With the Oscars (and our LIVE BLOG) less than a week away, we'll be treating you to three installments of Oscar Predictions this week. Don't forget to read our earlier predictions and check back in the week for more. But for today, the post is on those other categories.
Today is about Best Documentary, Best Foreign Film and Best Picture Snub Animated Feature. And also those ones that aren't that important because no one really understands them, but they are really important because they are nuanced and make the films really special. Anna Farris was great in The House Bunny, but that didn't get any buzz. It's things like editing, cinematography, etc. that really make these directors, writers, actors and films shine. Best Picture is an amalgamation of all these awards. I don't really understand them, but I'm going to give it my best go.
Best Animated Film
Whatever that mess that happened with Kung Fu Panda was at the Annie's, don't expect it here. That award might appeal to the technical merit of the films, but most Oscar voters aren't going to pick up on that. As justice to the greatest Best Picture snub and to honor one of the most pure and classic pieces of cinema in recent memory, Andrew Stanton will take the award for WALL-E.
Best Documentary Feature
The politics and rules behind this award are confusing at best. Just look at Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man snub. That said, this is an especially strong crop of candidates this year and thankfully, Michael Moore is nowhere to be seen. The Garden should resonate with the strong pool of L.A. residents in the Academy, and The Betrayal could draw on memories of Vietnam. As entertaining and celebrated as Man on Wire though, I see this as a fight between Herzog's Antarctica documentary Encounters at the End of the World and post-Katrina-themed Trouble the Water. The Academy owes Herzog after his snub, but Trouble--in its low-budget grit--is one of the most salient, affecting documentaries in recent memory. I'd like to see the latter take it, but it will be a fight to the end.
Best Editing
I think editing is the award I understand the least but know I should appreciate the most. I'm going to give this one to Slumdog just because it has been praised for its editing.
Best Cinematography
I think a lot of Slumdog's appeal is the result of the technical mastery of the film. It's editing and cinematography have been lauded for bringing alive Mumbai and making it the star of the feature. The Dark Knight, with its gritty reality, comic book ethos and sweeping vision, is Slumdog's biggest competitor. All the other films seem a bit too traditional--too Atonement--to pull out a win. I'll give my vote to Slumdog, but I would also recommend checking out this website which has an amazing list of the 10 best shots in film this year.
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