Awards Season 2019

[knives]

Unfortunately I don't think shipping is that fast.

[domino harvey]

Since I’m going to win anyways, you won’t have to worry about it

[Feego]

Breakthrough has to be the year's weirdest nominee, by far, That Song category, I think that branch of the academy needs even more of a shakeup (I say without having heard the song or heard of the film, but it seems like it's a god's not dead type of Contempory christian music song / film based on looking at the imdb synopsis?)

I'm willing to bet this nomination came on the strength of having been written by Diane Warren, who's scored nominations over the last few years for other films that weren't critical/box office hits and generally not in the awards conversation. I actually listened to nearly all of the short-listed songs over the weekend, and while I didn't predict this one, I came close. It does seem right up the Academy's alley (not mine).

[Big Ben]

Breakthrough has to be the year's weirdest nominee, by far, That Song category, I think that branch of the academy needs even more of a shakeup (I say without having heard the song or heard of the film, but it seems like it's a god's not dead type of Contempory christian music song / film based on looking at the imdb synopsis?)

I'm willing to bet this nomination came on the strength of having been written by Diane Warren, who's scored nominations over the last few years for other films that weren't critical/box office hits and generally not in the awards conversation. I actually listened to nearly all of the short-listed songs over the weekend, and while I didn't predict this one, I came close. It does seem right up the Academy's alley (not mine).

I agree. I hesitate to call Breakthrough a true Evangelical film because it's produced by Fox and not the more pernicious PureFlix but it's absolutely a film meant to appeal to conservative religious audiences.

I imagine Elton John will win however and frankly that's just fine with me.

[mfunk9786]

Whit Stillman (correctly) calls out Paul Walter Hauser as giving the best performance of the year, which is a wonderful thing to see:

Not only did [Paul Walter Hauser] give the great perf of the year, he also admirably represented the souls the world over whose earnestness & dedication are repaid w contempt instead of the credit they deserve[.]

[Finch]

Liked Dowd's description of Todd Philips as a Martin Scorsese cosplayer and that at least Philips's Best Director nomination should have gone to a woman, like Greta Gerwig. Hard to disagree with that.

[knives]

Why to a woman? Would people be complaining with the same language if Haynes had been nominated instead?

[mfunk9786]

Agreed completely that nominating Todd Phillips for doing an excellent paint by numbers (with some of the best paints on the planet) is not helping anybody (not even Todd Phillips). Who else should have had that spot? Probably the next person down in the voting, whoever that is

[Big Ben]

I think it's important to note that Phillips up to this point wasn't exactly taken all that seriously (And I say that as someone who really liked Joker). I imagine Gerwig will have the last laugh.

[Finch]

Why to a woman? Would people be complaining with the same language if Haynes had been nominated instead?

Should preface this by saying no one should receive a nomination solely based on their gender (men and women alike) but several female directors have done better work than Philips, and better than Haynes with his new film.

[knives]

And so have several male directors. That's why I phrased my response as I did. I don't think people would be saying if only a woman if Haynes was nominated instead (probably just complaining about it going to a lesser film of his instead).

[therewillbeblus]

Now I'm remembering all the Haynes snubs over the years and getting mad. If only I had a twitter handle

[felipe]

How do you guys here feel about the lack of nomations for female directors?

[domino harvey]

It remains a systemic problem in the industry, not the Oscars. If we had something approaching equal representation from studios and no women were nominated year after year, then it’d be on the Oscars. But there were realistically two films directed by women this year that were ever really in contention for multiple Oscars and one of them swept up but missed a director nom and the other was shut out, while a third eked out an acting nom that is now being shit on as well. There were far more than two films directed by men up for and missing the directing slots. Blame pundits, critics, and audiences some for guiding which films are considered in serious contention each season, but fundamentally: green light more films directed by women and get more nominations for films directed by women

[swo17]

How often do men get nominated for two films in a row?

[domino harvey]

One can actually see the benefits of green lighting more films directed by women reflected in France’s Cesar awards, where eleven women have been nominated for best director in the last ten years (out of sixty one total nominees)— while close but not quite a 1-1 reflection of the 27% of French films being directed by women in 2017 and 21% in 2007, it’s a stronger upward trend than here in industry that pays off with increased awards representation (and every year since 2014 has had at least one woman nominated)

[spectre]

It remains a systemic problem in the industry, not the Oscars. If we had something approaching equal representation from studios and no women were nominated year after year, then it’d be on the Oscars. But there were realistically two films directed by women this year that were ever really in contention for multiple Oscars and one of them swept up but missed a director nom and the other was shut out, while a third eked out an acting nom that is now being shit on as well. There were far more than two films directed by men up for and missing the directing slots. Blame pundits, critics, and audiences some for guiding which films are considered in serious contention each season, but fundamentally: green light more films directed by women and get more nominations for films directed by women

I think this is a really good summation of what the problem is. An industry can't push up a solitary female filmmaker and then complain if she doesn't get a nomination in an ostensibly merit-based awards competition. Where, indeed, were the other female-directed Hollywood prestige pictures this year? If anything, things seem to have gone backwards.

In the meantime, the actual best film of 2019 was directed by a woman (Céline Sciamma), but of course the Academy doesn't give a shit and can't be expected to because it's neither a) a Hollywood production nor b) one of the two or three token "international" films that have been sufficiently promoted to get included in calculations. And you know what? I'm not even mad. Forget it Jake, it's the Oscars.

[Big Ben]

I was under the impression that Sciamma's film was not nominated because France did not submit it or something. I thought it was odd considering.

[domino harvey]

It was eligible for other awards, just not Best International Feature

[swo17]

I was under the impression that Sciamma's film was not nominated because France did not submit it or something. I thought it was odd considering.

Each country can only submit one film and they chose another reportedly very good one

[domino harvey]

I mean, Les Misérables got nominated, so regardless of the critical fanbase for Portrait here in the states, the French committee was correct to select it instead of the Sciamma because the entire goal for a submitting country is to pick the film most likely to garner a nomination

[swo17]

Though I bet if the Sciamma had been submitted it would have been nominated as well

[Luke M]

It's kinda silly a country can't have more than one film nominated.

[knives]

I actually like that because it doesn't allow France to just dominate things.

[tenia]

One can actually see the benefits of green lighting more films directed by women reflected in France’s Cesar awards, where eleven women have been nominated for best director in the last ten years (out of sixty one total nominees)— while close but not quite a 1-1 reflection of the 27% of French films being directed by women in 2017 and 21% in 2007, it’s a stronger upward trend than here in industry that pays off with increased awards representation (and every year since 2014 has had at least one woman nominated)

Believe me, things are far from being as good as these figures seem to suggest.