How Oscar Nominated Directors Played With the Academy’s Favorite Genres
variety.comStuart Miller In Hollywood, it’s easier to sell a movie if you can say, “It’s like a new take on ___” and fill in the blank with a box office hit.
But the films that get nominated for director are usually the result of a singular vision, one that’s hard to pin down and categorize.Still, just as many Americans love doing DNA searches for their own family, we can trace the genre roots of this year’s director nominees.“Belfast,” Kenneth BranaghAn acclaimed British director, who earned his first Oscar nomination for a picture filled with action sequences and memorable quotes, earns another for an intimate autobiographical story about a childhood in which encroaching violence casts a shadow. “Belfast”?
Sure, but also John Boorman (“Deliverance”) and “Hope and Glory.” A few directors have earned nominations by focusing on pre-teen children (“Beasts of the Southern Wild,” “Hugo”) or on the Troubles (“The Crying Game,” “In the Name of the Father”).
But while “Hope and Glory” is set in London during the Blitz, not Ireland a generation later, it maintains the strongest link in tone and subject for Branagh’s latest.“Drive My Car,” Ryûsuke HamaguchiMany pundits labeled “Drive My Car” a surprise in the category since it is a foreign-language film.
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