Last year, awards experts had their work cut out for them. In the aftermath of the autumn festivals, just two films (La La Land and Moonlight) emerged victorious, culminating in both teams mounting the steps of Hollywood’s Dolby stage on Oscar night. The landscape today is a lot less certain. Who deserves a trophy? A scrappy first-time film-maker? An overlooked 89-year-old screenwriter? One thing we know for sure is that the following films represent the best of this award season’s extraordinary output.
4. Lady Bird
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The directorial debut of Greta Gerwig (who made her name playing free spirits in Frances Ha and Mistress America), Lady Bird is a heartwarming meditation on a young girl’s experiences of friendship and family, love and longing during her final year of Catholic high school in Sacramento, California. Saoirse Ronan is Lady Bird, a wilful and wisecracking teenager who steadily forges her malleable identity into a more durable, well-rounded character.
The actress’ stunning portrayal of adolescence is completely lacking in vanity: a warts-and-all approach with acne scars, greasy pink hair and a peeling back of her spiky exterior to reveal the latent vulnerability beneath. Having already taken home top prizes at the Gothams and New York Film Critics Awards, the 23-year-old is set to continue the current trend of young women winning the Best Actress Oscar (like Emma Stone (2017), Brie Larson (2016) and Jennifer Lawrence (2013) before her). As well as drumming up buzz in the directing and screenplay categories, Lady Bird has a shot at the coveted Best Picture Academy Award. No film in 22 years has won this Oscar without a best ensemble cast nomination at the SAGs, so the fact that Gerwig’s movie scooped one up last week bodes extremely well for this astounding addition to the coming-of-age canon.
