Farewell My Lovely: Team Experience Says (Figurative) Goodbyes to Oscar's Unsung
Thursday, January 14, 2016 at 7:10PM If you dwell too much on the negatives on Oscar Nomination Morning it can be so deflating that the rest of the season (just one month to go) can feel agonizing. Nevertheless we owe the movies and actors that enrich our lives a proper send off here now that Oscar has closed this particular chapter on them. But never fear. The Academy Awards are a fun time from a anecdotal calendar perspective and important in a history chapter kind of way but they're never ever ever the full book on the movies.
Here are achievements in film from Carol, Creed, Inside Out, and more that we here at TFE have no intention of saying goodbye to in reality, though we'll have to set them aside in a particular kind of way this month...
Benicio del Toro in Sicario
While Sicario received some recognition in the technical categories, it didn’t end up making the cut for any of the majors, including the acting awards. That’s a particular shame in the case of Benicio del Toro, who quietly managed to steal the movie from his excellent co-stars but couldn’t quite nab a supporting actor nod from Oscar. His character starts out as a taciturn, enigmatic presence, content to keep a low profile and deflect questions about why he’s there. But as the movie unfolds, he starts to assume increasing authority and gradually morphs into an ominous, even terrifying figure of retribution. It’s arguably somewhat lazy writing that he’s driven by personal revenge, yet del Toro, to his credit, doesn’t use this tried-and-true motivation as an excuse to chew scenery. Instead, he delivers a remarkably controlled and powerful portrayal of a formerly moral man who’s corrupted by his single-minded pursuit—and knows it. -Lynn Lee
Inside Out
When the Academy decided to open up the Best Picture category, it was thought that more diversity would be represented. While there have been a few interesting choices since the decision, it is usually just more middle of the road prestige pics. That a genre film like Mad Max Fury Road was able to make it in today should be celebrated....
And while the Internet mourns the loss of Carol in this category, the film that I'm most disappointed didn't make the final cut is Pixar's wonderfully imaginative Inside Out. No film made me laugh as hard (cue that Brazilian helicopter pilot memory again) and cry as hard (farewell, Bing Bong) in equal measure. It's obviously the front runner to win Best Animated Feature, but the year's most original film deserved to take its place among the best films of the year as well, regardless of its medium. Looks like Sadness and Anger are controlling my emotions this Oscar nomination morning... - Abstew
Kristen Stewart in Clouds of Sils Maria
I had held out hope that enough Academy voters would give their personal assistants the ballot to fill out for Kristen Stewart to have a real shot. You know those celebrity underlings would have gone to bat for the much-maligned actress and her glorious performance in Clouds of Sils Maria. While it wasn’t to be – and let’s face it, it was always going to be tough given she had no campaign until she surprisingly started winning critics prizes – her presence throughout the season for two years in a row (a nomination last year for Still Alice would not have been terribly bad choice, either, obviously) has hopefully given her enough of a prestige profile to make her next buzzy effort a stronger chance for a nomination. - Glenn Dunks
Michael B Jordan in Creed
For years, Jordan has been steadily knocking down one great performance after another, and Creed (reuniting him with his greatest director, Ryan Coogler), is his best work yet. Adonis Johnson is a winningly complicated role, already one of the most interesting and unusual portraits of middle-class African-American maledom that mainstream American cinema has turned out in recent years (or ever), and Jordan adds layers of even great complexity and thorniness: he grounds the stock traits of resentfulness and volatility and braggadocio in the character's terror at lacking a solid identity, and his completely earnest and unaffected depiction of a lost boy finding a new father figure is so powerful and open that he turns into the best scene partner Sylvester Stallone has had since the 1970s. It was no surprise that Jordan missed a nomination – he's been surprisingly unable to get any traction all season – but it's no less heartbreaking. - Timothy Brayton
Given the Double Category Fraud nominees in Supporting Actress, wouldn't it have been nice to see some genuinely supporting performances nominated? And was their a lovelier, warmer, more perfectly judged supporting performance this year than a Brit legend in a Best Picture nominee (YAY!) Brooklyn? Julie Walters steals every scene she's in as the boarding house matron with a heart of gold, but never once chews scenery or makes the character seem like a quip-generating machine. Mrs. Keough has lived a lot of life, and Walters never lets you forget that. Despite limited screen time, Mrs. Keough feels like much more than a stock character, and that's solely due to her fantastic performance. - Dancin Dan
Best Original Song - "I'll See You in My Dreams"
A song that so flawlessly captures the light touch and deep melancholy of the film, illuminating theme and character when played in context of the film. How can you listen to it and not remember Blythe Danner's quiet tears? The music branch has been trying to move towards nominating songs that work in context of their films, so it seemed like it had a shot - especially since this undervalued film was the first screener sent out this season. - Chris Feil
Jacob Tremblay, Room
Nathaniel’s last minute hopes for Jacob Tremblay gave me hope he’d show up in one of the Actor categories today... but alas, it wasn’t to be, and the finest child performance in years goes unrecognised, even alongside a surprising bundle of nominations for the film that houses it. That his astonishing lack of precocity and bountiful naturalism would have been an immense lift to either the deadly Best Actor line-up or the overly, uh, flavourful Supporting Actor category is now a distant dream. Thankfully, the performance is its own reward, and Tremblay’s future career - should he wish to continue in the craft - won’t be overshadowed with the spectre of Oscar at such a young age. He’ll probably still show up at the ceremony and get photos with countless adoring Hollywood fans in the audience, and a glowing reaction shot when Brie Larson wins her gong. - David Upton
Lily Tomlin, Grandma
Allow me to just remind you that Lily Tomlin has won NOTHING for her brilliant 2015 comeback performances in Netflix's Grace & Frankie and Paul Weitz's Grandma. How is this possible? She brings not only her inimitable prickly presence and gift for comedy to Elle Reid, but also a lifetime of hurt and anger over her past as well as the feminist fight. She's a generous scene partner to everyone in the film, never less than interesting to watch, and always a force to be reckoned with, even when it appears she's down and out. Tomlin makes a somewhat unfocused character grounded in a completely unique way, taking many disparate parts and making a fully real woman out of them. She's the grandma we all wish we had. - Dancin Dan'
Elizabeth Banks in Love and Mercy
Why didn’t the acting branch bite at all when it came to Bill Pohlad's Brian Wilson drama Love and Mercy? It's an exceptional entry in the Tortured Musician Biopic genre and a project that hardly seems like an implausible Oscar possibility given The Academy's clear favor for such stories. Paul Dano is terrific at exploring Brian Wilson’s muddled, eloquent mind during the early days of The Beach Boys' fame, both in those crowded, magical recording sessions and those painful scenes of reclusive solitude at home... But it’s Elizabeth Banks’ Melinda Ledbetter, the model-turned-car saleswoman who would go on to become Wilson's wife, that has stuck with me even longer than either of the Brian interpretations. [More...] - Matthew Eng
NOW ABOUT CAROL....
Since Carol received six nominations -- the most for a Todd Haynes film and the most ever for a film without a Best Picture nod in contemporary Expanded Best Picture history -- we hardly have to say goodbye during Oscar month. But it's still maddening that one of the year's two masterpieces has to sit outside the Best Picture table. There's a lot of theorizing online already about what went wrong. I'd write about it myself except that both Flavorwire and Vanity Fair and AutoStraddle all excellent jobs at explaining Oscar's issues with a) gay cinema b) auteur cinema and c) subtle cinema and d) femaleness all four camps to which Carol firmly belongs.
So rather than agonize any further about this gross miscarriage of taste on the Academy's part here are some Carol-focused tweets to cathartically release your rage if you still need to vent and commenting alone won't be enough.
We've been down this road before, alas. #Oscars #Carol pic.twitter.com/eBGRb2pR5Z
— Justin Chang (@JustinCChang) January 14, 2016
4 female screenwriter noms; 6 noms overall for Carol... let's celebrate that, please. Progress always comes in fits and starts.
— Phyllis Nagy (@PhyllisNagy) January 14, 2016
"ask me things plz!" " how tf CAROL get writing/acting noms but not directing & BP?!" "...ask me something else" pic.twitter.com/rWpmlPA5Lt
— Sales On Film (@salesonfilm) January 14, 2016
(Yes, Carol was nominated in several categories. But it should have won all 24.)
— Todd VanDerWerff (@tvoti) January 14, 2016
The Revenant, but it's me surviving the wilderness to get my revenge on the boys who didn't nominate Carol for Best Director.
— Teo Bugbee (@tmibugbee) January 14, 2016
They could have just made it ten nominees, let it STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON and CAROL and saved themselves a lot of hassle. #Oscars2016
— Scott Mendelson (@ScottMendelson) January 14, 2016
and though i had no wish to be prescient
The web suffering if CAROL is snubbed is going to make THE REVENANT look like a 3 hour toe stubbing comedy
— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) January 14, 2016
Reader Comments (40)
It's all forgiven (even if not forgotten ). To paraphrase a scene from Carol - How can I hate you, Academy?
Tis a shame about Carol. I saw the film yesterday. And it was a masterpiece. Definitively should have been nominated for BP.
For months I've expected Tomlin to be excluded from the line-up, but it still makes me sad. At least her performance has been celebrated here.
Obviously, the still have a LONG way to go but for those crying "homophobia",
just remember, in the wake of Prop 8 passing they were there for us in a big way by showering MILK with 8 nominations (including Best Picture) and 2 wins in major categories.
The Phyllis Nagy tweet is everything
Just want to second all of these missed noms especially all the acting nominees that missed out today: del Toro, Stewart, Jordan, Tomlin, and Banks were all wonderful this year and more than deserving (and all made my personal ballot)
Thank you for linking to that AutoStraddle piece. It was such a cathartic read.
Darren, except MILK ends in tragedy. Granted, somewhat uplifting tragedy, but tragedy nonetheless. As do Brokeback and Dallas Buyers Club and... and... and... I don't think it's homophobia, rather ambivalence.
I like all of the actors, actresses, and films you have named. Let me say I'm really mystified that "Love & Mercy" didn't even get some credit for sound mixing and a lot of scenes are in a recording studio showing what sound mixing is. ?? weird academy.
Shout out to Paul Dano & Elizabeth Banks.
The acting choices were downright lazy, as if only 9 possible films were allowed to count when it comes to acting. No Michael B Jordan, Benicio del Toro, and Ian Mckellen.
For at the last few years every time the nominations come out we start to talk about possible reforms to the academy. I think we should consistently suggest/discuss at least 3 things.
1. Best Picture should be full 10 nominations - end 5 slot system w/ preferential ballot.
2. Academy should continue to diversify with new members but it needs to weed out those who haven't been active in 10 years. Lack of diversity is an issue, it needs to be addressed.
3. Category Fraud really did cause harm this year in best supp. actress. Rule should be in place that 50% screen time = lead - and you can appeal to committee.
This would be a really good year for the Independent Spirit Awards to nominate those outside of the Academy choices. It would be great if they didn't mimic the Oscar choices but gave other possible choices some time in the spotlight.
Farewell to critically acclaimed black movies with huge box office which only benefited white participates: Compton's Glenn Dunks duo of screenwriters and Creed's white supremacist sympathizing in real life (he votes Republican) Stallone, who in his Golden Globe speech forgot every black person responsible for his fucking award.
That auto straddle piece was very eye opening, thanks for linking to it.
White supremacist-sympathizing? Just because he votes Republican? (P.S. I know racist Democrats.) It *was* weird that he didn't thank his director and co-star though.
"No, Haynes invited viewers to see the men in his movie — these husbands and boyfriends and duplicitous know-it-all notions sellers — through the eyes of queer women and to laugh openly at their silliness, unearned confidence, and expendability. And in 1952!..."
I disagree with this. If this were true, I wouldn't have loved the film as much as I do. Yes, it portrays the men as expendable to these women, but what I loved about the film was that it actually took Harge and Richard's feelings into consideration. It showed their hurt and it showed how much having these women in their lives was hurting them. I even feel that Carol is portrayed as incredibly sympathetic to her husband and that line as she's leaving the lawyer's office "we are not ugly people" is what sticks with me. Carol is a film about feelings and how humans have to deal with those feelings causing the least possible amount of pain, but that doesn't mean it isn't going to hurt.
Having said that, I can see why men would feel this way watching the film, and I feel that seeing it that way is missing how kind the film is to Kyle Chandler, who is given the chance to show a completey vulnerable human being (and that, to me, is the beauty of Carol).
mareko -- better to ignore. I mean i'm not okay with votign republican either (sorry my man) but the internet has taken it way too far when they suddenly don't think it's okay for screenwriters to get Oscar nominations wihout their skin color being checked. WHAT THE HOLY FUCK?
I am realy alarmed and actually heartbroken that people who like STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON are attacking it now that they've heard white guys wrote it. That's so... well, yikes that's ugly stuff.
Stallone publicly said Trump is his man. White supremacist sympathizer.
There was no budding consensus behind any major black themed movie this year. The precursors denied us hope for Creed and Compton.
At this point I only get pleasure from the Academy voting for the right white girl (Larson). When the Best Actress winner is someone I want to win I'm less bitchy.
Lamenting no Giacchino Original Score nomination for "Inside Out," too.
I always say that awards are besides the point, that good movies are made with the intention of making good movies without their eyes on Oscar, that the whole point is to have fun awards show with pretty celebrities and Kodak moments .... BUT, the Todd Haynes snub still hurts. Last time I felt that was was when Baz Luhrman was snubbed in 2001. There is taste, there is popularity and then there's plain wrong. Adam McKay????? Really? Who is going to ever remember Adam McKay and his movie past awards season? This the Morten Tyldum spot. Sure, if Carol was an obscure art house movie or a little seen gem like 45 years then sure, I would swallow it a little easier. But THEY DID NOTICE CAROL!!!! they gave it 6 nominations. They nominated all the best aspects of the movie. Todd Haynes is responsible for the success of Blanchett, Mara, Nagy, Lachman, Powell and Burwell. These people are masters but none of their work would have earned the praise it did without him. This is a real travesty. It's hard to dissociate this snub from homophobia.
Stallone is this years American Sniper....a film the rightwing conservative Academy members would love.
The Academy has the likes of Stallone, Bruce Willis, Jon Voigt, Clint Eastwood, Kelsey Grammar ...who would probably have balked at LGBTI themed films like Carol and The Danish Girl.
AND once again ALL of the acting nominees are WHITE this year.
And finally - the two films with black themes - Creed and Compton - only got nominated for what their WHITE actors and screenwriters did.
"I am really alarmed and actually heartbroken that people who like STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON are attacking it now that they've heard white guys wrote it. That's so... well, yikes that's ugly stuff..."
Thank you Nat, that's actually the reason why I find the whole OscarSoWhite or OscarSoMale conversations so off-putting. It seems like the only way to have them is to discredit the talented people who were nominated just because they're white or just because they're male. It's as if people can no longer be talented individuals if they're white or male and that's not a conversation I want to have (because it turns into, no matter what side you're on, someone has to be discredited)...
Agree with Nathaniel. Bette Streep, does knowing Straight Outta Compton was written by white screenwriters change your appreciation of the film? Do you really think the writers' branch meticulously went through their ballots and said "oh, I will vote for that black-themed movie because white folks wrote it." I am completely failing to see this particular outrage in relation to Compton's screenplay nomination.
Reminder that Geoffrey Fletcher and John Ridley are recent Screenpley Oscar winners whose films dealt with the black experience.
Aaron there is nothing wrong with what Bette said. WTF. She didn't trash them and I hardly see anyone trashing Straight Outta Compton because White men wrote the Screenplay. I love how everyone twists everything around to fit their narrative.The problem is in a film about POC the only people nominated were White and I'm sorry, but that is a problem.
Richter Scale: Having it change your appreciation of the film? Yikes. But this group can't have it both ways. If this is at risk of happening a third time, they have three options: 1. The Toxic but Coherent Option: Make a rule banning non-white nominees for a period. I did say it was a toxic option, right? This is only if the Academy's systems are in such a place that they can't try either of the other two options. 2. The Reconstruction Option: Commit to a massive restructuring of the Academy's acting membership so that the acting branch is a stratified sample of all age groups and ethnicities. This will probably require a shrinking of the Academy and a lot of perceived semi-pros joining the ranks. 3. The Yell At Critics Option: The leadership essentially begs for critics groups to release top 5 lists that showcase diversity.
I just scoured the Internet to find people who loved SOC now suddenly trash it. Couldn't find anything, but this is the false narrative that the TFE is presenting. Funny.
I still love Creed and Compton and I still find it absurd and problematic that the only artists nominated for their work on these films are white. (And I knew that Stallone and the Compton screenwriters were white before their nominations were announced this morning.)
Great post. Oscar forgotten, but always treasured.
ROOM's Best Picture nomination at least guaranteed a Jacob Tremblay appearance. Now how about asking him to present an award like... Best Animated Feature or something?
Oscar did NOTICE Carol (that explain the six nom) & I've no doubt they recognized it as a rare masterpiece. The slight of BP & Haynes was DELIBERATE!!
Its their way of punishing the movie and director for daring to laugh/make fun of the male characters and making them redundant and not making them the hero/savior of the story. It HURT their EGO big-time!!!
Sign....this really makes Oscar look soooooo silly, childish, backward & narrow-minded
Years from now, Carol will alws be looked back at fondly....& Oscar is gonna look really stupid
Ironically, I think that if Jacob Tremblay's part was that of a girl he probably would have been nominated, and if Inside Out was about the inside of a little boy's head, it probably would have got into Best Picture. So the Academy is more likely to vote for a children's role if it's a girl, but didn't vote for an Animated film because it was about a girl.
Del Toro's work is his own reward. And it's not the first time he delivers the best performance of the year and gets shunned. Remember Things We Lost in the Fire
Nikki -- perhaps I misspoke or made a leap. But the part that led me to that iis that people have been cheering that movie on as a Nonwhite option to nominate (which if we want to be reductive and have quotas why the hell weren't people rallying behind CREED and CHI-RAQ which are much better films?) and then when it *is* nominated people got angry and said "of course it's only white people" as if everyone voting on screenplays thinks about the color of the writer's skin before voting. My point is that the screenplay is the quality that the screenplay is (that quality up to the beholder of course -- i personally think the screenplay is one of its weak links as a movie) and -- paul's comments aside -- i firmly believe that most voters and moviegoers didn't know the color of the screenwriters skin before this "controversy". I mean I didn't and I write about movies. I often have NO idea what behind the scenes people look like. Most people don't unless they spend a lot of time watching DVD extras or something.
My overall point is that the toxicity around the discussions about this topic helps no one. And people are so caught up in identity politics that they will say ANYTHING is worthy (or unworthy) so long as it fits their agenda. This cannot possibly be good for qualitative evaluations of art -- which is supposed to be what awards are about.
There was a tweet going around yesterday (thousands retweeted) that two of our writers were upset about (both POC) and pointed out to me that said that all of the best actress nominees looked like the same person. This to me is just wildly offensive and racist -- how does it help the cause of diversity to trash white artists who did great work? -- . Charlotte Rampling, Saoirse Ronan, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Brie Larson -- these are five women who have had different life experiences, different acting styles, are from three different countries. Apart from the fact that there are 3 blonde 20somethings (who look nothing alike mind you apart from the color of their hair) it's just a really ugly thing to say.
one of the best jokes from the Globes was when Eva Longoria and America Ferrera made that joke about not confusing them with other Latina actresses. It was funny because ignorant people do this (unfortunately) but doing it to white women solves.... what??? -- pretending that they're interchangeable and denying them their individuality and importance helps? -- how is this a progressive thing? It's not. It's just more of what we already have too much of: people being nasty and ugly to other people based on the color of their skin. It's like everyone no matter their skin color wants to be Donald Trump and god that's just the worst person to want to mold your character after. Racism and Hateful Stereotyping are ugly no matter the color of the skin of the person promoting them.
Agreed that Hollywood has a problem with a lack of diversity but don't agree that that means that we get to trash people who were nominated or drag Sly Stallone through the coals or what not. There are a lot of things I don't like about Stallone but let's look at some facts
a) his performance is very well regarded
b) he made a mistake that a ton of people have made through history -- make their win all about themselves and not the people who helped him get there
c) in many interviews he has effusively praised Ryan Coogler
d) CREED could, in fact, not exist without him. He created the franchise... invented the Rocky character, wrote and starred in the first movie which led to several other movies.
These four things are, I hope we can agree, indisputable. But somehow people have twisted it all around to suggest a) he should not have been nominated (if no POC were), b/c) he is a racist because he forgot to thank Coogler on the Globe stage and none of his previous comments are cannonade d) Ryan Coogler is the only reason for Stallone's praise in Creed.
All of these last four things are distortions based on agendas.
I for one am growing increasingly weary of how outrage culture has begun to poison the simple, low-stake pleasures of the Oscar race. We're talking about movies here people. Find something positive to enjoy about the nominees and move on from the lamentations about this or that not getting in. These aren't academics voting for what they think is best, it's a popularity contest (which is ironic given the lack of formal education most Academy members have received post high-school).
Re. My last comment.
"Love" is perhaps too strong a word. Really liked those too movies. Didn't love or hate many 2015 films.
Saying the five best actress nominees all look the same is what I would call a rhetorical flourish, especially if we're talking about Twitter. "Point taken" is my immediate response, although I can see how an actressexual might consider it an affront.
Thank you, TFE, for always standing up for good taste.
The problem with lack of diversity in nominees is systemic and not entirely the Academy's fault. If anything, this year presented even FEWER viable Oscar nominees of color than last year. The problem has to be corrected at the development stage by financers, directors, producers, screenwriters.
Since I think this is a thread for posting about performances you loved that didn't get nominated, not for railing at the Academy, I always take heart in knowing that Todd Haynes probably came in 6th or 7th. Michael B. Jordan probably came in 6th of 7th. And often, that's okay. People will possibly (probably?) remember the next time they do something great that they've done something great before. The Academy is often (always) a few steps behind the times.
I have to echo the sentiment about Elizabeth Banks and one reason I can say that is because I don't normally love her, she's always okay to me, and Love & Mercy was messy in a lot of ways. I think the biggest problem was double casting the lead role when the actors were so dissimilar. But anyway, one of the best moments of the year was when Paul Giamatti was screaming obscenities to Elizabeth Banks behind the door and we get to see her delicious moment of triumph play out on her face. Fun!
And a shout out to all the women and men in Brooklyn who turned in such incredible performances. Definitely the best cast movie of the year for me.
So upset Elizabeth Banks and Paul Dano weren't recognized. And when I think of what could have been in Supporting Actress if Mara and Vikander were placed where they belong, and if SS HYSTERIA hadn't kept Dano (or Elba, or Shannon, or Keaton, or....) out of Supporting Actor.
Just remember 2006 and Brokeback Mountain... we still have a long road to walk :(
I've been unsure how to feel about nomination morning, but with this lovely send off for the short changed (and many of these were my biggest disappointments), I weirdly feel better about it. Some of the greats will just never land in Oscar territory. And one last time for me - my personal shout out, which I knew wasn't going to happen, goes to Cynthia Nixon in James White. I highly recommend checking out her and all of the above.
Patryk -- what is SS HYSTERIA ?
eurocheese -- she is so amazing in that movie. pity that couldn't happen. lazy voting this year but lazy voting often follows lazy advocacy and man were the precursors and critics phoning it in this year
It is a little upsetting that the two cases of category fraud left no room for Elizabeth Banks or Julie Walters in the Supporting Actress category. But at least Helen Mirren isn't on there for Trumbo.
Regarding the Carol snub, though. I had a slight hunch it would get left out. Not because it's female-centered. But because it strikes me as one of those movies that people will likely admire rather than feel passionate about enough to put it on the top of their ballots, seeing it as more a craftsmanship piece.
/3rtful - aside from your consistent fawning over Kathy Bates and Paul Outlaw, I really doubt the existence of your less bitchy side.
Couldn't agree more, Nathaniel. Helen Mirren in Trumbo almost happened. Kristen Stewart, Rose Byrne, Mya Taylor, Sarah Paulson, Tessa Thompson, and poor Cynthia were never in the same conversation. *sniffle