– Gayathri Sundaram contributed with this report
During the bore of the winter months, we need something to lighten the mood for us again. Luckily, this month is award season, which means it’s glitz and glamour all around, especially for Britain who starts their pompous award ceremony this Sunday with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards.
This year, the nominations include some of the most unique films ever made. The most nominated film worldwide this year- a French film which decided to go back to the days of black and white and silence – The Artist, has received nominations across the board with the BAFTA nominations including the main stars Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo up for the Leading Actor and Actress, Michel Hazanavicius for Best Director, Best Film plus hair, makeup, sound and original screenplay.
Another film which has become a massive hit in Britain was one of the books we were genuinely excited to be remade into a film – John Le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The plotline revolves around intelligence expert George Smiley to work out who is the Soviet mole among the Intelligent Service. It’s also been nominated for nine awards, including Best Film, Outstanding British Film and Best Actor for Gary Oldman.
The other films to be nominated for Best Film this year include the Descendants, with George Clooney nominated for Best Actor, Drive, with Carey Mulligan nominated for Best Supporting Actress, the Help, with leading actress nomination for Viola Davis and My Week With Marilyn, with Michelle Williams being nominated for the same award. All these actors have been nominated before – Viola Davis was nominated for the movie Doubt in 2008 even though her segment was only eight minutes long.
Other critically acclaimed films have included the fantasy children’s film Hugo, which has also been nomination for Best Director for renowned director Martin Scorsese , the controversial film Shame with Michael Fassbender and psychotic thriller, We Need to Talk About Kevin.
However, despite it receiving wide critical acclaim, the Iron Lady only received two nominations, one being for Best Actress, Meryl Streep, whilst films such as David Fincher’s version of the Girl with Dragon Tattoo and Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris managed to get a few nominations.
This year’s nominations seem rather unique. We’ll certainly have our guesses, but this may be the first year that we may not be able to tell who the winners are this year.