According to the invaluable, if overly bitchy, Inside Oscar 2, 2000 was a dismal year for movies - so the insiders and critics thought. December arrived with no clear Oscar narrative and no frontrunner anywhere, except for Julia Roberts in Best Actress. Still, the pundits kept beating the same tired drums: Erin Brockovich is too TV movie-scaled, Requiem for a Dream is too NC-17, Gladiator is too popcorn-dumb, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is too foreign, Almost Famous and Wonder Boys bombed (all concerns which, to me, seem pretty irrelevant to how people watch and feel about movies). It didn't help that the Academy's fine print was excluding films left and right: the acclaimed Yi Yi, named Best Foreign Language Film by the New York and Los Angeles Critics, wasn't even included on the annual Reminder List, since its distributor didn't file paperwork to be considered; Croupier, which did appear on the Reminder List and was named among the Top Ten Films of the Year by the National Board of Review, was disqualified when it was discovered it had aired on Dutch television before being released theatrically.
Still, a consensus did form, as always, which meant sure things and surprises on Oscar nomination morning, and you'll see that for yourself this week and the next as we go through the various categories. Of the hundreds of films released this year, I only saw 120; of those films, only 29 were nominated at the 73rd Academy Awards, though up to nomination morning, there were still longshot hopes for films like All the Pretty Horses (which I did not see) and The House of Mirth. Alas, come February 13...:
The ceremony itself began March 25, 2001, hosted by Steve Martin. The first award of the night was for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, with nominees Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Gladiator, Quills, and Vatel all honored to be nominated. Tim Yip went home with the Oscar for his work on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The next award was Best Supporting Actress. The nominees were Judi Dench (Chocolat), Marcia Gay Harden (Pollock), Kate Hudson (Almost Famous), Frances McDormand (Almost Famous), and Julie Walters (Billy Elliot). And we'll discuss it....tomorrow.
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