Is 12 Years a Slave Too Good For The Oscars?

Despite having seen it twice, and having 3 months to mediate on the film between viewings, it's still hard to find the exact words to describe 12 Years a Slave. Incredible? Horrible? Controversial? A sell-out? One thing that can be agreed on by most parties is that it's exactly the sort of film that deserves to win ALL THE OSCARS. But after a disappointing result at Sunday's Golden Globes, (where it only received one award out of the seven that it was nominated for) I'm beginning to think that maybe it won't do too well when March rolls around.

The cast and crew celebrate winning Best Drama Film at a ceremony where they should've won everything.

Let's start with the obvious - The Academy do have an annoying habit of effing up, especially when it comes to the Best Picture award. A film by Ben Affleck won last year. Rocky won instead of Taxi Driver, Forest Gump won instead of Pulp Fiction. How Green Was My Valley won instead of Citizen Kane. And let's not forget the oddest travesty of all - way back in 2005, Crash won in the place of Ang Lee's extraordinary Brokeback Mountain. What do all four of the films that were cruelly ignored have in common? They're all timeless classics, made by esteemed directors. The winning films are still famous of course, but I'm not sure anyone would ever deign to describe any of them as the "best film ever".

Even Jack Nicholson, who was giving out the award, was not expecting Crash to win.

Secondly, with the exception of actors like Daniel Day-Lewis and Meryl Streep, who give consistently good performances regardless of the quality of their films, I feel like The Academy never really give Best Actor or Actress to quite the right people. Although, that's mainly because most of the time they haven't even nominated the actors that gave the best performances of the year - Sam Rockwell in 2009 and Denis Levant in 2012, come on guys - The Oscars also have a tendency to go for the obviously. It seems very unlikely that Chiwetel Ejiofor will miss out on a Best Actor nomination - ditto Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong'o for Supporting Actor/Actress - but will they really be rewarded? After all three missed out on winning at the Golden Globes, it seems as though their chances are slipping somewhat.

We're all aware that The Academy love true stories, but that also means that Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto or (groan) Jennifer Lawrence could easily overshadow them. Plus, there's something important that sets American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street apart from 12 Years - they're "fun"! Were I voting, this would put me off, but we should all be aware that sometimes fun films with a "dark" side (e.g. Chicago, The Artist and Silver Linings Playbook) win big awards. Dallas Buyer's Club is pretty much the opposite of fun, but it still has some optimism running through it. 12 Years a Slave of course does not. The only time I felt optimistic whilst watching it is when Michael Fassbender showed up. Then I realised he was an evil psychopath and the horror continued on.

The cast of the "fun" American Hustle doing their thang.

There's another angle to look at all of this though, one that sounds less like a miserable rant against the tyranny of the Oscars and more like praise of the film. Maybe that film doesn't need Oscars. I'm not saying that statues wouldn't be the perfect recognition of Ejiofor, Fassbender and Nyong'o's incredible performances, Mcqueen's direction, Zimmer's score, Ridley's script and the (hopefully) many others that get nominated, because it would of course. It would also suggest some radical change within the film industry, as Mcqueen and Ejiofor would be the first black britons to win Best Director and Actor. It would also show the Academy genuinely giving awards to the right people for once, instead of messing it up. But what will happen if the film doesn't pick up any awards? Will it just disappear from existence in a ball of flames, never to be thought of again? No. The opposite in fact. Can you imagine how many angry articles similar to this will be published if the film gets snubbed? How many debates about race in Hollywood will start? There will be even more furore over the incompetence and unfairness of awards than ever. 12 Years has been getting us to look at our past with different eyes, so perhaps it being snubbed will get us to reexamine our present and future with regards to the film industry.

And really, shouldn't the film itself be the perfect reward for the cast and crew? It is a perfect piece of cinema as it stands, and the addition of the words "Oscar Winner" to its poster will do nothing to alter this for good or bad. Surely being able to watch themselves transform into these characters should be enough for the cast? And surely watching his vision completed on the big screen should be enough for McQueen? If the worst comes to the worst when the nominations are announced tomorrow, or on the big day, I think that this will be enough for me. We all know that 12 Years a Slave is a good film. Now we'll have to see if the Oscars are good enough to reward it. 

Grace Barber-Plentie

The 71st Golden Globe Awards: A Recap

Well, here we are at the first stop of awards season and easily the most entertaining show of them all – mainly because they cut out all the boring sound/editing awards. As Amy Poehler put it “Only at the Golden Globes do the beautiful people of film rub shoulders with the rat faced people of television”. So, if you weren’t cool/pathetic enough to stay up for the Golden Globes on Sunday night, read our quick recap to bring you up to speed.

(Disclaimer: the views and bitchiness below are entirely my own but are the truth so, like, whatever)

The Dresses

This may be a film blog but half the fun of awards season is bitching about the dresses (or weird backwards dressing gowns and leggings if you’re Emma Watson).

Best Dressed: LUPITA NYONG’O. 

She is just a perfect queen and that is a perfect cape and I hope she wins everything. 

Worst Dressed: JENNIFER LAWRENCE. 

I hope her contract ends with Dior because they keep sending these ugly dresses and it’s just not fair. I mean, she’s won an Oscar and could be on her way to winning her second (though hopefully not) and this is the best they can give her??

The Presenters

It’s Amy Poehler and Tina Fey and they took swipes as George Clooney, Taylor Swift, Leo and Martin Scorsese: that should say it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT3uNSZpK7c

The Winners

You can find a full list of the winners anywhere so instead let’s focus on the big important ones.

Best Motion Picture (Drama): 12 YEARS A SLAVE (yes yes yes)

Best Motion Picture (Comedy/Musical): AMERICAN HUSTLE (nope nope nope)

Best Director: ALFONSO CUARON (yeah)

Best Actress (Drama): CATE BLANCHETT (yes yes yes)

Best Actress (Comedy/Musical): AMY ADAMS (fine ok whatever)

Best Actor (Drama): MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY (yeah fine whatever)

Best Actor (Comedy/Musical): LEONARDO DICAPRIO (FINALLY!!!!!)

Best Supporting Actress: JENNIFER LAWRENCE (ha Ha HA ok)

Best Supporting Actor: JARED LETO (ok?)

So there’s a three hour show condensed into less than 400 words (and luckily for you, we left out the bit where they honoured a child molester). With the Golden Globes done and dusted, I hope you continue to join us for more snarkiness, bitching and, obviously, serious insights throughout this year’s awards season. 

Beth Johnston

Review: American Hustle

The chemistry between Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper was cemented in our minds after David O’Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook and the thought of all three working on the same project again brought a certain kind of anticipation. However, in American Hustle, a love letter to Martin Scorcese and Paul Thomas Anderson’s work that’s less than poetic - the pair’s equally corruptible lives barely intertwine. The film has a certain surface sheen to it –even if its plot is not completely uncovered and its character development rushed, everything looks great. Despite being nearly two and a half hours, we’re nowhere close to figuring out the bigger picture and perhaps that’s the point in a movie that deals with backdoor deals and government scandals – only a small amount of knowledge is imparted to us about these events in real life. Whilst the deals are the biggest part of the film, the love triangle centring on Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) and Rosalyn Rosenfeld (Jennifer Lawrence) is the real draw.

With captivating and impressive performances from all three, Bale and Adams look mild and meek once Lawrence struts onto the screen. Adams’ character Sydney, Irving’s lover, spends most of the film keeping up appearances and trying to make her fake identity as Lady Edith convincing with the distraction of an impressive amount of sideboob. Rosalyn, Irving’s wife, however is the exact opposite of Sydney, a nail polish enthusiast who’s an accidental pyromaniac and the life of the party. Undoubtedly the star performance, Lawrence puts every inch of her personality into the role. A particularly great moment is Rosalyn drunkenly scrubbing at her counters furiously whilst doing a passionate rendition of Live and Let Die.

But her honesty and tendency to pry in situations that don’t add up make her the potential downfall of all of Sydney and Irving’s schemes. Having already been caught preying on unfortunate souls by FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), he makes a  deal that will let them get off free but not before dragging them deeper into their own lies first. Cooper has already played the good authoritative figure gone corrupt in last year’s The Place Beyond The Pines and in both instances; it doesn’t work out so well for his character. Unaware to the depth to which Irving and Sydney (known to him primarily as Lady Edith)’s lies extend, DiMaso is helplessly sucked into their whirlpool of scams and trickery and doesn’t even realise the joke’s on him.

Something that is common throughout American Hustle is the naivety of the majority of its characters. Whether it is for love or money, the charm that oozes out of the pores of these people has a hold on them and they find themselves getting into a lot more trouble than expected. Charm and surface detail dominate the film - the elaborate outfits, coiffed hair and dazzling personalities put in the place of a substantial plotline. There are some captivating scenes within the film but they’re positioned next to needlessly long stretches of dialogue that could have done with a touch of editing. American Hustle may have all the gloss and appearances for award nominations in Oscar season, including an extremely brief cameo from Robert DeNiro, but it feels as if it’s striving for that exact goal too much and cutting corners in what could have been a much more developed film.

Aurora Mitchell