2005 may have been an off-year for blockbusters, but critics have called it a banner year for serious cinema. Release after heralded, big-money release failed to perform to expectations at the box office. This was true of event movies (“King Kong”), franchise pictures (“The Legend of Zorro”) and high-profile studio-polished Oscar bait (“Cinderella Man,” “The New World”).
It was the year of the sleeper, both at the megaplex and on awards ballots. Films like “Wedding Crashers” and “The Chronicles of Narnia” blindsided pundits with grosses north of $200 million each. Others, like “Crash” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” were hits with both the popcorn and cinephile sets. Few of the year’s biggest smashes, however, are represented with nominations at this year’s Oscar ceremony.
“Brokeback Mountain” recently became the highest-grossing of the Best Picture nominees, yet its current box office is still hovering under $80 million, nearly $25 million less than what “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” conjured up in its opening weekend alone.
There’s always been a disconnect between popular entertainment and the films that the Academy deems the best of the year, but this year the rift feels like a canyon.
Not that film critics are griping. Many have been outspoken that the Academy “got it right” for a change, with independent films and critical darlings like “Capote” and “Good Night, and Good Luck” scoring multiple nods in top categories. Dismal box office results haunted smaller films like “Transamerica,” “Hustle and Flow” and “A History of Violence,” but that didn’t keep each tiny film from scoring two nods apiece. There have been indie-dominated years before (1996 springs to mind), but one would have to go back to the 1970s to find a stable of Oscar contenders this unabashedly topical. There’s something this year for every political season: Mid-East oil conspiracy, international terrorism, blacklisting, repressed homosexuality, transexuality and simmering racial turmoil.
The subject matters and political stances of this year’s contenders lean more fearlessly to the left than in years past, as does the choice of mock-journalist firebrand Jon Stewart to host the Oscar cast. Will Middle America tune in to hear the smart-aleck newsman wisecrack about the showdown between Edward R. Murrow and Truman Capote?
Who knows? As William Goldman once famously said of the Oscars, “no one knows anything.” Until the final envelope is eased open and Stewart makes one last gay cowboy joke.
And the nominees are…
Best motion picture of the year: Brokeback Mountain; Capote; Crash; Good Night, and Good Luck; Munich
Achievement in directing: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain), Bennett Miller (Capote), Paul Haggis (Crash), George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck), Steven Spielberg (Munich)
Performance by an actor in a leading role: Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Terrence Howard (Hustle and Flow), Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain), Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line), David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck.)
Performance by an actress in a leading role: Judi Dench (Mrs. Henderson Presents), Felicity Huffman (Transamerica), Keira Knightley (Pride and Prejudice), Charlize Theron (North Country), Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)
Performance by an actor in a supporting role: George Clooney (Syriana), Matt Dillon (Crash), Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man), Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain), William Hurt (A History of Violence)
Performance by an actress in a supporting role: Amy Adams (Junebug), Catherine Keener (Capote), Frances McDormand (North Country), Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener), Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain)
Adapted screenplay: Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana (Brokeback Mountain), Dan Futterman (Capote), Jeffrey Caine (The Constant Gardener), Josh Olson (A History of Violence), Tony Kushner and Eric Roth (Munich)
Original screenplay: Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco (Crash), George Clooney and Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck.), Woody Allen (Match Point), Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale), Stephen Gaghan (Syriana)