The Oscars are still more than a month away, which means there's plenty of time for awards activists to sabotage their rivals' best-laid plans. and go through the ordeal of trying to find the perfect Valentine's gift for your partner or maybe, instead, just throw yourself out of a second-story window, “Anatomy of a Fall” style, to avoid having A ) buy scented candles and B) endure one more awards season Q&A session.
Most of the 23 Oscar categories are practically over. For some, thank you speeches should be in the adjustment stages. For others, displays of gentle defeat should be perfected. (I'm sure Paloma Diamond would have some helpful advice.)
But there are still a handful of categories up for grabs, which is good news for awards consultants trying to justify their employees and for columnists struggling to find something: anything – to write between now and the March 10 ceremony. (Why are the Oscars in March again? Asking about a friend).
Emma Stone is in a tight race for the lead actress Oscar, primarily with “Killers of the Flower Moon’s” Lily Gladstone.
(Atsushi Nishijima/Searchlight Images)
PRINCIPAL ACTRESS
Main contenders: Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) and Lily Gladstone (“The Flower Moon Killers”)
Stone's funny, fierce and risk-taking performance as Bella Baxter in “Poor Things,” where she goes from a gawky grown-up girl to a feminist philosopher, is the kind of performance that seems undeniable when you see it. Something like Cate Blachett last year in “Tár”. And we know how that ended. But “Tár” was a cold film, while “Poor Things” might be the first film Yorgos Lanthimos has made in which you don't get the feeling that he hates almost everyone in it. Quite the opposite: her love for Bella (and, by extension, for the woman who plays her) is evident in almost every frame. Also: the stone is in almost every frame.
That's not the case with Gladstone, who appears in less than a third of “Flower Moon's” three-and-a-half hours. A member of the academy told me that he voted for her to support her, not to lead her. “I wish I had campaigned there,” he says. “All due respect to Da'Vine Joy Randolph, but she would have won if she was gone.” Gladstone's work is as persuasive as Stone's, only she conveys it through silences and pure presence. That's distinctive. She would make history as the first Native American to win the Oscar for leading actress, but voters don't seem completely sold on the film. (The screenplay and its co-star Leonardo DiCaprio were not nominated.) In fact, it's starting to look like they could be a blank on Oscar night, just like Martin Scorsese's latest film, “The Irishman.”
It happens to the best of them, including, yes, “Tár.” History will be kinder.
Forward right now: Stone
Our columnist gives “The Holdovers'” Paul Giamatti the Oscar lead over Cillian Murphy's work in “Oppenheimer.”
(Seacia Pavao/Seacia Pavao)
MAIN ACTOR
Main contenders: Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”) and Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”)
The Oscars are awarded for the work, sure, but most awards are won for the narratives created about the work. Matthew McConaughey won for McConaissance. (Do you even remember the name of the movie?) Al Pacino (“Hoooo-aaah”) and Paul Newman prevailed because they had been ignored for classic films that should have won them the Oscar. They were not only due. They were late. Last year, Brendan Fraser won because… well, I still don't understand it, but he wasn't the right age when “George of the Jungle” came out.
This year, Giamatti could win because after the Golden Globes, on a whim, I stopped for a burger at the In-N-Out in Westwood.. This act of satisfying a blind hunger caused by having to choose between yet another insubstantial awards season dinner symbolized Giamatti's conscious and modest journey in recent months, winning awards, without ever giving the same speech, striking an impressive balance between humility , sincerity. appreciation and humor. He's old enough to know that opportunities like this don't come around often.
Murphy, meanwhile, is a charming human being, and you can stare into his piercing blue eyes and listen to his Irish accent all day long, although he'd rather remain quiet and a little mysterious and let Robert Downey Jr. do it. the whole conversation. Murphy plays the title character in the film that will win the Academy Award for Best Picture, feverishly inhabiting the skin of a man at war with himself. Great movie, quiet intensity, three hour duration. Points that cannot be ignored, unless it is the Oscars.
Forward right now: Giamatti
Will Anatomy of a Fall, starring Sandra Huller, take the original screenplay award even against The Holdovers and Past Lives?
(The pact)
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Main contenders: “Anatomy of a Fall”, “The Remains”, “Past Lives”
Admittedly, I'm probably expanding this to include “Past Lives,” Celine Song's beautiful, nuanced debut, a marvel for the (yes) original way it depicted her complicated, heartbreaking romantic triangle. It's the kind of nominees, but apart from best picture, this is the only other recognition. It's a long shot.
“The Holdovers,” as we all know, has its fans among the “they don't make them like they used to” crowd, enough to earn it five nominations. Its warm melancholy and festive atmosphere make it the cinematic piece that accompanies Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack to “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” imbued with loneliness and yet somehow full of hope. It's downright cozy, a word you'd never associate with the twisted, cerebral and sometimes sinister “Anatomy of a Fall,” another film that earned five nominations. It's ambiguous. It's French. And it's co-written by Justine Triet, also nominated for director.
Forward right now: “Anatomy of a fall”
“Oppenheimer” is likely to take the Oscar for adapted screenplay.
(Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures)
ADAPTED SCRIPT
Main contenders: “American Fiction”, “Barbie”, “Oppenheimer”
“American fiction” has its defenders, although it seems a bit overstuffed. This is probably more of a “Barbenheimer” type fight with an added layer of intrigue, thanks to the omission of Greta Gerwig from the director category. “Do you want to give the Oscar to Greta?” asks a consultant. “That's the narrative here.” Several voters expressed dismay that the academy removed it from the original script, where it had been submitted. “I'm going to vote for it,” one academy member told me, “but I have friends who won't because it's a plastic doll.” Another snorts: “He made a lot of money. I win. She can stop reminding us how smart she is.”
Forward right now: “Oppenheimer”
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” could be battling “The Boy and the Heron” for the animated film trophy.
(Sony Pictures Animation/Sony Pictures Animation)
ANIMATED FEATURE
Main contenders: “The Boy and the Heron”, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
It is notable that Academy members do not see all the films nominated in this category. (The same goes for documentaries and short films). If you have kids, you watched (or at least noticed it playing in the background) “Spider-Verse,” probably more than once. It's the first part of an “epic,” and a couple of voters told me they'd be fine waiting to award the next film, but not this one. “Especially when there's a Miyazaki movie on the list,” said one. “How many more movies is he going to make?” Well, Hayao Miyazaki has announced his retirement before, but “The Boy and the Heron” seems like a farewell of sorts. Common sense says to go with the most viewed movie, but sentiment may well prevail.
Forward right now: “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
