Predictions for the 86th Academy Awards

Best Picture: “Her”

"Her" was the best movie of 2013, and high-waisted pants aside, it was also the most relevant. The adorably quirky tale of a lost soul and his operating system imagines a fully realized future for our digitized world, finding a slightly more cuddly side of Joaquin Phoenix in the process. But unlike so many near-future flicks, "Her" isn't a sermon. It's a story of life, love, and connection that bursts out of the sci-fi genre and rips at your heart. In a year full of important films, "Her" deserves the gold because it's just as timeless as it is timely. —Tree A. Palmedo

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Wolf of Wall Street”)

On paper, Jordan Belfort is a boring person. Though his debaucherous antics are certainly juicy, they’re also somewhat predictable; nearly everything he does can be explained by his hedonism. It is very easy to lose interest in a character that always does the wrong thing, and yet “Wolf” is electrifying. The reason? Leonardo DiCaprio, who takes every ounce of star power and channels it into a performance that simply reeks of charisma. His great coup is not so much making a monster likeable as it is making a deeply shallow man compelling. That simple task—finding the interest in the monotonous or mundane—is the definition of good acting. This year, it also stands as the best acting. —Petey E. Menz

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett ("Blue Jasmine")

The high-society protagonist of "Blue Jasmine" is her own worst enemy, and the character’s internal struggles are captured perfectly by Cate Blanchett in the year’s best female performance. The riches-to-rags tale finds Jasmine trying to work a receptionist’s desk while deeply self-conscious, to lie her way to marrying a State Department official, to veneer her unraveling psyche in New York cool—it requires every bit of intensity and nuance Blanchett brings. It’s a stressful performance, and it’s made more impressive by the Australian actress’s seamless accent and affectations. It outdoes the category’s other contenders—Meryl Streep’s work in "August: Osage County" most notably, and Woody Allen’s best film in years would not succeed without it. —Austin Siegemund-Broka

Best Animated Feature: “Frozen”

The day “Frozen” does not win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film is the day eternal winter sweeps across Cambridge as protest for the Academy’s error. The Disney film is the most deserving nominee. It combines memorable music, plot and characters that defy typical Disney expectations, and complex animation into something surprisingly heart-warming. The “Let It Go” sequence illustrates this: Idina Menzel’s powerful voice, the way the animators manipulate snow and ice to create art and feats of architecture—every aspect captures attention. While the other nominees are commendable, particularly Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Wind Rises,” the power of “Frozen” is too great to pass over for the award. —Ha D.H. Le

Best Directing: Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”)

"12 Years A Slave," as a narrative, is honestly rather straightforward, even borderline predictable. Enter unflinching auteur Steve McQueen, who singlehandedly transforms Solomon Northup's story into a haunting work of visual poetry. No other film of 2013, not even the visual stunner "Gravity," depended so heavily on who sat in the director's seat. Under McQueen's eye, the brutality of slavery gets the same treatment as the moss-dappled Southern landscape. Horror and beauty exist side-by-side in gorgeous, brutal technicolor. —Tree A. Palmedo

Best Original Score: William Butler & Owen Pallet (“Her”)

When the nominee list includes the celebrated John Williams, you know the competition is stiff. Regardless of the talent involved, William Butler and Owen Pallett deserve Best Original Score for “Her.” The two are newcomers as film composers, but this does not make them any less deserving. Combining orchestra and techno, their music reflects the film’s technological twist on a classic theme and masterfully bridges the gap between background music and story. The songs accomplish a feat unlike any other: they transform from accompaniment to character, adding tension to the story while embodying the protagonist’s raw emotions. It is a difficult job, and any score that achieves that should win. —Ha D.H. Le

Best Original Song: “The Moon Song” – Karen O (“Her”)

It’s perhaps the least dramatic of the nominated songs, but it’s also the most intimately personal. Karen O crafted a quiet and dreamy lullaby that’s as much about denial as it is about love, which is why it’s simultaneously heartbreaking and hopeful. Soft, self-conscious, and fragile, it nestles into Spike Jonze’s “Her” like a warm cheek into a cool pillow, and come the end of the movie, helps us realize that even the sweetest of songs can change from a willing embrace to the inability to let go. —Natalie T. Chang

Best Production Design: Adam Stockhausen & Alice Baker (“12 Years a Slave”)

The race should be between “The Great Gatsby” and “12 Years a Slave.” Though no period film I’ve seen holds a candle to the self-consciously garish, decadent, and sleazy world of “Gatsby”, stills from “12 Years a Slave” reveal what must have been a mythic effort to make costume and set constantly complement each other’s muted colors. I have a feeling that voters’ positive associations with the movie’s message will prevail. If the Academy turned off the sound and forgot that Catherine Martin has already won an Oscar in production design for “Moulin Rouge!” I would call it a sure thing. —Hayden S. Betts

Best Original Screenplay: Spike Jonze (“Her”)

“Sometimes I think I have felt everything I’m ever gonna feel,” Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) whispers about halfway through Spike Jonze’s “Her.” “And from here on out, I’m not gonna feel anything new. Just lesser versions of what I’ve already felt.” It’s the type of halting confession that only comes late at night, when it’s dark enough to make a first attempt at trust with someone new. It doesn’t matter that Theodore’s talking to an operating system—Theodore and OS Samantha stumble into a relationship that’s premised by necessity on words, and Jonze’s wistful but realistic screenplay makes us believe that’s possible without getting bogged down in self-importance or preachiness. —Natalie T. Chang

Staff writer Tree A. Palmedo can be reached at tree.palmedo@thecrimson.com. Staff writer Petey E. Menz can be reached at petey.menz@thecrimson.com. Staff writer Austin Siegemund-Broka can be reached at austin.siegemund-broka@thecrimson.com. Contributing writer Ha D.H. Le can be reached at hadohuyle@college.harvard.edu. Staff writer Natalie T. Chang can be reached at natalie.chang@thecrimson.com. Contributing writer Hayden S. Betts can be reached at haydenbetts@college.harvard.edu.