Final Oscar Predictions 1/3 (Music; Shorts; Misc.)

Best Original Score:

“Anna Karenina”
“Argo”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Skyfall”

Prediction: “Life of Pi”
My preference: “Life of Pi”

Mychael Danna has done better work in the past, but in a fairly weak year for the category (they should have nominated “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Cloud Atlas!”) I find myself rooting for “Life of Pi” here. It feels as if John Williams’ next win will have to be on the coat-tails of a sweeping Best Picture winner, and Thomas Newman’s “Skyfall” is hardly a revelation deserving of recognition. If the Academy really take to “Argo” then Desplat may finally get an Oscar, but I feel very comfortable about predicting Danna to take this one home.

Best Original Song:

“Chasing Ice”
“Les Miserables”
“Life of Pi”
“Skyfall”
“Ted”

Prediction: “Skyfall”
My preference: “Chasing Ice”

Yes, that’s right; If I had a ballot I wouldn’t be voting for Adele, despite liking the song a ton. I am continually moved by “Before My Time” but I concede that it doesn’t have a hope of snagging this Oscar, the only possible challenger to global superstar Adele’s Bond hit the mopey, uninspiring “Suddenly,” from” Les Miserables,” which contributes little to the film overall. This one’s going to the Londoner.

 
Best Animated Feature:

“Brave”
“Frankenweenie”
“Paranorman”
“Pirates: Band of Misfits”
“Wreck-It Ralph”

Prediction: “Wreck-It Ralph”
My preference: “Frankenweenie”

This is looking like a three-horse race, with ‘Ralph’ and “Brave” duking it out at the front of the pack, and the hugely-respected Tim Burton’s “Frankenweenie” clinging onto hope of an upset. I have been concerned that the video game aspects of ‘Ralph’ will put some voters off, its commerciality and often garish animation making it the less graceful counterpart to the accomplished palette of Pixar’s “Brave.” The problem for Pixar is that nobody thinks that “Brave” even comes close to its finer achievements in the past decade, and – considering the gender balance of the Academy – I don’t think it helps that this particular film focuses on the issues of a teenage girl.

Best Documentary Feature:

“5 Broken Cameras”
“The Gatekeepers”
“How to Survive a Plague”
“The Invisible War”
“Searching for Sugar Man”

Prediction: “Searching for Sugar Man”
My preference: “5 Broken Cameras”

Having altered voting for this category to encompass the whole of the academy, it’s unclear whether voters will see all of the films, and it sadly feels as if they’d be more inclined to watch ‘Sugar Man’ than any of the others. I rather liked the film, but it’s a more personal story without a heavy issue to burden the audience, and feels like somewhat of a trifle having seen its competition. I don’t think “How to Survive a Plague” is out of it yet, and “The Invisible War” packs a serious punch, too, but will enough folks rally behind one of them to cause an upset? It seems unlikely.

Best Documentary (Short Film):

“Inocente”
“Kings Point”
“Mondays at Racine”
“Open Heart”
“Redemption”

Prediction: “Inocente”
My preference: N/A

Best Foreign Language Film:

“Amour” (Austria)
“Kon-Tiki” (Norway)
“No” (Chile)
“A Royal Affair” (Denmark)
“War Witch” (Canada)

Prediction: “Amour”
My preference: “War Witch”

It appears as if this prize is all sewn up, although I don’t think that “Amour” is traditionally the kind of film that wins in this category. The lack of a clear contender among the other four seals the deal, but will it be the film’s only prize?

Best Short Film (Animation):

“Adam and Dog”
“Fresh Guacamole”
“Head Over Heels”
“Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare”
“Paperman”

Prediction: “Paperman”
My preference: “Fresh Guacamole”

While it’s true that voters have the tendency to surprise when filling out their ballot for the shorts, this is the first time that voting has been opened up to all branches. “Paperman” is surely the most widely viewed of the nominees (everybody who saw “Wreck-It Ralph” at the cinema will have seen this too) and the film does have a sweeping, cutesy charm about it. I’d be very surprised if the Academy chose to give this to one of the other, generally uninspiring nominees.

Best Short Film (Live Action):

“Asad”
“Buzkashi Boys”
“Curfew”
“Death of a Shadow”
“Henry”

Prediction: “Curfew”
My preference: N/A

Top Ten Films of 2011: #8

8

THE INTERRUPTERS 

Directed by Steve James 

Starring: Ameena Matthews, Jeff Fort, Cobe Williams 

The winds of change blow steady yet penetrate little in Steve James’ “The Interrupters,” no matter how hard the interventionist group at the centre of this documentary about Chicago gang warfare endeavour to achieve a ceasefire. A seasonal structure sees attempts to promote peace and understanding within the city’s most poverty-stricken areas occur over the course of a single year, in which members of this community struggle with containing their aggression. As with “Hoop Dreams” James displays a valuable ability to be concessive to the characters, while also working from the inside out to facilitate the film’s real, gritty themes to best articulate their relevance in today’s national (if not global) context. “The Interrupters” is neither obvious nor preachy, and remains tremendously impacting as a cross-cultural text and seminal source for compassion.

Review: Voyage to the End of the World

Voyage to the End of the World (1976)

Directed by Philippe Cousteau

Starring: Jacques Cousteau

Grade: B

Written for Subtitled Online:

‘We are witnesses to the vanishing of an eternity,’ Philippe Cousteau proclaims in the final breaths of his documentary, “Voyage to the End of the World,” as his father Jacques reaches the end of his journey to the outer-reaches of the South Pole. Of all the faraway cultural landscapes and alien habitats open to exploration, Antarctica appears to be the en-vogue topic of the moment; Luc Jacquet’s “March of the Penguins” chronicled the life cycle of its bird-dwellers, while more recently Werner Herzog’s “Encounters at the End of the World” sees the renowned director ape the Cousteau family’s 1975 cross-continental trip. As mentioned in the film, this journey marks a two-hundred-year anniversary of explorer Captain James Cook’s crossing of the Antarctic Circle during his circumnavigation of the globe in the 18th century.

Despite Cousteau’s established attachment to the underwater world as an oceanographer, evident in his work for National Geographic, and Oscar-winning feature “Le Monde du Silence,” this marked the man’s most daring endeavour to date. In 1973 Captain Cousteau set sail for Antarctica in his boat Calypso, accompanied by a crew that included his son Philippe, a previous collaborator and partner on TV series, “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.” The film follows the Cousteau and the Calypso from the time that it arrives at the South Pole, to the end of the exploration of its waters. While a prolific filmmaking duo during their time together, Philippe would work with his father just one more time after “Voyage” – in their search for the lost continent of Atlantis – before a boat crash caused his untimely death in 1979, at the age of thirty-nine.

While primarily an ode to the South Seas and their unorthodox array of creatures, “Voyage to the End of the World” is just that – a voyage – and it manages to convey the sense of journeyman in Cousteau et crew particularly well given that there isn’t a diary-structure as such. One of its most appealing attributes is that P. Cousteau doesn’t get too overdetermined with creating a compelling narrative outside of marine life and glacial terrain. But for a brief segment where he mourns the tragic accidental loss of Michel Laval, the ship’s second-in-command, the emphasis is always placed upon gaining insight into a world we know relatively little about – especially considering that this occurred nearly forty years ago. When P. Cousteau does attempt to inject drama it’s usually through presenting the landscape as a hurdle for the expedition; the group must first navigate an active volcano and later navigate a pool of icebergs in order to progress safely.

What’s achieved is largely through exercising a patient approach, understated up to its euphoric final moments, even as P. Cousteau pertains to include swooping aerial shots and a graceful musical score. Father and son also alternate between providing voice-over commentary, resisting literary intonation in favour of a more practical impression of the place. The aesthetic qualities of “Voyage to the End of the World” lie in its faithfulness to the sea – perhaps not surprising as both father and son are proven pioneers in the field of documentarianism. Their welcome desire to leave this distant climate unimposed allows the forays into penguin behaviour and deepwater organisms to provoke their own inherent allure and magic; the Cousteaus project romantic ideas onto Antarctica but don’t purport to be above their station as fledgling voyagers. They remain incredibly respectful of it as a haven for sailors, naturalists, enthusiasts in its untouched state.

Above all, Cousteau creates the impression of Antarctica as a tranquil odyssey, aided heavily by Editor Hedwige Bienvenu’s fluid, assured style. While “Voyage to the End of the World” wanes a little in interest in the middle section, that’s more a result of pedantic explanation of processes than it is of the film’s diminishment as a visual showpiece. It’s pieced together with loving delicacy and thoughtful flair; a stripped-bare, simplistic presentation of life in the South, and a reservedly charming engagement with the natural world. As the film builds towards an underwater climax, Cousteau and crew’s passion for this unknown corner of the world is felt – without the need for heavy personalisation or dramatic camerawork.

Serenely mastered, “Voyage to the End of the World” is Cousteau’s love letter to nature; in particular the mystery and metaphysics beneath Antarctica’s oceanic expanse. It’s a modestly-played documentary designed more towards developing intrigue through a meditative comb of the location rather than an exciting adventure story, and surely succeeds in opening our eyes to the mystical beauty of a wilderness and the settlers who inhabit it. More concerned with the power of imagery than a need to educate and inform, the film finds a median between postcard admiration and spiritual fascination in detailing – what many believed to be – the point at which civilisation ceased to exist.


Voyage to the End of the World has recently been released on DVD and Blu-ray.

Anvil! The Story of Undervalued!

I didn't get around to reviewing Anvil! The Story of Anvil! after I caught it on DVD a couple of months ago. I knew very little about either Anvil themselves or the film, a story of a band's attempts to revive the limited success of their early career. The movie is very low-budget but wonderfully gets inside the mind of guitarists Robb Reiner and Steve 'Lips' Kudlow, who trail around the deceprit state of European small-time rock with the ambition of plucky teenage bandmates. It's a wonderfully entertaining film that demonstrates the battle between artistry and practicality and the fine line between celebrity and non-celebrity.

Its omission from Oscar's documentary shortlist is truly saddening as it will likely remain one of my favourite films of this year, and probably one of the best reviewed.

Disaster: Salvation; courtesy of More4

A couple of weeks ago I had a bit of a bitch about how on earth I was going to see the remaining films of 2008 (most of which are tiny) before the summer commences. Cue More4, who are showing the Oscar-nominated documentary Trouble the Water this Tuesday at 10pm. Fellow UK cinema-obsessees take note.

**Final** Oscar Predictions Part 2: Screenplays, Animated etc.

Original Screenplay

Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Wall-E
The Wrestler

Alternate: The Visitor

If we're going on popularity of the films this seems like the five. Happy Go Lucky definitely has fans but isn't strong enough to predict above others that missed a WGA nomination.

Adapted Screenplay

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Alternate: Revolutionary Road

I'm really confident about these five since the weakest one of these, The Reader, seems to be trundling along nicely and its major competition, Revolutionary Road, doesn't. The Dark Knight could make it but I maybe think this is the only place where it can't shrug off comic book bias.

Animated Feature

Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E
Waltz With Bashir

Alternate: Bolt

Because of how people view animated films I think that Waltz With Bashir is in a bit of a shaky position. It does have an excellent critical showing though, so I'll leave it. Interestingly, I think if it isn't nominated here it's definitely going to win the Foreign award, whereas if it's nominated for both it could lose out altogether.

Foreign Film

The Baader-Meinhof Complex - Germany
The Class - France
Everlasting Moments - Sweden
Revanche - Austria
Waltz With Bashir - Israel

Alternate: Canada - Necessities of Life

I'd say Israel and Austria are strongest, and they're a fan of the Swedish director's work so that has to bode well for his entry. France have an unprecedented history with this category so I'm picking them, even though the film isn't very traditional. As for the final spot, The Baader Meinhof Complex is harsh -- both visually and thematically -- but it's largely good, and I haven't a clue about the others.

Documentary Feature

Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh
Man on Wire
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Standard Operating Procedure
Trouble the Water

Alternate: Encounters at the End of the World

Well Man on Wire is the only lock, but Trouble the Water is about Hurricane Katrina, Standard Operating Procedure is about the mistreatment of suspected terrorists (appropriate since the new president wants to get rid of the Guantanamo Bay facility), Blessed is about the holocaust, and Pray the Devil is about Liberian peace with added feminist oomph. Major, major bait at play here.

The legendary Werner Herzog is my alternate but his doc is much less Oscary than most of the shortlist.