Oscar Nominations 2007
by Andre Soares
Penélope Cruz told Academy members to vote for her — or else. Pedro Almodóvar should have applied the same vote-getting technique.
"There’s so many Mexicans!" exclaimed Mexican actress Salma Hayek, too excited to conjugate her verbs properly, upon announcing — along with Academy president Sid Ganis — some of the nominees for the 79th Academy Awards.
Indeed. Best supporting actress nominee Adriana Barraza (for Babel); best direction nominee Alejandro González Iñárritu, who also happens to be one of the producers of best picture nominee Babel; best original screenplay nominee Guillermo del Toro, whose El Laberinto del fauno / Pan’s Labyrinth was also nominated in the best foreign-language film category; best adapted screenplay nominee Alfonso Cuarón, one of the screenwriters of Children of Men (which he also directed — but no Academy acknowledgement there); best cinematography nominee Guillermo Navarro (for Pan’s Labyrinth); and best actress nominee Penélope Cruz (for Volver).
Ok, ok, if you wanna be technical about it. So, Cruz’s a Spaniard — the first ever to get a best actress nod — but Salma Hayek was feeling so red-white-and-green she probably got all geographically incorrect. Most Americans don’t know the difference, anyways.
As for the non-Mexican nominations, there were a number of surprises. The two biggies were Bill Condon’s Dreamgirls being left out of the best film category — too black? too girlie? too glitzy? — and Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver being left out of the best foreign-language film category — too Latin? too girlie? not glitzy enough? Or perhaps the result of the Academy’s inane decision to leave the best foreign-language film final nominations in the hands of a dozen or so voters? Or could it be the long-awaited Hollywood Academy’s revenge against the Spanish Academy’s lack of a best foreign-language film category?
In any case, I still haven’t mustered enough courage to go check out Dreamgirls, this year’s top nominee, with a total of eight nods (three of which in the best song category; the film was left out of the best direction and best writing shortlists). The last big Broadway-to-Hollywood musical I saw, Chicago, would have made my list of ten worst movies of 2002. But I have seen Volver, which will definitely show up in my ten-best list for 2006. (That list will be ready, with some luck, by 2014.)
Quality, of course, is in the brain of the beholder. If your brain functions as perfectly as mine, you’ll like the things I like and dislike the things I don’t care for. You’d have voted for Volver as one of the best foreign-language films of the year, and would have ignored the French — er… Algerian — version of Saving Private Ryan, Indigènes / Days of Glory, and Das Leben der Anderen / The Lives of Others, the tale of a Stasi spy who came down with cold feet.
I haven’t seen Water, yet, though director Deepa Mehta sure deserves an award for perseverance, considering all the hassles she had to deal with — courtesy of Hindu fanatics — while making her film.
Looking on the bright side, if Das Leben der Anderen wins the foreign-language award the invariably dull Oscar telecast will be enlivened by director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s remarks about corruption in the world of German politics. Henckel von Donnersmarck’s lengthy speech, in fact, was the best thing about the evening Das Leben der Anderen was screened at the AFI FEST last November.
Chances are, however, that Guillermo del Toro will be going onstage to accept his Oscar for Pan’s Labyrinth, which garnered a total of six nominations. But then again, the non-nominated Volver was the shoo-in to win that award.
Competing against los mexicanos are the British.
Among those foreign invaders from across the Atlantic are best direction nominees Stephen Frears (for The Queen, which is also up for a best film nod) and Paul Greengrass (for United 93); best actress nominees Helen Mirren (for The Queen), Kate Winslet (for Little Children), and Judi Dench (for Notes on a Scandal); best original screenplay nominee Peter Morgan (for The Queen); and best adapted screenplay nominees Patrick Marber (for Notes on a Scandal) and Sacha Baron Cohen (who co-wrote Borat).
Additionally, several non-British nationals got nominated for their work in British productions, e.g., Australian Cate Blanchett (best supporting actress nominee for Notes on a Scandal); American Forest Whitaker (best actor nominee for The Last King of Scotland); American Philip Glass (best original score for Notes on a Scandal); and Irish Peter O’Toole (best actor nominee for Venus).
Missing in action, however, was the much ballyhooed Casino Royale, one of the top nominees at this year’s Baftas. Until fairly recently, there was even talk that Daniel Craig might get a best actor Oscar nod. Why was this much admired film completely ignored by the Academy? Too British? Too ballsy? Both too glizty (the chase sequences) and not glitzy enough (the sex scenes)? Who cares, really?
Now…
The Good:
The five best actress nominees. For once, the Academy picked five performances that were more than adequate, more than good, more than very good. Penélope Cruz, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Judi Dench, and Helen Mirren are all superb as earth mothers, lonely bitch fashionistas, lonely adulterous housewives, lonely elderly lesbians, and lonely haughty queens. (Apart from Cruz’s madre de la tierra – in case that’s the actual Spanish translation — do I notice a pattern here?)
The omission of Jack Nicholson’s disgraceful turn in The Departed.
Guillermo del Toro’s nomination for best original screenplay and Guillermo Navarro’s for best cinematography, both for Pan’s Labyrinth (left).
The inclusion of Ryan Gosling for his idealistic, drug-addicted teacher in the little-seen Half Nelson.
(None of the best actor nominees have their films up for a best picture Oscar. That’s quite rare — though I’m too lazy to check and see how often that has happened in the past. Maybe in a future post.)
And, taking a leap of faith, the best documentary and best short nominees. I haven’t seen any of them — but they all sound quite intriguing. Those range from James Longley’s Iraq in Fragments (above), which depicts the bloody Iraqi chaos through the eyes of Iraqi nationals, to Ruby Yang’s documentary short The Blood of Yingzhou District, about Chinese children who have lost their parents to AIDS.
The Bad:
The omission of Volver in the best foreign-language film, best direction (Pedro Almodóvar), best supporting actress (Carmen Maura), best original screenplay (also Almodóvar), best cinematography (José Luis Alcaine), and best original score (Alberto Iglesias) categories.
The omission of Sergi López (right) for his superb military psycho in Pan’s Labyrinth.
There are a number of nominees that I don’t think should have made the Academy’s top 100 list, let alone its top-five shortlist. Those range from Little Miss Sunshine as best anything to Vilmos Zsigmond’s inappropriate cinematography in The Black Dahlia. (The veteran Zsigmond has done much better work elsewhere.)
The omission of Catherine O’Hara, who should have been a contender for her role as the failed contender in For Your Consideration.
No nominations for The Painted Veil.
and The Dull:
The Oscar telecast — inevitably. Next Feb. 25.
So many Mexicans indeed, and so many English — though not nearly enough Spaniards or good movies. Maybe next year.
But don’t keep your hopes up.
Full list of 2006 Oscar nominees
Full list of 2005 Oscar winners and nominees
Full list of 2004 Oscar winners and nominees
William Wyler: Top Oscar Directors for Actors - I
Elia Kazan: Top Oscar Directors for Actors - II
George Cukor: Top Oscar Directors for Actors - III
Fred Zinnemann: Top Oscar Directors for Actors - IV
Martin Scorsese: Top Oscar Directors for Actors - V
Dakota Fanning’s HOUNDDOG Controversy
Oscar 2007 Announcement (Very Early) Tomorrow
THE PAINTED VEIL: Forgotten But Not Gone (Yet)
Bavarian Film Awards - 2006 Winners
Maj-Britt Nilsson (1924 - 2006)
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You have site in Spanish?
I’m sorry, but no, I don’t. My Spanish totally sucks, unfortunately.
(There are, however, translation tools available online. I’ll install one of those on this site in the near future — though, really, those translations leave much, much, MUCH to be desired.)