Road to the Oscars, Part 6
For Your Consideration, Vol. 3:
The Big 10, Part 1
1978′s Best Picture Winner — Annie Hall
The Oscar for Best Picture has always been the most divisive. Sadly, no one outside of Hollywood really cares about who won the Oscar for Art Direction in 1993, but most everyone knows that Annie Hall won the Oscar in 1978. Why? Because it beat out Star Wars! Controversy will always surround the winners of the big prize, because we all want our favorite movie to win. I desperately wanted The Dark Knight or Wall-E to steal the show a couple of years ago, but neither of them was even nominated. Slumdog Millionaire is a great movie, but Jamal Malik is no Batman or Charlie Chaplin robot. And I wasn’t alone in the sentiment either.
So, why am I opening old wounds? Because that was the last year of that the Academy Awards considered only five movies in the Best Picture category. The outcry was stellar. Not only had Hollywood ignored the popular films, but there were critical darlings like The Wrestler and Revolutionary Road that deserved the nomination over lesser picks like The Reader. Oscars 2009 changed the game.
In 2010, the Academy announced that they were expanding the category to include ten nominees. Not only did the ten choices that year encapsulate the “best” from the critics’ standpoint, but it also included the largest grossing film of the year, Avatar, the sci-fi breakout hit, District 9, the first animated film since Beauty and the Beast to be considered for the top prize, Up, the Nazi-killing romp from Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds, and the feel-good movie of the year, The Blind Side. Everyone was represented, and as they say, the best (wo)man won in the end — unless of course you’re an Avatar fan.
Admittedly, I haven’t seen critical and award-winning darlings like The King’s Speech, The Kids Are All Right, Another Year, and Blue Valentine, yet, but I’m confident that my choices are among some of the best, if not the best, that 2010 had to offer. Consider the following picks my top ten of the year. I think that any of them could sneak into the final nominations, and hope that some do strictly to shatter the precedent that past Oscars set.
Exit Through the Gift Shop
I was initially skeptic about the hype surrounding Exit Through the Gift Shop, but consider me impressed at infamous graffiti artist Banksy’s directorial debut in this documentary about the street art scene. Following amateur documentarian Thierry Guetta, we’re given a fascinating look at the world, its superstars, and the underground subculture. A question of legitimacy has hovered over the film since its release. Is it a full-blown documentary, or is Exit Through the Gift Shop a social commentary embedded within a mockumentary? Is it more dramatized like a Michael Moore film, or a Left Bank tell-it-like-it-is depiction? Honestly, if you’ve seen the movie then you know that the motivation behind Banksy, the reality of the project, isn’t important, because the execution of the vision is flawless. It’s edgy, covert, and interesting. We’re made to feel like a voyeur in an FBI truck that’s spying on someone on the Most Wanted list. It’s still an affective social commentary, regardless, so, it doesn’t matter if what you’re seeing is real, because the message remains the same. Simply, Exit Through the Gift Shop is hilarious and ingenious. I hope it’s real, but I think I’d be more impressed if it wasn’t. Though, Gift Shop wasn’t the only movie that defied my expectations this year.
Tangled
It’s no secret that 2010 started out as being one of the most lackluster years for movies in recent memory. The summer was without the plethora of tent poles; would-be blockbusters like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time bombed, and sure things like Iron Man 2 left audiences wanting more, which lead the way for major surprises to take the attention from movie-goers, like The Karate Kid, How to Train Your Dragon, and Despicable Me. That said, if 2010 was anything, it was a fantastic year for animated pictures.
If Tangled had been hand drawn by animators twenty years ago, it would have been one of the Disney classics that everyone grew up with; you’d unquestionably name it alongside of Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin. The difference is that Tangled wasn’t released in the ’80s or ’90s, nor was it sketched on cells, but instead it was made with state-of-the-art, stylized CGI and stereoscopic 3D technology. It’s a gorgeous movie that is so honest and hopeful that you can’t help but love it. Like any movie, you could have the most beautiful, impressive, or realistic cinematography and visual effects on screen, but if you don’t have a well-written story, then you might as well be making a promo reel or tech demo. Luckily, Tangled’s story not only excels, but it’s simply a classic — in that fairytale sort of way. Tangled isn’t a juggernaut of the genre, but it’s the same tried-and-true story told very well. Tangled is a long shot, because it has stiff (and maybe even impossible) competition from its biggest competitor, but the two of them can duke it out in the Best Animated Feature category.
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 is one of the unblemished gems of the animation genre. It’s a movie that shouldn’t exist. Toy Story 3 was born of the minds of some of the most brilliant animators and creative heads working in Hollywood today. We’ve come to expect the world from Pixar and they’ve delivered amazing movies time and time again (Cars excluded — just kidding). Personally, I don’t think there’s such thing as a perfect movie, because I believe that art is inherently perfect in its imperfection, but it’s hard to argue that third entry in the Toy Story franchise is anything but nearly perfect. We can split hairs forever, but at the end of the day, we have another phenomenal story to add to our movie collections.
The last few minutes of Toy Story 3 may very well be considered one of the finest conclusions to any film ever. I say that, because the ending just felt right. Any movie can have a good ending, where all of the events of the film have been leading to a specific moment, and that moment serves as a payoff for the entire setup of the film, and then we’re done. Everybody can go home happily, and we might even get a sequel out of it if it makes enough money on opening weekend. That’s not the kind of ending I’m talking about here. Toy Story 3 has an ending that makes perfect sense, because no matter how heart-breaking it is to see Andy say goodbye to Woody for the last time, which in turn felt like I was also bidding my final farewell to the cowboy, Toy Story has always been about being there for each other (no toy ever getting left behind), and thematically, the ending doesn’t betray what the entire series has led up to. It’s perfect.
Black Swan
Another brilliant ending came from none other than one of my favorite living directors, Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky is one of a kind. His movies are visceral, cerebral, supernatural, and philosophical. There was no better way for the guy to storm the psyches of the mainstream like he did with Requiem for a Dream. Follow that up with the gorgeous and tragic The Fountain and the tour-de-force performance by Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler, and people will eat up whatever your throw at them, like they have with Black Swan.
Black Swan features a career-defining performance by Natalie Portman; a brutal look at the ballet scene through the eyes of Portman’s’ naïve, innocent but driven, Nina Sayers. What’s fascinating and powerful about Black Swan is how horrifying it is; it’s legitimately scary. Nina takes the idea of obsession so far that is feels like you are watching a possession take place; a ritual that’ll end with Nina selling her soul to the spirit of the black swan in exchange for a single moment of fleeting perfection. The film is captivating, beautiful, unnerving, and is an example of Aronofsky’s once-ignored talent. Expect Black Swan to give the top Best Picture contenders a run for their money.
The Fighter
Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees director David O. Russell shocks with the surprisingly excellent Mark Wahlberg headliner, The Fighter. A true story about boxers and half-brothers Micky Ward and Dick Ecklund, actors Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, and Melissa Leo lead the charge in a story that falls somewhere just behind Rocky on the boxing movie spectrum. The Fighter rivals the Italian Stallion with a killer performance by Christian Bale as meth addict, local hero, and former boxer Ecklund as he attempts to coach his brother Micky to become the next light heavyweight champion. Like most boxing movies, such as Rocky, Cinderella Man, and Ali, The Fighter takes place less inside of the ring and focuses more on the foes outside.
Ultimately, I think that The Fighter will land in Oscar’s big ten, because it’s just classically good storytelling with a strong cast. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel (rebuild the ring, if you will) nor does it redefine the genre, but The Fighter is an example of excellent filmmaking, and in that regard it’s one of the best of the year, which is what the Oscars are (or should be) about.
