FILM REVIEW
KATH’S OSCAR FORECAST 2023 PART ONE
95th Academy Awards March 12th at 5:00PM on ABC
In this column and the next, I will give you my unsolicited opinions on which films of 2022 should be given the coveted golden sculpture of 20th century actor/screenwriter/director Emilio Fernandez. Yes, the Oscar statue really was modeled after this Mexican American cinematic trailblazer in 1928, not for his accomplishments but because he was a particularly handsome friend of actress Dolores del Rio, the girlfriend of MGM Art Director Cedric Gibbons and Gibbons had been tasked with designing the Academy Award trophy. This week, I’ll cover Best Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay, Cinematography and Film Editing. I will use my crystal ball to foretell who I think will win, and then give my own choice to be honored with the Oscar. It’s actually impossible to judge the “Best” in a field of artists and artwork because the impression of any art includes the viewer’s psyche. We acknowledge that the Oscars are given as congratulatory celebrations of difficult work well done.
Best Supporting Actor: Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan for The Banshees of Inisherin, Bryan Tyree Henry for Causeway, Judd Hirsch for The Fabelmans and Ke Huy Quan for Everything Everywhere All at Once. Who will win? I think Gleeson and Keogjan will cancel each other out on votes and Ke Huy Quan will win for Everything Everywhere All at Once (EEAAO) because that movie is winning everything everywhere this awards season. Who would I give the Oscar to? Barry Keoghan. My review of the film said, “Barry Keoghan delivers a haunting performance as ‘Dominic,’ the ‘idiot savant’ of the village who instinctively comprehends better than anyone else what is happening.” I lived in a small village in Ireland for two years, and I knew someone like him. His character is authentic as it gets.
Best Supporting Actress: Angela Bassett for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Hong Chau for The Whale, Kerry Condon for The Banshees of Inisherin, Jamie Lee Curtis for EEAAO and Stephanie Hsu for EEAAO. Who will win? Angela Bassett, well-deserved as applause for her entire body of work. Who would I give the Oscar to? Kerry Condon, based on her nuanced performance in The Banshees of Inisherin. I called her “the one bright light as Padraic’s wise sister ‘Siobhan,’ the force of reason.”
Best Adapted Screenplay: All Quiet on the Western Front, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Living, Top Gun: Maverick and Women Talking. Who will win? All are extraordinary screenplays. I believe Glass Onion will win, being the most accessible to viewers’ sensibilities, and it is a beautifully written, with crazy twists and turns. Who would I give the Oscar to? All Quiet on the Western Front. The screenwriters of this brilliantly made movie knew what many scribes don’t – when to just be quiet.
Best Original Screenplay: The Banshees of Inisherin, EEAAO, The Fabelmans, Tar and Triangle of Sadness. All of these are exceptional. Who will win? I think it’s EEAAO. This totally unique film tackles the meaning of life itself, attempting to tie it up in a neat package which then kind of explodes. Who would my Oscar go to? Banshees, an intense dramatic theatre piece set on a lonely Irish Island, where two men who are giants in their small world make actions and gestures that affect the whole town.
Cinematography: All Quiet on the Western Front, Bardo, Elvis, Empire of Light and Tar. Who will win? Empire of Light, a nod to the astounding body of work of the great Roger Deakins. Who would I give the Oscar to? All Quiet on the Western Front – James Friend’s camera and use of colors pull you right into the screen to face the hell that these World War I soldiers endure in the foxholes and on the battlefields.
Film Editing: The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, EEAAO, Tar and Top Gun: Maverick. Who will win? EEAAO – it’s winning everything, and the job of editing that film, of pulling all the fireworks of each scene together, was gargantuan. Who would my Oscar go to? Top Gun: Maverick for the superb editing of the complex and intricate aerial scenes giving the audience full access to the cockpit of a fighter jet, to the massive forces of speed against gravity and the intricate precision of landing a hurtling jet fighter on the short hull of an aircraft carrier.
Kathryn Whitney Boole has spent most of her life in the entertainment industry, which has been the backdrop for remarkable adventures with extraordinary people. She is a Talent Manager with Studio Talent Group in Santa Monica. kboole@gmail.com
