The Oscar fight: Old vs cool

Let’s take a quick look at some of the outstanding movies of 2009, which are in the race for an Oscar for Best Picture.

Bikas Bhagat

With bated breaths, the world awaits the film whose destiny has already been written and this Sunday night will play the role of a stepping stone for the chosen one to get the ultimate recognition in the field of world cinema – the Academy Award. There is absolutely no denying the fact that moviegoers worldwide have already caught the Oscar fever, with several of the favourites for the Academy Awards doing big business at the box office. Let’s take a quick look at some of the outstanding movies of the year 2009 – films which were hugely appreciated and today stand the test of time after having been critically analyzed by the best of the jury. It was a strange and challenging year at the Oscars as for the first time in the history, ten and not five films have been nominated for the Best Picture award. The battle for this top honour will see the fight of ex-couple James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow, which has already become the main concern of the global media. Also making it different than other years is the fact that the Academy has included an animated film, two sci-fi films, one woman director (only the fourth one ever on an Oscar list) and an independent film in the race this year. Let’s take a look at the best picture category and try to predict the unpredictable. ‘Avatar’ The most expensive film ever made in the history of cinema, the ‘Avatar’ wave still grips strong. The futuristic sci-fi adventure drama directed by the maverick James Cameron will undoubtedly deserve a standing ovation for matching the excellence, which people around the world first saw in ‘Titanic’, and for becoming the highest grossing movie ever - standing at a staggering USD 1.9 billion and still counting. Money, of course, is the last thing on the minds of over 5000 Academy members when they vote. Traditionally, they do not like magical or science fiction team and go for that humane touch. Will Avatar’s 3D characters manage that? It will be magic if they do!‘The Blind Side’ The drama about a Southern white family, who take a black teenager into their home, has been nominated for two Oscars, including for best picture and best actress for Sandra Bullock. The flick opened at No 1, grossing USD 2.57 million last weekend. This is typical Hollywood stuff that punters like to bet on. But more than the best picture award, this film may end up getting the best actress for Sandra who has been nominated for the first time. Even though she is up against Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep, Sandra is the current American pie and may just win. ‘The Hurt Locker’ Talking about this movie, we can only say that this can be a real shocker in the main event. Widely believed to be the only competitor to ‘Avatar’ in the best picture and best director categories, it almost doubled its business in the second weekend of release. The Iraq war drama, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, was at one stage set to go straight to DVD worldwide. Kathryn is only the fourth woman director to be ever nominated for best director and she will be the first woman to win the coveted trophy if she does emerge the champion. The Hurt Locker is a story of an American bomb disposal squad in Iraq, talks about how the trauma of Iraqis affects them. Most of Hollywood is against Iraq war and that may just prevent Avatar from getting its due. Not just that, The Hurt Locker has grabbed all the Guild awards and there has been no film which didn’t win the Oscar after achieving that feat. ‘Up in the Air’ George Clooney-starrer ‘Up in the Air’ brought home the award for best screenplay at the Golden Globes this year, though this wasn’t expected even by its makers, which was evident in the acceptance speech of Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner – the writers. But the story on recession struck a chord with time and hence, it is a worthy contender in the race for the Oscars. Clooney has also been nominated for best actor for this film. ‘Inglourious Basterds’ Directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth and Mélanie Laurent, this film is surely the dark horse in this most watched race. The film revolves around two plots to assassinate the Nazi Germany political leadership, one planned by a young French Jewish cinema proprietor and the other by a team of Jewish Allied soldiers led by Pitt. Action packed and awesome performances with oodles of anti-Nazi flavour – things that make this movie an Oscar favourite. Waltz has been nominated for best supporting actor and with his sarcastic and witty performance as a Nazi officer, he has almost assured an Oscar for Inglourious Basterds. ‘Up’ The popularity of this film can be gauged from the fact that apart from 1991`s ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Up’ is the only animation film to land a best picture nod in the nomination for the Oscars. The movie is about a boy and an old man, who fly off in a house tied to balloons. ‘District 9’ It seems the Academy decided to go hi-tech this time. The film is about aliens, who are discriminated against, much like apartheid. This was THE sci-fi flick of 2009 till Avatar came rolling and scuttled its chances of an Oscar win. But even a nod counts when you are an indie pic with little hopes of making it beyond South Africa – from where this flick comes from. ‘A Serious Man’ A black comedy and a surprise inclusion on this list, ‘A Serious Man’ is Ethan Coen’s another attempt at glory after his ‘No Country for Old Men’ got the top award in 2007. Surprise because the film, a retelling of the ‘Book of Job’, is often seen as being anti-semitic. ‘An Education’ A British film about a teenager being seduced by a grown-up man, this Lone Scherfig film stars Carey Mulligan of ‘Brothers and Public Enemies’ for the first time in a lead role. The film has got rave reviews for the coming-of-age girl performance by Mulligan. A best actress award for her may earn it an Oscar for sure. ‘Precious’ “Precious: Based on the Novel `Push` By Sapphire” is a Harlem drama that may surprise – something which seems to be the theme of every Oscar award - on Sunday night. The film won big time at the Spirit Awards for independent films. It is about a black illiterate teenager pulling herself out of an abyss of neglect and abuse, and is being pushed by Oprah Winfrey, who arranged for its distribution after she saw it and loved it. The media is betting for a showdown between new age cinema and good ‘ol days kind of films at the Oscars this year. Will the Academy be courageous and go for the new and unknown or will it put the golden statuette in old and trusted hands? We will find out soon…