10 Oscar Contenders To See At London Film Festival 2018

As the summer blockbuster releases start to die down, we begin the 2018 awards season. Spanning the months from September all the way to March, we can expect a number of releases that are vying for wins throughout the awards circuit. Kicking off the season is Venice Film Festival where the first looks at potential Oscar frontrunners can be made and early predictions begin to unfold.

With the release of the programme for London Film Festival 2018, it gives a chance for UK cinephiles to see prestige pictures before their release. I have decided to look in to which films playing at the 62nd BFI London Film Festival you should see if you want to catch some Oscar hopefuls early.

 

1. Widows

When Veronica’s husband (Viola Davis and Liam Neeson, respectively) is killed during a daring heist, she and the wives of the men he worked with discover money was owed to some particularly nasty people. And now they want it back.

Possible Nominations:
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Leading Actress – Viola Davis

The opening night gala opens with a fan favourite of British cinema, Steve McQueen, whose latest effort Widows looks set to make a splash during awards season. Co-written by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl), it is a remake of the 1980s TV series set in Britain but moved to the US for this remake. While yet to screen at festivals, it will be showing at both Toronto International Festival as well as taking the opening slot of London Film Festival. With actors such as Viola Davis, Carrie Coon, Daniel Kaluuya, Liam Neeson and Colin Farrell to name a few, McQueen has assembled a cast which is filled with talent and has the potential to be a fan favourite throughout this year’s awards.

 

2. Suspiria

American Susie Bannion (Dakota Johnson) auditions for a prestigious international dance school. She’s untutored, but has the kind of ferocious commitment to her dance that the strange mistresses who run the all-female school are looking for. In particular, she entrances the precise Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton), who is both an exacting tutor and elegant den mother. Is Susie finally the ‘one’ to dance the mysterious ‘Volk’?

Possible Nominations:
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Leading Actress – Dakota Johnson
Best Supporting Actress – Tilda Swinton

Following on from his appearance at London Film Festival 2017 with Best Picture nominee Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino returns with a vastly different film, Suspiria. With reports of walkouts during the movie’s screening at both Venice and Cannes due to the intense subject and images on display, this could prove to be too controversial for the awards voters or it could become a dark horse of the competition. Early reactions have hailed the performances of both Johnson and Swinton so expect to see both of their names in the conversation.

 

3. The Favourite

It’s the early 18th century, England is at war with France and Queen Anne’s (Olivia Colman) poor health finds her relying on her doting friend Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz). When Sarah’s cousin Abigail (Emma Stone) arrives at the Palace, her charm soon wins the Queen’s attentions and the shrewd girl sees a way to restore her social status, lost through her father’s disastrous wagers.

Possible Nominations:
Best Original Screenplay
Best Leading Actress – Olivia Colman
Best Supporting Actress – Emma Stone
Best Costume Design
Best Set Design

Yorgos Lanthimos has sat on the edges of the Academy Awards for a few years now since moving in to English language films. The Lobster received a Best Original Screenplay nomination two years previously and if reports that The Favourite is Lanthimos’ most accessible film are true then we could see him take this year’s awards by storm. The most likely category for nomination would be from original screenplay but expect possible nominees in both lead and supporting actress categories considering the actresses that Lanthimos has been able to work with this time around.

 

4. If Beale Street Could Talk

Tish (KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James) have known each other since childhood, but only latterly discovered that the safe, easy familiarity between them has bloomed into a love so intoxicating it promises everlasting joy and happiness. But life is not destined to be so easy for a young black couple living in 1970s Harlem. Fonny is falsely accused of a rape and an unjust judicial system refuses to acknowledge the impossibility of his having committed the crime. Tish and her family struggle to exonerate him.

Possible Nominations:
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Lead Actress – Kiki Layne
Best Supporting Actor – Stephan James
Best Original Score

After the drama of the 89th Academy Awards with the eventual Best Picture winner being Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, Jenkins will be hoping for a much simpler night with his latest film If Beale Street Could Talk, an adaptation of a James Baldwin novel. With Moonlight being a massive success and Jenkins now hot property in Hollywood, all eyes will be on him to see if he can replicate that success here. Nominations can be expected after having massive success with Moonlight and with reactions out of Toronto International Film Festival being largely positive, Jenkins can expect to be in the race once again.

 

5. Roma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp_i7cnOgbQ&t=12s

Mexico City, 1970. Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) is a live-in domestic worker of Mixteco heritage. She is employed by middle-class mother of four Sofía (Marina de Tavira), who struggles to cope with the extended absence of her doctor husband. Cleo loves the children as if they are her own, but her duties leave little time for her to have an independent life.

Possible Nominations:
Best Picture
Best Foreign Language Feature
Best Original Screenplay

With it being one of the first films to screen at this year’s Venice Film Festival, Roma has already picked up a large number of admirers. Shot in black and white and directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men), it so far looks to be another hit for the Mexican director. With previous success at the Oscars and backed by Netflix to create his passion project, could this be a dream in the making that can see Netflix receive its first Best Picture nomination? Only time will tell if this is pushed for Best Picture or Best Foreign Language Feature.

 

6. Fahrenheit 11/9

Moore inverts the title of his earlier Fahrenheit 9/11 as he goes after Trump – elected President of the US on 9th November 2016 – in this cautionary-talemeets-disaster-movie. While much of the information here might be familiar to the Trump rubberneckers among us, Moore is a genius at connecting the dots of his argument with clarity and tremendous persuasion. With his trademark wit, Moore examines what led to Trump’s rise to power, strongly criticising the Democratic Party and the greed of the media.

Possible Nominations:
Best Documentary Feature

Whenever a new Michael Moore film comes out, there is always a discussion of whether this can match the impact that Bowling for Columbine had back in 2003. Since he has had only one nomination for Sicko in 2008 but with his crosshairs firmly pointed at Donald Trump in Fahrenheit 11/9, this could sit well with the Academy voters. His style can be controversial and with an in your face attitude may cause a similar uproar to when he won previously, which saw him booed by members of the crowd when he spoke about then President George W. Bush and his policies.

 

7. Mirai (Mirai No Mirai)

Young Kun has a new baby sister and the loving attention showered on him by his parents for all his years appears to evaporate overnight. While Mum rushes between her job and looking after baby Mirai, Dad is at home trying to keep things afloat. A series of fantastical events ensues, including the revelation that family dog Yukko was once the Prince of the House before the children were born, but who informs Kun about the lack of attention he received following the boy’s own arrival.

Possible Nominations:
Best Animated Feature

Director Mamoru Hosoda during his career brought us films such as Wolf Children and The Boy and the Beast. His latest film Mirai premiered at Cannes Film Festival back in May and has been hailed by critics thus far, sitting at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 7.5/10. With most of the competition in the animation category coming from Disney and Pixar studios, often we see Japanese animated features joining them in the remaining nominee slots and this year Mirai looks set to take up one of these positions.

 

8. The Old Man and The Gun

Adapted from David Grann’s New Yorker article, The Old Man and the Gun tells the story of Forrest Tucker, the self-styled ‘Houdini’ whose many audacious prison breaks included an Alcatraz flight in a homemade kayak, and whose last robbery was committed when he was 79. Focussing on Tucker’s crime-spree with his geriatric band of brothers (the Over-the-Hill-Gang), who long evaded both the FBI and an increasingly frustrated detective John Hunt (Casey Affleck), this is a brilliantly entertaining crime caper.

Possible Nominations:
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Leading Actor – Robert Redford

In what looks to be Robert Redford’s final film in a career spanning more than 50 years, here he takes on a role as a criminal with a record number of prison breaks and who is aching to keep going even though he is pushing 80 years old. With an honorary Oscar back in 2002 and being the founder of Sundance Film Festival, the Academy voters would hate to pass up an opportunity to award Redford one last award. Directed by David Lowry, whose previous film A Ghost Story divided audiences, and based on a (mostly) true story as stated by the trailer, this could be a final chance to reward one of Hollywood’s best actors.

 

9. Beautiful Boy

David Sheff (Carell) has a life many would envy: a beautiful older teenage son Nic (Chalamet) to whom he is close; two younger children from his happy second marriage to artist Karen (Maura Tierney), a loving stepmother to his first son; a house near the north California coast; and notable success as a journalist with major publications like The New York Times and Rolling Stone. Life is good. An open, communicative father, he isn’t too alarmed when Nic casually experiments with marijuana. Then, without warning, Nic’s interest in drugs transforms, becoming more urgent, desperate even.

Possible Nominations:
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Leading Actor – Steve Carell
Best Supporting Actor – Timothée Chalamet

Whenever Steve Carell comes out with one of his more serious roles, audiences and critics begin to take notice for what could be another push for an Academy Award. Previously having been nominated for Foxcatcher and starring in Best Picture nominee The Big Short, Beautiful Boy appears to be another strong contender as he attempts to help his drug addicted son, played by 2017’s indie darling, Timothée Chalamet. With two previous nominees leading the charge and a screenplay by Lion writer Luke Davies, Beautiful Boy could prove popular for Academy voters as a story about a father/son relationship battling against addiction.

 

10. The Front Runner

Democratic candidate Gary Hart (a prodigiously good Jackman) was the man to beat in the 1988 American Presidential campaign. Handsome, whip-smart, principled and with really great hair, he led George W Bush in the polls by double digits. America loved him, yet that all that changed in a week. Breaking unwritten rules on the personal discretions allowed politicians, the Miami Herald staked out Hart’s Washington apartment to expose his long-rumoured extramarital affairs, this one with beautiful blond Donna Rice.

Possible Nominations:
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Leading Actor – Hugh Jackman
Best Supporting Actor – J.K. Simmons
Best Supporting Actress – Vera Farmiga

Reitman has been popular with the Academy in previous years with Juno and Up In The Air both seeing him receive Best Director nominations. This time with a look at politics and with Hugh Jackman leading the way, we could have a real contender on our hands. Filling out the cast are the likes of Vera Farmiga (Oscar nominee), Alfred Molina (Golden Globe nominee) and J.K. Simmons (Oscar winner), which all add prestige to this film about the downfall of a politician due to his life outside of work. This film feels it may be coming out at just the right time with so many stories about the line between professional and personal lives being blurred and the repercussions that are felt.