I spent most of this year's Golden Globes ceremony texting with my best friend. The message she sent most often to me was "breathe." Probably because she knew that every time Inception lost out on an award, I was furious.
I was actually fine with a few of the losses (read: I totally expected them to lose), but the two biggest rage inducing moments were for Best Original Score and Best Director. I'm not going to rehash all of my bitterness. Instead, I'll just point you in the direction of this post which says everything I want to say. Ahem.
So, today. Oscar nomination day. I didn't get my hopes up and I actually forgot that the nominations were even happening. A righteous cold and 18 preschoolers are pretty good distractions. But I checked my email on my lunch break and saw some messages from folks about the nominations. They mentioned that Inception had been nominated for...
Best Picture. Awesome.
Best Screenplay. Wicked.
Best Cinematography. Shiny.
Best Art Direction. Best Sound Mixing. Best Sound Editing. Best Visual Effects.
And there are a few more! The film was nominated in so many amazing categories and for that, I am so proud, but what about Best Director? Why was Christopher Nolan shut out?
Christopher Nolan has such a distinct vision, especially with this film. In an age where everyone is rushing to make the next big 3-D picture and when everyone relies primarily on green and blue screen technology, Nolan seeks to make his shots and sequences as authentic as possible. It's not that he shies away from new and innovative technology, but he integrates it with traditional film making and straight up ingenuity, and he does so seamlessly.
Honestly, he should have been nominated for this scene alone. Do you see that? No, really. Take a minute and actually watch it. The camera movement. The choreography. The editing. That's all a part of the way Christopher Nolan envisioned this scene. It's gorgeous. All of the zero gravity work. Stunning. While, obviously, cinematography plays an essential role in all of this, I still can't quite understand why Nolan didn't receive a nomination.
If you want to put all of the visual aspects of the film and give all of the credit to the brilliant, Wally Pfister, fine. Leave all of the visuals and get down to the story and the performances. How dedicated Nolan was to the authenticity of these characters. How the actors played off each other. How they performed their roles. Yes, it's their job to do this. To become these people. But a good director knows how to establish a great team beforehand. How to communicate with each of the actors. How to get the best possible performance out of each of them. That's what Christopher Nolan did with this film.
I could go on and on. Maybe I'm being ridiculous, but it seems like a major snub and I just can't understand why it happened.
• "The Kick."
• The final sequence. (The performances, the final 'goodbyes' to the crew, the spinning top that launched a million fervent discussions and conspiracy theories, aka "perfection.").
What do you guys think? Why wasn't he nominated for Best Director?
