A slumdog winner, Oscars 2009

February 28, 2009

A slumdog winner, Oscars 2009

I love the Oscars.  Everytime.  And while I haven’t written about a movie in a long time, the Academy Awards Show is all I can focus on in the wake of last week. 

I know that I’m jumping on the bandwagon here.  Everyone has been talking about Slumdog Millionaire for the last couple of months, and even when it was still a small, small film, even the little buzz that was around it was overwhelmingly positive.  Last Sunday it was recognized for its achievements.  But I want to look a little closer at that.  If you still have the Oscar ballot sitting around,  scan it over really fast, and let’s play a game.

Find “Sound Editing.”  Not a big award, but it was the Dark-Knight-has-to-win-something award.  Well, beside Supporting Actor (a note on that…if you had a chance to get the line in Vegas, putting $1.00 on Ledger to win the Oscar would have netted you $.02.)  Anyhow,  check out all other categories that Slumdog was nominated for.  It nailed them all.  8 Oscars out of 9 categories is ridiculous.  We are talking Best Picture, Directing, Sound Editing, Film Editing, Original Score, Original Soundtrack,  Screenplay (adapted) and Cinematography.  That’s an impressive array right there.

Another impressive quality.  Can you give me the actor who played Jamal’s name?  Well, any of the actors who played Jamal?  How about Latika.  Probably not, atleast not before all the recent interviews and what not.  No acting or actressing nominations.  Bunch of nobodies, atleast in the American world of cinema.  I scrolled through a list of recent best pictures.  It was easy to name ATLEAST one “big name” from every movie in the last 15 years.  I finally got stumped on The Last Emperor (1987) , which I’ve never seen, but upon further investigation I discovered that Peter O’Toole was 3rd down on the casting.  I could go on, but its more fun to play the game for yourself.  In the 2000s, I tried to find films that were NOMINATED that caused me to pause when I thought who was in them.  Of that list, I came up with Good Night and Good Luck, Godsford Park, Letters from Iwo Jima, Seabiscuit, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Chocolat.  And upon further review, with the exception of Crouching Tiger, I smacked myself in the head for missing many obvious answers.  Big names drive movies to stardom.  The obvious parallels in a movie about a no name, low-caste man having the chance to accomplish great things will make for a great Oscar legend in and of itself.

To continue to put this in perspective, this was a GREAT year for movies. I will argue with anyone that on most other years, all 5 Best Picture nominations could have put up a fight with any other film.  I actually haven’t seen The Reader, much like Hugh Jackman, but as the old proverb goes, Holocaust movies win.   But that aside for a moment, there are other movies that we’ren’t even nominated that I think in other years would have atleast been deservedly nominated.  While none of these were favorites from the year, Doubt, The Wrestler, Revolutionary Road, Gran Torino, and Dark Knight all could have or would have been contenders.  And movies like In Bruges and Wall*E, while not ever likely to bring home the big prizes, were stellar.  And I have said it many times, but I like repeating it, how in the world did Pixar make what was essentially a silent film in 21st century America and not only get us to watch it but love it?  Viva la cinema revolution!

As for the show itself, not the best or worst.  I did think that the “shake-up” was noticeable and welcome.  The montage of departed film creators was really weak this year I thought.  And the second dance number in particular seemed unnecessary, and if it had even been good it would have been too long.  And as my friend Heidi has said in talking about it with her, did anyone notice Chicago winning best picture a few years back, or Moulin Rouge! getting a nom the year before that?  The musical has been back, and Mamma Mia has performed nothing that its predecesors hadn’t  (total gross Mamma Mia $144,130,063, total gross Chicago $170,687,518, for example).  I think I’m just insulted that ABBA is getting credit for bringing the musical back, if you were to believe the Oscars.    My other major criticism…like the idea of bringing out former winners to announce actor and actress…but I feel like it loses its swagger when you bring people out for supporting actor and actress as well.  Well, not just the swagger, but by the time supporting actor rolled around, I wanted to care, but felt myself thinking “get on with it already” because it does take a while.

Orchestra being on the stage, I liked alot.  Not having to cut anyone off, I loved. The acceptance for Ledger’s award, tasteful and not overdone.  Good speeches.  Jack Black, Ben Stiller, and Philippe Petit (from Man on Wire) were priceless.  They need to make more documentaries like that, by the way.  We love crazy people.  We loved Grizzly Man for the same reason. Craziness. And therefore, endlessly fascinating and awe inspiring.  Random note, while it didn’t win and should have lost to Man on Wire as it did, don’t let Encounters slip by if you a fan of docs…it was don by Werner Herzog (the same guy who did the afore mentioned Grizzly Man, and who is a generally hardcore dude)

The viwer ratings may be low. The levels of smugness may be high.  But the Oscars continue to delight and entertain.  But most of the country seems to disagree with me.  But I digress, and need to go get in line to watch Iron Man a second time…

As always, questions and comments are welcomed and encouraged.

Jai Ho!

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