On 25th February Ellen De Generes will host the most awaited film awards: The Oscars 2007. Invitations are already out to everyone who is anyone in the world of film. The glorious Kodak theatre is all set for the most coveted awards in cinema also known as Academy Awards. We bring out to you the most favourite categories with preferences of our choice:
Best Film
In the category of Best Motion Picture, ‘The Queen’ and ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ as nominees are impressive but they face fierce competition. Clint Eastwood’s ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’ stands a better chance in the Best Director category. It’s a straight fight between ‘Babel’ and ‘The Departed’. Both are epics with solid performances, and ‘The Departed’ is vague. Though ‘Babel’ falls on the similar lines of last year’s forerunner ‘Crash’ it is still a favourite because of its global theme, strong central performances and story lines. United 93 the film talks about 9/11 chaos and unknown hero’s hijacked plan, which didn’t make to the target. This could be the heroism that the Americans are looking for which could be the USP of the film.
Best Director
Though veteran actor Clint Eastwood stands a good chance seven -time nominated Martin Scorsese is the hot favourite for ‘The Departed’, which has got rave reviews, enormous box-office gains and five riveting performances. Scorsese was recently awarded with the Directors’ Guild of America for this movie.
‘The Queen’ stands no chance in such stiff competition. Eastwood’s ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’ has not performed well in the box-office as against last year win Million Dollar Baby. The only challenge to Scorsese comes from Paul Greengrass’s ‘United 93’. Greengrass’s ability to draw fantastic performances out of a cast of unknowns and the way he kept the movie from descending into mellow drama makes him a decent bet. This movie has real chance in this category.
Best Actor
Actor Forest Whitaker’s astounding performance as a charismatic but brutal 1970s Uganda dictator Idi Amin in ‘The Last King of Scotland’ gives him an edge over the others. His interpretation of Amin’s unpredictable shifts between buffoonery and menace is very convincing. Leonardo Di Caprio is realistic as a diamond smuggler in ‘Blood Diamond’ portraying a courageous but morally compromising person.
A whimsical and drug addicted Brooklyn high-school teacher played by Ryan Gosling ‘Half Nelson’, Will Smith as a single father determined to regain financial security for himself and his young son in ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ and Peter O’Toole’s performance, as an elderly actor who falls for a teenager girl in ‘Venus’ is both funny and touching are the other nominees in this category.
Best Actress
Helen Mirren’s portrayal of the Queen’s fragile state of mind at the time of Princess Diana’s untimely death in ‘The Queen’ will surely attract the jury’s attention. Judy Dench once again excels in her performance as a lesbian school teacher who blackmails colleague in the psychological thriller ‘Notes on a Scandal’. Kate Winslet gets her fifth nomination for her role as an adulterous American housewife and mother in ‘Little Children’. First time nominee Penelope Cruz plays a housewife turned star overnight in ‘Volver’, revels in the role of a strong willed, big hearted family woman under big pressure. Finally formidable Meryl Streep, two times winner is back in top form as a fashion magazine editor in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’.
Best foreign film
This year too the Oscars will keep up its tradition of shocks and surprises. The nominees from different countries have a global outlook. ‘The Lives of others’ from Germany is a tense drama about secret police surveillance in former East Germany. ‘Indigénes’ (Days of Glory) from Algeria is based on true-life events from World War II. It speaks of the French who exploited men from their former colonies to do most humiliating jobs.
Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ from Mexico with six other Academy nominations is quite likely to grab the Oscars. He has beautifully directed this moving tale of war time drama, fantasy and horror. Denmark’s entry ‘After the Wedding’ tells the story of an orphanage manager, returning home to secure a donation for his orphanage. India born filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s controversial film ‘Water’ an entry from Canada is about a group of Indian widows forced to beg at a temple in the city of Varanasi in earlier times.
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