Trio of Films Break Out in Oscar Race

Posted by Martina Birk on Thursday, July 25, 2024

‘Moonlight,’ ‘La La Land,’ and ‘Manchester by the Sea’ have all won kudos to establish themselves as frontrunners

The early awards circuit has elevated three films to the top of this year’s Oscar race: Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land,” Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” and Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester by the Sea.”

It was Jenkins’ humanist portrait of a black, South Florida youth that kicked things off with a win last week at the New York-based Gotham Awards. An East Coast answer to Film Independent’s Spirit Awards (which bestowed six nominations on “Moonlight”), the Gothams represent the votes of small committees. That can yield interesting nominations, as it did this year for films like “Morris From America,” “Paterson” and “Everybody Wants Some!!”

The morning after the Gothams, Lonergan’s melancholy tale of a blue-collar New England man who is suddenly awarded custody of his nephew earned a win from the National Board of Review. That collective of New York filmmakers, enthusiasts, professionals, academics, and students has been dishing out superlatives for nearly as long as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, though the last winner there to also score an Oscar for best picture was “Slumdog Millionaire” eight years ago.

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Chazelle’s musical, meanwhile, took the coveted best-film prize from the New York Film Critics Circle — something of a twist in that it was the film’s only victory; “Manchester by the Sea” and “Moonlight” cleaned up in the other categories. “La La Land” also rounded up the most Critics’ Choice nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics Assn., to be presented Dec. 11, which are often seen as a harbinger for Oscar glory, given the size of the organization compared with other precursor groups.

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Not to be outdone, “Moonlight” came back around with the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. over the weekend, scoring the group’s best film prize along with honors for best director, cinematography and supporting actor Mahershala Ali (who also won in New York).

Each of these films is a product of the festival circuit, a strategy that has become a standard for best-picture victors in the last decade. “La La Land” lit this season’s fuse as the opening-night selection of the Venice Film Festival in August, while “Manchester” began at Sundance nearly a year ago before circling back at the Telluride Film Festival. “Moonlight” began its journey in Telluride, which is where Oscar winners “Slumdog Millionaire,” “The King’s Speech,” “Argo,” and “12 Years a Slave” unspooled for the first time.

The three contenders represent a fascinating cross-section of themes and subject matter for voters to ponder. In “La La Land,” there’s the opportunity for escapism in a story of dreamers daring to dream, an uplifting message that could prove seductive in this divisive election year. With “Manchester by the Sea,” there is pain and suffering to wallow in, but also the optimism of the thaw — of confronting tragedy and moving forward in life as best as we can. Those ideas certainly resonate. But in “Moonlight,” perhaps the finest film of the year, there is a message even more meaningful: one of empathy and the sense that we are more than a collection of stereotypes — that we contain multitudes.

It’s possibly the single greatest set of frontrunners the Oscar race has seen in years. The combination of thematic potency, impeccable craft, and precise writing certainly feels unparalleled. That’s reason enough to celebrate, no matter which film walks out of the Dolby Theatre as Hollywood’s champ in February.

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