Predictions for Oscar 2016

Oscar's can always have their fair share of surprise. When it comes to Oscar it is not justice, it is poetic justice which prevails. Imagine Denzel not getting it for Malcolm X and taking home for Training Day.

It just could happen that Leo who was denied for Aviator could bag it for Revenant. But just not sure. Revenant is a lot of pain and endurance that Leo went through but the character is probably uni-dimensional. Though I may not have seen Jobs, Jobs, as a character has a lot more potential as a role for an actor to exhibit. (Hence while I would pray that Leo gets the award, Michael Fassbender may the dark horse.

Here are some results I am reasonably sure.

1.Best Cinematography, Emmanuel Lebuzki, Revenant. Atleast for this category there should have been no other nominations!!!!

2. Best Editing: Mad Max, Fury Road

3. Best Adapted Screenplay: Room

4. Best Original ScreenPlay: Spotlight

5. Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance(Dark Horse: Sylvester Stallone)

6. Best Make Up: Mad Max: Fury Road

7. Best Director: Inarritu (Room and Spotlight potential spoilsports)

8. Best Picture: Spotlight( Room a close contender, Revenant certainly not)

9. Best Actress: Brie Larson(Cate  Blanchett a potential threat on any day)\

10. Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance, Bridge of the Spies( A shame that Jacob tremblay room did not get a nomination, The kid would have been a worthy contender).

11. Best actor: Leonardo Di Caprio, Revenant(Michael Fassbender a dark horse)

12. Best VFX, Costume Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Production Design : All to Mad Max( For the bear Sequence,which seemed so natural I hope Revenant gets the VFX award it)

13. Best Original Score: Sicario(Bridge of the Spies could be a close second)

I have not commented on a few other categories.

Let see how much of my prediction is correct.

Have great show tomorrow morning.

The Revenant

Celebrating Pain

In the history of Cinema, nobody seems to be having as much fun celebrating pain, as much as Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu!!!!

But for the first time in his career, he has his cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki stealing the thunder from him.

The Alaskan background is sure to haunt you like the deserts of Lawrence of Arabia for years to come.

While this seems to be the simplest of Inarritu's film's, the man must have  put himself and his crew through a test of endurance shooting in the wilderness of  Alaska.

Leonardo,  the third among equals, should walk away with a well deserved Oscar.

As a viewer, I have a very iffy feeling, Leo's images of suffering and pain do not seem to linger, it is undefinable beauty of Alaska that seems to linger on, the pain of the protagonist seems to be ephemeral!!!!

Spotlight

Cinema for the Gods

In the last three to four months, I seem to have been lucky enough to experience the Silken touch of directors. Bridge of the Spies, Room and Visaranai all of them narrated with subtlety, restraint and complete command of the craft. Spotlight happens to be the fourth such experience.

Systemic decadence is now a known and prevalent phenomenon. 

Whether it is the government machinery in JFK, or the big Tobacco in Insider, or the Poice Force in Ardh Sathya or Visaranai,  Rudyard Kipling could not have been more correct, Power Corrupts, Absolute Power Absolutely Corrupts. 

I guess that could be true for all power centre's in any organization or institution.

The Church is the institution which is at the center of the storm in Spotlight.

For me the investigation initiated by Boston Globe, lead by the magical Liev Schriber, are great lessons in Leadership, Team work, Empowerment,  Research and Empathy.

The leader has the vision, sets the goals, is courageous, does not mince his words, leads from the front, does not intrude into the functioning of the team. The team assumes their respective responsibilities and works effectively together. The team dynamics are almost perfect.

And most importantly top class professionals are accountable for their mistakes, own it up, so that the greater cause succeeds.

If you are working professional, this is a must watch.

Recommend that you watch it with your teams.

I am reasonably confident that Spotlight will get the Oscar for the Best Original ScreenPlay and Room for the best Adapted Screenplay.

Room

Fascinating and Exhilarating

Room has been nominated for four Oscars this year, Picture, Director, Leading Lady and Adapted Screenplay.

An interesting aspect, dealt in Shawshank Redemption, was that prolonged incarceration could 'institutionalize' people. 'Institutionalized' people who had served a long jail sentence and released after serving their sentence would find it difficult to live a normal life in the world outside. In a way they would have got adjusted to the place or the institution(jail) where they had served the sentence. After being set free, the person released could go to the extent of committing suicide.

Room deals with this aspect and then goes ahead to explore how empathy can actually help people get back on the rails.

Room also deals with innocence in a way that has not been dealt with in a long time.

It is also fascinating to see the protagonist oscillate between strength and vulnerability. 

Spaces of quiet punctuated by surge of frustration and anger, is enhanced by rock solid performances.

The cinematography choreographs its way to create poetry in motion.

As the curtain draws down, the kid Jack pays a visit to the Room. He observes, after visiting the closed room which is now open bereft of its belongings, that the closed room seemed to be a lot bigger than the now open room.

Space also seems to be a constraint of the mind!!!!

Lovers of Cinema, may want to catch a piece of this poetry in motion, ideally soak in it on a relaxed evening.

Unmaye in vilai enna, Cho S Ramaswamy'S classic on J movie

This is not available on Youtube. Neither is it available on DVD in the stores or on the net. For people who care, you may not want to miss the exciting drama and top notch performance of Muthuraman and Ashokan. Thematically it examines sathya sothanai, which was visited in Satyakaam and Punnagai