The following is a quote (courtesy of Awards Daily's Sasha Stone) from an unnamed BAFTA voter who declares American Hustle as his favorite film of the year:
"Hands down the best movie of the year. Had me grinning like a baboon from start to finish. Such brio! Such panache! And the performances!!! I’ve been a fan of David O Russell since seeing Flirting With Disaster on the day it came out and if you haven’t ever seen that, you must. It’s like a classic Hollywood screwball comedy starring Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. Indeed, I liked it so much that I’ve been disappointed by everything he’s done since, including Silver Linings Playbook, which was pretty darn good. But with American Hustle Russell has finally fulfilled his potential. This is the most gifted director of his generation at the very top of his game – like Coppola with the Godfather II or Scorsese with GoodFellas (and, believe me, The Wolf of Wall Street is no GoodFellas). Should win everything going, but won’t. It’s just too much fun."
Now, this is only one voter... but the fact of the matter is that this opinion is held by the many who enjoy American Hustle; it's an easier alternative to the very emotionally taxing 12 Years A Slave and "popcorn flick" Gravity.
The voter had this to say about the other 2 films:
(On Gravity):
"Everything you’ve heard about Gravity is true. I actually paid to see it at the cinema in spite of being sent the DVD and it lived up to the hype. It’s mesmerising, spellbinding, thrilling. A thing of beauty. But I can’t see it winning many of the big awards because, essentially, it’s a popcorn movie. Yes, yes, Sandra Bullock is good in the central role, but she’s notthat good and I doubt there’ll be enough feminists among Bafta’s membership who’ll vote for her because, you know, she’s proved that you can still be a female movie star after the age of 40. Best Director? Too much competition in that category. As for the script… no. It’s rubbish."
(On 12 Years A Slave):
"Torture porn for Guardian readers? I’ll give director Steve McQueen the benefit of the doubt when he says he simply had to include scene after scene of Chiwetel Ejiofor being beaten, whipped, flayed, you name it (not to mention Lupita Nyong’o being beaten, whipped, flayed, etc) becausethat’s what really happened. But, frankly, I got the point after the first 30 minutes. Did he really have to spin it out for three hours? And the hero is so dreary. The one thing that kept me going, as Ejiofor suffers degradation after degradation, was the hope that he’d eventually turn on his torturers and give them a taste of their own medicine, Django Unchained style. But no. McQueen would never be so crass as to stoop to including something cathartic. There’s no vengeance, no sense of release. This is a three-hour civics lesson. It’ll probably win big."
(For the record, I find that last comment very offensive; the film is based on a true account of slavery, for someone to find it "dreary" or whatever [based on its subject matter] is extremely ignorant).
I admittedly was one of those people who thought Hustle's chances were severely slim after the PGA voted. One fact I overlooked is we do not know how close Hustle came to edging out either Gravity or 12 Years A Slave; there is very strong support for all 3 films. It's going to be a photo finish, so much so that the BAFTA's may not even be truly all indicative of who the frontrunner is.
I feel all the BAFTA's will truly do is clean up the acting races. The last minute surge for Amy Adams and Leonardo DiCaprio we've all been feeling for the past few weeks will have to take hold here; if Adams or DiCaprio win here, Blanchett and McConaughey may be vulnerable (I see this happening more with McConaughey than I do with Blanchett), and even someone like Chiwetel Ejiofor could unexpectedly win.
The big takeaway from this, however, is that American Hustle isn't finished yet; it's still got some fight left in it.
The BAFTA's will take place next week on February 16th.
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