My Oscar'12 Ballots

Tic-tac, few hours for the 84th Academy Awards to stop tickling and finally bursting into flames. I don't care for the fashionable hipster despise for the Oscars, as it is for me indeed the most exciting event of the cinematic year. Among the unfair left-outs and the marketed jammed-ins, despite some easy predictions due to the December-January-February award lane, The Road to the Oscars, there's always a large room for surprise and it does never lose its magic. The red carpet struts with the glamor of some of the greatest performers of the planet and the pulpit homages the art and the industry of the reels. From controversial not-totally-narrative film Tree of Life, to a black&white movie by a French crew, to the very slow-paced alternative-structured British Tinker Taylor by a Swedish director and other crew, to a Parisian film capable of triggering interests from Luis Buñuel to Salvador Dali, to the sheer low-budget Iranian A Separation that even got a Best Original Screenplay slot, to the sunday-afternoon, womanized, straight-comedy Bridesmaids. Time to cut off some accusations.

I filled my ballots with alternatives and added alternative titles I think would have the most quality do be in the nominees. Those come from the 64 2011 films I watched, therefore leaving out great pieces I can't consider, probably like Young Adult, Rampart or Miss Bala.

Scroll to the end of the post to find the SPECIAL BETS and make your owns.

 BEST FILM
The Artist

First alternative: Hugo

Second alternative: The Descendants

Would be a deserving hell of a surprise: Tree of Life

If I could add 10 more films to the nominees: Carnage, The Skin I Live In, We Have a Pope, Drive, Submarine, A Separation, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Take Shelter, The Guard, Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy.

BEST DIRECTOR 

Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

Alternative: Martin Scorsese (Hugo)

If I could add 10 more directors to the nominees: Roman Polanski (Carnage), Pedro Almodóvar (The Skin I Live In), Nanni Moretti (We Have a Pope), Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive), Bennett Miller (Moneyball), Thomas Alfredson (Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy), Asghar Farhadi (A Separation), Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin), David Fincher (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Steve McQueen (Shame)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)

Alternative: A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)

If I could add 10 more original screenplays to the nominees: We Have a Pope (Nanni Moretti), The Guard (Jonathan M. McDonagh), Tree of Life (Terrence Malick), Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols), Win Win (Thomas McCarthy), 50/50 (Jonathan Levine), I Saw the Devil (Hoon-jung Park), Crazy Stupid Love (Dan Fogelman), The Debt (Jane Goldman, Mathew Vaugh, Peter Straughtan), Shame (Steve McQueen & Abi Morgan)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY 

The Descendants (Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash)

Alternative: Moneyball (Steve Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin)

If I could add 5 more adapted screenplays to the nominees: Carnage (Yasmina Reza & Roman Polanski), The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodóvar), Drive (Houssein Amini), We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay), Cars 2 (Ben Queen)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Jean Dujardin ("The Artist")

Alternative: George Clooney (The Descendants)

If I could add 10 more male leading performances to the nominees: Christoph Waltz (Carnage), John C. Reilly (Carnage), Brad Pitt (Tree of Life), Asa Butterfield (Hugo), Michel Piccoli (We Have a Pope), Ryan Gosling (Drive), Peyman Maadi (A Separation), Brendan Gleeson (The Guard), Michael Fassbender (Shame), Michael Shannon (Take Shelter)


BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Viola Davis ("The Help")

Alternative: Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

If I could add 10 more female leading performances to the nominees: Kate Winslet (Carnage), Jodie Foster (Carnage), Elena Anaya (The Skin I Live In), Leila Hatami (A Separation), Emily Browing (Sleeping Beauty), Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin), Emma Stone (The Help), Carey Mulligan (Shame), Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Keira Knighley (A Dangerous Method)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Alternative: Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)

If I could add 10 more male supporting performances to the nominees: John Goodman (The Artist), Corey Stoll (Midnight in Paris), Nanni Moretti (We Have a Pope), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Ides of March), Paul Giamatti (The Ides of March), Christopher Plummer (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Colin Firth (Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy), Seth Rogen (50/50), Viggo Mortensen (A Dangerous Method), Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Alternative: Jessica Chastain (The Help)

If I could add 10 more female supporting performances to the nominees: Jessica Chastain (Tree of Life), Jessica Chastain (Take Shelter), Chlöe Grace Moretz (Hugo), Marion Cotilard (Midnight in Paris), Sareh Bayat (A Separation), Sarina Farhadi (A Separation), Bryce Dallas Howard (The Help), Emily Mortimer (My Idiot Brother), Charlotte Grainsbourg (Melancholia), Cate Blanchett (Hanna)



BEST ANIMATED FILM

Rango

Alternative: Puss in Boots



BEST FOREIGN FILM
A Separation (Iran)

Alternative: Footnote (Israel)



BEST DOCUMENTARY
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Alternative: Hell and Back Again


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Tree of Life (Emmanuel Lubetzki)

Alternative: The Artist (Guillaume Schiffman)

If I could add 10 more photographies to the nominees: The Skin I Live In (José Luís Alcaine), We Have a Pope (Alessandro Pesci), Drive (Newton Thomas Sigel), Moneyball (Wally Pfister), Take Shelter (Adam Stone), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (Eduardo Serra), We Need to Talk About Kevin (Seamus McGarvey), Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy (Hoyte van Hoytema), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Jeff Cronenweth), Hanna (Alwin H. Kushler)



BEST EDITING
Hugo

Alternative: The Descendants



BEST ART DIRECTION
Hugo

Alternative: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2



BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Hugo

Alternative: The Artist


BEST MAKE-UP
The Iron Lady

Alternative: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2


BEST SOUND MIXING
Hugo

Alternative: War Horse



BEST SOUND EDITING
Hugo

Alternative: Drive



BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Hugo


Alternative: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2



BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
War Horse (John Williams)


Alternative: The Artist (Ludovice Bource)

If I could add 10 scores of any kind to the nominees: The Skin I Live In (original, Alberto Iglesias), Tree of Life (non-original, misc.), Midnight in Paris (non-original, misc.), Drive (original, Cliff Martinez), Moneyball (original, Mychael Danna), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (original, Alexandre Desplat), The Ides of March (original, Alexandre Desplat), We Need to Talk About Kevin (original, Johnny Greenwood), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (original, Trent Raznor&Atticus Ross), Shame (original, Harry Escott)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Men on Muppet (The Muppets)

SPECIAL

WILL WOODY ALLEN SHOW UP

 No.

WILL THE DICTATOR SHOW UP

Yes.