The Oscar race now is really less about how movies hit with audiences as it is about how they hit with pundits and critics. Obviously, for a film like The Odyssey, that’s irrelevant, but with film festival season it’s more about building that pundit consensus. That’s what drives the money train and it’s money well spent if you’re looking to place in the Oscar race. Now that Wild Horse Nine has been seen in Venice (and at an earlier Los Angeles screening), the early consensus is that it’s John Malkovich for the win. And talk about overdue. He’s a character actor who has more than paid his dues and turned in one hilarious and brilliant performance after another. My favorite remains Burn After Reading, but he has never given a bad performance.
Anyway, all systems go for Malkovich, per the critics and pundits.
It’s not all sunshine and roses. High-status God-King David Ehrlich is sort of MEH but for the most part, it’s positive reviews so far.
Malkovich already had a place in line before the film was seen so this doesn’t change that much, but it does put him in line to actually win. He will have some competition, however, and we’ll find out in the next few weeks whether that’s Andrew Scott in Elsinore or anyone else.
Tom Cruise in Digger, Matt Damon in The Odyssey, Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary all feel like strong frontrunners but that could change as these film festivals unfold.
