Hollywood (United States) (AFP)

The red carpet is rolled out, the golden statuettes shine: the famous Oscar evening will mark the apotheosis of the cinematographic award season in Hollywood on Sunday, where the film "1917" is likely to collect the honors this year.

British director Sam Mendes, however, entered the campaign very late. His film was released to Academy voters just two months ago, but experts still give "1917" as a favorite in several prestigious categories.

An intense feature film depicting the desperate team of two young soldiers during the First World War, built as a two-hour long sequence shot, "1917" has already multiplied the victories this season, both in the British Bafta and in Hollywood Golden Globes.

"It's great, it's epic, but it doesn't use old recipes. It's really a punch film, cinema at its best," he believes.

He may be a big favorite, "1917" is not guaranteed to win the Oscar for best film, awarded via a strange and complex "preferential" multi-turn ballot which blurs the forecasts and sometimes elects a outsider.

If "The Irishman" by Martin Scorsese and "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood" by Quentin Tarantino are in the ranks, the main rival of Sam Mendes seems to be the South Korean Bong Joon-ho and his film "Parasite" .

Already a Palme d'Or at the Cannes Festival, this hybrid of crazy family comedy and dark thriller has become one of the darling of American critics.

He is widely favored for the category of best foreign film, in which he will notably face Sunday "Les Misérables" by Frenchman Ladj Ly, but could win in other major categories.

- Phoenix and Zellweger -

Luck of luck for their competitors, neither "1917" nor "Parasite" brought international stars to the cast, thus leaving them free rein for the prizes awarded to the actors.

For the critics, the games are already made: it is Joaquin Phoenix who must win the statuette of the best actor for "Joker", while Renée Zellweger will be awarded for "Judy".

The two actors were transfigured by the interpretation of their character, traumatized and psychotic anti-hero for Phoenix; Judy Garland, a child prodigy from Hollywood who became great for Zellweger.

As for supporting roles, Brad Pitt as a stunt performer ("Once Upon a Time ...") and Laura Dern as a ruthless and manipulative lawyer ("Marriage Story") are on the rise.

"I do not see a scenario in which one of them loses", summarizes for AFP Pete Hammond, expert of the specialized site Deadline.

"People will say + the Oscars always have surprises in store + but I think these four will win," says Tim Gray.

The Oscars for the script and the technical categories promise to be more disputed, in a merry melee pitting the satire of Hitler's Germany "Jojo Rabbit", the feminist re-reading of the period film "The Doctor's Daughters" March "and even the superheroes of" Avengers: Endgame ".

- As usual? -

It will be necessary to wait Sunday at 5:00 p.m. local time (Monday 1:00 a.m. GMT) to know the choice of the approximately 8,500 members of the Academy of cinema arts and sciences called to vote.

Organized in the heart of Hollywood, at the Dolby Theater, and broadcast live by televisions around the world, the ceremony will take place again this year without a title host, but with a host of stars succeeding each other at the microphone: veterans Tom Hanks, Jane Fonda and Diane Keaton, or young graduates like Brie Larson, Olivia Colman and Rami Malek.

Elton John, a favorite for the Oscar for Best Song this year, will sing on stage, as will young Grammy sensation Billie Eilish.

The party will not escape the usual critics on the lack of diversity of the Oscars: apart from the British Cynthia Erivo ("Harriet"), all the actors and actresses vying this year are white and no woman has been retained among the filmmakers.

"I would not call that #OscarSoWhite (" OscarsSiBlancs ") but rather #OscarsAsUsual (" OscarsCommeD'habitude ")" quipped Peter Hammond in reference to the hashtag used on social networks to denounce this under-representation of minorities. "A British film appears and wins, another four white actors ... You would think it was the Oscars of thirty years ago".

© 2020 AFP