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January 31, 2006
Oscar Nominees
I completely forgot that the Oscar nominees would be coming out today. Few of the nominations are that surprising, but Syriana certainly should have received a little more acclaim, and I'm still mystified about why Crash continues to be such a critical favorite.
On some of the smaller awards: I'd love to see Good Night and Good Luck win for cinematography (but I'm a sucker for black-and-whie films), and I was happy to see the Palestinian film, Paradise Now receieve a nomination. And I probably can't escape without at least mentioning the documentary category, which had few surprises. March of the Penguins and Murderball were pretty much guaranteed. Of course, Academy rules for the documentary category continue to keep many good, timely documentaries out of competition. Also worth noting: another year has passed without a woman being nominated for best director.
Posted by chuck at January 31, 2006 10:17 AM
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Comments
Regarding the lack of women on the list for Director - when I read this, I immediately began combing my brain for possible selections and the only name that came immediately to mind was Miranda July. I think the underlying issue is the lack of opportunities for women to direct the kinds of films that are likely to get consideration at Oscar time. A quick survey of all of the "behind the camera" names and nominations suggests that this lack is not limited to Direction. Art Direction and Costume are the only two areas where women are likely to predominate. Though not often mentioned, one of the distinguishing qualities of Brokeback Mountain is the fact that a woman, Diana Ossana, probably worked harder than anyone else to see that the movie got made.
Posted by: Shaun Huston at February 1, 2006 12:34 PM
I think you're right that the issue is one of opportunity behind the camera, not only in the role of director but also in the other behind-the-scenes positions. There seems to be *slightly* more opportunity in the categories of screenwriter and producer, as the Diana Ossana example illustrates.
I also rant annually about the gendered depiction of the technical categories at the Oscars, which usually features a starlet (Scarlet Johansen or Jennifer Garner) feigning excitement about hanging out with a bunch of (male) engineers.
Posted by: Chuck at February 1, 2006 1:26 PM
The oscars nominated 2 women directors. Lina Wertmuller for SEVEN BEAUTIES in 1976 and Jane Campion for THE PIANO in 1993
Posted by: Abby at February 3, 2006 1:52 PM
I didn't mean to imply that no woman had ever been nominated but to point out that it's incredibly rare. I thought that Campion had been nominated for The Piano and had forgotten about Wertmuller, but in nearly eighty years of Oscar, that's a terribly small number of nominees.
Posted by: Chuck at February 3, 2006 3:07 PM