Any reader who has followed On-Screen for more than six months will be under no illusion as to this writer's stance on the Academy Awards and the supposedly prestigious status of their annual nominees list and awards ceremony. With that in mind, the ascension of Steve McQueen's Oscar-tipped drama 12 Years A Slave onto the throne of our Best Release for this month may come as something of a shock to those aforementioned dedicated followers of this blog.
McQueen's latest (and arguably greatest) production, though, is an incredible exception to the general trend of complacent, 'high art' motion pictures which dominate the Academy's nominees year in year out. Chiwetel Ejofor will surely scoop up the Best Actor gong at the Oscars 2014 ceremony in a few weeks' time- and rightly so, we might add. As we mentioned in our praise-filled review of the piece, however, the supporting cast should receive just as much of the credit for the film's success as their lead performer and their directorial helm. Michael Fassbender's intensely disturbing portrayal of a crazed, wholly immoral slaver predictably left the most prominent impact upon this viewer, yet Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt and Paul Giamatti each give fine turns in their own right, and despite the brevity of their screen-time overall, the extent of their individual contributions towards the final masterful product is virtually unparalleled in other works of this historical ilk. Not since Django Unchained twelve months ago has such a gripping and faithful rendition of slavery and its inhumane social ramifications graced our screens, and to venture one step further, we'll put it out there that not since Schindler's List has such a hauntingly didactic piece of silver screen entertainment emerged with quite the same flourish and unrestrained cinematography as this.
As was the case with Les Miserables last year, it may yet transpire that we will have found our Film of the Year 2014 barely ten days after its commencement. Sure, there's Muppets Most Wanted, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Fault In Our Stars, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and other potent blockbusters besides to come between now and December 31st, but the challenge each of those industry behemoths have in matching McQueen's spellbinding, utterly captivating drama is monumental to say the very least. For once, the Academy Awards panel and yours truly may concur, then, and in this instance, we could not be more satisfied with the source of the correlation.
JANUARY 2014- 12 YEARS A SLAVE
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