{"id":8843,"date":"2017-02-26T21:29:01","date_gmt":"2017-02-26T21:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=8843"},"modified":"2017-06-20T13:28:01","modified_gmt":"2017-06-20T13:28:01","slug":"notes-ahead-of-the-2017-academy-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=8843","title":{"rendered":"Notes ahead of the 2017 Academy Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON \u2013 Repeat screenings of the Academy Awards nominees serve to reinforce original impressions so while I doubt that it will win, my choice for best picture<\/strong> remains Denis Villeneuve\u2019s profound sci-fi picture \u201cArrival\u201d <\/strong>(pictured).<\/p>\n

Kenneth Lonergan\u2019s \u201cManchester by the Sea\u201d is a haunting and ultimately life-affirming story of grief and guilt and I would not be displeased if it were to win.<\/p>\n

The same goes for David Mackenzie\u2019s terrific modern Western \u201cHell or High Water\u201d and I would smile if Theodore Melfi\u2019s warm and rewarding \u201cHidden Figures\u201d took the top prize.<\/p>\n

Garth Davis\u2019s \u201cLion\u201d is what soccer fans call a game of two halves \u2013 the first section is captivating and thrilling while the second is pedestrian.<\/p>\n

Denzel Washington\u2019s talkathon \u201cFences\u201d captures August Wilson\u2019s stage play in a manner not much different from the way the National Theatre and others capture their stage productions for cinemas \u2013 in other words, it’s not really a movie so much as a play caught on film. The problem is too much reverence for Wilson’s dialogue. They cut Shakespeare, don’t they?<\/p>\n

Mel Gibson\u2019s \u201cHacksaw Ridge\u201d also has two distinct parts, one labours over establishing a young man\u2019s religious conviction, the second is a zombie war picture with the Japanese depicted as soulless and extraordinarily agile ghouls. Leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.<\/p>\n

Damien Chazelle\u2019s \u201cLa La Land\u201d, on third viewing, is a celebration of mediocrity in story and execution as two not very talented people pass on happiness to find a degree of fame. Some dreamy sequences are let down by unmemorable music.<\/p>\n

Another viewing of \u201cMoonlight\u201d fails to reveal all the great things that so many other people appear to find in the film with its main failing simply that it\u2019s extremely dull.<\/p>\n

Here are my choices in some of the other categories:<\/p>\n

Director<\/strong>: Denis Villeneuve<\/strong> (\u201cArrival\u201d) for creating a sci-fi movie that is both thrilling, thoughtful and deeply involving. Runner-up: Kenneth Lonergan for \u201cManchester by the Sea\u201d.<\/p>\n

Actor: Casey Affleck<\/strong> (\u201cManchester by the Sea\u201d) explores a complex character without sentiment and the choices he makes serve the film brilliantly. Ryan Gosling does well to make a jerk look like a great guy in “La La Land”. Denzel Washington deservedly won the right prize for his splendid performance in “Fences”: a Tony Award. I have great regard for Viggo Mortensen but I hated \u201cCaptain Fantastic\u201d from the opening scene to the last.<\/p>\n

Actress<\/strong>: Amy Adams delivered the two best performances of the year in \u201cArrival\u201d and \u201cNocturnal Animals\u201d but she is not nominated. I hope Isabelle Huppert<\/strong> wins.<\/p>\n

Supporting actor: Michael Shannon<\/strong> has the best lines in \u201cNocturnal Animals\u201d and, boy, does he nail them. I love Jeff Bridges (\u201cHell or High Water\u201d) but these days he appears to speak with a mouthful of marbles. Lucas Hedges does splendid work in \u201cManchester by the Sea\u201d but all the acclaim for Mahershala Ali in \u201cMoonlight\u201d remains a mystery to me.<\/p>\n

Supporting actress: Michelle Williams<\/strong> doesn\u2019t have a lot of screen time in \u201cManchester by the Sea\u201d but she is heartbreaking. Viola Davis deserves an Oscar, period. But she also has a Tony for “Fences”..<\/p>\n

Music: Mica Levi<\/strong> does so much of the heavy lifting in \u201cJackie\u201d that were Natalie Portman to win as best actress she should give the composer half of her prize.<\/p>\n

Original screenplay: Kenneth Lonergan<\/strong> for his deeply affecting \u201cManchester on Sea\u201d. Fine work too by Taylor Sheridan (\u201cHell or High Water\u201d) and Mike Mills for \u201c20th Century Women\u201d, a shaggy tale with great performances by Annette Bening and Greta Gerwig. It\u2019s a sort of female \u201cWonder Boys\u201d with a similar rich vein of observation and humour.<\/p>\n

Adapted screenplay: Eric Heisserer<\/strong> for exploring aspects of time and wonder in a cinematic and accessible form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett LONDON \u2013 Repeat screenings of the Academy Awards nominees serve to reinforce original impressions so while I doubt that it will win, my choice for best picture remains Denis Villeneuve\u2019s profound sci-fi picture \u201cArrival\u201d (pictured). Kenneth Lonergan\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[4435,296,1824,2927,509,4494,1315,4493,4487,4406,877,4492],"class_list":["post-8843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-film","tag-arrival","tag-academy-awards","tag-amy-adams","tag-casey-affleck","tag-denis-villeneuve","tag-eric-heisserer","tag-isabelle-huppert","tag-kenneth-lonergan","tag-mica-levi","tag-michael-shannon","tag-michelle-williams","tag-oscars-2017"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8843"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9098,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8843\/revisions\/9098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}