(image from mirror.co.uk)The 2010 Academy Awards nominated an exceptional ten competitors for Best Picture from a rejuvenated entertainment field, a category not that wide since 1943. “Hurt Locker” won that honor and five others, Best Director, Original Screenplay, Film Editing, and Sound Editing and Mixing.
The films nominated for Best Picture won in other categories: “Up” won Best Animated Feature, Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for “The Blind Side”, Christopher Waltz won Best Supporting Actor for “Inglorious Basterds”, and “Avatar” won three cinematography awards.
For such a great body of artistic work to honor, this year’s Oscars show was particularly artless. Hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were flat, blundering through the night without vitality or chemistry. John Lasseter, of Pixar and Disney, cracked more smiles than any of Baldwin or Martin’s quips. His relief, in a video introducing the short film nominees, was simply “One of the things I like most about short films? They’re short.”
Cringe-worthy remarks compounded the busts. After a tearful Geoffrey Fletcher accepted his Adapted Screenplay award for “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire”, admitting humbly “I don’t know what to say,” Martin retorted “I wrote that speech for him.”
Some lines passed lame and abrasive, and cruised towards offensive. Baldwin and Martin made two uncomfortable remarks about race, regarding nominees “Precious” and “Invictus”, and another crack about presenter Sarah Jessica Parker only weighing one pound.
On the red carpet, an ABC interviewer told Bullock, “You look great. Starving was worth it.” This year’s Best Actress did indeed look great, but because she brought grace and good humor to the stage, not because of any connection between beauty and starvation.
That much needed grace was mirrored by most of nominees, if not by the hosts and interviewers. Waltz gave the first speech of the night, holding his Supporting Actor statuette: a short and sweet metaphor of his career as a journeying ship.
Kathryn Bigelow, the first female Best Director, spoke shakily but appeared radiant. Her shoulders back, head high, and whole face graciously smiling, Bigelow thanked writer Mark Boal who “risked his life for the words on the page” and the world’s uniformed men and women.
The Best Actor award went to a refreshing Jeff Bridges, whooping to the audience and thanking “Crazy Heart” director Scott Cooper for “bringing all those great musicians to the party, man.” “Crazy Heart” also won Best Original Song for its soulful theme “Weary Kind”, written by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.
Neil Patrick Harris opened the night with a musical number more Vegas than country; the “How I Met Your Mother” star was cheeky but forced. Likewise, the dance montage set to clips from the Best Soundtrack nominees was vivacious but ill-fitting in music that belonged to gritty London streets and balloon-carried houses (“Up” won in this category).
All this superfluous showmanship did more to detract from the cinematographic achievement than to celebrate it. The extras at this year’s Oscars needed to get off the stage and let the talents do the speaking.
Wow, Alex. I'm so impressed with your focus and breadth in this piece. You were able to give an opinion, review all the major events and put it into context while writing a very readable review. Awesome work.
ReplyDeleteThis piece is great! You hit on all of the important points, getting the simple wins out of the way right at the beginning. Somehow you touched on a wide variety of important points about the night's show, explaining them well without dwelling on each point too much. I'm glad you could pick out the offensive things said throughout the night because those threw me off, too, especially the one-pound crack.
ReplyDeleteYour last paragraph is my favorite, because it wraps up the night so perfectly: the winners were great, but the announcers...not so much.
I'm very impressed with this piece as well- it is possibly the most easily readable Oscar review I've come in contact with. I enjoyed your critique of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin's failings and your conclusion summed everything up thoroughly. Nice work.
ReplyDeleteNice job! Wow, "cheeky and forced" was exactly what Neil Patrick Harris was. This was a VERY incisive review and it was a pleasure to read. The remarks about race were something that I entirely had forgotten about upon thinking about them again, they totally derailed the ceremony. Really well done!
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