The Wake

Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

The 76th Academy Awards, otherwise knows as the 2004 “Lord of the Rings” love fest, could have been so much more. But rather than match the surprises and ingenuity of the nominations, which made headlines in themselves, the Academy’s final decisions seemed far more traditionalist than revolutionary, bestowing the statues on the big blockbusters and the big studios that one has come to cynically expect.

There were indeed surprises in the audience. Keisha Castle-Hughes, nominated for best actress in “Whale Rider,” was the youngest nominee ever in the category. Djimon Hounsou and Shohreh Aghdashloo, from “In America” and “House of Sand of Fog,” were surprise nominees for supporting performances.

The Brazilian film “City of God,” which was locked out of the foreign film nominations last year, came back with four surprise nominations this year as an American release, among them best director and best screenplay. The absurdist French animated film “The Triplets of Belleville” went head-to-head against Disney’s “Finding Nemo.” The independent entries “Lost In Translation” and “Mystic River” were both in the running for best picture.

But as they say, the more things change the more they stay the same.

This was not the year of the independent film, nor the year of the surprise. It was a safe, down-the-line, predictable affair; yet another self-congratulatory night from the shallow depths of Hollywood.

Naturally it all starts with “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.” Winner of eleven awards, tying the records of “Titanic” and “Ben-Hur,” “Lord of the Rings” is quintessential Hollywood; a blockbuster, built with monstrous special effects, based on best-selling material. Now before you make assumptions, I am a huge fan of the “Rings” trilogy. I am simply observing that, out of all these surprise nominees, it was the safe and profitable pick which emerged victorious time and time again.

In other awards too, the safe bet reigned supreme. For best supporting actress, while many predicted Aghdashloo would pull a major upset, Renee Zellweger won for her oh-so-average performance in “Cold Mountain.” Rather than rewarding Bill Murray (“Lost In Translation”) or, in an even bigger potential upset, Johnny Depp (“Pirates of the Caribbean”), the Academy went with front-runner and four-time nominee Sean Penn (“Mystic River”) for best actor. Peter Jackson was all but a sure thing to win best director for “Lord of the Rings.”

In the screenplay categories, where surprising works usually receive recognition, the Academy again went with the expected – “Lost In Translation” and “Lord of the Rings.”

And now with the full process in view, even the nominations start to look a little less meaningful.

Did the Academy really go out on a ledge in nominating Fernando Meirelles as best director for “City of God,” or were they so aware of Peter Jackson’s advantage that they knew the other nominees had no chance. I can just imagine the committee meeting: “Sure, why not nominate Fernando? He doesn’t have a chance of winning.”

I was among those who hailed the Academy’s nominations this year, saying they announced the changing of the guard in Hollywood. Gone were the Cruises, Kidmans, Streeps and Crowes, in their place Depps, Mortons, Laws, and Watts. But was this really a triumphant, break-through moment for independent performers and films, or were they simply filler in a year when a clear front-runner was sure to win everything?

Even the ceremony itself seemed to show the laughable state of this year’s awards. Meirelles, when on screen as one of the five directing nominees, played straight to the camera, obviously aware there was no way in hell he would be stepping foot on stage. One could sense that the performers of “Belleville Rendezvous,” nominated for best original song from “The Triplets of Belleville,” were content simply with their performance, realizing the American pop artists of the other songs had it all tied up.

Errol Morris, the brilliant documentary filmmaker who won for the critically-hailed “The Fog of War,” thanked the body for “finally” rewarding one of his films. Newcomers to the Awards might have seen this as moment of drama, but Morris has deserved this award for the last ten years (he has never been nominated), and only received it after mainstream critics like Roger Ebert came out in strong support of “War.”

Most depressing, however, was how the industry managed to commercialize and reduce many of the independent filmmakers in the audience. Sofia Coppola, the writer and director of the beautiful “Lost In Translation,” was singled out by host Billy Crystal as the first American woman nominated for best director, and then served as a presenter in an over-produced spectacle with father and filmmaking legend Francis Ford Coppola. I must admit, my heart sank. Here was the nominee for my favorite film of the year, singled out as a minority to make the Academy feel good about itself, and celebrated solely for her relation to an industry heavyweight.

This year’s Academy Awards had such potential to blow the lid off the expected and the routine. But in the end, I felt just like Bill Murray looked – dejected, aware of opportunities missed, using all my energy to project a half-smile in the pretense that this whole thing wasn’t the letdown that it was.

Steven Snyder reviews films on Radio K (770 AM) Friday and Sunday mornings