OSCAR HEARS REBELLE YELL
Kim Nguyen’s wartime drama is the third Quebec movie in as many years to score a foreign-film nomination.
Lincoln leads the Oscar pack with 12 nominations; Silver Linings Playbook scored coups in several major categories; but the big story in Quebec can again be found in the nominations for best foreign-language film.
For the third time in three years, our province will be represented in the coveted category. Kim Nguyen’s Rebelle (War Witch, outside of Canada) was given the nod Thursday morning as nominations were announced for the 85th Academy Awards.
“I’m completely ecstatic,” Nguyen said, upon hearing the news. “I’m dumbfounded as well.” The director follows fellow Quebecers Denis Villeneuve (nominated in 2011 for Incendies) and Philippe Falardeau (for Monsieur Lazhar in 2012) as the latest carrier of the torch. It’s no small feat. In December, Rebelle was selected from a long list of 71 films to be on the nine-title short-list.
Now it is one of five, competing against Michael Haneke’s Amour (Austria), Pablo Larrain’s No (Chile), Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg’s Kon-Tiki (Norway) and Nicolaj Arkel’s A Royal Affair (Denmark).
Rebelle’s big competition is Amour, which racked up nominations in major categories, including best picture, best director, best original screenplay and best actress (for Emmanuelle Riva); it is just the fourth film to be nominated for both best picture and best foreign language film, along with Costa Gavras’s Z (1969), Roberto Benigni’s Life Is Beautiful (1998) and Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000). Oh yes, and Amour won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in April.
“We’re clearly the underdog in regards to Haneke,” Nguyen said. “He has such a legacy. But I think we’re a strong contender. Him being nominated in (multiple) categories might be to our advantage. Underdogs are appreciated in the U.S., so who knows?”
An Oscar nomination is not a given. Just ask France, which got shut out after selecting the record-breaking hit comedy Intouchables as its official submission, only to be denied. Jacques Audiard’s powerful De Rouille et d’os (Rust and Bone) might have been a wiser choice for the drama-laden category.
Rebelle’s achievement further cements Quebec’s status as a major cinematic voice on the global stage, while countering the much-reported crisis surrounding the poor performance of the province’s films at the box office in 2012.
“A lot has been said about this supposed crisis,” said Rebelle co-producer Pierre Even of Item 7. “But (Quebec) being nominated three years in a row … means our films are in the first tier of worldwide cinema. So there is no crisis here. People from around the world are looking at Quebec cinema now.”
Nguyen wasn’t alone among Quebec nominees. Montrealer Yan England’s Henry is in the running for best short film, as is Buzkashi Boys, shot in Afghanistan but produced by Montrealer Ariel Nasr.
Amour will have some very tough competition among the nine nominees for best picture, including Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook, Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables, Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, Ben Affleck’s Argo and Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Lincoln is this year’s awards-gorging monolith with nominations for best director, best adapted screenplay, best actor (Daniel DayLewis), best cinematography, best costume design and best editing, among others. But that doesn’t make it exciting.
The best part of the film is Day-Lewis in the title role. But he’ll have to fight off Joaquin Phoenix (who gave an electrifying performance in The Master) and the depth-demonstrating Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), both of whom shined playing mentally unstable men.
The real buzz is in the bestactress category, which features both the oldest (Riva, whose 86th birthday falls on Feb. 24, the day of the Oscars ceremony) and youngest (Quvenzhané Wallis, 9, for Beasts of the Southern Wild) nominees ever, as well as an emotionally troubled Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), a revvedup Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), and a stranded Naomi Watts (The Impossible).
A love story between two grieving protagonists, Silver Linings Playbook is the kind of ambitious sap that Hollywood can’t resist. It is the first film since Reds in 1981 to receive nominations for best picture, best director, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor (Robert De Niro) and best supporting actress (Jacki Weaver).
It pales in comparison to the transportive Beasts of the Southern Wild, however, which also earned first-timer Zeitlin a nod for best director. He’ll face off against heavyweights in the category, including Spielberg, Lee and Haneke.
Lee won’t put up much of a fight, nor will Life of Pi grab best picture, but it may score points in lesser categories, including best visual effects, best cinematography, best editing, best original score, best sound editing and best sound mixing.
The year’s big also-ran may be Les Misérables. Though Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway each have a shot in their respective acting categories, it’s a long shot for best picture and Hooper was overlooked for best director. But it still has a shot at best costume design.
Bigelow, Affleck and Tarantino were also ignored for best director. Other notable omissions include: Sam Mendes’s James Bond revamp Skyfall, skipped over for both best picture and best director; but Adele is a shoo-in for best original song (Skyfall), and Roger Deakins is a contender for best cinematography.
While Django Unchained is a long shot for best picture, Christoph Waltz earned his best supporting actor nomination. He’ll face a tough battle from Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master) and Tommy Lee Jones, but should emerge victorious.
Tarantino is up for best original screenplay, against Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola for Moonrise Kingdom, and Mark Boal for Zero Dark Thirty. Nominees for best adapted screenplay include: Beasts of the Southern Wild (Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin), Argo (Chris Terrio), Lincoln (Tony Kushner), Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell) and Life of Pi (David Magee).
Among the nominees for best documentary are the great musical comeback caper Searching for Sugar Man, and 5 Broken Cameras, about a Palestinian farmer’s non-violent resistance to the Israeli army.