This weekend will see the 92nd Academy Awards take place, celebrating the best films of the year that was 2019. To mark the build-up to the occasion, we take a look at the past winners of the 2010s, with a personal ranking of the winners of the Best Picture races of their respective years!
Green Book, the winner of Best Picture in 2019
9. Green Book (2018 – The 91st Academy Awards)
Likely to be at the bottom of most 2010’s best picture rankings, Green Book confounded some when it went through and cleared up at a lot of ceremonies during last year’s award season. Now that the dust has settled, there’s no denying that this is very much a racial reconciliation fantasy that sugar coats its subject a bit too much, but it is not without its charms, particularly thanks to the performances at its centre from Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen. It is perhaps also the most ‘Oscar-baity’ movie of this bunch, playing its true story with big emotion in a very broad fashion without much in the way of internalised complexity. It’s all played with what feels like the best of intentions, aiming to take you on as smooth a ride as possible as Viggo drives Ali’s Doc Shirley on a concert tour of the deep south in the 1960s. It’s fluff, but it is likeable fluff, it just seems a shame that it is the one that was reconised in a year that also saw the likes of Roma and The Favourite nominated alongside it. But hey, at least Bohemian Rhapsody didn’t win.
8. The King’s Speech (2010 – The 83rd Academy Awards)
Since The King’s Speech won the Oscar, much of the conversation around the film has revolved around the fact that the Oscar should have gone to The Social Network, a film which has certainly proved to hold more cultural capital and relevance 10 years on. That has been the tone of the conversation for so long that it can be easy to forget how solid and engaging the film itself actually is. The King’s Speech, similarly to Green Book, certainly seems the safest choice out of the nominees that also included the likes of Black Swan and Inception, but this royal drama from Tom Hooper is a very entertaining and very well performed period piece that boasts a truly great performance from Colin Firth as King George VI. It may be the cinematic equivalent of a cup of milky tea, but it’s not an unpleasant cup by any stretch of the imagination. But yes, The Social Network should have won.
7. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014 – The 87th Academy Awards)
As another ‘one take’ film looks primed to take the Golden boy home on Sunday night, let’s cast our minds back to Alejandro Iñárritu’s similar showcase of technical wizardry. Set predominantly within the corridors of a Broadway theatre where struggling ex-superhero actor Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton, tackling his meta role with absolute relish) is attempting to reinvent himself as a serious actor, this is a film that impresses with its cinematography, creating an electric atmosphere throughout. It doesn’t particularly hold up on repeat viewing, the tone often feeling awkward as you wonder if it really has anything that original to say once you really get behind the curtain. But it can be such a joy to watch this set of actors (which also includes Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts and more) give their absolute all in this lively tale of the arts and ego. And I’m only a little bit bitter now that Boyhood didn’t win.
6. Argo (2013 – The 86th Academy Awards)
No one really seems to talk about Argo anymore, as is a fate that does befall some Best Picture winners. While it may not have left much of a searing impression on general discussion nearly eight years on, this is still a thrilling and often very funny account of the scheme hatched to rescue US diplomats from Iran during the hostage crisis of the late 70’s-early 80’s under the guise of a fake Hollywood sci-fi production. It’s a solid reminder of Ben Affleck’s skills as both an actor and a filmmaker, moving at a sharp pace and performed by a great cast of character actors, including John Goodman, Alan Arkin, and Bryan Cranston. It was also the last film to be deemed the best film of the year by the late great Roger Ebert. That coupled with its Best Picture does give it a worthy and respectable place in the film history of the last decade.
5. Spotlight (2015 – The 88th Academy Awards)
One of the more unassuming but very vital films of the last decade, Spotlight is impressive in the way it refuses to make grand statements and instead aims to dramatise the process of journalists putting together a meticulous case with huge ramifications in a similarly meticulous fashion. That case happens to be the Boston Globe’s investigative journalist unit who uncovered cases of widespread systematic child abuse by numerous Roman Catholic Priests. It’s well performed, very matter of fact and only gives in to more ‘Oscar-baity’ drama in its cathartic release in the final third. It is a film that celebrates the hard work of journalists, honoring the investigators and the victims at the centre of its subject. Would it have been awesome to see something like Mad Max: Fury Road take the top prize this year? Sure, but it’s doubtful anyone would argue that Spotlight wasn’t a worthy winner.
4. 12 Years a Slave (2013 – The 86th Academy Awards)
Steve McQueen’s historical drama based on Solomon Northup’s memoirs, charting his experience going from living as a free man in New York to being kidnapped and sold into slavery, is a chronicle displaying both the best and worst aspects of the human spirit. It’s undoubtedly a tough watch, but one with truly gorgeous grace notes often set against nature, all the while carried by excellent performances across its highly accomplished cast. Lupita Nyong’o burst onto the scene with this in award-winning fashion, and Michael Fassbender is terrifying as a sadistic slave owner, but it is Chiwetel Ejiofor who carries the film on his soulful shoulders. 12 Years a Slave may have proved a hard film to get up the urge to revisit in the years since its release, but your experience with it is not one that leaves you in much of a hurry.
3. The Shape of Water (2017 – The 90th Academy Awards)
Guillermo del Toro’s love letter to classic Hollywood and its monster is a film with so much loving craft behind it, that it is easy to get beyond the moniker of ‘the one where she sleeps with a fish’ that it has come to be labelled with in the few years since its release. With a beautiful performance from Sally Hawkins at its centre, this 50’s set tale about a deaf woman who begins to forge a relationship with a mysterious creature being kept in a government facility, this is a delightfully weird movie, and an even weirder choice to win best picture in retrospect. It may be that it’s loving ode nature towards classic Hollywood that helped clinch the award (more on that in a bit), but it is a richly designed movie with del Toro’s trademark features all over it; from practical effects to expressive colour to his desire to love the monster. A movie that is easy to fall for, over and over again.
2. Moonlight (2016 – The 89th Academy Awards)
Barry Jenkins’ chronicle of one young black man’s life from adolescence to manhood as he struggles with his sexuality and identity and the abuse he experiences along the way may sound hard-going, but in Jenkins’s hands it often proves to be beautiful and engrossing. While it does feature many uncomfortable moments of abuse, both emotional and physical, Jenkins is always keen to find love in the darkest corners of Chiron’s life (played brilliantly by Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes across the three acts). With incredible cinematography that feels both raw and painterly, with an achingly gorgeous score from Nicholas Britell, this is a powerful story about masculinity in all its forms that never loses hope even in the face of its bleakest moments.
1. The Artist (2011 – The 84th Academy Awards)
A film that a lot of people don’t seem to hold a great deal of affection for nearly 10 years on, but one that is still as charming and as enrapturing to me as it was when I first saw it. It may be because (just like The Academy) I’m a sucker for movies about the movies, particularly moments of historical significance in the industry, but there’s so much joy and genuine love for film deeply ingrained into the very fabric of The Artist that it’s hard not to get swept up in. Following silent film star George Valentine (Jean Dujardin) at a point where he must contend with the introduction of sound, as well as the rising star of Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), this is a nostalgic piece of filmmaking that’s impeccably performed and meticulously crafted. Just watch that sequence again in which George and Peppy reshoot a dance scene together as their chemistry grows with each take; it’s beautiful stuff and a pure example of what an elegant piece of work this is. Simply a joy to watch over and over.
Which of this year’s nominees will join the ranks of these previous winners? Join us on twitter for all the action on Sunday night, if you (and we) can stay awake that is!
