As expected, 12 Years a Slave garnered 9 big nominations and is a heavy favorite to take home Best Picture following its win at the Golden Globes. What was not expected was that it received fewer nominations than two other movies that both received 10.
The first of the two is Gravity, which understandably received a lot of recognition for its technical excellence, making the whole concept of accumulating the number of Academy Award nominations somewhat misleading when comparing the multiple fields for sound and visual effects to scripts and acting.
The other movie to get 10 nominations is American Hustle, thanks to another ensemble piece by David O. Russell that earned nods in all four acting categories. 12 Years could have eclipsed these two contenders for most nominations had it made the cut in a couple more categories that it was expected to be recognized for: cinematography and score.
Sean Bobbitt’s cinematography in combination with Hans Zimmer’s music helped give 12 Years a Slave its distinct tone and were crucial to Steve McQueen’s vision in relating Solomon Northup’s story with the utmost impact, and yet they were nudged out by other less deserving work. And that’s the way it goes with these awards, further demonstrating why it’s best to consider the Academy Awards as merely one of many sources for film recognition in a given year.
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