The Impact Of Cannes On The Oscars
Boil down Steven Zeitchik‘s L.A. Times piece about the impact that the 2012 Cannes Film Festival may have on the Oscar race, and you’re left with one solid: Michael Haneke’s “Amour” (pictured) will be a major contender for Best Foreign Language Film. (Unless the foreign language committee finds it too dispiriting.) I would like to think that Leos Carax’s “Holy Motors” would also figure strongly in that competition. (Unless the rank-and-file dismiss it as too hallucinatory.) That’s what everyone always says when a unmistakably fine film is about to open in the U.S. — i.e., how will the older slowpokes respond? Yes, Garrett Hedlund has stepped up and out of the box with his Dean Moriarty/Neal Casady turn in Walter Salles’ “On The Road” — it’s a bracing, live-wire performance — but it’s destined for Spirit Awards attention, at most. I haven’t seen “Mud” so I obviously can’t get into Matthew McConaughey‘s admired performance in the titular role. And what about Marion Cotillard’s work in “Rust and Bone”? Maybe a nom, but she’s already won for one French-language performance; not going to happen again, especially not after a year in which a French-inflected film (“The Artist”) won Best Picture?
