Instant classic, but A Star is Born isn’t likely to win Best Picture
It might have been a red-hot favourite on release, but one of the contenders for the Best Pictures hasn’t won over Academy voters. So which film will win?
Leigh Paatsch
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The contenders for this year’s Academy Award for 2019 Best Motion Picture are a mixed bag in terms of quality.
One movie is an instant classic, but seems likely to lose out.
Which film will win?
Best Motion Picture of the Year
THE NOMINEES
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
A Star Is Born
Vice
Overall calibre of nominations: Scattered.
OTHER TIPS
The honour’s all yours, the spoils are all theirs: Compared to recent years, this is not exactly what anyone would call a crack field of contenders. Black Panther (released too early in 2018) and the ‘Klansman (too in-your-face for voters) are making up the numbers. Vice is a shambles, only here because of its political stance. The Favourite is a bit too weird, and Bohemian Rhapsody is a so-so movie enhanced by a brilliant lead actor.
Deserves To Win, But Won’t: Had you told anyone walking out of a screening of A Star is Born that it would not be a red hot Best Picture fave come Oscars night, they would have thought you crazy. This instant classic ticks every box. And yet, it seems few Academy voters will be ticking the movie’s box on the ballot. Therefore the genial feel-good vibes of Green Book is all that stands in the way of certain victory for Roma.
And the Winner Is … Roma. The most likely winner, on purely cinematic grounds. Which is kind of ironic, considering most voters will have caught this movie on TVs, tablets and (gasp!) phones. (This beguiling black-and-white mood piece from Mexico was funded with an open cheque book provided by the streaming company Netflix.) Blessed with emotionally authentic performances and a collection of camera moves that should be classified as individual works of art, this masterpiece is filmmaking of the highest calibre.
UNLUCKY NOT TO MAKE THE FIELD:
Hereditary
Widows
A Quiet Place
Mission: Impossible — Fallout
The Old Man and the Gun
Isle of Dogs
RECENT WINNERS:
2018: The Shape of Water
2017: Moonlight
2016: Spotlight
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