Oscars 2008 - Who Should Win Tonight?

And A Brief Oscar Commentary

Let me be the first to acknowledge that I couldn't write about this year's frequently nominated films or the awards ceremonies themselves as much as I would be happy to have written. If you look back at my post where I declare that I would be doing some more article series every year during awards season, you will see that the sheer enthusiasm reflected from those paragraphs is not even closely matched by the amount of work I was able to produce. Nevertheless, January 2009 has been the most productive month of my one year-old blog and I was able to cover most of the films with major nominations so it's still not that bad.

I would also like to announce that I have merely postponed, not canceled, the articles I had promised. There are still some major nominees expecting a review (Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire and Doubt) and I know I have skipped 'Who Should've Won In This Year's Golden Globes' article. While I have a good enough excuse for the latter (some of the films were too hard to find and I didn't want to guess when declaring who were the deserving winners) I have absolutely nothing for the movies I missed reviewing, other than the utter lack of time for such things lately in my life (Life never disappoints as a strong excuse for not writing, reading or watching enough). Still, I am planning to take the lack of good films coming out at this time of the year to catch up until I feel ready to declare my top 10 favorite films of the year.

So, what do we have here today? The promised Oscar commentary, however predictable and brief it may be, as well as who really should win tonight at the Oscars. Very interesting indeed, so please read on.


Whoever Wins, We Lose

I was beginning to regain my confidence and appreciation of the Academy as well as the Oscar winners when The Departed and No Country for Old Men were announced to be the grand winners of 2006 and 2007; they certainly helped relieve the pain caused by a bunch of disastrous choices in the recent past, which climaxed when Crash (often dubbed 'Trash' by people who were as much upset as I was) became the 'Best Picture' of 2005 after one of the most memorable and unexpected turn of events in the biggest Oscar category. I wasn't rooting for Brokeback Mountain or anything, nor I accused the Academy of homophobia (which was a cheap way of attacking back, really; Brokeback was good but not that great). Their only real crime was simply lack of taste in movies (which is actually worse). I talked about some other infamous upsets in my previous article about why 'Best Original Screenplay' category is more important than you think, which include but are not limited to Million Dollar Baby, A Beautiful Mind, Shakespeare in Love, Titanic and The English Patient.

The last two winners of the grand prize were indeed a welcome change after all this; but this year, Academy went back to its golden years of ignorance, narrowmindedness and, yes, tastelessness. Especially in a year which was comperatively weaker in terms of overall movie quality, the absence of certain great films in the 'Best Picture' category is utterly incomprehensible at best (you all know which movies I'm talking about). Although I thought it should at least have been nominated for some technical stuff like 'Art Direction' or 'Costume Design', the fact that The Fall, my favorite film of the year, was overlooked does not surprise me at all; for it was ignored by everyone as if there was a secret, evil pact among people to not give this film the attention and praise it deserved. The novelty and excellence of In Bruges was above Academy's capacity to comprehend and that we're very much used to as well. What really surprised me was the second big scandal in a row for 'Foreign Language Film' category - after last year's omission of 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days and Persepolis, this year the category showed no sign of love towards Let The Right One In, which was one of this year's best for reasons stated here. Did they not even see it because it was a 'vampire movie'? I guess we'll never know.

Also, where the hell is Ralph Fiennes? After such a memorable year with two career-defining performances and one more that was good enough (you guess which is which), the only people who were wise enough to even nominate him for something was Hollywood Foreign Press Association. His work in The Duchess was so refined and high-end that it should be taught in acting schools across the country. Also missing from the acting categories are Sally Hawkins of Happy-Go-Lucky and Kristin Scott Thomas of Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (I've Loved You So Long) both of which were equally impressive performances from the opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. A nominee list involving these names would satisfy, even before crowning a winner.

But good stuff happens too; weren't you relieved when Academy finally put a stop to the nonsense of double-nominations Kate Winslet had been getting with two leading roles? I can't say I'm against the idea for an actor to be nominated for the same category more than once, but The Weinstein Company was essentially mocking everyone by unreservedly trying to disguise her role in The Reader as a supporting one; hoping to both increase her chances (supporting category apparently faces less competition, a claim that I disagree with) and to get her name typed up twice in Oscar nomination lists. The fact that they were unmasked at the end of the road gives me endless joy.

Talking about good things, seeing the name Richard Jenkins among 'Best Actor' nominees is also pleasing, although it's quite obvious that it's as good as it gets for him. Heath Ledger's soon-to-be-crowned nomination might seem to have been inevitable now but ignorance knows no limits and dismissal of his remarkable work was also in the realm of possibilities a couple of months ago. Last but not the least, despite once again trying to clinch some Oscars with two bare claws films (as is his habit), Clint Eastwood finally was shown no unconditional love for his unremarkable work; nor terribly pathetic Bill Maher's even more terribly pathetic documentary Religulous (think about this, I fall in the category of people who would tend to agree with its statements yet the film couldn't even win me over). In short, there are still reasons to be hopeful about tomorrow (or maybe Academy members are predominantly religious racists, who knows?)

Without further ado, let's move on to the names that most deserve to come out of the envelopes tomorrow. Please keep in mind that I have merely selected one from the nominees and that the year's real deserving winners (regardless of who got nominated) will be announced in a seperate article.


Best Motion Picture of the Year

Nominees:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Frost/Nixon
• Milk
• The Reader
• Slumdog Millionaire

Definitely Slumdog Millionaire. While I wasn't head over heels for Boyle's film like the majority of the moviegoing audience out there, the other nominees are so unremarkable that it definitely shines among them. Milk and Frost/Nixon were nothing more than ordinary entertainment pieces, The Reader was good but hugely flawed and don't even get me started on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which is the weakest link among these five, no doubt.


Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Nominees:

• The Visitor (Richard Jenkins)
• Frost/Nixon (Frank Langhella)
• Milk (Sean Penn)
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt)
• The Wrestler (Mickey Rourke)

I still have to go through my list of films I've seen this year but Richard Jenkins in The Visitor might very well be my favorite for the best male performance of 2008, even without these nominations. Rourke also was impressive, Penn was fun and good enough and nothing more, Langhella couldn't even get the impersonation part right let alone the whole, multi-layered personality or the power dynamics between the two characters during the interviews. I am a huge fan of Brad Pitt but as Benjamin Button, he was mostly indistinct and was irritatingly overdoing his New Orleans accent.


Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Nominees:

• Rachel Getting Married (Anne Hathaway)
• Changeling (Angelina Jolie)
• Frozen River (Melissa Leo)
• Doubt (Meryl Streep)
• The Reader (Kate Winslet)

Since the year's real two best female performances were left out, I am forced to choose Kate Winslet, closely followed by Anne Hathaway and Angelina Jolie. Leo was nothing special and Meryl Streep was overacting like mad.


Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Nominees:

• Milk (Josh Brolin)
• Tropic Thunder (Robert Downey Jr.)
• Doubt (Philip Seymour Hoffman)
• The Dark Knight (Heath Ledger)
• Revolutionary Road (Michael Shannon)

Heath Ledger shines, especially among these nominees - the presence of Ralph Fiennes for either of his great performances would've made a worthy competition but it's not hard to choose among these five. Hoffman's work was Hoffman quality but comperatively more ordinary and Josh Brolin was ok. Robert Downey Jr. was not acting but was merely being a clown (in a bad way, not like one of those classy French ones who went to the school for this and everything) while Michael Shannon was laughable and desperate - he misfired all of his lines.


Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Nominees:

• Doubt (Amy Adams)
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Penelope Cruz)
• Doubt (Viola Davis)
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Taraji P. Henson)
• The Wrestler (Marisa Tomei)

When declaring my favorite in this one, I am in doubt (ha. ha.), for all these performances are actually very good. Amy Adams and Viola Davis were more impressive that the film's leading actors, Taraji Henson was the only performance that is worth something in Benjamin Button and Marisa Tomei carried The Wrestler on her shoulders (no pun intended). But it was Penelope Cruz who stole my heart more than others, with her impulsive, whimsical and dangerous lover in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona.


Best Achievement in Directing

Nominees:

• Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle)
• The Reader (Stephen Daldry)
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher)
• Frost/Nixon (Ron Howard)
• Milk (Gus Van Sant)

Actually, I should embrace David Fincher in this category over the others for two reasons: 1) I loved all his previous works and his name rings a bell of admiration for me. 2) His directing was outstanding in Benjamin Button. Seriously, given that screenplay, could anybody else have come up with a better film? But I am holding myself back, because the film itself is mostly a failure and also Fincher is partly responsible for the terrible performances of the terrific actors involved in this project (Cate Blanchett is the best of Hollywood as far as actresses are concerned, in my humble opinion). I have always believed that half the acting in a film is the director's job so I guess Fincher's work was flawed too. Daldry, Howard and Van Sant were all ok but nothing too exciting while Danny Boyle's film turned out to be able to tolerate a terrible screenplay more than Fincher's; so however boring it may be, I am going with Slumdog Millionaire in this category.


Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly For Screen

Nominees:

• Frozen River (Courtney Hunt)
• Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh)
  
• In Bruges (Martin McDonagh)
• Milk (Dustin Lance Black)
• Wall-E (Stanton, Docter, Reardon)

Don't you think this is more like what the 'Best Picture' category should've looked like? I have written ehaustively about this category and this year's nominees in my contribution to the LAMB Devours the Oscars series this year so follow the link for further reading. It goes without saying that In Bruges is still infinitely superior to the other four.


Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

Nominees:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Eric Roth, Robin Swicord)
• Doubt (John Patrick Shanley)
• Frost/Nixon (Peter Morgan)
• The Reader (David Hare)
• Slumdog Millionaire (Simon Beaufoy)
  

All the respect you've developed for Academy-member writers in the previous category, you can lose here. Two films which suffer only because their screenplays are terrible, and three other ordinary works. This is not the line-up for the weekend assignment of a creative writing workshop - this is the industry's most prestigious awards we're talking about here. Under these circumstances, I can't help but be boring again: Slumdog Millionaire.


Best Achievement in Cinematography

Nominees:

• Changeling (Tom Stern)
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Claudio Miranda)
• The Dark Knight (Wally Pfister)
• The Reader (Roger Deakins, Chris Menges)
• Slumdog Millionaire (Anthony Dod Mantle)

I was torn between Slumdog and The Dark Knight in this one, primarily because The Dark Knight was visually breathtaking at times but there was also a completely amateur side to Pfister's work. Nolan's film is not a very good example for visual storytelling, not all the time that is. But eventually I decided the good parts outweigh the bad ones and the nominees weren't that impressive anyway. Therefore I acknowledge Slumdog Millionaire as a close second and Changeling as the third. The Reader is only there because Deakins made it and while Benjamin Button was pretty, brown-stained, melancholic and everything, there was little substance to make all that style significant to anything else in the film so it all comes off merely decorative.


Best Achievement in Editing

Nominees:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter)
• The Dark Knight (Lee Smith)
  
• Frost/Nixon (Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill)
• Milk (Elliott Graham)
• Slumdog Millionaire (Chris Dickens)

When we came out of the film after seeing it for the first time, my friend declared that "The Dark Knight" had no editing. He didn't make it sound like a flaw at the time, but it's a huge flaw indeed. It's ironic to see it nominated here and not in any other, I repeat, any other category where it didn't secure a nomination because Lee Smith's work should be taught in editing classes all over the country as the kind of work you shouldn't be responsible of. For me, the competition here is between Frost/Nixon (where quality editing was the biggest contributor to the film's feeling of suspense) and Slumdog Millionaire (where the most typical of love stories was told in a clever way by conscious editors). But Frost/Nixon was flawed, even purely from the perspective of editing, and Slumdog Millionaire seems to be all about editing - how the flashback sequences are timed and how the whole story is incorporated into a single episode of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' etc. So the award should go to Chris Dickens.


Best Achievement in Art Direction

Nominees:

• Changeling (Murakami, Fettis)
  
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Burt, Zolfo)
• The Dark Knight (Crowley, Lando)
• The Duchess (Carlin, Alleway)
• Revolutionary Road (Zea, Schutt)

The most typical winner in these categories is a swanky period piece, but I guess once you start handing out awards for art direction, it tends to be in the nature of the award. I've had a careful look at all the other nominees before declaring The Duchess as my preference here but none of the other nominees seem to have any comparable significance.


Best Achievement in Costume Design

Nominees:

• Australia (Catherine Martin)
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Jacqueline West)
• The Duchess (Michael O'Connor)
• Milk (Danny Glicker)
• Revolutionary Road (Albert Wolsky)

Some of the awards authorities (I think it was the costume designers guild) decided at some point that it's best to hand out costume design awards seperately for period pieces and contemporary films just because the former tend to outweigh the latter in most of the cases, due to the very nature. This year is no exception, while all the nominees reflect considered choices by the costume designers of the Academy, The Duchess definitely has an edge and should win (this comes from a guy who constantly complains about films with corsets and Keira Knightley).


Best Achievement in Makeup

Nominees:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Greg Cannom)
• The Dark Knight (John Caglione Jr., Conor O'Sullivan)
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Mike Elizalde, Thomas Floutz)

If I was told Harvey Dent's burnt face in this one was make up, I would root for The Dark Knight. But Joker's scruffy face-paint is not enough for me to give up the excellent work done in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to play with human age as if it was a toy. All the golden armies in hell would not change that fact. (See? Even if I don't care for it, I am able to properly assess the good parts of a given film)


Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

Nominees:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Alexandre Desplat)
• Defiance (James Newton Howard)
• Milk (Danny Elfman)
• Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman)
• Wall-E (Thomas Newman)

I honestly don't know; all five seem equally insignificant. I guess when forced, I would name Defiance, but I have no serious reason to back that decision up.


Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Nominees:

• Slumdog Millionaire (Rahman, Gulzar - "Jai Ho")
• Slumdog Millionaire (Rahman, Arulpragasam - "O Saya")
• Wall-E (Gabriel, Newman - "Down to Earth")

This is where it becomes all personal - I have never been a fan of Indian pop music in my life, so there is no way on earth I can choose one of them and say that it deserves an Oscar. That is the only reason that pushes me towards "Down to Earth" of Wall-E, which is a safe choice anyway because user-friendly music is a common Pixar trait.


Best Achievement in Sound

Nominees:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Parker, Semanick, Klyce, Weingarten)
• The Dark Knight (Novick, Hirschberg, Rizzo)
• Slumdog Millionaire (Tapp, Pryke, Pookutty)
• Wall-E (Myers, Semanick, Burtt)
• Wanted (Jenkins, Montano, Forejt)

Certainly Wall-E. A film that is appealing both for adults and for children, the first hour lacks speech and it delivers - is it possible for this film to not have a great sound work? Among all the nominees and maybe even in the history of nominees in this category, Wall-E is the film where sound forms the most significant part of the its expressive power; therefore there is no real competition here. Wanted deserves a mention, The Dark Knight was obligatorily good but not that special and the rest is just... ok.


Best Achievement in Sound Editing

Nominees:

• The Dark Knight (Richard King)
• Iron Man (Frank Eulner, Christopher Boyes)
• Slumdog Millionaire (Tom Sayers)
• Wall-E (Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood)
• Wanted (Wylie Statemen)

If you cannot distinguish this award from the previous one, think of it like this: the previous one is the best picture award and this is the best editing award. For similar reasons I've given for the previous one, Wall-E is the deserving winner here as well, Wanted still a formidable opponent. Iron Man was also remarkable, so was The Dark Knight and... Slumdog? I don't know, I think after one point, no one could stop nominating the film for more categories.


Best Achievement in Visual Effects

Nominees:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Barba, Preeg, Dalton, Barron)
• The Dark Knight (Davis, Corbould, Webber, Franklin)
• Iron Man (Nelson, Snow, Sudick, Mahan)

I hated the film but this is where I should give them some credit: Iron Man deserves to win over The Dark Knight and Benjamin Button. It was more, both in quality and quantity. But whatever happened to Indiana Jones?


Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

Nominees:

• Bolt (Chris Williams, Byron Howard)
• Kung Fu Panda (John Stevenson, Mark Osborne)
• Wall-E (Andrew Stanton)

The omission of Vals im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir) is bad judgement but its nomination wouldn't change the fact that Wall-E deserves this award most; although other nominees are more remarkable than usual this year.


Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Nominees:

• Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (The Baader Meinhof Complex - Germany)
• Entre Les Murs (The Class - France)
• Revanche (Revanche - Austria)
• Okuribito (Departures - Japan)
• Vals im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir - Israel)

I honestly don't know. I couldn't catch Revanche and Okuribito and while the former doesn't look better than Israel's submission, Japanese film looks gorgeous and might turn out to be a serious opponent. Among the ones I've seen, I'll go ahead and say Waltz with Bashir, which was truly remarkable, followed second by Golden Palm winner Entre les Murs.


Best Documentary, Features

Nominees:

• The Betrayal - Nerakhoon (Kuras, Phrasavath)
• Encounters at the End of the World (Herzog, Kaiser)
• The Garden (Kennedy)
• Man on Wire (Marsh, Chinn)
• Trouble the Water (Lessin, Deal)

Man on Wire was the best documentary I have ever seen, so this one is an easy pick for me. While Herzog's Encounters was most interesting, it goes nowhere near the sheer perfection and the poetic beauty of Philippe Petit's performance art. The rest cannot even compete with these two.


Best Documentary, Short Subjects

Nominees:

• The Conscience of Nhem En (Okazaki)
• The Final Inch (Brodsky, Grant)
• Pinki (Mylan)
• The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306 (Pertofski, Hyde)

This one is like not knowing a single word of English and taking the GRE exam. No fucking clue.


Best Short Film, Animated

Nominees:

• La Maison En Petits Cubes (Kato)
• Ubornoya Istoriya, Iyubovnaya Istoriya (Bronzit)
• Oktapodi (Mokhberi, Marchand)
• Presto (Sweetland)
• This Way Up (Smith, Foulkes)

Presto is an easy favorite for many, but the real deal in this year's nominees (which are much better than they normally are) is La Maison En Petit Cubes, the moving story of an old man who keeps building his house upwards on small cubes as a solution to the ever-increasing water level. Then one day he drops his pipe and with that incident begins the semi-allegorical journey underwater, among age-old memories which are remembered wistfully, not regretfully. It's about inevitable loneliness brought along by old age - in order not to be drowned by memories that are enough to fill a lifetime, you should keep building until you can't. This is the short counterpart of Les Triplettes de Belleville (Triplets of Belleville) in its wordless beauty and poetic charm. While Presto is also an amazing short, this one is slightly superior and definitely is my pick. The rest, while also good (especially the quirky graveyard comedy This Way Up) they represent a secondary level in short animations.


Best Short Film, Live Action

Nominees:

• Auf Der Strecke (Caffi)
• Manon Sur Le Bitume (Marre, Pont)
• New Boy (Green, Anghie)
• Grisen (Magnusson, Hogh)
• Spielzeugland (Freydank)

Again, no clue - they should better distribute these things. I will say one thing though: the sheer multiculturalism in these short film categories is mesmerizing.


Before leaving you, let's have a brief look at the final scoreboard:

• Slumdog Millionaire: 4 (major ones too)
  
• Wall-E : 4
• The Duchess: 2
• The Dark Knight: 2
• The Reader: 1
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona: 1
• In Bruges: 1
• Curious Case of Benjamin Button: 1
• Defiance: 1
• Man on Wire: 1
• Iron Man: 1
• Waltz With Bashir: 1
• La Maison En Petit Cubes: 1 (as if a second was even remotely possible)

So it's pretty much shared. Let's see how many of them the Academy gets right tonight.