Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 16:50 2011 Oscar nominations: the aftermath
That to follow and scrutinize the film award season is a pointless exercise has always been clear to me. It is also an unrewarding one. The proliferation of Oscar precursors and the Academy's faint-hearted choices have rendered the Oscar prognostication game easy and predictable.
Looking at this year's Oscar nominations, which have been announced earlier today, one might argue that absolutely nothing out of the ordinary has really happened, at least in the main categories.
So, summing up, The King's Speech leads the nominations with 12 nods, which has been reason enough for many Oscar pundits to hail it as the new frontrunner in the best picture race. I think we'd better wait and let things sink in before we jump to hasty conclusions. The King's Speech has, admittedly, beaten The Social Network in the final nomination tally (12 against 8), but then again one could hardly expect a film about Facebook to score in the make-up, costume or art direction. In fact, The Social Network has been nominated in every category it should normally aspire to be recognized, maybe with the exception of the supporting actor one, where Andrew Garfield was tipped for a nod (not by me, I correctly predicted his exclusion in favour of John Hawkes or Jeremy Renner, whoever has taken the fifth spot). The King's Speech, reversely, has scored well everywhere it was supposed to, plus in a couple of more disputable choices, like the sound mixing category. I still think The Social Network is a better film, so I'll reserve my position regarding the frontrunner for a better occasion.
There might be no better way to judge the surprises in today's announcement than to check the nominations against one's own predictions. I posted mine (click here to see) in the blog yesterday and, although I could brag about the accuracy of my guesswork, I prefer to focus on what I didn't guess, since it's there that we'll find the most interesting stuff.
I correctly predicted 9 out of the 10 Best Picture nominees. 127 Hours has eventually taken the place I had reserved for The Town. I am glad that Jeremy Renner has received a supporting nod. The Town is too fine a film to come out empty-handed from the nomination tally.
In the directing race I only missed the spot everyone else has missed too and which is, in fact, the biggest genuine surprise in one of the main categories: Inception's Christopher Nolan's absence in favour of the Coen Brothers.
I correctly guessed 18 of the 20 acting nominations. The two mishaps in this nearly spotless list have been, however, the bitterest pill to swallow for me in today's announcement. Ryan Gosling for Blue Valentine and Lesley Manville for Another Year have been ignored and thus the two best performances of the year will remain unnoticed in this year's Oscar ceremony. I guess Gosling, Duvall and Bardem were a few ballots from each other in the fight for the fifth best actor spot. The latter has come out triumphant, which is fine since he is such an accomplished performer, but Gosling's work is so riveting and compelling that his absence has saddened me immensely. I thought, after last year's win, Jeff Bridges could have taken a break from the Oscars. As for Lesley Manville, what can I say about her performance in Another Year that I haven't said already in this blog? I saw the film back in July, held an interview with her (click here to read it) that proved me that, apart from an incredibly gifted actress, she is also an adorable person, campaigned for her in the blog for months and even launched a facebook campaign to get her an Oscar nomination. Now that everything is over, I have the Baftas to look forward to but, more importantly, I don't really care if she gets the award, as I don't mind now her snub at the Oscars. I don't need (who does?) any award to appreciate now or to cherish in the future her unforgettable performance in Another Year. As any other great screen character, her Mary will remain with me, forever.
I was delighted to correctly have predicted some other performances that were not a sure bet, especially Jacki Weaver's in Animal Kingdom, John Hawkes' in Winter's Bone, Jeremy Renner's in The Town and Michelle William's in Blue Valentine.
Otherwise the only genuine whoop of joy came with the announcement of Mike Leigh's Another Year in the best original script category. It is a fair recognition to the best film of 2010. The animated film race, a category to which I am normally indifferent, features this year other of the gems of 2010: Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist. Although I haven't seen Tangled or Despicable Me, I was starting to think any of those movies could rob Chomet of the nomination. In my wildest dreams I had wished a best original screenplay for the film. Nobody can dispute that it would have been great to see Jacque Tati's name appear in the nominations almost 30 years after his death for a script he wrote more than five decades ago.
Street artist Bansky also made the cut in the documentary section (where, incidentally, frontrunner Waiting For Superman has been ignored). In the foreign film field, Greece's controversial Dogtooth has been included among the nominees, nothing short of remarkable for a film that prominently features inter-sibling sex, animal brutality and parental abuse. Long Live the Foreign Film Executive Committee.
And the King, of course.
For list of nominations, click here.
Reader Comments (2)
No crees que deberían haber nominado a Christopher Nolan por Inception y a Ryan Gosling por Blue Valentine?.
También creo que deberian haber nominado a Julianne Moore por The Kids are all right.
Realmente espero que este año se lo lleve Collin Firth, ya que creo que el año pasado se lo deberían haber dado por A single Man.
Sí, la ausencia de Ryan Gosling en la categoría de mejor actor es uno de los grandes olvidos imperdonables de este año. Tanto él como Michelle Williams están magníficos en Blue Valentine y me habría gustado que se recompensara su trabajo. Es una pena que sólo Williams esté en la lista porque creo que es uno de esos casos en los que una interpretación no se entiende ni se aprecia sin la otra.
En cuanto a Julianne Moore, más que sorprenderme su ausencia en la lista (las cinco actrices seleccionadas son excelentes) me intriga por qué desde que la película se estreno en Sundance el año pasado toda la atención se ha centrado en Annette Bening. Con excepción de los BAFTA (y los Globos de Oro, que no cuentan tanto por la división drama/comedia) todos los grupos de críticos se han decantado por Bening. Hay algunos que afirman que es porque la Academia le debe ya un Oscar a Bening, pero ese argumento no se sostiene, ya que aunque es cierto que ha estado nominada tres veces (y ha perdido dos contra Hilary Swank y puede que ahí esté la clave), Moore ha optado ya cuatro veces al Oscar (por Boogie Nights, El Fin del Romance, Las Horas y Lejos del Cielo). Si existe una deuda moral es con Moore. Además, ambas están estupendas en la película (al igual que Mark Ruffalo y los dos actores jóvenes).
No te preocupes, Colin Firth tiene ya el Oscar ganado este año. Estoy de acuerdo contigo. Debería haber ganado contra Bridges el año pasado, pero este año será Bridges el que aplauda como perdedor el discurso del Rey.