Academy voters overlook Oscar worthy films

Julien R. Fielding

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its list of Oscar nominees Tuesday. And while it went pretty much as predicted, there were some unfortunate omissions.

- "The Man Who Wasn't There," Ethan and Joel Coen's experiment with film noir, was surprisingly absent from the list except in the cinematography category. But as the nod goes to Roger Deakins, a multiple nominee and cinematographer deity, that doesn't count. He would get a nomination if he were lighting "Freddy Got Fingered 2."

This intelligent, thought-provoking motion picture should have been acknowledged in a number of categories, including original screenplay, best direction and best actor (Billy Bob Thornton).

Perhaps the content was too dark for academy members or maybe it simply was beyond their cranial capacity. Occupying "The Man's" place is a slick noir alternative, David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive," which with its overt lesbianism probably looked like art to the academy.

- Considering the academy went out of its way to create an animation category, this group sure missed the point. It should be rewarding innovative efforts, and while I don't deny "Shrek," "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" and "Monster's Inc." took ingenuity and talent - animators created independently moving hairs - these can't begin to touch the brilliance of "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within."

That film broke all the boundaries of feature film animation and even freaked out a lot of industry people, who worried how this technology would affect the future of acting.

But what's even more disgusting about the omission is Square Co. Ltd., the company that made "Final Fantasy," recently announced it had to close its doors. It had bet the farm on "Fantasy" and lost. (The computer animated film cost about $137 million and pulled in just half that.) It's unfortunate that a man such as Hironobu Sakaguchi could fly so high and far so fall. The academy should be boiled in oil over this omission.

• "Shipping News," a triumph of a film based on a Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, might as well not even have been made as far as the academy is concerned. Where was director Lasse Hallstrom's nomination? Or cinematographer Oliver Stapleton's? Or, most importantly, Kevin Spacey's? And now the actor tells us he's taking some time off from acting to dedicate himself to his production company. Say it isn't so. Will Smith doesn't really need that nomination for "Ali," so let's pass it over to Spacey. And, for that matter, neither does Mr. Lynch. So that one can go to Hallstrom. Maybe the academy is simply jealous of how Hallstrom never gets it wrong, and is punishing him for hubris.
• Although I knew "A.I: Artificial Intelligence" was a long shot, and I'm pleased it received recognition for special effects and make-up, Jude Law should have received a nomination for his tender portrait of Gigolo Joe. And who could deny cinematographer Janusz Kaminski his due?
• And while we're on the subject of make-up, what about "Planet of the Apes?" How could the academy overlook makeup designer Rick Baker's accomplishment of transforming humans into orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees?
  Sure, it's tough to age an actor, as was done in "Beautiful Mind," and it's a challenge to make Kidman more beautiful, in "Moulin Rouge," yeah right, but come on people - Baker realistically turned Helena Bonham-Carter, Tim Roth and Michael Duncan-Clarke into animals.
• Another film that was completely overlooked, which shouldn't have been, was Alejandro Amenabar's "The Others." While Nicole Kidman was very good in "Moulin Rouge" - who knew she could sing - she was even better as the spooked mother of two. Amenabar, who pulled a triple shift as writer, director and composer, also deserves something for his efforts.
• "From Hell," a sumptuously decadent reconstruction of the Jack the Ripper murders, requires some recognition for cinematographer Peter Deming, who lost out on two nominations - he also served as director of photography on "Mulholland Drive." I guess the academy believes great looking films come out of thin air.

Now that we've mentioned the gross oversights, let me say "yeah and wahoo" for the academy's recognition of Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring." It deserves all 13 statuettes. I've seen the three-hour epic twice and have been getting itchy feet to go again. And I'm also patiently waiting for the DVD release. The only thing that worries me come Oscar night is that "Rings" will capture only those awards in the traditional sci-fi categories such as makeup and special effects.

I'm pleased the academy finally is lightening up when it comes to nominations, but we'll see how far they've come in March.

Furthermore, I don't subscribe to the elitism that has dictated past years' lists, so I'm pleased that, as of this printing, I've seen all the nominees with the exception of "Iris" - although I have watched snippets from the Miramax Web site - and of course the foreign films, documentaries, blah, blah. Nothing new. Last year the situation was particularly dire for anyone trying to keep up.

As a service to my readers, beginning next week I'll do what I did last year, try to provide some insight into the categories and nominees.

We'll kick off with best film, then work through the categories up until Oscar week. If anyone would like an exploration of a particular category, let me know. I'll try to accommodate requests.

Academy voters overlook Oscar worthy films was originally published in Daily Nonpareil on 14 February, 2002. © Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil LLC