International Contenders: Estonia's "Truth and Justice"

by Abe Fried-Tanzer

When someone is young, the future can be full of hope. There is endless time to truly build something, and, if it’s difficult to get a dream off the ground right away, there may be other opportunities and options down the road. Working toward a goal, however, requires some sort of anchoring to the present so that a person doesn’t become too bogged down in the lack of progress and isn’t ever able to appreciate what it is they have on the way there. If eyes are only on the future, those who have spent every moment working may feel as if they’ve missed their entire lives once they actually stop to take it all in.

In Truth or Justice, Estonia’s finalist for Best International Feature this year, Andres (Priit Loog) buys a large farm and moves there with his wife Krõõt (Maiken Schmidt). He soon meets his neighbor Pearu (Priit Võigemast), an alcoholic who has already driven away two previous owners with his dishonest tactics...

Click to read more ...

30 days till Oscar

Which actor turning 30 in 2020 will be the first to win an Oscar? (Or in the case of Jennifer Lawrence win a second Oscar). Here's a list of key working actors of the moment (with their current Oscar stats). If they've appeared in a film nominated for Best Picture (or expected to be Monday) that film is mentioned after their name...

Click to read more ...

Who'll be this years' surprise snub?

by Cláudio Alves

Nathaniel's final predictions will be up tomorrow morning but until then, let's talk potential snubs. Oscar nomination morning usually holds a few surprises. Sometimes, everything goes according to plan and the performers singled out by the precursors appear in their entirety but that's a rare event. We're thankful for that since the opposite would be dreadfully boring. Usually, there's one big snub like Timothée Chalamet for Beautiful Boy, Amy Adams for Arrival, Idris Elba for Beasts of No Nation, Jennifer Anniston for Cake or Tom Hanks for Captain Phillips. At the last minute, they all failed to secure an expected nod.

Of this year's crop of contenders, 12 have conquered nods from the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, SAGs, and Critics Choice Awards. Many pundits say DiCaprio is the most vulnerable and we should never be sure about Hanks given his recent Oscar history. Still, the rest of them seem solid if not altogether locked. Unless, of course, Margot Robbie manages to upset everyone and get in for the Tarantino flick instead of Bombshell. You can never know for sure, that's the eternal truth about prognosticating. 

All that said, here are those 12 contenders...

Click to read more ...

Interview: Ladj Ly on 'Les Miserables'

by Murtada Elfadl

Winning a major prize at last May’s Cannes and the French finalist for Best International Film this year, Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables is a searing story of an escalating volatile situation taking place in Montfermeil, a Parisian project. A new policeman Stéphane (Damien Bonnard) joins the anti-crime squad and is paired up with Chris (Alexis Manenti) and Gwada (Djebril Zonga), whose methods are sometimes brutal and against the people they are supposed to be protecting. The trio get into a whole heap of trouble when they use excessive force on a gang of young boys misbehaving. The film builds sustainable tension across its running time until it boils over, with assured intense filmmaking.

We recently met with Ly in New York to discuss his film, opening today in limited release. [This interview was conducted in French and English with the help of an interpreter and has been edited and condensed for clarity.] 

Murtada Elfadl: The film has a lot of perspectives. The police, young Issa and his friends, the many factions living in the area. Can you talk about balancing the different perspectives and different characters?

Click to read more ...

Laura Dern's Amazing Run

by Camila Henriquez

If last weekend's Golden Globes were anything to go by, we’ll have an award season packed with Laura Dern speeches. Even though she has been deemed a favorite to win Best Supporting Actress for the past few months, many (myself included) thought the HFPA would go the HFPA way and honor Jennifer Lopez. It was probably the best shot for J.Lo at a televised award, as Globe voters looove their mega-stars. But Dern has an "overdue" narrative that her category rivals just don’t. Well, Annette Bening does, but unfortunately there’s no chance in hell she gets her Oscar this year. Even the nomination would be a shock.

But Dern's Globes victory should have been a foregone conclusion, regardless of Lopez's great Hustler's performance. Laura Dern has a great track record with the HFPA; she has had eight nominations and lost only thrice. With her win last sunday, she joins Carol Burnett, Rosalind Russell, Jessica Lange and Ed Asner in the five-Globe-wins group. 

Let's look back at her Globes history - with an Oscar note or two thrown in -- for fun...

Click to read more ...