Pop-culture addicts (myself included) will be awake, alert, and perhaps a little jittery tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. EDT — anticipating the announcement of this year’s Academy Awards nominees. But in all honesty, I’m feeling slightly ambivalent about the Best Picture race this year, and that’s because my favorite film of 2006 is looking as likely to score a nomination as Sharon Stone for Basic Instinct 2.
Yes, folks, yesterday afternoon, I decided to brave the bitter cold to catch a matinee of Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men — and I left the theater wondering how the heck the awards hopes of this harrowing, beautiful film have been drowned out by the buzz surrounding The Departed, Dreamgirls, and Little Miss Sunshine. No knock on those movies, but Cuarón’s vision of a bleak, Orwellian future — in which a wave of infertility has swept the human race, and where paranoia over illegal refugees and shocking blasts of violence are the norm — left me quaking in my stadium seating, a feeling I haven’t quite shaken almost a day later. Not only should the film be up for Oscar’s highest honor, but certainly Cuarón, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, and stars Clive Owen, Claire-Hope Ashitey (pictured, with Owen), and Michael Caine (the latter two who manage to bring both humor and tenderness to an otherwise bleak experience) deserve to have their names called tomorrow morning.
Alas, though, whether it’s the unfortunate, abbreviated Oscar-season calendar (discussed at length in the spot-on inaugural edition of Mark Harris’ EW column The Final Cut) or perhaps a botched campaign by Universal, Children of Men doesn’t seem to be on any pundits’ predicted nominations list. But that’s not going to stop me from hoping (for the next 22 hours or so) that somehow, good sense and good taste will prevail, and Children of Men will get its due. Are you with me, PopWatchers? Or is Children of Men simply not worthy? And are there any other off-the-radar films (or performances) you’re hoping will sneak onto the list of nominees tomorrow morning?addCredit(“Little Children of Men: Double Negative”)
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the movie was amazing and definitely deserves SOME recognition!!!
So much word. While I liked those other films, Children just struck me in so many ways, and is just so….beautiful in its hopelessness. If it doesn’t get nominated, then I don’t see the Academy keeping any credibilty. See also Labyrinth, Pan’s.
I’m kinda hoping that Dreamgirls will not get nominated. I heard the movie wasn’t even that great. How is it racking up all these awards? If Jennifer Hudson was so good, then nominate her and not the movie. I wish Pan’s Labyrinth will gets some lovin’ tomorrow. That movie is still stuck in my head.
In all the crazy buzz about Helen Mirren in “The Queen,” people seemed to forget about Michael Sheen’s amazing performance as Tony Blair. Mirren was great/subtle, but nowhere near as good as Sheen.
i agree. along with ”pan’s labyrinth”, this deserves recognition. superb direction and cinematography and a great performance from clive owen.
Children of Men is far and away the best movie of the year, so of course the Oscars will ignore it. Too busy blowing up Helen Mirren’s skirt to notice anything else.
Literally right before clicking on Popwatch, I sent an email with this line in it, re: Children of Men:
“I’m surprised it’s not getting more award-season love.”
It’s a mystery, and a shame.
Well, being a habitual EW and EW.com reader, I’ve read a lot about “Children of Men,” and it does sound good, but I haven’t seen it yet. I’m sure that’s the case for most other people, including Academy voters.
Children of Men and Pan’s Labyrinth should both be in one of those five Best Picture spots… unfortunately, the marketing machine that is at Oscar plays, has already made certain that the sub-par Dreamgirls is going to be a nominee. If there’s any justice for great movies, Dreamgirls will not be in the five nominated films, making way for one of these two.
I couldn’t agree more. Children of Men is by far my favorite film of 2006, and the fact that it’s getting almost no buzz is completely shocking to me. It’s amazing.
Slezak, word! I went into CHILDREN OF MEN thinking I would enjoy a cool, sci-fi, flick. I left truly blown away by one of the best (and most important) films of the last decade. Alfonso Cuaron has directed a truly unique movie that touches important global issues, while still being a thoroughly entertaining movie-going experience. Michael Caine is outstanding in a role that could have been a cartoon, but he makes it very touching. His last scene is so emotional and sad. And what about those awesome action sequences? THE MATRIX can’t touch CHILDREN OF MEN!! P.S. I’m still holding out hope that STRANGER THAN FICTION (my 2nd fave of 06 gets some Oscar love)!
I was actually afraid of this movie – it looked like such a downer. But on MLK Day, when I finally had time to see a matinee, nothing else I wanted to see (such as Pan’s Labyrinth or Miss Potter) had made it to my major market city, so I saw Children of Men sort of by default.
And loved it. I agree completely; this is far and away the most artful movie of the year, original and universal at the same time, warm and human and intelligent and scary. That it’s being ignored in favor of the new versions of the usual suspects (we got the musical, we got the crime drama, we got the quirky little dysfunctional family comedy, we got the astonishing Brits playing real people) is heartbreaking.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Yeah COM has gotten the shaft this season. It got a late release date and Universal wasn’t expecting to have a winner on their hands that they now do. They put all the eggs in “The Good Shepherd” basket and didn’t think COM would make much of an impact. It definitely has.
It still could get a Director nom, Screenplay nom and a few technical noms. It could be this year’s “City Of God”.
I also hope Matt Damon gets a nom (I do not understand how he’s gotten ignored this season) and Sandra Bullock for “Infamous”.
while reading the post about Little Miss Sunshine — which was cute and entertaining, but that’s it — i was thinking the same thing as you: where is the love for Children of Men? it was without a doubt the best movie i’ve seen this year. i saw it two weeks ago, and i still feel its gloom around me.
Children of Men and Pan’s Labyrinth were the best movies I saw this past year, is a shame that Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro, neither themovies, will get the recognition they deserve.