We have finally arrived at the zenith of the annual awards season: the 86th Annual Academy Awards are now only a day away. After the Best Picture win of Argo and the Best Acting win of Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln, which movies and which actors will add their names to the illustrious winners of yesteryear? The shameless self-promotion, the pompous self-congratulatory awards circuits, and relentless marketing campaigns all come down to this. Who will take the major awards, and who will be left with only millions of dollars in the bank to comfort them after missing out? Your guess is as good as mine but here are my predictions anyway:
Best Picture:
Will Win: 12 Years a Slave
Should Win: The Wolf of Wall Street
The 2013 Best Picture race boasts a stronger line-up than it has in previous years but as always, there are a number of clear front-runners. Taking into account its subject matter and its critical acclaim thus far, 12 Years a Slave is as close to a shoo-in as you can get when it comes to the Oscars but Alfonso Cuaron's sci-fi epic Gravity could pull off an unlikely upset. Viewed purely as a spectacle on visual terms, what the film-makers accomplished with Gravity was unparalleled in 2013, but unfortunately, the acting of the leads and most of the dialogue and narrative was much less inspiring. Just as a precedent, the enormously successful 2009 film Avatar was similarly hailed as a visually stunning cinematic landmark but also suffered from a derivative storyline, a fact that may have contributed to smaller art-house film The Hurt Locker taking home the big prize. This brings us to the film that should win the prize, but due to its edgy content and provocative style, probably won't. As well done, emotionally charged, and full of great performances as 12 Years a Slave was, one film stands above the rest, and that film is The Wolf of Wall Street. Coming close to Scorsese's best, Wolf of Wall Street is an energetic, captivating, endlessly entertaining and deeply poignant film that perfectly encapsulates the must-have-it-all mindset and culture that has become deeply ingrained in modern day society.
Will Win: Matthew McConaughey
Should Win: Chiwetel Ejiofor
There were some great performances in 2013, so great in fact that such illustrious names as Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips) and such great performances as those of Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) and Joaquin Phoenix (Her) didn't even make the cut this year. After his surprise win at the Golden Globes in Jaunary, Matthew McConaughey has become the clear favorite to take the Best Acting Oscar prize for his complete physical transformation into AIDS diagnosed hustler Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club. While that was undoubtedly a great performance, it's difficult to overlook the superb job perennial supporting actor Chiwetel Ejiofor did in 12 Years a Slave. An emotionally taxing and challenging part to say the least, Ejiofor brings a proud defiance and silent resilience to his portrayal of Solomon Northup in a role that just may be the defining performance of his career. And unfortunately, despite another stellar turn in a long list of them, it looks like Leonardo DiCaprio will have to wait another year to finally win that elusive first Oscar.
Will Win: Cate Blanchett
Should Win: Cate Blanchett
This one's a bit more difficult to prognosticate than other Oscar races this year as there hasn't been one particular stand-out performance this year. However, Cate Blanchett's empathetic portrayal of Jasmine, a delusional woman reeling from her millionaire husband's infidelity and fraud conviction, should not be overlooked. A thoroughly unlikeable and narcissistic person, Blanchett deftly find the humanity in her character, and we can't help but sympathize and root for her as she comes to terms with her new reality and attempts to rebuild herself from the shambles of her former well-to-do life.
Best Director:
Will Win: Alfonso Cuaron
Should Win: Alfonso Cuaron
Simply put, no one film-maker in the running for Best Director created as unique and innovative a film as Alfonso Cuaron did with Gravity. Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) and Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street) might stage an upset and may have won in a different year but the 2013 directing prize is there for Cuaron's taking. An edgy and daring film-maker, one could see signs of greatness in Cuaron's earlier films such as Children of Men and Y Tu Mamá También, but Gravity's box office and critical success could mark the beginning of a great new chapter in Cuaron's career.
Best Supporting Actor:
Will Win: Jared Leto
Should Win: Michael Fassbender
Jared Leto undergoes a complete physical transformation that eclipses that of any other major Hollywood performance in 2013 and after his Golden Globe supporting actor win, a male acting sweep for Dallas Buyers Club is indefinitely in the cards. The only serious challenge for Leto this year could be Michael Fassbender's powerhouse performance as the villainous plantation owner Epps in 12 Years a Slave. It takes guts to play such a detestable and reprehensible character and the fact that Epps comes off as a deeply troubled, complex, and tormented man and not simply as a generic villain is down to Fassbender's excellent and Oscar-worthy performance.
Will Win: Her
Should Win: Her
As defining a film for our day and age as could possibly be, Her captures a unique aspect of the potential and perhaps, inevitable future. As artificial intelligence becomes more and more sophisticated, the possible repercussions for society and people's relationships are explored with an endlessly creative and inventive wit and honesty by Spike Jonze. A mature and remarkably nuanced script that sheds light on our innate desire for connection, Jonze taps in to the essence of what will always make us human, regardless of the world that is constantly changing all around us.
Will Win: The Act of Killing
Should Win: The Act of Killing
A unique insight into a strange and little-known world, The Act of Killing follows the efforts of a group of Indonesian gangsters and militiamen as they attempt to film a movie recreating their murder and torture of more than 500,000 Communist Party members in the 1960s. Capturing these men in all their hypocrisies, denials and paradoxical rationalizations, we witness how a mass murderer wakes up in the morning and lives with what he has done day in and day out. Men reference raping little girls, recreate massacres, and showcase execution techniques for the camera with a casual and apathetic manner that will disturb most viewers. Truly an unforgettable documentary.
Best Foreign Language Film:
Will Win: The Great Beauty
Should Win: The Great Beauty
There are a number of really solid films up for the Best Foreign Langue Oscar this year, even with the exclusion of Palme d'Or winner Blue is the Warmest Color due to a minor technicality. Danish film The Hunt and its star Mads Mikkelsen have been garnering awards and acclaim aplenty, and Hany Abu-Assad's Omar is the second Palestinian film to be nominated in the past 8 years. The Great Beauty, reviewed here, might just edge those two films this year though.
The Rest of the Major Awards:
Best Supporting Actress:
Will Win: Lupita Nyong'o
Should Win: Lupita Nyong'o
Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay:
Will Win: 12 Years a Slave
Should Win: The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Cinematography:
Will Win: Gravity
Should Win: Gravity
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