The 84th annual Academy Awards are over. The Artist dominance was there in the major categories, but not as much so as I'd anticipated. Artist and Hugo split 5 each; Hollywood clearly loved celebrating the movies that celebrate film. This I understand, and while I cannot speak for Artist, Hugo is far from the revolutionary medium-invigorating family fantasy that many claim it to be.
The year was disappointing also because of the numerous titles missing from major categories. Much has been said on the omissions of Drive and Melancholia, and although the majestic Tree of Life scored some big nominations, it was clearly a courtesy call - "thanks for coming Mr Malick, but your film is too divisive and we don't know what to do with it". The existential epic even lost out on what I thought was a done deal, the Best Cinematography award. This, too, went to Hugo. Let me be clear: what Tree of Life achieved with its evocative and poetic imagery functions on a much higher level than Hugo's cute camera-going-through-the-clock-now-the-floor-now-it-spins cinematographic digital choreography.
And then Viola Davis lost Best Actress to the much loved and over rated Meryl Streep. Meryl Streep. She was fantastic in Doubt not too long ago, where her character had to be contained; then again, Davis was superb in only a few minutes of screen time in that same film. That Streep won for The Iron Lady is saddening, and from all I've heard and read it should not boost the hearts of her fans to know that their dancing queen won an award for this film. In all honesty, this was a "thank you for 30 years of your life" award. Keep in mind that more than half of Academy voters are middle aged white males.
What made me happy? An eccentric green lizard named Rango, in a classically told 2-D animated film that won Best Animated Feature. The Film Editing win for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Also, Angelina Jolie's right leg.
No comments:
Post a Comment