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Christopher Nolan - Why No Oscar Nomination?

Another snub in this years Academy Awards that we can’t understand is the complete oversight of Christopher Nolan in the Best Director category for Inception, even though it was considered worthy of Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay nods. While a Best Picture nomination may seem at first glance to make up for this oversight, it isn’t the first time Nolan has been overlooked and the category was increased to 10 films from 5 last year as a result of the uproar that Nolan’s last film The Dark Knight wasn’t nominated in 2009. If you follow the pattern of the Oscars you’ll know that many awards are given when it is a persons “Time”, or when they deserve it not specifically for the performance that year but the ones previously; i.e. Martin Scorsese winning an Oscar for The Departed but not for Taxi Driver, Goodfellas or Raging Bull. By this trend surely it is Nolan’s “Time”, his last two films same been two of the biggest films of all time (both artistically and commercially) and his other works include Memento, Batman Begins & The Prestige, all brilliant films. On top of this Inception is a masterpiece of film making on every level, from the idea, the script and craft of the visuals it is hard to think of any other director who could have made this film with such strong and assured confidence while also not being overwhelmed by the depth of the story.

There is almost no chance of Inception winning Best Picture, that seems certain to go to either the over hyped The King’s Speech or the (to a slightly lesser extent) over hyped The Soical Network. Visually it is by far the most impressive film this year and the plot is easilly the most complex of any ‘Blockbuster’ in a long, long time. And yet Christopher Nolan, for his second film in a row, is deemed to not be one of the 5 Best Directors of the year.

S. O’Neill