Well, that was different. Seth MacFarlane brought some attitude to the Oscars® but was only intermittently successful. None of the alleged frontrunners dominated – other than the Best Picture award, Argo only nabbed two technical awards.
For those counting, the most awards any film got was four, by Life of Pi (Director, three technical awards) – Argo and Les Miserables (Supporting Actress, two technical awards) had three each. Django Unchained (Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay), Lincoln (Actor, Production Design) and Skyfall (Song, Sound Editing) each had two. Nine films had one each. That makes for a grand total of twenty-five – there was a rare tie: Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty received Oscars for Sound Editing.
For a brief commentary on the actual awards and a few thoughts on MacFarlane as host, follow the jump.
First, a few words about Seth MacFarlane’s hosting. Over the course of the evening he had some great moments (I Saw You Boobs), and some less great moments (getting shot down by Ben Affleck, for example). He missed the mark with a lame-ass Mel Gibson gag but nailed the closing song, Here’s To The Losers, sung with the irrepressible Kristin Chenoweth. Over all, I’d give him a B- – but I’d like to see him try again (anything would be better than, say, Whoopie Goldberg).
Maybe next year, they could actually get Tina and Amy…
Now, on to the awards!
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin in "Argo"
Robert De Niro in "Silver Linings Playbook"
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master"
Tommy Lee Jones in "Lincoln"
Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained"
While Waltz’ win for playing Dr. King Schultze in Django Unchained was unexpected, it couldn’t be considered a disappointment by any stretch – and have been a make-up call for the Academy failing to nominate Leonardo DiCaprio, who equally brilliant. I love that he quoted from his character in his acceptance speech.
Best Animated Short Film
"Adam and Dog," Minkyu Lee
"Fresh Guacamole," PES
"Head Over Heels," Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly
"Maggie Simpson in ‘The Longest Daycare,’ " David Silverman
"Paperman," John Kahrs
Not a bad choice, though Head Over Heels was conceptually far more imaginative and executed every bit as well – nut I guess CG trumps stop-action. Pixar can never be considered an underdog in either of the animation categories, but this is definitely a disappointment.
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
"Brave," Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
"Frankenweenie," Tim Burton
"ParaNorman," Sam Fell and Chris Butler
"The Pirates! Band of Misfits," Peter Lord
"Wreck-It Ralph," Rich Moore
Oops! The Academy blew this one, plain and simple. Despite its venturing into four separate environments over the course of its story, Wreck-It Ralph was more imaginative and more of a piece than Brave – and as well animated. Brave suffered from too many jarring tonal shifts. Of the five nominees, Brave was dead last in overall imagination and execution. Tsk.
Achievement in Cinematography
"Anna Karenina," Seamus McGarvey
"Django Unchained," Robert Richardson
"Life of Pi," Claudio Miranda
"Lincoln," Janusz Kaminski
"Skyfall," Roger Deakins
Life of Pi is beautifully shot. There’s no denying that. Also that most of what’s on the screen was added in post-production. Skyfall, on the other hand is at least as beautifully shot and most of what’s on the screen was achieved on real locations in the real world. Roger Deakins was robbed.
Achievement in Visual Effects
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
"Life of Pi," Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
"Marvel’s The Avengers," Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
"Prometheus," Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
"Snow White and the Huntsman," Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson
Once again, Richard Parker.
Achievement in Costume Design
"Anna Karenina," Jacqueline Durran
"Les Miserables," Paco Delgado
"Lincoln," Joanna Johnston
"Mirror Mirror," Eiko Ishioka
"Snow White and the Huntsman," Colleen Atwood
Trying to capture the feel of a historical period is hard, but creating a world out of (pardon the expression) whole cloth is harder. Eiko Ishioka should have won – or Colleen Atwood in a pinch.
Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
"Hitchcock, "Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
"Les Miserables," Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell
The Hobbit should have won this just for the dwarves’ beards! Really.
Best Live-Action Short Film
"Asad," Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
"Buzkashi Boys," Sam French and Ariel Nasr
"Curfew," Shawn Christensen
"Death of a Shadow" (Dood van een Schaduw), Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
"Henry," Yan England
I did not see any of the nominations.
Best Documentary Short Subject
"Inocente," Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
"Kings Point," Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
"Mondays at Racine," Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
"Open Heart," Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
"Redemption," Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
I did not see any of the nominations.
Best Documentary Feature
"5 Broken Cameras," Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
"The Gatekeepers,” Dror Moreh, Philippa Kowarsky and Estelle Fialon
"How to Survive a Plague," David France and Howard Gertler
"The Invisible War," Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering
"Searching for Sugar Man," Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn
I did not see any of the nominations.
Best Foreign-Language Film
"Amour," Austria
"Kon-Tiki," Norway
"No," Chile
"A Royal Affair," Denmark
"War Witch," Canada
Very good call. Amour is wrenching and heartbreaking in its honesty and starkness. It’s a better film than The White Ribbon, the excellent film for which Haneke was nominated two years ago.
Achievement in Sound Mixing
"Argo," John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
"Les Miserables," Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
"Life of Pi," Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
"Lincoln," Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
"Skyfall," Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson
Any one of these nominees could have won, so this does not count as anything remotely approaching a disappointment.
Achievement in Sound Editing (tie)
"Argo," Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
"Django Unchained," Wylie Stateman
"Life of Pi," Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
"Skyfall," Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
"Zero Dark Thirty," Paul N.J. Ottosson
The shock here isn’t that there was tie – with both films definitely deserving – but that it’s the only award given to Zero Dark Thirty.
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in "The Master"
Sally Field in "Lincoln"
Anne Hathaway in "Les Miserables"
Helen Hunt in "The Sessions"
Jacki Weaver in "Silver Linings Playbook"
One of only a very few categories that was considering a lock. Hathaway’s usual humble acceptance speech was more together, suggesting that she had spent a lot of time practicing.
Achievement in Film Editing
"Argo," William Goldenberg
"Life of Pi," Tim Squyres
"Lincoln," Michael Kahn
"Silver Linings Playbook," Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
"Zero Dark Thirty," Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg
As a thriller that has to make its audience feel the tension even though we all know it turned out, Argo is beautifully edited. In that sense, it’s a very good choice. Life of Pi had to take raw footage and edit with thousands of visual effects shots in mind and integrate everything into a seamless whole. It would have be an even better choice.
Achievement in Production Design
"Anna Karenina," production design: Sarah Greenwood; set decoration: Katie Spencer
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," production design: Dan Hennah; set decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
"Les Miserables," production design: Eve Stewart; set decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
"Life of Pi," production design: David Gropman; set decoration: Anna Pinnock
"Lincoln," production design: Rick Carter; set decoration: Jim Erickson
I’m guessing that too many Academy members saw The Hobbit in the 48fps version and that cost it. Since Lincoln was also a prodigious achievement, it was the next best choice.
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
"Anna Karenina," Dario Marianelli
"Argo," Alexandre Desplat
"Life of Pi," Mychael Danna
"Lincoln," John Williams
"Skyfall," Thomas Newman
Life of Pi, for all its technical genius, is a fable that tries too hard – and that extends to its score. Skyfall’s score is better both musically and in what it does for the film.
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
"Before My Time," from "Chasing Ice"; music and lyric by J. Ralph
"Everybody Needs a Best Friend," from "Ted"; music by Walter Murphy, lyric by Seth MacFarlane
"Pi’s Lullaby," from "Life of Pi"; music by Mychael Danna; lyric by Bombay Jayashri
"Skyfall," from "Skyfall"; music and lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
"Suddenly," from "Les Miserables"; music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil
Well, duh! In a year of mediocre songs, the least mediocre one won.
Adapted Screenplay
"Argo," screenplay by Chris Terrio
"Beasts of the Southern Wild," screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
"Life of Pi," screenplay by David Magee
"Lincoln," screenplay by Tony Kushner
"Silver Linings Playbook," screenplay by David O. Russell
Four of the five nominees were outstanding. I preferred Lincoln; the Academy did not.
Original Screenplay
"Amour," written by Michael Haneke
"Django Unchained," written by Quentin Tarantino
"Flight," written by John Gatins
"Moonrise Kingdom," written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
"Zero Dark Thirty," written by Mark Boal
Most of these scripts can found and read online. Moonrise Kingdom was the best of the lot – even the stage directions were fun to read. Django Unchained was outstanding, but I expect it won because of its much higher visibility (Tarantino has now won two of the three times he’s been nominated for writing).
Achievement in Directing
"Amour," Michael Haneke
"Beasts of the Southern Wild," Benh Zeitlin
"Life of Pi," Ang Lee
"Lincoln," Steven Spielberg
"Silver Linings Playbook," David O. Russell
There’s something to be said for the intricacies of directing a live action film that is mostly CG effects even if the film is not the best of the year. There’s also something to be said for the intricacies of film a story about real people with real problems, or one that’s a magic realist fable with a very few CG effects and shot for less than the craft services costs of the CG-laden film.
Steven Spielberg was never going to win for Lincoln – for some reason, the Academy doesn’t love him like it used to. Michael Haneke’s Amour may have been too much of reminder to much of the Academy of their mortality. That leaves Benh Zeitlin – a first-time director and David O. Russell as the most likely choices. Either would have been preferable to Life of Pi, but I would have given the award to Russell because he told a story about people I know – people with mental health disorders who find ways to overcome them and keep going, and even find joy.
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty"
Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook"
Emmanuelle Riva in "Amour"
Quvenzhane Wallis in "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Naomi Watts in "The Impossible"
I’m sure this award came down to Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence – though Emmanuelle Riva was riveting in Amour. I think Lawrence gave the most complex performance as Tiffany – a fully realized, well-rounded character who was flawed and strong and funny and tough.
I strongly doubt that the audience gave her a standing ovation for tripping, but it was sweet of her to say that. I hope she wins many more awards and continues to give those amazing awards speeches, though on this night, she was upstaged by…
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook"
Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln"
Hugh Jackman in "Les Miserables"
Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master"
Denzel Washington in "Flight"
Best acceptance speech of the night!
Bradley Cooper had the misfortune to give his best performance, so far, in a year that featured Joaquin Phoenix’s Freddie Quell in The Master, and Daniel Day-Lewis’s definitive take on Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln.
The difference between them can be illustrated by this review of a production of Julius Caesar in which James Mason portrayed Brutus (I’m paraphrasing here), ‘the rest of the cast was playing Shakespeare; Mason was playing Brutus.’ Phoenix acted the hell out of Freddie; Day-Lewis was Lincoln.
Best Motion Picture
"Amour," Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka and Michael Katz, producers
"Argo," Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, producers
"Beasts of the Southern Wild," Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, producers
"Django Unchained," Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, producers
"Les Miserables," Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, producers
"Life of Pi," Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, producers
"Lincoln," Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, producers
"Silver Linings Playbook," Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, producers
"Zero Dark Thirty," Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, producers
Argo is a slick, intricately detailed thriller based on a historical event. It is a very, very good entertainment (it finished at #2 in my Favorite 15 for 2012 – Moonrise Kingdom was #1). Silver Linings Playbook (which was #4 on my list) is an intensely personal film following two deeply flawed people who have – and to a great extent overcome – mental health disorders. People who are going through the same things as people I know personally.
As I look at the nominated films for the 2013 Oscars®, I find that I hold Silver Linings Playbook in higher regard now, so that, although Argo is a worthy winner, I would have preferred Playbook. It just has more resonance for me.