Oscar Preview - Who Will Win, Who Should Win, Who Really Should Win (Part One)

Page 1 of 2

Each day this week, Paste is bringing you Oscar week coverage. Today we’re proud to present Part One of our annual Who Will Win/ Who Should Win/ Who Really Should Win article. This year’s contributors are Film Editor Michael Dunaway and Film Critics Tim Basham, Sean Gandert, Craig Detwiler, and Jeremy Medina. Their comments are identified by their initials. Tune in tomorrow for Part Two.

Art Direction
Who’s Nominated:
“Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
“The King’s Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
“True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Who Will Win: The King’s Speech
Who Should Win: Inception
Who Really Should Win: Inception
Comments:
SG: The Academy’s a fan of period art direction, and The King’s Speech did it well. That being said, it was nowhere near as original as what we saw in Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World.
CD: Tim Burton’s extravagant Alice in Wonderland has got to win in this showy category.

Cinematography
Who’s Nominated:
“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
“Inception” Wally Pfister
“The King’s Speech” Danny Cohen
“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit” Roger Deakins

Who Will Win: Roger Deakins, True Grit
Who Should Win: Jeff Croneweth, The Social Network
Who Really Should Win: Jeff Croneweth, The Social Network
Comments:
SG: Roger Deakins deserves the award he’ll be receiving, but for all of its quality True Grit really isn’t the best example of his work (in matter of fact, it’s not even in his top 10). Of the contenders, The Social Network featured the most groundbreaking and evocative cinematography, but Robert Richardson hit it out of the park with Shutter Island. Anything you can do with a camera he did in Shutter Island, which was virtually a master class in cinematography on its own.
CD: One of the toughest awards to call. Roger Deakins has been nominated
so many times for consistently great work. Inception was often jaw
dropping in its execution. Social Network works with shadows in
amazing ways. Black Swan will be studied and stolen from for years. It would be a shame if King’s Speech wins.

Costume Design
Who’s Nominated:
“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King’s Speech” Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest” Sandy Powell
“True Grit” Mary Zophres

Who Will Win: Jenny Beaven, The King’s Speech
Who Should Win: Mary Zophres, True Grit
Who Really Should Win: Mary Zophres, True Grit
Comments:
TB: There is a simplicity about the performances in True Grit that works well with the authentic attire of the times, allowing the Coens to create a world where the actors can play real characters, not caricatures of reality.

Documentary (Short Subject)
Who’s Nominated:
“Killing in the Name” Jed Rothstein
“Poster Girl” Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block
“Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
“Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
“The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Who Will Win: Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block, Poster Girl
Who Should Win: Jed Rothstein, Killing in the Name
Who Really Should Win: Jed Rothstein, Killing in the Name
Comments:
SG: Impossible to say who really should win — too many short documentaries a year to see enough for an opinion. Probably none of these, though.
I’ll go into more detail about why killing in the name is so great in my piece about the shorts next week, but in general it’s both personal and entertaining, not to mention a lot more complex than the rest of these. Poster Girl has some of that going on, but it’s also meandering and leads nowhere by its end.
CD: Strangers No More has plenty of emotional appeal. But Poster Girl
gets inside the soldier’s experience.

Film Editing
Who’s Nominated:
“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
“The Fighter” Pamela Martin
“The King’s Speech” Tariq Anwar
“127 Hours” Jon Harris
“The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Who Will Win: Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter, The Social Network
Who Should Win: Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter, The Social Network
Who Really Should Win: Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter, The Social Network
Comments:
SG: Social Network was extremely tight and managed to pace out what would otherwise be a slow drama, not to mention making its labyrinthine plot easily understandable (not easy if you read the script).
CD: Social Network is dependent upon seamless cutting and transitions.

Foreign Language Film
Who’s Nominated:
“Biutiful” Mexico
“Dogtooth” Greece
“In a Better World” Denmark
“Incendies” Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Who Will Win: Incendies
Who Should Win: Incendies
Who Really Should Win: I Am Love
Comments:
CD: Best of both worlds—Canadian roots for a story set in the Middle East

Makeup
Who’s Nominated:
“Barney’s Version” Adrien Morot
“The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Who Will Win: Rick Baker and Dave Elsey, The Wolfman
Who Should Win: Rick Baker and Dave Elsey, The Wolfman
Who Really Should Win: Rick Baker and Dave Elsey, The Wolfman
Comments:
CD: Scary to think of The Wolfman as an Oscar winning film. But
everybody loves Rick Baker’s hairy work in so many movies.