An optimistic midlife crisis

The first thing that caught one’s eye upon looking at the list of nominees was an abundance of real people’s biographies. Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game and James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything are dedicated to scientists – the Second World War-era British cryptographer Alan Turing and our contemporary, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, respectively. Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper tells the story of the legendary sniper Chris Kyle, who served in Iraq. Ava DuVernay’s Selma recounts the events surrounding Martin Luther King-led march for civil rights in 1965. We should also mention here Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner (a biography of the great 19th-century British painter) and Bennett Miller’s sport drama Foxcatcher.

The most unexpected contender, independent director Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, is the result of a unique experiment: Linklater found a group of actors in 2002 who transformed themselves into a family, including a father, a mother, a sister, and a brother, and filmed them for almost 12 years. Despite the nearly three-hour duration, Boyhood is an incredibly easy film to watch. Another unusual finalist, the Mexican Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, made Birdman, a tragicomedy about creative crisis that hit an actor who once played a superhero in a commercially successful but rubbish-like production, and is now trying to reassert himself in the theater; however, all ends very well.

So, the 87th Oscars ceremony recognized low-budget art house works. Its leaders were Birdman and black comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel, each with nine nominations; melodramatic The Imitation Game got awards in eight categories; six Oscars went to American Sniper and Boyhood, while Foxcatcher, The Theory of Everything, science fiction Interstellar, and brilliant jazz coming-of-age picture Whiplash got five awards each.

At the end, it was Birdman, with its happy-end and a tinge of melodrama, which triumphed with awards for the Best Picture, Best Directing, and Best Original Screenplay. Whiplash got three well-deserved Oscars for the Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Supporting Actor (this latter award went to J.K. Simmons, who played abusive teacher Terence Fletcher). Shallow but spectacular The Grand Budapest Hotel was accordingly recognized for the Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Makeup and Styling. Alas, Boyhood’s award went to Patricia Arquette as the Best Supporting Actress. Eddie Redmayne became the Best Actor for convincingly performing as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, while Julianne Moore was recognized as the Best Actress for her part in Still Alice. The life story of Alan Turing received the statuette for the Best Adapted Screenplay, done by Graham Moore.

Finally, the Best Foreign Language Film nomination, clearly dominated by Eastern Europeans this year, was won by Polish picture Ida, a subtle and precise black-and-white drama about the consequences of the Holocaust.

Ukrainian Tribe could be a worthy contender in this nomination as well.

Unfortunately, there are no ifs in history.