It’s that time again when our focus drifts away from the flotsam and jetsam of Jersey Shore, Ben Shalom Bernanke and Russian douche knobs like Evgeni Plushenko, and lands like a sharp beam of light on more critical, substantial issues. Like the Academy Awards.
Because going to the movies, for me, is held in the same light as a religious ceremony (or tribunal), the Academy Awards is a particularly exciting event. I often resort to benzos the night before the awards, much like a nominee (or Barbara Parkins in Valley of the Dolls), because I can’t sleep due to nerves and ‘voices’ in my head. This year there were some genuinely stellar films and performances. Here are my winners and (sigh) predictions for winners — two notations that rarely mirror each other. Please, dear readers, add your predictions and favorites at the end of this celebration.
Disclaimer: When I take a disinterest in a film it’s for visceral, irrational reasons. The movie Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire is such a film. Wouldn’t see it. Never will see it. The obnoxious structure of the title alone was a huge turnoff. Too, the Oprah touch pushed it instantly into a kind of Hallmark meets Human Horror category, and then there were other reasons having to do with what I call ‘the emotional cow being milked’ syndrome. But I’m getting sidetracked, so here are my winners and predictions:
Best Supporting Actress: A cluster of weak nominees. Penélope Cruz (Nine)? Hell, why not Tom Cruise — WTF? I don’t have a favorite here, but will go with Anna Kendrick from Up in the Air — a seemingly one note performance that actually had quite a lot of nuance when I reflected on it later. WINNER: Mo’Nique (Precious). (I don’t understand why Whitney Houston wasn’t offered this role.)
Best Supporting Actor: Why do the supporting performances fail to generate much excitement this year? I’ll go with Christoph Waltz from Inglourious Basterds because that was one loopy Nazi. WINNER: Christoph Waltz.
Best Actress: Carey Mulligan from An Education. The one performance this year that made me feel like I was in the same room with the actor, anchored in her emotional field. A fierce and vibrant showing that took a simple movie and made it grand. WINNER: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side). A sure sign that the Angel of the Apocalypse will start blowing any day now. Ugh.
Best Actor: Torn right down to the center of the earth between Colin Firth from A Single Man, and Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker. I’ve got to quote Chris Orr from New Republic re: Firth’s performance, when he wrote: “Firth imbues an underwritten role with extraordinary depth, balancing pathos and magnetism with such quiet elegance.” Spot on! Jeremy Renner also completely made a film come to life, walk, talk and terrorize. A guy to keep your eye on for future greatness. (Watch your back Daniel Craig). WINNER: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart). No bad feelings here — I dig Jeff’s body of work — but I dislike it when Oscars are handed out because “someone is due one” and not for performance quality.
Best Director: Straight up: Kathryn Bigelow. The Hurt Locker was the first moment since we invaded Iraq that I connected with the atrociousness of our presence there, coupled with an understanding of why guys like to go to war. Bigelow telegraphs that feeling in one mammoth chunk when she cuts away from the desert and suddenly you’re with Jeremy Renner, walking the aisles of Walmart, aimlessly shopping for Lucky Charms. WINNER: Kathryn Bigelow.
Best Picture: If I was to give it for the film I watched repeatedly this year, it would be the Coen‘s A Serious Man. Don’t let that movie get away from you without a viewing. It’s subtle, dark and funny — brilliantly bringing to life every archetype within the Jewish panoply of peeps. Avatar wasn’t really a film, but more of a theme park ride (and I’m not dissing it for that reason, just stating a fact), so I don’t have it in the running in my head — for anything. That leaves The Hurt Locker and An Education, the later because Carey Mulligan was that fucking fabulous. But I’m going to go with The Hurt Locker because it represents the art of filmmaking, and the power of good storytelling (as in “show don’t tell”), burning at a white hot level. WINNER: Avatar.
OK, let it rip guys:
© 2010, David K.. All rights reserved. Nightcharm.com
Nightcharm, you did a superb job with this article. I have read no better description of the war and occupation of Iraq than your statement about the Hurt Locker: “I connected the atrociousness of our presence there…” Yes. That is it in a nutshell. It is atrocious and Bigelow, without preaching, reminds us of it. A great movie.
You are so right also in Carey Mulligan’s astounding performance in An Education. She did get under your skin; her emotions become the viewer’s emotions-or at least that happened to me. Her performance became a part of my own personal history; she made me recall so clearly what being that age was like; the choices that once made, change our lives forever. A simple, average, yet quite heroic life, and a stunning performance in a small film that doesn’t grandstand or demand the attention it so deserves.
A Single Man was for me the standout film; Collin Firth, the stellar performance of the year. Another film which I am not sure will even be seen outside of New York-L.A.-London. If it does will no doubt come and go quickly. Firth told the heartbreaking story of a gay man lving with his unbearable grief; attempting to simply endure a day in his life after his lover of many years has suddenly died. I saw this film three times and never once was able to view it through dry eyes. I am living with the same unbearable grief of the days spent alone since my lover died, and Firth captured that dispair so eloquently. I fear, of course, since it was not a stereotypical picture of a gay man, a drag queen with dementia, that the Academy will ignore it. Still it is there for everyone to see. Perhaps to remind us all, especially gay men, how great our mutual grief has been and how many lives have been lost to AIDS over the years. Thank you, Mr. Firth, for the catharsis of remembering. For believing it important enough that “my” story, “our” story, should be told.
And yes, Nightcharm, I suppose it will be Jeff Bridges (I didn’t see the film so myabe he does deserve it but I hate country music), AVATAR,( it was supposed to be an amusement park ride, right?) Precious-I run the other way whenever Oprah endorses ANYTHING-and Sandra Bullock. Oh well…
Was District 9 nominated for anything?
ok, District 9 for best adapted screenplay. Avatar can’t win this one because of the rumours of them stealing it from some Japanese writer…
Otherwise Avatar wins everything else….
And I want to see Catherine Beil win something for Easy Virtue, best comedy of the year IMO.
sorry, avatar wasn’t nominated for best adapted screenplay. And Easy Virtue has no nominations because no one watched it because it has no typical “good-looking dating scene” characters in it and/or predictable roller-coaster cookie-cutter plot. But you must watch it cause it is a F#@&ing excellent comedy!
Sherlock Holmes for Art Direction is all I’ll say
I liked Precious – Lee Daniels took you to the edge of emotional exploitation and then left you right where the touchy subject matter (incest, abuse, poverty) meets your own judgement. No milking. You got to decide for yourself. You should see it despite the mainstream stamp of Oprah (herself a victim of sexual abuse). It’s good, and perhaps the pretentious title was due to the Sapphire’s need for some PR – moviemaking is a hustle, ya know.