The above image accurately depicts my response to learning that Toni Collette didn’t get a Best Actress nomination for Hereditary.
To me, best picture of the year comes down to Buster Scruggs or this one. Still, I dig that Hereditary — a bloody brain-smashing mindfuck of a film — probably wasn’t the kind of thing you’d expect to snag the big prize. But, c’mon, nothing for Collette, nothing for Screenplay?
I shouldn’t complain, Shape of Water won it all last year, which shows that sometimes even the horror guys get noticed. Besides, I’m ambivalent about the value of awards. In 1988, The Last Emperor won Best Picture, but you, and me, and practically everyone else on the face of this good earth would rather watch Die-Hard (released at the same time). It doesn’t matter how many prizes you’ve won; they won’t make anyone love you anymore. That’s not how emotions work. And in any one year, lots of good work will not only go unhonored… it will go unnoticed! Princess Bride? Bomb. Sean Lennon’s Friendly Fire? See below. As noted in Ecclesiastes, “the race goes not always to the swift, and Best Animated Film will go to Pixar even if their latest picture was duller then dishwater.” That’s in Ecclesiastes isn’t it?