Well now, that was kind of disappointing, wasn’t it? The films are rather dull and there were no real surprises in the acting nominations (Gary Oldman aside). There is a yearly accusation that the Oscars are pretty dull but this is the first year I can recall when I have failed to be excited by so many elements of the awards. I admit that this may have something to do with the fact that I haven’t seen many of the Best Picture nominees (3 to be exact) and therefore many of the big hitters, but by this point of the year I have usually seen (or at least been excited about seeing) most of the expected nominees. They just haven’t really sparked my imagination this year. I admit that I was sorry to miss The Tree of Life and I’ve heard enough good things about Midnight in Paris to hope to catch it at some backwater cinema but few of the nominees really grabbed me in a way to make me rush to the cinema on opening night.
It disappoints me that there are no real envelope pushers in amongst the Best Picture list. I’m not naïve enough to think that Oscar has ever really been about such a thing but (although it has tried on occasion) but I wonder if the voters often look for ‘Oscar-worthy’ films rather than good films (how else can we explain the inclusion of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close?) Is this an old-fashioned vote? Is there a collection of old-timer academy members running the show and when the (currently) younger crop take over we’ll see a change in the scheme of things and braver films rewarded?
But they have been in the past; certainly the recent past. There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men were hardly hand-wringing Oscar classics and yet they lead the race and had all the form during the precursors. Oscar also has a tradition of rewarding ‘brave’ acting performances (beautiful made ugly – Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman; controversial storylines – Halle Berry, Tom Hanks; disability – Daniel Day-Lewis, Dustin Hoffman) and yet there is a distinct lack of this kind of nomination this year, Rooney Mara aside.
Perhaps, after a few years of trying to look cool and edgy (Crash, Precious, No Country for Old Men), the academy have decided it is time to reward some of the good old-fashioned pieces of work – family fare; relatively gentle and undemanding films. Could this explain the snubbing of Bridesmaids and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when it came to Best Picture? Wasn’t the reason for extending the list to 10 to reward these ‘outsider’ films? The non-Oscary box-office and critical successes? And in a year that presents only 9 nominees for Best Picture this is particularly baffling and rather a slap in the face for films across the board. Were there really only 9 good films this year? Sorry. Were there really only 9 Oscar-worthy films this year?
It certainly does seem like there’s a theme this year – nostalgia and Hollywood glamour. This has happened before (the Western year, the Lord of the Rings year) so shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. It really feels like they wanted to reward those films that celebrated cinema and old-fashioned film making. Hugo and The Artist, the biggest successes nomination wise, both celebrate the history of film, War Horse is a back-to-basics, luscious Spielberg movie (plus a reward for doing what he does best rather than throwing in his lot with new technologies for Tintin), Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh are playing iconic Hollywood legends, Woody Allen is a former glory boy back to his best and Meryl Streep, well Meryl Streep was in a film so bound to get nominated.
Theme aside I still think it's a pity that Drive was not nominated (more on the snubs at a later date); it's sad that so many challenging and rewarding films fell by the wayside as they so often do in big ceremonies. The Oscars don't mean much to a lot of people but I've always loved them in a predictable kind of way while looking to the Independent Spirit Awards for the interesting winners.
But I've only seen 3 of the 9 'best pictures of the year' so what would I know? Come back in a week and I may be proclaiming War Horse to be the greatest thing I've ever witnessed. But I don't think so. Come on Oscar voters. Throw up a couple of surprises on the big night and you've got every chance of winning me over again.
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