Oscar Predictions: Prisoner’s Daughter

Catherine Hardwicke’s Prisoner’s Daughter is one of the pics that failed to generate any buzz out of the Toronto Film Festival last fall. The drama casts Brian Cox as a terminally ill felon attempting to reconnect with his daughter played by Kate Beckinsale. Costars include Christopher Convery, Jon Huertas, and Ernie Hudson.

The film is out this weekend in limited fashion. Despite Cox’s recent visibility and acclaim in HBO’s smash Succession, Daughter has received scant promotion. Reviews are mostly weak with a 47% Rotten Tomatoes score.

I saw it in Toronto and can attest to its mediocrity. Hardwicke has been in the Oscar mix before when she directed Holly Hunter to a Supporting Actress nod in her 2003 breakout Thirteen. To mass audiences, the filmmaker is best known for 2008’s Twilight.

Despite Cox receiving some solid notices, this will most assuredly be unlucky when it comes to awards chatter. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Oscar Predictions: Cat Person

After starring in last year’s Oscar winning Best Picture CODA, Emilia Jones is back onscreen in two features playing at the Sundance Film Festival. One is Fairyland which I’ll get to in my prediction posts shortly. The other is thriller Cat Person from director Susanna Fogel (who cowrote 2019’s acclaimed coming-of-age dramedy Booksmart).

Based on a short story that generated lots of attention after it was published in The New Yorker, Jones plays a college student in a dangerous online romance with an older man (Nicholas Braun from Succession). Costars include Geraldine Viswanathan, Hope Davis, Michael Gandolfini, Liza Koshy, and Isabella Rossellini.

Early reviews are of the mixed variety with a current 75% rating based on the small sampling via Rotten Tomatoes. This could generate some buzz with audiences after a distributor picks it up and that should occur imminently. I doubt it will follow suit with awards chatter. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…