Re: Categories One-by-One: Best Picture
Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:24 pm
Even though it combines standard Academy preoccupations (righteousness, liberalism, selflessness) into a confection that also manages to pat the industry itself on the back, Argo’s path towards anointment as the year’s best picture is a bit confusing to me. Not because of Ben Affleck’s omission from the Best Director lineup, which may ultimately have had a hand in Argo’s resurgence. One gets the sense that Academy voters look back on their fourth of fifth place ranking of Affleck on their individual ballots with the same kind of “What did I do last night?” regret tantamount to hooking up with a fugly after last call. Did Bruce Beresford get this kind of revaluation leading up to Driving Miss Daisy night at the Oscars? And I can understand The Hollywood Foreign Press, falling down in worship of Ben Affleck, and I can understand The Director’s Guild of America, The Producer’s Guild of America, and The Screen Actor’s Guild of America…but all of them?
What works for Argo is the fact that it doesn’t seem to be running against any other nominated film at this point. There is no The Social Network this year. What is strangely not working against Argo is that the movie itself is a lot like Tony Mendez’s “In & Out” mission to get the hostages out: it’s interesting, it happens, it’s suspenseful, and then it’s over. Nothing really complex going on here, is there? And maybe that’s what’s important. The Academy is going through a Trifle streak. And like The Artist and The King’s Speech, the title itself evokes a vast canvas of highs and lows that the film itself does not deliver. The movie that becomes bigger than itself wins.
For one brief year, the Academy split the honors between Best Production and Best Artistic Picture. Although David O. Russell’s exuberant romantic comedy is hardly an autopilot crowd-pleaser, if voters are in the mood for a trifle then they should favor the crowd-pleaser of the year. And while the phrase “Oscar Nominee Michael Haneke” sounds almost as insane as the phrase “Multi-Oscar Nominee Michael Haneke”, Amour is the kind of masterwork that doesn’t just haunt the soul. It possesses a tenderness that reimagines the entire oeuvre of this Austrian master. Amour is the best film, Silver Linings Playbook is the best movie, and Holy Motors is for sure the experience of the year.
Nothing would make me happier than watching this alleged Silver Linings Playbook surge continue towards Oscar night. I keep hearing about it but until it's yielded what so far? A tactically masterminded late-in-the-game $100 mil gross which makes it the sixth highest grossing Best Picture nominee of nine and a pretty good afternoon at the Indie Spirits. If Silver Linings Playbook wins, I will be happier than I've been since the first Oscars I watched. And I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that if Argo did not come out this year, Silver Linings Playbook would be the winner. If Argo did not come out this year, Silver Linings Playbook would have won the SAG Ensemble Award. If Argo did not come out this year, Silver Linings Playbook would have won the WGA award. And if Argo did not come out this year, Silver Linings Playbook would have garnered a DGA nomination and maybe won. Lots of maybes, none of them mean a win tomorrow night. And although I'm predicting it to win a few awards, the likeliest scenario is it walks away with Jennifer Lawrence for Best Actress and even that might not happen. Possible goose egg.
What works for Argo is the fact that it doesn’t seem to be running against any other nominated film at this point. There is no The Social Network this year. What is strangely not working against Argo is that the movie itself is a lot like Tony Mendez’s “In & Out” mission to get the hostages out: it’s interesting, it happens, it’s suspenseful, and then it’s over. Nothing really complex going on here, is there? And maybe that’s what’s important. The Academy is going through a Trifle streak. And like The Artist and The King’s Speech, the title itself evokes a vast canvas of highs and lows that the film itself does not deliver. The movie that becomes bigger than itself wins.
For one brief year, the Academy split the honors between Best Production and Best Artistic Picture. Although David O. Russell’s exuberant romantic comedy is hardly an autopilot crowd-pleaser, if voters are in the mood for a trifle then they should favor the crowd-pleaser of the year. And while the phrase “Oscar Nominee Michael Haneke” sounds almost as insane as the phrase “Multi-Oscar Nominee Michael Haneke”, Amour is the kind of masterwork that doesn’t just haunt the soul. It possesses a tenderness that reimagines the entire oeuvre of this Austrian master. Amour is the best film, Silver Linings Playbook is the best movie, and Holy Motors is for sure the experience of the year.
Nothing would make me happier than watching this alleged Silver Linings Playbook surge continue towards Oscar night. I keep hearing about it but until it's yielded what so far? A tactically masterminded late-in-the-game $100 mil gross which makes it the sixth highest grossing Best Picture nominee of nine and a pretty good afternoon at the Indie Spirits. If Silver Linings Playbook wins, I will be happier than I've been since the first Oscars I watched. And I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that if Argo did not come out this year, Silver Linings Playbook would be the winner. If Argo did not come out this year, Silver Linings Playbook would have won the SAG Ensemble Award. If Argo did not come out this year, Silver Linings Playbook would have won the WGA award. And if Argo did not come out this year, Silver Linings Playbook would have garnered a DGA nomination and maybe won. Lots of maybes, none of them mean a win tomorrow night. And although I'm predicting it to win a few awards, the likeliest scenario is it walks away with Jennifer Lawrence for Best Actress and even that might not happen. Possible goose egg.