The nominees were ...
... when they should have been ...
... when they should have been ...
- Annie Hall
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- New York, New York
- Star Wars
- That Obscure Object of Desire
Annie Hall. I have an unwritten rule here: no ties. Which leaves me torn, because this is the film that launched Woody Allen on one of the most remarkable careers in American filmmaking. And it remains perhaps his best film, using the wit of his "earlier, funnier films" while downplaying the evocations of European films that make his later movies more intellectually stimulating but less fun. Diane Keaton's giddy insouciance, which won her an Oscar, perfectly balances Allen's neurotic introspection, and the whole movie is full of delicious performances and memorable scenes. But....
... it should have gone to ...
Let me repeat something I said before, with reference to Psycho: "One of the things the Academy is tasked with in choosing a best picture of the year is not only honoring artistic achievement, but also indicating which films are most likely to become deeply rooted in our culture, their images forming part of our iconography, their dialogue contributing to our store of (at best) wisdom and (at the least) catchphrases." And no film, for better or worse, has done so more conclusively or inescapably than this one. Yes, it would have been an impossible task for Academy voters to have foreseen how much George Lucas's space epic has tunneled into the culture, how it has transformed the film industry, and how it has altered audiences' expectations of what a movie can and should do. Annie Hall was, let us remember, a risky choice for the Academy, which rarely acknowledges comedy or perceives genius. But Star Wars made it look like a safe choice by comparison. Still, if the Academy had recognized the true genius of Star Wars, it would have honored movies themselves, for although its ostensible setting is a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, its true setting is the world of movies, a place inhabited by familiar beings: the callow youth who has to prove himself, the cynical loner, the spunky heroine, the wise and venerable sage, the bumbling sidekicks, the black-clad villain -- all the denizens of adventure movies, Westerns, serials, and swashbucklers.
... it should have gone to ...
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| Star Wars |
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