My Take: The Oscar Nominations

A day and a half after the announcement of the Oscar nominations, we'd usually be pretty comfortable with the list of nominees and starting to talk about other things, like last night's Critics' Choice Awards or Sunday's Golden Globes, or even predicting the eventual Oscar winners, early though it may be.  I suspect, however, that many movie lovers and awards watchers are still struggling to wrap their heads around some of the surprising nods and snubs that popped up yesterday.  It was a bittersweet morning, to be sure, so let's try to break things down:

-One of the morning's biggest winners was Michael Haneke's Amour, which got five nominations.  I correctly predicted that the film would show up in the Best Foreign Language Film (where it's the presumed front-runner) and Best Actress categories, but it also racked up nods for Best Picture, Best Director for Haneke, and Best Original Screenplay.  One of the best-reviewed movies of the year, I shouldn't be surprised that Amour got so much love, but since I've yet to see it - it doesn't open in Columbus until February 15 - I didn't recognize how much it would resonate with voters in various branches.

-Benh Zeitlin's was perhaps the most surprising nomination of all, making it into a very, very crowded Best Director race for Beasts of the Southern Wild.  While many will likely bemoan the first-time filmmaker for landing a nod over Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck, he is utterly deserving of his slot, as Beasts is one of the year's very best movies, and Zeitlin's direction is bold, gorgeous, and original.  For those who missed out on the film when it released over the summer, Fox Searchlight is bringing it back to theaters next Friday, January 18.  It's a beautiful film that deserves to be seen on the big screen.

-Back to Bigelow and Affleck.  What.  The.  Hell.  Going into nominations morning, everyone assumed that those two, along with Steven Spielberg, were locks, with two slots for the taking.  Only Spielberg made it in, with David O. Russell representing one of the other surprising nominees.  One has to wonder if all the controversy surrounding Zero Dark Thirty led the directors to overlook Bigelow, or if it's simply a matter of her being too recent a winner (notice that Tom Hooper also failed to get nominated for Les Miserables; no Michel Hazanavicius, either).  Whatever the reasoning, Bigelow's snub is perhaps the one that stings the most, as Zero Dark Thirty is an incredible film, and certainly one of the best-directed of the year.


-It's dumb to even discuss the Best Original Song category as being surprising, since it's always been one of the wackiest categories at the Oscars.  Because of a rule change this year, there's a full slate of five nominees, and while obvious choices like "Suddenly" from Les Miserables and Skyfall's titular hit made the cut, other strong contenders like "Song of the Lonely Mountain" from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and "Learn Me Right" from Brave missed the cut in favor of songs from Chasing Ice, Ted, and Life of Pi.

-Speaking of Life of Pi, Ang Lee's stunning adaptation of the best-selling novel made a much bigger splash than many anticipated.  While some thought the film was losing its awards traction, the film received 11 nominations, second only to Lincoln's 12.

-While the Best Animated Feature category largely panned out as expected, one title was a bit of a surprise: The Pirates! Band of Misfits managed to snag a nod over Rise of the Guardians and the GKIDS offerings.  I'm still sad that The Secret World of Arrietty wasn't eligible.

-Four years ago, The Dark Knight played a key role in getting the Academy to change its rules for the Best Picture nominations, yet Christopher Nolan's wondrous finale, The Dark Knight Rises, was completely shut out of the Oscar nominations.  I expected the film would at least get a few technical nods, for sound, visual effects, etc., but it was overlooked in favor of blockbusters like The Avengers and Skyfall.  Even Snow White and the Huntsman managed to get two below-the-line nominations, for Best Costume Design and Best Visual Effects.

-Silver Linings Playbook made history as the first movie to get nominated in all four acting categories since Reds in 1981.  Jacki Weaver's nomination for Best Supporting Actress was truly out of left field, as most expected Ann Dowd, Nicole Kidman, or Maggie Smith to get the up-in-the-air fifth slot in the category.  With a slew of nominations, including for Best Director and Best Editing, Silver Linings Playbook stands an outside chance of winning Best Picture, and proves once again just how good Harvey Weinstein is at playing the Oscar game.  If it manages to win the top prize, the Oscars will officially be renamed the "Harveys."

-Fun fact: Emmanuelle Riva, at 85, is the oldest Best Actress nominee ever.  Quvenzhane Wallis, at 9, is the youngest.  Together, they are unspeakably adorable.  See below for proof.

Photo credit: Godlis

So, where do we go from here?  We go into weeks and weeks of wild prognostication, trying to read the ever changing tides of Hollywood opinion.  It seems like Lincoln, Life of Pi, and Silver Linings Playbook are the three movies that have a strong shot at winning the big prize.  As the guilds start announcing in the coming weeks, this wild race will start to take on a sturdier shape.  Perhaps.  If not, Oscar night may be just as surprising as nominations morning.