Two (or perhaps three) of our presumed locks missed out on Director citations this year at the Academy Awards. It happened and now we have to try to sift out the “real” contender that will stand on stage at the end of the evening to be crowned Best Picture of the Year. Many, including myself, think Ben Affleck’s Argo stands a real chance to win it all if enough momentum builds in its favor. Our own Joey Magidson has a piece going up tomorrow to break it down more in-depth.
Today’s question might be one of our toughest yet.
Can you think of a film you would crown worthy of being named Best Picture of the Year without having its director make your personal five for Best Director?
On the surface, the question may not make too much sense to many of us because people have a hard time wrapping their heads around rewarding a Picture but not the Director. How can one go without the other? A reader posed this question for one of our podcasts recently and we were unable to answer it. He asked how you can personally pick out the direction from a film. How can you say one director was better than the other without ever being on set with him or her? Did the director make choices in telling the story that either seems unconventional or unprecedented that if another director stepped into his or her shoes, the entire structure and aura of the film would change?
I’m likely on an island alone when I say that Picture and Director do not go hand in hand. I define crowning a film Best Picture by my overall feelings about the feature. How did the film affect me? Did I cry? Did I laugh? Does it stand out among other films released in the same year? A movie usually provides several different feelings throughout. An excellent movie likely brings you on a roller coaster of emotions making you invested in each of its characters with some sort of indescribable feeling by film’s end.
The closest example I could think of is Ron Howard’s Cinderella Man (2005), a film I had chosen as my #1 film of 2005 without citing Howard as one of the five Best Directors of the year. Looking back, 2005 is one of the worst years collectively for cinema in recent memory which is likely why this film fits these criteria but when I reviewed the film nearly seven years ago, Howard’s film stood as one of my favorite boxing films since Rocky (1976). Stars Russell Crowe and Academy Award Nominee Paul Giamatti delivered some of their finest works, bringing a touching story about a man down on his luck making an unbelievable comeback to merely put food on the table. I was moved, invested, and shattered by the heroic efforts of Jim Braddock, though I do understand everything in the film is dramatized and not in fact all true. A three and a half star rating seemed only fitting and as it stands today, 2005 is the only year not to receive a single four star review from me including Brokeback Mountain and Capote. Are these bad films? Not by a long shot and I’m still very taken with the majority of them but when looking at Howard’s film, the story remained front and center but didn’t present Howard’s stamp or signature artistic style that either raised or deflated the motion picture experience. Is it poor direction? Not at all, but standing next to David Cronenberg (A History of Violence), Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain), and even the flawed but directorially admirable Steven Spielberg for Munich, Howard simply didn’t make the cut.
This year Ben Affleck doesn’t quite fit the explanation of a film that is better than the direction. Affleck was just as worthy to be cited but with an outstanding year of cinema, someone, or in this case three directors, missed out on nominations. Argo is in a prime position to possible become the fifth film in Oscar history to win without a Directing nomination.
Talk among yourselves.
UBourgeois
January 17, 2013 at 6:21 pm
I can think of many examples for my BP pick not matching my personal BD pick, but when i look back I can’t think of a time when the director of my BP wouldn’t even be in the best five of the year. My best guess right now would be 2009, where I would pick Up In the Air or A Serious Man for my Best Picture, but BD would be filled up probably by Cameron, Bigelow, Tarantino, and then maybe Herzog and one of the two between the Coens and Reitman.
That said, it’s easier for me to separate the film and the direction, but I do it better the opposite way. Quality films are very frequently well-directed, but a film is not always as good as its direction. Scorsese certainly deserved to be in the Top 5 directors of 2011, but Hugo hits #15 in my list of films that year.
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Steve Glansberg
January 17, 2013 at 9:14 pm
One way to try and think about it is “could another director have made this film-with the same crew and screenplay-and still made just as good a film?” In other words, for a director to really deserve a best director academy award, they have to have been indispensable in the creation the film.
When I look for good direction apart from the overall quality of a film, I tend to look for strong but not distracting thematic or aesthetic directorial hallmarks, guidance and clear presentation of difficult or complex material (which is often tied in with good editing and screenwriting), and dominance of the overall film making process. I would be more likely to award a director that was involved in his or her project at every level as opposed to one that was only involved in the basic guidance of the process. I think to fully appreciate directorial achievement (after all, the award is for “best achievement in directing”), one must also understand the behind the scenes activity of the film maker, their level of commitment and involvement, and the number of risks and innovations attempted in the creation of the film, which the director is responsible for coordinating in every department.
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Steve Glansberg
January 17, 2013 at 9:18 pm
Oh, I just thought of one. I don’t know if it would be my personal pick, but one could make the argument for American History X in 1998 without Tony Kaye. I mean, he disowned the final cut and tried to have his name removed. The final film is significantly different from the original screenplay, as well as the various versions Kaye put together while negotiating with the studio. I think Kaye would actually be kind of mad if he had been nominated for that film, he was so upset with the way things went and said it was not like what he intended. But hey, a lot of people love the final film.
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Jeremy DC
January 17, 2013 at 9:26 pm
I’m one of those that believes picture and director go together but I started to think maybe comedies could fit in that best picture but no directing nomination equation. I also consider 2005 to be pretty weak and The 40 Year Old Virgin was my favorite movie of that year. It’s a weird pick but I thought the film was great with nothing special about Judd Apatow’s directing.
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JamDenTel
January 17, 2013 at 9:43 pm
This year, I wouldn’t say so. Looking at my top 10 (which encompasses all five of my Best Director nominees), the only one that I would even consider giving Best Picture to would be Wreck-It Ralph. And, while I love that movie, I don’t think I’d give it the award.
Last year, however, my #3 film, Meek’s Cutoff, and my #5 film, Shame, did not get onto my Best Director list, but I would be willing to consider either for the top prize–although nothing ultimately beats Melancholia.
It is worth noting, though, that while Seven Psycopaths is my #1 film, Best Director goes to The Master–#2.
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JamDenTel
January 17, 2013 at 9:45 pm
Also, for 2009, In the Loop is all but tied with Inglourious Basterds for first place, but In the Loop is far more about the writing and acting than the directing. Not sure if it might not get a nomination just out of principle, but no win.
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randall gerber
January 17, 2013 at 11:42 pm
if ben affleck wins the directors’ guild award and ‘argo’ wins best cast ensemble at the sag awards,the academy is going to fell a lot more stupid(er) then ever before and need to reexamine its rules to see something like this doesn’t happen again.the same with kathryn bigelow or any other actor director, producer,etc…..
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Ben Turner
January 18, 2013 at 5:30 am
Well I was very much of the opinion that Bridesmaids was the best film of 2011 and was completely incensed that in ten spaces of Best Picture nominations they couldn’t find room for the best reviewed and publically adored comedy for many years but could find space for drivel like War Horse and Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close. However, saying that, I wouldn’t even have though about a director nomination for it.
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Reezo
January 18, 2013 at 6:30 am
The directorial accomplishments of the filmmaker dictate the direction and quality of the movie. The director’s decisions on set not only determine the writing of the film (lines cut etc.) But also the everything ranging from the performances to the set design.
That being said, there are some films where it really is a particular obvious quality that makes it shine. I’d say it’s pretty impossible to the have my best picture of the year without a director nomination. However, films lower on that list may be shine from writing, which remains the most important part of any film if you ask me. Sometimes, writing transcends the accomplishments of the director. Years like 2007, when Joe Wright was snubbed for Atonement. A film where the writing almost overshadows the film. Then Juno, I wouldn’t have included Jason Reitman that year sure he did the material justice, though the screenplay was enough to warrant a place among the top five films of the year. My pick would have been Paul Greengrass for Ultimatum. The exact opposite. A film that screams of direction!!
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Anupam
January 18, 2013 at 9:45 am
Joe Wright for Atonement? I think his direction alleviated the writing and for once his flashy direction was completely in sync with the material. I think Atonement is much more the director’s film than anything.
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missionstatement1224
January 18, 2013 at 9:08 pm
The last time my best picture didn’t match up with its director was in 2007, when my top film was Sweeney Todd, but I gave P.T. Anderson top marks for director. Even so, I still had Tim Burton ranked third.
However, I did have one year where I didn’t include the director of my favorite film in the top 5. In 2004, which is one of my favorite years for film ever, my best picture prize went to The Notebook (I have no apologies for it either). My director prize went to Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby, along with Martin Scorsese for the Aviator, Michel Gondry for Eternal Sunshine, Michael Mann for Collateral, and Terry George for Hotel Rwanda.
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jack
January 18, 2013 at 10:01 pm
Little Miss Sunshine. Superbad, but Blood was my 2nd and PTA won director
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Chucho E. Quintero
January 19, 2013 at 3:37 am
2005 was a GREAT year for films:
Capote, Brokeback, Transamerica, THE PUFFY CHAIR, Walk the Line, The Squid and the Whale, Nine Lives, Mysterious Skin, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Paradise Now, DUCK SEASON, Good night and good luck, Thumbsucker, BRICK, De battre mon coeur s’est arrêté, Batman begins, King Kong…
Do you want me to go on? I don’t get it.
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