Are these the nominations for the 76th annual Academy Awards, or more winners from Sundance? This year's nominations, announced early Tuesday, showed uncommon taste and imagination in reaching beyond the starstruck land of the Golden Globes to embrace surprising and, in some cases, almost unknown choices. It's one of the best lists in years.

This was supposed to be the year that the independent films got shut out, because of the MPAA ban on advance screeners for academy members. But the voters hardly limited themselves to general-release blockbusters and big stars. Walking down the red carpet this year, nominated in the major acting categories, will be the New Zealand teenager Keisha Castle-Hughes; Djimon Hounsou, who was born in Africa; Shohreh Aghdashloo, from Iran, and Ken Watanabe, from Japan. But no Russell Crowe. No Nicole Kidman. No Tom Cruise.

And consider the astonishing four nominations -- best director, screenplay, cinematography and editing nominations -- for the Brazilian film "City of God," which was ineligible in last year's foreign film category because the Brazilians refused to nominate their brilliant and angry film. And what about the support for "In America," the touching drama of an Irish immigrant family in New York, which was nominated for best actress, supporting actor and screenplay?

Superbly made big-budget epics dominated this year's nominations; "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" led with 11 nominations, despite being shut out of the acting categories. The sea epic "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" followed with 10, also without any acting nominations. Both films ran up their totals with their below-the-line excellence in the craft categories.

But in the top eight categories (picture, acting, writing, direction) the leader was Clint Eastwood's brooding drama "Mystic River," with five nominations. "Lost in Translation," Sofia Coppola's sweet and observant comedy about two lonely people in the middle of a Tokyo night, won three.

As expected, the academy nominated Charlize Theron, whose work in the low-budget "Monster" by first-time director Patty Jenkins was the performance of the year. Sean Penn's work as a grieving and vengeance-minded father in "Mystic River" was also honored, and look for those two to win the Oscars on Feb. 29.

Despite one of Miramax's patented high-powered Oscar campaigns, its candidate "Cold Mountain" was relatively overlooked; Jude Law was nominated for best actor and Renee Zellweger for supporting actress, but it failed to receive a best picture nod or a best actress bid for Nicole Kidman.

After critics publish their annual best-10 lists, they often get the same complaint from readers: "I've never heard of half those films!" This year the academy will get similar letters. Most of North America has not had a chance to see (from Oscar's top eight categories) "Pieces of April," "The House of Sand and Fog," "Thirteen," "The Cooler," "21 Grams," "Whale Rider," "City of God," "The Barbarian Invasions," "Dirty Pretty Things" and "American Splendor."

"In America" and "American Splendor" have had relatively limited releases, and "Monster" is only now going wide on the basis of publicity for Theron's performance. Many moviegoers in smaller cities and those not blessed by imaginative programming will recognize the titles of "The Lord of the Rings," "Master and Commander," "Mystic River," "Cold Mountain," "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Finding Nemo" and "Something's Gotta Give," and then they'll be in the dark.

What the nominations demonstrate, dramatically, is the disconnect between artistic quality and mainstream Hollywood product. As the major studios have increasingly focused on predictable mass entertainment formulas, quality and imagination have migrated to what could be called Sundance films: Lower budget, innovative projects fueled by the love of their makers, and sometimes by the determination of actors trying to break out of the assembly-line fodder.

The unfamiliar titles on this year's list will be very familiar to veterans of the Sundance and Toronto festivals ("Whale Rider" won the audience award at both fests). But many multiplexes, booked by computer from Hollywood with no regard for local tastes, never show such titles. Even college towns in middle America never get them.

Looking at the nominations again, my delight only increases. How perceptive of the academy to know that Holly Hunter, not Evan Rachel Wood (as her daughter) gave the best performance in "Thirteen." What imagination to honor Johnny Depp, who transformed a pirate epic with his weird and daring performance (he said he was channeling Keith Richards). How daring to honor Keisha Castle-Hughes as best actress instead of caving in to the Miramax steamroller for Nicole Kidman.

With only three slots in the animation category, how absolutely right to assign one of them to "The Triplets of Belleville," from France, one of the most delightfully weird of animated features. Look at the original screenplay nominations for "Dirty Pretty Things," a political thriller about immigrants in London, and Denys Arcand's "The Barbarian Invasions," about a dying leftist intellectual in Quebec. (Both films were big-time audience pleasers, but given distribution patterns, of course reached only small audiences.)

Even some of the universally expected nominations took some imagination. Bill Murray, Charlize Theron, Alec Baldwin, Benicio del Toro, Samantha Morton and Ben Kingsley may have been on lots of lists of Oscar predictions, but their work is uniformly inventive, offbeat and exciting -- and not in blockbusters, but in lower-budget films made in the independent spirit.

How good were this year's nominations? Well, assuming that my list of the best films of 2003 is the gold standard, the academy gave nominations to eight of my top 10 titles. You'd think it was one of those critics' groups.

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OSCAR BY THE NUMBERS

13 Youngest nominee

The 13-year-old New Zealand native Keisha Castle-Hughes, nominated for "Whale Rider," is the youngest performer ever nominated in the best actress category.


11 Leading the pack?

Though "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" seems a sure bet with 11 nominations, 11 can be an unlucky number. With 11 nods apiece, "The Color Purple" (1985) and "The Turning Point" (1977) still came up empty.

* With this year's bid for "The Twilight Samurai," Japan has collected 11 nominations in the foreign film category. Italy leads the all-time list with 26.

*With the shutout of "Cold Mountain," Miramax ends an 11-year run of consecutive nominations in the best picture category.


9 The music man


With nine nominations and two previous wins (both for "Titanic"), James Horner, original score nominee for "The House of Sand and Fog," is the most decorated veteran of this year's music categories.


6 The UK curse?


Jim Sheridan picks up his sixth nomination with this year's screenplay nod for "In America." He's yet to win, and is nearing the mark set by British stalwarts Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton, both with seven nominations but no Oscar.

4 The Golden touch

All four Golden Globe winners in the lead acting categories are up for Oscars: Sean Penn for ''Mystic River,'' Charlize Theron for ''Monster,'' Bill Murray for ''Lost in Translation'' and Diane Keaton for ''Something's Gotta Give.''


3 Nepotistic nominees



Several top-category nominees are related to previous Oscar winners: Sofia Coppola, daughter of Francis Ford Coppola ("The Godfather," 1972), granddaughter of composer Carmine Coppola ("The Godfather Part II," 1974) and cousin of Nicolas Cage ("Leaving Las Vegas," 1995); Sam Goldwyn Jr. , son of legendary producer Samuel Goldwyn ("The Best Years of Lives," 1946), and Tim Robbins, common-law spouse of Susan Sarandon ("Dead Man Walking," 1995).


0 Striking out


Though Scarlett Johansson received universal critical praise and Golden Globe nominations for her work in "Girl With a Pearl Earring'' and ''Lost in Translation,'' she came up double zero Tuesday.

Okay, I didn't read it.

2the9s said:

NOT A FINGER!!