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Arty Chick’s Oscar Ballot
Posted by Jill Boniske on April 23, 2021
Between the two of us , we saw most of the films that are nominated this year and reviewed most of them here at Chickflix, so if you’re filling out a ballot (here’s one you can download), you can use this to read up on all the ones you might have missed, though we did miss a few. But it’s also my ballot, with my picks bolded. I’ll say right up front, I know a lot of my choices are non-mainstream and I won’t win any pools with this ballot, but I’m okay with that!
So happy Oscars! Here’s hoping the producers pull off a creative remote show without glitches. And I am hoping for a few surprises in the voting, too.
Tune in Sunday April 25, 2021 at 8pmET/5pPT on ABC.
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLERiz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Gary Oldman, Mank
Steven Yeun, Minari
Is the late Chadwick Boseman a lock for this one? He did turn in a great performance. But then so did Riz Ahmed. Ultimately I think the Academy with go with Boseman and I’m good with that.
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
Lakeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah
Daniel Kaluuya has gotten a lot of buzz, but I wonder whether the fact that two actors from the same film are up for this one could split that vote. I’m going with Sacha Baron Cohen, though I know it’s a long shot. I loved him in the film and appreciate his non-comedic acting chops.
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
Frances McDormand feels like the one that the Academy will go for. She was amazing in the film. But so was Carey Milligan, and I’m voting for her brave, multifaceted performance.
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman, The Father
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Youn Yuh-jung, Minari
Everybody loved Youn Yuh-jung in her Grandma role, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the film. So I’m going with Amanda Seyfried because I came away from the film wishing there’d been more of her and less of Gary Oldman.
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Onward
Over the Moon
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Soul
Wolfwalkers
I’ll admit I didn’t see any of these, so I’m going with the buzz.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sean Bobbitt, Judas and the Black Messiah
Erik Messerschmidt, Mank
Dariusz Wolski, News of the World
Joshua James Richards, Nomadland
Phedon Papamichael, The Trial of the Chicago 7
One of the things that made News of the World worth watching was the beautiful cinematography. But Nomadland‘s imagery was another character in the film, the landscapes, the faces. So that’s my pick!
COSTUME DESIGN
Ma Rainey’s Blackbottom
Mulan
Pinocchio
I forgot that EMMA was this year. And though I wasn’t a big fan of it, the costumes were delightful. But I expect the Academy to be more drawn to the prestige films, and that probably means Ma Raney’s Blackbottom, which did have some great costumes.
DIRECTOR
Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round
David Fincher, Mank
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
It’s a great list for having two women, two Asians, and only one white America man for a change. I’d love it if Emerald Fennell won, but I suspect Chloe Zhao will take home the statue. And she should. The film is an amazing feat, working with all those non-actors, making a narrative from a memoire. It’s unlike anything that’s come before.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Crip Camp
Time
This is a hard category. I LOVED Collective. And My Octopus Teacher, too. But I’m going with Collective because when I saw it I was blown away and wouldn’t stop talking about it to everyone I met.
DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
I’m torn in this category, too. All of them are strong. But I think A Love Song for Latasha is the most timely and the one that made me cry. (Okay, I shed more than a few tears with some of the others. It’s a sad set of shorts)
FILM EDITING
The Father
I’m leaning towards Nomadland for this one because working with all those non-actors must have produced a lot of footage that had to be massaged to come out looking like a real narrative film. Sound of Metal will probably win, and I’m okay with that, but my gut tells me that Nomadland deserves it.
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Another Round – Denmark
Better Days – Hong Kong
Collective – Romania
The Man Who Sold His Skin – Tunisia
Quo Vadis, Aida? – Bosnia and Herzegovina
The fact that they nominated Thomas Vinterberg for Best Director means that the Academy really liked Another Round. So did I, though I’d love to see Collective win.
MAKEUP and HAIRSTYLING
Hillbilly Elegy
Ma Rainey’s Blackbottom
Pinocchio
I haven’t a clue, and like Costumes, I wish EMMA would win, but it will most likely go to Ma Rainey.
ORIGINAL SCORE
Soul
I remember liking the music in Da 5 Bloods, though I’d be hard pressed to tell you anything about it now. News of the World was too heavy handed for my taste. But since Soul is about music, I think it may have the edge. But since I think Da 5 Bloods was really snubbed, I’m giving it this vote.
ORIGINAL SONG
Fight For You from Judas and the Black Messiah
Hear My Voice from The Trial of the Chicago 7
Husavik from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
lo Sì (Seen) from The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)
Speak Now from One Night in Miami…
I can’t say I remember any of them, though I did watch a couple of videos in the last week. The dark horse is Husavik, and I’d love to see it win, but I think Speak Now will take it home.
PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Father
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Tenet
What Mank had in spades was a visual style. And it felt right.
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
If Anything Happens I Love You
This year’s nominees are as different as can be, and the question is what will the Academy voters prize? The actual animation, the story, the feeling? Or will they be swayed by the marketing campaigns from Pixar and Netflix? I’m going for the one with the most interesting animation, also the oddest.
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
This was a great set of films! I’m thinking the Academy votes will go with Feeling Through because it has a sweet message, and has a blind/deaf actor in a lead role for the first time ever. It’s a memorable film. So is Two Distant Strangers, my second pick.
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND
Greyhound
Soul
I’m pretty sure that Sound of Metal will win this. And it should.
VISUAL EFFECTS
Love and Monsters
Mulan
The One and Only Ivan
Tenet
I only saw one of these, but I think Tenet depended on Visual Effects the most, so I’ll go with that one.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Father
The White Tiger
As adaptation go, I can’t remember another that took a book and treated it like Nomadland, with the documentary/narrative structure.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAYThis is a total tossup. They’re all excellent, but Promising Young Woman is truly a creative script from beginning to end, and the only one about a woman taking on the world on her own terms. (Like Nomadland in that respect.)
BEST PICTUREThe Father
I think Nomadland is going to win this, and I’d like that to happen for a whole lot of reasons. A Chinese woman made a film about an American woman on the fringes, using real people in near homeless conditions. And she got incredible performances from them all.
I just took a peek at Mainstream Chick’s ballot and we agree on most of the categories.
Happy Oscar Viewing!
Review: One Night in Miami
Posted by Jill Boniske on January 14, 2021
Academy Award winning actress Regina King’s extraordinary directorial debut is an adaptation of a play that tells the story of one evening in 1964 when four African-American icons get together in a small motel room in Miami. Those men are Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir, “Peaky Blinders”, “High Fidelity), Cassius Clay, soon to become Mohammed Ali (Eli Goree, Race, “Ballers”), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge, Hidden Figures, The Invisible Man), and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr., Hamilton‘s Aaron Burr). They come together to celebrate their friend Clay’s upset victory over world heavyweight boxing champ Sonny Liston. But amidst the revelry their conversations turn to the power and responsibility of being a celebrity in the Black liberation movement’s early years. What’s great about the script is that it isn’t dogmatic or preachy. It’s the kind of conversation old friends might have, peppered with jokes and digs and a heated disagreement or two along the way.
Review: Small Axe: Mangrove
Posted by Jill Boniske on December 25, 2020
The first film of Steve McQueen’s (12 Years a Slave) Small Axe anthology sets a high bar for the 5-part series. Mangrove tells the true story of a group that would come to be called The Mangrove Nine. Centered on a restaurant in the Notting Hill neighborhood of London where the West Indian diaspora gather, it’s a harrowing indictment of the Metropolitan Police’s violent systemic racism and a powerful story of the community’s push-back that landed nine of them in a high profile court case. And while there are nine defendants, the film’s heart is with Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes, “Lost in Space”), the owner of the Mangrove restaurant who is one policeman’s favorite target. The film boasts great performances, intense action, and a yell at your television story.
Review: I’m Your Woman
Posted by Hannah Buchdahl on December 8, 2020
I’m Your Woman is a quiet and engrossing crime drama starring Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) as a woman forced to go on the run after her thief of a husband wrongs the wrong people.
