There are not only juggernauts of movies, but there are juggernauts of categories at the Academy Awards. Best Director is one such category. It is a highly coveted award, with great levels of anticipation each year leading up to it. It is a very visible category and signifies an achievement almost to the level of the Best Picture Category.
This year there are five directors nominated from from five films, and I've seen them all, so I can venture an educated guess on this. Amour is a foreign language film directed by Michael Haneke that is nominated for directing as well as best picture, and best foreign language film. I believe it has a shot at winning the best foreign language film category, but no the others. There is some achievement in directing as the subject is a hard one to approach logistically and artistically, but when held up to the other films in this category it does not stand a chance.
Beasts of the Southern Wild's Benh Zeitlin is also nominated in the director category. I enjoyed this movie for its beauty and symbolism, but I fear that symbolism was lost on many and the beauty didn't extend past their confusion. The movie buddy I viewed the film with certainly did not understand what was going on in the movie, and therefore did not enjoy the movie. This film will not win for best directing.
Life of Pi is a gorgeous, well executed movie and in a just world Ang Lee would win the director prize. This is my favorite to win the category because Lee navigated mastered scenes that could be difficult to show in an entertaining fashion. He took a long story and made it compelling and memorable. I couldn't get this film out of my mind for days.
Silver Linings Playbook's David O. Russell is nominated for his efforts. His film is a strong one with a gripping story that is somewhat hard to peel your eyes away from, like a train wreck. However, in my opinion there was no great achievement in directing in this film. It was a fun movie that may go in to my category of happy favorites for the year, but it will not win this prize.
In the end though, I believe the director that will win is Steven Spielberg for Lincoln. I do not agree with this prophecy of mine as I did not enjoy the movie half as much as the critics told me I should. I feel Hollywood has a love affair with Spielberg and historical dramas. Each year there is one semi unworthy film that generates a lot of buzz whether it wins or not. This year that buzz goes to Spielberg. It's not that I don't appreciate his efforts in this category because I do, but I believe what he did pales in comparison to the accomplishments of others.
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