OSCAR H AN DICAPS / BY P ETE H A M M O N D
Bohemian Rhapsody DIRECTOR Bryan Singer PRODUCERS Graham King Jim Beach STUDIO 20th Century Fox OSCAR NOMINATIONS Best Actor Best Editing Best Sound Mixing Best Sound Editing
There’s a reason that Bohemian Rhapsody has become a worldwide phenomenon with over $800 million and counting at the box office, and it goes beyond Rami Malek’s remarkable portrayal of Freddie Mercury. As a tribute to and exploration of the lasting legacy of Queen and their unforgettable music, it speaks right to the heart of our times now; not about what tears us apart, but what can so urgently bring us together. This is a movie that has become much more than just a musical biopic. It is indeed a cause for celebration, and that might be the key reason it survived a disastrous shoot when director Bryan Singer was fired, as well as continuing controversy regarding his past actions. A 10-year labor of love for producer Graham King, it picked up Best Motion Picture Drama at the Golden Globes and continues to be heard.
The Favourite DIRECTOR Yorgos Lanthimos PRODUCERS Yorgos Lanthimos Ed Guiney Lee Magiday STUDIOS Fox Searchlight Pictures Film4 Waypoint OSCAR NOMINATIONS Best Director Best Cinematography Best Actress Best Supporting Actress x2 Best Original Screenplay Best Production Design Best Costume Design Best Editing
44
Until now director Yorgos Lanthimos’s acclaimed past films have had a strong following among his fans but are an acquired taste for others. This stylish tale of two women competing for the trust and affection of Queen Anne in 18th Century England boasts brilliant acting across the board, and has drawn Lanthimos’s biggest crowd yet for a sort of All About Eve costume dramedy that pushes all the buttons of the genre, but remains true to the director’s uniquely eccentric and engaging trademark. With 10 nominations overall, it is the only one of the Best Picture contenders to have been named in all key categories that usually make a Best Picture winner.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY An interesting group of screenplays, but if you go by common wisdom, the scripts with the best chance to prevail are those also nominated in the Best Picture category, in this case just two: BlacKkKlansman and A Star is Born. In both cases this could be the likely place to honor either of the multiple Oscar nominees this year—Spike Lee for the former, or Bradley Cooper for the latter. Perennial Oscar favorites Joel and Ethan Coen grabbed their seventh mutual writing nomination for the Netflix movie The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, which also won in Venice, but Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty’s wonderfully literate and acerbic Can You Ever Forgive Me? is the best of a very good bunch in my opinion, and past winner Barry Jenkins can’t be counted out for the audacious act of adapting James Baldwin’s book If Beale Street Could Talk on spec and then gaining the trust of his estate to make a very fine movie. The Winner: Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz; Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Of the two writing categories, this one has the tightest race with four Best Picture frontrunners competing: The Favourite, Green Book, Vice and Roma. Let’s knock out Roma because Alfonso Cuarón is more likely to win in Directing, Cinematography, and Foreign Film. The Favourite is the witty, literate type of script that might stand a chance here, but it lost to Green Book at the Globes, and wasn’t eligible for WGA, so it’s a little shaky to predict. As in the case of The Big Short, Adam McKay’s highly-intelligent and funny Vice is the natural choice, but Globe winner Green Book is so well-liked it would make sense to vote it in here too. The fifth nominee, First Reformed is that film’s only nomination, but I suspect it is here as a way to honor icon Paul Schrader, who incredibly has never before been nominated despite films like Taxi Driver and Last Temptation of Christ. Another tough one. The Winner: Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Green Book BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM This is as solid a list of foreign language nominees as I have seen in a long time. I have to say the Academy committees got it exactly right, beginning with three exceptional films that debuted in Cannes in May: Poland’s Cold War, Lebanon’s Capernaum, and Japan’s Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters. In fact, all three were prize winners in Cannes and represent the best of world cinema. Another entry, Germany’s Never Look Away is truly epic at three hours and 15 minutes, but no less worthy, as I witnessed in Toronto in September. Finally there is Venice winner, Mexico’s Roma, which counts this as one of its massive haul of 10 nominations. It is the obvious frontrunner to win here. In every case where a Foreign Language contender was also nominated for Best Picture, it went on to win here and lose there. The Winner: Roma BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM This category is usually Disney’s to lose, as they are so dominant in wins ever since it was created. This year the Mouse House has two entries: Pixar’s The Incredibles 2 and Disney Animation Studio’s Ralph Breaks the Internet. Wes Anderson and co. are back with another wonderfully quirky and charming entry after first being nominated in this category for The Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2009. Now he has Isle of Dogs, but it is an uphill climb against the bigger studio efforts. That same problem stands for the beauti-
D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E
0208 Handicaps.indd 44
2/4/19 4:48 PM