Feature - Filmic Forays Oscar Round-Up 2018

Well the movie Awards Season hoopla has abated, the 90th Academy Awards having rounded it all off nicely and with none of the wrong-envelope faff that turned last year's event into a fiasco. 

This year's Oscar ceremony attempted to draw a line under the past twelve months' momentous events in Hollywood. Whereas the Golden Globes were full of edgy jokes about Harvey Weinstein and institutionalised sexism, Oscar seemed to do much more looking forward - to a US film industry that celebrates diversity and has something approaching gender balance, both behind and in front of the camera. The broader the range of creatives involved in making cinema, the better viewing for all of us, right?

I argued this time last year that the whole point of film awards in general, and the Oscars in particular, should be to help promote truly innovate movies - ones that provide a quality alternative to the tide of sequels, remakes and reboots, which sometimes threaten to clog up our cinemas. So, to what extent did the 2018 nominations serve up the best of last year, and were the winners of the top awards truly worthy? And to what extent did they hint at some of that much hoped-for diversity? Let me take you on a quick jaunt through them...

Best Picture - The Shape of Water

There was no juggernaut film this year - no Schindler's List or The Lord of the Rings trilogy closer to sweep the boards. Instead we had a batch of wildly different films dividing attention and acclaim between them. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Dunkirk or Get Out - any one of them might have clinched it to my satisfaction. Even Lady Bird was viewed by some as a contender. As it worked out, The Shape of Water won over more hearts than it alienated, and I was happy with its success. Even if you're not a fan of its girl-meets-fish whimsy, you can't deny the sheer craft in every frame. This is one gorgeously made film. Besides, Three Billboards picked up the top gong at both the Globes and the BAFTAs, so it's good to have the honours shared. Just a shame there wasn't an equivalent award for the magnificent Dunkirk.

Best Director - Guillermo del Toro: The Shape of Water

I'm a bit of a del Toro fan - Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone are both superior films - so I was glad to see him receive this accolade. The Shape of Water was the Mexican director's baby from first to last and had his visual stamp all over it, so it would have been weird had he not picked this up along with the Best Picture award. It's always good to see a distinctive voice in cinema being rewarded, so well done the Academy on that one. Actually none of the nominated directors had received before, and acknowledgement for both Paul Thomas Anderson and Christopher Nolan is overdue. But this was still a worthy choice.

Best Actress - Frances Mcdormand: Three Billboards in Ebbing, Missouri

A slam-dunk, and one I wouldn't argue with. It is appropriate, as some have said, that the award go to Frances McDormand's Three Billboards performance. As Mildred Hayes she is a strong woman, apparently failed by the system, who goes on a quest for justice (albeit one that takes things to a worrying extreme). It was a role very much in tune with the times, and she played it magnificently. I did harbour a sneaking hope, however, that Sally Hawkins would steal it for her sublime turn as Elisa in The Shape of Water. She was the film's emotional core without speaking a single word. And there are few actors who could pull that off to such amazing effect.

Best Actor - Gary Oldman: Darkest Hour

Oldman was great in this, and it was about much more than the prosthetics that transformed his face. Even if the film dropped the ball in the final stages (if you've seen it you'll surely know what I'm talking about), he never did. The other nominees have either bagged their Oscars already or will have plenty of time to do so in future ceremonies, so this was Gary's year.

Best Supporting Actress - Allison Janney: I, Tonya

I saw Lady Bird last weekend and Laurie Metcalf was excellent. Likewise Lesley Manville in Phantom Thread. Octavia Spencer breezed her Shape of Water role and to Mary J Blige I extend an apology - I haven't seen Mudbound yet. Allison Janney transformed herself for I, Tonya, however, and not in a Gary Oldman/Winston Churchill kind of way. If you've seen Janney in both The West Wing and in the role of Tonya Harding's mother, you'll appreciate what a stretch of a performance this was. Proper immersive acting. Good call.

Best Supporting Actor - Sam Rockwell: Three Billboards in Ebbing, Missouri

It was a shame to have to choose between Rockwell and Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water). Jenkins is an unsung hero of acting and his friendship with Sally Hawkins in the del Toro movie is a high-point. Christopher Plummer was a phenomenal J P Getty in All the Money in the World, but his genius was happily acknowledged back in 2012 for sterling work in Beginners. And I can't comment on Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project, that film being one of my great 2017 oversights. But much credit to hard-working, always impressive character-actor Rockwell, for finding depth in a slow-witted racist like Deputy Dixon. 


Best Cinematography - Roger Deakins: Blade Runner 2049

Fourteenth nomination for Torquay's Roger Deakins, and his first win. This man has overseen photography on numerous Coen Brothers films including Fargo and No Country for Old Men. He worked on Scorsese's Kundun, on Skyfall and on Sicario. His first nomination was for The Shawshank Redemption, for heaven's sake. Seriously, give that man an Oscar. Oh - yes, you did! About damn time. He's the reason why the Blade Runner sequel looks so gorgeous. Got there at last, mate, and you're not yet 70.

Best Original Screenplay - Get Out

This was contested by an outstanding group of scripts including several of the Best Picture contenders and my beloved The Big Sick. So it's wonderful that Jordan Peele picked up the award for the brilliant and provocative Get Out. Actor/writer Peele also had a Best Director nom for his debut behind the camera, but this is a significant win in itself for a rising star in cinema. This is what the Best Original Screenplay award is for - rewarding the challenging and the innovative. Again well done.

Best Adapted Screenplay - Call Me By Your Name

I haven't seen it. I have nothing to say. I am sorry. One trusted friend tells me it's the best thing ever, another that it's not worth my time. So that's par for the course. I enjoyed Molly's Game very much, likewise The Disaster Artist and Logan, so does it truly stand up to all of them? I'll give you my thoughts later in the year along with those on Mudbound and The Florida Project. Well I can't live in a cinema... (Update: I've now scene two more of the above films and turned the titles into review links.)

Verdict

As ever there are films and performances, which probably should have received nominations, but never made the cut (Lady Macbeth, anyone?). That aside, Oscar is embracing a wider range of projects these days, so that even a few genre pics - Get Out being the prime example - gain proper attention. With no single behemoth movie to grab the awards, a handful of edgy, imaginative or technically ground-breaking titles divided the spoils between them. (The Cold War woman-fish romantic fantasy bagged the big two, admittedly.) The traditional 'Oscar-bait' movies were scarce, and innovation was as high a priority as it's probably ever been before.

I call that a good year.