April showers are approaching, which also means it is that time of the year when movie buffs, fashionistas, idol worshipers, bookies, insomniacs and the entire southern half of California turn their eyes to the oncoming rush of the Academy Awards. So, get some friends and a bag of low-fat rice cakes together on Sunday night and mock away. In solidarity with the assorted freaks mentioned above, the Voice makes an attempt at some intelligent guesses of this year’s winners. (We accept no responsibility for money or limbs lost due to these predictions.)
Best Original Score
- A.I. Artificial Intelligence?John Williams
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone?John Williams
- The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring?Howard Shore
- A Beautiful Mind?James Horner
- Monsters, Inc.?Randy Newman
Should Win: None of them
Will Win: A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Each of these composers appears every damn year; Williams for a Spielberg movie, Horner for the weepy, middlebrow fare and Newman for Toy Story and all of its clones and sequels. Shore, unfortunately, falls into bombastic, fantasy-clich? music with his LOTR work. A.I. will only win because it departs from Williams’s typical, overbearing melodic work with an uncharacteristically understatedpiece, much like the film itself.
Best Original Screenplay
- Amelie
- Gosford Park
- Memento
- Monster’s Ball
- The Royal Tenenbaums
Should Win: Memento
Will Win: The Royal Tenenbaums
Well-written and idiosyncratically quirky, Tenenbaums is damn good, but Memento is by far the more inventive and original screenplay. A modern-day, sun-bleached tale of retribution, Memento takes the musings of film noir to their existential limits. Does memory make identity? Are we responsible for our actions if we have no concept of our blame? The script raises questions that trouble long after the last credits roll. Well-worthy of this award, Memento is a mind-bendingly. radical film?the very reason it will not prevail.
Best Adapted Screenplay
- A Beautiful Mind
- Ghost World
- In The Bedroom
- Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
- Shrek
Should Win: Ghost World
Will Win: In The Bedroom
Todd Field’s debut is a tightly constructed revenge narrative. Based on Andre Dubus’ short story, In The Bedroom closely follows the author’s simple portrayal of familial grief. Minimal, understated and powerful, Field’s work gets under the skin with nary a warning. Ghost World, on the other hand, is a cookie loaded with arsenic, a bitter and sarcastic coming-of-age tale. It is the opposite of In The Bedroom. It assumes an ironical, distant stance that would almost allows it to be free of genuine emotion, if it wasn’t for the characters played by Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi. Underneath all their sarcasm lay the most vulnerable of souls. To be honest, they are both pretty good.
Best Supporting Actress
- Jennifer Connelly?A Beautiful Mind
- Helen Mirren?Gosford Park
- Maggie Smith?Gosford Park
- Marisa Tomei?In The Bedroom
- Kate Winslet?Iris
Should Win: Maggie Smith
Will Win: Jennifer Connelly
The Brits are in full effect in the acting categories this year. Dame Maggie is bitingly fresh in her portrayal of a snobbish aristocrat in Altman’s latest. One simultaneously laughs and cringes at the sarcastic lances she throws to those around her. Helen Mirren plays an aristocrat’s servant by not smiling and standing perfectly erect?nothing new. It was a shock to see Marisa Tomei in a good, serious role, but the Academy has already deemed her signature film to be My Cousin Vinny. So, Maggie Smith, right? No, because Jennifer Connelly is young and pretty and supportive of schizophrenics and hasn’t won yet, etc., etc.
Best Supporting Actor
- Jim Broadbent?Iris
- Ethan Hawke?Training Day
- Ben Kingsley?Sexy Beast
- Ian McKellen?The Lord of the Rings
- Jon Voight?Ali
Should Win: Ethan Hawke
Will Win: Jim Broadbent
A British man helps his Alzheimer-ridden literary genius of a wife. Home run. Slam dunk. We have ourselves a winner. The other nominees? Ben Kingsley curses too much, Gandalf gets no respect, and Jon Voight doesn’t so much act as he mimics Howard Cosell. But what about Ethan?. Now there’s a real champ. It’s about time we got one of our own in. Reality Bites, Before Sunrise, Dead Poets Society ? we grew up with this guy. Mr. Slacker himself finally stars in a film where he has a real, nine-to-five job. If that isn’t acting, I don’t know what is.
Best Actress
- Halle Berry?Monster’s Ball
- Judi Dench?Iris
- Nicole Kidman?Moulin Rouge
- Sissy Spacek?In The Bedroom
- Renee Zellweger?Bridget Jones’s Diary
Should Win: Nicole Kidman or Halle Berry
Will Win: Sissy Spacek
Sissy is old, white and serious. God forbid that anyone who is not one of those things win.
Best Actor
- Denzel Washington?Training Day
- Russell Crowe?A Beautiful Mind
- Sean Penn?I Am Sam
- Will Smith?Ali
- Tom Wilkinson?In The Bedroom
Should Win: Denzel Washington
Will Win: Russell Crowe
It’s been a while since a black man has won this category. It’s also been a while since Russell Crowe has not been nominated. Let us see which one means more to the Academy. Denzel is a better actor who has turned in many amazing performances over the years. As Malcom X, Rubin Carter or Easy Rawlins, Denzel has displayed an intensity of performance backed by a discernable intelligence. The same cannot be said for Russell Crowe, who is very intense but not very smart.
Best Director
- Ron Howard?A Beautiful Mind
- Robert Altman?Gosford Park
- Ridley Scott?Black Hawk Down
- Peter Jackson?Lord of the Rings
- David Lynch?Mulholland Drive
Should Win: David Lynch
Will Win: Ron Howard
A Beautiful Mind is probably Ron Howard’s best film (although The Paper comes close), which isn’t saying much. Gosford is Robert Altman’s best in a while but only still slightly above average, which reveals the exaggerated praise it has received to be in reality a cry for good movies. We say a big no to patriotic war movies by British directors, and Peter Jackson will not win until his triology concludes. All of that being said, it’s a farce that the best movie of the year did not get nominated for best movie of the year. David Lynch, please.
Best Picture
- A Beautiful Mind
- The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
- In The Bedroom
- Gosford Park
- Moulin Rouge
Should Win: The Lord of the Rings or Moulin Rouge or In The Bedroom or Gosford Park
Will Win: A Beautiful Mind
It is another Rain Man, another Forrest Gump, another example of the Academy’s recent predilection for sappy, disabled men films. So, why shouldn’t A Beautiful Mind win? Because it sucks. Because for all its faith in the power of love and emotion to cure even schizophrenia, it fails to genuinely move the audience. Sweeping scores and pained close-ups should not a Best Picture make. A victory of any other nominee would prove there is a sense of propriety in the world. But they won’t win and we will continue to be cynical.
