It's hard to believe that it's been a decade since Martin Scorsese one of the greatest directors of all time was finally rewarded his long overdue oscar. 10 years from this momentus event he still has only won the one award and really the win in retrospective while worthy in terms of fellow nominees of the actual list of great 2006 features is in my opinion an example of an overdue oscar rather than a deserved one. The Departed the film Scorsese won his oscar for also won the picture prize and while a good film is in no way one of his greats which is tough for any film when comparing to previous achievements from Scorsese. The Departed does have it's moments of greatness like most Scorsese films and features some incredible work from Jack Nicholson and especially Leonardo DiCaprio who was overlooked for this film in favor of Blood Diamond (how did this happen). The other nominees that year for best picture don't inspire much excitement either, they were Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel, Clint Eastwood's Letter from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine and Stephen Frears The Queen. Considering how great Letter from Iwo Jima is would've made it my choice from these list of nominees even including The Departed as Letters is the only one to make my top 10 list for the year. Babel is like most Iñárritu films ambitious but in the end not all it's cracked up to be. Little Miss Sunshine is cute and typical indie family fair but best picture worthy I'm not so sure and The Queen while good in terms of it's performances but is rather slow and bland other then the actors work. It's no surprise Scorsese was able to win with this field and his win for this is made even worse especially since he won over such weak competition.
Now that I've sort of objected to the academies choices I will talk about what I consider to be great films from this year. My number one choice actually surprisingly won multiple academy awards. This film is Pan's Labyrinth directed by Guillermo del Toro. It's such a magically horrifying film of equal wonder and fearful shots. Del Toro has never made a greater film than this which is a reason why so many people look forward to his films mainly due to the brilliance he displayed with Pan's Labyrinth. Then there is Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men, Yet another impressive feature from the mexican born director who like del Toro made his greatest film in 2006 but unlike Pan's was not even rewarded by the academy. Children of Men is so gorgeous to look at from Lubezki's photography to the entrailing story being told in this film. Then there's Notes on a Scandal which is the perfect blend of elegance and pulpy fun. The film can be overlooked due to it's pulpy elements and high emotional character choices by Blanchett and Dench but the film has a grasp on it's tone so well that I can't help but fall in love with the film every time I see it. One of these reasons is Judi Dench who should've won the actress prize for her villianess and harrowing work as Barbara Covett a women unaware of how she can ruin lives with just lusting for one women. Dench has never been better then Notes and easily snatches my actress prize. Inland Empire to date our last David Lynch film rocked people at the time of it's release leading them to look negatively on the film but in my opinion like many of his features before is a glorious and simply Lynchian film like no other. Laura Dern is a site to behold in the lead role and all together it is Lynch stepping further into himself and you have liked him before like I have then you can only marvel at this film. The final film that would've filled my 5 nominee ballot is Cristi Puiu's The Death of Mr. Lazarescu a comedic drama film about an old man taken from hospital to hospital one night. It is a rather interesting film to watch that I've only seen the one time but outright loved it that I couldn't help but see it make my top 5 list. The acting winners along with the top prizes where disappointing in 2006 as you had Forest Whitaker, Helen Mirren, Alan Arkin and Jennifer Hudson win. The Hudson win I agree with no matter anyone's opinion as I just outright enjoy her work no matter how limited she might be. However outside of her I just can't agree with the other choices. Whitaker may have struck gold with his performance but when aganist Peter O'Toole in his final nomination is no comparison as O'Toole breaks your heart to pieces. I've discussed Dench over Mirren and Arkin a shock on a night is such a pitiful win that I can't help but cry at him winning over such a turn as Jackie Earl Haley in Little Children.
I've seen so many films during 2006 and over the years since from the year that the list is rather too long but just know that from what I saw it was an impressive year for foreign cinema whether actually the foreign language or foreign directors hitting it big with English language features. Below however is the list of winners and nominees I would've preferred for the year instead of the academies list.
OUTSTANDING PICTURE:
01. Pan's Labyrinth (Produced by Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, Bertha Navarro, Frida Torresblanco & Alvaro Augustin)
02. Children of Men (Produced by Hilary Shor, Iain Smith, Tony Smith, Marc Abraham & Eric Newman)
03. Notes on a Scandal (Produced by Robert Fox & Scott Rudin)
04. Inland Empire (Produced by Laura Dern & Mary Sweeney)
05. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Produced by Alexandru Munteanu, Bobby Paunescu & Anca Puiu)
06. United 93
07. L'Enfant
08. Letters from Iwo Jima
09. Dreamgirls
10. Volver
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR:
Alfonso Cuarón for Children of Men
Guillermo del Toro for Pan's Labyrinth
Paul Greengrass for United 93
David Lynch for Inland Empire
Cristi Puiu for The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR:
Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy in "THE DEPARTED"
Ryan Gosling as Dan Dunne in "HALF NELSON"
Peter O'Toole as Maurice in "VENUS"
Clive Owen as Theo Faron in "CHILDREN OF MEN"
Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin in "THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND"
OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS:
Penélope Cruz as Raimunda in "VOLVER"
Judi Dench as Barbara Covett in "NOTES ON A SCANDAL"
Laura Dern as Nikki Grace / Susan Blue in "INLAND EMPIRE"
Maggie Gyllenhaal as Sherry Swanson in "SHERRYBABY"
Meryl Streep as Miranda Prestly in "THE DEVIL WEAR'S PRADA"
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Steve Carell as Frank Ginsberg in "LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE"
Jackie Earl Haley as Ronnie J. McGorvey in "LITTLE CHILDREN"
Eddie Murphy as James 'Thunder' Early in "DREAMGIRLS"
Jack Nicholson as Francis "Frank" Costello in "THE DEPARTED"
Michael Sheen as Tony Blair in "THE QUEEN"
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Cate Blanchett as Sheba Hart in "NOTES ON A SCANDAL"
Emily Blunt as Emily in "THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA"
Eva Green as Vesper Lynd in "CASINO ROYALE"
Jennifer Hudson as Effie White in "DREAMGIRLS"
Mia Kirshner as Elizabeth Short in "THE BLACK DAHLIA"
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Cristi Puiu & Razvan Radulescu for The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck for Half Nelson
David Lynch for Inland Empire
Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne for L'Enfant
Peter Morgan for The Queen
OUTSTANDING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Screenplay by Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby; Based on The Children of Men by P. D. James, Children of Men
Screenplay by William Monahan; Based on Infernal Affairs by Alan Mak & Felix Chong, The Departed
Screenplay by Todd Field & Tom Perrotta; Based on Little Children by Tom Perrotta, Little Children
Screenplay by Patrick Marber; Based on Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller, Notes on a Scandal
Screenplay by Jason Reitman; Based on Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley, Thank You for Smoking
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
Cars (Directed by John Lasseter)
Flushed Away (Directed by David Bowers & Sam Fell)
Happy Feet (Directed by George Miller)
Over the Hedge (Directed by Tim Johnson & Karey Kirkpatrick)
A Scanner Darkly (Directed by Richard Linklater)
OUTSTANDING ART DIRECTION:
Production Design by Jim Clay & Geoffrey Kirkland; Set Design by Jennifer Williams for Children of Men
Production Design by John Myhre; Set Design by Nancy Haigh for Dreamgirls
Production Design by K.K. Barrett; Set Design by Veronique Melery for Marie Antionette
Production Design by Eugenio Caballero; Set Design by Pilar Revuelta for Pan's Labyrinth
Production Design by Owen Patterson; Set Design by Peter Walpole for V for Vendetta
OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH/DEBUT:
Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada)
Shareeka Epps (Half Nelson)
Déborah François (L'Enfant)
Eva Green (Casino Royale)
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Emmanuel Lubezki for Children of Men
Matthew Lipatique for The Fountain
David Lynch for Inland Empire
Guillermo Navarro for Pan's Labyrinth
Barry Ackroyd for United 93
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN:
Patricia Field for The Devil Wears Prada
Sharen Davies for Dreamgirls
Milena Caniberi for Marie Antionette
Lala Huete for Pan's Labyrinth
Consolata Boyle for The Queen
OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY:
An Inconvenient Truth (Directed by Davis Guggenheim)
OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR:
The Departed (Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, Ray Winstone, Alec Baldwin, Anthony Anderson, James Badge Dale, David O'Hara, Mark Rolston, Kevin Corrigan, John Cenatiempo, Armen Garo, Robert Wahlberg, Kristen Dalton, Conor Donovan)
Dreamgirls (Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose, Keith Robinson, Sharon Leal, Hinton Battle, Mariah I. Wilson)
Little Miss Sunshine (Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, Dean Norris, Wallace Langham, Beth Grant, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Matt Winston)
A Prairie Home Companion (Garrison Keillor, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Lindsay Lohan, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline, Virginia Madsen, L. Q. Jones, Tim Russell, Maya Rudolph, Robin Williams, Linda Williams, Tom Keith, Sue Scott)
Volver (Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Yohana Cobo, Blanca Portillo, Lola Dueñas, Chus Lampreave, Antonio de la Torre , María Isabel Díaz, Carlos Blanco, Neus Sanz)
OUTSTANDING FILM EDITING:
Stuart Baird for Casino Royale
Alfonso Cuaron & Alex Rodriguez for Children of Men
Thelma Schoonmaker for The Departed
Virginia Katz for Dreamgirls
Clare Dougkasm Richard Pearson & Christopher Rouse for United 93
OUTSTANDING FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Directed by Cristi Puiu)
L'Enfant (Directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne)
Letters from Iwo Jima (Directed by Clint Eastwood)
Pan's Labyrinth (Directed by Guillermo del Toro)
Volver (Directed by Pedro Almodóvar)
OUTSTANDING MAKEUP:
Aldo Signoretti & Vittorio Sodano for Apocalypto
Jean-Luc Russier & Desiree Corridoni for Marie Antionette
David Marti & Montse Ribe for Pan's Labyrinth
Daniel Phillips for The Queen
Paul Engelen, Melissa Lackersteen & Petra Schaumann for V for Vendetta
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE:
Gustavo Santaolalla for Babel
Nathan Johnson for Brick
Clint Mansell for The Fountain
Philip Glass for Notes on a Scandal
Alexandre Desplat for The Queen
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG:
"O Kazakhstan", Borat (Music by Erran Caron Cohen; Lyrics by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Bauham, Todd Phillips, Dan Greaney, Jeffrey Poliquin & Patton Oswalt)
"Listen", Dreamgirls (Music by Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler; Lyrics by Anne Preven)
"Love You I Do", Dreamgirls (Music by Henry Krieger; Lyrics by Siedah Garrett)
"The Song of the Heart", Happy Feet (Music and Lyrics by Prince)
"I Need to Wake Up", An Inconvenient Truth (Music and Lyrics by Melissa Etheridge)
OUTSTANDING PERFORMER OF THE YEAR:
Alec Baldwin (The Departed, The Good Shepherd, Running with Scissors)
Cate Blanchett (Babel, The Good German, Notes on a Scandal)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men, Inside Man, Kinky Boots)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Monster House, Sherrybaby, Stranger than Fiction, World Trade Center)
William H. Macy (Bobby, Inland Empire, Thank You for Smoking)
OUTSTANDING SOUND EDITING:
Martin Cantwell & Eddy Joseph for Casino Royale
Richard Beggs & David Evans for Children of Men
Alan Robert Murray & Bub Asman for Letters from Iwo Jima
Oliver Tarney, Eddy Joseph, Jack Whittaker & Martin Cantwell for United 93
Niv Adiri, Glenn Freemantle & Andrew Wilkinson for V for Vendetta
OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING:
Chris Munro, Mike Prestwood Smith & Mark Taylor for Casino Royale
Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer & Willie D. Burton for Dreamgirls
John T. Reitz, David E. Campbell, Gregg Rudloff & Walt Martin for Flags of Our Fathers
Dave Campbell, Walt Martin, John Reitz & Gregg Rudloff for Letters from Iwo Jima
Martín Hernández, Jaime Baksht & Miguel Ángel Polo for Pan's Labyrinth
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS:
Frazer Churchill, Tim Webber, Mike Eames & Paul Corbould for Children of Men
Jeremy Dawson & Dan Schrecker for The Fountain
Edward Irastorza, Everett Burrell, David Martí & Montse Ribé for Pan's Labyrinth
John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson & Allen Hall for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Dan Glass for V for Vendetta
Now having revisited my most recent year with 2006 next it's back just over 20 years to 1985 the year when Sydney Pollack's romance epic Out of Africa won a lot of gold. Did this film deserve to win all it did or did something The Color Purple (tied with The Turning Point for the most oscars lost by a film in one year = 11 nominations and 11 loses).
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