Crimes Against Director Debra Granik

If I was a member of the Motion Picture Academy and I could've nominated five people for Best Director (if Academy members can nominate five directors), one of them definitely would've been Debra Granik for 2018's LEAVE NO TRACE.

Hollywood has been handing out Academy Awards for about 90 years now. The first woman to direct an actor to an Oscar nomination was trailblazer Dorothy Arzner. Under her direction, Ruth Chatterton was a Best Actress Oscar nominee for 1930's SARAH AND SON costarring Fredric March. In all the years of the Oscars, only 5 females have been Oscar nominees for Best Director:

Lina Wertmüller for SEVEN BEAUTIES (1976)
Jane Campion for THE PIANO (1993)
Sofia Coppola for LOST IN TRANSLATION (2003)
Kathryn Bigelow for THE HURT LOCKER (2009)
Greta Gerwig for LADY BIRD (2017).

Yes, there were acclaimed and influential male directors who never got an Oscar nomination -- such as directors Preston Sturges, Fritz Lang and James Whale. There's also the odd Hollywood fact that legendary director/actor Charles Chaplin never got an Oscar nomination for Best Director, but Mel Gibson got 2. But, in terms of gender equality, you do have to wonder when the playing field will become level in the minds of Academy members at Oscar nomination time.  Kathryn Bigelow was the first and, so far, only woman to win the Oscar for Best Director.. She won for THE HURT LOCKER and it also hooked the Best Picture Oscar. Some notable critics felt that her 2013 drama, ZERO DARK THIRTY, was even better than THE HURT LOCKER. Bigelow's ZERO DARK THIRTY, just like her THE HURT LOCKER, got an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. But she didn't get a second nomination for Best Director. These 7 women also directed Oscar nominees for Best Picture:

Randa Haines, CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD (1986)
Penny Marshall, AWAKENINGS (1990)
Barbra Streisand, THE PRINCE OF TIDES (1991)
Lone Scherfig, AN EDUCATION (2009)
Lisa Cholodenko, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (2010)
Ava DuVernay, SELMA (2014)
Debra Granik, WINTER'S BONE, (2010).

None of those 7 women got an Oscar nomination for Best Director.  In WINTER'S BONE, Debra Granik directed Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes to Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominations.

I watched LEAVE NO TRACE. Wow. What a movie and what excellent direction. Just like in WINTER'S BONE, there's a Man/Woman in Nature, Man/Woman vs Nature tone and a strong parent/child relationship story. In this film, we go to Oregon to meet a father and daughter who live in the woods. They do not hate people and society. They just choose to be survivalists and live a gorgeous nature reserve. They do go into town and shop for groceries like everyday people do. Granik brings you into their lives to see why they live so mysteriously and how being given some traditional housing will change their lives. She lets you know their character by showing how they interact with each other and outsiders, if you will. The bearded, balding dad is loving and protective. So is his daughter. When authorities disrupt their lives, notice how he tells his daughter to come out and not cause any conflict. He doesn't cause any conflict. Some townsfolk may view them as strange because they been living in the woods. But, when the daughter returns to their temporary home from being in conversation with a townsperson, notice that she gently apologizes if she got back too late and tells her dad that, if she had a phone, he could keep in constant contact with her. How many parents in a big city would openly weep to hear that quality of politeness from a teenage child? When they have to leave a lodging suddenly, dad straightens the place up to leave it as he found it. These minor visual and dialogue details are big revelations of character.

Other people live off the grid in the nature reserve too. They're not hurting anyone. They're no social threat. But their lives are disrupted. Granik gives you a memorable visual of a corporate bulldozer having no regard for the American flag. The dad, by the way, is an Irag War veteran. He has PTSD. Here's a trailer. Ben Foster plays father. Thomasin McKenzie plays the daughter. Two very fine performances.

The Academy has finally discovered the indie talents of Sam Rockwell. The Best Actor Oscar nomination Matt Damon got for THE MARTIAN should've gone to Sam Rockwell for 2009's sci-fi thriller, MOON. Before that, Rockwell should've gotten one for 2002's CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND in which he played popular TV host Chuck Barris. And he should've been a Best Supporting Actor Oscar contender for playing the wrongfully convicted working class sibling in 2010's CONVICTION starring Hilary Swank as the devoted sister out to prove he didn't commit murder. She puts herself through law school to represent him.

Rockwell won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI last year. He's nominated in that category again this year for playing George W. Bush in VICE. It's time for The Academy to discover Ben Foster. Director Debra Granik gets a performance from him that was worthy of an Oscar nomination just like the ones he gave in 2009's THE MESSENGER and 2016's HELL OR HIGH WATER. Yes, it's time for actor Ben Foster to finally get an Oscar nomination. He deserves one.

Debra Granik should be enjoying a Best Director Oscar nomination today -- and she should also be getting congratulations that LEAVE NO TRACE is a Best Picture Oscar nominee. I was listening to KNX News Radio out of L.A. the morning the Oscar nominations were announced. The news duo mentioned that one thing they, as movie-lovers, find frustrating is that there can be 10 Oscar nominees for Best Picture. But, ever since that increase from 5 to 10 nominees went into effect in 2009, we've never had 10 nominees.  I totally agree with the KNX Radio news team. This year is no different. We got 8 nominees. There was room for LEAVE NO TRACE but it's not in the running.

That fact that Debra Granik has yet to get an Oscar nomination for Best Director and the fact that LEAVE NO TRACE is not an Oscar nominee for Best Picture -- to me, those omissions are Hollywood crimes in the entertainment industry.