Everything You Need to Know About the Oscar Nominees for Best Picture

With less than a month to go until the Academy Awards, it’s about time you brushed up on your knowledge of this year’s nominees. Read on for a comprehensive review of the movies up for Best Picture. 

#1. The Artist
Directed by: Michael Hazanavicius
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo 

Jean Dujardin stars as a silent film actor in the waking era of movies with sound. But though the plot revolves around his being rendered a fixture of a bygone age, the movie manages to suffuse itself with humor and lighthearted charm, thriving on a vibrant musical score and what can only be called an adorable romance between the two main leads. A silent film about cinema and shot in black and white, The Artist captures and relays a sense of deep joy for the history of film and the effect it produces not only on the audience, but on those who work so tirelessly to contribute to the art. Successfully captivating both audiences and critics alike, the film recently received the Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, and French actor Jean Dujardin has garnered wins for his performance at the Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Globes, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
 

Other Nominations: Director, Actor in a Leading Role, Actress in a Supporting Role, Music (Original Score), Costume Design, Cinematography, Film Editing, Art Direction, Writing (Original Screenplay)
 
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#2. Hugo
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Chloe Moretz
 

Martin Scorsese’s latest cinematic wonder centers on the orphaned protagonist for which the film is named. Originally based on a book by Brian Selznick, Hugo engages us in the layered mysteries of a 12-year-old boy living in a train station in 1930s Paris. Initially engrossed with the character’s quest to decipher the robotic enigma discovered by his late father, the movie goes on to reveal itself, like The Artist, as an ode to the history of cinema and the film industry’s ability to create deeply moving works of art. Like the movies it celebrates, Hugo succeeds in imbuing the audience with a sense of wonder and awe, evoking a deep-rooted nostalgia for the magic of the film itself. This success is due in no small part to the directing talent of Martin Scorsese, who picked up the 2012 Golden Globe for his work on the film. Also gifted with an incredible cast, Hugo is the recipient of the most Academy Award nominations for this year.

Other Nominations: Directing, Music (Original Score), Costume Design, Cinematography, Film Editing, Art Direction, Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects
 
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#3. The Descendants
Directed by: Alexander Payne
Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley
 

Adapted from a novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, The Descendants deals with the struggle of a middle-aged father trying to connect with his two daughters after his wife is impaired by a potentially fatal accident. George Clooney stars as the conflicted patriarch, Matt King, who must also cope with a significant land deal concerning a sizable tract of Hawaiian property. The land deal is further complicated by a sizable amount of outspoken, business-oriented relatives, all of whom bear different ideas on the outcome–over which King, the trustee, has control. These issues of family and personal conflict, juxtaposed with the tune of a ukulele soundtrack and replete with shots of lush island scenery, emphasize the notion that there is no such thing as paradise. While The Descendants purposefully contradicts the illusion of Hawaii as an idyllic island sanctuary free of human strife, its examination of human relationships and the importance of familial loyalty has landed itself the 2012 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama, as well as many a moist eye in theaters.
 

Other Nominations: Directing, Actor in a Leading Role, Film Editing
 
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#4. The Tree of Life
Directed by: Terrence Malick
Starring: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain
 

Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life fuses together formidable philosophical themes with a more conventional central plot. The film focuses first and foremost on the complex family dynamic of the O’Brien clan, a suburban family in 1950s America. Brad Pitt impresses in the role of the O’Brien patriarch, a father whose expectations and relentless demands continually frustrate his wife, played by Jessica Chastain, and their three sons, the eldest of which is portrayed by Sean Penn. Imbued with an awesome visual aesthetic and composed in an artful cinematographic style, The Tree of Life is a beauty that is easy to behold but perhaps more difficult to understand. Ultimately, however, Malick’s examination of spirituality and contemplation of the cosmos (you may have heard of the now infamous creation scene) resulted in its much-deserved recognition from a slew of different awards committees, including that of the Cannes Film Festival, where it received the highest award, the prestigious Palme d’Or.
 

Other Nominations: Directing
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#5. The Help
Directed by: Tate Taylor
Starring: Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain
 

Based on the best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett, The Help tells the story of a young female reporter (Emma Stone) who enlists the aid of Southern maids (Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer) to expose the racism and mistreatment faced by African Americans in 1960s Mississippi. Largely due to the versatile performances of its remarkable lead actresses, The Help succeeds in cultivating a refreshing sense of humor while still maintaining the drive of its central plot. But while Stone, Davis, and Spencer have been, appropriately, much recognized for their roles (Spencer picked up the Golden Globe and SAG award for her work), supporting actresses Bryce Dallas Howard and Jessica Chastain (also in The Tree of Life) likewise shine in their respective portrayals as a controlling Southern socialite and her ditzy but wholly sympathetic archrival.

Other Nominations: Actress in a Leading Role, Actress in a Supporting Role
 
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#6. Midnight in Paris
Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Tom Hiddleston
 

What with the sentimentality evident in The Artist and Hugo, you may have noticed a theme of nostalgia in some of 2011’s most notable releases. Midnight in Paris is no different. Owen Wilson stars as a Hollywood screenwriter on a trip to the city of love with his fiancée, played by Rachel McAdams. But his increasing romanticism inevitably drives him away from his more practical minded, future-oriented fiancée, and deeper into the romance of 1920s Paris, where he meets a famous cast of characters both hilarious and whimsically charismatic. (Ernest Hemingway? You may have heard of him.) As brightly directed and brilliantly performed as it was written, Midnight in Paris involves a touch of time travel, romance, and the fantastical dimensions of the lives we imagine.

Other Nominations: Directing, Writing (Original Screenplay), Art Direction
 
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#7. Moneyball
Directed by: Bennett Miller
Starring: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill

Featuring Brad Pitt as the beleaguered general manager of the Oakland A’s, Moneyball is an underdog tale about behind-the-scenes baseball, a movie about a sports team David contending with the big-league, big-budgeted Goliaths of the game. Among the best elements of the movie is, naturally, Brad Pitt’s incredibly expressive turn as Oakland’s intriguingly abrasive Billy Beane. He’s supported, too, by Jonah Hill’s performance as his Yale educated, statistically savvy sidekick. Inspired by Michael Lewis’ nonfiction book of the same name, screenwriters Aaron Sorkin (last nominated for his work on David Fincher’s The Social Network) and Steven Zaillian are also in the running for an Academy Award.

Other Nominations:Actor in a Leading Role, Actor in a Supporting Role, Film Editing, Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Sound Mixing,
 
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#8. War Horse
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Emily Watson, Tom Hiddleston
 

The plot of War Horse revolves, essentially, around the bond formed between a Scottish youth (Jeremy Irvine) and a recalcitrant steed named Joey. Both boy and horse are subjected to a separation caused by poverty and war, and spend the duration of the movie coping with their respective obstacles. While this initially may not sound like the basis of a particularly interesting plot, Spielberg’s directing inevitably turns the film into a story that engages and absorbs, that captivates the audience with the profundity of humanity in the midst of violence and suffering. Featuring sweeping scenes of country landscape and poignant shots of war, War Horse is a film that not only evidences good production value, but that also possesses a certain emotional depth.

Other Nominations: Music (Original Score), Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing
 
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#9. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Directed by: Stephen Daldry
Starring: Tom Hanks, Thomas Horn, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow
 

Jonathan Safran Foer’s debut novel serves as the backbone of this film, which received something of a surprise nomination due to its mixed reviews upon theater release. Featuring Thomas Horne as a boy in search of the story behind his father’s old key, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close deals with such themes as innocence and grief, as well as the camaraderie that arises from a mutual investment in mystery. Though Tom Hanks charms in his supporting role as the father who dies during 9/11, it is Max von Sydow who procured a nomination for his performance as a man who makes a personal vow of  silence in response to the terrorist attacks, and to his consequent loss.

Other Nominations: Actor in a Supporting Role

Did you, too, watch any of this year’s contenders for Best Picture? Let us know what you think of the nominees in the comments below! 

Sources: 

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