1. Nebraska
Possible categories: Best Film Editing
Likely categories: Best Picture, Best Director (Alexander Payne), Best Actor (Bruce Dern), Best Supporting Actor (Will Forte), Best Original Screenplay (Bob Nelson), Best Cinematography The single most likely film to turn Cannes success into Oscar glory is Alexander Payne's Nebraska. Payne has been very successful with the Academy in his career. A two-time Oscar winner, both for Best Adapted Screenplay (Sideways and The Descendants), every single one of Payne's feature films have been nominated for something significant, save for his debut feature, Citizen Ruth. Clearly then, the Academy digs his style, and they seem to be doing so increasingly considering his last two feature films both received Best Picture nominations. You better believe then all Oscar pundits' eyes are on Nebraska's debut at Cannes. The film, which, in a first for Payne, is not written by him but instead comes from an original screenplay by newcomer Bob Nelson, is a road trip movie about a strained relationship between father and son. The father (Bruce Dern) buys into a scam telling him he is the winner of a million dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize. In order to collect his winnings, he decides to take the trip from his home in Billings, Montana to the Sweepstakes headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska. His son (Will Forte) accompanies him, but the two get sidetrack when the father decides to settle some old scores in a small town in the Cornhusker State. The film should be a mix of comedy and relationship drama, which sounds right up the Academy's alley. It also focuses on an aging, elderly man, which given the Academy's demographic breakdown, should also appeal to their senses. Finally, the film shot in black-and-white (or more accurately, desaturated in post-production in order to look black-and-white), which should give the film an air of sophistication that will allow voters to feel they are voting for something significantly artsy, even if the film turns out to be an essentially middle-brow affair. In all honesty, given Payne's track record, I don't think the film needs to even do all that well at the fest to be a major Oscar contender. It certainly doesn't need to win any awards, and really, all I think it needs to do is not be a stinker. The Descendants was far from universally loved, but it had its passionate proponents, so as long as their is a contingency of critics and film fans that will stick up for Nebraska, I expect this to be named multiple times on Oscar nomination morning. Cannes debut: Thursday, May 23 Click "next" below for the Wildcard...