25 February, 2012
Hyderabad

Last time when a ‘Best movie’ Oscar was given to a silent film, it was way back in 1928 for the silent film “Wings”. It was the first ever Oscar ceremony and it was the only silent film to win the Best film in Oscar history. And now in circa 2012 when the film makers are clamoring to shoot big-budget digital cinema in 3D and with CG effects, a small French silent film “The Artist” shot in 35 days and released in black & white is on the way to a spectacular Oscar triumph on Sunday at Kodak theatre in Los Angeles. The film was made by French director Michel Hazanavicius as an ode to his Hollywood idols of silent era. Entire movie was shot in the older 4:3 aspect ratio and 22 fps (instead of the standard frame rate 24 fps) to recreate the look of silent films. The film doesn’t have any dialogues but has all the ingredients of a modern classic – romance, drama, comedy, music and dance. ‘The Artist’ is expected to win both ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Director’ awards.

Brad Pitt (“Moneyball”) and George Clooney (“The Descendants”) received an early Oscar buzz for ‘Best Actor’ award. But the actor Jean Dujardin (“The Artist”), who is not much known outside his native France, has become the hot favorite now to get the trophy. He has that yesteryear star’s vintage charm like NTR and MGR and perfectly nailed the role of a silent film era superstar ‘George Valentin’ in the film. Jean Dujardin should get ‘Best Actor’ Academy award and if he wins may try to evoke some laughs with a silent acceptance speech.

Meryl Streep got a record 18th Oscar nomination for her screen portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. This film “The Iron Lady” is criticized for historical inaccuracies but the actress is flawless as Britain’s first and only female Prime Minister. Everyone is waiting to see if Meryl can finally break her jinx (her last Oscar was in 1982 for “Sophie’s Choice”). One of the unexpected box-office hits of the year was the film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's best-seller book “The Help”. Will this southern story of all-woman ensemble finally give the acting honors long due to that wonderful actress Viola Davis? Davis almost stole a scene from Meryl Streep in the film “Doubt” (remember that famous walking shot between Streep as the school principal and Davis as the mother of an abused child). She now looks like stealing ‘Best Actress’ Academy award from Meryl Streep for her brilliant performance as a middle-aged black maid during Civil rights era America.

‘Best Supporting Actress’ category looks wide open with some fascinating performances from Octavia Spencer (who played another black maid in “The Help”), Bérénice Bejo (as an upcoming heroine in “The Artist” directed by her husband Michael) and the debutante Melissa McCarthy (one of the funny “Bridesmaids”). If Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis win the trophies, it will be another Oscar first for two black women winning ‘Best Actress’ and ‘Best Supporting Actress’ in the same year.

‘Best Supporting Actor’ fight this year is between two 82-year old actors Christopher Plummer (“The Beginners”) and Max von Sydow (“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”). Unless there is an upset, it is Plummer’s trophy for living the role of a happily married man who comes out of the gay closet at age 75!

Another old man who continues to amaze the film lovers across the world is 76-year old filmmaker Woody Allen. His “Midnight in Paris” is not only the intelligent romantic movie of the year but also the biggest box-office hit of his career. Only a genius like Woody can visualize a story set in the virtual 1920s Paris with characters like Ernest Hemingway, Picasso (with his mistress Adriana), TS Elliott, Cole Porter, Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald and Salvador Dali! Instead of churning out masala potboilers, why can’t any of our celebrated Telugu directors make such a movie like “Midnight in Vijayawada” with an imaginative story setting with greats like NTR, Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Ravindranath Tagore, Savitri and MS Subbulakshmi? “Midnight in Paris” is the only film that can withstand the “The Artist” sweep and win in “Original Screenplay” category.

“Adaptive Screenplay” is the race between “The Descendants” and “Moneyball”. Aaron Sorkin, who won the same award last year for “Social Network”, recreated the magic from another unfilmable true story – this time of Oakland baseball team As’ general manager Billy Bean. But the award may go to the writer-director Alexander Payne (earlier won for “Sideways”) whose writing in “The Descendants” beautifully captures the journey of an indifferent husband and a backup parent.

Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” received maximum number of nominations but may have to settle for a few technical awards. Iran’s entry for ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ -- “A Separation” -- is everyone’s favorite to win. Harry Potter’s last installment “Deathly Hallows” collected a billion dollars at the box-office last year but was snubbed in major Oscar categories like the earlier Harry Potter movies. This year’s “Best Animated Film” nominations do not include any Pixar (“Cars 2” was ignored by the Academy) and “The Rango” may pull it off from “Kung Fu Panda 2”.

My predictions for Oscar night:

Best Movie: ‘The Artist’

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius ("The Artist")

Best Actor: Jean Dujardin ("The Artist")

Best Actress: Viola Davis ("The Help")

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer ("Beginners")

Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer ("The Help")

Best Original Screenplay: "Midnight in Paris"

Best Adapted Screenplay: "The Descendants"

Best Cinematography: “The Artist”

Best Film Editing: “The Artist”

Best Original score: “The Artist”

Best Art Direction: "Hugo"

Best Costume Design:”Hugo

Best Makeup: “The Iron Lady”

Best Sound Mixing: “Hugo”

Best Sound Editing: “Hugo”

Best Visual Effects: “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

Best Animated Film: “The Rango”

Best Foreign Language film: "A Separation" (Iran)

article by Prasad. Mail him at prasadnvn at yahoo dot com

Past articles:

Oscar musings 2009
Oscar musings 2010
Oscar musings 2011