Politics is unavoidable as the Oscar nominations roll in
Politics of the sexual kind also account for both what has been recognised and what has been ignored.
Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards were revealed this week. Refreshingly, this is not a year where one film dominates to the detriment of the contest.
While The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro’s genrebending, whimsically romantic monster movie, tops the nominations with 13, one short of equalling the all-time record, it is not favoured to take out best picture. The smart money is at present on Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, even if its director Martin Mcdonagh hasn’t been recognised.
It is always tempting to read the nominations in terms of the politics of the moment. With an unprecedentedly unpopular buffoon in the White House, one openly antagonistic toward Hollywood, 2017 was always going to be a politicised year.
Steven Spielberg’s The Post, the story behind the publications of the Pentagon Papers, might be set in the era of Richard Nixon but is aimed squarely at Donald Trump and the current administration’s hostility towards the press. Unfortunately, the parallels are a little too pat and obvious, the resulting ‘‘liberal statement’’ playing like a warmed over All the President’s Men.
The Post‘s best picture nomination feels like recognition of effort, not achievement, reflecting Spielberg’s reputation more than current form. Tellingly, he too missed out on a best director nomination, though Meryl Streep unsurprisingly – and deservedly – breaks her own record in the best actress category for her work as groundbreaking publisher Kay Graham.
Get Out, the sleeper hit of the year, which impressed audiences and critics alike with its cunning Guess-who’s-coming-to-dinner-meets-the Stepford-wives conceit, also says something about the racially charged atmosphere of a country with an out-of-touch old rich white man at its head. Nominations for best picture, director, actor and original screenplay speak to industry respect for a film that captured the zeitgeist in a witty and original way, though it is unlikely to actually win anything.
Politics of the sexual kind also account for both what has been recognised and what has been ignored. The Weinstein scandal and its snowball effect has brought down a large number of male kingpins and any who stand accused of impropriety – regardless of actual guilt – are as persona non grata as perceived communists at the height of the blacklist.
James Franco is the most obvious casualty: winner of the Golden Globe, albeit in the comedy section, his hilarious impersonation of that latter-day Ed Wood, Tommy Wiseau, in The Disaster Artist was once seen as a shoo-in. Accusations of sexual misconduct put paid to the Franco cause as surely as they undermined those of relative long shots Wonder Wheel and The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), work tainted by association with Woody Allen and Dustin Hoffman, respectively.
If Kevin Spacey has been removed from Hollywood history as thoroughly as Joseph Stalin’s minions once erased all trace of Leon Trotsky, his replacement in the otherwise minor All the Money in the World has reaped the benefits.
Christopher Plummer does a fine job as heartless billionaire John Paul Getty, but then he pretty much always does a fine job. Sentimentalists will applaud the fact that at 88 he’s now the oldest person ever nominated for an acting award, but spare a thought for two thespians who missed out as a consequence – Call Me By Your Name‘s Armie Hammer and Michael Stuhlbarg – as well my own left-field pick, Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049.
At least Ridley Scott, constructed as a hero for his decision to ditch Spacey and reshoot scenes with Plummer if rather less so for paying Michelle Williams a pittance to participate, has not been rewarded with a best director nomination. The Hollywood Foreign Press was quite rightly told off by Natalie Portman at the Golden Globes for favouring dinosaurs like Scott and Spielberg over emerging female talent.
Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird will be competitive in a number of categories and she richly deserves the recognition for both writing and directing the film. Snubbed, however, was past winner Kathryn Bigelow, whose docudrama Detroit, based on a true story of police brutality and racism, somehow failed to move the Academy, despite obvious contemporary relevance. If Three Billboards does ultimately triumph in early March, it will be in part because of its relative subtlety.
Yes, it’s about a grieving mother whose daughter was sexually assaulted and murdered. Yes, casual prejudice and the abuse of authority are on display, but first and foremost it is a human drama. Even in tumultuous times, story trumps message.