(Archive) Top 3 Films Snubbed at the Oscars

*Reposted from my former blog*

On my Instagram I used to do a series in which I would recommend three films, short films, artists and musicians, every week, these would be shared to my Facebook and Tumblr and were mostly for my own amusement and as a way of educating a few friends. I stopped doing this after a short while due to laziness and the fact I wanted to write more about the things I was recommending. I have finally decided to start again, and each post will have a link to my blog here, where I can write a little more. If you want to check out some of my old recommendations feel free to head over to my Instagram: @flynnpenguin. Perhaps, one day, I shall accompany my old posts with some writing too.

Top 3 Films Snubbed at the Oscars

I thought I'd start off with something that has been grating at my skull for the past couple of days, and what even sparked my idea of starting this up again. Frankly, I've lost interest for the Awards. Yet despite this, I still end up paying attention and getting angry when I realise how skewed the Academy can be. It's male-centric, heteronormative and so god damn white. And my choices for these snubs all get bulldozed out by those flaws.

Carol (dir. Todd Haynes)

Carol was ever so rudely snubbed for nominations in the Best Director and Best Film category, Best Director snubs this season has been pretty prevalent. On top of this, it sadly lost out to The Big Short for Best Adapted Screenplay when I feel it deserved to win, but many won't agree with me on that.

Carol is a fantastically crafted film adapted accurately from Patricia Highsmith's 'The Price of Salt' - a book famed amongst the LGBT community for the raw and truthful love story between two women that in rarity (even in art today let alone the 50s) ended with hope and contentment. Todd brilliantly captures that same idea of happiness and truth to the film and gave new generations of queer youth positive representation of something familiar in every sense. The writing, much like Highsmith's, is elegant, poetic and very much reminiscent of Golden Age cinematic romances - both tender and mysterious. The cinematography, which thankfully it was nominated for, is simply stunning, often projecting the character's view of one another to the viewer, ever so intimate with it being shot on film too. The music by Carter Burwell, our resident elevator musician that makes us feel like we're supposed to feel, romantic and subtle, accenting each breath and heartbeat. And, of course, Cate and Rooney provide charming and wonderful performances, filled with chemistry, quiet passion and a hint of taboo - they are divine and compelling in their roles. 

Sadly, however, the idea of a film simply about a young woman feeling love for the first time and learning of it's honest hardships was seemingly considered too 'niche' merely because of our main character's genders. Or, perhaps, the Oscars has lost its attraction towards love stories - after all, if Gone with the Wind, Casablanca and (dear lord) Shakespeare in Love can win, Carol should definitely have been in contention for Best picture. 

Creed (dir. Ryan Coogler)

Michael B Jordan was neglected a nomination for Best Actor in a role that most certainly should have got him that, perhaps they saw him in Fantastic Four and thought 'Eh, I don't know guys'. It was also shut out of the Best Director and Best Picture categories (this film is Coogler's directorial debut, if that isn't amazing I don't know what is). And if you consider that the Academy did actually have two more spaces they could have filled for Best Picture nominations, the neglection of Creed and Carol hurts a little bit more than it already does.

As we all know the Oscars really buggered themselves this year, ignoring films such as Creed, Beasts of No Nation, Tangerine, Concussion and Straight Outta Compton, all of which could have easily been nominated for certain categories but were cut out, sacrificed for some more mediocre nominees, leaving us with an extremely monotoned list of nominations. Yes, there is inherently a problem with the representation of women, the LGBT community and above all, race in the film industry - in every field might I add. But the fact that the awards can't even recognise great pieces of cinema that are representative too, really takes it to another level.

Creed was incredibly successful as a spiritual sequel the Rocky masterpieces, with great performances from not just Michael but also Syl, just as powerful and gritty, and more so, than the original set of films. In a wonderful circumstance, our cinematographer is a woman and boy she does do a wonderful job, intense and energetic yet familiar camera use that is easy to absorb and lets the audience focus on our characters and our stories and take everything into full effect. The first fight sequence is unforgettable, shot in one long take like you are standing and watching from the stands - full of life and gusto. Coogler proves to be an incredibly intelligent filmmaker with deep understanding of technique and storytelling. He gives us a truly emotional and withstanding film that does no less than contribute a new dimension of regality to Rocky, and boy this young filmmaker is going to be big.

Beasts of No Nation (dir. Cary Fukunaga)

This was a huge snub for Idris Elba who shows off one of the strongest and most gritting performances of the last few years. I shan't repeat what I said above for Creed, but we all know why our man didn't get the nomination for Best Supporting Actor. 

Beasts of No Nation shows us a terrifying reality of child soldiers in West Africa and the devastation of Civil wars. Idris and our young actor Abraham Attah give two painfully real performances that make this film both nye impossible to watch and ridiculously commanding to witness. I couldn't sum up this film better than Rotten Tomato's word on it - 'a sobering, uncompromising, yet still somehow hopeful picture of war's human cost' that is this film. Fukumaga takes on both cinematography and direction in his stride, delivering stunningly clever two long take sequences that make you feel like you're experiencing the horror felt by Attah's character, Agu. Both of which are something you really have to experience for yourself. It's almost impossible to talk about this film, for the mere fact that it is so brutal and this is a film I don't want to spoil the experience of for anyone, especially since this might be one of the films that you haven't seen. But I will say this, it is one of those films that reminds you of how important and special cinema can be, and reminds you how bloody messed up the world is.

Honorable Mentions:

Jacob Tremblay (Room) - Best Actor
Tangerine - Lead and Supporting Actress, Best Picture, etc. (perhaps overlooked as it is an independent comedy film but also for ^other reasons)
The Force Awakens - Best Make-Up

Straight Outta Compton - Best Picture, Actors, etc 

End Note

I was delighted to see Spotlight win Best Picture, that film really does deserve it especially tackling a part of America's past (and present) that is still sore on the tongue. And how brilliant was it to see woman kind of dominate the technical category wins this year! But all in all, poor show Academy, poor show.

Instagram: @flynnpenguin