Movie Malcontent / Comments on Oscar 2004 Nominations

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Comments on Oscar 2004 nominations

Nominees List: http://www.oscar.com/nominees/nomineelist.html

There were a few surprises for this year’s nominees. Most surprising is the Academy finally recognizing the divide between artistic quality and Hollywood product. Back in 2000, when the over-hyped Gladiator won Best Picture, it was abundantly clear how easily the Academy could be persuaded by the hype machines of the big studios. And proving the Academy’s disdain for non-commercial films, nominations almost always included a token independent film entry that didn’t stand a chance.

But look over the nominees for this year and brace yourself: This year, the movie that seemed primed for undeserved nominations was The Last Samurai. The movie was practically test-marketed for Academy voters. Yet this year’s nominations suggest a new guard of hype-resistant types in the Academy. Although heavily campaigned, The Last Samurai is not nominated for Best Picture and Tom Cruise isn’t listed in the Best Actor nominations. One exception: The Last Samurai’s Ken Wantanabe is nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and deservedly so. He showed the over-eager Tom Cruise what it means to act with power through subtlety.

Also suggesting the Academy may be growing a backbone: the big budgeted yet artistically-uncompromising epics Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King both accumulated several deserved nominations: 11 for LOTR and 10 for Commander. Even snubbee Tom Cruise would have to agree his film didn’t belong among these artistic triumphs.

Yet along with those who were rightly snubbed, there are also those who were wrongly snubbed. Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in all three installments of The Lord of the Rings trilogy should have won a Best Actor nomination for The Return of the King. All Best Actor nominations are deserving, but it seems Ben Kingsley too frequently shows up in the fifth slot of the Academy’s acting categories. Now I know Kingsley's a brilliant actor, but like Jack Nicholson, he seems to get nominated more for being adulated among his peers than for explosively original chracterizations.

Not all of this year’s nominations are grandfathered in, however. Fortunately, the Academy has chosen to praise newcomers. Congrads go to 13-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes, for earning a Best Actress nomination for her heart-breaking performance in Whale Rider and Fernando Meirelles for his incendiary direction behind City of God.

Other pleasant surprises: Johnny Depp’s Best Actor nomination for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Patricia Clarkson’s Best Supporting Actress nomination for Pieces of April (long overdue since she should have been nominated for Far From Heaven), and American Splendor’s Best Adapted Screenplay nomination.

And although no surprise, I’m pleased to see that Bill Murray is finally getting his due for acting with a Best Actor nod for his pitch-perfect work in Lost in Translation.

Although I feared they would be long shots, there were two LOTR performances that should have been contenders: Sean Astin for his portrayal of Samwise Gamgee and Andy Serkis for his portrayal of Gollum. At least one of them should have had a shot at the Best Supporting Actor award.

As for the rest: I didn’t fall in love with Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River like most critics, though I take no exception whatsoever to the three acting nods. I’m just glad they didn’t forget to include Marcia Gay Harden. Though a fan of Jude Law, and his work in Cold Mountain, I saw nothing stunningly great in Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain. And while Gary Ross's Seabiscuit was perfectly fine feel-good fare, I found the narrative was somewhat flat and sentimental.

But overall, this year the Academy finally provides a list of nominees that both critics and John Q. Public can love. Yet perhaps we should thank the two Peters, Peter Weir and Peter Jackson, for producing Master and Commander and The Return of the King, two films that can so easily be loved universally.

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