Oscars 2019: Who Should Win Every Award (And Who Actually Will)
1. Best Picture
Nominees: Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Green Book, Roma, A Star is Born, Vice
Who Should Win
Roma
Of all the nominees, Roma is the only one that should be considered a masterpiece. On a technical level, it's a remarkable achievement: a feat of acting, direction, editing, cinematography, sound, design and everything else goes into making this something truly cinematic, regardless of whether or not you watched it on Netflix or the big screen.
That alone deserves some awards, but it's pushed as the clear choice for Best Picture by how it combines those technical feats with its very human story. There's not a lot of 'plot', as such, but then that just means this film represents life, in all its beauty and ugliness, its hope and despair. It's deeply personal to its director, yet its themes are universal. In any year, Roma would be a contender. In 2019, it shouldn't even be a contest.
Who Will Win
Roma
Like a lot of the categories this year, it's tough to decisively call Best Picture, but Roma has emerged as the frontrunner over the last few weeks. The DGA Award for Cuaron is a good sign, as are its wins at the Critics' Choice and BAFTA, and it's been a strong contender across the board. But there's the fact it's foreign-language, and it's Netflix, neither of which make for a likely Best Picture winner. The PGA went to Green Book, and the two big cast prizes at the SAG Awards went to Black Panther. Add in that Roma would have to be the first Best Picture winner since Birdman to win without a Best Editing nomination, and the race becomes much tighter, and for an untypical winner one way or another.
Since the SAG introduced its Cast award, which is its de-facto biggie now, that, the DGA, and PGA have only differed four times - and only once since the Best Picture expansion. On that occasion, Spotlight, the winner of the SAG award, won Best Picture, but the previous instances went with DGA twice (A Beautiful Mind and Million Dollar Baby) and PGA once (Gladiator). However, Roma got two surprise acting nominations at the Oscars, which suggests a good enough groundswell of support among the acting branch to tip it over the edge.
The controversy around Green Book hasn't been too strong, but it could have dented its hopes, but it wouldn't be a surprise for any of those just mentioned to take the top prize right now. Still, we've got to pick someone, and Roma has the momentum going into Oscars night.
Who do you think should/will win at the Oscars? Share your picks and predictions down in the comments.