AM at the Movies: Oscar Breakdown

Posted by Jason Ihle | 3 Comments

The 2007 Oscar nominations were announced yesterday. I am an Oscar fanatic and obsessed with lists and statistics. Combining those two passions tends to take up all my time in January and February every year.

This was an Oscar year in which films by Paul Thomas Anderson and the Coen brothers led the pack with 16 nominations between them (8 apiece). And the chances are very very strong that one of those two will win the big award. Film critic Roger Ebert points out, and I feel the same (although I haven’t seen all the films yet), that it’s the first time he has been enthusiastic about all the films nominated in the top categories.

Where is the safe, popular Hollywood film from Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard? It was just a matter of time. Although it makes sense if you consider that the Academy is beginning to skew toward more foreign members. The Academy is an exclusive club. Membership is by invitation only.

Not even every nominee is invited to join the next year. The Academy doesn’t publish a list of its members, but every year they do announce to the press who’s been invited to membership. In last summer’s press release, Academy Executive Director Bruce Davis pointed out, “[S]ome interesting changes are occurring. Like the recent lists of Oscar nominees, our last few membership invitation lists have been increasingly international.”

Of course this means that the awards will continue to lean internationally and generally away from standard Hollywood material, thus bringing even more international and independent filmmakers to the club.

Some general thoughts on the nominations (full list here):

From what everyone has been saying and from what I’ve seen so far, 2007 was a very strong year for film. I’m steadily trucking through these nominated films. I’ve seen Atonement, Juno, No Country for Old Men. I’ve got There Will Be Blood and Michael Clayton waiting in the wings. I’ve seen Away from Her and Gone Baby Gone, both of which gave us actress nominations. I saw I’m Not There which, if you are not a die-hard Bob Dylan fan and don’t know squat about his life and music, the film will be a meaningless meandering piece of crap to you as it was to me.

Tilda Swinton, Cate Blanchett, Laura Linney – three of the best actresses of their generation all nominated the same year. Of course Cate and Laura have been nominated before but it’s a first time for Tilda, who I’ve been close attention to since an incredible performance in 2001’s The Deep End. By the way, Philip Seymour Hoffman gets his second Oscar nomination for Charlie Wilson’s War. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. It is worth it if only for Hoffman’s introductory scene. In tears laughing, I had to watch it again.

All in all, there’s not a single nomination that made me cringe. Typically there’s something that sneaks in that just makes me say, “What the hell!” Okay, Norbit is now an Oscar-nominated film. That is something of a travesty, but it’s for Rick Baker’s makeup effects. He picks up his 11th nomination (10th for makeup) and first since 2000’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

I suppose I’m disappointed, although not surprised that Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead and Zodiac were locked out. In any other year I think Devil would have been a strong contender for screenplay and acting nominations for Marisa Tomei, Hoffman, Ethan Hawke and Albert Finney. And possibly Sidney Lumet as director. Had Zodiac opened at the end of the year, it would most certainly have picked up a few nominations. Unfortunately it’s generally the films that are fresh in voters’ minds that get awards. The Silence of the Lambs is the only Best Picture winner to have been released on home video before winning. Braveheart had been released early in the year and then given a re-release at the end of the year.

Casey Affleck came into his own in 2007 with great performances in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Gone Baby Gone (directed by his brother Ben). He was nominated for Assassination which, in my opinion, was one of the most under-appreciated films last year.

I was surprised to see Jason Reitman nominated for directing Juno. Typically movies like that are products of their screenplays and acting (like Little Miss Sunshine in 2006, whose directors were not nominated).

Some statistics and trivia for your enjoyment:

Roger Deakins – cinematography nominations numbers 6 and 7 (4 of them for Coen bros. films).

Ve Neill now has been nominated four times for putting makeup on Johnny Depp.

Composer Alan Menken has been triple nominated for a 4th time. Actually, for Beauty and the Beast he was a quadruple nominee.

Sound designer Kevin O’Connell has picked up his 20th nomination (he’s been nominated 11 of the last 13 years) and has never won.

There are 6 countries (Germany/West Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Japan) that have at least 10 nominations for Foreign Language Film. Together they comprise nearly 50 percent of all nominees historically and more than 50 percent of the winners. This is the first year since 1994 that none is represented.

Cate Blanchett is double nominated in both Lead and Supporting actress categories. That’s nothing new. Al Pacino, Holly Hunter, Julianne Moore, among others, have all been there. But, Blanchett is the first actress nominated for the same character in different films. First actress, not including male actors. And she is the third actor nominated for playing a character of the opposite sex. That is not to say playing a transvestite or transsexual but a 100% from birth member of the opposite sex. Linda Hunt won the supporting actress award for 1983’s The Year of Living Dangerously playing a male character. And Felicity Huffman in Transamerica played a man who was in the process of surgically changing gender.

The 20 acting nominations are spread across 18 different films. Only Michael Clayton was multiple-nominated for acting (3 nods). This is the first time in history the acting nominations have been so spread out.

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