Oh, hey, you guys. Been a while since the last blog post, but it's ~*Oscar Weekend*~ so it's time to fix that.
Way back last month, I posted my picks for what was the best of the best of 2012. A while has passed since then (enough for me to consider changing one or two of my nominations), but now is the time to reveal the films, performances, and craftspeople who I think did the most to contribute to this wonderful year.
Plus, I can't let the Oscars tell you what's what before I get my word in. Naturally.
We'll start from the bottom.
Best Original Score
Winner: Reinhold Heil, Johnny Kilmek, and Tom Tykwer - Cloud Atlas
Runner-Up: Dan Romer, Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild
This was a bit of a hard decision. Between the two listed above and Johnny Greenwood's score for The Master, I wasn't sure which one to pick for the top spot. I went with Cloud Atlas not because I'm necessarily convinced it's the best musically (strong arguments can be made for Beasts and The Master), but rather because it works into the film itself more fully. Cloud Atlas is thematically very concerned with recurrence and interconnectedness, and that's reflected in the score, which works around variations of the "Cloud Atlas Sextet" throughout. Even keeping with its centerpiece, the score varies as the film does, taking on different tones as required for each story, while maintaining the necessary common threads to hold the film together. Cloud Atlas's score contributes the most to its overall thematic and narrative framework, and ends up being truly integral to the film, and for that reason I believe it is the best score of 2012.
Beasts is next because "Once There Was a Hushpuppy" was probably the single best single piece of music to come out of a movie last year.
Best Art Direction
Winner: Adam Stockhausen - Moonrise Kingdom
Runner-Up: Eve Stewart - Les Miserables
What can I say? Wes Anderson movies, if nothing else, are ridiculously pretty. When he puts out a film that I can really appreciate, I can admire the visuals all the more. It's a colorful, whimsical, fun-to-watch movie that knows exactly how to frame itself, aesthetically. It can be easy to get tired of Anderson's saccharine quirkiness (looking at you, Life Aquatic) but here it works about as well as it ever has, at least cranked up this high. Possibly because it's about kids this time, instead of childish adults.
Les Miserables is number two because when the camera isn't cutting around everywhere or flying up someone's nose, the sets are pretty beautiful.
Best Cinematography
Winner: Claudio Miranda - Life of Pi
Runner-Up - Mihai Milaimare, Jr. - The Master
A boring choice, but the right one. Life of Pi is a really quality film, and this is due in a large part to how damn good it looks. Lee and Miranda were able to overcome the truly substantial obstacle of filming a movie that mostly takes place on a raft and made something truly beautiful from it. More than perhaps any other film recently, the images from Pi have stuck with me, even months after seeing it. The shots Miranda lines up are frequently striking and, in their way, perfect. Not a single film from 2012 looked as good as Life of Pi did, and Claudio Miranda gets a great deal of credit for that.
The Master is also gorgeously shot, to be sure, but at the end of the day Miranda's work is simply more impressive. I'm comparing two masterful jobs here, nonetheless.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Tony Kushner - Lincoln
Runner-Up: Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Tony Kushner absolutely runs away with this one, no other script stands close. Yes, it's an involved, very technical historical account, at times it's a bit dry, and it goes on a little longer than it should. These are flaws, but they don't matter. Lincoln's screenplay is a stunning work, showing a great deal of earnest research and attention to detail not usually seen in historical films, and it handles it subject matter with a mastery of tone and gravity, while still managing to allow for some well-executed comic relief without breaking stride. Kushner's words have great power (especially when filtered through the ever-arresting Daniel Day-Lewis) and the entire film rests comfortably on them. One of the best single components of any film of 2012.
Stephen Chbosky gets recognition too for managing to really competently adapt his own book, which probably sounds easier than it is. Perks sort of perfectly captures adolescence in a nutshell, and even at its more manipulative points is never less than believable.
Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola - Moonrise Kingdom
Runner-Up: Nicholas Jarecki - Arbitrage
Not my favorite category this year (especially compared to the packed Adapted group), but a few screenplays shone though. The best of these is Moonrise Kingdom. Again, I'm not a huge fan of Wes Anderson in general, but I have a cautious respect for him, and this is one of the films where he shows that he deserves it. Moonrise is simple, sweet, and clever, which is what Anderson usually does his best at (see: Rushmore, Bottle Rocket). The dialogue has all the usual overly mannered Wes-isms but, like I mentioned before, this usually works better for kids acting older than they are than the opposite. I don't think there was a single film from 2012 (or even the past couple years) more charming than Moonrise, and truthfully, movies that can boast charm and good craftsmanship are few and far between. An elegant and enjoyable examination of youth, innocence, and love.
Arbitrage, however, continues a recent trend (or perhaps resurgence) of really cynical, fast-paced movies about money, the people who have it, and how they misuse it. Like 2011's Margin Call, I liked this movie substantially more than I was expecting, and its sharp dialogue was a huge part of that. If we get a movie or two like this every year from here on out, I'll be happy.
Best Ensemble Cast
Winner: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Sacha Baron Cohen, etc. - Les Miserables
Runner-Up: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, Jackie Earle Haley, etc. - Lincoln
The single hardest call I had to make for this post was on whether to give this distinction to Les Mis or Lincoln. Both ensembles are fantastic, and it's a little painful to have to choose. Lincoln has this really interesting spin on the "cast of thousands" going on, and has a lot of better-than-you'd-guess cameo roles, while Les Mis has a smaller, more focused cast, but with everyone giving a memorable and commendable performance (yes, even Russell Crowe). In the end, though, I'd give the edge to Les Mis. My reason is simple: the cast completely saves the film. It's this year's answer to The Help. Behind the camera, a lot of Les Mis teeters on the edge of a trainwreck (not all, but enough to count). The cast, with its Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway and Eddie Redmayne, on the other hand, is nothing short of superb, elevating the film from pitiful-missed-opportunity to flawed-but-great, which, I would say, is no small feat. Lincoln's cast is excellent, to be sure, but it's not as integral to the film's success as Les Mis's cast is.
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Doona Bae - Cloud Atlas
Runner-Up: Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Shocking decision #1. I know this might be sacrilege at this point, not giving Anne Hathaway her due, but no amount of momentum can overcome the most sublime performance that everyone else ignored. Doona Bae plays a number of roles in Cloud Atlas, as the rest of the cast does, but her most important part is that of Soonmi~451, a clone who decides to assert her humanity and fight for her freedom. Alongside Tom Hanks's Zachry and Ben Whishaw's Robert Frobisher, Bae crafts one of the most memorable characters in the film, and gives the best performance to boot. All through the movie she teems with quiet emotion, letting only wisps slip through the cracks for the most part. It's an incredible balancing act of mannerism and organic acting, showing confusion, composure, and confidence in equal measure. Soonmi's monologue is among the best moments in the film, delivered perfectly for the role she played. The fact that Bae could not speak English before taking this role only bolsters her case.
Anne Hathaway is next because she has to be, but she also deserves it. All that can be said about Fantine has been said, so I'll just say that I can't possibly be bitter about her nigh-inevitable Oscar victory.
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Dwight Henry - Beasts of the Southern Wild
Runner-Up: Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Amateur actors are a strange thing. Sometimes they're nothing worth writing home about, getting more credit than they deserve due to their lack of training. Other times, like in Beasts, they come out of nowhere and wow everyone. Perhaps even more than Quvenzhane Wallis's turn as Hushpuppy, Dwight Henry's portrayal of her father, Wink, signals the discovery of a potential new talent. Henry, like his young costar, has a great deal of natural charisma that bleeds through the screen. His lines all feel natural, almost spontaneous, and he fully embodies his character. Some would give most of the credit to Zeitlin for his choice direction, making the performance seem better than it is. I say that's not true. Henry becomes Wink on screen regardless of what Zeitlin did. Quvenzhane Wallis, talented though she is, has stolen the spotlight away from her costar, who was every bit as impressive.
Though the Weinsteins are committing terrible category fraud by putting him here, Philip Seymour Hoffman outshines most of the competition in his category, probably because he's actually a lead. His Lancaster Dodd makes a perfect foil to Freddie Quell, and he gives a performance that can match. A career highlight for Hoffman.
Best Lead Actress
Winner: Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Runner-Up: Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
For my money, Jessica Chastain's Maya is possibly the most badass movie character of this century so far. Cool, confident, and filled with righteous fury, Chastain shows beyond any doubt that her explosive entry onto the scene in 2011 wasn't just a fluke. She plays the determined CIA agent who searched for Osama bin Laden for a decade before finally succeeding in finding him. She injects life into the film, allowing stripes of fiery red passion to slip through Bigelow's otherwise low-key, sparse directorial style. We feel her drive when the search moves, her frustration when it stagnates. There's a number of quality supporting performances in the film, particularly from Jason Clarke and Jennifer Ehle, but Chastain drowns them all out. Chastain is the possibly the most exciting new talent in Hollywood, giving performance after stunning performance. Zero Dark Thirty is just a taste of what's to come.
I'm a huge Jennifer Lawrence fanboy (you might've been able to tell), and her performance in Silver Linings, though not the best of the year, only cements that. She has incredible charisma, and can tackle any kind of role she wants. She seems particularly at home in her role as Tiffany, though - sarcastic, biting, very blunt. It seems like she's barely even trying, and that's why we love her.
Best Lead Actor
Winner: Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
Runner-Up: Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Shocking decision #2, maybe, but I have no regrets. Joaquin Phoenix's Freddie Quell is, almost without question, one of the single best performances on film of the last 20 years. Phoenix embodies Freddie entirely, building this strange, animal-like man from the ground up. It's absolutely pitch perfect in its execution. Every little mannerism, from his default facial expression, somewhere between a smirk and a snarl, to the way he walks, slouched and slightly hobbled, to his constantly slurred, confused manner of speech, builds to the creation of a unique, eerily real character. It is a performance unlike anything else seen this year, or in much of the recent past (the only suitable comparison I can think of is to Denis Lavant in Holy Motors), so it only feels right to acknowledge this masterwork by one of the greatest young actors working today. Joaquin Phoenix gave not only the most daring performance of the year, but also the best.
Daniel Day-Lewis naturally deserves great praise too for his equally transformative performance as Abraham Lincoln. Like Hathaway, all that can be said has been said - Day-Lewis is his ever-reliable, ever-impressive self.
Best Director
Winner: Ben Affleck - Argo
Runner-Up: Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild
I love Ben Affleck. In a short five years (less, really), he went from one of the biggest jokes in Hollywood to one of its most respected new directors. It's the sort of thing I love to see happen, and with his work in Argo, no one can deny his talent. His direction is so tightly wound, so perfectly smooth, so masterfully executed on all fronts. He is a new master of the thriller, showing in just three films that he can command the screen from behind the camera with ease, and there's no reason to believe that his winning streak won't continue. Especially with Argo, there's a certain classic style of pure, well-executed escapism that Affleck excels at, the kind we don't get much anymore. He is a master not of film, but of movies, and I say that as praise. Argo is a film that just works, simply put. It's not the best film of the year, but it's certainly one of the most admirably crafted.
Zeitlin gets mention as well, for in Beasts he never lets on that it's his first time. We're lucky to get first features with this level of confidence once or twice a decade, and it's rare to see it happen in such a low-budget, DIY kind of film. I expect great things from Zeitlin in the future, if Beasts is any sort of indication.
Best Picture
Winner: Beasts of the Southern Wild
Runner-Up: Lincoln
This is an incredibly pretentious pick, but that's never stopped me before. Beasts of the Southern Wild is absolutely beautiful. From the performances to the visuals to the music to the writing, everything about this movie fits together perfectly. It's a wildly unique film, unlike almost anything I've ever seen (even the comparisons to Malick tend to fall flat - he's never done anything this vibrant) and that is something we, as a culture, need to reward. Hardly anyone saw this movie, which is a damn shame, because it's absolutely lovable. It's as energetic and full of life as the people it depicts, telling the simple story of an imaginative little girl living on the Gulf. I love the attention this movie's gotten this season, because it deserves every bit.
Lincoln isn't as exciting, per se, but it's a great relief to see Spielberg making Spielberg-quality films again. He comes back from a decade of disappointment to give one of the better films of his career, one that will surely be remembered years from now. It's a film that does so little wrong, and so much so very right. If Beasts shows us some of the best of what the future of cinema has in store, Lincoln demonstrates some of the best that's still around. An outstanding script, a massive, talented cast, and a master director showing us he's still got it - there's not much more you can ask for.
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