In Julian Schanbel's Vincent Van Gogh biopic, "At Eternity's Gate," a priest played by Mads Mikkelsen tells Van Gogh that his work, quite frankly, stinks and that it shouldn't be considered a 'painting,' or at least what the standard definition was back in the 1880s. Van Gogh responds by saying that he feels like he's painting for people that haven't been born yet. This got me thinking about all the great cinematic artists that didn't get their due until much later in life or even after their deaths. It's a very common thing, so much so that I stumbled upon so many classic films that were trashed by film critics upon their release that I decided to just limit it to the all-timers.
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This absolutely matters. That room was practically all Oscar voters. Fact remains, “Michael” was always going to contend for a best picture nomination, you just had to set your biases aside.