Juan Barquin/Columnist
With the Oscars riding in this weekend, everyone who’s into award shows and movies has the same question on their mind : who’s taking home the gold? It is doubtful that most people have acquainted themselves with every film nominated this year, as there are a grand total of 53 nominees in these 24 categories.
It’s an overwhelming number for anyone, especially with how challenging it is to watch some of these considering their lack of a wide US release. This year’s Best Picture nominees were fairly popular and widely shown. There’s an abundance of American history films this year, with “Argo,” “Django Unchained,” “Lincoln,” and “Zero Dark Thirty” rounding out the nominees. While some of these seem to be in the lead, it wouldn’t be tough for a technical beauty like “Life of Pi,” the pandering musical “Les Miserables,” the indie darling “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” or even the mental illness romcom “Silver Linings Playbook” to steal it out of their hands.
There’s a clear frontrunner in the race for Foreign Film and it’s name is “Amour,” which is up for five nominations this year, including Best Picture. Everyone is gaga for Haneke’s depressing tale of old age and death, and it’s currently playing at the Tower Theater this month. Another impressive nominee from Chile is “No,” which will be having its Miami premiere next month at the Miami International Film Festival. Nobody ever pays much attention to the short film nominees, but there’s a prime cut of fifteen shorts this year that are easy to watch if you know where to look.
Those who missed the beautiful animated short “Paperman” in front of Disney’s “Wreck-It Ralph,” can find that tossed into the mix, and those interested in the live-action and documentary shorts will find that “Curfew” and “Monday’s at Racine” are likely to win and worth watching at the Cosford Cinema or Miami Beach Cinematheque.
The actors and actresses are easy predictions this year, with Daniel Day-Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones up for the male wins for “Lincoln,” and Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway for the female wins in “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Les Miserables,” respectively. There’s a slim chance that Emmanuelle Riva, Robert DeNiro, or Christoph Waltz may be able to sneak their way into winning, but it’s unlikely.
If “Lincoln” seems like it is gaining an overwhelming amount of possible love, it’s because it’s the likely winner for Best Adapted Screenplay, and seven time nominee Steven Spielberg is the current frontrunner for Best Director. Ben Affleck may have won the Globe, the BAFTA, but the Academy excluded him from their nominees, making for a disappointing bunch. While Best Picture nominees “Django Unchained,” “Amour,” and “Zero Dark Thirty” all have a shot for Original Screenplay, Ang Lee’s technical genius for “Life of Pi” will likely go unrewarded as it falls under the boring, predictable steamroller that is “Lincoln.”
The minor categories aren’t on too many minds and are unpredictable as can be, so a quick look at documentary and animated will serve to close this off. In terms of documentaries, the important look at sexual abuse in the military, “The Invisible War,” will likely be snubbed this year for the pretty but aimless “Searching for Sugar Man.” As for the animated features, it’s a fairly strong category, but Pixar’s weak “Brave” looks to be in the lead instead of the stop-motion wonders “Paranorman” and “Frankenweenie.” It’s impossible to tell what could happen with the Oscars, as voters tend to ditch their usual predictability at times, but these are just some simple predictions and helpful tips to knowing where to watch a few of the lesser known flicks this year.