Nominated For: Best Picture, Best Director; Alejandro González Iñárritu, Best Actor; Leonardo DiCaprio, Best Supporting Actor; Tom Hardy, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects.
Won: Best Director; Alejandro González Iñárritu, Best Actor; Leonardo DiCaprio, and Best Cinematography.
The Revenant tells the story of American frontier fur trapper expedition that quickly goes awry after an indian assault and the expedition's navigator Hugh Glass undergoes significant trauma, both physically and emotionally, and then is left for dead. The remainder of the film follows his quest for vengeance against those who wronged him (I won't go into details because I'd rather refrain from spoiling the film).
Alejandro González Iñárritu directs The Revenant hot off of his Best Director Academy Award victory last year for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) and I can confidently say that Iñárritu has now been cemented as one of my favorite directors working today as I loved both Birdman and now The Revenant. Iñárritu's proven he's quite a visionary director looking to stretch the boundaries of filmmaking and once again teams with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki to create a visual pièce de résistance after their collaboration on Birdman.
All of the cinematography in the film is breathtakingly gorgeous and very awe-inspiring. Something interesting to note about The Revenant is that it was filmed using only natural light, which lead to a prolonged production period since the cast and crew depended on sunlight to create the film. Iñárritu and Lubezki manage to bring some incredible sequences that borrow from some of the techniques used in Birdman, where in The Revenant one of the beginning action sequences appeared to be filmed in one take, rather than be piece milled together.
All of the performances on display are terrific and in particular Leonardo DiCaprio just needs to be handed a golden statuette already (of course I'm referring to the fact that he has yet to win an Oscar). DiCaprio is given an opportunity to bring a unique more physical performance as Hugh Glass and he is spectacular. One scene in particular that I felt I should touch on in the review is one involving a gruesome bear attack on Hugh Glass. DiCaprio's dedication is present as he's so convincing in the scene making you actually believe that Glass was being brutally mauled by a bear.
Tom Hardy portrays the film's antagonist John Fitzgerald and he certainly becomes a despicable human being. Hardy's infamous The Dark Knight Rises Bane voice slips in at some points along with some of his grunting seen in Mad Max: Fury Road but gives a outstanding performance nonetheless. The remainder of the main supporting cast Domhnall Gleeson and Will Poulter are superb each bringing great supporting characters to the film.
The Revenant is not only a visual delight but is involves some sensational direction and performances that will maintain interest in it's two and a half hour runtime. I recommend it for fans of DiCaprio and Iñárritu's work but be forewarned that there are some gruesome gory violence and blood so if you're sensitive to this, then I'd be wary of watching The Revenant I loved the film and as of now it's one of my favorites amongst the film award contenders and certainly hope it will be appreciated by the Academy as well but we'll see in the coming weeks as nominations are announced, which I will cover in a few blog posts including the announcement of the nominations, my predictions and the actual results. Once again, The Revenant is a phenomenal film that fans of cinema will certainly appreciate.
No comments:
Post a Comment