OSCAR RACE 2008
commentary
by Nathaniel
R
days until OSCAR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED !
Naked Gold Man Swoons
Oscar & The Romantic Epic
You know the old Hollywood saying "dying is easy but comedy is hard"? I've never doubted its truth. But you know what the mythical "they" don't say that I bet is equally true: "Pulling off sweeping epics with lots of kissing? Not a piece of cake!" For romantic films to soar the casting has to be perfect, the chemistry must sizzle and the size and stylistic choices of the movie walk a delicate high wire. Any false step and your lovers can go tumbling into the kitsch of Harlequin paperback cliché. There's also the very real trap of cheapening history by reducing it to pretty backdrop for the tortured swooning of enviably beautiful people. Not surprisingly the narratives of period epics, whether fictional or history focused, sometimes ignore romance altogether or relegate it to subplot.
The subject is relevant now since the super sized Baz Luhrmann epic Australia will soon hit theaters. If people swoon right along with its photogenic lovers, it'll likely be up for multiple Oscars. But how many? Which ones? Is Oscar an easy lay for this type of movie or do they only jump into passionate embraces when Mr & Mrs Perfect come knocking?
My initial instinct, minus any research, was that Oscar loves to be romanced by beautiful people in period finery, their love story intertwined with famed world events. But is that really true? Perhaps it's just that early Oscar champion Gone With the Wind casts a really long shadow.
Best Pictures that might arguably be called "period romantic epics"
Gone With the Wind
nominees
Cleopatra
Romeo and Juliet
Jezebel
Wuthering Heights
nominees
Random Harvest
An American in Paris
From Here To Eternity
Gigi
nominees
The King and I
My Fair Lady
nominees
Cleopatra
Romeo & Juliet
Doctor Zhivago
Bonnie & Clyde
Out of Africa
nominees
Tess
Reds
The English Patient
Titanic
Shakespeare in Love
nominee
Beauty & The Beast
The Piano
(none)
nominees
Moulin Rouge!
Brokeback Mountain
Atonement
My first reaction is that that's not very many films. You might quibble with some of the choices (let me know if I forgot any). I mean, are Brokeback Mountain or Bonnie & Clyde really "epics"? Both achieve mythic grandeur but they do so in fairly intimate ways ... maybe they don't qualify. If you removed questionable classifications or erase the musical genre (a natural fit for stories of "heightened" emotion -- which is why so many musicals are also love stories) the picture changes. Categorization is difficult and simply listing nominees doesn't paint the whole picture.But there do seem to be a few generic truths.
1. Oscar has mood swings: Romance wasn't anything close to a top priority in the 1970s (unless it was a contemporary affair) and they went wild for randy doomed lovers in the late 90s for three consecutive wins.
2. Oscar likes coupling epics even more when they come with showtunes.
3. Oscar's taste for romance doesn't rely on historical trappings. This list doesn't include many famously romantic titles including West Side Story, Casablanca, Love Story, Brigadoon, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, Brief Encounter which weren't period pieces but contemporary stories at the time of their release.
Finally, no Oscar study can be complete without factoring in the overlooked films. And this is where the picture gets very cloudy and hard to complete. Most Oscar studies ignore snubs and general production factors --what was Hollywood even producing to give Oscar it's choice of "best"s? -- probably because it's harder to ascertain trends the larger your field of vision grows. Here are some snubs, be they just-miss contenders or shunned altogether.
A sampling of "Period Romantic Epics" that were not nominated.
(If you can add to the list, please do)
Camille
Now Voyager
The Way We Were
The Great Gatsby
French Lieutenant's Woman
Year of Living Dangerously
Mrs Soffel
The Age of Innocence
Legends of the Fall
Queen Margot
Romeo + Juliet
The Notebook
Cold MountainSo many variables to consider. Oscar isn't always in the mood for retro loving. But even when they aren't, the films can quite often emerge with Best Actress and Costume Design nominations and a stray nomination of some other sort. Australia's chances in a wide array of categories clearly hinge on how deep audiences fall into reciprocal love with Kidman's aristocrat and Jackman's cattle driver.
These lists aren't comprehensive as I'm sure I've forgotten a film or 14... but merely thrown up for your consideration. In the end the truth may be that Hollywood just doesn't make that many romantic period epics to begin with. Perhaps they're too expensive, too risky and too mushy for the adolescent male market that Hollywood most values? The genre's market and Oscar pull will be tested again when Australia opens later this month.
