The one documentary, indeed the one movie, that I was pulling for the most was Sarah Polley’s absolute masterpiece of a personal film, Stories We Tell. I’ve never seen such a private story be extended in such a way to illuminate compelling philosophical ideas about how we make sense of our lives and how we decide to relate it to the people around us. The consolation I take is that it’s hard to categorize it as a pure documentary, and it was also released so long ago for those of us in Canada that its greatness is already long established and an Oscar won’t contribute that much to the movie’s legacy, which is already firmly in place. It’s just a matter of time until Polley gets the Oscar recognition she deserves, but she’s still young and her moment will come.
There are other examples of work many wish would have been nominated but were unsurprisingly unmentioned as well: James Franco in Spring Breakers, Daniel Bruhl in Rush, the cast of Prisoners, Michael B. Jordan in Fruitvale Station. These movies will go down in history as receiving fewer nominations than whatever the hell Alone but Not Alone is/was. A better test of the greatness of movies and performances is, as we most likely all agree, the test of time. Plenty of Academy Award nominees and winners have faded into oblivion while work that went unrecognized in its time is now celebrated generations later. That, however, is a little more difficult to tweet about.
Are you pleased or disappointed with the nominations for the 2014 Academy Awards? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
