Pop Altar’s Totally Shaky 91st Academy Award Predictions

image: Little Monster Films

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

“Free Solo,” Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi

“Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” RaMell Ross

“Minding the Gap,” Bing Liu

“Of Fathers and Sons,” Talal Derki

“RBG,” Betsy West, Julie Cohen

I know that there’s some heat behind RBG, and given the current political climate plus the upsurge in RBG shrines across liberal America to ensure she doesn’t die before January 2021, it really is just a run-of-the-mill biographical doc. I loved the story. Appreciate her a bit more after seeing it, if that’s even possible. But a million other docs have been made must like it. Now, Free Solo, on the other hand…. Made me [metaphorically] shit my pants multiple times while watching it. I’m basically betting on many members of the Academy having a crippling fear of heights like I do. But the skill it had to take Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vsarhelyi to shoot this harrowing film without distracting its subject enough to plunge to his death is absolutely masterful. My vote goes with them.