'Cloud Atlas' leads nominees for German Academy Awards

Posted by · 6:00 am · March 25th, 2013

I know there are a number of you out there who feel that Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis’ brave, unruly stab at “Cloud Atlas” never get the recognition it deserved this past awards season. If it’s any consolation, however, the Germans have shown it some respect. The German-American co-production leads the nominees for this year’s German Academy Awards with nine nods, including Best Film — though the bulk of them, understandably enough, come in the craft categories.

While it should clean up in those races — much like Hollywood outlier “Anonymous” last year — it’d be surprising if the divisive fantasy takes the top award. That seems likelier to go to “Oh Boy,” a sprightly, sensitive black-and-white dramedy chronicling a day in the life of a self-doubting hipster that has been a sleeper hit in its home country.

I saw Jan Ole Gerster’s debut feature last summer at the Karlovy Vary fest and was impressed, noting allusions to Woody Allen and Richard Linklater in “a smart, slippy character study that sends the rarely romanticized city of Berlin one of its most gilded visual valentines since ‘Wings of Desire.'” Do not be at all surprised if Germany submits “Oh Boy” later this year as their Best Foreign Language Film Oscar hopeful. (It was released there in November, so will be eligible.)

Speaking of the foreign-language Oscar, if you’re wondering why 2012 submission “Barbara” isn’t here, that’s because it won the top prize last year. One Oscar entry that is present, however, is Cate Shortland’s brilliant WWII drama “Lore,” an Australian-German co-production submitted by the former country last year — you may recall it making my Top 10 list.

Full list of nominees below: 

Best Film
“Cloud Atlas”
“Hannah Arendt”
“Lore”
“Oh Boy”
“Sources of Life”
“The Wall”

Best Director
Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski, “Cloud Atlas” 
Margarethe von Trotta, “Hannah Arendt”
Jan Ole Gerster, “Oh Boy”

Best Actor
Edin Hasanovic, “Shifting the Blame”
Tom Schilling, “Oh Boy”
Sabin Tambrea, “Ludwig II”

Best Actress
Martina Gedeck, “The Wall”
Birgit Minichmayr, “Mercy”
Barbara Sukowa, “Hannah Arendt”

Best Supporting Actor
Michael Gwisdek, “Oh Boy”
Robert Gwisdek, “The Weekend”
Ernst Stotzner, “Home for the Weekend”

Best Supporting Actress
Margarita Broich, “Sources of Life”
Friederike Kempter, “Oh Boy”
Christine Schorn, “Das Leben ist nichts für Feiglinge”

Best Screenplay
“Hannah Arendt”
“Oh Boy”
“Shifting the Blame”

Best Documentary
“The Flat”
“Forget Me Not”
“More Than Honey”

Best Cinematography
“Cloud Atlas”
“Lore”
“Mercy”

Best Editing
“Cloud Atlas”
“More Than Honey”
“Oh Boy”

Best Production Design
“The Adventures of Huck Finn”
“Cloud Atlas”
“Measuring the World”

Best Costume Design
“Cloud Atlas”
“Hannah Arendt”
“Lore”
“Measuring the World”

Best Makeup
“Cloud Atlas”
“Hannah Arendt”
“Sources of Life”

Best Music
“Cloud Atlas”
“Lore”
“Oh Boy”

Best Sound
“Cloud Atlas”
“Forgotten”
“Mercy”
“The Wall”

Best Children’s Film
“Kaddisch für einen Freund”
“Victor and the Secret of Crocodile Mansion”




Comments Off on 'Cloud Atlas' leads nominees for German Academy Awards Tags: , , , , , , | Filed in: HitFix · In Contention