Overlooked by Oscar

The Academy passed on them, but the following 10 films are this award season’s true must-sees.

By Bryan Johnson
Published: February 26th, 2010 | 8:00pm

1. Adventureland: This thoughtful, poignant, and funny exploration of first love is also a meditation on coming to terms with life's letdowns and lowered expectations. Against the backdrop of a depressing local amusement park, writer-director Greg Mottola re-creates a pitch-perfect ’80s era.

Should have been nominated for: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Martin Starr), and Best Screenplay (Mottola)

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2. Two Lovers: This expertly executed drama tells of a damaged Brooklyn man trying to find happiness with a new mysterious woman living in his parents' building, With it, James Gray crafts a kind of romantic tale that just doesn't get made in Hollywood anymore.

Should have been nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Gray), and Best Screenplay (Gray & Ric Menello)

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3. Bright Star: In a focused and exquisitely paced period piece describing the great poet John Keats's love affair with Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), Jane Campion offers beautiful imagery, subtle story development, and heartbreaking drama.

Should have been nominated for: Best Director (Campion), Best Actress (Cornish), and Best Cinematography (Greig Fraser). Note: The film snagged a Costume Design nomination, but that isn't much consolation.

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4. World's Greatest Dad: With this extremely dark comedy about a father dealing with-and benefitting from -his son's death, writer-director Bobcat Goldthwait (the one and only) spins a hilarious, uncomfortable, one-of-a-kind production.

Should have been nominated for: Best Screenplay (Goldthwait)

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5. Antichrist: Surreal, scary, and often painful to watch, this film from controversial writer-director Lars von Trier examines grief, evil, and insanity after a happy couple's young child dies tragically.

Should have been nominated for: Best Actress (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and Best Cinematography (Anthony Dod Mantle)

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6. Humpday: The latest low-budget mumblecore offering tells the unlikely story of two lifelong, heterosexual male pals who decide they should consummate their friendship as part of an art project. Writer-director Lynn Shelton’s take on "Bromance" trumps any of Judd Apatow's latest offerings.

Should have been nominated for: Best Screenplay (Shelton)

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7. Sin Nombre: Part road movie, part escape film, writer-director Cary Fukunaga presents a fresh, exciting, moving, and sad story about a Honduran girl who, as she tries to make it to the U.S., meets a young man hiding out from the gang he turned his back on.

Should have been nominated for: Best Foreign Language Film

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8. Where the Wild Things Are: Sadly dismissed as an over-intellectualized kids’ picture, director Spike Jonze's thoughtful and well-paced adaptation is one of the few recent films that succeed in conjuring a world where children are believably scared and excited at the same time.

Should have been nominated for: Best Director (Jonze)

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9. The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans: Werner Herzog's re-imagines an already infamous film (1992’s Bad Lieutenant with Harvey Keitel); and star Nicholas Cage goes all out in the title role as an immoral police officer who does whatever it takes to catch the bad guys while still feeding his many addictions.

Should have been nominated for: Best Actor (Cage)

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10. Sugar: In this introspective sports drama, writer-director team Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (of 2006’s Half Nelson) examine the life of a poor Dominican man brought to the U.S. to play minor league baseball and his struggles with class, friendship, and community.

Should have been nominated for: Best Screenplay (Boden & Fleck)