James Absolon explains how this Pope-themed film, despite its risky premise, works
Alex Pollard reviews Hollywood's biopic of the controversial Margaret Thatcher
The BAFTA nominations arrived last week, and while they may not be as prestigious as the Oscars, they certainly generate as much interest in this country. But the question I pose is this: why do we all get so excited about them? Every year, the majority of the films nominated have not been seen by most of the world, let alone the country, and blockbusters that are nominated in major categories virtually never win. (That’s not to say that every blockbuster is worthy of winning; look at Avatar...)
This year’s nominations are as predictable as the ending of Titanic. The King’s Speech leads the way with 14, closely followed by Black Swan with 12. These 2 films alone summarise exactly what makes the BAFTAs so frustrating. The King’s Speech highlights how voters find a half-decent British film and nominate it in every possible category; Black Swan shows how they are desperate for the ceremony to be as respected as the Oscars, giving a tipped-for-glory American film a heap of nominations. How embarrassing to find out a week later that it has been nominated for just 5 Oscars.
Every year, there is much talk about omissions, and this year is no exception. The most glaring omission, for me, has to be that Toy Story 3 missed out on a nomination for Best Film. In a terrible year for mainstream cinema (Iron Man 2/Alice in Wonderland/Prince of Persia...), Toy Story 3 and Inception didn’t have to try very hard to stand out from the crowd. Both are brilliant, but I’m sure that more people would rather see Toy Story win; Inception is too much of a love it or hate it film.
Furthermore, the chances of Inception winning Best Film are the same as Kate Winslet being in a film that she didn’t think would get her an award nod; it is merely this year’s nominated-for-more-than-most blockbuster. As happens every year with popular films, it has been nominated to spark interest, but it will only walk away with a couple of unwanted technical awards.
Another omission that is causing uproar is Winter’s Bone, which has not been nominated in any category, most controversially including no Best Actress nod for Jennifer Lawrence. I, however, cannot agree that this was an omission. While technically good, the film is actually quite dull, and the plot can be summarised in 5 seconds. It is also obvious why Lawrence, who, admittedly, is the best thing about the film, was not nominated. She didn’t cry enough, or help someone considerably less fortunate than herself, or play somebody famous or... Oh you get the idea.
Two of the most talked about awards, as ever, are the leading acting awards. As this is the BAFTAs, the Best Actor award has had Colin Firth’s name engraved on it since it was announced that he would be playing a British monarch with a stutter, and Natalie Portman might as well clear her mantelpiece now. She is fulfilling this year’s ‘it’s his/her time to win award’, with Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock fulfilling the same role at last year’s Oscars. This highlights another annoying factor about the BAFTAs (and film awards generally): is the best in each category actually winning the award? 10 years down the line, how many of us will be saying “Oh yes, The King’s Speech. That’s one of the true classics of filmmaking, up there with Star Wars, Alien, The Lord of the Rings...”
And yes. That means I think (/know) that The King’s Speech is going to win Best Film. The only interesting thing will be whether it will be like Atonement, winning Best Film and just one other from its 14 nominations, or whether it will be like Slumdog Millionaire, wiping the floor with those far inferior American films.
The winners and losers will be announced at this year's BAFTA Film Awards on 13rd February.
You must log in to submit a comment.
