Through Her Lens: 2014 (The 87th Oscars)

A series by Juan Carlos Ojano. Introduction / Explanation

The 87th Oscars was the season that #OscarsSoWhite was born. When all 20 acting nominees were all white,  lawyer April Reign took to Twitter to express her disappointment about the nominations. Exacerbating the issue that season was the presence/non-presence of the historical drama Selma. Despite a Best Picture nomination, the film missed nominations in all but one other category, with the most visible snubs being in Best Director (Ava DuVernay) and Best Actor (David Oyelowo). The tweets and hashtag prompted a snowballing industry-wide discussion on the lack of representation and racism at the Academy Awards and in Hollywood in general.

The lack of Oscar nomination for DuVernay, despite critical acclaim and Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice nominations, continue the then-long streak of female directors missing out in the Best Director category. Out of the 320 films included in the Reminder List of Eligible Films in 2014 (87th Academy Awards), only 40 (12.5%) were directed/co-directed by women...

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Almost There: Jessica Chastain in "A Most Violent Year"

by Cláudio Alves

Everything's coming up Jessica Chastain, it seems. While The Eyes of Tammy Faye didn't scrounge up much box-office success, the actress' performance as the famed televangelist has earned her career-best reviews. The acclaim catapults her to the front of the pack in the current Best Actress race, one that feels fated for biopic domination. Furthermore, Chastain's doing impressive work on TV alongside Oscar Isaac in an English-speaking remake of Ingmar Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage. Taking all this into account, it's fitting to dedicate this week's Almost There write-up to the fabulous actress, recalling her previous collaboration with Isaac in J.C. Chandor's A Most Violent Year. As Anna and Abel Morales, these beautiful thespians deliver some of their best work ever…

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Almost There: Ralph Fiennes in "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

by Cláudio Alves

With Netflix's The Dig arriving friday, let's talk about the remarkable Ralph Fiennes. Oscar-wise, the British actor hit it big quickly, earning a nomination for his third feature, Best Picture champion Schindler's List. For a handful of years, it seemed like he'd become an awards season perennial, but things turned out differently. While he conquered another Oscar nomination for 1996's The English Patient, he's won little buzz since. That doesn't reflect a decrease in the quality of his work nor a turn to less prestigious fare. Oddly, even when he gets great reviews in titles beloved by AMPAS, an acting nomination remains elusive. This was never more evident than in 2014 when Fiennes delivered a tour-de-force in one of the most nominated movies of the year, The Grand Budapest Hotel…

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How many Oscars should "Selma" have been up for?

On this MLK Day, we couldn't help but think back to Selma (2014), which was just a bit ahead of its time in terms of Oscar recognition... or perhaps right on time, helping to usher in the current understanding that awards organizations and honors needed to be more diverse, depending on how you look at its performance that year. Though the movie did well at the box office it had a disappointing awards run finishing the season with zero SAG nods and only two Oscar nominations (despite a strong showing at the Globes and the Critics Choice): Best Picture and Best Original Song ("Glory" which won). One of my favourite memories from that year was a NYC fyc party where "Glory" was performed live with so many of the film's luminaries in the room. It was so incredibly moving so I've embedded it below from way back in 2014. What would you have honored Selma for in its year? 

GLORY live

Almost There: Jake Gyllenhaal in "Nightcrawler"

by Cláudio Alves

For the past decade or so, Jake Gyllenhaal has been on the cusp of a second Oscar nomination. At least, that's what it seems like when one takes a look at his career. Instead of coasting by on his good looks and innate charisma, Gyllenhaal is always up for a challenge, be it a physical transformation or some unlikely feat of tonal somersaulting. Still, regardless of critical acclaim, that second nod remains elusive with 2014's Nightcrawler being the closest the actor ever came to reconquering the good graces of AMPAS...

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