From Cannes to Venice: Oscar whispers from Europe’s leading festivals
Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones in The Brutalist — the kind of movie the Academy devours with relish, with strong performances, a historic setting and ambitious vision. Picture: Venice Film Festival
The curtain has come down on Venice, with Cannes in the rear view mirror, and awards season chatter is in full swing.
Surprisingly, Brady Corbet’s , a three-and-a-half hour World War 2-era epic, didn’t win the top prize in Venice despite conclusively being the most acclaimed premiere. That went to , Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar’s latest, which received promising though scarcely ecstatic reviews.
One thing is certain: both movies are front and centre of the awards chatter now. Corbet won the Silver Lion for Best Director, indicating he will be an early frontrunner for the Academy Award equivalent. is the kind of movie the Academy devours with relish, with strong performances, a historic setting and ambitious vision. Don’t be surprised if it commands Oscar nominations into the double digits once, and only once, major indie production house A24 can convince voters to look past the exhausting runtime.
As for , had it been in Almodovar’s native language it would have been virtually guaranteed a Best International Feature nomination, however, the Spaniard chose to make his latest film in the English language.
That said, the film has every chance of picking up a nod for one of its two virtuoso performances from Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton.
Whether it picks up a Best Picture nomination is a different story and will depend on the strength of its competition, but it may also be in the running for screenplay and directing.
Walter Salles’ latest, , does look set for a Best International Feature nomination and may also come along with a Best Actress in a Leading Role nod for its star performer Fernanda Torres. The veteran stuns as Eunice Paiva, wife of former Brazilian congressman Rubens Paiva, in Salles’ first feature in 12 years and in a year that is screaming out for singular international performances, Torres has delivered in spades. She deserves a nomination for her deeply emotional presentation.
Venice also stirred the debate on the best actor selection ahead of next March's awards, with some show stopping performances to appreciate.
Daniel Craig is stellar as William Lee, a stand-in for author William S Burroughs in . It almost certainly gets him his first Oscar nomination.
Adrien Brody has his finest hour (or three-and-a-half, to be straight) since — a role for which he won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 2003 — in as Lazslo Toth, Hungarian architect, tortured genius, and Holocaust survivor. Similar to Craig in , Brody has to tap dance on a pinhead trying to be both brash and broken. Not just that, but Brody is on screen for almost every minute of the extensive 215-minute run time. It’s a performance for the ages and could win him his second Academy gong.
In all this, there is a possible recency bias. At Cannes in the spring, we saw the emergence of a surprise big hitter in Sean Baker’s , which went on to pick up the coveted Palme d’Or and become an early frontrunner for the Best Picture. Mikey Madison’s fire-cracker energy in the titular role will deservedly earn her a first Academy Award nomination. With a fast-paced, witty and zestful script, it is increasingly likely that Baker’s latest (and greatest?) will in fact win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Don’t expect its Oscars haul to end there, with an editing and director nod likely to come along with its best picture, actress, screenplay combo.
Other noteworthy films showcased on the French Riviera in May included Jacques Audiard’s which picked up the Jury Prize as well as Best Actress for its female ensemble that included Karla Sofia Gascon, Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana.
Perez has crept its way into the Oscars conversation and looks like it may be here to stay, with an International Feature nomination all but secured. The standout of the three troupers is Gascon, who plays Perez and excels in the most diverse of roles. Depending entirely on how fondly the Academy voters reflect on Audiard’s latest hit, we could be seeing one of the supporting women tag along too with Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture nods to boot.
Mohamed Rasoulof was perhaps the most extraordinary story from Cannes. Having escaped Iran after being sentenced to eight years in prison for breaking his country’s censorship laws, the Iranian director arrived at the Festival to showcase his latest feature, . The film itself is strong but the story to go along with it is even stronger and could help Rasoulof to a director nomination as well as a (more attainable) nod for Best International Feature.
Another hot topic at Cannes was , starring former Marvel alum Sebastian Stan in fine form as current US presidential candidate Donald Trump — in his early years as a real estate businessman in New York City.
The film received underwhelming (though not terrible) reviews out of Cannes, and has subsequently failed to impress on other circuits, diminishing its chances of a large Oscar haul. Its best chance right now looks to be nods for Stan in Lead and Jeremy Strong in Supporting as mysterious lawyer Roy Cohn, master to the apprentice in question.
Venice kicked off the chatter about the best acress contenders, with Angelina Jolie winning plaudits for her role as an opera singer in Maria. It is 24 years since Jolie won her first Oscar, for supporting acress in Girl, Interrupted, and you won't find many begrudging her a nomination this time around.
Nicole Kidman is in the conversation too for her starring turn in , while Ireland's own Saoirse Ronan has emerged as a contender since festival season ended with her role in .
It is a hotly contested field but one who could miss out is Lady Gaga, whose relative lack of screentime is one many flaws in the latest Joker film, .
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Brady Corbet - ; Pedro Almodovar - ; Sean Baker - ; Mohammad Rasoulof -
Angelina Jolie - ; Nicole Kidman - ; Fernanda Torres - ; Karla Sofia Gascon - ; Mikey Madison -
Adrien Brody - ; Daniel Craig - ; Sebastian Stan -
Felicity Jones - ; Tilda Swinton - ; Zoe Saldana -
Guy Pearce - ; Jeremy Strong -
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