--- description: Oscar voters could still deem "Boyhood" and "Birdman" all form and little substance title: Are the Oscar Frontrunners Overrated Gimmicks? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2fc6aa53bf7ed69f/69877fd9524fc0a0dbdec896/boyhood-birdman-movies.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's Why the Oscar Race for Best Picture Is Unusually Tricky This Year  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Feb 20, 2015 2:30 PM CUT  Michael Keaton in Birdman and Ellar Coltrane in Boyhood Michael Keaton in Birdman and Ellar Coltrane in BoyhoodFox Searchlight; Diaphana Films  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Feb 20, 2015 2:30 PM CUT It should come as no surprise that _Boyhood_ and _Birdman_ are the frontrunners in the Best Picture Oscar race. Each film took an exciting risk: the former captured an actual childhood by filming over the course of 12 years, while the latter told its frenetic tale in what looked like one long tracking shot. They must feel like a breath of fresh air to Academy voters who, year after year, choose from among several grueling and formulaic prestige films. But don’t count _Birdman’_s eggs before they hatch. Bubbling up under the excitement for _Birdman_ and _Boyhood_ are complaints that both films felt too “gimmicky.” The argument goes something like this: If _Birdman_ and _Boyhood_ are more interesting than the other Oscar films—which retread classic but tired themes like the good war, or the tortured genius—it’s because they cheated. Compared to _The_ _Theory of Everything_ and _The_ _Imitation Game_, these films feel inventive, daring and masterful. But the voters who are dazzled by these cinematic tricks may not be looking past them. And as the Oscars approach, the detractors of _Boyhood_ and _Birdman_ are only getting louder. _The Hollywood Reporter_ [recently published](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/brutally-honest-oscar-ballot-2015-773902 "undefined") a brutally honest Oscar ballot in which one voter declared she was voting for _The_ _Imitation Game_ because she wanted to pick a film people would still watch and discuss 50 years from now. This was widely [criticized](https://twitter.com/poniewozik/status/568102157439918080 "undefined") on Twitter, and it’s worth noting that this single member of the Academy in no way reflects the views of the Academy as a whole. Still, at least one voter believes that the achievements of directors Richard Linklater or Alejandro González Iñárritu in _Boyhood_ and _Birdman_, respectively, are nothing more than sleight of hand. This voter’s attitude might explain why year after year, the same type of films seem to win Oscars. There have been actual studies conducted on this topic: an [analysis](http://asr.sagepub.com/content/79/1/86 "undefined") conducted by two sociologists at UCLA of 3,000 movies on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) released between 1985 and 2009 found that war movies, historical epics and biographies were the movies most likely to earn Oscar nominations. (You know, like _The Imitation Game_, _Theory of Everything_, _American Sniper_ and _Selma._) Other key topics for Oscar-bait films included political intrigue, disabilities and war crimes. **MORE** [The True Story of _The Imitation Game_](http://time.com/3609585/the-true-story-of-the-imitation-game/ "undefined") Oscar movies are so formulaic that last year TIME was able to create a shockingly accurate [Oscar movie generator](http://time.com/1854/the-random-oscar-winner-generator/ "undefined") by throwing together random tropes from award-winning films. (Try this: in the 1800s, a bipolar, closeted anti-hero confronts mental illness through classical music.) Diverging from this tried and true method can be risky. This is especially true for both _Birdman_ and _Boyhood —_ films that commit to their conceits in a way that other movies haven’t before. Linklater has experimented with the passage of time with his _Before_ movies, and _Birdman_ cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki made his name with an infamous tracking shot in _Children of Men_ in 2006\. But these two Oscar contenders take those small tricks and turn them into the bases for entire films. Audiences and critics seem to agree that _Birdman_ and _Boyhood_ both transcend their gimmicks, embracing _Boyhood_ in particular as an accomplished cinematic work that captures time with a patience no fictional film has done before. _Birdman_‘s exhaustingly fast pace, beating drums and swerving camera have proven more divisive with viewers, but its wins at the Golden Globes and SAGs have proven that more Hollywood insiders seem to love it than hate it. Still, both films have support. If the Oscar voters end up running more conservative with their tastes this year, a struggling British genius could easily win—again. _Read next:_ [_What Happened at the First-Ever Oscars_](http://time.com/3711978/first-oscars/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") ### Academy Awards: Classic Film Stars With Their Oscars  Vivien Leigh places the Oscar she won for her role as Scarlett in Gone With The Wind on her mantlepiece at home, 1940. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Luise Rainer, the first woman to win two Oscars, holds her Best Actress award for her performance in The Great Ziegfeld during the 1937 Academy Awards ceremony. Rex Hardy Jr.—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Joan Fontaine doing the household bookkeeping next to the Oscar she won for her role in Hitchcok's Suspicion, 1942. Bob Landry—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Elizabeth Taylor at a Hollywood party with the Oscar she won for her role in Butterfield, 1961. Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Grace Kelly with the Oscar she won for her role in The Country Girl, 1955\. William Holden, her co-star in the movie, stands behind her. George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Audrey Hepburn with the Oscar she won for Roman Holiday, 1954. Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Joanne Woodward smiles radiantly while holding her Best Actress Oscar for her role in Three Faces of Eve, 1958. Ralph Crane—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Best Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress winners Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed (both for From Here to Eternity) and their Oscars, 1954. George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Bing Crosby (Going My Way), Ingrid Bergman (Gaslight) and Barry Fitzgerald (Going My Way) with their Oscars, 1945. Walter Sanders—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Gloria Grahame with her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Bad and the Beautiful, 1953. Loomis Dean—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Marlon Brando (right) with his Oscar for On the Waterfront, 1955. George Silk—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Onstage presenters seen from the wings during the 1950 Academy Awards. Ida Wyman—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Jimmy Stewart, back from WWII, talks with the oldest employee of his family's hardware store in Pennsylvania, George Little; nearby is a table of various mementos, including Stewart's Best Actor Oscar for The Philadelphia Story. Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Joan Crawford with her Best Actress Oscar for Mildred Pierce, 1946. Martha Holmes—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3713805/oscars-2015-boyhood-birdman-best-picture-gimmicks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3713805/oscars-2015-boyhood-birdman-best-picture-gimmicks/"},"headline":"Here's Why the Oscar Race for Best Picture Is Unusually Tricky This Year","datePublished":"2015-02-20T14:30:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:34.051Z","description":"It's not too late for the Academy to decide that Boyhood and Birdman are all form and little substance","url":"https://time.com/3713805/oscars-2015-boyhood-birdman-best-picture-gimmicks/","keywords":["movies","Oscars","Boyhood","birdman"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2fc6aa53bf7ed69f/69877fd9524fc0a0dbdec896/boyhood-birdman-movies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2fc6aa53bf7ed69f/69877fd9524fc0a0dbdec896/boyhood-birdman-movies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Boyhood, Birdman","caption":"Michael Keaton in Birdman and Ellar Coltrane in Boyhood","creditText":"Fox Searchlight; Diaphana Films","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3713805/oscars-2015-boyhood-birdman-best-picture-gimmicks/","name":"Here's Why the Oscar Race for Best Picture Is Unusually Tricky This Year"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Frog Legs Made the Oscar Statue","description":"This is the science behind the Oscar statues","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mujLDS0e/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-19T18:41:59.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mujLDS0e.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3713805/oscars-2015-boyhood-birdman-best-picture-gimmicks/","duration":"PT2M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3713805/oscars-2015-boyhood-birdman-best-picture-gimmicks/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```