Hey, check it out; the nominees for the 2013 awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have hit your local newsstand. As usual, film aficionados everywhere are pulling out their hair.
And so it ever has been. Any thorough film buff of course knows perfectly well that these are not the awards for the best in the year's movies. Often the best films of the year are little independent productions that very few people see. These are disqualified pretty much automatically.
Remember, though the Academy would like you to think of it as some kind of public service, it is in fact a trade union - or a federation of trade unions. Yet those who work on the little independent films often work for free or at least far below union rates. And many, if not most, are not members of the Academy. Do you really think a union is going to celebrate excellence among what they consider to be scabs? No surprises in that neglect.
Even, though, if your film doesn't fall into that disqualifying category, there are plenty of other ways to get disqualified. The two main irritants can be called Politics and politics.
Using the upper case, Politics, refers to the ideological commitments of the members of the Academy - unionists after all! So, naturally films that depict capitalists and business men generally as venal and even sinister, that lament war (unless patriotic and "just"), celebrate the causes of supposedly downtrodden minorities and provide heartfelt inspirational messages about the triumph of the human spirit, are always well ahead of the curve in Academy-think.
And with the lower case, politics, I'm addressing the unwritten pecking order rules that are ubiquitous. You can't win an award too young/early (though there is an occasional break on this in the acting category); you have to earn your spurs. Many Oscar watchers have that moment when they just threw up their hands and could never take it seriously again.
That moment came for me in 1995. That was the year that best director was award to Zemeckis, for Forrest Gump. Really? I'm not saying it wasn't a good and well directed movie, but honestly, there was this little thing call Pulp Fiction also qualified for that same year. Not merely the best (and best directed) movie of the previous year, but quite arguably the best of the previous decade. The fact that it was a pioneer in unleashing the golden age of the 90s only served to provide post facto evidence of its greatness. But, Quentin Tarrantino was a first time nominee. He couldn't win. It was laughable. Not though unusual: a more recent egregious case was when Peter Jackson was passed over for the director's award for the first - and, as it turned out, by far the best - installment of Lord of the Rings.
And on the other side of the coin, there are the elders who have to be honored, whether they've earned it or not. (Isn't that what the lifetime achievement awards are for?) So, among the most grievous results in the acting category, Dustin Hoffman's tour de force portrayal of Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy had to go-wanting so as to pat John Wayne on the back for yet another insipid cookie-cutter performance in True Grit.
And, perhaps most annoying of all, it seems on occasion they won't award people just because the Academy doesn't want them getting too full of themselves. They are a union; the collective must be greater than the individual. Hence, some great performances are just mysteriously snubbed. (It is a bit weird how any old trite endeavor of Meryl Streep is exempted from this policy. I guess you always need a token for credible deniability.) In any event, this seems to explain this year's exclusion of yet another inspired and heart wrenching performance by Tom Hanks, in Captain Russell. (Is it time to finally say it: Tom Hanks is the greatest film actor of all time? Could be. Watch Best Movies of 2013 for an upcoming blog post arguing just that.)
In the end, then, what can we say? Another year and another time that my pick for best of the best movies of 2013 (or whatever year) fails to be nominated by the stately old Academy. But, hey, to reference the great closing song to another movie masterpiece snubbed by the Oscars, "it don't worry me." I know that somewhere commitment to integrity and achievement in the movies is being honored. Just not on Hollywood Boulevard.
And so it ever has been. Any thorough film buff of course knows perfectly well that these are not the awards for the best in the year's movies. Often the best films of the year are little independent productions that very few people see. These are disqualified pretty much automatically.
Remember, though the Academy would like you to think of it as some kind of public service, it is in fact a trade union - or a federation of trade unions. Yet those who work on the little independent films often work for free or at least far below union rates. And many, if not most, are not members of the Academy. Do you really think a union is going to celebrate excellence among what they consider to be scabs? No surprises in that neglect.
Even, though, if your film doesn't fall into that disqualifying category, there are plenty of other ways to get disqualified. The two main irritants can be called Politics and politics.
Using the upper case, Politics, refers to the ideological commitments of the members of the Academy - unionists after all! So, naturally films that depict capitalists and business men generally as venal and even sinister, that lament war (unless patriotic and "just"), celebrate the causes of supposedly downtrodden minorities and provide heartfelt inspirational messages about the triumph of the human spirit, are always well ahead of the curve in Academy-think.
And with the lower case, politics, I'm addressing the unwritten pecking order rules that are ubiquitous. You can't win an award too young/early (though there is an occasional break on this in the acting category); you have to earn your spurs. Many Oscar watchers have that moment when they just threw up their hands and could never take it seriously again.
That moment came for me in 1995. That was the year that best director was award to Zemeckis, for Forrest Gump. Really? I'm not saying it wasn't a good and well directed movie, but honestly, there was this little thing call Pulp Fiction also qualified for that same year. Not merely the best (and best directed) movie of the previous year, but quite arguably the best of the previous decade. The fact that it was a pioneer in unleashing the golden age of the 90s only served to provide post facto evidence of its greatness. But, Quentin Tarrantino was a first time nominee. He couldn't win. It was laughable. Not though unusual: a more recent egregious case was when Peter Jackson was passed over for the director's award for the first - and, as it turned out, by far the best - installment of Lord of the Rings.
And on the other side of the coin, there are the elders who have to be honored, whether they've earned it or not. (Isn't that what the lifetime achievement awards are for?) So, among the most grievous results in the acting category, Dustin Hoffman's tour de force portrayal of Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy had to go-wanting so as to pat John Wayne on the back for yet another insipid cookie-cutter performance in True Grit.
And, perhaps most annoying of all, it seems on occasion they won't award people just because the Academy doesn't want them getting too full of themselves. They are a union; the collective must be greater than the individual. Hence, some great performances are just mysteriously snubbed. (It is a bit weird how any old trite endeavor of Meryl Streep is exempted from this policy. I guess you always need a token for credible deniability.) In any event, this seems to explain this year's exclusion of yet another inspired and heart wrenching performance by Tom Hanks, in Captain Russell. (Is it time to finally say it: Tom Hanks is the greatest film actor of all time? Could be. Watch Best Movies of 2013 for an upcoming blog post arguing just that.)
In the end, then, what can we say? Another year and another time that my pick for best of the best movies of 2013 (or whatever year) fails to be nominated by the stately old Academy. But, hey, to reference the great closing song to another movie masterpiece snubbed by the Oscars, "it don't worry me." I know that somewhere commitment to integrity and achievement in the movies is being honored. Just not on Hollywood Boulevard.
About the Author:
Mickey Jhonny remains emerging as one of the freshest, most audacious voices in movie and TV commentary. If you're a fan of Mad Men, you won't want to miss his controversial piece dissecting the secret of the show's success. His article criticizing the vilification of popular culture and celebrities by the anti-eating disorder crowd remains an online bombshell. Don't miss it!
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