The Oscars are this coming Sunday, March 10th. They start an hour earlier this year, 7 pm EST instead of 8pm. You guys know that they’ll probably use that extra hour for g–damn padding, like “here’s a 15 minute long tribute to typewriters on screen!” Anyway, the week before the Oscars is actually one of my favorite times of the year, because the Hollywood Reporter does their Brutally Honest Oscar Ballot series, where they sit down with Academy voters as they’re filling out their Oscar ballots, and the voters explain why they’re voting for particular people or movies. The Hollywood Reporter’s series is so popular, other sites have copied the whole thing, so now multiple sites are running Oscar ballot pieces. Anyway, this piece in IndieWire was one of the first ones I’ve seen this week. They spoke to a member of the costume designers’ guild – you can see the full piece here. Some highlights:
Their top pics for Best Picture (remember, voters “rank” their top choices): “American Fiction” spoke to me. I liked the message and the way it was done. It was my first choice. “Past Lives” was powerful. “Anatomy of a Fall” was great. I loved the journey that it took you on. You’re not sure at the end what happened. I loved the ambiguity of it, watching the French court world play out, all the points of view and different languages, the unreliable narrators. “Barbie” I saw the first day it came out with my two nieces. I was sad Greta [Gerwig] wasn’t nominated [for Best Director] and Margot Robbie [for Best Actress]. That’s how it goes with comedies. “Killers of the Flower Moon” was terrific.
Their thoughts on “The Zone of Interest.” Right now things are so sh-tty in the world, there’s so much awful stuff, that my tolerance for anything disturbing is low. A lot of people love this film, I get it. Not for me. I saw it in a theater and didn’t know much about it, except for the outline. I was really disturbed by it, but I felt slightly “what’s the point?” I get it, it’s horrifying, I liked his other films better. The use of clothing was good. It had some great moments, as when [Frau Hoss] tries on the fur coat of Jewish people sent to the gas chambers.
Loved the costumes on “Killers of the Flowers Moon”: It is fantastic: all the research, attention to detail. [Jacqueline West] hired local people to make everything. She did a fantastic job. Missing is “Poor Things,” which everybody thinks is the bee’s knees. I couldn’t sit through it. We went to see it in a theater and left after 40 minutes. Other costume designers thought it was fantastic. I’m not a huge fan, even though I liked “The Favourite.” I can’t vote for the “Poor Things” costumes. It’s my policy. I have to enjoy the film.
Best Actress: Lily Gladstone was amazing. She didn’t speak that much, but had an incredible presence. Sandra Hüller was great in “Anatomy of a Fall.” It’s tough. Emma Stone. I don’t like “Poor Things.” She was terrific. I like her a lot. She’ll probably win. She deserves to win. She has won once. They should spread it around.
Thoughts on the Best Actor race: Paul Giamatti in [“The Holdovers”] gave a great performance with the weird eye; he captured something that was so moving. Bradley Cooper did a great rendering of Lenny. Jeffrey Wright‘s performance [in “American Fiction”] is so great. Cillian Murphy was almost Asperger, in “Oppenheimer,” which he probably was.
Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph. She’s such a great actress. We have to do something about clothes. Nobody over 25 should wear a strapless gown. It’s so unflattering. How dare any stylist let her walk out [at the Golden Globes] looking like that? I’m sorry.
Voted for Ryan Gosling for Supporting Actor: I did love Ryan Gosling. I’ll vote for him. “Barbie” needs some kudos. Sterling K. Brown is great in “American Fiction.” I didn’t like him in “This is Us.” Robert De Niro [“Killers of the Flower Moon”] is always great. But he’s won a million times.
Director: It was between Martin Scorsese and Justine Triet [“Anatomy of a Fall”]. Every time I hear Scorsese talk about the making of his films, how every decision is carefully thought out from an emotional standpoint, where to place the camera. Chris Nolan. I appreciated “Oppenheimer.” Then, it left me; it didn’t stay with me. The more I read outside the film, I felt stuff was missing about him, given how much time they took to tell the story. It didn’t remain with me. It looked great. Emily Blunt and the other women weren’t part of the story. I thought he was a more complicated person.
I’ll admit that I’m kind of meh on Nolan’s march to the Best Director Oscar as well, just I’m ambivalent about Oppenheimer likely winning Best Picture. The good thing about those potential wins is that it’s great that a lot of casual film-goers have seen the film and it’s genuinely a popular “arty” film. I also think people probably believe that Nolan has already won a bunch of Oscars – he hasn’t, this will be his first.
I also agree with this voter on The Zone of Interest – it was an interesting and horrifying film and I get why so many people are talking about it, but what did it actually say? The Nazis had families too and their families were just as terrible as the Nazi party members? That Hedwig Höss should have been tried for war crimes alongside her despicable husband?
The big race to watch is Best Actress, and I’m very interested to see how it plays out in the Oscar ballot pieces we’re getting this week. This voter clearly went for Lily Gladstone, even though the voter believes that Emma will probably win. After seeing Poor Things, I totally believe Emma will win another Oscar too. We’ll see what the real Oscar voters say.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, ‘Poor Things’ poster, KOTFM still courtesy of AppleTV.