It’s only a week before February 26, Oscar Sunday, when we find out which of the nine excellent nominees will be awarded Best Picture this year. Predictions have been made, analyses written, and here are two lists to begin with – by number of nominations and by the critics’ scores.
Number Of Oscar Nominations Line-Up:
1. Hugo (11)
2. The Artist (10)
3. War Horse (6)
4. Moneyball (6)
5. The Descendants (5)
6. Midnight In Paris (4)
7. The Help (4)
8. The Tree Of Life (3)
9. Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close (2)
Metacritic Score Line-Up:
1. The Artist (89)
2. Moneyball (87)
3. The Tree Of Life (85)
4. The Descendants (84)
5. Hugo (83)
6. Midnight In Paris (81)
7. War Horse (72)
8. The Help (62)
9. Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close (46)
A few of the Best Picture Oscar contenders are about creators and their struggles, about the necessity of evolution in creative methods in the name of mere survival of creative forms but also about the importance of creative memory. This year three movies in the Best Picture category hinge on the struggles of artistic personalities, and all three – Hugo, The Artist and Midnight In Paris – are strong contenders for the most important Oscar in 2012.
Four Best Picture nominated movies are told, at least in part, by unreliable, naive narrators trying to make sense of chaotic, unfair reality (children’s perspectives in Hugo, The Tree Of Life, Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close and a horse’s in War Horse). In terms of pretentions to universality, Hugo is the most post-modern as it clearly positions itself as three movies in one: one for the children, one for the adults, one for the critics, aiming to please all in equal measure. (War Horse does the same but since Spielberg, unlike Scorsese, has done it since time immemorial, it isn’t as obvious). The Tree Of Life is the most innovative; in fact, it’s something that has never been done before, with a poem for a script and a prayer for narrative, a wonderful multivocality of whispers. The most accessible Best Picture Oscar contenders are War Horse, The Help, Hugo; the least accessible and viewer-friendly is The Tree Of Life.
The Dynamics of Change
All the contenders for Best Picture Oscar deal with change in one way or another. In the widely acclaimed The Artist tragedy occurs when the talkies are introduced and the familiar world of silent movies collapses almost instantly. In Moneyball a new approach to sports logistics challenges the foundations of baseball, and, on a more private level, the life of one talented coach. Midnight In Paris deals with change directly, on a narrower scale, commenting on the complex of seniority in arts, the spastic prejudice that the older a work/form of art, the more prestigious and precious it is. The Help is set during the turbulent civil rights era in one of the most turbulent states. The Tree Of Life deals with the ultimate, apocalyptic injustice – a death of a child, and the eternal question ‘Why do good people suffer?’ The protagonist of the tragic-comic The Descendants deals with death and change of perception caused by betrayal, trying to calculate the price for heritage, memory and continuity all at the same time. The characters of Hugo and War Horse are directly affected by World War I; Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close deals with the events of 9/11.
Article comments
1 - Ben
Too bad most of the movies on the list were crap no one wanted to see. The favorite is The Artist? That was about the most boring and pointless hour or two I've ever spent.... Perhaps only exceeded by the time I spent watching The Tree of Life.
It's too bad Hollywood can't make any quality movies that people actually want to see. They shove uncreative sequels and pretentious crap at us, but the last thing they will do is make an original, creative, and entertaining film.
2 - El Bicho
The Artist wasn't made by Hollywood