Oscar Check: Cannes 2011

It’s still early and the Cannes Film Fest has only just begun to show its offerings, but already it’s looking like a much better slate than last year. For the first time, women directors have a real shot at dominating the competition, specifically, Lynne Ramsay for We Need to Talk About Kevin. ¬†The film is most definitely the best seen at Cannes so far (although it’s not even half over) but more than that, it’s the kind of movie that can be seen at any time and would receive roughly the same response, I figure.

Once burned, twice shy – last year, the big talk at Cannes for Oscar was Mike Leigh’s Another Year. It was raved up one side and down the other but it couldn’t get arrested by the time Oscar season rolled around. So one needs to take it all with a grain of salt. ¬†But there is one thing that can’t be disputed and that’s Tilda Swinton’s performance. ¬†An Oscar winner already, with one great performance after another, it’s hard to imagine Swinton turning in a better one. ¬†Yet, she’s done that here. ¬†It certainly isn’t the first time she’s carried a movie – she played a mother protecting her son in The Deep End, and there was I Am Love last year and Orlando – to name a few. ¬†But Swinton tends to be kind of opaque. ¬†She doesn’t often let herself go to this degree. ¬†What makes this performance so great is where she goes with it. ¬†It could have been played roughly one note throughout ¬†- but it is who she starts out as and who she becomes by the end that makes it so remarkable.

Another standout here is Ezra Miller as Kevin. ¬†Probably Miller fans will not have seen this performance coming. It’s a career-changer. ¬†He’s got that wonderful something that commands the big screen. ¬†It isn’t just to do with his cherubic good looks — there is more there, a smolder, a spark. ¬†He’s going to be around a while. ¬†He should probably see a supporting nod for this, if voters are paying attention.

Finally, Lynne Ramsay herself should get some deserved recognition – hopefully now the road has been paved for a woman director to get the same amount of attention a male one would when a film like this makes an impact. ¬†We’ll see how that one goes. ¬†But I’d suspect, at the very least, a screenplay nod. ¬†And I’d hope for a Best Director nod as well. ¬†The year hasn’t begun and there are many films to see – but with ten slots, I’m going to guess calling We Need to Talk About Kevin for one of those is not out of the realm of possibility.

In other Oscar news, there isn’t that much to report so far. ¬†But with Tree of Life and This Must Be the Place coming, there could be more than one movie that might sustain its buzz through to year’s end. ¬†Really, Toronto kind of wipes the slate clean every year, which is why Cannes doesn’t generally impact the race. ¬†But a good movie is a good movie. ¬†And so it goes.