Lead Actress

I just realized I missed my last chance to see Song of the Sea before Sunday, which is really disappointing, though I don't expect it to change my mind on the animated feature category. Oh well, I suppose that's why they invented next week.

Lead Actress
• Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night
• Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything
• Julianne Moore in Still Alice
• Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl
• Reese Witherspoon in Wild

Lead Actor

I'm really a bit bummed that it is as I get to the bigger awards that I have the least amount of time. This crunch just got worse as I found screenings of Relatos Salvajes, Last Days in Vietnam, and Beyond the Lights. I'll probably not watch the latter as it's just up for original song, but the other two are up for foreign language film and documentary feature respectively. Those are two of my favorite categories, so let's hope I can find time in the next 48 hours.

Lead Actor
• Steve Carell in Foxcatcher 
• Bradley Cooper in American Sniper 
• Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game 
• Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) 
• Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything

Short Film: Animated

I got to catch the animated and live action shorts on Wednesday at the Detroit Film Theater. Unfortunately, they had the audacity to start before I showed up 23 minutes late. The nerve! I've mentioned the DFT in passing before, but it's a magnificent extension of the Detroit Institute of Arts. It's simply gorgeous, and they always have interesting selections. Timbuktu, which is up for foreign language film this year, opens today.

Short Film: Animated
• The Bigger Picture
• The Dam Keeper
• Feast
• Me and My Moulton
• A Single Life

Short Film: Live Action

I'm officially doing my taxes to avoid writing about the Academy Awards. I'm getting weary, and I'm really wishing I had more time to give better write-ups. You're still reading anyway, though. Weirdos.

Short Film: Live Action
• Aya
• Boogaloo and Graham
• Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak)
• Parvaneh
• The Phone Call

Supporting Actress

Only five more films to go (the rest I haven't been able to get access to). I'm so close! I can do that in three days *easily*. Oh, and nine articles to write. That won't be so easy. Fortunately for me, some of these categories are phenomenally straightforward.

Supporting Actress
• Patricia Arquette for Boyhood
• Laura Dern for Wild
• Keira Knightley for The Imitation Game
• Emma Stone for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Merle Streep for Into the Woods

Supporting Actor

Another episode of speed updates! Let's get to it.

Supporting Actor
• Robert Duvall for The Judge
• Ethan Hawke for Boyhood
• Edward Norton for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Mark Ruffalo for Foxcatcher
• J.K. Simmons for Whiplash

Documentary: Short Subject

I had a chance to catch the short docs a few days ago at the Detroit Film Theater, and it was BRUTAL. Last year there were some downright chipper and inspiring films. Not this year.

Documentary: Short Subject
• Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
• Joanna Aneta Kopacz
• Nasza klątwa (Our Curse) Tomasz Śliwiński and Maciej Ślesicki
• La Parka (The Reaper) Gabriel Serra Arguello
• White Earth J. Christian Jensen

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 covers exactly what you might think, a veteran-focused crisis line. It's a gripping look at the people working the hotline and how they handle their calls. It does get a little stale as there's little narrative arc or exposition and instead a string of calls loosely tied together. While informative and worthwhile, it runs long at 41 minutes, and I wish it had a bit more vision.

Well, veterans thinking of killing themselves is pretty tough, so it's got to get better from there, right? Kind of. Joanna is a poetic recording of a dying woman cherishing what time she has with her son. It's peppered throughout with the advice she is trying to leave him ahead of time which is as beautiful as it is tragic. It stays away from confessionals and wallowing, instead focusing on the life she has left. It's hard, but I hope that sounds happy, because it's the best you're going to get.

That's about how I feel at this point. Nasza klątwa is a story of director Tomasz Śliwiński's family just before and after their first child comes home. Their child, by the way is unable to breathe if he falls asleep due to Ondine’s Curse. Where Joanna avoids the confessional format, Nasza klątwa makes the absolute, brutal most of it. It's a hard and heartfelt tale of the rigors of parenting a disabled child. There is joy here as the family adapts, but don't mistake this for an easy watch.

Phew, we're done with the really tough stuff. JUST KIDDING. Do you know what La Parka is about? I'll tell you: a Mexican slaughterhouse worker who shoots five hundred bovine a day, and he's been doing it for twenty-five years. Oh, and he's not a total sadist. at one point he recounts a dream in which he's surrounded by animals who all just look at him before saying "It's your turn." It's a sharp, incisive look at the mental anguish of the guy who turns your kid's favorite animal* into your favorite meal.

White Earth is almost a joyful story of childhood by contrast. Our gaze is centered on children whose families have brought them to North Dakota chasing oil work. Their caretakers never have enough money, and they never have enough time. It's a calm, even take on what growing up in the social disruption of a boom town is like. 

I'm going to learn from my mistake last year and side against the culturally important films. La Parka is phenomenal and should be required viewing for anyone who eats meat. With an industry so divorced from its product in the mind of most consumers, this is a fantastic insight (see also: Leviathan). I'm not going to pick La Parka, though. Fortunately, siding with Joanna's poetry is the right thing to do. It is as beautiful and poignant as it is important to see death set aside until one is done living

Will win: Joanna

Should win: Joanna



*wait, were cows only my favorite animal?