Oscar Nominations 2014: Part I

BEST PICTURE:

What will win: 12 Years a Slave

What should win: Her

Great nominees for 2014!  I can say I at least liked all of the Best Picture nominees for this year, and I loved a good number of them. 

I think it is safe to say that 12 Years a Slave will be winning Best Picture this year.  Out of the nine films, it is the one that embraces American history the most, and films that are nominated for Best Picture and have that element of our past have more of a chance of winning.

I loved the film, and no part of me will be disappointed when it receives the Oscar. However, I have a different opinion on what the best film of the year was.

Her was one of the most vibrant, new, and exciting films I have seen in a long time.  I loved each and every minute of it.  Spike Jonze, with such refinement and gracefulness, creates a near-future world that challenges the concept of technology and love.  The film is inventive and unique, and it is a near-perfect story that isn’t influenced by being a remake or a superhero comic. 

Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore, a lonely LA resident who writes compassionate notes for his clients through a company called Beautiful Handwritten Letters.  He falls in love with his Siri-like Operating System, Samantha (voiced by Scarlet Johannson).  For such a strange concept for a film, Jonze manages to make it deeply moving and observant to emotional relationships, as he does for every single one of his films.

I was disappointed to see that Joaquin Phoenix was not up for Best Actor this year.  He has dropped his weird, bearded, eccentric act and has again embraced his talent of being quietly valiant as an actor, such as he was in Walk the Line.  He has such a way of taking a simplistic character and making him sophisticated and multi-dimensional.  He does all of this playing his character Theodore.  Theodore is that guy that everyone knows: lonely, slightly awkward, but sweet.  And Phoenix has a way of creating an entire background for him: we see his inner demons, we hear of his insecurities, and thus, we learn to understand how he could fall for Samantha.

I truly loved everything about this film: the acting, visuals, score, story, and direction.  And while I wish I could say that that is enough for it to win Best Picture, I do not think it will.  Nevertheless, Spike Jonze has managed to take a strange, almost comical concept, and turn it into a warm and touching story that almost anyone can empathize with.

BEST ACTRESS:

Who will win: Cate Blanchett

Who should win: Meryl Streep

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding Cate Blanchett in her role in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine.  Although she had a stellar performance, and I would not be upset if she won, I think my lack of excitement for the film as a whole is hindering my opinion on her being the best actress of the year. 

Quite honestly, out of the actor nominations this year, the category of Best Actress is my least favorite.  Of course, each nominee is very talented and dedicated in her role, but the majority of the actresses didn’t blow me out of the water.

Before seeing August: Osage County, I found myself annoyed that, once again, Meryl Streep was nominated for an Oscar.  And before everyone starts hating on me, I would like to explain myself.  I love Meryl Streep.  I think she is one of the best actresses in the world.  With that said, I find it (to a certain degree) offensive that it has become almost a running joke to nominate her every year for every single role she chooses to play.  She deserves to be nominated when she is one of the absolute best of the year, and for her to be nominated for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada or Julie & Julia takes away from her truly magnificent performances in films like Kramer vs. Kramer or Doubt. 

Again, I rolled my eyes when I found out that she was up for Best Actress this year.  However, that was before I saw August: Osage County.

Out of all of the nominees for this category, Meryl Streep had the best performance.  And this is good and bad.  It’s good, for obvious reasons, because it proves that, once again, she is a dynamic and unwavering actress, and she completely gives all of herself for these roles.  It’s bad because the possibility of her winning is low because she won Best Actress only two years ago.  Now, I say this because this is how the Oscars work.  There is a clear formula with this event, and how it turns out and who ends up winning is influenced almost entirely by outside opinion, meaning the media and the popularity of each film.   But—the Academy likes shaking things up with the occasional surprise.  In fact, Streep winning for The Iron Lady two years ago was said to be an upset because many predicted that Viola Davis would win for her performance in The Help.  Who’s to say that Meryl Streep couldn’t sweep in again, with all her fabulousness and elegance, and take the title for Best Actress of this year?  In my opinion, she should.

Streep took on the manipulative, monstrous matriarch, Violet Weston, who spends over two hours belittling every member of her family with harsh criticisms, all the while downing painkillers and smoking cigarettes (with mouth cancer, I might add).  And she murders the performance.

Even when she takes the back seat in certain scenes of the film, Streep is still the one to watch.  She chimes in, her Southern debauchery flaring, with such grace and fluidity that it truly feels like I am watching Violet Weston; not Meryl Streep playing Violet Weston.  It is difficult to take your eyes off her, even when another character is supposed to be the focus of the scene.

Although Meryl Streep may not win for this year’s Oscars, this performance stands as another example of how flawless of an actress she is, and that is an award in it of itself.  All I ask of the Academy is to nominate her when she truly deserves it; that way, it gives other “underdog” actors a chance to flourish under the spotlight.  And then, it will be just that much better when Streep is nominated for a role where she is clearly one of the best of the year.  

        

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Who will win: Lupita Nyong’o

Who should win: Lupita Nyong’o

The nominees for Best Supporting Actress all did a fabulous job in their respective roles.  I can sincerely say that I enjoyed all of their performances.  With that said, the buzz surrounding this category has picked out two frontrunners: Lupita Nyong’o from 12 Years a Slave and Jennifer Lawrence from American Hustle.

Now, I love Jennifer Lawrence.  I think she is a great actress, and I also really want to be her best friend.  But I have to say that she has recently been casted for too old of roles.  I was very happy when she won Best Actress last year for Silver Linings Playbook, but even for that role and especially for her role in American Hustle, she was cast for characters that are far much older than she is.

That was really what took away from her performance for me.  I thought she was really dedicated towards her character and took on the alcoholic, floozy wife well, but…she’s my age!  I was watching her the whole time, thinking, “Wow, she’s such a great actress,” but then I would remember that she was supposed to be a wife to Christian Bale’s character, with whom she has a 7-year-old child.  This is not Lawrence’s fault in the slightest, and for being cast in such a mature role, she did a fantastic job.  But this casting choice makes it easier for me to root for Lupita Nyong’o.

Nyong’o plays Patsey, a young slave of Master Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), who becomes an object of desire and sexual abuse for Epps and physical abuse for his jealous wife.  Patsey bonds and makes friends with Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), another slave on the plantation, and, at one point, even heartbreakingly begs him to end her life to escape the hell she’s living through.

This was the first film Nyong’o was cast in, and she will be asked to star in many more after this incredible performance.  Her character, Patsey, is hardworking and determined; we see that in her ability to pick over 500 pounds of cotton each day, which is much more so than any of the male slaves on the plantation.  She is also exposed and helpless; we see that in her submission into the sexual and physical abuse she encounters with Mr. and Mrs. Epps.  Nyong’o is very present in her role.  This was necessary because her character must always be on her toes, whether that’s to avoid punishment for not providing a sufficient workload, or in case Master Epps comes looking for her.

There is one scene in the film that is breathtaking, and it is the scene that everyone in the theater talks about when the lights come on.  Lupita Nyong’o’s performance in that scene is what made it captivating, traumatizing, and chilling.  To give a theater full of people that reaction is enough to award her the Oscar.  But she somehow managed to hold onto that star factor throughout the entirety of the film.  She remained refined on a plantation filled with coarseness, and she held onto her morality during such an immoral time.  I am looking forward to seeing more performances by Lupita Nyong’o in the future.          

BEST ACTOR:

Who will win: Matthew McConaughey

Who should win: Leonardo DiCaprio

Again, so much talent in this category, it’s hard to pick a favorite.  I do think Matthew McConaughey will win for his role in Dallas Buyers Club.  We all know the Oscars love it when there is extreme weight gain or loss for a certain character role.  (Seriously, just look over the past couple of years: Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables, Natalie Portman in Black Swan, and Charlize Theron putting on the pounds for Monster.)  But even putting that aside, McConaughey gave a fantastic performance as the AIDS sufferer, Ron Woodruff.  I will not be disappointed if he wins because, in various parts of the film, he brought me close to tears.  His character was, without a doubt, the most dynamic of all the Best Actor nominees, and it is hard for that to go unnoticed.

With that said, I am going to be a little biased for this category.  Isn’t it about freaking time that Leo wins an Oscar?!  I still think that he was snubbed for Best Supporting Actor for his role in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?  And the fact that he wasn’t even nominated for Revolutionary Road is downright bogus.  If Meryl Streep can be nominated for every role she’s in, why can’t Leo?

Even with my partial choice, I really do think that DiCaprio did an amazing job as the stockbroker Jordan Belfort in Wolf of Wall Street.  He was absolutely mesmerizing, and I cannot picture another lead actor in that role.  To keep me hooked, curious, and absolutely disgusted with his character for an entire 180 minutes requires talent, and DiCaprio has that. 

Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor has a charisma and leading man attitude that one cannot learn; it comes so natural to him, and it shows in every one of his performances.  I am impressed with how he was able to uphold all of the chaos and hectic activities he and his supporting man, Jonah Hill, went through in the film and did so with confidence and the utmost devotion to his character. 

What makes me believe that DiCaprio will not win is that it is a comedic role.  At no point in the film do we have some sort of underlying emotions, moral compass, or change in Jordan’s character.  I believe, because McConaughey’s performance was so raw and dynamic, he will win over DiCaprio’s inauthentic and vulgar role.  But just keep on doing what you’re doing, Leo, and I know, your day will come soon.     

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Who will win: Jared Leto

Who should win: Jared Leto

And the Academy Award for best actor category this year goes to Best Supporting Actor!  Wow.  Just wow.  Every single actor in this category was phenomenal in his performance.  From Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave) being the most unlikeable character since Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Bastards; Bradley Cooper (American Hustle) being a ridiculously insatiable jerk; Jonah Hill (Wolf of Wall Street) being a coke-snorting, big-toothed sidekick; and to Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), starting his acting debut as a Somali pirate just after working as a limousine driver in Minnesota, it is hard to deny that these group of men are the frontrunners of the acting categories.

Oh.  And then there’s Jared Leto.  Out of all of the actor nominations this year, Jared Leto, by far, is my favorite.  What makes Dallas Buyers Club a must-see rests on the shoulders of this beautiful man who somehow manages to pose as a much prettier woman than many.

Leto plays Rayon, a transsexual suffering from AIDS, who teams with Ron Woodruff (Matthew McConaughey), another AIDS sufferer, to sell unapproved anti-viral treatments to other AIDS patients. 

I have spoken of McConaughey’s performance but, briefly, he and Leto as a team were heartwrenching, captivating, and passionate.  Together, they brought out the best they could be as an acting duo, and their onscreen symmetry was what made the movie greater than good.  Without them, I would not have been as excited about this film. 

What made Leto’s performance amazing was his ability to show the side of him that was girly, flashy, and laughable while, at the same time, stir up the underlying feelings of pure sadness and fear that would lie with any man that knows he is dying.  He knew when to be showy, with his makeup, outfits, and wigs, which assisted in opposing McConaughey’s character’s homophobia.  And then he knew when to be restrained, like in scenes where he falls ill or when he meets up with his dissatisfied father, a scene where the audience sees Rayon in men’s clothing for the first time.

I cannot imagine how challenging this role must have been on Leto, but the fluidity with which he transitions from flirty and carefree to petrified and despondent is one that should be celebrated.  If he does not win, I’m sure the champagne glass that I will inevitably be holding will shatter in my hand.  And if he does (and he will), I’ll be tilting that glass back with a fist in the air.        

  

CINEMATOGRAPHY:

What will win: Gravity

What should win: The Grandmaster

It is extremely unlikely that anything could beat Gravity in this category.  And, don’t get me wrong, the cinematography in that film was insane, and I think Emmanuel Lubezki certainly deserves the Oscar.  The visuals for the film were inventive and, quite honestly, were ones never seen before.  However, I wanted to give a shout-out to Phillipe Le Sourd for his cinematography in the film, The Grandmaster.

The film aesthetics of The Grandmaster were unlike any I have seen in recent years.  The slow motion shots, the lighting in each different setting, and the fluidity of the fight scenes were so beautiful, that it almost made my head spin.  I cannot even imagine how difficult it must have been to film this movie and then for Le Sourd to add any finishing effects to each scene. 

Although I know that Gravity will win, I praise The Grandmaster for taking a different approach to celebrating the cinematography of a film.  Phillipe Le Sourd put in a lot of work for this film, and without the aesthetics and cinematic techniques, this movie would not have been as beautiful and/or noteworthy.