The 2001 crop of Oscar-caliber films present a real dilemma to the Academy–there are no clear-cut frontrunners.
It’s refreshing for us die-hard Oscar watchers to have to work a little harder to ascertain which movies will snag Best Picture nominations, but it’s frustrating, as well.
Dammit, which movie are we going to put our money on to win the big prize?
There are no masterpieces this year, only an eclectic bunch of films that if you took a little piece from each, you might cobble together the best picture of all time. How about this? Set in Middle Earth, a Hobbit husband and wife deal with the death of their son in a car crash on Mulholland Drive, who was also a schizophrenic with no short-term memory. Hey, that’s doesn’t sound too bad.
This year is reminiscent of 1996, when The English Patient won Best Picture against such varied fare as Fargo, Shine, Secrets & Lies and Jerry Maguire. An odd collection to say the least, but Patient always had the edge. It was romantic. People died. There was a desert. Simple.
Most of the films listed here have made one or more critic’s or magazine’s best of 2001 lists. A few films have even appeared on their worst of 2001 lists, including Moulin Rouge (Time magazine hated it, while it topped most others list) and The Royal Tenenbaums (CNN.com panned it but Entertainment Weekly heaped much praise). Go figure.
All of them have a legitimate chance to snag an Oscar nomination. It’s just a matter of deciding which ones actually will.
The frontrunners?
These films should get at least a few Oscar nominations, including a possible nod for Best Picture.
In the Bedroom: With the success of You Can Count on Me and American Beauty at the Oscars, personal dramas about dysfunctional families are making their way to the forefront. This year it’s
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Of all the films this year, Rings is the only grand epic of the type the Academy normally loves to heap accolades on. One problem, though–it’s a fantasy epic, complete with elves, hobbits, wizards. It’s the complete history of peoples and a land made up in the fertile mind of J.R.R. Tolkein. Star Wars couldn’t break the Academy code and thus it may be difficult for Rings to do so. There are also two more Rings films coming up.
A Beautiful Mind: Wow. Director Ron Howard really hit pay dirt with this compelling drama about real-life mathematician genius John Forbes Nash Jr., played beautifully (pun intended) by Russell Crowe. The film lets us experience Nash’s descent into madness rather than simply showing it to us. But it isn’t flawless–a long movie centered on one man gets a tad tiresome. Still, it’s got a good shot.
Shrek: We’re betting the wondrous 3D animated film about a big green ogre who, along with his sidekick donkey, rescues and falls in love with a princess, will get a Best Picture nod and be this year’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It’s not going to win Best Picture, of course, because of its guaranteed Oscar in the new animation category, but it certainly has all the elements commanded by Oscar’s top prize.
The problem children
These films are not typical Oscar fare, but are just too interesting to ignore.
Mulholland Drive: Ah, David Lynch’s twisted mind at work once again–what a wonderful and strange place to be. Drive, a story of deception, sex and intrigue in Hollywood, puts the eccentric Lynch back on top, but will the Academy go for it? Hard to say because it’s just, well, weird. Not Coen-brothers weird but really, really weird. Midgets-in-the-middle-of-a-room weird. If it did win Best Picture, I believe I would have a newfound respect for the stodgy Academy members.
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Moulin Rouge: Almost as equally panned as praised, Baz Luhrmann’s cinematic musical about the famed 1920s Paris dance hall and its inhabitants was a spectacular undertaking, especially as an attempt to keep the genre alive and vibrant in this music-video age. Many felt it was simply a confusing jumble of images, songs and Nicole Kidman. Others thought it was the Second Coming. Only the nominations will determine the truth.
Memento: Christopher Nolan’s brilliantly written and darkly offbeat film about a man with no short-term memory, searching for his wife’s murderer is an exercise in paying attention. You can’t take your eyes of the screen for one moment or you will miss an important piece of information. Unfortunately, this film was released at the beginning of 2001, so most have already forgotten about it. Let’s hope the Academy hasn’t.
Others in the mix
• Black Hawk Down: Ridley Scott’s take on the true story of an elite group of U.S. soldiers whose peacekeeping mission to Somalia turns deadly when hostile civilians mount an unexpected attack.
• Gosford Park:Robert Altman’s 1930s British period piece that centers on class struggles among the residents and guests of an English country estate as well as within the world of their trusted servants. Part comedy of manners, part Agatha Christie mystery.
• The Man Who Wasn’t There: Joel Coen’s black-and-white film with a noir-like plot about a chain-smoking, unhappily married barber whose blackmail attempt is foiled by a series of ironic mishaps.
• The Royal Tenenbaums: A black comedy has never been darker than Wes Anderson’s film about a screwed-up family of eccentric geniuses who reluctantly reunite years after splitting up.
• Monster’s Ball: Director Marc Forster’s moving character piece is about a prison guard, who falls in love with a soon-to-be executed inmate’s wife.
And there are plenty more where those came from…
You now understand the dilemma. [Sigh.] It’s going to be a tough year for Academy voters and those of us who have to make sense of it all.
