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by Nicolas Pinzon

Everyone has a favorite. Mine happens to be the Big Short. An incredibly complicated story about a topic that could be otherwise downright boring, The Big Short manages to digest the entire housing crisis in a way that is clear, compelling, and most of all, fun. This Adam McKay film is a master class for all filmmakers on building and managing stakes that address both the world of the movie (the housing system we all believe in is a collapsing farce,) and the individual character in a personal way (will the protagonist win as they bet against the market or will they loose everything.) Out of all the films nominated this year, I feel that The Big Short did this the best.  That was perhaps one of the few things I didn’t like about another one of my favorites this year: Spotlight. Though the big world stakes in the movie were enormous (uncovering pedophilia in the Catholic church) the main characters didn’t seem to have as much to loose in a personal sense. Had the story not worked out, they could have kept working at the same place and nothing would have drastically changed for them. On the other side of the spectrum, in The Revenant, Dicaprio’s character’s stakes were completely personal and there was no larger world impact associated with him succeeding or not in his quest for survival and ultimately revenge. Many films function that way, and there is nothing wrong with that. But the way that the Big Short was able to be so universal and at the same time so personal was absolutely impressive to me. 

​I also think that out of all the films nominated for best picture, The Big Short, perhaps along with Room, was told in the most original way. Room was great because it is a very adult story told entirely through the eyes of a nine year old, and that influences the narrative of the entire film. But all the other nominated films were straightforward linear pictures that, although absolutely great, I don’t believe can stand against the way The Big Short blurred the lines between narrative, documentary, and essay film.  
The entire ensemble cast of the film was also incredible and I believe Christian Bale deserves an Oscar for his performance. 

That is simply my opinion, and Kevin B. Lee from Fandor agrees with me so here is his amazing video essay backing The Big Short: 

https://vimeo.com/154236446

Who do you think should win best picture?

Who Should Win the Oscars for Best Actor and Actress?
 
This is a question that can create a lot of debate; essentially because “whether a performance is good or bad” is a subjective question, and we all have our own opinions about what good acting is. Flipping through channels recently, I came across a tele-novela (Spanish soap opera) with a cast of familiar faces who are all, in my opinion, terrible actors. But they keep getting hired. And so I realized that they are actually not terrible, that although they perform in a way that seems like overacting to me, their performances actually fit the melodramatic esthetic that that particular audience wants to see. Similarly, today Hollywood inclines towards naturalism. Introspective techniques in which the actor actually feels his character’s emotions are preferred over the grander and external reproductions of emotions that were favored in the classical era. But then were the grand performances of the past bad acting because they had no subtleties?  

Addressing the 2016 Oscars, “who had a better performance” among the nominees really depends on the subjective question of what qualities we value most in a performance. In The Danish Girl, Eddie Redmayne displayed an incredible sense of corporal control and his transformation into a woman was really astonishing. But is his performance any more complex or nuanced than Michael Fassbender’s much more subtle and low key interpretation of Steve Job’s? I guess the question I want to ask when it comes to the male category is: Does transforming into someone completely different have more value than an honest performance as a character that simply looks they way the actor does? I wonder if that was part of what kept Michael B. Jordan out of the nominations. His performance was powerful, complex, and true, but it didn’t feel much like a transformation, and the voters might have not valued it as much as a result.

When it comes to the women’s category, all of the nominees play characters who look and sound pretty much like the actresses do, and the strength of their performances lie on the subtleties of emotion that they each bring to the character. So the question of who should win becomes more simple, but perhaps more difficult to answer. It’s not a question of transformation vs. subtlety but of who did an immeasurable thing better.

As for me, I have no favorite, in either category. But perhaps Kevin B. Lee from Fandor Keyframe could help you decide your picks with these very good video essays.
 
https://vimeo.com/152018538
 
https://vimeo.com/152119318

​Who are your favorites?