Best Documentary Feature

2010 is a fine year for documentaries, and I've only seen a small handful this year.  The Academy has shortlisted 15 films in the running for a nomination:

• Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer
• Enemies of the People
• Exit Through the Gift Shop
• GasLand
• Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould
• Inside Job
• The Lottery
• Precious Life
• Quest for Honor
• Restrepo
• This Way of Life
• The Tillman Story
• Waiting for 'Superman'
• Waste Land
• William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe

Oscar snubbed

Cry foul as always-- this respectable assortment of bio-docs, liberals versus the system polemics, and slice of life dramas make an odd Oscar lineup.  There's not one, but two schools are in trouble films in the mix (the likely frontrunner, Waiting for 'Superman' as well as The Lottery), two inside Iraq stories (Restrepo and The Tillman Story), and even a "fun" movie in the mix (Exit Through the Gift Shop, the one I'm most excited about and least expected-- will Bansky show if it get nominated?)  Of course the question immediately turns to the films that got the snub-- notably the acclaimed Chinese film Last Train Home, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, Werner Herzog's 3-D film Caves of Forgotten Dreams, the wonderful Casino Jack & the United States of Money (even though it's director, Alex Gibney, is still a hopeful for Client 9), and Catfish, which shows perhaps more people not quite buying the whole thing.  Shockingly, the Academy didn't shortlist the two well received Holocaust docs (their favorite fetish) An Unfinished Film and The Oath.

Oscar approved.

Financially the most lucrative is Waiting for 'Superman' which is sitting pretty at the box office at $5.9 million, which coupled with Paramount Pictures' endless marketing is presumably the one the beat.  Inside Job, for director Charles Ferguson (whose 2007 Iraq War film No End in Sight is a must see) has made $1.5 million so far in limited release.  Exit Through the Gift Shop and Restrepo, both spring releases earned $3.1 million and $1.3 million, respectively.  Meanwhile The Tillman Story is teetering near the $1.0 million mark, and has a push from The Weinstein Company, while Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer and Waste Land just entered the fray in limited release.  Of the 15 shortlisted, I've seen but three-- Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Tillman Story and Waiting for 'Superman,' and so far I'd argue the Bansky meditation on art, and goofy, free associative prankster feel of the film is my favorite of the three, which likely means it's the most vulnerable-- the Academy likes their docs noble and oozing of self-seriousness.  Boo!