln is nothing short of masterly. Ang Lee could challenge Spielberg (he has already won one Oscar for Brokeback Mountain in 2006), but Life of Pi looks too mushy and glossy even by the Hollywood standards.

Ben Affleck, a so-so actor, quite unexpectedly turned an exceptionally good director. Argo (a dramatization of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran) offers no innovative directing, but it is absolutely riveting. The director ably creates cliff-hangers and increases tension, using perfectly standard methods like picking up the phone at the very last moment. So it is quite likely that Argo can challenge Spielberg’s saga.

Django Unchained will hardly win the best film nomination. The movie is too rough and uneven. However, an Oscar for an original screenplay is quite within reach, given that Tarantino has already got one for his iconic Pulp Fiction.

Jessica Chastain’s mesmerizing performance in The Tree of Life (2011) was not honored with an award. In Zero Dark Thirty she played a more topical part of a CIA officer coordinating the mission to eliminate Osama bin Laden. However, justice would be served better if the award was given to Emmanuelle Riva: what she has done in Amour, at her respectable age, should go down in textbooks and be taught at schools of acting.

All the assumptions above had been made before the publication of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s decisions. The Golden Globe became an unpleasant surprise for Spielberg, as only Day-Lewis was (predictably) awarded. Meanwhile, Argo’s catchy dramaturgy has brought Affleck two Globes at once, for the best drama film and directing. The tearful tunes of Les Miserables touched the usually skeptical journalists to the quick, harvesting three Globes for the best musical, best actor (Hugh Jackman) and best actress in a supporting role (Anne Hathaway). Tarantino got an award for the best screenplay (which was to be proved), whereas Christoph Waltz charmed the jury by playing a German gentleman and marksman (best actor in a supporting role). Jessica Chastain won as the best drama actress, and Jennifer Lawrence was honored as best musical or comedy actress (Silver Linings Playbook).

Finally, the Globe for the best film in a foreign language went to Amour, which inspires certain hopes.

Every observer has their own predictions. Whether they will come true will become known on February 24, when the owners of the planet’s most prestigious movie award will be named at the Dolby Theater, located in Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles.