And so this year's Oscars have come and gone. I doubt anyone would have expected it would go down the way it did. There's been a few surprises, to say the least. Who could have foreseen the definite favorite Boyhood would be left almost entirely out in the cold, with the second choices of most, Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel, cutting up the pie between them for the most part? I sure didn't, which means my predictions of last month took quite a beating. Just when you think you understand the Academy, they go out of their way to turn the tables on you.
So let's compare my notes with hard reality, shall we?
Best Film:
First Choice: incorrect. Not so obvious apparently. While everybody had Boyhood on their mind, the Academy instead opted for a more off-beat candiate, seemingly applauding its criticism on the American movie industry and its satirical overtones. And thus, Birdman flew off with Best Picture.
Second choice: also incorrect. Of course the movie I preferred didn't win this category, what was I thinking?!
Best Actor:
First Choice: correct.
Best Actress:
First Choice: correct.
Best Supporting Actor:
First Choice: correct.
Best Supporting Actress:
First Choice: correct.
And then the Academy goes and picks exactly the folks everybody anticipated would win, while for the other major categories they picked the less obvious candidates. Which means everybody is thrown off-guard even more by predictability's comeback in this whole circus. Good for me, as I at least got some categories correct.
Best Director:
First Choice: incorrect.
Second choice: correct. As is exemplary for American society, this show is usually a duel between two clear favorites, with one of them winning Best Picture and the other Best Director. Not so this year: Birdman got both. You'd think a 12-year project that got so much acclaim would qualify for Best Achievement in Directing, but apparently you'd be wrong.
Best Screenplay:
First Choice: correct. Say what you will about Birdman's execution, the script is for the most part top-notch, while Boyhood's is more of on-the-fly work and required less scripting. In that the Academy agrees with me, or vice versa.
Best Adapted Screenplay:
First Choice: incorrect.
Second choice: also incorrect. The straightforward narrative of The Imitation Game seemed to appeal the most to the Academy voters.
Best Animated Film:
First Choice: incorrect.
Second choice: incorrect. This one makes me mad. Laika is severely overdue in terms of winning Oscars. The tremendous craftsmanship displayed in The Box Trolls was nothing short of extraordinary, even though the story wasn't always that inspired. However, the same is true of Big Hero 6, but - apart from the terrific job they did on Baymax - its animation wasn't nearly as compelling. It seems the old styles of animation, be it hand drawn or stop motion, have fallen out of favor with the Academy. For shame. This is definitely the worst mistake of this year's Oscars.
Best Foreign Film:
First Choice: incorrect. Could it be the Academy swayed for Putin's condemnation of this movie critiquing the many flaws of his authoritarian regime? Is there a political game being played behind the curtains here, mayhaps? Or did the Academy simply not care about the film's statement, so the visual art of Ida was picked over poignant ideological content?
Second choice: correct.
Best Cinematography:
First Choice: incorrect. Seriously? A movie which suggests it delivers one giant long take but contains so many not so subtly hidden cuts is picked over a movie which displays its love for cinematography and its long history in almost every shot? Shenanigans!
Second choice: incorrect.
Best Editing:
First Choice: incorrect.
Second choice: incorrect.
Best Production Design:
First Choice: correct. Well duh...
Best Costume Design:
First Choice: correct. See Best Production Design for details.
Best Hair and Make-up:
First Choice: correct. In case you didn't realize it, Tilda Swinton doesn't actually look like she's in her nineties, that's all make-up.
Best Score:
First Choice: correct. Alexandre Desplat finally gets his due.
Best Song:
First Choice: correct. And so the Academy avoids the discomfort of race riots that might otherwise have erupted across America, because Selma already got snubbed hard. Rap instead gets acknowledged by the Academy, which ought to cool them brothas down a bit.
Best Sound Mixing:
First Choice: incorrect.
Second choice: correct.
Best Sound Editing:
First Choice: incorrect.
Second choice: incorrect.
Best Visual Effects:
First Choice: incorrect. The Academy once again fails to grasp the true pioneering that the FX industry is undergoing thanks to motion capture. Insanity triumphs as the visually rather dull Interstellar is picked against reason over Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. When the mo-capped apes truly take over the FX business in the coming years, the Academy members will be the first against the wall, mark my words.
Second choice: also incorrect. The Academy also doesn't like talking trees and raccoons. Bunch of speciesists...
Best Documentary:
First Choice: incorrect.
Second choice: incorrect. And then the Academy suddenly embraces progressive thinking and social pioneering by picking a movie about Edward Snowden. You really can't get the hang of these people, can you?
Finaly tally
Correct: 10
Second choice correct: 3
Incorrect: 11
Oh my, I'm getting worse at this. More wrongs and less rights here compared to both last year and the previous one. But then, this year showed just how much of a guessing game these final Oscar results are, much more strongly than the last few years. The Academy is a fickle thing, and occasionally they need to reaffirm that fact. Too bad films so deservedly of a win, like The Box Trolls and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, are sacrificed to make that statement ring true.
