The Five Stages of Grief via Oscar Nominations
Thursday, January 15, 2015 at 11:25AM Though Oscar nomination morning is my Christmas -- the day I anticipate so heavily each year when all the prezzies are ripped open -- it's not all happiness. Oscar also gives out lumps of coal on this day each year. Let us celebrate five big snubs (or omissions if you hate that word) representing each stage of grief so that we can work through it and move on.
Though SELMA got a Best Picture nod, it was ignored in every other category but Song
DENIAL I'm pretending that American Sniper, a conservative leaning (though not unartful) celebration of war heroism didn't crash the party late and win a ton of nominations (which encourages the studios to do that December/January glutting) while the progressive Selma -- which we actually need unlike a film about someone who's good with a gun! -- couldn't muster up more than two nominations.
ANGER Ava DuVernay, who would have been the first woman of color nominated for Best Director, should have been among the five Best Director nominees. She handled a large scale historical film and made it reverberate with danger, grief, inspiration, courage, and immediacy which is more than can be said for most historical epics. And it's only her third film! Can't wait to see what number four is like. As a subset of this stage of grief: anger. The Oscar nominations are just another reminder that Oscar does not value female narratives, not behind the scenes or onscreen. Movies about men trying to find themselves, or redemption or triumph over adversity score. Movies about women or people of color doing the same things do not (see: Wild and Selma, this year and examples in many other years; Oscar is a boys club)
BARGAINING The Lego Movie which I felt would meet more resistance than it initially had because it is basically a 2 hour commercial was nevertheless a surprise omission. I hope this doesn't discourage future filmmakers from going above and beyond because, YES, it was a commercial for toy product but it was like the best long-form commercial ever. So much funnier and more stylish and surprising than it had any right to be really. So next time someone overachieves Oscar, toss them a bone okay?
DEPRESSION All year long we (correctly) heard that it was a super strong year for Best Actor and it was. So why is the actual shortlist so disatisfying? Two answers: you could call Carell (against type / prosthetic nose) without even seeing the picture (and if you see the picture it's a heavily stilted performance and you can label Bradley Cooper a "default" nominee now with three consecutive nominations and though he's definitely under this guy's skin, it's a very unchallenging star turn compared to the snubbed competition.
This year of all years isn't time to lean on gimmicks or default status. Not when you had Ralph Fiennes's gloriously civilized sly performance keeping Grand Budapest Hotel grounded in gravitas and culture and wit when it could theoretically have defaulted to diorama kitsch. Not when Jake Gyllenhaal is doing the best work of his career in Nightcrawler. Not when David Oyelowo is becoming a great Southern orator. Not when... etcetera...
This was very disrespectfulACCEPTANCE Jessica Chastain missed out on a nod for what may well be her best screen performance yet in A Most Violent Year. But the film arrived very late and just didn't catch on quickly enough. And people got hung up on the Pfeiffer/Scarface look and missed the fact that the ubiquitous actress was doing interesting things with a more complicated character than her entrepeneur's wife first appeared to be in clip form. (For what it's worth Pfeiffer also missed a nomination for Scarface, one of her many awful snubbings.) But we know that Chastain, who makes three movies a year and most of them high profile, will be back so we'll let this one slide.
Who and what would represent your five stages this morning?
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Reader Comments (73)
Differnet strokes but i found Cumberbatch and Oyelowo very stilted and underwhelming,such a shame about Jake and Ralph but unlike most I though Carell was great in Foxcatcher not win worthy which he won't anyway,pleased for the acting legend Duvall one more round at the Oscars for a fantastic actor,who gave to his film all he could.
Proves Chastain is not the new Meryl,maybe now people will look at her work more objectively instead of jumping on the she is the 2nd coming bandwagon and forgetting all the other finer actresses of her age without her roles to pick from.
Stilted? Carell's performance goes far and beyond. People chose to only see the makeup and not how subtle and layered his performance is behind it. I'm super, super happy he was rewarded here. A shame Fiennes and Gyllenhaal were snubbed. I would have gotten rid of Redmayne and Cooper for them. And I am not mad at all Oyelowo was snubbed.
Selma is nothing too special and I'm glad the Academy didn't completely fall for this particular morally correct nominee just because it was the right thing to do, but instead we got American Sniper which is much, much worse. At least Selma's intentions and morals are good. What I find the funniest about how poorly written American Sniper is is that they completely ignore the main character's death, which would have given the movie so much needed irony. It's such a ball-less movie.
Oscars = dick poop.
The voters are sexist, racist and conservative bunch.
No Duvernay, Gyllenhaal, Force Majeure, Chastain, LEGO.
Glad for Cotillard, Birdman and the rise of Budapest.
I think this proves that Jessica Chastain isn't an Academy darling just yet. Her previous noms came from widely embraced films, and I don't think she's enough of a draw yet to get voters to watch a film just for her.
"But we know that Chastain, who makes three movies a year and most of them high profile, will be back so we'll let this one slide."
Maybe she should stop doing this, as it caused her some problems this year. Also, she doesn't have any projects that look Academy-friendly coming up, so it may be a while before she's in the conversation again.
Disappointed for Fiennes and Duvernay as well. The work is the true reward, though.
Reductive on Carell. It's an excellent performance.
However, Timothy Spall should be walking away with the Oscar. And Oyelowo should have been a guaranteed nominee. :(
I would also add "Streep is queen of the Oscars" to your acceptance paragraph....
BARGAINING: I'm happy that two actresses got their important first nom after their win: Reese Witherspoon and Marion Cottiliard. I didn't want those two to go down in Oscar history as one-hit wonders.
ACCEPTANCE: I'm also pleased that nominations appear to be spread more across a wide array of films, not just focusing on the best picture noms. Foxcatcher and Interstellar had impressive tallies, Mr. Turner got lots of notice. I remember you wrote an article last year about the statistics behind the switch to the 10 wide Best Picture race and how since that change, LESS films have been nominated across the categories, not more. Was this year a slight reversal on that?
But yeah, your anger, spot on.
The Gyllenhaal snub is brutal, but there were A LOT of great male acting performances this year. Really, NIGHTCRAWLER needed to be nominated for Best Picture, too. It's the film people will look back on (like King of Comedy) as a visionary film that was criminally overlooked in its time.
Totally agree with some of the posters regarding Carell. I thought he was incredible in Foxcatcher and this nomination is richly deserved. Look beyond the hair and makeup "gimmick" and you'll find the performance is a deeply sad and troubling meditation on loneliness and ostracism. There were just SO. MANY. great male performances this year.
If anyone should be off of the Best Actor list, how about Redmayne and Cumberbatch for two decent performances in two decent films. Carell was brilliant in Foxcatcher. Such a cold, chilling performance, but also incredibly sad and vulnerable. With just a single look, he spoke volumes about his character.
The Duvall nomination feels like a waste, especially with Brolin in the running.
The Streep nomination feels like a waste, especially with Chastain and Russo in the running.
Selma didn't get in because it was released too late and the studio just assumed people would vote for it because of the subject matter. No, that's not always the case.
And why is anyone complaining when at the end of the day Marion gets in over the dull Amy Adams and the overrated Jen Aniston?
Oh yeah, I know it's mean to celebrate a non-nomination but....So happy Big Eyes got NOTHING.
(Amy and Jessica) Truth is, there's no one that can do what I do.
I'm with you on Carrell. Rather than nuance, I found not much "there" there. I think it belonged in Supporting, to boot.
Sad Man, keep your opinions on Selma to yourself. Don't even share them. Whatever, this is not my blog..
I think the "snub" is good for Chastain for a number of reasons:
1. Over-rewarded actors are like petri dishes for resentment (see Streep, Adams, Lawrence, soon-to-be Bradley Cooper) when they can sneeze and get a nomination.
2. Nothing about her position in the industry has changed.
3. A Most Violent Year is going to age so well for audiences in the DVD/VOD/streaming market. It's just one of those movies more people will discover and return to a decade from now.
4. It's terrific for her "overdue" narrative that even her best performance to date couldn't win her an Oscar.
Lead Actor: Grossly incompetent. Leaving aside the implicit racism of not choosing Oyelowo and Selma, this is the FIRST year in Oscar history with what amounts to NO nominations in this category for fictional characters. No, Riggan Thomson in now way honestly counts due to Keaton's presumed baggage with the old Batman franchise. Entirely fictional years like 2007 are okay (and should be WAY more common than they are, frankly), but nope. Critics have GOT to start pushing back against this in a big way in 2015 because this is seriously hateful to any actor who doesn't want to touch biography or autobiography if this keeps going on.
Nathaniel - thank you for articulating your feelings, (which happen to be in sync with my feelings) so well today.
As you may have noticed I have been a great fan of Ralph Fiennes performance. To help us with our depression we must take the long view and remind ourselves that comedy is not often rewarded but is appreciated. People will be re-watching the elegance of Fiennes way more often than some of those other films, (ie: Hugh Grant in Four Weddings). We must take solace from that.
It does grieve me that there is still such a boy's club, and the lack of nominations for Ava Du Varnay and Gillian Flynn are unfortunate proof of this reality. The best antidote for this is for both of these talented women to just get on with the next project.
Things ave never changed quickly when it comes to the issues of gender & racial diversity but all we can hope for is that film makers keep those films coming. I loved Belle, Pride, Selma, Babadook, Wild, Gone Girl, Laggies, Begin Again, etc. Sticking up for the underdog is the only thing to do. Thanks for your hard work all year long in doing this.
Let's spritz ourselves with a little Eau du Panache and carry on. It looks like Julianne Moore will get that long overdue Oscar!
And Suffragettes is coming out next year and I hope it's a big hit.
I'm basically the same.
I will say the omission of The Lego Movie meant two of my three favorite animated films got in (sorry Book of life, but at least Song of the Sea and Kaguya made it).
DENIAL: Like you, American Sniper getting six nominations
ANGER: That fucking Best actor line-up is awful! It was one of my favorite categories this year, so many good performances still in the race. And they found a way to have the most horrible line-up possible! I'm not an actressexual like most of you guys, but I have to admit it: the Best Actress line-up is at least 5 times better than the Actor one. GO MICHAEL KEATON!
BARGAINING: The Animated Feature category. I love that they found a place for both Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea, because they should always consider non-american movies for this category, but I wish they had snubbed Big Hero 6 instead. LEGO movie should have been ridiculously bad, but it was awesome as its song would say, but Big Hero 6 should have been glorious (It's Disney after all) and it was bland, sometimes funny but not really exciting. Wrong snub Oscar!
DEPRESSION: The Director category. Tyldum and Miller? Really? At least there's no Eastwood, but that's a depressing line-up compared to the Golden Globes. I like The Imitation Game more than you, Nat, but even I agree that it is not a director's film. It's really conventionnally made. And Bennett Miller I can't fathom. You chose him as your first lone wolf director since you expanded the Best Picture race? Really? Is it the director prize at Cannes that compelled you to do so? Because, I saw the movie and I thought it was the worst of his three movies!
ACCEPTANCE: The Theory of Everything having 5 nominations. I thought it might happen, I don't like the movie. I would hate it if Redmayne won the Oscar (don't hate the performance, but he would just win because it's a Biopic of a famous crippled guy) but I'm beginning to accept it before I cry during the ceremony. GO KEATON!
Sad and surprised to see the Ebert doc snubbed.
I wish we could see the vote tallies to see who was 6,7,8 and 9 in each category. This year had to be close in so many races.
Denial: Godzilla for Sound Editing and Visual Effect. Gozilla's roar is probably one of my favorite sound editing work ever.
Anger: Ralph Fiennes. All the Grand Budapest actor branch voters, WHO did you put on top of Ralph????!!!
Bargaining: Gone Girl for Adapted Screen Play. Sometimes it's the least expected snubee that...
Depression: Selma.
Acceptance: Dawn of the planet of Apes for Production Design.
Any1 think the Actor line up would look better without Benedict and Bradley for Jake & Ralph.
For me, Oscar morning 2015 was less like Christmas morning and more like Election night 2014. A triumph for the old, white, conservative and boring.
I tend to be very negative about almost everything. Today I rather focus on the overwhelming JOY I felt when I heard the name of Marion Cotillard. A nomination for the ages for a movie with an important social message and no sugar at all.
Thank New York Film Critics, thank you National Society and thank you Jane Fonda.
mark - Absolutely! Toss in Oyelowo instead of Carell as well and I'm a happy Customer!
With Oyelowo's snub, this is the first time since 70th Academy Awards (Titanic's year) that all 20 acting nominees are white, which seems particularly awful given all the events that happened this past year. Selma was a timely movie, so the complete avoidance of it (in favor of American Sniper of all things) just.... hurts.
I don't know how to feel about anything this morning. I usually walk away with a strong positive or negative vibe. I guess I'm mildly disappointed but not surprised. Of course the "steak eaters," as Anne Thompson calls them, pushed for American Sniper, but at least we don't have to deal with Eastwood in Director. The lack of Selma love could be called a mile away and when the Academy keeps it in for BP, can we really blame anyone other than Paramount? What the hell were they doing not sending screeners to the guilds? Actor's a bummer but Gyllenhaal's attention always felt like something that wasn't Oscary - it's my favorite lead actor performance of the year (haven't seen Cooper/Spall), but come on, it was a bit weird for their mainstream tastes. Carell is a snooze pick. I'm confused on Fiennes not sneaking in with that huge nomination count for the film, but... OK.
There are positives. Both actress surprises were fun, though I feel bad for the ladies left out. Anderson scored for his film as did a huge portion of his previously unrewarded team. The Song category, which boosted my expectations way too high, was excellent (or awesome).
Funnily enough, the things that make me most upset: The Lego Movie snub and no Birdman in Editing. When those are my biggest complaints, I can't pretend the picks were that terrible. Plus, while a nomination for Aniston would be fun, I'm so glad I'm not reading countless articles about how she could upset Julianne Moore in the next month. Maybe we'll see them about Cotillard, but SAG snubbed her so I can ignore them.
Screw stages of grief! I am celebrating all the love for Grand Budapest Hotel, Tales of the Princess Kaguya, Mr. Turner, Whiplash and Foxcatcher.
@Volvagia - I find your comment on the lack of fictional characters in the Best Actor category to be strangely timed since this is likely to be the first year since 1997 that all of the acting winners will be playing fictional characters (assuming Keaton, Moore, Simmons, Arquette). Despite the Birdman/Batman parallels, Keaton is clearly playing a fictional character, one that he has said is as far from his personality as any character he's ever played. I agree with you in principle that it's become easier to get nominated for playing a real person than a fictional one, but this year's winners will probably not reflect that.
You know what else is great? There are SO MANY new nominees or non-winning previous nominees, especially in the acting categories. Think of Best Actress last year of Best Supporting Actor 2 years ago, and it makes it feel especially exciting now. It's been mentioned before but once certain nominees/categories seemed locked up I think the appreciation of this has waned.
I love Chastain, but i don't get the love for her performance in A Most Violent Year. The Scarface look did bother me a bit, but really it was the fact that this very low key film with somewhat authentic characters has such a stereotypical female character. It played into the idea that all new york wives are money grabbing bitches just like American Hustle and Wolf of Wall Street did last year. these women do exist, but that was all there was to her character. She was the revelation at the end which was not surprising cause it was obvious where her interests lied. I really wish they added more to her character. And you could tell Chasten loved doing the New York accent, but don't think it was totally convincing. Same with Leo last year in Wolf. Her character was my only issue with the film. I happened to love this movie which i thought was very authentic altogether except for her. And I do love her. Just pains me to say this. Maybe my opinion will change on a second viewing.
It would be cool but unlikely if Selma went out like Wings (two nods, two wins) or Grand Hotel (one nod, one win) – yes, we know Selma has a snowball's chance in hell of winning Best Picture – instead of like Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X (2 nods, no wins) or worse, The Color Purple (11 nods, no wins).
Come on, "Glory" (although "Lost Stars"...)!
Celebrating the 19th Oscar nomination for Meryl Streep! The LEGEND continues.
Josh, you forgot Blue Jasmine ("the idea that all new york wives are money grabbing bitches ").
Denial: Those performers and directors who were in my mental "meh" category have now moved into my "pretend they don't exist" category. Easy enough to not see their films, with so many other good things to see.
Anger: No Gone Girl for screenplay? No Ava Du Vernay? Women and people of colour are invisible? Male suffering in a male-only world directed by pretentious little twerps is supposed to be interesting?
Bargaining: You nominated crap again. Wise up. Next year I want to see the Best Picture be swamped with movies like Queen of the Desert, Testament of Youth, Carol, Suite Francaise, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her (not released this year), the Janis Joplin movie, and movies directed by women.
Depression: Like any of that is going to happen. Even the male narratives somehow turn boring and white. And the nagging nattering of online love for boy films just brings out the dullest sullen reaction from Oscar voters.
Acceptance: I have to remember to just back away and be pleased with the 2 or 3 good things that happen each year. So happy to see you, Marion. Love you, Patricia. Glad to see you two together, Reese and Laura.
And hey, the category that is traditionally crap, Best Song, actually looks really good this year.
Wasn't there a long period where no best actress winner since 1990 was nominated again for best actress? Now there's loads of them - Witherspoon, Cotillard, Streep, Kidman, Theron, Mirren etc etc etc.
I hope we can put a lid on the Selma snubs as acts of racism.
They voted for other movies. Sh*t happens.
Nat! You take issues with Carell for the most nuanced performance I have seen from a "comedian" since Peter Seller's BEING THERE? (prosthetics and make up be damned!) I'll take it with Jake! I loved him in Nightcrwaler, but I couldn't believe that scraptacular mini-arc from being a jobless hack to a genius manipulator and very accomplished cameraman in the blink of on eye. It was like a, WTF? Wilfulness at its most AMERICAN WAY IN MOVIES possible. Thank god he kept as a sociopath until the very end instead of a hero turnaround a la Matthew McConaughey in DALLARS BUYERS CLUB! Not Jake's fault, mind you. I believed more in Carell's Golden Eye nose, tough. To each its own. Regards from ArgenTINIA to all!
That's a nice synopsis of both what SELMA is and does, and what the Academy doesn't do. Nice work.
I didn't even notice The Lego Movie didn't get nominated in Best Animated until people pointed it out. That's probably the biggest shock for me, especially since it was so good. But hopefully now How To Train Your Dragon will have an easy glide to victory!
I think there were some things to recommend Carell's performance, but in the end I found it incredibly reductive. Absolutely nothing there that I found compelling at all. It was full of subtle choices, yes, but still obvious ones. And frankly, he overplayed the creepy (although the lighting and makeup helped a LOT with that). It's a maddening nomination, especially when Channing Tatum is right there in the same movie doing circles around him revealing new sides to his screen persona and talent in the process. AND THEN, there's the subtle, unexpected brilliance of Fiennes in Grand Budapest (who is LONG overdue for an Oscar) and the pointedly unsubtle work of Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler.
And while I understand the non-nominations for Birdman in editing and production design, I think the Academy is crazy for not noticing how brilliant both were.
BUT, all I have to do is remind myself that Marion Cotillard was nominated for what is easily the best performance by an actress this year, and all those quibbles fade away.
Ugh, are we going to start hearing 'Bradley Cooper is overdue' now when he loses again? It's like Amy Adams or Leonardo Dicaprio, where none of the performances they get nominated for are bad, per se, but if you look at the actual body of work vs. just the nomination tally there's no way you can say they are 'overdue' in the same way as, say, Peter O'Toole or Laura Linney or Roger Deakins.
Not trying to rub salt into the wound but Interstellar got nominated for sound mixing!
Bradley Cooper is now a 4 time Oscar nominee, he's also credited as producer for American Sniper. Meanwhile Ralph Fiennes and Jake Gyllenhaal combined have only 3.
Denial: I like to think Ralph Fiennes is at least nominee 5B, because they clearly loved "Grand Budapest Hotel," so it's not like there was much of an excuse for him to be snubbed.
Anger: I know it shouldn't be about this, but they're not doing their reputation any favors by giving "Selma" just 2 nominations and not nominating any non-white actors, meanwhile showering "American Sniper" with nominations.
Bargaining: I get that "Into the Woods" had to get the obligatory but frankly boring nominations for Costume Design, but just make sure "Grand Budapest" wins both categories and we're square. I'd accept a surprise win for "Mr. Turner" as well.
Depression: That Best Actor category could have been so much better that it hurts. Look at all the fantastic performances we had in that category this year. This is a real shame. And why do I have this sinking feeling that Michael Keaton--who should be winning in a cake walk with this lineup--is going to be lose?
Acceptance: I wasn't a very big fan of "Inherent Vice," but I'm still somehow okay with Paul Thomas Anderson being an Oscar default. He's still a vital enough voice that even a lesser picture from him should be commended for his effort.
Anger mostly about Meryl Streep's nomination. Not at the lady herself but at the laziness of the academy members in nominating her yet again when wonderful performances by Rene Russo etc. who have never been acknowledge get bypassed.
I haven't seen The Imitation Game and I doubt I'll see American Sniper, but I think Carell is easily more compelling than Redmayne (talk about biopic mimicry) or Keaton (maybe it was the film, but his character arc was completely disinteresting to me, and Keaton did nothing to make it interesting... Norton stole the movie from him). As of now, I am rooting for Carell to win, but he'll lose to one of the aforementioned.
I do think they Academy had many more interesting choices this year... I was rooting hard for Fiennes, but they also could have gone with Spall, not to mention actors like Isaac, Teller and Tatum who never had a chance. Best Actor has become the worst major category, filled with biopics and overacting. Increasingly, they aren't even listening to the major critics' groups anymore when it comes to this category, which was unheard of a few years ago.
For once i wanna focus on the positive:
I always feel like AMPASS perpetrates so much evil annually that I'm just over the moon about Cotillard's nomination. I possibly even preferred her performance in The Immigrant but I'm just so so happy that the Academy must likely just quadrupled the audience for the year's best film (which almost got list in the end-of-year glut).
Meantime re Chastain - i love that someone above recommended that rather than taking on as many creatively satisfying projects as possible while she's still under 40 and bankable, she should instead make fewer and more middlebrow films just so she can join the club of Cuba Gooding Jr and Ben Affleck. This is how Oscar creates evil.
Also the warped-beyond-belief Amy Adams hate. (i love it every time she gets any nomination anywhere and I'm a little bit sad she didn't this time. But maybe it should be a relief the more maniacally zealous haters have less cause to come out hissing this month)
I have no grief because I'm so happy for Cotillard's nomination. The best performance of the year - in any category - was nominated. American Sniper is just the very steep price we have to pay for that.
Eau de Panache .... Lady Edith i love you.