And you thought it was all about the Oscars, didn’t you?
Nope. The Academy Awards are basically the last group to have their say about which films are the year’s most esteemed, and their picks don’t necessarily (or even often) reflect the feelings of the critical community, which is why you’ll see a lot more of The Tree Of Life, A Separation, and especially Melancholia below than you’ll see of them on the Oscars telecast.
(Films discussed in this post: Young Adult, Bad Teacher, Tabloid, The Roommate, The Help, Bridesmaids.)
It’d be nice to think that we’re in a day and age where women headlining a film doesn’t matter. But it does. Unless the film is geared specifically toward a female audience, you won’t often see a Thelma & Louise-type story driven by and centered on women in your multiplex. Your local arthouse theater, maybe. (If you’re lucky enough to even have one.) Usually, any movie with a female protagonist tends to be all about her romantic strife, pining after a guy when she’s not pratfalling. (Or, more likely, pining and pratfalling simultaneously.) The Devil Wears Prada, Mean Girls, Romy And Michele’s High School Reunion… the list of female-centric comedies that don’t revolve around the womens’ love lives (and are actually funny) is pretty slim.
Another day, another smattering of kudos from an organization most filmgoers don’t even know exists. This list keeps Hugo and The Artist on top of things, as will as giving The Help a little more awards-wind beneath its wings.
See the full list below.
