The six Oscars picked up by Denis Villeneuve’s Dune on Sunday night in Los Angeles might not seem like a bad haul, especially given no other movie managed to garner more than three. And yet such technical categories as cinematography, editing, score, visual effects, production design and sound are not usually considered to be among the major prizes, even if the movie’s spectacular achievements in all these essential disciplines were critical to making it such a splendid feast for the senses on the big screen.
Dune was one of 2021’s biggest critical smashes, but in many ways its failure to pick up any awards for acting, direction or producing tally with a sense that the first episode in Villeneuve’s space saga relied more on spectacle and epic sweep than the traditional Oscar virtues of pathos and big-hearted warmth. It is a movie that glues your eyes to the screen, so rapid is the action, so electrifying are the fight scenes, yet it is not likely to ever make someone shed a tear, or recommend it to a disheartened friend who needs to rediscover their inner mojo. Driving Miss Daisy, or The Help it is not.
