The LAMB Devours the Oscars - Best Picture: Black Swan

 Editor's note: Welcome to the sixth of a 33-part series dissecting the 83rd Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every day leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. To read any other posts regarding this event, please click the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!

by Julian Stark of Movies and Other Things

Darren Aronofsky’s cautionary tale about a dedicated ballerina who does any and all things necessary to be perfect landed five Academy Award nominations, including one for Motion Picture of the Year. But after a record-breaking twelve nominations at the Critics’ Choice Awards and a huge mass of support throughout the guilds and industry awards, are those five nominations really impressive?

Its five Oscar nominations are…

Best Motion Picture of the Year (Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin)

Best Achievement in Directing (Darren Aronofsky)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Natalie Portman)

Best Achievement in Cinematography (Matthew Libatique)

Best Achievement in Editing (Andrew Weisblum)

Why didn’t the Academy bite the bait with more desire? Sure, the writing doesn’t fit convention, but its attention from the Writers Guild of America, BAFTA, and various critics groups should have helped it get an Original Screenplay nomination. Golden Globe and SAG nominee Mila Kunis gave a daring performance, but the Academy didn’t pay her any mind. Additionally, the lack of huge support in the technical field sends the mind into even further bedlam.

This situation daunts initially, but deciphering this peculiar dilemma isn’t so confusing once you step back and take a look at the big picture: Academy tastes. The film is simply a casualty of the precursors not lining up with them. In the past few years, we’ve seen other films attain significant Oscar buzz only to fizzle out at the last minute, such as Into the Wild in 2007, The Dark Knight in 2008, and Invictus and Nine last year. I’d love to argue that a list of only five Best Picture nominees would have included Black Swan, and even that the film could easily snag the top prize, but that just isn’t the case.

Oscar hope has yet to fully evade the film, though. Natalie Portman’s riveting portrayal of Nina Sayers boasts the seemingly unstoppable momentum to win Best Actress. Only if SAG or BAFTA say otherwise does she fall from Academy grace. Darren Aronofsky might pull off an upset in the Director race, especially if Academy voters view The Social Network as more of a “writer’s film” than anything else.

Regardless of the film’s stance in the Oscar race, Aronofsky should be proud of the modern masterpiece that he’s created.

Predicted Wins: Best Actress (Natalie Portman)

Should Have Also Been Nominated For: Best Supporting Actor (Vincent Cassel), Best Supporting Actress (Barbara Hershey), Best Supporting Actress (Mila Kunis), Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing