A Prophet sweeps the Césars

The staggering (and well-deserved) 9-trophy haul for “A Prophet” at the Césars (including major wins for Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting actor and Original screenplay) is sure to bode well for its chances of walking away with the Foreign Film prize at the upcoming Academy Awards. Fresh off a BAFTA win earlier in the week, there appears to be a groundswell of last-minute support for Jacques Audiard’s gritty prison-cum-coming-of-age pic that renders the earlier frontrunner status of “The White Ribbon” murkier by the minute. Given the somewhat esoteric lineup the foreign film branch assembled this year, frankly, I would not be surprised if “A Prophet” did manage to win the Oscar. It is undoubtedly an assured, visceral and ultimately, momentous piece of work.

The baseless following of Clint Eastwood (seemingly in all corners of the globe) was reflected by 2008′s hold-over “Gran Torino” taking the foreign film award.

Having not seen the rest of the anointed films, there really isn’t much else to remark upon. A full list of winners, courtesy of InContention, after the cut:

Locker dazzles BAFTA (and looks dangerous on Oscar night)

Kathryn Bigelow’s pulsatingly tense war pic “The Hurt Locker” continued its steamroll through the precursors, making an impressive showing at the BAFTAs  by collecting 6 awards, including Best Film and Best Director as predicted. Significantly, its impressive showing here is the largest since 1999′s “American Beauty”, which went on to win 6 Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography). Given the widespread critical praise lavished on “Locker” by the guilds and (virtually all of the) major critics groups, “Locker” could end up taking home the very same awards as “Beauty”, although Best Actor is probably going to the sentimental odds-on favourite Jeff Bridges. I think “Locker” has already earmarked 4 Oscars but will probably win a few more.

Hopping off the “Locker” express, BAFTA largely gave a collective pat on the back to the season’s frontrunners – Christoph Waltz and Mo’Nique (who should be engraving their Oscars as we speak) taking the supporting categories, “Up in the Air” won yet another Adapted Screenplay prize and “Up” took out Animated Film. Unsurprisingly, BAFTA were unashamedly patriotic in handing their Best Actor and Best Actress awards to Colin Firth (“A Single Man”) and Carey Mulligan (“An Education”) respectively. Expect Bullock (or perennial bridesmaid Streep) to replace Mulligan at the Oscars.

In other awards, “Fish Tank” made good on its sole nomination by taking out Best British film over the likes of “An Education”, “Moon” and “In the Loop” while “A Prophet” ensured a photo-finish for the Foreign Film Oscar with its Cannes brethren “The White Ribbon” by winning Best Foreign film.

Courtesy of the tireless Guy Lodge and folks at InContention, further commentary and a full winners list, reproduced after the jump:

Locker is ACE

Tonight’s Eddie victory to Kathryn Bigelow’s mesmerisingly compelling “The Hurt Locker” definitely positions it as the one to beat come Oscar night. Dashing the hopes of those trying to position the Best Picture category as a two-horse race between “Locker” and James Cameron’s “Avatar”, “Locker’s” win here puts another feather in its already impressive cap that consists of wins at the two top guilds, the DGA and PGA. Given the enviable track record the ACE has in predicting the Film editing Oscar winner, “Locker” looks tantalisingly close to being our next Best Picture winner given the strong correlation that exists between the two categories.

A win at the WGA now looks increasingly likely (especially since “Inglourious Basterds” was given the shaft by the Guild’s ridiculous eligibility rules). It’s overwhelmingly clear that most of the guilds have rallied around “The Hurt Locker”, let’s see if the Academy follows suit.

In the other categories, “The Cove” and “Up” build on recent wins at the DGA and Annies respectively by taking out the Documentary and Animated categories, while “The Hangover” was a slight-surprise victor over the much-fancied “(500) Days of Summer” and the idiosyncratic “A Serious Man”.

Art Directors Guild winners

Overall, there were few real surprises to be found in the ADG winners. Sarah Greenwood (Sherlock Holmes) and Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg (Avatar) make auspicious starts to their potential Oscar wins by by taking out the Period and Fantasy categories respectively. It’s definitely telling that Avatar and Sherlock Holmes, the sole Oscar nominees from the 15 films nominated by the Guild, both managed to pull off wins here.

The real talking point was in the Contemporary category, with Karl Juliusson’s austere work on The Hurt Locker edging out more accessible fare like The Lovely bones and Up in the Air. I’m definitely an enthusiastic supporter of Locker (it was my number two film of 2009 after all) but its art direction was certainily nothing to write home about. Chalk it up as a repeat of 2008 where Slumdog Millionaire, last year’s widely-admired Best Picture frontrunner, steamrolled the guild circuit (and was awarded the gong from the ADG in the contemporary category as well). With a win from the ADG, Locker seems to be mustering up as much support as Slumdog did last year – and that culminated in a Best Picture win for Danny Boyle’s crowdpleasing hit. Let’s hope lightning strikes twice this year for a thoroughly more deserving film.

Scripter gets some Air

The USC Scripter, which recognises exemplary film adaptations and their source materials (read: novels), bestowed their prize today on Jason Reitman’s existential dramedy Up in the Air and the Walter Kirn’s novel of the same name. Of course, this announcement was rather unsurprising given Air has dominated the screenplay prizes throughout the entire awards season. Now with the Scripter’s stamp of approval, a victory at the Academy Awards seems inevitable.

At least Air won’t go home empty handed on Oscar night…

Unpacking the Oscar nominations

Although Avatar and The Hurt Locker tied for the most nominations (with 9 apiece), there doesn’t appear to be any race at all. Locker’s unexpected citation for Marco Beltrami’s disquieting score, coupled with Avatar’s misses in the song and screenplay categories seems to suggest Bigelow’s film has the edge in this David vs Goliath struggle. Given Locker’s triumph at the recent PGA and DGA awards, we already seem to have our anointed Best Picture winner. However, given the newly introduced preferential voting system that rewards consensus over passion pockets, Up in the Air and possibly, Inglourious Basterds have realistic shots at pulling off an upset. As Up in the Air missed a crucial editing nomination (which is generally a prerequisite to win Best Picture), its trophy haul looks to be limited to the Adapted screenplay win.