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This may be the year the Oscars break out of its ratings slump. The expanding of the Best Picture category from five nominees to 10 was a smart move, in that the category is now big enough to include red state crowd-pleasers (The Blind Side), fanboy faves (District 9), the biggest movie ever (Avatar), and at least one ballsy, art house choice (A Serious Man). But even after this expansion, some of the most important films of the year (35 Shots of Rum, Still Walking, Summer Hours, Two Lovers, House of the Devil) still didn’t stand a chance. What's the reason? Simple: Most Academy members simply haven’t heard of these movies, much less seen them.
After looking at the box office returns the weekend after the nominations were announced, anyone can see they have very little effect. Crazy Heart was the only film that saw a significant increase. After millions spent in Oscar campaigning you wonder why studios would go through all the trouble for such modest returns. The films that would truly benefit are the ones that can barely afford distribution. The Headless Woman has grossed a little over $88,000 at the box office, meaning a single nomination would have been a financial miracle for that film.
I’m not in any way against populist films getting nominated — just as long as they take chances and are at least technically innovative. (Avatar, Inglorious Basterds, Up and District 9 fit the bill perfectly.) Would it kill the Academy to leave a few spots open for deserving films like Summer Hours, Two Lovers? As an example, look what happened to the animated film The Secret of Kells after it was unexpectedly nomination for Best Animated Feature: Kells was almost completely unknown outside of Ireland but has built tons of buzz among movie buffs and industry insiders after the nomination. The film still won't make $100 million, but its creator is a hot new name in animation.
The Oscars are all about exposure — people want to see their favorite films get their due and be exposed to films they have never head of. After so many years of cookie-cutter nominations, isn't just about everyone sick and tired of Oscar bait like Invictus or Nine? In the acting categories, how can the media not be pushing for the fresh-faced success stories that would occur if the unknown actors deserving recognition (Alycia Delmore, Peter Capaldi, Tom Hardy and Maria Onetto among them) were thrust into the nomination spotlight? After all, fresh new faces keep things from getting boring. The latest Oscars are a step in the right direction, but they still over-reflect the tastes of America’s over-40 demographic. The Academy needs to start spotlighting other kinds of cinema from right here in the USA and around the world.
And The blind Side just ain’t cutting the mustard.
If I ran the Oscars, these would be my nominations:
BEST PICTURE
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
District 9
The White Ribbon
Avatar
Where the Wild Things Are
A Serious Man
Summer Hours
Up
Two Lovers
BEST DIRECTOR
Quentin Tarantino (Inglorious Basterds)
Clare Denis (35 Shots of Rum)
James Grey (Two Lovers)
Kathryn Bigalow (The Hurt Locker)
Sam Raimi (Drag Me to Hell)
BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
Colin Firth (A Single Man)
Tom Hardy (Bronson)
Sam Rockwell (Moon)
Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)
BEST ACTRESS
Tilda Swinton (Julia)
Carey Mulligan (An Education)
Abbie Cornish (Bright Star)
Maria Onetto (The Headless Woman)
Charlotte Gainsbourg (Antichrist)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds)
Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)
Christian McKay (Me and Orson Wells)
Peter Capaldi (In the Loop)
Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)
Melanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds)
Mo'nique (Precious)
Alycia Delmore (Humpday)
Gwyneth Paltrow (Two Lovers)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Coraline
Up
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ponyo
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Corneliu Porumboiu (Police, Adjective)
Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker)
Roy Andersson (You the Living)
Quentin Tarantino (Inglorious Basterds)
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Sugar)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach (Fantastic Mr. Fox)
Armando Iannucci, Harold P. Manning, Ian Martin, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche (In the Loop)
Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers (Where the Wild Things Are)
Joel and Ethan Coen (A Serious Man)
Scott Z. Burns (The Informant!)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Dogtooth (Greece)
A Prophet (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)
Mother (South Korea)
The Maid (Chile)
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Anvil: The Story of Anvil
The Cove
The Beaches of Agnes
Burma VJ
Of Time and the City
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Revanche
Tetro
The White Ribbon
Inglorious Basterds
The Girlfriend Experience
BEST EDITING
Duplicity
A Serious Man
Inglorious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
Revanche
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Loin de Paname,” Paris 36
“All is Love,” Where the Wild Things Are
“The Weary Kind,” Crazy Heart
“Fly Farm Blues,” It Might Get Loud
“Trust Me,” The Informant!
BEST SCORE
Marvin Hamlisch (The Informant!)
Bad Rabbit (The Limits of Control)
Alexandre Desplat (Fantastic Mr. Fox)
James Newton Howard (Duplicity)
Michael Giacchino (Up)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Brothers Bloom
Inglorious Basterds
The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus
Whip It
The Limits of Control
BEST ART DIRECTION
Moon
The Road
Avatar
Where the Wild things Are
The Brothers Bloom
BEST MAKE UP
Il Divo
District 9
The Road
Watchmen
Whip It
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar
Where the Wild Things Are
Star Trek
District 9
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
BEST SOUND
Revanche
The Hurt Locker
Avatar
Star Trek
BEST ENSEMBLE
House of the Devil
Summer Hours
Inglorious Basterds
In the Loop
A Serious Man
Adventureland
Still Walking
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2010.