The Paper's reporter Cheng Xiaojun
This past weekend, a number of awards with Oscar vane significance have been announced, marking the climax of the awards season.
Stills from "The Power of Dogs"
The first is the Directors Guild of America Awards on March 12. New Zealand director Jane Campion won the heaviest award for Best Film Director with "The Power of Dogs" over Paul Thomas Anderson ("Licorice Pizza"), Kenneth Branagh ("Belfast"), Steven Spielberg ("West End Story"), dennis Villeneuve ("Dune"). Of the above five, with the exception of Dennis Villeneuve, the other four were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. For now, it seems likely that the little golden man will be owned by Jane Campin.
Stills from "Smart Strike Back"
The Annie Awards, known as the "Oscars of Animation", also announced the results of the 49th edition online on March 12. Produced by Sony Animation and Netflix, Smart Strikes back won eight awards, including Best Animated Feature, making it the biggest winner. Its opponents include three Disney titles that were also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film – Full House of Magic, Sunny Days in Summer, and Legend of the Dragon. In addition, "Escape," which accounted for one of the remaining Oscar nominations, won Best Independent Animated Feature.
At present, "Intelligent Counterattack", "Magic Full House" and "Escape" have won in the awards season, and they are evenly matched, and they all hope to win the little gold man in the end. "Full House" won the British Academy Film Award for Best Animated Feature on Sunday, while "Smart Strike Back" won the Critics' Choice Award. The three films also rated quite close on the film review website Rotten Tomatoes, and the best word of mouth was "Escape", which had a 98% praise rating.
"Drive My Car" poster
The most important bellwether award this weekend is none other than the BAFTA Awards, as its award setting and eligible candidates coincide with the Oscars the most. At the forefront is still "The Power of Dogs", which won two awards for best picture and best director. "Driving My Car" and "Summer of Soul Music" won Best Non-English Film and Best Documentary Feature Film, respectively.
In addition, Will Smith, who won best actor for "King Richard," Troy Cortsur, who won best supporting actor for "Sound-sounding Girl," and Ariane DeBoss, who won best supporting actress for "West End Story," are also clearly taking the lead in the Oscar competition. As for the Best Actress award, it was won by Joanna Scanlon, the star of "Aftermath of Love," who was not nominated for an Oscar.
Stills from Dune
In terms of technical awards, "Dune" was the biggest winner, winning five awards: Best Art Direction, Best Soundtrack, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Effects, and Best Visual Effects. The film received 10 Academy Award nominations, mostly in the technical category. "Black and White Witch Kuila" won the award for best costume design, and "Tammy Fei's Eyes" won the award for best makeup and hair design. At present, it seems that the little gold man will also be in the pocket of these two films.
Just a few hours after the British Academy Film Awards were presented, the 27th American Critics' Choice Awards, which had previously been postponed due to the epidemic, also held a grand ceremony. Due to the recent relaxation of epidemic prevention rules in the United States, the wearing of masks is no longer mandatory indoors and outdoors, and Hollywood entertainers have attended in costumes, and everything seems to be back to before the epidemic.
The Critics' Choice Awards are voted for members of the North American Association of Broadcast Film Critics and the American Association of Radio and Television Journalists. Although the overlap with the voters of the BAFTA Awards is small, the results of this year's awards are highly overlapping. For example, Best Picture Winner "Canine Power", Best Director Winner Jane Campion, Best Actor Winner Will Smith, Best Supporting Actress Winner Ariane DeBos, Best Supporting Actor Winner Troy Cortsur, Best Foreign Language Film, etc.
This shows that the seed players in the awards season are already in full swing, and there are fewer and fewer awards with suspense, one of which is the Best Actress Award. Among the Critics' Choice Awards, Jessica Chastain won the award for "Tammy Fi's Eyes." Her opponents include also Oscar-nominated Nicole Kidman (The Ricciardo Family), Olivia Coleman (Daughter in the Shadows) and Kristen Stewart (Spencer).
The culmination of the entire awards season, the 94th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on March 27, local time. "The Power of Dogs" led the way with 12 nominations and will undoubtedly be the big winner of this year.
Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Zhe
Proofreader: Yijia Xu