Oscar, The Silver-Haired Golden Statuette
As I exacerbated my early on-set arthritis to get all the names of all the Oscar nominees down in a news entry in my customary brainless way, I couldn’t help but get angry. Normally, I take everything I report on with a grain of salt, but something didn’t sit right with me.
My favorite movies of 2011 were “50/50,” “Drive,” “Shame,” and “Young Adult.” Sure, that probably and perhaps embarrassingly indicates what a 20-something I am, but hey, those were great movies. They speak to my generation in a smart, edgy and ultimately empathetic way, avoiding treacle wile delivering messages that aren’t always easy to hear. The definition of an Oscar-worthy film, I’d think. Yet between them, the three films earned exactly zero Oscar nominations.
Why is that? What do films like “War Horse” and “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” say about the human condition that “50/50,” “Drive,” “Shame,” and “Young Adult” do not? And why were their stars ignored, in favor of people like Max von Sydow, who played an elderly mute in the Stephen Daldry weeper?
All I could surmise is that those questionably nominated films weren’t better than my favorite films; they just hit closer to home for the older, whiter, male-er and more affluent Oscar voters. Which is why I wrote this essay, excerpted here and available in full on HuffPost.
Sparkling films aimed at Millennials and 30-somethings were left completely off the list. No love for Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s courageous performance as a young man dealing with the physical, social and philosophical ramifications of a sudden cancer diagnosis. Seth Rogen, one of his generation’s biggest stars, co-starred in the film, 50/50, as did Anna Kendrick and Bryce Dallas Howard; they all put in stellar performances for a brave script based on the experiences of writer Will Reiser, who was shut out of Best Original Screenplay.
The Diablo Cody-written dark comedy about a struggling, alcoholic writer who heads to her hometown to chase old high school dreams, Young Adult, was also left out. Charlize Theron got a golden Globe nomination for her work, but was ignored by the Academy, as was her fantastic co-star Patton Oswalt Was it because she cursed and drank? Bridesmaids got a Best Original Screenplay nom, a supporting actress nod for Melissa McCarthy, but no Best Picture love. Yes, it was about a serious topic, but was Extremely Loud really a better movie?
The year’s two breakout actors were also left out. Wildly talented and a human Internet meme, Ryan Gosling received two Golden Globe nominations, and while his part in Crazy, Stupid, Love. of course didn’t warrant an Oscar nod, turns in The Ides of March and Drive were certainly contenders. He received a Globe nod for the former, and wildly enthusiastic reviews for the latter. Playing an enigmatic, soft-spoken but hard-living stunt driver, he stunned with a mix of violence and smoldering charm that made the neo-noir Drive one of the year’s most-loved films.
The other big breakout actor, Michael Fassbender, was in four movies this year, including Shame, in which he went full frontal nude in a turn as an emotionally distant sex addict. It was a difficult role that earned him a Globe nomination and plenty of buzz — including a shout out from Clooney while theDescendants star was accepting his trophy — and it was a shock when he was left out of the field. Was it too risque for the Academy, who went with Gary Oldman and Demián Bichir instead? Oldman, of course, has long deserved an Oscar nomination, but the awards shouldn’t — and this is wishful thinking — be lifetime achievement recognitions that settle scores for past snubs.
