Entertainment Weekly ponders this:Last year, several films that played at the Cannes film festival — including Biutiful, Blue Valentine, Another Year, and Inside Job — ended up scoring major-category Oscar nominations. Now that this year’s Cannes lineup has been announced, let’s take a very preliminary look at which films could become next year’s award contenders.
This Must Be the Place Just look at this photo of Sean Penn as an ’80s new-wave star. Are you as intrigued as I am? The film, directed by Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino, is a bit of a mystery, but when Penn takes on a physically transformative role, it usually piques the Academy’s interest.
We Need to Talk About Kevin I’m already hearing great things about Tilda Swinton’s performance as the distraught mother of a school gunman. After her strong turns in Julia and I Am Love failed to gain awards-season traction, it would be terrific to have her back in the game.
Martha Marcy May Marlene Director Sean Durkin’s moody drama (one of the best films I saw at Sundance this year) features another creepy supporting turn from this year’s Winter’s Bone nominee John Hawkes as a charismatic cult leader. And rising star Elizabeth Olsen carries the film with her memorable breakout performance.
The Tree of Life It’s never great when a movie finally has its premiere years after it was shot. But director Terrence Malick’s last three films all received at least one Oscar nomination. And the cast (featuring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and touted up-and-comer Jessica Chastain) certainly has potential.
The Skin I Live In The first feature-length collaboration between Pedro Almodóvar and Antonio Banderas in over 20 years is alone cause for celebration. Though it’s an adaptation of a novel rather than an original screenplay, Almodóvar’s works are always strong contenders to become Spain’s foreign-language submission.
-Joey's Two Cents: Malick's film could go either way, but I think one of the safer bets is a lot of buzz building for Elizabeth Olson and her film, much like Jennifer Lawrence last year...thoughts?
Cannes is rarely a big building place for Oscar, especially lately...
ReplyDeleteI would love to see Luzebski's work get recognized for Tree of Life; it looks beautiful. Beyond that I am just thrilled that another Von Trier is coming into existence.
ReplyDelete-Davin Lacksonen
The former is a distinct possibility, the latter I have mixed feelings on.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I agree with you on that. Sure, films like Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives won't be Best Picture frontrunners any time soon, but recent Cannes alumni Biutiful, Another Year, Blue Valentine, Inside Job, Up, Inglourious Basterds, The White Ribbon, Dogtooth, Precious, Changeling, The Class, Waltz with Bashir and Vicky Cristina Barcelona all achieved Oscar nominations or wins after screening at the festival.
ReplyDeleteYes, but the percentage still pales in comparison to Toronto or Venice...or even Sundance. The types of films playing at Cannes are just different animals. What's the last Best Picture winner to play at Cannes? (I know the answer, I'm just making a statement)
ReplyDeleteTaking just the raw percentage, you're probably right, but narrow it down to the plausible Oscar contenders that premiere at the festival (again, no one is arguing that films like Uncle Boonmee ever have a shot), and it gets much more optimistic.
ReplyDeleteCertainly, there's also far more films playing at something like Toronto, so the field to choose from is always wider. Still, Cannes is good for debuting one or two Oscar-y flicks a year (you can't count something like Blue Valentine or Precious, since they debuted at Sundance and were piggybacking their buzz out into Europe) where as Toronto is almost good for one or two Best Picture nominees at minimum a year. It's not an exact science, but just something I notice over the years. Also, it's too early in the year to reveal all, so Toronto is more of a prime Oscar barometer fest.
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