And when Charles Ferguson was nominated for the 2007 film No End in Sight, a favorite, he lost out to a lesser known film Taxi to the Dark Side. This certainly could happen again.
Here's the low down on the 5 documentary features, their premise, why they could win, and what could keep them from winning the Academy Award. The films are ranked by my opinion of their win-ability.
1. Inside Job

Why it could win? Early favorite with important precursor award wins (Writers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America), the film deals with a relevant and contemporary topic, the director has been nominated before, and one of the Academy's own is the narrator. It also boast the highest box office gross of any of the nominees (a mere $3.9 million).
Why it might not win? It's not very fun, gimmicky, or feel good story.

Why it could win? Clearly the most fun film of the bunch, and most likely the most talked about. Not to mention, I think there would be some people eager to see what a Banksy acceptance speech might look like since he doesn't show his face or allow people to hear his voice. If the win doesn't happen, no one will know how that would have turned out.
Why it might not win? There's definitely a reason to question whether this film in itself a one big joke of a trick on audiences, and if that hunch was ever confirmed then it might make this documentary be the type that has an asterisk next to it's name in record books.
3. Restrepo

Why it could win? Sebastian Junger is a great journalist. This film has a powerful captures scenes of the modern war that are so incredible and unseen that you feel like what is created is not only important but almost uncomprehendable. It carries the feeling of importance with it, as well as a "how did they do it" mystery. It's also a very contemporary topic.
Why it might not win? Heavy material, heavy clips, an honesty that people might not be interested in being exposed to without a message presented with the story.
4. Waste Land

Why it could win? Clearly, this film is the most feel good project of them all.
Why it might not win? Besides being a unique film, the uniqueness is really in Muniz's art and the how'd he do that creation of the artwork. The film itself lacks some of the sparks and buzz associated with typical winning films.
5. GasLand

Why it could win? It's an engaging film, it captures the part of documentary films that many people enjoy with it's editorial style of investigative story telling. Josh Fox as a director has an endearing characteristic, that if people see this film that they might embrace. It also won the special jury prize at Sundance film festival.
Why it might not win? The film is the lowest grossing of all the documentaries (thirty thousand dollars), it was one of the surprise Oscar nominations, and has less buzz then other nominees.
2 comments:
SO glad you put this together - it helps me understand what's going on when the dude gives his speech and I have no idea what's goin on
helps my predictions too
Saw your blog...did not read it, will tomorrow, so you can't say that I cheated when I guess more rght than you! haha
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