Danny Boyle For Best Director

It’s about time Danny Boyle got some Oscar recognition.

He’s made a string of increasingly eclectic films over the last 15 years, showing the kind of range missing from any of the other nominees in the Best Director field. From the gritty realism of “Trainspotting” to the intelligent horror of “28 Days Later” to the family-friendly comic fantasy of “Millions,” Boyle has excelled across genres.

His latest, “Slumdog Millionaire,” is an absolute triumph of moviemaking – both a feast for the senses and a giant grin-inducing serving of hope. Boyle transformed the potentially gimmicky story of a boy recounting his life’s experiences through the framework of game show questions into a captivating rumination on love and destiny. Boyle’s direction makes the film.

As for the other nominees, Ron Howard has consistently shown himself to be a solid technical director who possesses little imagination. “Frost/Nixon” owes 90 percent of its edge-of-your-seat tension to Frank Langella’s brilliant turn as Richard Nixon.

Similarly, Gus Van Sant’s “Milk” is all about Sean Penn’s wonderful performance. The film itself doesn’t shake up any biopic conventions.

Stephen Daldry’s “The Reader” has to be the worst of the three films he’s been nominated for (the others being “Billy Elliot” and “The Hours”).

And David Fincher, himself a master filmmaker who has long deserved some Academy recognition, just missed the boat with “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” It’s a well-constructed film, but just too bland alongside “Slumdog.”

It’s Boyle’s year, plain and simple. Look for “Slumdog” to be the Oscar darling this time around, and look for Boyle to get the hardware he so richly deserves.

–Dusty Somers is a journalism junior.

David Fincher For Best Director

David Fincher is known for making movies like “Fight Club” and “Seven”, highly stylized with dark characters and dark humor. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” breaks away from this mold.

Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) begins his life as an unwanted old man in a child’s body. All of the characteristics of his age follow him throughout the movie and appeal to the audience’s emotions well.

Instead of stumbling to find his ground in uncharted territory, Fincher manages to make the film his own, handling it with dexterity.

The movie doesn’t contain as much violence or harsh imagery as his other films, but he still manages to make this film – loosely adapted from an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story – an interesting tale throughout all 166 minutes.

The film isn’t a feel good fairy tale created to make moviegoers think they can do anything, even out from the slums of Calcutta.

Rather, it is the presentation of one man’s life, complete with all of his small triumphs and shortcomings.

As a director, Fincher is able to extract from his actors the subtle emotions required by this story. Constantly coping with death and having the knowledge that you are too different to ever really find a niche in humanity is a tough shoe to fill for an actor, and Fincher is able to adapt his actors to the role.

Overall, Fincher deserves the Oscar for Best Director because he not only adapts a forgotten story by a great American novelist, but also does it far outside his directorial comfort zone.

– Osizimete Aken’ova is a film and video junior.