I was looking forward to hearing Toni Collette for Best Actress in Hereditary. It is man or woman to be the best performance of 2018. My brother loved the movie, my sister not so much. Most people, even some who didn’t like it can look at that performance as deserving of recognition. Collette is already an Oscar nominee. She played a different kind of grieving mother in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. She’s quite Australian, but you wouldn’t know from Little Miss Sunshine or About a Boy. Collette’s award omission might come down to outspending on the campaign front. All Actress nominees are from major distributors: Netflix, Fox, Sony, and Warner Bros.
The studio behind Hereditary; A24 has a reputation as a disruptor since 2012. The subject of the New York Times in 2018 and GQ in 2017, they noted Netflix and Amazon are driving up the cost of talent. Smaller companies must try to be one step ahead with fewer resources. Fox will spend whatever it takes on Bohemian Rhapsody. Catered viewing parties and star galas to rub shoulders with voters and critics. Much chronicled in Peter Hammond’s Deadline blog: Awardsline. Spending time noting interior decor and politics rather than film merits is poison.
The money spent on Awards season should be a win for audiences, as underseen films can get their due. It is why I saw The Shape of Water, Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri, and Lady Bird. Cold War’s Foreign Language, Best Director and Best Cinematography nominations capture my attention. Pretty good for a Black & White foreign language subtitled film in a 4:3 letterbox aspect ratio. Either that movie is good or it is okay and Jeff Bezos and Amazon have deep pockets. Or both.
The Favourite got 10 nominations [Screenplay, Production Design, Costume Design, Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actress x2, Cinematography, and Film Editing] so I was finally able to see it at my local theatre because of the awards attention it received.
The side effects of all this recognition is over exposure and misinterpretation. Black Panther had a legion of people ready to freak out were it not nominated. It scored deserved nominations in Picture, Music and Sound. Yet no Best Supporting Actor for Michael B. Jordan. Looking back on that film his performance is most of what I can remember about it. Aside from the bad green screening. Yet somehow it stole a Production Design nomination over Crazy Rich Asians. The nomination and voting block tastes can be very unrefined. Having filmmakers in their field choose the best film to fill out their category has its limits. Many members could be inactive in the industry or not major film goers. Professionals like most people when choosing films taste ranges from average to bad.
Everybody is ready to write off a movie before they see it, or convinced based completely on others. Did Bradley Cooper REALLY get snubbed for Best Director for A Star Is Born? No because his direction is the weakest part of that film. It managed 8 nominations including writing, producing and acting with his name attached. Is he even worthy of a Best Director nomination? People would agree if they took the time to discuss a great film rather than crying and making memes on Twitter. It reminds me of that one Onion article. Everybody obsessed with what they think will win there is no talk about what actually should.
So here we are. A few weeks left, no host, and my biggest hope for nominees dashed. The best we can make is Bradley Cooper performing with Lady Gaga. I hope they show some good clips. alongside world class dresses.
FilmGamer 