Oscar bets, locks, snubs
Marion Cotillard’s performance in “Two Days, One Night” is the hardest to sustain.
First of two parts
The Oscars, the most-watched event on television, often shows a lack in brains but always makes up for it in controversy. As soon as the 87th Academy Awards announced its nominations last month, movie buffs, fans and critics raised hue and cry over perceived wrongs.
The academy has grown in membership to over 8,000. Which means we’ll be witnessing either more intelligent or more mediocre choices at ceremonies tomorrow.
Nominated for best motion picture are: “Birdman” (directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu), “Boyhood” (Richard Linklater), “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (Wes Anderson), “The Imitation Game” (Morten Tyldum), “American Sniper” (Clint Eastwood), “Selma” (Ava DuVernay), “The Theory of Everything” (James Marsh), “Whiplash” (Damien Chazelle).
Only the first four filmmakers are nominated for best director; plus Bennet Miller for “Foxcatcher,” which isn’t nominated.
Voices were raised in censure of this year’s all-white nominees list for best director and best performers; and all-male nominees for best director. One black pastor even called for an “emergency meeting” to discuss this “appalling lack of diversity.”
Eddie Redmayne in “The Theory of Everything”
If they think DuVernay has been snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for being black and female, why does no one take up the cudgels for snubbed “Unbroken” director Angelina Jolie, who’s also a woman and just happens to be white? Or for “Interstellar” director David Fincher, who’s also white and just happens to be a man?
A nomination should be based on merit, not on the filmmaker’s race or gender. Does this angry mob want to reduce the competition to tokenism?
Best supporting actress
For best supporting actress, Meryl Streep (“Into the Woods”), as a witch trying to recapture her youth, is effective but standard vis-à-vis her repertoire. Streep sings, but Julia Roberts as the witch in the Snow White movie “Mirror, Mirror” a few years ago was more entertaining. Streep glares, growls and shrieks, but we felt more threatened by Charlize Theron’s similar turn in “Snow White and the Huntsman.”
Also standard performances vis-à-vis their respective repertoires are those of Laura Dern (“Wild”), as a woman dying of cancer, which drives her daughter into depression; Keira Knightley (“The Imitation Game”), as the only woman on a team of cryptanalysts trying to break the Enigma code, and Emma Stone (“Birdman”), as the newly rehabbed daughter of a fading actor acting nonchalant.
Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”), as a mother of two who goes through a divorce, remarriage and abandonment by her grown children, is precise in delineating the transition from young wife to matron. She is poignant when she realizes her son is discarding his past, metaphorized in his leaving behind a snapshot of her that he took when he was a child. She should be up for best actress.
Snubbed: Tilda Swinton (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”); Rene Russo (“Nightcrawler”); Lorelei Linklater (“Boyhood”).
We nearly fell off our seat when Linklater, as the daughter in a family of four, made her entrance. We couldn’t stop giggling as she winced at her father asking about her first date.
JK Simmons as a tyrannical instructor in “Whiplash.” It’s a lock.
Best supporting actor
For best supporting actor, the roles are more substantial and all performances so compelling, that each might as well vie for best actor.
Mark Ruffalo (“Foxcatcher”), as an Olympic medalist victimized by one man’s delusion of grandeur, toned down his actor-ly mannerisms and physically transformed himself into a believable wrestling champ. His portrayal of the character’s relationship with his brother is fully believable.
Ethan Hawke (“Boyhood”), as the often-absent father of a boy who’s coming of age, depicts the growth of the character into a responsible parent with such naturalism, it looks like he’s portraying himself.
Robert Duvall (“The Judge”), as a righteous judge accused of murder, infuriates with his bullheadedness and authoritarianism, then tugs at the heart as he displays vulnerability.
Edward Norton (“Birdman”), as a stage actor so full of himself, also physically transformed himself into someone who looks wasted, constantly swaggering and strutting about, yet betraying a deep-seated insecurity.
JK Simmons (“Whiplash”), as a tyrannical and sadistic instructor in a prestigious music school, is unnerving. His vileness knows no bounds, even when he smiles, until he starts weeping over a former student’s death. And yet we don’t totally trust those tears. That’s how effective Simmons is, so it’s a lock.
Snubbed: Elyes Gabel (“A Most Violent Year”).
Best actress
Rosamund Pike’s portrayal in “Gone Girl” is hair-raising.
For best actress, Felicity Jones (“The Theory of Everything”) smolders as wife and caregiver to Stephen Hawking. But she can be bubbly and explosive, too, ranging from feistiness to martyrdom. We first took note of Jones in Julie Taymor’s “The Tempest” four years ago, and then in last year’s “The Invisible Woman”—too short a time for her technique to mature. She’s not a Jennifer Lawrence.
Reese Witherspoon (“Wild”), as a woman driven to hike over 1,000 miles to find herself, renders a raw performance more physical but less visceral than James Franco’s similar role in “127 Hours” five years ago. Again, standard.
Rosamund Pike (“Gone Girl”), as a children’s-book author who manipulates the public to turn against her cheating husband, generates both pity and outrage. Ever so finely, she delineates venom and ever so subtly draws sympathy, then plunges into shameless theatrics. A hair-raising performance.
Julianne Moore (“Still Alice”) is again in winning form as a linguistics professor slowly losing her memory. That scene where she can’t remember where the bathroom is in her own house can carry the whole movie. Outstanding.
Marion Cotillard (“Two Days, One Night”), as a depressive woman trying to hold on to her factory job, has her every gesture, gait, slouch, grimace and tone of voice pitched to a high level of realism, which is characteristic of a Dardenne film’s documentary technique. Of the five performances, hers is the hardest to sustain.
Snubbed: Tilda Swinton (“Only Lovers Left Alive”), Jessica Chastain (“A Most Violent Year”), Jenny Slate (“Obvious Child”), Eva Green (“Sin City: A Dame to Kill for”), Essie Davis (“The Babadook”), Scarlett Johansson (“Lucy” and “Under the Skin”).
Best actor
All the contenders for best actor underwent major transformations.
Michael Keaton in “Birdman.” Feels like the story of his life.
Bradley Cooper (“American Sniper”), as Chris Kyle, a.k.a. The Legend, bulked up by 40 lbs and assiduously practiced marksmanship to convincingly portray the most lethal gunman in US military history. He so lost himself in the role, that “The Hangover” totally vanished.
Steve Carell (“Foxcatcher”), as philanthropist John du Pont, changed everything about himself as an actor, from looks to acting style. Here, he’s no longer the nice loquacious comic we’ve been accustomed to, but a creepy person who uses people to his own ends, slapping or exterminating anyone if he feels like it. The role is often quiet, yet Carrel asserts his presence even in quietude.
Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game”), as Nazi-code breaker Alan Turing, has become a nervy nerd and castrated homosexual. His portrayal of this wartime hero has the force of tragedy.
Michael Keaton (“Birdman”), as a washed-up movie star trying to find redemption by performing as a legitimate stage actor, appears to be depicting his own life. He played Batman decades ago; here, he plays a movie actor who used to play a superhero. The guy has turned “serious,” tackling complex scenes and kilometric lines of dialogue that he could be awarded for.
Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”), as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, has the most physically demanding role as a man afflicted with a debilitating disease. Redmayne is up to the role not only physically but also when he internalizes, until he can hardly move and can no longer speak. Like Cotillard’s, this performance is the hardest to sustain.
Snubbed: Timothy Spall (“Mr. Turner”), Tom Hardy (“Locke”), Ralph Fiennes (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”), David Oyelowo (“Selma”), Oscar Isaac (“A Most Violent Year”), Joaquin Phoenix (“Inherent Vice”), Miles Teller (“Whiplash”), Channing Tatum (“Foxcatcher”), Jack O’Connell (“Unbroken” and “Starred Up”), Jake Gyllenhaal (“Nightcrawler” and “Enemy”).
(Conclusion tomorrow.)
