Hollywood (United States) (AFP)
The evening of the Oscars will be more than ever Sunday evening the reflection of the film industry in 2020: transformed by the pandemic, forced to imagine new formats and to explore new horizons ... and probably dominated by the big favorite "Nomadland".
The presentation of the most prestigious awards in American cinema had to be postponed by two months due to the health crisis and will exceptionally be held largely outside Hollywood.
It is in the Union Station train station, in downtown Los Angeles, which allows greater social distancing, that most of this 93rd edition will take place, the traditional Dolby Theater being content to play a secondary role with Honorary Oscars and musical performances.
European stars who will not be able to reach Los Angeles will be welcomed to dedicated sites in London and Paris, with satellite broadcast.
The precious statuettes will be handed over at the station, and a film has a good chance of winning, according to experts' predictions.
"I don't imagine that + Nomadland + does not win the jackpot. And I do not imagine that Chloe Zhao does not win the prize for best director," Marc Malkin, journalist for the specialist magazine Variety, told AFP.
"But this year has been so strange. You never know," he tempers.
- "It's folded" -
A one-of-a-kind hybrid of road movie, western, social drama and documentary that follows elderly Americans living on the roads after losing everything in the subprime crisis, “Nomadland” has been celebrated by Hollywood.
And Chloe Zhao's film has dominated the award season, which is coming to an end, head and shoulders.
"It's folded" for the director of 39 years, born in China, assures Pete Hammond, columnist of the specialized site Deadline.
"They will vote for her even if they haven't seen the film."
“At the moment, she enjoys great respect and is highly regarded in the world of directors,” confirms a voter from the Academy who asks to remain anonymous.
If a film has any chance of winning "Nomadland", it is "The Chicago Seven" that created the surprise by winning the first prize from the American Actors' Union.
It would also mark the recognition by traditional studios of the importance of Netflix, after a year when video on demand took over from cinemas closed due to Covid-19.
"It's not impossible, but I don't have the impression that he will succeed," says Pete Hammond, who also cites the feminist thriller "Promising Young Woman" and "Minari" as outsiders. South Korean migrants in America in the 1980s.
- Hopkins in ambush -
Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand, who leads the almost all-amateur cast of modern "Nomadland" trekkers, is once again in the running.
But this year, this category of best actress is "very volatile" and "can go all over the place," said Hammond, noting that the five nominees, notably Viola Davis ("The Blues of My Rainey") and Carey Mulligan ("Promising Young Woman"), won major awards earlier in the season.
Viola Davis' on-screen partner Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer last summer before the film's release in which he plays a trumpeter haunted by racist atrocities, is expected to triumph in his category.
"I would probably put my money on Chadwick but there could be a surprise," the Academy member told AFP.
"Anthony Hopkins is in ambush", notes this member, in reference to the remarkable performance of the British actor in "The Father".
Daniel Kaluuya is favorite for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor thanks to her role in "Judas and the Black Messiah" while South Korean Youn Yuh-jung enjoys increasing popularity on the female side after recent speeches, funny and bites, which she uttered while receiving awards for "Minari", according to Marc Malkin.
A historic first is therefore possible this year, with the victory of non-white artists in the four categories rewarding actors, without the Asian director of "Nomadland".
It is the Netflix platform which should on paper win the largest number of Oscars on Sunday.
- Take off the masks -
Pandemic obliges, the ceremony was revised downwards and the red carpet reduced to its simplest form, most of the Hollywood magnates not having even won an invitation card.
But the co-producer of the evening, director Steven Soderbergh, has promised that these upheavals will be an opportunity to deliver a show that will be like "nothing that has been done before".
The ceremony should be filmed like a movie film rather than a TV show, he said.
Organizers have insisted the stars, including Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt, be in gala attire and they should be allowed to remove their masks when they are on screen.
“Well done to the Academy for at least trying to do some semblance of a live show, without using Zoom,” says Pete Hammond.
© 2021 AFP