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| Scene from The Shape of Water |
With this week presenting the Oscar nominations, it only seems right to continually nitpick every category to determine just how good this year is (in my opinion, it's a very good one). However, there is one piece of trivia that's likely to go unnoticed: the films with the most nominations. While it's a big deal in any given year, does anyone remember what that film was even 10 years ago? It's what inspired me to rank the last 10 years of films that lead the year with the most nominations. Ironically, it's a bit uneven as there were many ties in a given year. However, it's also 13 films - the number of nominations that The Shape of Water received this year. It's interesting to look back at the films that dominated, even if they didn't win much. The following is my ranking of the past 10 years, which has produced a lot of interesting results.
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
*NOTE: Tied with Birdman
Total Nominations: 9
Total Wins: 4
While The Academy has always recognized the work of Wes Anderson, it felt like this was his big break as a film that played into every one of his impulses. It's at times a madcap comedy, others a jailbreak drama. It is everything that's wonderful and manic about cinema in one package, and featured an overlooked performance by the great Ralph Fiennes. It's a film that's very much aware that it's a movie, yet it's an alluring package that never ceases to show what an auteur can look like in the modern era. This is Anderson at his most self-indulgent, but thankfully it's not as pretentious as that sounds.
2. La La Land (2016)
Total Nominations: 14
Total Wins: 6
It's became all too easy to dismiss La La Land as a twee and delusional love letter to Hollywood. Even more so, it's become a punchline thanks to one infamous Best Picture announcement (not to mention a Jay-Z song). However, there's no denying that this film is a great film that borrows heavily from the masters like Minnelli, Sandrich, Demy, and Donen to create a contemporary tale about how following your dreams can't always be achieved without a few disappointments. It's a bit more melancholic than its upbeat numbers would suggest, but it's a bit better than its backlash would suggest. It may not be everyone's favorite movie, but it's one of those films that suggests that musicals are in desperate need of retooling, and Damien Chazelle is someone who has an intriguing take on how to do it.
3. Gravity (2013)
*Note: Tied with American Hustle
Total Nominations: 10
Total Wins: 7
The jury is still out as to whether this is a great thriller or just a technologically groundbreaking movie. Still, it's a movie that warranted the big screen experience by throwing the viewer into an intense situation that in the hands of Alfonso Cuaron became surreal and pulse-racing. It's the one film of these 13 that also manages to have an opening scene that captures everything perfectly in a long take where a simple ship repair session turns into unbridled chaos. Even if it's in outer space, it manages to feel claustrophobic in the best ways possible, and it helps that the director's long takes are just as awe-inspiring and influential as how the film was created. Maybe it's no more than gimmicks, but it's a film that probably deserves to be seen on the big screen at least once in your lifetime.
4. The Shape of Water (2017)
Total Nominations: 13
Total Wins: N/A
The latest film to join this list is also the most unorthodox possibly ever in The Academy's rich history. It's a love story between a mute and a sea creature, and one whose very genre (horror) has often been marginalized by Oscar voters. It's partially why it's so exciting to see the film on this list, though it also helps that Guillermo del Toro understands and empathizes with everyone in the story, creating a contemporary fairy tale that captures the modern progressive sensibilities in a heartwarming take. The fact that a film that feels at times feels noirish and others like an MGM musical only adds to the wonder of this film. If nothing else, it's one of the many films nominated from this year that show just how bold and different The Academy is going to be for the near future.
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Total Nominations: 13
Total Wins: 3
From the director of such violent films as Se7en, Zodiac, and Gone Girl comes a sentimental and nostalgic look into aging and the meaning of life. While the idea of David Fincher growing a heart is unexpected, so is adapting F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story into an epic of technical wizardry with a phenomenal central performance by Brad Pitt. It's a film that captures a look at the past through the guise of love and the philosophical questions that come with "curious cases" such as aging backwards. As much as this film helped put "Benjamin Button" jokes into the zeitgeist, it's still an impressive film on every level that proved just how strong a filmmaker Fincher could be when allowed to be more than the voyeuristic auteur who gets under your skin. It's a shame that he hasn't quite gotten this sweet ever again.
6. Birdman (2014)
*Note: Tied with The Grand Budapest Hotel
*Note: Won Best Picture
Total Nominations: 9
Total Wins: 4
Of these 13 films, Birdman is arguably the most divisive film in part because it was a Best Picture winner that played into tropes related to Hollywood's own self-indulgence. They're all fair points, but it was also a film as prescient to the moment thanks to its meta subtext about actors and comebacks, and how superhero roles are inescapable (Michael Keaton would play the Birdman-esque The Vulture in Spiderman: Homecoming only three years later). It's a film that can be grating, but it's full of an audacity that explores the power of cinema in a way not far removed from seeing a play on stage. It's a melodrama, and one that captures the frustrating ego of its characters in great comic detail. It's honestly a film that I love technically, but have a split relationship with on a visceral level. It's great when it's good and mediocre when it's bad. Still, I love what it achieves in spite of this.
7. The King's Speech (2010)
*Note: Won Best Picture
Total Nominations: 12
Total Wins: 4
As frustrated as some were that the film beat The Social Network for Best Picture, it seemed inevitable thanks to a run of more youthful films that came before. A stuffy period drama seemed overdue, even if it seemed old hat and familiar. Yet the film was successful thanks to a central performance by Colin Firth that saw his speech impediment convincingly holding him back from the finer joys of life. It's a simple theme, and one that most artists struggle with at some point. Yet it's still a riveting character study in which the drama is pulled through therapeutic means, witty banter, and a classical sensibility that turns one of the seemingly least interesting kings of English history into a figure of hope and praise. It's a classical Best Picture winner for sure, but it's a great example of what that actually means.
8. American Hustle (2013)
*Note: Tied with Gravity
Total Nominations: 10
Total Wins: 0
It's tough to explain the strange three year phenomenon of David O. Russell only five years later, when his films between The Fighter and American Hustle racked up a lot of nominations (close to 30). However, this "Scorsese-light" film about con men is a bit of an underrated example of his allure. With an all-star cast that plays well off of each other, this is a film that is uneven but remains thoroughly engaging in spite of that problem. It's a scrappy film that plays with style and intellect in a way that captures a sporadic charm that works because of how charismatic the stars delivering the lines are. Everyone here may have produced better movies, but Russell has rarely embodied his "actor's director" title quite like he does here.
9. The Hurt Locker (2009)
*Note: Tied with The Hurt Locker
*Note: Won Best Picture
Total Nominations: 9
Total Wins: 6
It is the most recent war film to win Best Picture, and the first female Best Director winner. With that said, nothing about this information would suggest how intense and literally explosive the actual experience is. It's a film that captures the feeling of being stuck at war in inescapable situations, knowing that hell is in some ways more favorable. In spite of the reality that the film is factually inaccurate, it still manages to feel like a documentary at times and forces the viewer to understand war on a different level. While Kathryn Bigelow's follow-up with writer Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty) may be more controversial, I felt that The Hurt Locker is only warm-up for that epic and its breathtaking look at obsession and how hollow revenge inevitably is.
10. Lincoln (2012)
Total Nominations: 12
Total Wins: 2
Steven Spielberg finally goes for the jugular with a courtroom drama that changed the very fabric of America. His subject was Abraham Lincoln, whose struggle to pass the 13th amendment becomes a harrowing journey into the world of legislation. It helps that Tony Kushner's script is brisk and full of memorable quips. It also helps that Daniel Day-Lewis turns in a convincing turn as the 16th president, itself radical for appearing differently than the days of the upbeat Young Mr. Lincoln. This is the old man Spielberg creating his depiction of the American mythology. He would continue with Bridge of Spies and The Post, but here he manages to create one of the most enviable ensembles that he's ever compiled. You just have to find them all.
11. Avatar (2009)
*Note: Tied with The Hurt Locker
Total Nominations: 9
Total Wins: 3
The most incredible thing about this film is that it earned two billion dollars at the box office, which is a feat that seems impossible for an original property no less than five years later when crossing a billion dollars has become the norm. Avatar is a curious film, in part because its success hasn't resonated over the past decade, save for its technical achievements in CG and 3D animation. Everything else remains largely forgotten to the point that the proposed sequels may wind up not being as big of a deal as the groundbreaking world building of the film. It's not the greatest story, but it deserves to have critical reassessment in the future, largely because franchise films are the norm now (you're not a Star Wars film until you gross a billion dollars) and no film like this could succeed otherwise. Still, it's an odd note in Oscar history that will be fun to try and understand somewhere down the line.
12. Hugo (2011)
In some ways, this is one of Martin Scorsese's most technically achieved films and has a dazzling direction to its Parisian setting. However, it's also a film that I have trouble loving in part because it feels at odds with itself, thanks largely to a second act reveal that turns it from the story of Hugo Cabret to one about the power of cinema. It's a lovely little lecture on classic cinema and preservation, but Scorsese's heart is more in exposing children to classical cinema in ways that occasionally feels a bit too ambitious. The good news is that Scorsese can't make a bad movie if he tried. However, this is one where his story feels secondary to his intent, and it feels a little bit deceitful as a result.
13. The Revenant (2015)
Total Nominations: 12
Total Wins: 3
If there was one film of recent years that should've sparked the Best Stunt Performer category debate, it's this nature drama whose production history is more interesting than the actual story. Leonardo DiCaprio's stunts mistakenly won him an overdue Oscar, inadvertently suggesting that Johnny Knoxville has been robbed for 20 years in the process. As beautiful as it looks, it's a film about suffering and people experiencing pain in the quest to seek revenge. Sure, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's direction is ambitious, but at what extent? This is masochism disguised as art, and the myth that DiCaprio was "raped" by a female bear is far more interesting than anything that happened on screen.
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