8 Days Until Oscar. Do "Moonlight" or "Arrival" have Oscar twins from the past?
Saturday, February 18, 2017 at 9:20AM With 8 days to go until Hollywood's High Holy Night let's compare our two pictures with 8 nominations each this year, Denis Villeneuve's thinky sci-fi drama and Barry Jenkins' ravishing memory/identity drama. While both films might come up empty handed on Oscar night they each have a reasonable shot at one or two statues -- Moonlight could theoretically win Supporting Actor and/or Adapted Screenplay and Arrival's best Oscar shot is probably in one or both of the Sound categories unless it surprises with Adapted Screenplay itself in what could arguably be a five way race if Moonlight is not as strong as pundits suspect there.
| ARRIVAL | MOONLIGHT |
 |
 |
|
Their 8 Nominations |
|
| Picture | Picture |
| Director | Director |
| Supporting Actress | |
| Supporting Actor | |
| Adapted Screenplay | Adapted Screenplay |
| Cinematography | Cinematography |
| Production Design | |
| Film Editing | Film Editing |
| Original Score | |
| Sound Mixing | |
| Sound Editing | |
In the categories where they're competing which film do you prefer?
For extra fun, though, let's find out if the either of these films have any exact Oscar doppelgangers from the past shall we?
DO ANY PAST FILMS EXACTLY MATCH THE OSCAR BIDS FOR MOONLIGHT OR ARRIVAL?
Unless an old classic eluded our greedy eyeballs the answer is no. But in the quest to find a doppelganger some interesting near-misses emerged.
I almost got there for Arrival with four very different films: Apocalypse Now (1979), The Right Stuff (1983), No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood (both from 2007). But each of those films was nominated in one acting category (all for male actors) instead of one of Arrival's other nominations.
Here's another fun statistic. Arguably the closest match to Arrival is Raiders or the Lost Ark (1981), which could not be more different in subject or temperament. It has all but one of Arrival's 8 nominations if you count its special Oscar for Sound Editing (though it didn't get a screenplay nomination and got a visual effects nominations that Arrival was weirdly denied). But then the problem is since that nomination technically doesnt count as one of its 8 competitive nominations (sound editing was still a couple of years away from being a regular Oscar category) it had an extra nomination with which to match Arrival so it's cheating a bit. Raiders was also nominated in the category Arrival was disqualified in -- Original Score! Just think: if Arrival had not been deemed ineligible for that category it would 100% have been nominated there and they'd be almost identical Oscar twins with those two polar opposite films... but for the screenplay.
It would have been fun in both senses of the word "gay" if Brokeback Mountain were a match for Moonlight but they have a difference of one category -- Moonlight has no leading actor nomination and Brokeback had no Film Editing nomination. The other closest Academy siblings I could find to Moonlight were weirdly three Oliver Stone pictures! Like Brokeback, JFK (1991) has the exact same nominations but one: in place of Naomie Harris's supporting actress, there's a sound nomination. Two other Oliver Stone titles Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Platoon (1986) are different by two nominations. A Room With a View in 1986 also matches but for two categories (Room had art direction and costume design instead of Moonlight's score and film editing).
Finally, Moonlight misses being an exact Oscar match for Prizzi's Honor (1985) and All The President's Men (1976) by the same two nominations; Cinematography and score are preventing a match with President's (nominated for art direction and sound instead) and Prizzi's (nominated for leading actor and costume design instead).
I hope you enjoyed today's odd Oscar train of thought. Choo-choo.
Reader Comments (18)
Picture: Moonlight
Director: Barry Jenkins, but a split decision
Adapted Screenplay: Another close one, but I'd probably vote for Arrival with a gun to my head
Cinematography: Moonlight
Editing: Moonlight
Even with a Best Original score nom, 'Arrival' still wouldn't be an exact Oscar twin to 'Raiders'; 'Raiders' was nominated for (and won) Best Visual Effects.
Arrival looks visually bland. But its DP is visually everything. Based on aesthetics, which is the point of the category Silence and Moonlight are the worthiest nominees. If Arrival happens to win grateful a black technician broke through and he can wave his golden wand at studio execs.
Moonlight should be a spoiler for Picture and Director. Ali and Adapted Screenplay feel like safe bets despite some signs Moonlight's support is waning. I forgot about Score, could it surprise?
Moonlight all the way in all the matchups.
I am very looking forward to seeing Arrival winning an Oscar or two. Sound categories are very plausible, but I think it can definitely upset in Adapted Screenplay and Editing!
I second Arkaan's picks (Arrival for screenplay, too). Moonlight is such a masterpiece, please don't let it leave empty-handed.
God, Harrison Ford was quite a fox back in the day, wasn't he?
Picture: Moonlight
Director: Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
Adapted Screenplay: Arrival
Cinematography: Arrival
Editing: Arrival
Moonlight has its flaws; to me it's just not the best in each separate catagory. But over all, it's more of a BP material than Arrival.
N8 -- you're right. i edited a bet. damnit. no matter how long i spend on these posts it's still easy to make mistakes with these complicated trivia bits.
Admas gives Arrival it's emotional centre which it wouldn't have without her.
I'd give the win to Moonlight in everything.
Nathaniel, I think you should revisit the idea of Oscar twins in the future. It might be interesting to see a pair of unrelated films from different eras share a fate in nominations and wins. Take away all the history and context to reveal a pure pattern that many readers might appreciate.
Moonlight for movie and direction. Arrival for others.
These are my two favorite films of the year. I would love them to split Picture and Director with Moonlight taking the former and Arrival the latter. Or, y'know what? The other way would work for me, too. Everything else? Arrival. Except MAYBE Film Editing. Ah!!! Don't make me choose.
MOONLIGHT for Picture, Director and Editing
ARRIVAL for Cinematography and Editing
^ sorry make the Screenplay for MOONLIGHT, not Editing
This is the kind of stuff I think about while I'm jogging. It's gotta be fun to have an outlet where you can just post the stuff you think about while you're jogging.
Watched Arrival again this weekend. Its cinematography is transcendent. Best since The Tree of Life, maybe better. Bradford Young should be winning everything imaginable.
I rewatched Arrival again this afternoon and it is still by far my favorite film of the year. It still bothers me so much that Amy Adams was snubbed for her best performance. A performance that should be mentioned in the same breath as work like Jodie Foster's in Silence of the Lambs. The performance only gets better and better with the more views. It is such nuanced work.