Oscar coincidence

For the second year in a row, I manage to see one single Oscar contender for the Best Picture award ahead of the annual ceremony. The movie wins the corresponding Golden Globe award and is generally regarded as a front-runner for the Academy award, but ends up losing both the Director and the Best Picture to another contender.

I admit, the sample so far is statistically insignificant, but I might be developing an Oscar “death kiss” with my movie-viewing habits.

To be fair, I did not think The Social Network was an Oscar-caliber movie. It was entertaining, it was interesting because its subject was a matter of everyday use, but it did not struck me as Oscar-worthy. I can get behind its award for Best Editing – as an occasional dabbler in home movies, I did like the flow of its cuts. I probably would not begrudge Jesse Eisenberg an Oscar should he had won as the Best Actor – I thought he was brilliant as the smarter-than-anyone geek whose private insecurities drive him to try hard to be an asshole. But beyond that, the movie status of being about a current cultural phenomenon unduly elevated it, IMHO, to heights that it did not completely deserve.

Then again, I have minimal clues as to the competition. Something that will be corrected over the course of the year.

And somewhere along the way, I will surely see one of next year’s Oscar contenders, derailing its chances.