The Oscar Shortlist - 2020

[rolotomasi99]

Mister Tee wrote
2) There's been a recent, slightly odd tendency in this category to shy away from the obvious big-ticket choices. This is especially true when it comes to wins -- Gladiator over The Perfect Storm? Hugo over the Apes movie? Not to denigrate 1917 or First Man's achievements, but their Oscars wouldn't be possible had not a certain number of voters seemed to have ruled out Marvel and DC movies from the get-go. Super-duper hit Black Panther couldn't even get a nomination.

True. But Dunkirk didn't get nominated either.

This might actually work against Tenet. The more I think about it, the less sure I am that Tenet has what it takes for even a nomination.

They also refused to nominate THE SHAPE OF WATER the same year as DUNKIRK as well as snubbing ARRIVAL the year before.

Still, I agree with Mister Tee's overall point.

I would love to see the category become more about the best use of special effects rather than the biggest f/x budget. For example, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON should have won the Oscar since the special effects better served the story and were more masterfully integrated into each scene compared to the expensive but laughably bad looking CGI used in GLADIATOR.

In that sense, maybe MANK and WELCOME TO CHECHNYA deserve nominations more than BLOODSHOT or LOVE & MONSTERS.

[Sabin]

Mister Tee wrote
2) There's been a recent, slightly odd tendency in this category to shy away from the obvious big-ticket choices. This is especially true when it comes to wins -- Gladiator over The Perfect Storm? Hugo over the Apes movie? Not to denigrate 1917 or First Man's achievements, but their Oscars wouldn't be possible had not a certain number of voters seemed to have ruled out Marvel and DC movies from the get-go. Super-duper hit Black Panther couldn't even get a nomination.

True. But Dunkirk didn't get nominated either.

This might actually work against Tenet. The more I think about it, the less sure I am that Tenet has what it takes for even a nomination.

[taki15]

Super-duper hit Black Panther couldn't even get a nomination.

Black Panther has some of the worst visual effects of the last decade.

[Sabin]

A quick word about "Wuhan Flu" from Borat and “Husavik” from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga...

Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to discount these songs. Let's be honest, we're not looking at a lineup for the ages. These two very goofy songs are prominently featured in their films AND they're very different from the competition. I was very ready to dismiss them but then I remembered that two years ago, "When a Cowboy Trades his Spurs for Wings" got a very unexpected nomination. And maybe this favors Netflix and Eurovision over Borat and "Wuhan Flu." I haven't seen Eurovision or heard that song but apparently it is basically the third act culmination of the entirety of the two main characters' relationships in one big musical number.

[Mister Tee]

VISUAL EFFECTS
Mank
The Midnight Sky
Soul
Tenet
Welcome to Chechnya
(NOTE: this is the weakest lineup in ages)

This is true, for two reasons:

1) Tenet aside, effects-laden blockbusters are the films studios have chosen to hold back for (eventual) theatrical release rather than toss them to streaming -- Dune and the Bond film, for obvious two.

2) There's been a recent, slightly odd tendency in this category to shy away from the obvious big-ticket choices. This is especially true when it comes to wins -- Gladiator over The Perfect Storm? Hugo over the Apes movie? Not to denigrate 1917 or First Man's achievements, but their Oscars wouldn't be possible had not a certain number of voters seemed to have ruled out Marvel and DC movies from the get-go. Super-duper hit Black Panther couldn't even get a nomination.

I call this odd because, in my formative years, the visual effects category was where lightweight crowd-pleaser movies were acknowledged by the Oscars. There might be an occasional best picture winner or contender taking the prize (Ben-Hur, Mary Poppins), but, for the most part, this was a place for studio box-office hits to make their mark: all the George Pal movies in the 50s/60s, Thunderball, The Poseidon Adventure, all the Spielberg/Lucas/Cameron/Zemeckis movies in the years before they (Lucas excepted) became Serious Filmmakers and won directing awards. Now, it's the opposite: to have a shot at the award, you kind of have to be seen as a serious film. Nolan is the one popular director to consistently score here, and that's because his metaphysical gyrations are seen as more intellectually serious than the general run of popcorn films.

I'm not even saying I'm opposed to this trend. The Chechnya thing sounds fascinating, and I'm glad to see experimentation being acknowledged. But I think it's worth noting the vast divergence from the long history of the category.

[Sabin]

HarryGoldfarb wrote
Couldn’t agree more... but I am curious about the work done in Welcome to Chechnya.

They apparently redid all the subject's faces in post-production to maintain anonymity.

https://www.indiewire.com/video/sundanc ... 202204703/

[HarryGoldfarb]

So...

VISUAL EFFECTS
Mank
The Midnight Sky
Soul
Tenet
Welcome to Chechnya
(NOTE: this is the weakest lineup in ages)

Couldn’t agree more... but I am curious about the work done in Welcome to Chechnya.

[Sabin]

So...

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Collective
Crip Camp
Time
The Truffle Hunters
Welcome to Chechnya

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Another Round
La Llorona
Quo Vadis, Aida?
A Sun
The Two of Us

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Hillbilly Elegy
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Mank

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross (Soul)
Alexandre Desplat (The Midnight Sky)
Ludwig Göransson (Tenet)
James Newton Howard (News of the World)
Daniel Pemberton (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
(NOTE: they really could nominate Thomas Newman again for The Little Things)

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Fight For You” / Judas and the Black Messiah
"Make It Work" / Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
“lo Sì (Seen)” / The Life Ahead
“Speak Now” / One Night in Miami
“Turntables” / All In: The Fight for Democracy (or the song from Giving Voice, I have a hard time imagining they go for two doc songs)
(NOTE: hoping that Trial of the Chicago 7 end credits song doesn't make the cut)

VISUAL EFFECTS
Mank
The Midnight Sky
Soul
Tenet
Welcome to Chechnya
(NOTE: this is the weakest lineup in ages)

[andrew]

I've seen Welcome To Chechnya, it's a very good documentary and well worth seeing.

The visual effects are quite strange, as I was watching the people who were being protected It looked like the side of their faces had some blurryness to it and I didn't really see the point in just doing such a small disguise.

Later in the documentary they uncover one of the faces and reveal the real person underneath and you suddenly realise what a great job they have done with the visual fx. The computerized face looked nothing like the real face but the effects were so good that you thought you were looking at his real face all along.

If they hadn't done the reveal shot in the documentary you wouldn't have known what a good job they did.

[FilmFan720]

Some real craziness in here. The Visual Effects department offering some of the biggest shockers by snubbing WONDER WOMAN 1984 and THE INVISIBLE MAN while also nominating WELCOME TO CHECHNYA. This has to be the first time a documentary has ever been included in the shortlist for f/x. Has anyone seen this movie to explain what effects there are?

I haven't watched it yet, but they went beyond just blacking out faces of people in the film. They used face replacement to shield the identities of people in the film. It sounds like an impressive job:

The filmmakers brought the real people into a green-screen environment where VFX technicians ingested their faces and replicated the lighting circumstances of the subjects captured in the field. The VFX artists reduced their faces to an algorithm, then mapped them with deep-machine learning over the subjects in the film. “While all eye and mouth movement and facial tics belong to the original subject,” said France, “they are all being carried out beneath the skin of these volunteers. This could allow us to know their stories; it’s still them. We see the weight on their faces. It comes through, it’s unmanipulated, were picking up those expressions.”

That second quote really captures what they did. In layman's terms, the film is filled with interviews of people who did not want to be seen for fear of their lives, so they literally put other people's faces over their bodies in the interviews. It is very powerful, and pretty seamless throughout. I think it could get a nomination, especially in a category without a lot of obvious nominations. The movie is also worth checking out.

[anonymous1980]

No shocking snubs in the Score category but what the hell is BLIZZARD OF SOULS?

It was Latvia's International Feature Oscar submission which did NOT advance. The music must really be something to have somehow made it over more well-known names and titles.

[dws1982]

Some real craziness in here. The Visual Effects department offering some of the biggest shockers by snubbing WONDER WOMAN 1984 and THE INVISIBLE MAN while also nominating WELCOME TO CHECHNYA. This has to be the first time a documentary has ever been included in the shortlist for f/x. Has anyone seen this movie to explain what effects there are?

I haven't watched it yet, but they went beyond just blacking out faces of people in the film. They used face replacement to shield the identities of people in the film. It sounds like an impressive job:

The filmmakers brought the real people into a green-screen environment where VFX technicians ingested their faces and replicated the lighting circumstances of the subjects captured in the field. The VFX artists reduced their faces to an algorithm, then mapped them with deep-machine learning over the subjects in the film. “While all eye and mouth movement and facial tics belong to the original subject,” said France, “they are all being carried out beneath the skin of these volunteers. This could allow us to know their stories; it’s still them. We see the weight on their faces. It comes through, it’s unmanipulated, were picking up those expressions.”

[rolotomasi99]

Thank you for posting these.

Some real craziness in here. The Visual Effects department offering some of the biggest shockers by snubbing WONDER WOMAN 1984 and THE INVISIBLE MAN while also nominating WELCOME TO CHECHNYA. This has to be the first time a documentary has ever been included in the shortlist for f/x. Has anyone seen this movie to explain what effects there are?

No shocking snubs in the Score category but what the hell is BLIZZARD OF SOULS? Usually when an almost anonymous movie finds itself with a surprise nomination it is because the nominee is well known in their field (i.e. Caleb Deschanel for NEVER LOOK AWAY). Lolita Ritmanis has not only never been nominated for an Oscar but has mostly done TV work and overwhelmingly for superhero and animated productions. She probably will not be nominated but I am intrigued enough to check out her film (which is also called THE RIFLEMAN).

[Reza]

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Fifteen films will advance in the documentary feature category out of 238 films eligible films. Members of the documentary branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

“76 Days” (MTV Documentary Films) – directed by Weixi Chen, Hao Wu, Anonymous
“All In: The Fight for Democracy” (Amazon Studios) – directed by Lisa Cortes, Liz Garbus
“Boys State” (Apple TV Plus) – directed by Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss
“Collective” (Magnolia Pictures and Participant) – directed by Alexander Nanau
“Crip Camp” (Netflix) – directed by James Lebrecht, Nicole Newnham
“Dick Johnson Is Dead” (Netflix) – directed by Kirsten Johnson
“Gunda” (Neon) – directed by Viktor Kosakovskiy
“MLK/FBI” (IFC Films) – directed by Sam Pollard
“The Mole Agent” (Gravitas Ventures) – directed by Maite Alberdi
“My Octopus Teacher” (Netflix) – directed by Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed
“Notturno” (Neon) – directed by Gianfranco Rosi
“The Painter and the Thief” (Neon) – directed by Benjamin Ree
“Time” (Amazon Studios) – directed by Garrett Bradley
“The Truffle Hunters” (Sony Pictures Classics) – directed by Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw
“Welcome to Chechnya” (HBO) – directed by David France

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

“Another Round” (Denmark) – directed Thomas Vinterberg
“Better Days” (Hong Kong) – directed by Derek Tsang
“Charlatan” (Czech Republic) – directed by Agnieszka Holland
“Collective” (Romania) – directed by Alexander Nanau
“Dear Comrades!” (Russia) – directed by
“I’m No Longer Here” (Mexico) – directed by Fernando Frias
“Hope” (Norway) – directed by Maria Sødahl
“La Llorona” (Guatemala) – directed by Jayro Bustamante
“The Mole Agent” (Chile) – directed by Maite Alberdi
“Night of the Kings” (Ivory Coast) – Philippe Lacôte
“Quo Vadis, Aida?” (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – directed by Jasmila Žbanić
“Sun Children” (Iran) – directed by Majid Majidi
“Two of Us” (France) – directed by Filippo Meneghetti
“A Sun” (Taiwan) – directed by Chung Mong-hong
“The Man Who Sold His Skin” (Tunisia) – directed by Kaouther Ben Hania

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

“Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn” (Warner Bros)
“Emma” (Focus Features)
“The Glorias” (Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment)
“Hillbilly Elegy” (Netflix)
“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey” (Netflix)
“The Little Things” (Warner Bros)
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (Netflix)
“Mank” (Netflix)
“One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios)
“Pinocchio” (Roadside Attractions)

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

“Ammonite” (Neon) – Dustin O’Halloran, Volker Bertelmann
“Blizzard of Souls” (Film Movement) – Lolita Ritmanis
“Da 5 Bloods” (Netflix) – Terence Blanchard
“The Invisible Man” (Universal Pictures) – Benjamin Wallfisch
“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey” (Netflix) – John Debney
“The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)” (Netflix) – Gabriel Yared
“The Little Things” (Warner Bros) – Thomas Newman
“Mank” (Netflix) – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
“The Midnight Sky” (Netflix) – Alexandre Desplat
“Minari” (A24) – Emile Mosseri
“Mulan” (Walt Disney Pictures) – Henry Gregson-Williams
“News of the World” (Universal Pictures) – James Newton Howard
“Soul” (Pixar) – Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
“Tenet” (Warner Bros) – Ludwig Göransson
“The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix) – Daniel Pemberton

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

“Turntables” from “All In: The Fight for Democracy” (Amazon Studios)
“See What You’ve Done” from “Belly of the Beast” (Independent Lens)
“Wuhan Flu” from “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (Amazon Studios)
“Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” (Netflix)
“Never Break” from “Giving Voice” (Netflix)
“Make It Work” from “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey” (Netflix)
“Fight For You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah” (Warner Bros)
“lo Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)” (Netflix)
“Rain Song” from “Minari” (A24)
“Show Me Your Soul” from “Mr. Soul!” (Shoes in the Bed Productions)
“Loyal Brave True” from “Mulan” (Walt Disney Pictures)
“Free” from “The One and Only Ivan” (Disney Plus)
“Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios)
“Green” from “Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
“Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix)

VISUAL EFFECTS

“Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn” (Warner Bros)
“Bloodshot” (Lionsgate)
“Love and Monsters” (Paramount Pictures)
“Mank” (Netflix)
“The Midnight Sky” (Netflix)
“Mulan” (Walt Disney Pictures)
“The One and Only Ivan” (Disney Plus)
“Soul” (Pixar)
“Tenet” (Warner Bros)
“Welcome to Chechnya” (HBO)

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

“Burrow”
“Genius Loci”
“If Anything Happens I Love You”
“Kapaemahu”
“Opera”
“Out”
“The Snail and the Whale”
“To Gerard”
“Traces”
“Yes-People”

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

“Abortion Helpline, This Is Lisa”
“Call Center Blues”
“Colette”
“A Concerto Is a Conversation”
“Do Not Split”
“Hunger Ward”
“Hysterical Girl”
“A Love Song for Latasha”
“The Speed Cubers”
“What Would Sophia Loren Do?”

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

“Bittu”
“Da Yie”
“Feeling Through”
“The Human Voice”
“The Kicksled Choir”
“The Letter Room”
“The Present”
“Two Distant Strangers”
“The Van”
“White Eye”