This week, we're presenting our winners for the 2018 Academy Awards...
Paul’s least favourite film: The Post
We’ve had some pretty overrated entries for Best Picture. Darkest Hour had far-reaching pretentions, Phantom Thread was just plain bizarre and Dunkirk had extremely 2-dimensional patriotism. But I’m selecting The Post for my least favourite film due to its general naffness. For me, it had no real impact. Lengthy amounts of dialogue, a quiet and ponderous tone and subtle themes are not necessarily bad things. But The Post suffers from the fact that it doesn’t bring a relatively dull part of history to life. Spielberg complacently presumes we’ll be interested and outraged because the film connects so well with Trump politics and scandal, but then makes something so static and verbally convoluted that even Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks look bored. It’s the ultimate “meh” film.
Doug’s least favourite film: Phantom Thread
It’s been an interesting bunch of nominees, with some quiet thoughtful films, some explosive dramas and even a horror. And perhaps most surprisingly, there’s been some absolute clunkers. I’m talking Darkest Hour delivering saccharine, half-baked patriotism on a spoon. I’m talking The Post focusing on entirely the wrong bit of the story and then desperately chucking monologues at Meryl. But my least favourite was Phantom Thread for the simple reason that it was amateurish. I felt like we were watching a bunch of drama students having a crack at acting (and oh those improvised scenes are just excruciating) and turn what could have been a decent film into something horridly overwritten and ultimately bizarre. My first zero of the entire Oscars project.
Paul’s Favourite Male Performance: Sam Rockwell in Three Billboards
Woody Harrelson gets second billing in this excellent film but Sam Rockwell gets to demonstrate more extensive acting skills- and not just because he’s wearing a body suit to give him a beer belly. His character goes through a tremendous 180 degree change, one so great that in many films it would come across as calculated and insincere. But thanks to a sharp script and Rockwell’s acting, it’s completely believable. Rockwell entirely embodies a bully, a loser and an idiot with far too much power and status. We not only dislike him, but we understand why he is this way- and weirdly end up sympathising with him. To conjure up such contradictory emotions in an audience takes great skill, and that’s why I think Rockwell should nab Best Supporting Actor over Harrelson. Quick mention of great performances from Timothee Chalamet, Armie Hammer (sigh) and Daniel Kaluuya too.
Doug’s Favourite Male Performance: Timothee Chalamet in Call Me By Your Name
I’m not normally particularly interested in male performances on screen because they’re usually quite dull, one-note things and the costumes are rarely as exciting for them. But this year turned out a crop of fantastic performances - Michael Shannon does a beautifully drawn baddie in The Shape of Water, both Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell do great, truthful work in Three Billboards and Lucas Hedges gives a lovely nuanced performance in Lady Bird (a film that stars Chalamet too, in a very different role - superbly executed). We’ve also got to mention Michael Stuhlbarg who gives completely unrecognisable performances in Call Me By Your Name, The Shape of Water and The Post. Now there’s an actor. But my win goes to Chalamet whose layered, tremendous turn as the love-sick Elio broke our hearts. It’s a performance of such subtlety that you are left quite in awe - a single look conveys everything, or in one case just the sudden tension in his shoulders after he brushes against Oliver. Unforgettable work. I have to shout out to Daniel Kaluuya from Get Out who was my second choice - he holds the centre of a brilliant, shape-shifting film with panache and drive. Let’s just hope the Academy doesn’t mistake Gary Oldman’s prosthetic work for greatness.
Paul’s Favourite Female Performance: Sally Hawkins in The Shape of Water
There’s one simple reason why I am in full support of any praise being piled heavily on Hawkins: she never speaks. As a mute character, her entire performance is presented through movement, expression and gesture while the other characters babble away. And you’re in full support of her all the way. A character as angelically good as she can end up being annoying but Hawkins injects daring when she signs “Fuck you” to the bad guy, and sexual allure when she seduces the amphibious creature. She’s a teenage girl trapped in a timid little woman’s body, and it becomes easy to identify with her (even if she is a mute cleaner of a scientific facility in the 1950s). Big shout out to Laurie Metcalfe, Frances McDormand, and Saoirse Ronan too.
Doug’s Favourite Female Performance: Laurie Metcalfe in Lady Bird.
There was great work in many of the film this year from the women, and it’s no disrespect to Meryl to say her performance was one of the least memorable, because that’s how good everyone was. The bar was high, and Sally Hawkins, Lesley Manville & Frances McDormand turned in fabulous performances. But for me, Metcalfe wins from the sheer force and emotion that she imbues her role with. It was a masterclass in how to act without doing anything, and in one scene with her back turned to the camera, you found yourself watching her slumped shoulders rather than the wailing Saoirse Ronan. A layered tour-de-force that establishes her as a real talent to those who only know her as Sheldon’s mum in The Big Bang Theory. It’ll probably go to Allison Janney but I think Metcalfe is a deserving winner.
Paul’s Favourite Film: Lady Bird
This is it - this is the one. This is the only nominee that made me cry. The mother-daughter relationship between Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalfe is funny, tender and, above all, real. The film has a deceptively simple plot but deals with extremely complicated thoughts and feelings that are difficult to put into words. It incorporates LGBT themes, mental health, poverty and bullying seamlessly and with more insight than you’d usually see in film. I have doubts about whether it will win because it’s less impactful than other entries. But there’s no other nominee that handles the maxim “less is more” so skilfully. One line, one look, one moment can tell us 1000 things about a character in Lady Bird, and whether you’re an American teenager or a South London teacher approaching 30, you’ll be touched. If I were a member of the Academy (give it 10 years), it would get my vote.
Doug’s favourite film: Call Me By Your Name
Ooh this was a tough one. I was torn between Three Billboards / Lady Bird / Get Out and this one, and if any of them won I would be delighted. But Call Me By Your Name is the only film that ended up affecting me - and the friends we went to see it with - long after the film and ended and we had gone home. It’s a brilliant, astonishing work that somehow (how?!) manages to capture the tender strands of first loves with not a hint of cliche, and a lot of realness. It’s a masterpiece, and Chalamet & Hammer work together fluently, their touches and dropped gazes become painful to us just seeing it. It speaks to all people who have had a first love - a summer romance - and features a lovely monologue from Michael Stuhlbarg toward its closing moments. Mesmerising and heart-breaking in its honest portrayal of love and Italy.
Paul’s Predicted Winner: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Let’s face it, people are talking about this film. Deep, arty films seem to be the order of the day after Birdman, Spotlight and Moonlight have won in succession, which would usually put Lady Bird and Phantom Thread to the forefront of the betting odds. But the Oscars can often favour films that tackle the most immediate issues. Moonlight won the year after the “Oscars so white” controversy, and older films like Mrs Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives, and West Side Story had an edge to them because they connected so well to the social debate of the day. And with the shadow of sexual harrassment scandals haunting the awards season, a film about a female vigilante could not be more relevant. This is an angry film that doesn’t hold back- and there are a lot of justifiably angry people in Hollywood who are out for blood. For these people, and members of the public who feel that justice has not been brought to their oppressors, Three Billboards has struck a nerve. A win for this film would be a big statement, and a deserved entry into cinema’s Hall of Fame.
Doug’s predicted winner: Lady Bird
I know that Three Billboards has hit the issues of the day on the head, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it take the crown either. However I think Lady Bird also hits the current issues square in the jaw, and I think the Academy is keen to embrace the smaller art house pictures after a tonne of complaints about the big showy films with their minimal representation of non-white people and often a fair amount of sexism. Lady Bird has done second-best on representing non white people (Get Out was the best) and I think it has spoken to so many women, who have been vocal about their connection to it. Right now, the men in the Academy should (if they have any common sense) be listening to the women so a Lady Bird win wouldn’t shock me one bit.
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