"Historically, after winning the Screen Actors Guild Award, it can be said that it is a relatively common phenomenon to win the Oscar in the same year, which gives us more reason to expect that Michelle Yeoh will win this unprecedented honor in a record!"
If there is anything different between this year's awards season and previous years, it is that "Instantaneous Universe", a work directed by Chinese and the main actors are Chinese, may become the biggest winner - in most of the awards season, "Instantaneous Universe" has gained, and it is not difficult to understand that some people have begun to expect Michelle Yeoh to win the first Chinese Oscar.
Of course, not all gods of luck favor the same film, and the BAFTA Awards just gave "Instantaneous Universe" a painless editing award. It is precisely because of the unpredictable results of the awards that the annual awards season is full of surprises and regrets, and at the upcoming awards season final, the Oscars, everything will be settled.
Word of mouth is a hit! Strength is the popular trophy film with confidence
Every year during the awards season, there are one or two award-winning hits. Almost all of these films have withstood the strict test of the audience through their release, and have achieved box office success with a good reputation. In short, such films are usually not pure art films, but more groundbreaking style characteristics when creating commercial elements, such as the sensational "Titanic" and, in recent years, the Korean film "Parasite".
And this year, "Instantaneous Universe" is a well-known hit! "Instantaneous Universe" almost did not miss on the North American track of the awards season, winning the award softly, in the just-awarded Screen Actors Guild Awards, "Instantaneous Universe" not only won the union Best Group Drama Award, but also won the supporting actor and actress, and also helped Michelle Yeoh become the first Asian to win the Best Actress Award, and the previous American Producers Guild Award also awarded the Best Filmmaker Award to "Instantaneous Universe", in addition to its attention at the Golden Globe Awards, winning the 32nd Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Picture.
In addition, in the "politically correct" Hollywood, "Instantaneous Universe" has a natural advantage of winning awards. First of all, the Asian-dominated film team and film content can get sympathy points that respect "racial minorities", just like the preference for blacks is never absent at the Oscars; Secondly, the female perspective of the film can also win the recognition of many judges, especially Michelle Yeoh revealed that her role was originally Jackie Chan, but for various reasons it was finally changed to a woman, "The film tells the story of an ordinary woman, but it is also a superhero story, because every mother, daughter, sister... They are all superheroes in life. ”
In addition to "Instantaneous Universe", the two films "Dream Maker" and "No War on the Western Front" also have a "explosive look". "Dream House" is directed by Steven Spielberg, a well-known Hollywood director, telling the story of a teenager who loves movies, with the encouragement of his family and with his personal intelligence, he has grown into a famous filmmaker. Obviously, this is a film with the "autobiographical attributes" of director Spielberg, the film shows the director's proficiency in the film industry for many years, and also shows his rich and hot emotions as a filmmaker who devotes himself to the film industry, like a love letter to the movie.
So far, "Dream House" has won the National Review Association Award, the Golden Globe Award, the New Mexico Film Critics Association Award for Best Director, and the Palm Springs Film Festival Pioneer Award, and at the just-concluded 73rd Berlin International Film Festival, Spielberg also won the Golden Bear Award for Lifetime Achievement - after all, he has been a regular in major awards in his 60-year directorial career, including three Academy Awards.
In contrast, "No War on the Western Front" wins in having a magnificent epic narrative pattern. The film is adapted from the novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, who has been made into a film twice, telling the story of Paul Baumann who joined the German National Volunteer Army during World War I and was sent to the front to fight the French army, but the absurdity of the war made him go from obsessed with war to discouraged. The magnificent and cruel war scenes, the historical questioning that hits the soul, and the fate of the little people in the big time all build the extraordinary charm and significance of the film, and once it was released, it won countless praise and became a hot favorite to win awards in the awards season - for example, in the Golden Globes and British Academy Film Awards, it beat "Instantaneous Universe" to win the best picture, and its strength cannot be underestimated.
Amazing dark horse! They are just waiting for an opportunity to counterattack
There are explosive models, and naturally there are dark horses. In addition to the blockbusters during the awards season, there are always "potential stocks" who secretly compete and strive to complete the kill. For example, last year's "Listening Girl" won Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adaptation, becoming the strongest dark horse, and "Moonlight Boy" took the Best Picture Award from the "Philharmonic City", which had the highest demand in advance.
There are many unpopular niche films shortlisted for the Oscars this year, and they all have the potential to become a special presence in the minds of the judges at the last minute and become "dark horses" to achieve a reversal. For example, "Inisherin's Banshee", it is hard to imagine that a calm film can win 9 nominations such as Oscar for Best Picture, Screenplay, and Music, second only to "Instantaneous Universe". The film tells the story of two friends with different personalities but close to each other on a small island who disintegrate their relationship and break up as one of them is estranged. Its lengthy and boring plot makes young audiences in the popcorn era "unhappy", even if the film has a deep description of the characters' hearts and philosophical precipitation, it still cannot win the favor of most audiences.
The dark horse potential of "Inisherin's Banshee" also comes from the film director Martin McDonag, who has been deeply engaged in niche art films for many years, has a very high artistic pattern and unique value expression, and has appeared in major award ceremonies, the most prestigious work is "Three Billboards" that swept the awards season. Therefore, as the director's first work after "Three Billboards", "Inischelin's Banshee" carries the director's artistic aura and may once again capture the hearts of the judges.
In addition, the women's film "Tal" and the biopic "Elvis" also have the opportunity to stand out, after all, from the story material to the type of film, they are the "favorites" of the previous Oscars. "Thal" tells the story of the famous music master Tal being accused of sexual assault, his life and career falling apart, and he fell to the altar. "Elvis" has all the classic elements of a legendary biopic, and is blessed with dazzling song and dance scenes - "La La Land" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" are their song and dance scenes that increase the film's chances of winning awards.
At the same time, "Top Gun 2: The Lone Ranger" and "Avatar: The Way of Water" are also very likely to be "upset" with action scenes and special effects production, the former is known as the "rescue work" of the European and American film industry in the post-epidemic era, with a global box office of 1.44 billion US dollars, once becoming the 5th in the box office list of North American film history. And in 2022, Cameron's 12-year-old sharpening of "Avatar: The Way of Water", with the highest production level of special effects, "Avatar: The Way of Water" exceeded 2.2 billion US dollars at the global box office, surpassing another film directed by Cameron "Titanic", entering the top three box office lists in film history, becoming another reassurance for theater recovery.
Although the award for best film has always been "insulated" from genre films with too strong commercial attributes, it has won many technical awards at most, but in the history of the Oscar, the action film "Rocky" has also defeated the excellent works "Taxi Driver" and "Presidential Team" that were very popular and still famous in film history to win the Best Picture Award; Before the epidemic, commercial blockbusters such as "Black Panther" did come out of the limelight during the awards season.
Many histories tell us that commercial blockbusters still have the possibility of winning the best picture, especially for the post-epidemic era, "Top Gun 2: The Lone Ranger" and "Avatar: The Way of Water" have special significance, and one of the reasons why "Rocky" can counterattack is also in a specific historical context - what people needed at that time was not the confusion and rebellion of the hippie pop period, but a determination to face difficulties.
Glory to the actors! A tribute to every performance that deserves the crown
In the world of movies, a good film may not necessarily have a good performance, but a good performance is very likely to make a film. Therefore, in addition to the competition between films, the battle between the emperors and queens in the decisive battle is also full of drama. Throughout this round of awards season, the competition on the best actress track is more fierce, when "Big Devil" Cate Blanchett faces "King of Kung Fu" Michelle Yeoh head-on, is the powerful and high-profile Changsheng general able to keep the glory of Hollywood, or can the sprung Asian female actor representative make history? It is worth holding the audience's breath and looking forward to it together.
Judging from the records of the two in the awards season, although Cate Blanchett won 12 leading role awards, including the Venice International Film Festival actress, she lost to Michelle Yeoh in the two most valuable awards of the Golden Globe Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the two outstanding female actors were evenly matched.
From the perspective of performance style, Cate Blanchett interprets a female representative of the power class who is deeply involved in a sexual assault scandal but has been tortured by the world with skillful acting skills, with three-dimensional and complex characters, delicate and subversive emotions. Michelle Yeoh interprets the different identities of the multiverse by herself, more flexibly interspersed between the two states of a peerless master with skills and a housewife in a mid-life crisis, not only showing the female image of life crushed by the triviality of life, but also flipping into a sassy "superheroine" in a second with superior action scenes!
On the track of the male protagonist, Brandon Fisher in "Whale" and Austin Butler in "Elvis" have eye-catching and different performances. In the film "Whale", Brandon Fisher plays a frustrated man who is depressed by the loss of his lover and is determined to eat himself to death. In order to play this giant fat man weighing 272 kilograms, Brandon Fisher once gained weight to the point of awe-inspiring, even so, his body size still did not reach the weight of the character, and he had to wear a suffocating "fattening costume" in the later stage.
Of course, Brandon Fisher conquered the audience with his brilliant acting skills, "Variety" believes that "Brandon Fisher's interpretation is more worthy of being seen than the movie itself", and "Time" praised "Fisher's performance helped the film director reduce his weaknesses". With his superb performance, Brandon Fisher won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor as one of the four major weather vanes of the Oscar, and since 2005, this award has overlapped with the Oscar actor rate of 100%.
But another Oscar, Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama Film, was won by Austin Butler. In the biopic "Elvis", Austin Butler used a passionate and wonderful performance to freeze the highlight of the king of world music history, and even won the recognition of Elvis Presley's daughter, "In this film, you can feel the actor's pure love and care for my father." Actor Austin Butler's performance was unprecedented." More quipped: "If Austin Butler can't win this year's Oscar, I'll eat my own feet." ”
In addition, Colin Farrell in "Nicelin's Banshee" also has great competitiveness, sweeping the best actor laurels at the Venice Film Festival, the National Association of Review Awards, the Atlanta Film Critics Association Awards and other awards, and the male protagonist in the film, Padrik, originally a simple-minded, cheerful and optimistic rural dairy farmer, fell into paranoia and self-doubt due to the alienation of his friends. Colin Farrell presents the natural and smooth transformation of the characters before and after, and has won the audience's affirmation with his delicate acting skills like a tiger sniffing roses.
In the past 2022, it is precisely because of the colorful light and shadow of one film after another, and the superb performances of one actor after another, that the audience can enjoy a spiritual feast on the big screen, although there is only one laurel, but no matter who finally wins, the audience should thank every actor who tries to tell a moving story with images, and does his best to interpret each role. March has arrived, we are waiting for you at the Oscars!