Joaquin Phoenix, Renee Zellweger rise to Oscar favouritism after Baftas triumph
Movie awards ceremonies perform many functions, and one of them is the scrutiny they bring to bear on the film industry.
Movie awards ceremonies perform many functions, and one of them is the scrutiny they bring to bear on the film industry as a whole: what kinds of movies are made, and what films and filmmakers are valued.
This year the BAFTAs, the British movie awards, were roundly criticised for their lack of diversity, particularly in the acting categories. It’s an issue that runs deeper than a single set of choices by a voting group, as Joaquin Phoenix suggested in his acceptance speech at the BAFTAs, which were presented on Monday at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Phoenix, who spoke about climate change when he accepted his Golden Globe, used his platform once again at the BAFTAs, with a trenchant and self-critical speech about systemic racism. He will presumably be in a position to have something to say at the Oscars too: he’s more than likely to be collecting his first Academy Award on February 9.
When it comes to the Oscars, the acting categories seem locked down, as they have for the entire awards season. Renee Zellweger (Judy) in the best actress category and Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood) and Laura Dern (Marriage Story), in the supporting categories, look set to join Phoenix as winners after their BAFTAs success.
There’s also an increasing air of inevitability around 1917, which is steadily dominating the box office and the awards lists. It’s already taken out the Producers Guild and Directors Guild awards and the Golden Globe for best picture, drama and best director.
Co-written and directed by Sam Mendes, 1917 is an immersive World War I story of two young soldiers trying to cross enemy lines and deliver a message. It is shot as if in a single take by legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins, who took out one of the film’s seven BAFTAs.
Mendes became the first British best director winner since Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire in 2009. At the Oscars, where 1917 has 10 nods, his film could echo another Slumdog achievement: it could become the best picture winner with the biggest Oscar haul since Slumdog took home eight awards.
One award it didn’t win was Screen Actors Guild prize for best cast, which is often a predictor for best picture at the Academy Awards: this year, it went to Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. The first Korean film to be nominated for an Academy Award, Parasite has dominated the foreign language/international categories, but it has not been confined to this alone: it has also been nominated (and victorious) in other categories. In the BAFTAs, for example, it also won best original screenplay. At the Oscars, it is in the running for six awards, and could definitely be a multiple winner.
At the BAFTAs and the Oscars, the absence of female nominees in the directing categories did not go unnoticed. The question has not been “where are the women?” but “why weren’t these women nominated?”.
Actress Carey Mulligan, in a recent interview at Sundance, singled out Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, Lorene Scarfaria’s Hustlers and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women as films that deserved recognition. “I feel like the fact that they are getting made is progress. But it’s all baby steps,” she told Variety. She wondered whether Academy voters had even watched them. “Maybe you shouldn’t be allowed to vote unless you can prove you’ve seen every single one,” she said. “Maybe there should be a test.”
Netflix dominated conversations and nominations earlier in the awards season, but it has been eclipsed so far in the final round. The Irishman and Marriage Story, both Netflix films, have had strong reviews and figured prominently in critical best-of lists. And both films, as well as Netflix’s The Two Popes, scored plenty of nominations at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs. But they have little to show for it: The Irishman was nominated in 10 categories at the BAFTAs and left empty-handed; Marriage Story’s sole winner was Laura Dern. They are still in contention at the Oscars, but there’s little sense that they will figure prominently.
At the BAFTAs, Netflix was a winner, however, in the animated feature category. There has been a bit of a changing of the guard here. Frozen II, for example, didn’t make the Oscar nominations cut. And Toy Story 4, after losing at the Golden Globes to Missing Link, was sidelined at the BAFTAs by Netflix’s 2D Santa origins story, Klaus. Netflix’s I Lost My Body is also Oscar-nominated.
It will be interesting to see where the Academy members put their votes this year.
Who is the human, who a monster?
This brilliantly staged Shake and Stir production takes the audience to the heart of a tragic tale of unnatural acts, obsession and madness.
Noemie Merlant: The actor bares all
The French actress and director’s ease with nude scenes in movies such as Emmanuelle and The Balconettes is part of the risk-taking she seeks in her projects.