So a quick note on Director....
It looks like it might go to Alfonso Cuaron, and he is a terrific director and Gravity is an amazing cinematic experience but the directorial choices that Steve McQueen makes for 12 Years a Slave are utterly brilliant. That scene ****SPOILERS**** where Northup is left hanging while ordinary life continues around you is just one of the scenes where McQueen refuses to let you look away or gives you an easy edit or cut to make the audience more comfortable. Slavery-era Louisiana is evoked as brilliantly as space is in Gravity. But in some ways before of the films being lost in space is more comprehensible than existence of the cruel reality of slavery (even if it is historical fact). There is something in the way that McQueen directs the film that makes this unimaginable evil system be comprehensible and believable but also never less than shocking.
Now, let's go film by film, in reverse alphabetical order.
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET: One of those films where I spent most of the time with my jaw dropped. I know some people feel like it was lionising these time of people but I felt like it got the balance just about right. For it to work, the film couldn't just sit there in judgement, it had to show you the world through Jordan Belfort's eyes, to really show just how appalling they are. And given ***SPOILERS*** the way he hurts (at one point nearly very seriously) his family, and betrays many of his friends, surely means that no-one could see him as a sympathetic character. It is impressive how much the film goes for it and it is spectactularly put together. But it is not the most memorable or impactful film on the list.
PHILOMENA: Philomena's biggest strength for me is the way it perfectly flits between humour and sadness, getting a hard balance right. Judi Dench and Steve Coogan are fantastic and the script is terrific. However, although very moving without being depressing, it feels more solid than a really special, imaginatively made film - it doesn't need any style because the story is strong, but it means it didn't stand out for me like some of the other films this year. This is probably why I remember it as a film I was touched by and involved in while I was watching it, but don't remember it knocking my socks off.
NEBRASKA: Definitely one of my favourites on the list, and if some weird shock where 12 Years a Slave or Gravity doesn't win, then I wouldn't be upset if Nebraska won. It is a deceptively simple film but also engrossing and affecting and original. The black and white adds to the atmosphere through the terrific cinematography, the performances are universally excellent, the score complements the film perfectly and the script is hilarious. The only thing it doesn't have that the two frontrunners have is it doesn't feel quite as much as an important 'Moment' in cinema as they do.
HER: Another wonderful, original film that creates it's own truly engrossing world and makes you feel like you are there in this unfamiliar but utterly real world. Joaquin Phoenix gives a slightly more dialled down performance than he often does, and is all the better for it. My first favourite thing is that the film doesn't take the 'sci-fi' elements further than it needs to just to be clever but keeps it as related to the current time as possible whilst being distinctly futuristic. My other favourite is that the relationship between Theodore and Samantha continually develops in an unexpected and unpredictable but wholly credible way, one of the ways in which the film feels so fresh. It doesn't stand a chance of winning but I'm just glad such a distinctive film got nominated.
GRAVITY: It is pretty rare to experience a cinematic experience like Gravity (especially when seeing it in IMAX 3D). I actually felt motion sickness the first time I watched it in the early moments in space. It is still hard to believe that they didn't actually, secretly just film it in space. And it is so breathlessly gripping, I think I tense up every time I see a clip. But it's not just a visual experience, some people have been sniffy about the story, and obviously you can't start trying to think too hard about the possible plot holes, but what also worked really well for me was that the journey Ryan went on it didn't really matter whether she lived or died, either would be have been satisfying. It's truly stunning, and although I think 12 Years a Slave is the better film overall, it is as incredible achievement in film as I have seen in the last few years or am likely to see in the next few to come.
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB: This is definitely a film about the performances and Matthew McConaughey is magnificent. The story is interesting throughout and told at just the right pace. If I had one particular criticism (and it is one that is frequently true of real life stories, so is not a major flaw) is that afterwards it felt like any detail of the wider world was only allowed in if it fitted the narrative that they were trying to tell and so it sometimes felt a bit forced or blinkered. But this was only a minor thing, and not something that necessarily came to me while I was watching it, just on reflection. Another excellent film, that maybe didn't quite blow me away, but was a fascinating tale nonetheless.
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS: Nearly as tense and gripping as Gravity, which is what you expect from Paul Greengrass, and he absolutely delivers. The other thing that makes it a Greengrass film is the attempt to bring balance and set the story in the wider context without hammering the message over your head. The pure breathless rush of how the film is put together is it's strength along with the two central performances. Tom Hanks is utterly superb, probably the best I remember ever seeing him and it is awful that Christian Bale was nominated over him, and Barkhad Abdi is mesmerising in support. If there is one false note, it is that last few seconds which seemed a bit WOOOH AMERICA in a way that didn't fit with the rest of the film and left a slightly odd taste in the mouth, as if George Bush had been allowed to direct the last 10 seconds.
AMERICAN HUSTLE: And now to the film I don't get the level of love for. Am I the only person who loves Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees but doesn't think that David O Russell's last three films have been on the same level. Whereas his earlier films were original and unique, the most recent three have been solid, generally good but comparatively pedestrian, and a little meh. American Hustle is weirdly paced (basically there probably was an awesome film waiting to get out with a different edit) and the tone was all over the place - was it a caper, a ballsy comedy, a drama? It ended up as a slightly weird, and overlong mesh of all of them. Jennifer Lawrence's part seemed to have been extended to fit the fact that she'd just one an Oscar and slightly unbalanced the pacing. The last quarter or so had some truly hilarious moments and was the most enjoyable, but it was a shame that the whole film couldn't have delivered this all the way through. It just felt a bit of a disappointment and although I enjoyed it (and maybe it will improve on another watch at some point in the future), I can't understand all the love and nominations.
12 YEARS A SLAVE: I'm not sure I can put into words how utterly brilliant I thought this film was. Part of it was down to the subject matter, but I have rarely reacted so viscerally to a film, I was shaking and crying in that ***SPOILERS*** scene where Patsy is whipped over the soap and then the wounds are being cleaned after. The way that the film manages both to focus right in on a personal story in the most moving and shocking way, but also to demonstrate how the wider slavery system worked and survived is astonishing - pulling off either one to the degree it does would have been an achievement in itself. It builds a picture of slavery by convincingly portraying the way the system corrodes every person that comes into contact with it, whether free or enslaved. It is packed with startling and memorable performances from start to finish - how else to explain that the brilliant, heartstopping performances from the likes of Sarah Paulson, Alfre Woodard and Adepero Oduye have barely been mentioned? The direction and cinematography is perfect, making the audience face head on the horror being experienced with the use of extended takes and limited edits. It's an amazing, stunning, horrifying and moving experience that surely has to win Best Picture.
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