In this second look at the 2015 Best Picture Nominees I explore two films that I watched before Awards Seasons begun and have returned to them in order to compare them to the competition.
First up the movie that is currently just ahead of Birdman in the bookies' rankings to take the Best Picture prize. That film is Boyhood and is without a doubt the most ambitious of this year's nominees primarily as it took twelve years to complete. Director Richard Linklater's aim was to tell the story of a young boy and his parents from first grade all the way through to graduation. Rather than do this using a number of different actors; Linklater used the same actor to play Mason Evans Jr. from age six to age eighteen. The actor in question was Ellar Coltrane who thankfully was able to stay motivated enough to commit to a project that would loom heavy over the majority of his adolescence. Boyhood's other central players were Patricia Arquette, Linklater's daughter Lorelai and his regular contributor Ethan Hawke. It's achievement enough for Linklater to have completed this project but what makes Boyhood so special is the fact that it's a memorable film full of believable characters. With Mason's parents having separated before the film starts, he and his sister Samantha live with their mother Olivia whilst Mason Sr. appears sporadically throughout the story. Olivia's luck with men isn't great as she hooks up with her aggressive former professor and a similarly angry war veteran. Meanwhile we see Mason and Samantha grow up before our eyes with the former discovering a love of photography and finding love with his first high school girlfriend. One of Boyhood's strengths is that not every scene captures a big life event for Mason and instead some of the moments we witness are quite arbitrary. But at the same time it gives us a greater understanding of the character and as he grows up we see where he's got his inspiration from.
Although the dialogue in Boyhood isn't improvised, Linklater's discussions with the cast influenced his decisions of where to place certain scenes in order to ensure authenticity. The result is a film where you feel like you're eavesdropping on a family's life on a yearly basis. If I were to pick up an issue I have with Boyhood then it's in the performance of Coltrane himself who I found to be increasingly annoying as the film progressed. In the early part of the film Coltrane's natural innocence meant that Mason felt like any other boy and as a result you felt his pain during Olivia's marriage to the drunken professor. But as Coltrane became more aware of the camera I felt that his acting wasn't up to scratch and at some points I found Mason a little bit too whiny for his own good. Indeed, when his high school girlfriend split up with him I had very little sympathy for Mason due to the fact that Coltrane had done little to make me care for this older incarnation of the character. Luckily, Coltrane is backed up by brilliant on-screen parents; with both Hawke and Arquette nominated for Supporting Oscars. Hawke's manchild act totally lent itself to deadbeat dad Mason Sr. and I felt he and Coltrane brought out the best in one another. Meanwhile Arquette, currently favourite to scoop the Best Supporting Actress prize, gives a heartwarming portrayal of a woman just trying to do the best for her kids. As this is a Linklater film, the soundtrack is also incredible with each song summing up a different year perfectly. Linklater himself is more than likely to get the Best Director Oscar and with good reason as he deserves to be rewarded for pulling off this cinematic feat. Whilst I don't think Boyhood is as perfect as others do, it's an emotional rollecoaster that almost every audience member can relate to and it also brilliantly sums up what it's like to grow up in the early 21st century.
As I've basically watched every Oscar-nominated film now I feel that I know what sort of film the Academy normally go for. Therefore I was incredibly surprised when The Grand Budapest Hotel was one of the eight movies nominated for the 2015 prize. The film's director Wes Anderson is somebody whose films I've sometimes really liked and other times found overly quirky. Thankfully The Grand Budapest Hotel fell into the former category and is arguably Anderson's best film to date. I feel that the reason it may have found its way onto the Oscar shortlist is due to its caper-like plot and its 1930s setting. The focus is on Monsieur Gustave; a legendary consierge at the titular establishment who makes it his life's work to tend to his guests' every need. However he does overstep the mark sometimes and ends up bedding many of his wealthy, elderly clients. Told from the point-of-view of former lobby boy Zero, who in 1968 owns the hotel, we learn of what happens when one of these clients dies and leaves Gustave an expensive painting in her will. Gustave is soon charged with murder and art theft; eventually being incarcerated in the hellish Checkpoint 19 Interment Camp. Zero is then forced to use all of his skills, along with the help of his pastry chef love Agatha, to break Gustave out of jail. At the same time the greedy family's go-to assassin Jopling is on the hunt for anyone who may be suspicious of their motives and ends up bumping off several of the film's characters.
Like with most of Wes Anderson's films, The Grand Budapest Hotel is beautifully designed with the establishment itself feeling like more like a palace than a guest house. The characters are also designed to within an inch of their lives with every costume bringing out their distinctive personalities. From Gustave's resplendent purple attire to Jopling's evil leather get-up; every character has an outfit that suits their personality. Anderson's eye for detail also extended to the look of the film as each time period was awarded a different aspect ratio. Indeed the fact that Anderson wrote instructions to projectionists about the film was probably one of the reasons that he found favour with the old-fashioned members of the Academy. The Grand Budapest Hotel once again sees Anderson reunited with regular cast members Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzmann. However these three all have minor roles as the film really begins to Ralph Fiennes as the wonderful Gustave. It's amazing what a comic talent Fiennes is and he deals with Anderson's dialogue beautifully meaning that the script never feels overly quirky. Praise must also go to relative newcomer Tony Revolori who proves to be a great foil to Fiennes a the loveable Zero. Great support is provided by an almost silent Willem Dafoe as the growling Jopling and by Saoirse Ronan as the charming Agatha. If there's one category that I feel that The Grand Budapest Hotel may prosper then its that of Best Original Screenplay as Anderson's dialogue is nearly always a joy to listen to. Offbeat films such as this often end up winning awards for their writing and I feel that Anderson's perfectly paced script deserves that honour. But overall I'm just glad that The Grand Budapest Hotel was nominated in so many categories as it demonstrates that the Academy are starting to recognise films that were previously outside of their comfort zone.
Having said that the next two films we'll discuss are both biopics dealing with the type of issues that the Academy always seem to love.
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