The Academy Award Nominations for 2006

For those of us still reeling from last year’s inexplicable snub of Brokeback Mountain as Best Picture winner, this year’s announcement of nominations brings a whole new batch of questions to glaring omissions, and, to be fair, proclamations of “well done” in a few nominations that aren’t the usual Academy suspects.

The biggest shock comes from the absence of Dreamgirls as a Best Picture nominee, and to a lesser extent Best Director (Bill Condon), even though it led the pack with 8 nominations. Having just last week won the Golden Globe as Best Picture Comedy or Musical, usually a harbinger of things to come, it not being nominated can only make one wonder if the voters saw the same film that had audiences standing and cheering. I really hope that, like homophobia denying Brokeback its Best Picture win last year, racism didn’t play a part in Dreamgirls not getting its deserved nomination this year.

The second biggest shock comes from the absence of Jack Nicholson as a Best Supporting Actor nominee for his superlative performance in The Departed. Yes, he’s been nominated more than any other actor in the Academy’s history, but it was one of the best performances of the year, and should have been recognized.

It was as much of a surprise to see Mark Wahlberg nominated for the same film, and a delightful one at that. Frankly, as terrific as he was, I didn’t think he stood much of a chance against other possible nominees in what was the strongest of the four acting categories. Wahlberg was definitely not one of the usual suspects. Nor was Jackie Earle Haley for Little Children, and this is the best nomination to come from the Academy. It was a difficult role, handled with authority and restraint, and these types of dark performances just aren’t recognized by the voting block (remember Dennis Hopper’s classic turn in Blue Velvet, and last year Clifton Collins, Jr. was snubbed for Capote). Other strong contenders in this field not nominated included Brad Pitt in Babel, Michael Sheen in The Queen, Steve Carell for Little Miss Sunshine and Ben Affleck in Hollywoodland.

The lead acting categories were as expected. The only real suspense was whether they’d overlook Ryan Gosling’s extraordinary work in Half Nelson in favor of box-office golden boy Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat. Thankfully, and this is by no means disrespect to Baron Cohen’s hilarious performance, they chose correctly. However, Will Smith’s presence for The Pursuit of Happyness is more a nod to the lack of great performances this year by lead actors rather than identifying a particularly great portrayal. Sure he was good, and the film was a heart-tugger, but in any other year, Smith wouldn’t be in the running.

It’s ironic that usually the Best Actor category is the strong one, and Best Actress is usually the limp one. Fortunes are reversed this year, which means that there just wasn’t a spot for the great Maggie Gyllenhaal for the sleeper Sherrybaby.

The Best Picture race, besides ignoring Dreamgirls, offered another surprise in the inclusion of Letters from Iwo Jima. Not that it doesn’t belong there – it does. But many thought that Letters and its counterpart Flags of Our Fathers would basically cancel each other out. Both films are strong, though if you had to pick one, Letters is the stronger of the two – and this is why Clint Eastwood received his Best Director nod for Letters.

Looking out of place in the Best Film category is Little Miss Sunshine. A wonderfully off-beat comedy with great performances, the film doesn’t quite measure up to the other nominees. But the Academy always likes to reserve a spot for the little film that could (Finding Neverland, The Full Monty, Seabiscuit, Chocolat, etc.), so its presence among the top five shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.

Kudos go to Academy voters for the six nominations for the Mexican film Pan’s Labyrinth. The favorite to win Best Foreign-Language Film, this dark, atmospheric, spellbinding fairy tale is an astonishing piece of filmmaking. It’s what the best movies can be: original, creative, smart, captivating, gut-wrenching and ultimately and totally satisfying. This is the best showing for a foreign film since 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which received 10 nominations.

Also, good for the Academy in recognizing Children of Men with three nominations, including the important Screenplay nod. It’s a remarkable sci-fi tale every bit as rewarding as Pan’s Labyrinth. Now maybe more people will get to see it.

Speaking of foreign films, how on earth did Pedro Almodóvar’s brilliant Volver get overlooked? This category operates under different rules; it’s not voted on by the academy, but by committee. They are supposed to see every film in order to vote, which only makes its omission more suspect.

All eyes are now focused on Sunday, February 25, the big night. Will Martin Scorsese finally get his due from the Academy with a Best Director win for the brilliant The Departed? Or will Clint sneak in once again as Clint did for Million Dollar Baby over Scorsese’s The Aviator?

Will the Academy honor one of cinema’s most treasured and deserving actors, Peter O’Toole, with a “lifetime” Oscar for Venus (John Wayne for True Grit, Don Ameche for Cocoon are just two examples, and O’Toole’s performance is clearly more substantive), or will they reward Forest Whitaker’s amazing incarnation of Idi Amin in Last King of Scotland?

Will anything stop Helen Mirren? Well, that answer we know. And will Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson continue their winning streaks for Dreamgirls?

Hopefully, there won’t be any reactions this year like Jack Nicholson’s "Wow!" at Crash winning last year’s Best Picture. All the winners will be deserving, no second guessing, a consensus that makes one and all happy. And if this happens, I can finally stop bitching about Brokeback Mountain losing to the inferior Crash, and once again enjoy the pomp, absurdity, pretension and fun that are the Academy Awards.

– David Bleiler

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