The Oscars are less than 10 days away. To prepare for the big night, my friend, colleague, and fellow Oscar nerd Antonio Elefano and I share our predictions for each of the eight biggest categories.
The Short Takes:
Antonio
Will Win: The Daniels
Should Win: The Daniels
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert will and should win for the dazzling and surprisingly poignant Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Jen
Will Win: The Daniels
Should Win: The Daniels
After their unexpected DGA win, the Daniels zapped from a universe in which their nom was the win to one in which they have frontrunner status. Original work that takes creative risks can win! (I still love you, Steven Spielberg.)
Image Credit: The Verge
The Long Take:
Antonio:
Triangle of Sadness, for all its virtues, is a little bloated, especially for a dark comedy. The Banshees of Inisherin is more a triumph of writing than directing. As much as I didn’t care for The Fabelmans, I respected the director’s take on his own origins and would be okay with a career win for Spielberg. But for my personal preference, this is between The Daniels and Todd Field. Both films had a high degree of difficulty. But while I gave the edge in writing to Field, I’ll give the edge in directing to the Daniels. They will win and should win.
Jen:
I, on the other hand, am too weak to Steven Spielberg to resist The Fabelmans’ sentimental yet quirky semi-autobiographical (possibly self-aggrandizing) film about what an artist has to give up in pursuit of art. I love this film as a skeleton key to Spielberg’s past works, on both a psychological and an artistic level. He said in his Golden Globe acceptance speech that famed playwright and frequent collaborator Tony Kushner hounded him into telling this story. He try to avoid it for a long time because it made him feel exposed and vulnerable, and he, frankly, didn’t want to face his demons. I was quite happy with the idea that he would get Best Director, with Everything Everywhere still winning Best Picture. I liked that split just fine.
But now that the DGA (the Director’s Guild) has awarded The Daniels, against the expectation that they would opt for the more traditional veteran pick, I’m all aboard The Daniels train. What they did in EEAAO was risky, gutsy, and downright weird. And the direction in that film is so incredibly confident, caring little for what others will think of its hot dog fingers and googly-eyed rocks. I think this year’s Oscars will take us back to a Director/Best Picture pairing rather than the splits we’ve been seeing in recent years.
Listen to the audio recording of our full conversation about this and seven other major Oscar categories here.