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10 Noteworthy Omissions From The 2014 Academy Award Nominations

Such a strange tension exists between not caring one bit about the Academy Awards and caring so deeply that you are compelled to tweet endlessly about how angry they’ve made you with their various “snubs.” For an awards show that so many insist doesn’t matter, it sure does create a lot of personal animosity. Then again, most of the outrage occurs on Twitter, which is a hyperbolic medium of expression anyhow, so any registered emotion about the nominations for the 86th Annual Academy Awards should be received through a bit of a muted filter.

[h2]1) Llewyn Davis can’t catch a break[/h2]

Inside Llewyn Davis

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Poor Llewyn Davis. He’s been described rather aptly as having the fault of being in the right place at precisely the wrong time. Anyone who’s seen the movie knows exactly how this plays out for him. And now, fittingly, for a story about a guy who has all the talent in the world but can’t seem to get anyone to recognize it, Inside Llewyn Davis fails to be recognized by the Academy in just about every category.

It scored 2 nominations: one, very deservedly, for its outstanding cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel, and the second for sound mixing. I guess the sound mixing on “Please Mr. Kennedy” was good enough for that nomination, but not for Best Original Song. Despite being on the top of many critics’ Best of 2013 lists, the Coen brothers received no recognition for their direction, screenplay, nor editing. Oscar Isaac was left out of acting contention too, although this year’s lead actor field is exceptionally strong. And even though there was one unfilled spot in the Best Picture field with only 9 films being nominated, Llewyn Davis didn’t make the cut. It’s as if the Coens wrote the story for how awards season would play out for their movie. It plays its heart out, but in the end, the Academy looks at them and says “I don’t see a lot of awards here.”

For more on Inside Llewyn Davis, check out our exclusive video interview with the cast below.

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