One film has an oblique ending that's left some viewers
dissatisfied and others floored by its profundity. The other
features a slowly developing plot and a brutal, operatically
violent finale.
No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood
are both gorgeous and bold, expertly crafted and intelligently
acted. But most movie goers have seen neither of them-and never
will-even though they're the two leading contenders for best
picture at this year's Academy Awards.
Oscar-nominated films are often small, dark and unintended for
mass audiences; they're about art, after all, not commerce. But
that's especially true of this year's crop, which has little
mainstream buzz and among the lowest box-office totals in recent
years.
The exception, of course, is the crowd-pleasing comedy
Juno, starring the hugely appealing Ellen Page as a
quick-witted, pregnant teen. It had a budget of about US$2.5
million and just crossed the US$100 million mark at the box office.
It is far and away the most financially successful of the five.
Ticket sales
Four of the movies nominated for best picture-Juno,
Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men and
There Will Be Blood-got the so-called Oscar bump that
comes from audiences checking them out the following weekend.
Still, in total they have made only about US$246.3 million in
the United States. In contrast, The Lord of the Rings: The
Return of the King had already grossed about US$364 million
when it won best picture in 2004.
In terms of ticket sales, about 7.3 million people have seen
No Country and two million have seen There Will Be
Blood, compared with about 51 million who saw the third
Rings picture by Oscar night.
"Someone asked me the other day if academy voters are out of
touch in honoring these films that aren't popular with audiences,"
said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracker Media
By Numbers. "But they're not supposed to be popular. They're
honoring the cinematic merit of these films. (Or else) 'Spider-Man
3' would have the most nominations.
"I always say it's either cinematic fast food or cinematic fine
dining-you pick what you want," Dergarabedian added. "And Oscar
tends to honor the films that give a cinematic fine-dining
experience."
The 2006 nominees did a bit better with a cumulative gross of
about US$297 million, thanks largely to the winner The
Departed, which ended up with more than US$132 million.
The Departed also had a revered director in Martin
Scorsese and an all-star cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt
Damon and Jack Nicholson.
The nominees from 2005 combined for about US$245 million with
the winner, the ensemble drama Crash, making only about
US$55 million. But that year had huge buzz thanks to Brokeback
Mountain, the gay cowboy romance, which had America talking
regardless of their interest in art-house films. The perceived
front-runner until the moment the envelope was opened, it made
US$83 million.
But it's not just the contenders in the best picture category
that are drawing specialized crowds. Michael Clayton is
the only film with multiple acting nominations: for its star,
George Clooney, and supporting actors Tom Wilkinson and Tilda
Swinton. The suspenseful corporate thriller from first-time
director Tony Gilroy has made a decent US$41.5 million.
Away From Her, which has made a best-actress
front-runner of Julie Christie as a wife suffering from Alzheimer's
disease, made just under US$16 million in limited release last
year. La Vie en Rose, the Edith Piaf biopic, has grossed
only about US$10 million, despite a wildly heralded performance
from best-actress nominee Marion Cotillard.
The languid Western "The Assassination of Jesse James by the
Coward Robert Ford," with its creepy, nuanced supporting turn from
nominee Casey Affleck, hasn't even made US$4 million. And the
experimental I'm Not There, which features six different
people playing various incarnations of Bob Dylan-including
supporting-actress nominee Cate Blanchett-made about US$3.5 million
in its limited run.
"They're not simple fare," said Boo Allen, a Dallas-based film
critic and historian.
"The average moviegoer might hear that Brad Pitt is playing
Jesse James, then they hear from someone who's seen it that it's
two and a half hours long and very slow. It's more of a character
study than a shoot 'em up, and it just doesn't touch a nerve," said
Allen, who chose La Vie en Rose as his favorite film this
season. "Something like Juno, that touches a nerve. You
hear people say it's funny, it's about a teenager who gets
pregnant. Jennifer Garner's in it, Jason Bateman's in it, the
little girl's really funny. That lends itself to word of mouth and
draws people in."
While they haven't exactly been huge in terms of box office,
this year's contenders are strong in terms of art. Veteran
cinematographer Roger Deakins, who's up for two Oscars for No
Country and Jesse James, compared the nominees to the
kinds of films that pushed boundaries in the 1970s.
"It's one of the best years because there's so many intelligent
films that are provocative. They're actually about something as
well as being entertaining," said Deakins, the longtime
collaborator with the Coen brothers, who has also been nominated
for the more mainstream The Shawshank Redemption.
"It really makes you feel part of a real cinema," he added.
"There's brilliant, brilliant people out there."
(Shanghai Daily February 3, 2008)