Los Angeles (AFP)

The pandemic has caused the closure of cinemas in many countries but among those who have managed to make their way this year on the big screen - or exceptionally video on demand platforms - eight have been selected by the Academy of Oscars to seek the supreme award, the Oscar for best feature film.

- "The Father" -

Adapted from a play by Florian Zeller and directed by the French author himself, "The Father", starring the legendary Anthony Hopkins, takes the viewer on a terrifying journey to senile dementia.

The film takes place in a London apartment where the stubborn Anthony (Hopkins), despite his fragile health, chased the last of a long series of caregivers, forcing his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) to find a replacement. emergency.

But appearances are often deceptive in the life of this not so quiet father whose faculties are deteriorating at high speed, blurring all his bearings and those of the spectator at the same time.

Acclaimed during its presentation at the Sundance Festival in January 2020, especially for the performance of Anthony Hopkins, "The Father" is not, however, among the favorites of the Oscars.

- "Judas and the Black Messiah" -

The past year has seen many films produced by black filmmakers featuring black actors, but only "Judas and the Black Messiah" managed to land an Oscar nomination for best feature film.

Departing from the usual "biopic" conventions, the film tells the tragic story of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) half from the point of view of the charismatic leader of the Black Panthers, and half from that of the FBI informant who l 'betrayed, William O'Neal (Lakeith Stanfield.)

Produced by Ryan Coogler, the director of the Marvel hit "Black Panther," "Judas and the Black Messiah" is set in 1960s Chicago and follows Fred Hampton's efforts to mobilize the crowd against police brutality even as he is surrounded by the FBI with its supporters.

The last to arrive in the Oscar race with a press presentation in February, the film still garnered six nominations in total but it still lags behind in predictions.

- "Mank" -

"Mank", David Fincher's ode to Hollywood's golden age, holds the record for nominations this year, no less than ten.

Entirely shot in black and white with extreme attention to detail in the reconstruction, David Fincher's film features, in a very romanticized way, the birth of Orson Welles' film "Citizen Kane" and its writing by screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz , played by Gary Oldman.

Usually very alcoholic, Mank crosses paths with the titans who built the Hollywood legend, such as producers David O. Selznick, Louis B. Mayer and Orson Welles himself.

On paper, "Mank" had many assets to win over the film professionals who make up the Oscar jury, but reviews have been quite mixed, and it seems unlikely that he would win the award for best feature film.

- "Minari" -

The American filmmaker of South Korean origin Lee Isaac Chung was about to give up directing to become a teacher when he shot "Minari", the latest poker move strongly inspired by his own childhood.

With dialogues in English and Korean, the film is a fundamentally American story, about migrants who left everything behind to carve out a future for themselves in the great outdoors.

In this case "Minari" follows a South Korean family who tries their luck in farming in the middle of Arkansas in the 1980s.

The film brought together Korean-speaking actors from both sides of the Pacific, including Steven Yeun, made famous by the "Walking Dead" series, and South Korean star Yuh-Jung Youn.

He endeavors to portray the intimate relationships within this family without dwelling on questions of integration or racism.

Even if it did not necessarily unleash passions, "Minari" was well received everywhere and is certainly the most consensual film of the selection.

He appears to be an outsider but has a chance to create a surprise thanks to the very particular "preferential" voting system in force in the category of best feature film.

- "Nomadland" -

Rarely does a film dominate fall festivals and continue to be a big favorite months later for the Oscars.

But “Nomadland,” a one-of-a-kind hybrid of road movie, social drama and documentary that follows elderly Americans living on the roads after losing everything in the “subprime” crisis, has pulled it off.

In Chloé Zhao's film, most of the actors are amateurs who play their own role, with Fern as the central character, played by Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand, who initiated and produced the project.

It is directly inspired by an eponymous book published in 2017 by the American journalist Jessica Bruder after having stayed among these nomads with gray hair who crisscross the United States in their small camper vans, living between deserts and odd jobs, but free.

Most pundits are betting on "Nomadland" as the Oscar night winner, and the film is set to win statuettes in several other categories as well.

- "Promising Young Woman" -

With her pop songs, her candy pink aesthetic and a hitherto royally unknown director, “Promising Young Woman” is nothing like the Oscar-formatted film.

But this is a deliberately atypical film.

For her first feature film, Emerald Fennell stars Cassie (Carey Mulligan), a young woman who seeks revenge for the rape of her best friend by former college classmates.

And while doing so, Cassie decides to sow terror among the machos of her hometown and those who are in her eyes their accomplices.

The young woman sets her ambushes in bars.

She feigns drunkenness in order to attract men playing the "good guys" to her and push them to reveal their misogyny.

With five nominations in total, he could keep his promises for the Oscar for best feature film, but the voting system is usually not favorable to films that have sparked controversy, as is the case for "Promising Young Woman ".

- "Sound of Metal" -

The film awards season for "Sound of Metal" has been a long journey that began in 2019 at the Toronto Film Festival, gradually gaining momentum thanks to word of mouth that never wavered.

At the Oscars, this low-budget independent film landed six nominations, a feat for a work dealing with a rather depressing and not very popular subject: Ruben, a heavy metal drummer (played by Riz Ahmed) lost his hearing and also suffers from addiction problems.

He is torn between his desire to regain his faculties with the help of expensive implants and the peace of mind he begins to find within the deaf community.

While among the films least likely to win, "Sound of Metal" has put the spotlight on the hearing impaired and more broadly on how people with disabilities are treated in Hollywood.

He could win statuettes in technical categories, in particular for sound disciplines.

- "The Chicago Seven" -

With its prestigious cast, a seasoned director-writer and an extraordinarily topical subject, which coincided with last summer's massive anti-racist protests and a controversial presidential election like never before, "The Chicago Seven" ticks most of the boxes. necessary to win an Oscar.

It was Steven Spielberg himself who asked Aaron Sorkin to write a story about the riots against the Vietnam War in Chicago in 1968 and the violent police and judicial repression that followed.

Creator of the "West Wing" series, Aaron Sorkin eventually got behind the camera as well, drawing stars like Mark Rylance, Frank Langella, Sacha Baron Cohen and Eddie Redmayne to the project.

A distribution recently rewarded with the coveted prize of the American Union of Actors.

For Hollywood price specialists, if a film has a chance of winning "Nomadland" on Sunday night, it's "The Chicago Seven".

© 2021 AFP