For almost a century now, the Oscar for Best Motion Picture has been regarded as the most prestigious award in world cinema. But the truth is that not every nominee has aged like fine wine. While some of the lucky movies that got into the Best Picture shortlist were considerably well-received at the time and hold up surprisingly well today, most of them have slowly faded into relative obscurity and have been overshadowed in the film canon by the few masterpieces that walked away with the coveted 13½ inch golden statuette.
From “The Silence of the Lambs” and “American Beauty” to “Schindler’s List” and “Titanic”, the 1990s decade in particular saw a wide range of event movies seep into the mainstream and take home the Academy’s top prize, with most continuing to be religiously re-watched in our day and age. For the purposes of this list, though, we’re zeroing in on ten lesser-known titles released from 1990-1999 that have slipped through the cracks through no fault of their own and are nowhere near as seen or celebrated today as their obvious pedigree would suggest. None of the following Best Picture nominees could sway enough voters to come out on top in the preferential ballot, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve your attention.
1. Elizabeth (1998)
To the shock of many, the overly sappy and utterly boring period piece “Shakespeare in Love” inexplicably ended up walking away with the night’s biggest prize during the 1999 Academy Awards ceremony following an obnoxious marketing campaign orchestrated by disgraced Miramax head honcho Harvey Weinstein, who essentially bullied the voting jury into giving it the big Oscar nod.
Lost in the rush of controversy on the heels of arguably one of the biggest upsets in Oscar history, though, is the fact that a similarly targeted costume drama also featuring an Oscar-nominated turn for portraying Queen Elizabeth the First found itself in contention for the Best Picture race that very same year. There’s a strong argument to be made that Cate Blanchett got robbed big time in 1998 when she came within spitting distance of adding another Best Actress win to her peerless resumé for her star-making turn in Shekhar Kapur’s sturdy biopic (let’s be honest here — not even Gwyneth Paltrow would argue otherwise).
Historical inaccuracies aside, “Elizabeth” should be credited for shooting the Australian actress’ career into the stratosphere (a whopping 7 additional nominations and 2 wins would follow) and not shying away from portraying both the good, the bad, and the ugly behind one of the defining figures in British history. And though far from Best Picture material, don’t sleep on the 2007 sequel either.
2. Secrets and Lies (1996)
Words cut deeper than knives in Mike Leigh’s low-key but quietly devastating tale of domestic strife and blue-collar life, centered around a mixed-raced optometrist living in London who decides to track down and reach out to her birth mother, who turns out to be a middle-class white woman.
Though naturalistic, slice-of-life family dramas of this ilk tend to be rather hit-or-miss with the Academy’s old guard, “Secrets and Lies” rode the momentum off its splashy world premiere at Cannes (where it was bestowed with the prestigious Palme d’Or) and ended up collect a highly respectable 5-nomination Oscar haul including recognition for its director and two female leads (Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jeanne-Baptiste).
Its dialogue-heavy, character-driven script surely must have hurt its chances of going the distance in the preferential ballot and lure enough Academy voters when put alongside hip indie darlings (“Fargo”), broad crowd-pleasers (“Jerry Maguire”) and big-budget tear-jerkers (“The English Patient”), but we suggest you add it to your Criterion queue if you’re tired of stuffy Oscar-bait schlock and looking for the kind of feel-good balm that will lift your spirits.
3. Awakenings (1990)
No actor in cinema history can claim to have appeared in more Best Picture nominees than Robert De Niro, with last year’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” being the 12th time a film of his has been in contention. Oddly enough, his films have only gone all the way twice (“The Godfather Part II” and “The Deer Hunter”), though conventional wisdom suggests that “Goodfellas” should also have walked away with the top prize if not for a certain Kevin Costner-led white-savior western that bafflingly came out on top to snatch the Best Picture trophy in one of the most head-scratching upsets in the history of the Academy Awards.
“Dances with Wolves” might have edged out not one but two (!) De Niro vehicles in the 1991 ceremony, including this underappreciated Oscar runner-up directed by Penny Marshall, but what a refreshing feeling it must’ve been for Bob purists at the time to see the same heavyweight actor who earned his stripes playing eccentric misfits, volatile loners, and cutthroat gangsters play against type while securing his fifth Oscar nod in the process.
As Leonard, a catatonic man who undergoes an experimental treatment, snaps back to reality and briefly regains the life he once had, De Niro imbues his character with rare pathos and humanity and wonderfully plays off Robin Williams’ timid presence, making “Awakening” a bittersweet but deeply rewarding watch that first-time viewers might want to bring tissues for.
4. In the Name of the Father (1993)
Undoubtedly one of the finest actors of his generation, Daniel Day-Lewis went beyond the beyond in preparation for his Oscar-nominated turn as Gerry Conlon and lost over 50 lbs. and stayed three days in jail to portray the real-life Belfast thief who was tortured and spent 15 years locked behind bars after being falsely condemned alongside members of his family for the IRA bombing of a London pub on the basis of a coerced confession.
The rare case of universally acclaimed prestige fare that went home empty-handed (falling short on all 7 nominated categories including Best Picture, Directing, Writing, and three of the four acting slates), this biographical recounting of the trial of the Maguire Seven nevertheless endures today as an unwavering portrait of police brutality, political corruption, and systemic injustice in troubled times.
The Academy could have just as easily given “In the Name of the Father” its flowers had it not had the bad fortune of going up against Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust drama “Schindler’s List” — a film that ticked about all the boxes for a Best Picture shoo-in and predictably blew by the competition when the red carpet rolled out on March 21, 1994.
5. Quiz Show (1994)
There was no stopping “Forrest Gump” back in 1995, with Robert Zemeckis’ farcical crash course on 20th-century American history about a simple-minded Alabama man being the square, safe pick that ended up prevailing over riskier, and infinitely more timeless contenders like “Pulp Fiction” and “The Shawshank Redemption”.
Though rarely mentioned in the same breath as the three stone-cold masterpieces listed above, Robert Redford’s ripped-from-the-headlines drama — about a nationwide scandal that swept the nation involving a small-time lawyer who exposed the team behind an uber-popular but rigged NBC quiz show in the late ’50s — has aged just as gracefully thirty years on.
Come for the killer set-up and eye-catching ensemble cast including Ralph Fiennes, John Turturro, and Martin Scorsese (!), stay for the sort of intellectual, adult-oriented middle-brow prestige release that treats its audience with respect, never hits a dull note, and keeps you glued to the screen from start to finish. If only studios hadn’t decided to stop pumping these films on the regular. Oh well.