It may not even have a release date yet, but Jason Reitman’s commentary on American life in the digital age has all the potential to be a dark horse this awards season. It has an experienced director, a top notch cast with their own campaign angles to play, and a style and story that is often lapped up by the Academy membership.
Jason Reitman is the writer and director behind Juno and Up In the Air. For the former he won himself a Best Director nomination, while the latter picked up writing, producing and directing awards for the faux-indie filmmaker. Reitman has taken the mantle from Sam Mendes as the king of American experience movies. We just coined that term. Films that pick apart the American dream by jumping over the picket fence and peeking through the window – this is what Reitman does best, and right now he does it better than anyone else.
Films about America, specifically self-reflexive movies that criticise the value system Hollywood is built on, are Oscar fodder. Members can relate to the story, they can enjoy the movie, and they can also appear to be liberal and open-minded by supporting a film that seemingly attacks their ideology, or at least the American Dream ideology for which Hollywood is inextricably tangled up in. Men, Women & Children looks like a typical Reitman film; it drags us in enough to emotionally engage with the characters, but narrates from a safe distance so we don’t come away feeling too bad about ourselves.
Men, Women & Children has a big cast to lead the campaign from the front, and even voters love a bit of star power. Emma Thompson, who was unfairly snubbed for her role as P. L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks could use the indie credentials of Reitman’s movie to launch her own appeal for a nomination, which may not fall on deaf ears this time. However, the real story in this film comes in the form of Adam Sandler.
Following a decade of slapstick comedies, for which he has many Razzie nominations to his name, including a famous year in which he won both Worst Actor and Worst Actress, he has taken a huge sidestep to a film where the comedy is almost completely absent. Though he will surely alienate most of his current fan base, these creative risks can pay off huge, providing he puts in a strong performance. Call me crazy, but I’m not ruling out an Adam Sandler supporting actor nomination just yet.
Men, Women & Children has awards campaign written all over it. It gets a premiere at the Toronto Film Festival soon, which is a big testing ground for potential award hopefuls. 12 Years a Slave arrived there last year, and pretty much led the campaign trail ever since. If it gets a strong reception don’t be surprised to see a November/December release, with a UK arrival in January/early Feb.
Put this on your radar, and watch this space.
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