Best picture
DIVE Pick: “The Artist”
Nominees: “The Artist,” “The Descendants,” “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” “The Help,” “Hugo,” “Midnightin Paris,” “Moneyball,” “Tree of Life,” “War Horse”
Reason: The Best Picture frontrunner tramplesover its “talkie” competition by breathing life into along-forgotten genre. If “The Artist” does win Best Picture at this year’s Oscars, it will be the first silent-film winner since 1929. Set in 1929 Hollywood, “The Artist” remains faithful to the style of silent-era filmwith an effortless plot and magical acting by Frenchunknowns Jean Dujardin and the dazzling BéréniceBejo (as well as the film’s undisputed star, Uggiethe dog). Described as, “a love letter to cinema,” “The Artist” alludes to a century of classic films like “Singin’ in the Rain” and “A Star is Born” with stand-alone elegance.
-Thompson Wall
Best Director
DIVE Pick: Terrence Malick, “Tree of Life”
Nominees: Michel Hazanavicius, Alexander Payne,Martin Scorcese, Woody Allen, Terrence Malick
Reason: Imagine a biopic whose main protagonistis Life: Life’s life story. Now stop trying, and know that only a visionary like Terrence Malick could haveeven begun to do so. Instead of spanning one per-son’s life, he’s tackled 3.5 billion years of nature andgrace — tenderly focusing on the eternal struggle between the two. Mixing visual and aural sweepwith the handheld aesthetic of more quietist fare, Malick evokes polished naturalism perfectly suitedfor his infinite scope. Butterflies fleet like cosmoses, fathers pounce like dinosaurs. Malick coheres all hecan, beautifully and seemlessly. The only questionleft unexplored is, “Where is Malick’s Oscar?”