From left: Sanziana Tarta, Madalina Ghitescu, Anamaria Marinca, and Catalina Harabagiu in "4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days."
(adi paduretu/mobra films)
It wouldn't be an Oscar season without something to crab about, so thank you, Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, for handing us this year's two glaring examples of why the nomination rules are overdue for an overhaul.
'4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days' wasn't nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
The Romanian drama had company: France's "Persepolis," like "4 Months" one of the most award-winning, critically praised films of 2007, wasn't nominated either. They were submitted by their respective countries, at least; the French-language "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and many other worthy films weren't.
Then there were cases like Israel's hugely popular "The Band's Visit" and Taiwan's "Lust, Caution," both submitted but rejected as ineligible by the AMPAS submission committee. "Visit" committed the crime of having more than 50 percent of its dialogue in English, but seeing as it's the only common language the film's stranded Egyptian musicians and their Israeli hosts share, that's kind of the point. "Lust, Caution" got the boot for not having enough Taiwanese people working on the film - essentially, for not being Taiwanese enough. Since the movie's set in WWII-era Shanghai, it seems like a silly point, but the rules say that a movie has to be from somewhere, and that's where Taiwan-born director Ang Lee put his marbles.
Here are some ideas, AMPAS. Junk the one-film-per-country idea: It promotes politics and punishes cinema. Be willing to bend on the language percentage: You know darn well that "The Band's Visit" is a "foreign film" of the sort the category was created to celebrate. And maybe bring in an adviser who actually understands the field for handicapping purposes. When "4 Months" wins the Golden Palm and "Persepolis" the Jury Prize at Cannes but neither gets nominated by the academy, it's Oscar that looks foolish.
Jonny Greenwood's score for "There Will Be Blood" wasn't nominated
The official reason is that the category's called Best Original Score and Greenwood's stark orchestrations weren't deemed original enough: He had reworked some of his "Blood" score from a BBC-commissioned piece called "Popcorn Superhet Receiver," and thrown in passages from Brahms and Arvo Part as well. There's another academy rule about this - rule number 16.B.5.d, to be precise - and it disqualifies "scores diluted by the use of tracked themes or other pre-existing music."
So, uh, how come the score for "Babel" was nominated and won last year, even though Gustavo Santaolalla recycled portions of his music from earlier work and included cuts by Japanese art-rocker Ryuichi Sakamoto? And why did the academy notify Greenwood his score was disqualified seven days after the nomination voting deadline, making an appeal by Paramount Vantage a nonissue? Could it be that Greenwood, the guitarist for Radiohead as well as a classically trained violist, is too much an outsider for the hidebound Original Score category? That the intimidating, in-one's-face music for "There Will Be Blood" doesn't play by the rules? Apparently composing music that contributes in a major way to a movie's tone, impact, and art isn't enough. You also have to know the right people. AMPAS, your slip is showing.
Ty Burr can be reached at tburr@globe.com. For more on movies, go to boston.com/ae/movies/blog.
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