These are tumultuous times for cinema and beyond, but Hollywood is eager to celebrate. He is getting ready to do this too 96th Oscar, will take place this Sunday at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, in a gala hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel for the fourth time, which this year moves the celebration up an hour (starting at midnight on Monday in Spain).
If these Oscars were any kind, it’s clear there would be no thrillers. ‘Oppenheimer’, the monumental and overwhelming work about the father of the atomic bomb, became the favorite to win the best film statuette with 11 nominations.. It is one of only 11 films in history to reach the Hollywood Academy Awards after receiving the main awards from the producers, directors and actors unions. And all but ‘Apollo 13’ are in the annals of Oscar jackpots.
It’s also not recommended to bet on Christopher Nolan winning his first statue as a director, against Robert Downey Jr. in the supporting actor category, or against Cillian Murphy for his lead role as the modern Prometheus. Although if Academy members wanted to make a leap, they could, and few would object; The movie Da’, with Paul Giamatti, the professor of “The Remains”, who will sing another one of the Oscars. Vine Joy Randolph as supporting actress.
Strong three-way women’s duel
With screenplay statuettes leaning towards the winner of the Cannes ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ and ‘American Fiction’, Cord Jefferson’s brilliant satire debut, based on Percival Everett’s novel ‘X’, doesn’t fare well. important categories have plenty of room for the unpredictable. Except for one: that of the leading actor, whose solution everyone is waiting for.
There Emma Stone Creating and raising Bella Baxter with all her freedom in ‘Poor Creatures’. Justine Triet’s film features a strong woman who doesn’t adhere to stereotypes, played by Sandra Hüller (the only woman nominated for directing this year, the absence of Greta Gerwig in the ‘Barbie’ category here caused rivers of ink to flow and hours of movies). contention). But perhaps most importantly of all, there is Lily Gladstone.
Although three other indigenous actresses have been nominated in Oscar history (Merle Oberon, Keisha Castle-Hughes and Yalitza Aparicio), it is the interpreter of the Blackfeet and Nez Perce people who plays an Osage Indian in Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Moon Killers’. He would be the first Native American to be recognized by Hollywood. And in the Mecca of cinema, there is much that needs to be repaired in how the United States is treated and portrayed against the people to whom it committed its original sin.
spanish hopes
For the two Spanish films in competition, the air of predictability pervading these Oscars leaves little hopeAs Pablo Berger recalls these days in Los Angeles, we already know that this is the last thing lost. ‘Robot Dreams’ competes with ‘The Boy and the Heron’, written by a master like Hayao Miyazaki in animation, and ‘Spider-Man: Crossing the Multiverse’, which may be the first sequel not created by Disney. .
Meanwhile, the biggest rival of JA Bayona’s ‘The Snow Society’ in the international category is the British film titled ‘The Zone of Interest’ in German. And as they did with ‘Parasite,’ Hollywood scholars included Jonathan Glazer’s grim, chilling look at what Hannah Arendt called the banality of evil among the ten nominees for best picture.
The world is burning
An or expected triumph for British film documentary The movie ’20 days in Mariupol’ will open the doors for speeches that refer to dark realities beyond cinema to come to the Dolby stage Today there are events that shake the world, from the war and humanitarian tragedy in Gaza to the conflict in Ukraine. And if this is to be a precedent, Bafta producer James Wilson called for an end to “selective empathy”, saying: “It now seems clear that we should care equally about the innocent people killed in Gaza or Yemen.” “We think about the innocent people they killed in Mariupol or in Israel.”
It’s a message that groups calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and who plan to demonstrate near the Dolby, as they have recently done at ceremonies like the Independent Spirit Awards, the Grammys, or at all kinds of venues and political gatherings, will also approve. This year’s events are elections in the United States. But their protests will be met by a beefed-up force from the Los Angeles police, which adds to the nearly 2,000 private security guards hired by the Academy.
The Oscars choose to celebrate and celebrate themselves, to make history and confront it, to roll out their red carpets anew, to roll back the format of awarding statuettes to winners of five previous winners in each of the four categories… They also prefer to be accompanied by 65 dancers Ryan Gosling While performing one of the two songs nominated for ‘Barbie’‘ (though the winner will probably be Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas), or feeling like they’re continuing to repair the past when Native Americans first performed on that stage: Scott George and the Osage singers.
In a year when the film harvest was excellent, a phenomenon like ‘Barbenheimmer’ brought people back to theaters and left $2.5 billion at the box office with these two films alone, they hope to win back the audience with television broadcasts. And they are trying to forget about the months-long strike of screenwriters and actors that paralyzed Hollywood.
But there are many oases or mirages in the party. The effects and reasons of these pauses create dark clouds over the sector in the short, medium and long term. On the contrary, the threat of artificial intelligence has not diminished. The superhero empire that makes so much money is floundering. And as cultural historian Mark Harris writes, it’s gray right now. “No one is buying, everyone is cutting spending, caution prevails.” But it’s better to think about it from Monday.