Oscar Babel

Well, kids, it’s finally that time of year. The nominations for the 79th annual Academy Awards were announced yesterday, and we movie bloggers are thanking the Oscar gods that there were actually some surprises to the proceedings.First and foremost, of course, is Dreamgirls getting snubbed for picture, director, and screenplay, in spite of leading the pack with eight nominations (although three are for best song). You’re gong to hear plenty about this, so I won’t dwell on it too much, but Dreamgirls was considered by some to be the frontrunner to win the best picture Oscar. How long is it before the question of racism comes up? And is it really a factor given that the film’s white writer/director, Bill Condon, was also snubbed? I honestly don’t know, but I would say that I believe homophobia among older academy members definitely contributed to Brokeback not getting best pic last year, so… anyway, feel free to hash that one out in the comments.

Big congrats to Babel, which wound up just behind Dreamgirls with seven nominations, including richly deserved supporting actress nods for Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi. Of course, Jennifer Hudson has this category all but locked up, but still, it’s nice to see good performances get recognized, especially with so much of both performances being subtitled. Somehow, Brad Pitt managed to get snubbed for supporting actor, but I believe he gets credited with a nomination as a producer on The Departed, so that should offer some consolation.

Speaking of Babel, the Academy was especially generous to movies in foreign languages. Letters from Iwo Jima, for instance, probably took Dreamgirls’ spot in the best picture list, in spite of getting a late start on both the release and the Oscar campaign. Of course, Clint has a lot pull with the Academy, but the critical consensus seems to be that Letters is equally worthy of the nomination. Pan’s Labyrinth scored six nominations, foreign language film and cinematography being expected, but also for Guillermo del Torro’s original screenplay, makeup, art direction, and score. That’s right, folks, the guy that made Blade II is now officially an artist. Maybe this will give him the muscle to make that adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, which I, for one, would love to see.

The other big snub was that Pedro Almodovar’s Volver was left out of the foreign film category, even though it was widely regarded as Pan’s biggest competition for the trophy. They may have made up for it by giving Penelope Cruz a best actress nod, which I don’t doubt she deserves, but it should be conditional on her not making any more films in English. She has been terrible in just about every American film I’ve seen her in (Gothika, anyone?), yet quite good in Almodovar’s All About my Mother. So keep working on that side of the Atlantic and you’ll stay in my good graces, Penelope.

Congratulations are also due, I think, to Mark Wahlberg for his supporting actor nomination for The Departed, which he landed over not just Jack Nicholson, but also Leonardo DiCaprio, who Warner Bros. foolishly pushed in the supporting category. Even if they banked correctly on a best actor nomination for Blood Diamond, he might actually have competed with the Oscar juggernaut that is Forest Whitaker is he’d been up for the Scorsese flick. As it is, he’s almost assuredly another also-ran. Wahlberg, though, has finally asserted a little artistic integrity, and he’s going to need it when his new film Shooter comes out. I saw about half of this movie a few years ago, except it was called Most Wanted, it stared Keenan Ivory Wayans, and it sucked.