The Highs and Lows of Oscar Afterglow
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 12:30PM 
Kurt here from Your Movie Buddy
Even barring the obvious perennial faves like Meryl Streep and Randy Newman, don't the Oscar nominations continually feel like class reunions? For every John Hawkes, there's an Amy Adams. For every Aronofsy, a Coen brother. Of this year's nominees in the eight major categories (that'd be producers, actors, directors and writers), 20 of them earned prior nominations within the last six years. Now, this is of course partly due to the fact many of these folks are indeed the best in the business (if Scott Rudin promises to produce a movie like The Social Network every year, I'll start digging a mine just for the purposes of throwing gold at him), but it also joins December's annual jam-packed awards-bait schedule as further proof that the Academy's short-term memory dictates much of their decision-making.
And that can yield some positive outcomes for Oscar-watchers. Harvey Weinstein's gag-me-with-a-doily campaign for The King's Speech aside, Colin firth deserves every bit of the praise – if not, perhaps, every freakin' award – he's received for his heroic star turn, and if his recognition for A Single Man helped that along, then all the better. Likewise, if a recent victory at the Kodak podium is what caused a performance like Javier Bardem's in Biutiful to derail a veteran bone-throw to Robert DuVall, I'm all for it.
YOU AGAIN: Bardem, Firth, Bridges
But then there's the issue of undeserved honorees who choke out the worthy competition because of who they are and how freshly familiar they are among the comfort-over-quality voters. I don't think there's any way Melissa Leo's LOOK AT ME!! white-trash theatrics weren't going to get the attention they demanded, so I won't waste sentences describing my personal distaste for the performance (I know Nathaniel feels differently)and the belief that a Frozen River paved her road. But how about Jeff Bridges? Isn't his Rooster Cogburn, however amusing, a rather snoozy portrayal that would have been passed over if not for the newly-Oscared man behind the eye patch?
The Coens: Oscar's power coupleAnd what about those Coens? It's thrilling that their richly deserved No Country For Old Men win has given them carte blanche in Hollywood, but did they really need to be in the running yet again? They already snagged a preposterous, space-filling Best Picture nod last year with their most outre effort to date, and now they've unseated Christopher Nolan, which they themselves have acknowledged with innuendos. What's it going to take for them to alleviate all the Academy swooning? A black-and-white, foreign-language documentary about black transgendered prostitutes? (Get crackin', boys!)
Of course, this whole phenomenon isn't new (one need only look at the careers of guys like Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp for evidence of Oscar's afterglow tendencies), but it does seem to be an increasing norm, and not just because the nominees are pros in their primes. Per the pattern, we don't exactly need a crystal ball to envision which of this year's hopefuls may well be back in 2012. David Fincher has The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which already has the combination of proven craft and surefire box office to make it a contender. If Like Crazy can ride the same Sundance-to-Oscar wave as Winter's Bone, then co-star Jennifer Lawrence could find herself in the discussion again. And we're certainly all familiar with James Franco's output. Who's to say he won't be the next to shine in the afterglow light?
Fincher, Lawrence and Franco: Future afterglow beneficiaries?
Do you think Oscar afterglow is good? Bad? Both? Some of this year's nominees will surely be benefitting soon.
Coen Bros, David Fincher, Jeff Bridges, Oscars (09), Oscars (10)
Reader Comments (16)
Michelle Williams
Jeremy Renner: Yay afterglow!
Ryan Gosling: Damn you! Where is MY afterglow then?
James McAvoy: Don't make me slap you both.
Well Kurt there are a million reasons why people get undeserved nominations, afterglow being no better or worse than the rest. It is an interesting concept though and you wonder if it's because the Academy's often myopic vision causes them to stick with someone they've just seen on the stage or if they're trying to justify past wins and nominees. Then again "undeserved" is all relative too. You poo poo last years nomination of A Serious Man while I consider it the best film of the year.
the thing that bothers me the most is the pre-conceived nominations.
EVERYBODY knew firth would be nominated when the movie was announced. (nothing against the performance, i quite like it.)
part of it has to with momentum as you mentioned, part of it i think is just the persona of that actor and that role. like, what were the chances that morgan freeman was not going to be nominated for invictus, regardless of momentum?
i think to an extent, bridges' nomination this year is because of that factor as well.
anyway, your write-up is right on, excpet for hating on "a serious man".
it's a terrific film, and my favourite, or second favourite of last year's nominees. defintely anything but a filler.
and i would have much preferred it if the coens were nominated last year for that one, instead of true grit.
@ robert:
yess ;)
they aren't fairly . why didn't depp win yet?
Robert and Amir -- I knew the "Serious Man" remark would draw some adverse reactions. Let me say that I will never discredit the Coens in terms of craft or assurance of vision, and I was pleased to see the Academy acknowledge something that, in theme and content anyway, is so very out of step from tradition. I just wish they could have done it with something other than that ingratiating movie, and with something made by someone other than the Coens. Because it's theirs, the whole tradition-breaking concept essentially negates itself.
I think Lawrence is a one-and-done, to be honest.
@Louis, I don't think Michelle's nom is afterglow. She may have gotten her Brokeback nomination riding the film's coattails but her performance WAS worthy, imo. And her Valentine performance is astonishing and while being a previous nominee may have helped, her nom this year is nothing short of deserving.
Oh goodness that "A Serious Man" nod last year was SO random. Thanks for reminding me haha. Penelope Cruz in Nine is seriously the best afterglow ever. I just love that that kept happening and no one really bothered to question it. I mean, Mo'Nique was going to win so why not? It's Pe! (And, honestly, with Penelope, I think it's just because she dresses so beautifully for awards shows that nobody wanted to not nominate her! Girl knows how to dress herself like no other.)
I also think that Lawrence is one and done. She doesn't seem like the type that can pull off a second one similar to Janet McTeer.
I, for one, fully support your opinion of Melissa Leo's one-note white trash performance in The Fighter. Having seen the film twice, her overblown 'acting' almost ruined the film for me. Her biggest crime is that at no point does she infuse Alice with any sympathy, unlike Bale. I found myself so angry at the end that she got to be a part of Micky's triumph.
I LOVE "A Serious Man". My fave last year as well.
@ Jonathon, I think @Louis meant that Michelle Williams will have ABUNDANT afterglow for next year with "My Week With Marilyn" and if that's what he meant, HE'S RIGHT. She's a respected actress that is nominated this year, she was part of Brokeback Mountain, she's gonna play the ultimate Hollywood Icon, The Weinsteins are behind the project, right? I mean, she's got everything behind her, she's a stronger contender than Meryl Streep lol :D
@Yavor, i think your exactly right. My apologies.
I wouldn't call that afterglow, I'd call it "addicted for more."
The Penelope Cruz case from last year is probably the saddest/most amazing definition of this term.
Also, in light of the brilliance of Annie Hall in '77, I've always thought that for Woody Allen, Manhattan and, to a much bigger extent, Interiors seemed like pretty early interesting cases of this afterglow theory. To say nothing of both being totally deserving though.
And count me in on the A Serious Man lovetrain. I saw the movie well after the fact, loved it, and then was so proud of the AMPAS for recognizing it. Although that was TOTALLY neutralized when I finally sat down to watch The Blind Side not long after. Talk about varying calls of judgement!