Thus far in his career Bennett Miller has been very successful with the Academy and with his third feature film, Foxcatcher, the trend looks to continue. Unlike his previous two films though, Foxcatcher, which was originally slated to be part of last year's Oscar race before a release change has had a rocky awards season trajectory to say the least. Receiving rave reviews at Cannes, earning Miller Cannes' Best Director prize, the film seemed to slip into oblivion as shinier new toys distracted critics in the prestige gamut that is the October-January release window. Many thought the film would find new life with the onslaught of critics awards, but while most regional critics have skipped citing the film outside of some of its performances, Foxcatcher has found unlikely allies in the form of the Hollywood Foreign Press (aka Golden Globes) and industry guilds, putting it right back in the thick of the Oscar hunt. The film, which delves deep into the bizarre psychological menage et trois between eccentric millionaire John du Pont and the Olympic wrestling fraternal duo of Mark and Dave Schultz, is an undeniably chilly affair. Directed by Miller with a sterile sense of objective detachment, the film is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but its dogged sense of cinematic classicism is without a doubt the consequence of the film's direction. While the competition for the fifth slot in this year's Best Director race is fierce, Foxcatcher's phlegmatic tone is one that will likely appeal to the more high-brow oriented Directors Branch. It is easy to see someone like Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game or Ava DuVernay for Selma grabbing the final spot, but given this branch's predilection for films where the director's presence is clearly felt, Miller should have the upper hand on this year's competition.
A film fanatic at a very young age, starting with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and gradually moving up to more sophisticated fare, at around the age of ten he became inexplicably obsessed with all things Oscar. With the incredibly trivial power of being able to chronologically name every Best Picture winner from memory, his lifelong goal is to see every Oscar nominated film, in every major category, in the history of the Academy Awards.
