Every year Hollywood’s best and brightest gather at the academy awards to show praise to the best films and filmmakers of the year and this year was no exception. But with all the stellar films nominated this year one offering rose to the top of the pool. Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water received a whopping 13 nominations ultimately taking home four statuettes, with the coveted ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Director’ accolades among them. The Latino director gave a loving speech about society and immigration which was fitting as the film centered on minorities and how they are treated in society. The story follows a mute woman, a black woman and a gay man as well as a ‘fish man’ and explores how they are discriminated against and mistreated at the hands of an intolerant society.
Del Toro’s win was well deserved as it has been long established that the director was robbed at the 2006 academy awards when his masterpiece Pans Labyrinth failed to take the big prize. Another well deserved win was for Roger Deakins and his stunning cinematography in the film Blade Runner 2049. The cinematographer has been nominated a staggering thirteen times prior and yet walked away empty handed every time. However 2018 would prove to be the year was finally recognised as the creative genius he is.
Another show of progress in this year’s academy awards was the success of Get Out. Screenwriter Jordan Peele won best original screenplay, a feat even more impressive when that fact that this is the first film he has ever written and directed is taken in to consideration. He is only the fifth black man to ever be nominated for this prestigious prize and in 90 years is the black man to win. Greta Gerwig was also nominated for the prize for her film Lady Bird and was the fifth woman to be nominated in the long history of the academy.
Lady Bird received five nominations however didn’t receive a single award. Another film viewed as robbed was The Florida Project. The film didn’t receive as many nominations as people saw fit and didn’t win anything on the night. Most years, the winner of best song goes to the most recent Disney animated musical, last year being an exception when the wonderful La La Land dominated, however this year was more of the same with the admittedly beautiful song from Coco. The favourite to win best song was ‘Mystery of Love’ by the incomparable Sufjan Stevens from the film Call Me By Your Name. Stevens is a notoriously private person and has received many offers from Hollywood before, however this is the film he reserved his talent for. He was originally asked to write just one song but his admiration for the book allowed him to write three instead. Timothée Chalamets stunning performance in Call Me By Your Name meant he was considered robbed as he is only 22 years old and one of the youngest nominees in decades and the impressive amount of skill and passion shown in his performance at such a young age meant many were glad he was recognised with a nomination.
Despite the progress made, the academy are still stuck in their ways. With the recent explosion of allegations of abuse coming out of the industry a lot of creators and film makers have been shunned by their peers and studios and rightly so. Many people had hoped this was a sign of a changing establishment. However long serving actor and critic’s favourite, Gary Oldman, was not shunned alongside his allegedly abusive counterparts. On the eve of the Oscar ceremony Oldman’s ex wife made claims that he was physically abusive to her however there were no charges filed and Oldman’s alleged misdemeanors did not stop him taking home the ‘Best Actor’ award for his performance in Darkest Hour.
With all the progress the film industry is making it is clear to see they are improving and bettering themselves. However one area they still seem to struggle with it the diversity among roles behind the camera. Only one woman has ever won best director. No black man has ever won best director. The list goes on and on. This year was the fewest wins for women since 2012 and when considered against years from the past paints an unsettling picture. It seems the academy may be going backwards instead of forwards. It could be this this is all just be a product of the tumultuous political atmosphere we are surrounded with at the moment but the facts are hard to ignore. With all the films being made about people outside of the norm, why is the success of our ‘minority’ films not being reflected by awarding the the people making them?
