TRIBECA 2009: Is Marshall Curry's RACING DREAMS on the Fast Track to Oscar?

With next year's Oscar race for documentary still pretty much up in the air (in comparison to last year when MAN ON WIRE and TROUBLE THE WATER were virtual locks), the LA Times' Scott Feinberg is laying down a strong bet for Marshall Curry's RACING DREAMS, his follow-up to his Oscar-nominated STREET FIGHT:

"The strongest films to emerge from the seven Tribeca Film Festivals that preceded this year's have been documentaries. They have included Oscar nominee STREET FIGHT (2005), Oscar nominee JESUS CAMP (2006), Oscar winner TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE (2007) and Oscar winner MAN ON WIRE (2008). Therefore, I probably shouldn't have been as surprised as I was to discover that the best film at this year's festival, thus far -- and indeed the best film of the year, thus far -- is RACING DREAMS, Marshall Curry's low-budget doc about three of the country's top go-kart racers.

RACING DREAMS had its premiere, complete with all of its subjects and co-executive producer Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson seated in the theater and a NASCAR race car parked by the curb outside of it, at the School of Visual Arts on Saturday afternoon. Representatives from ESPN, Fox Searchlight, HBO, and Magnolia were in attendance, and based on the exuberant reception from audience members young and old -- including a standing ovation that lasted from the start of the credits to the finish -- I would be shocked if the film's distribution rights aren't secured by the end of the week and if it isn't among the five best-documentary Oscar nominees at the end of the year."

At the end of his piece, Feinberg calls the film "an instant classic."

This isn't the first time that a film writer has called a film for next year's Oscar list of five.  David Poland saw Kim Longinotto's ROUGH AUNTIES at IDFA last November and called it "a surefire Oscar nominee" provided that it wasn't disqualified by a television screening (seems unlikely with HBO on board). 

And recently, Jeffrey Wells suggested that ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL might well be in the running:

"How can Sacha Gervasi's ANVIL not wind up being nominated for Best Feature Documentary Oscar?  It's got heart, it's about over-the-hill, down-on-their-luck artists getting their groove back, it's well made, it's connecting with audiences, it's funny, it's lowbrow-highbrow.  How can the Academy's doc committee ignore it?"

Add to these titles BURMA VJ - the only film that has felt, up to now, like an Oscar frontrunner - as well as high-profile films like THE COVE and FOOD, INC.  Is next year's race starting to take shape?

Comments

[zxcvb]

Please don't let Oscar-talk infect this otherwise neato blog. Especially in April!

[J.a.m.]

Agreed! The Oscars have never been a reliable indicator of quality - almost the opposite in fact - especially in regards to documentary - so why hold them up as so important or significant outside of the awards season? Would be interesting to evaluate their impact on the marketplace, my sense is it wouldn't be that significant over the years.

[Rob]

What's wrong with discussing the Oscars? AJ writes about box office numbers and industry news all the time, so why shouldn't he talk about awards?

[Chris]

i don't have any problem with Oscar talk this early on. but i just hope Marshall Curry let somebody else operate camera this time, b/c while STREET FIGHT was great, the "shaky-cam" was really hard to watch.

[racing seats]

An Oscar? why not...