These are the Non-Nominees.
Why It Wasnt Nominated:Viewed from one perspective,Contagionlooks like pure Oscar bait.
Heres a movie from an Academy Award-winning director, featuring the aforementioned decorated cast.
And the Academy is no stranger to big-cast films recallCrash.
ButContagionnever even seems to have been on the Academys radar.
Part of that is attributable to the director.
Not that Soderbergh seems to particularly care.
In the former category, you findThe Girlfriend Experience,Solaris, and theCheduology.
In the latter, you find theOceanstrilogy,Haywire, and most especiallyContagion.
(Soderbergh occasionally feels like a foreign director who happens to be American.)
And make no mistake: The Academylovessentimentality.
All nine movies nominated for Best Picture this year are designed to make your heart hurt.
EvenThe Tree of Life, an undeniably arty curiosity, is soaked with emotion and cosmic nostalgia.
(Suffice it to say, the Werner Herzog version ofTree of Lifewould look quite a bit different.)
When you realize that,Contagionnever had a chance.
More importantly a few noteworthy exceptions, Soderbergh has never seemed particularly interested in Academy-baiting histrionics.
Also, Gwyneth Paltrow purposefully looks terrible.
Soderberghs cinematography evokes the films global setting without resorting toTraffic-esque color contrasts.
If thats not good film editing, then what is?
(The Descendants, apparently.)
Contagions clinical style isnt for everyone.
But maybe it should be.
Read more:
EW Special Coverage: Oscars 2012
Nominated for Nothing on EW
