I Would Like to Declare the 2019 Oscars Invalid

Putting together an awards ceremony, you would think, is fairly simple, especially if said awards ceremony has been done ninety times already. But this year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and whatever have managed to make quite the mess of things. I like to be positive, so I’ll note that they are making some progress with diversity and the nominated films this year have protagonists who are Mexican, African American, bi-sexual royalty, a few sheilas and in one case, a gay Zoroastrian. As well as your usual white blokes. Good work, Academy.  

But all the good work must have taken it out of them because the lead up to the awards has been one snafu after another. They decided to add a new category for “Most Popular Film” as a way of acknowledging the Marvel Universe movies which don’t do well at the film festivals but are basically saving the film industry right now. But people said it was patronising and reeked of snobbery (ie. popular = schlock) and a good film should get a nod for Best Picture regardless of genre or box office appeal. Good point. So the “Most Popular Film” idea got ditched and that’s how Black Panther got nominated for Best Picture. 

Then they signed up Kevin Hart to be host which seemed like a good idea but then it turned out they hadn’t done their due diligence and a few years’ back he’d made some jokes about gay people which were so poorly written and executed that it was hard to tell they were jokes. Hart “stood down” from hosting duties. Then after many suggestions about other hosts (of which drunk Emma Thompson was and is the best idea), they decided to go without a host. 

Then just recently they decided, in the name of keeping the show tight, they would ditch a couple of categories from the telecast and present them during the ad breaks. Which categories? Just cinematography and editing. You know, just the categories for the most important parts of film-making. People were justifiably cranky and in another quick re-jigging of the runsheet, those categories will now be presented during the telecast.

And I’ve found out that Kendrick Lamar and Sza will not be performing “All the Stars” from the Black Panther soundtrack even though it is nominated for Best Song. Boo!

Kendrick Lamar - not going to the Oscars

You know the whole world seems like it's off its axis these days so I guess a major cultural event like this appearing to be all over the place is in keeping with the times. They have even forgotten to nominate the best film of the year. I know cueing critical outrage is what awards are all about but, over the years the best films are acknowledged somewhere, usually in the screenplay categories. But The Death of Stalin, a masterpiece of political satire, has been nominated for precisely nothing. Zero, zilch, nada. How did this happen? I can only assume the Russians have been interfering with voting again.  For this alone, the 2019 Oscars may have to be declared invalid.

Best picture

A film for Shuri please

Of the nominees, nothing is really knocking down the figurative doors of this category.  Anything could happen. Some can be ruled out as contenders and others are equally deserving (but not as deserving as The Death of Stalin – okay I’ll not mention it again). Critics sneered at Bohemian Rhapsody but it must have got something right because somewhere along the line it has become the highest grossing drama in movie history. That is why it is here.  My main criticism is its cliché-ridden script but it is entertaining and the last 20 minutes was smart movie making – leaving the audience on a high and wanting more.  

Black Panther also made a lot of money and turned conventional wisdom on its head about who audiences will pay to see – in this case an African superhero. But apart from representing minorities, Black Panther was a fairly standard (albeit well made) superhero movie. Unless there are some really, really unusual voting patterns, neither will win.

A Star is Born is the closest thing Hollywood has to a traditional fable – this is the fourth remake (the first was in 1937) of this story of an older, established famous man discovering/mentoring/falling in love with a talented young woman. Bradley Cooper directed it on a suitably grand scale and the twist is that it isn’t so much about a star being born, but a star fading. It’s a good movie, but it won’t win Best Film.

If it was up to me (and sadly it isn’t) of the nominated films, I would give it to BlacKkKlansmen. It is just a high-quality, intelligent film and I didn’t even notice it went for over two hours. You could watch it and Vice as companion pieces, as they both illustrate how the current state of US politics has been germinating for some time. Vice is also terrific, and the second scary movie Adam McKay has made (the other being The Big Short).  Those closet republicans in Hollywood will not be voting for them though.

If it was up to me..

Even though I liked this, too

That leaves three – Roma, The Favourite and Green Book.  My opinion is that Roma is the sort of movie where afterwards you talk about how great the cinematography was. I was waiting for the story to begin and then the movie ended. It is well made but I think the observer style of portraying the family’s day-to-day life ended up distancing the audience from the characters, making it hard to engage with them. But with ten nominations, there’s a lot of love for it; if it were to win it would be the first foreign language film to do so.  Against it is that it is a Netflix production and Hollywood is still sussing out how to deal with Netflix.

The Favourite is well, a favourite

Also with ten nominations is The Favourite so I would consider it the frontrunner. It is meant to be about Queen Anne but it is a case of events have been changed but the names remain the same. It does give a wry take on royalty and powerplays.  It also has three outstanding lead performances and the director Yorgos Lanthimos stays on the right side of arty until the nebulous ending. I kind of got it, until the bunnies appeared.

Green Book has won the lead up awards but has also attracted controversy because it is seen as a bit racist and loose with the truth. I think it is more a moral tale about the hazards of stereotyping people. It is a well-made and enjoyable film and isn’t out of place in this category. 

If the Academy voters are feeling safe, it will be Green Book. If they are feeling a bit daring, it will be The Favourite. If they are feeling like making history it will be Roma. I think Green Book might just Steven Bradbury this one…

Best director

Roma is technically flawless which in large part is down to Alfonso Cuaron so he could well get his second Oscar (for directing – a quick check of Wikipedia shows that he has also got one for editing and, over the years, has been nominated for editing, writing, cinematography – he must be tired). It wouldn’t surprise me if Greece’s Yorgos Lanthimos wins though because The Favourite seems to have got everyone talking, although that ending…

It should go to Spike Lee for BlacKkKlansman as it is the best film and he’s been overlooked for the wrong reasons in the past.  Adam McKay finds a way to make recent political history accessible and almost fun (well as much fun as evil can be) but Vice is also a film for political junkies, like me.  Didn’t see Cold War but it is weird that the director is nominated but the film isn’t (it is there in Best Foreign Language Film).

Best actor

While I’m not sure about Bohemian Rhapsody being in the Best Picture category, I have no doubts about Rami Malek getting a nomination and even an Oscar.  His main competition is Christian Bale.  IMO Bale’s performance got a bit repetitive but to be fair, I doubt Dick Cheney has hidden depths to plumb…Freddie Mercury brought joy to so many and Dick Cheney…didn’t.  So Rami for the win. Yay!!

An Oscar?  For me?

Bradley Cooper has three chances to win an Oscar this year – as well as Best Actor he’s also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and as a producer for Best Film.  He might go home empty handed. It’s going to be a long night for Bradley. It’s unfortunate because his performance in A Star is Born is one of his best.

Viggo Mortensen has quietly notched up three Best Actor nominations, the latest being for Green Book but I get the impression he isn’t too fussed about awards.  Also Viggo Mortensen is 60 and doesn’t seem to aging at a normal human rate and no one is discussing this. Willem Dafoe was nominated last year for the stupidly ignored Florida Project and this year for playing Vincent Van Gogh.  It’s his forth nomination. Factoid time: Van Gogh died at the age of 37 and Willem Dafoe is 63 (but Van Gogh had a hard life so probably looked 63).

Best actress

Lady Gaga is one of the best singers around and shows it to full effect in A Star is Born. Her performance is good but not anything many other actresses could have done. Future British National Treasure Olivia Colman is some sort of acting genius and probably should win this year for her performance as Queen Anne. Melissa McCarthy gets her second nomination for Can You Ever Forgive Me? in which she makes an unlikeable character at least sympathetic. It is also a really good little film about what I thought was someone committing an almost victimless crime (because a fool and their money). You should see it.  Yalitza Aparico is a qualified teacher and had never acted professionally before Roma. One movie and an Oscar nomination – she could be forgiven for wondering what’s so hard about acting.

But this is Glenn Close’s seventh nomination and she’s never won so it’s time. And she is excellent in The Wife in which the truth about her husband’s literary career is revealed while he’s receiving the Nobel Prize for literature.  But really she should have won for Dangerous Liaisons or Fatal Attraction, considering how that character has become a cultural point of reference. Factoid time:  I share a birthday with Glenn Close. 

Best supporting actor

Now Jason Isaacs or Steve Buscemi should be here for playing General Zhukov and Nikita Krushchev in TDOS. See that – I mentioned it again. Sam Elliot is one of those actors who has always been around and as far as I can recall was never young…this nomination is an acknowledgement of a long career. In his first scene as young, drunk George W Bush Sam Rockwell was a little bit sexy and as a left winger, I will not forgive him for the cognitive dissonance this caused me. And he won this category last year.  All the acting in BlacKkKlansmen is excellent but Adam Driver does stand out in a kind of small part.

Fingers crossed!

Now the smart money is on Mahershala Ali (even though his character is more of a lead performance) and if it has to go to someone else, I would be okay with it. It would be his second win from two nominations (he won for Moonlight). But I am so wishing for an upset in this category so Richard E Grant can get an Oscar.  Because he’s been so unashamedly excited about being an Oscar nominee and because he’s Richard E Grant and because his final scene in Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a bloody masterclass.

Best supporting actress

This one is genuinely difficult to call. The characters played by Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz in The Favourite are not really supporting characters – it had three leads really and I think the vote will be split between them.  Amy Adams is racking up nominations and at this point is the favourite to break Peter O’Toole’s record of most nominations without a win (he had 8). This is her sixth and she was very good as Lyn Cheney who is as much a political animal as her husband. I wouldn’t rule her out and seriously - six nominations without a win - give Amy a break!

Sixth time lucky?

But it is most likely to go to Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk, and it would be a fair win if she did – she was the only sign of life in a fairly plodding film (I nodded off during If Beale Street Could Talk). Marina De Tavira is on the Roma juggernaut. I get that the not acting style of acting is in fact quite skilful but um, how about that cinematography…

Kind of puzzling that Linda Cardellini isn’t here for Green Book.

Other points of interest are that All the Stars by Kendrick Lamar should get Best Song but won’t (that will go to Shallow from A Star is Born). Spike Lee will finally get an Oscar after a long career of being an outsider/iconoclast but it will probably be for Best Adapted Screenplay (although still holding out hope that Blackkklansmen will end up with Best Film).  Paul Schrader wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull but is nominated here for the first time for First Reformed.  

That's some production design

And the other curious omission is First Man, which is nominated in the technical categories (and should probably win for Best Production Design because they re-created NASA and Apollo 11 and you know, the moon’s surface and outer space).  

So watch the show because there’s every chance, given the calamitous lead up, that everything will completely fall apart and be a slow motion train crash. Which would be karma for not nominating the best film of the year for anything (nope, can’t let it go).