Friday, December 23, 2005

Direct This

The year's Oscar competition for Best Director seems to have been whittled down to seven men. In alpha order they are: Allen (Match Point), Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck.), Cronenberg (A History of Violence), Jackson (King Kong), Lee (Brokeback Mountain), Meirelles (Constant Gardener), and Spielberg (Munich). There are three more longshot competitors should the DGA throw a bone to Haggis (Crash), Mangold (Walk the Line), or Miller (Capote). Oscar ballots go out in just 6 days and I feel confident that Oscar's shortlist will name 5 of those 10 men just mentioned.

But which five men and/or women will take my coveted [*cough*] prizes? The subway strike has just ended so screenings can again commence [with the help of lots of fluids, cough supressants, etc... Lucky me, I think I have bronchitis]. But for now my field of consideration looks like this:


The [*cough*] FB awards begin soon. In completed unrelated news, Joe Reid's new column is up. He surveys the studios and their scorecards for 2005.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nathaniel, dear, you forgot And Lee! :-P

NATHANIEL R said...

OHMYGOD.

Correcting it now.

Anonymous said...

I'm pushing for Desplechin and July (I figure Ang Lee is a shoe-in). Don't forget how unique and innovative each of these visions were, and how both films overcame the empty quirk factor and turned out to be about something.

Also FYC Emanuelle Devos and Miranda July for Best Actress. Devos made a self-involved upper-class bitch compelling and totally lovable, while July could have made the whole film an excuse for her personality, but she still comes off modest, flawed and completely charming (and not wanky or self-righteous).

Anonymous said...

Great text by Mr. Reid, as usual.

"The Constant Gardener" is my favorite film as well, so far.

Marcelo.

Glenn Dunks said...

Wow... i have no idea who some of those people are!

For me, my top 5 at the moment are

Gregg Araki, Mysterious Skin
Wong Kar-Wai, 2046
Fernando Meirelles, The Constant Gardener
Christopher Nolan, Batman Begins
and
Sarah Watt, Look Both Ways

with a shout out to Miranda July's fabo concoction. However I haven't seen a bevy of the movies considered for Director. Jackson shouldn't be there at all though if you ask me. Did exactly what a director shouldn't - overindulge in a life-long fantasy.

For some reason though when it comes to directorial visions and the like this year seems a little slim.

Glenn Dunks said...

I now know who they all are.

Interesting.

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