Oscar Nominations were announced yeserday morning, and more importantly, Chlotrudis Awards Nominations were set last Saturday (pre-Boston Blizzard) at the Chlotrudis Society’s Nominating Committee’s Annual meeting. While the quality of films honored at this year’s Academy Awards is arguably better than usual, what frustrates me is the fact that the Academy seems to think that there is a very small pool of award-worthy films released each year. The same films keep showing up in each category. By contrast, the Chlotrudis nominations boast a startling variety of films in different genres and styles, from an amazing array of countries, at so many different levels of “independent film.” To contrast, THE AVIATOR picked up the most Oscar nods at eleven. Chlotrudis’ Nominating Committee favored Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’ Thailand/Japan co-production LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE as the film with the most nods at a mere five.
Sure there were a couple of surprises over on the left coast. I know the slate of Best Actors was strong this year, but skipping over Paul Giamatti for his work in SIDEWAYS just seemed wrong especially since they acknowledged supporting performances from Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen. Surely Clint Eastwood, who is being much lauded for his direction of MILLION DOLLAR BABY, could have taken a pass in the Best Actor category.
On the more pleasant side of surprises, the Academy showed an uncommon boldness by going with crtically acclaimed Catalina Sandina Moreno from MARIA FULL OF GRACE in the Best Actress category. While her performance was lauded by critics nationwide, it’s still unusual that enough Academy members actually saw the film in order to nominate the first-time actress.
Of course, not even Chlotrudis is exempt from shutting out deserving films. As my pal over at lymejello pointed out, BEFORE SUNSET, which was appreciated by many Chlotrudis members, just didn’t have the weight to make it onto the ballot. A couple of films I saw late in the year that I would have liked to seen on the ballot somewhere include the quirky Australian film THE RAGE IN PLACID LAKE, and the haunting Turkish film, DISTANT. I know it caused some controversy, but I would have sworn that Lars von Trier’s DOGVILLE would have fared better with Chlotrudis voters (it did pick up a couple of nods.) I was particularly surprised that Nicole Kidman didn’t make the cut.
Still, I strongly feel that this is the year that the Chlotrudis Society really got it right with its’ nomiantions; lots of interesting foreign films, the mini-majors didn’t dominate. The Buried Treasure Award, Chlotrudis’ centerpiece award, is still under discussion. Expect an announcement by the weekend.
See you at the movies!