The new film "Detroit," directed by Kathryn Bigelow, has been confirmed to be released in North American theaters on August 4, 2017. The film tells the story of the 1967 riots in Detroit, Michigan's largest city, in which police brutalized a group of young black men and two young white women, which eventually turned into one of the deadliest riots in U.S. history. The film is tightly paced, and Bigelow recreates the soon-to-be-forgotten history for us in a new dramatic way.
Although Detroit has not yet been released, it has been seen as one of the seed contestants competing for the Oscar for Best Film. Another masterpiece is Christopher Nolan's new "Dunkirk," which has grossed box office and received rave reviews since its release last Friday and has quickly become an Oscar-winning hit.
"Detroit" features a first-rate filmmaking crew, especially when filming scenes from the Algiers motel, with a large number of participants and interspersed with action interactions between the characters, but not chaotic, organized, and gripping. The ability to achieve such an effect is naturally due to Bigelow's talent as a director, but it is also indispensable to the tacit cooperation of a large number of young actors she uses in the film.
Among them, John Boyega, who participated in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", is prominent in the film, representing the embodiment of justice, and Will Poulter, who participated in "The Revenant", also plays the spokesperson for evil.
In addition, the cast behind Detroit is huge, including art director Jeremy hindle, cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, film editor William Goldenberg, and film composer James Newton Howard, who also played a crucial role in the film's success.
However, there are also many who feel that Detroit may not be as good as Bigelow's previous two films. Released in 2009, "The Hurt Locker," written by Mark Boal and co-produced with Bigelow, won six Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, making Bigelow the first woman in history to win Best Director.
In addition, the 2012 film Zero Dark Thirty was also nominated for Best Picture, but Bigelow was not nominated for Best Director again, which was controversial at the time. However, the mainstream view is that the cheerful scenes at the beginning of the film are incompatible with the tone of the whole film, the entire 143 minutes of the film is too long, and there are many unnecessary shots in the film.
This year, Bigelow once again became an Oscar favorite with "Detroit", which may be largely related to the theme he chose. The highlight of this film is that with the help of people's attention to police violence, it has aroused people's interest in the film itself.
A similar film, "Crash", which unexpectedly won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2006, chose the focus of public attention "racial discrimination" as the theme, except that the story of "Crash" is set in Los Angeles, and the story is fictional.
In today's United States, racial diversity is more complex than ever, racial tensions continue to rise, and reports of police brutality are frequent. This background has further raised people's attention and expectations for "Detroit".
In addition, released in January 2017, "Get Out", directed by Jordan Peele, also focused on today's increasingly tense race relations, and once released, the film has aroused praise and rave reviews from domestic and foreign media. For those voters concerned about race relations, the film will also be a strong competitor to detroit's awards.
Whether this is right or wrong, it must be noted that in the past there has been strong resistance to white directors making films about major historical events in black people, the most famous of which include Rob Reine's "Ghosts of Mississippi" and Steven Spielberg's "Amistad".
While members of the Oscar jury have undergone significant adjustments over the past two years, that doesn't mean the Oscars' long-standing film judging criteria will change, even though that standard is often biased. In their view, perhaps there are more similarities between "Detroit" and "Straw Dogs" than closer to films like "Moonlight Boys."
As the first film produced by Megan Ellison and released by Annapurna Pictures, "Detroit" has added a special expectation. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Detroit riots, Bigelow has always been good at dealing with such serious political themes, which will inevitably become one of the hot spots for "Detroit" to win the award.
(Translator: Liu Sang)
Will Detroit bring Katherine Bigelow a third Oscar nomination for Best Picture? 】