For all the predictability that's plagued awards season thus far, a few new, controversial Oscar omissions seem almost refreshing in comparison.

And like last year, they're found in the Academy's foreign-language branch, where Italian hopeful Gomorra and (to a lesser degree) Jordanian entry Captain Abu Raed yesterday found themselves left off the shortlist of potential nominees. Gomorra's snub stings in particular after the mob epic aced the international fest rounds last year, finding an American buyer at Cannes and securing Martin Scorsese's imprimatur for its release this spring; distributor IFC Films had hoped the indignities of 2007 — when its Cannes-winning 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days received similarly shocking treatment — would correct themselves within the Academy.

Alas. "What happened, bro?" came the cry to Mark Johnson, the beleaguered nominating committee chair who vowed last year to "retool" the shortlist: "It can't continue like this," Johnson told LA Weekly at the time. "I don't believe these choices reflect the Academy at large."

But... what if they do? Must we really spend the next six weeks restating the Oscars' general disinterest in merit and the foreign-language branch's more specific distaste for violence, class warfare and all-around edginess? IFC boss Jonathan Sehring evidently thinks so, invoking Gomorra's critical reception in yet another tear-streaked awards-season homily:

"I know I speak for the entire country of Italy and a lot of people in the critical community when I say that it just doesn't make sense and there's something wrong with the foreign language committee as a whole. [...]

"We got messages that the initial screening didn't go well, so you figure you're vying for one of three slots," he said, referring to the executive committee's slots. "It just demonstrates the foreign language committee's aversion to graphic violence, I guess. I mean, I don't know — I look back at City of God not getting a nomination. I look back at our experience with 4 Months not getting a nomination. And now this?"

Yes. Sorry. No Holocaust, no coming-of-age treacle, no service, we're afraid. Waltz With Bashir would have crushed Gomorra anyway. And face it, it's better to be the outsider in this club; that "2008 Academy Award Snub!" poster line is a more robust badge of honor than anything a Foreign-Language Oscar can bestow these days. Milk it!