By Patrick Shanley
Managing Editor
Each year, the New York Times chief film critics (Manohla Dargis, A.O. Scott, and Stephen Holden) release their picks for who should be nominated by the Academy.
While many of this year’s current front runners made the list, as they often do, it is a bit of a rarity for the sensibilities of all three critics to converge on the same candidate.
Just that, however, has happened this year in a number of categories, as a consensus was reached on six awards, which may be a good indication of what the Oscar future may hold.
In the best picture category Dargis, Scott, and Halden agreed on director Todd Haynes’ 1950’s-set lesbian romantic drama, Carol, which centers on a housewife’s (Cate Blanchett) affair with a young store clerk (Rooney Mara). Haynes was also unanimously predicted to be this year’s best director winner, over last year’s winner Alejandro G. Inarritu for his western revenge epic, The Revenant. Haynes has yet to win an Oscar.
Carol was also picked to take home the prize for best adapted screenplay, which was adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel The Price of Salt (published under Highsmith’s pseudonym “Claire Morgan”).
In the acting categories, indie darling Bel Powley was picked for best actress for her performance as a young artist engaged in an affair with her mother’s boyfriend in the Sundance hit, The Diary of a Teenage Girl while Kristen Stewart was predicted to win the supporting actress award for her role as an assistant to an aging movie star (Juliette Binoche) in last year’s Clouds of Sils Maria. Picking Stewart is no real surprise, as the actress was recently awarded the best supporting actress award from the New York Film Critics Circle.
Lastly, in the category of original screenplay, there was a consensus tie (forgive the oxymoron) as both Pixar’s Inside Out, about the lives of emotions in a little girl’s head, and Tangerine, a drama about a transgender working girl in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, were both predicted.
So what exactly does this consensus mean? Well, in 2005 they agreed that Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana should win best adapted screenplay for Brokeback Mountain, which they did, in 2007 they agreed that Helen Mirren should win best actress for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, which she did, in 2008 with Daniel Day-Lewis for best actor in There Will Be Blood, which he did, and 2011 that Christian Bale should win best supporting actor in director David O. Russell’s The Fighter, which he did.
Though that may not be the most impressive track record, there is something to say about when these three critics’ tastes align, particularly in a year such as 2015, when the race is so closely knotted.
