Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

Precious Doll wrote:The Square doesn't seem like the kind of film that the Academy would embrace and being in English it won't be eligible for the Foreign Language category.

Actually, according to some sources, it's actually largely in Swedish. Only the scenes with Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West are in English and they're supporting roles. So it may qualify.

I didn't watch the press conference, but from what I've read, The Square seems to have been a compromise choice. Almodovar was a bigger fan of 120 Beats per Minute, but it didn't seem to have support from the other jurors for the Palme.

The Square doesn't seem like the kind of film that the Academy would embrace and being in English it won't be eligible for the Foreign Language category. Apart from the Foreign Language category the most likely film to turn up at the Oscars from the entire Cannes slate is Wind River and maybe a nomination for Phoenix but Lynne Ramsay isn't exactly the Academy's taste either.

Probably going to be considered a "shocker" win scenario here, but without anything seemingly singling itself out...the guy who popularized himself and is basically most known for throwing a shitfit live on the internet after an Oscar snub should have been as easy a guess as any. Especially if the jury felt the snub was unjust...which is likely a contributing factor. At the very least the jury knows they've helped to created must see television at the Oscar nom announcement. Ostlund will have upped the ante on his Cannes awards haul and added to his new Oscar candidate a pair of more widely known actors stateside from multiple (both past and current) immensely popular television programs.

Who knows what will happen if he is left off the slate this year?!

Palme D'Or - The Square

Grand Prize: 120 BPM

Director: Sofia Coppola, The Beguiled.

Screenplay: You Were Never Really Here AND Killing of a Sacred Deer
Jury Prize: Loveless
Actress: Diane Kruger, In the Fade
Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here.

I'll post some final PREDICTIONS now that the fest has wrapped and all Competition films have screened (yay, Ramsay!):

Palme - The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Grand Prix - Wonderstruck
Prix du Jury - Good Time
Best Director - Andrei Zvyagintsev, for Loveless
Best Actor - Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, in BPM (Beats Per Minute)
Best Actress - Marine Vacth, in L'amant double
Best Screenplay - The Square
FIPRESCI - Loveless

In news, Chloé Zhao's The Rider has won the top prize for the Directors' Fortnight sidebar, and the dog from The Meyerowitz Stories has won the Palme Dog.

Sonic Youth wrote:

Precious Doll wrote:Here's a link to a website that is keeping a tab on the ratings given by a group of film critics on the films screenings at Cannes:

http://www.todaslascriticas.com.ar/cannes/2017

Really bummed that Jupiter's Moon turned out to be pretty bad.

Compare this year's scores with last years:

http://www.todaslascriticas.com.ar/cannes/2016

Pretty bleak.

And we have now reached the end of the competition and bleak is a pretty accurate word one assessment of the competition if the critics reactions are anything to go by.

Some years you get winners which cannot be denied. Amour being a recent example, more often than not lesser films win. How much attention the jury pays to the critical reaction of films we will never now but George Miller did state last year that they were not paying any attention to the critics and they pretty much proved that with their winners, though I do think I, Daniel Blake is a worthy winner, even if it is not in the same league as the 'critic's darling's from last year competition: Toni Erdmann, Elle, Paterson, Sieranevada, Aquarius & Staying Vertical. Ironically, all of them went home empty handed.

A late breaker, Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here, has got some exceptional responses -- though, as is apparently obligatory this year, also some dissent. It's at least in the mix for film/director prizes, as well as for lead actor Joaquin Phoenix.

As usual for this decade, the best-reviewed films appear to be clustered in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar. 'The Rider' by Chloé Zhao, 'Jeanette - The Childhood of Joan of Arc' by Bruno Dumont, 'The Nothing Factory' by Pedro Pinho, 'The Florida Project' by Sean Baker, 'Nothingwood' by Sonia Kronlund and 'I Am Not a Witch' by Rungano Nyoni are arguably getting better notices than anything In Competition so far.

Adding to those, sidebar and out-of-comp selections 'Western' by Valeska Grisebach, 'Faces, Places' by Agnès Varda & JR., 'A Prayer Before Dawn' by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, 'The Venerable W.' by Barbet Schroeder and '12 Days' by Raymond Depardon are all unanimously well-received. This seems to be an unusually strong year for selected documentaries - of the aforementioned the Kronlund, Varda/JR., Schroeder and Depardon films are all docos.

I have no idea how to predict In Comp awards for this jury. I'll take a stab though.

PREDICTIONS:
Palme d'Or - A Gentle Creature (Loznitsa)
Grand Prix - Wonderstruck (Haynes)
L'amant double (Ozon)
Prix du Jury - Good Time (Safdie & Safdie)
Director Prize - Ruben Östlund (The Square)
Actor Prize - Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (BPM - Beats Per Minute)
Actress Prize - Nicole Kidman (The Beguiled & The Killing of a Sacred Deer)
Screenplay Prize - Loveless
FIPRESCI - Loveless

But anything is possible. I'm not a big fan of Almodóvar's films in general but speaking objectively I doubt his taste would run particularly esoteric.

SIDEBAR/SPECIAL AWARD PREDICTIONS:
Queer Palme - BPM (Beats Per Minute) (Campillo)
Camera d'Or - Closeness (Balagov)
Short Film Palme - The Ceiling (Airaksinen)
Sidebar FIPRESCI - The Rider (Zhao)
Un Certain Regard Prize - Beauty and the Dogs (Ben Hania)
Directors Fortnight - The Florida Project (Baker)

The Critic's Week prizes have been announced, and Emmanuel Gras' documentary 'Makala' won the top prize in that selection.

If the trades had anything to say about it, then Toni Erdmann would have won over I, Daniel Blake and Carol or Son or Saul would have won over Deephan. It's all about the jury. I could see 120 Beats Per Minute being a film that appeals equally to Pedro Almodovar, Will Smith, and Jessica Chastain, and from what I've read it doesn't seem to be divisive at all...just across the board largely praised if not enthusiastically.

We have three films to go. Good Time seems to have some strong reviews, but it just seems more likely for a Jury Prize or Best Director.

Apropos what Sonic says: whatever film wins the Palme will be a divisive choice, because no film has received truly widespread approval. I came thisclose to creating a thread in Films of 2017 for Killing of a Sacred Deer, based on its solid trade reviews -- but then I saw the French critics seem to have panned it ruthlessly. There are a few possible winners in sight -- Loveless, 120 Battements per Minute, The Square -- but even each of those would have significant dissent.

Precious Doll wrote:Here's a link to a website that is keeping a tab on the ratings given by a group of film critics on the films screenings at Cannes:

http://www.todaslascriticas.com.ar/cannes/2017

Really bummed that Jupiter's Moon turned out to be pretty bad.

Compare this year's scores with last years:

http://www.todaslascriticas.com.ar/cannes/2016

Pretty bleak.