forecast
96th Academy Awards
And the Oscar goes to… Germany? Yes, perhaps. But the competition is tough
Young man wants to come to Germany. May he?
© AFP
The Oscar nominations are out – and the Germans are excellently represented. But how big is the chance of getting the golden boy? The agencies see other winners ahead. Let’s see.
It didn’t take long for the Germans to send cheering emails. “The Teacher’s Room” with Leonie Benesch nominated for the foreign Oscar. Our Wim Wenders nominated for his “Perfect Days”. And Sandra Hülser’s extraordinary year was crowned with a total of ten nominations for the Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest” and the legal thriller “Anatomy of a Case”, herself with a chance for Best Actress. Truly, a perfect day for filmmakers and film fans from Germany.
What will remain when the awards ceremony takes place in Los Angeles on March 10th can only be guessed at the moment. The experts bow to the Germans, but at least some of them lean towards other winners. When it comes to the foreign Oscar, many people seem to have “The Zone of Interest” on their list, but the film is a British production. Even if only German is spoken.
“Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s film biography about the father of the atomic bomb, could win in many other categories. His leading actor Cillian Murphy – he’s coming to the Berlinale soon – is in danger of narrowly losing out to Paul Giamatti, who once again plays a grumpy teacher for his exhilarating cinema comeback in the boarding school drama “The Holdovers” and still quickly grows on you. “The Holdovers” could also claim the best female supporting role: the US actress and musical singer Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who is still little known to us, plays a cook in it.
Will directing legend Scorsese win again?
Martin Scorsese has been nominated for the tenth time for his reservation drama “Killers of the Flower Moon” – surpassing even Steven Spielberg. However, he has only won once, in 2006 for his crime thriller “The Departed”. Nolan remains the favorite for best directorial performance for his overly successful art film blockbuster. The worldwide box office of “Oppenheimer” now amounts to almost a billion dollars.
The real film of the year, “Barbie,” has to be a disappointment. Director Greta Gerwig wasn’t even nominated, a bad mistake. Neither does leading actress Margot Robbie. The old macho Hollywood still seems to be pulling the strings quite powerfully in the background. Ryan Gosling could triumph both as a supporting actor and as a singer (“I’m Just Ken”), but he has to fend off strong competition in both categories.
Sandra Hülser vs Emma Stone
And so back to the Germans. “We are overwhelmed and overjoyed! “It feels like a dream,” exclaimed “Teacher’s Room” director Ilker Çatak and his producer Ingo Fliess after the announcement. Then the two filmmakers quickly became more fundamental: “Teaching is a profession in which you take responsibility for a future generation. We salute these people and hope that the nomination contributes to greater visibility of their work.”
Wim Wenders was also touched. His silent film about a calm man who cleans public toilets was shot exclusively in Tokyo and was therefore sent into the Oscar race by the Japanese. “It is a great honor for me to represent Japan at the Oscars, the country of my great cinematic master Yasujiro Ozu,” said Wenders. “Perfect Days” is based on his esprit.
And Sandra Hülser? Well, Scorsese’s heroine Lily Gladstone, the first indigenous US actress ever to be nominated for Best Actor, will be hard to beat. Carey Mulligan and Emma Stone would also be very deserving of any solar system award. Sorry, Sandra. But as she would probably comment herself: Prizes are good for her ego, but at the same time they make her nervous. “Then the expectations of me are so high.”