THE OSCARS - The Aftermath
The Oscars Aftermath
Last week I gave some predicitions on the OSCAR's, see below, Just to gloat a little, of the seven predicitions I gave, six of them were correct. In the case of Best Film, sadly, as I would have loved to have been wrong. The Love it or hate it Cohen Brothers film 'No Country for Old Men' took out the best film category, with the Cohen Brothers winning best Director, and Barnden for the supporting actor.
The European theme was continued in the other acting categories to. Marion Coutillard did, as I also predicted, win best actress for 'Le Vie On Rose.' The one I got wrong created some British cheer, Tilda Swinton won the best Supporting Actress for 'Michael Clayton.' A fine performance it was too. Daniel Day Lewis took home best Actor in the most predictable category of the night.
The more technical categories were shared around, 'The Bourne Ultimatum' got three awards including sound editing and sound mixing. 'Atonement' got the award for best score, ensuring it has an OSCAR to it's name. 'Sweeney Todd' took out best art direction, 'Juno' took original screenplay while 'The Golden Compass' took best visual effects. This ensured no cleen sweep for any one film.
My final prediciton also came true, the brilliant 'Ratatouille' took the animated film prize, in the chinese year of the rat, who would have thought a film about a rat chef would win an OSCAR.
Two defining elements of this years award stood out, first, apart from the Cohen brothers, where were the Americans on their own show? You can understand Europeans doing well at the Golden Globes or the BAFTA's, but this is America's own academy. The acting categories were won by Europeans without exception, most of the technical awards were taken by crews that were primarily British. 'Ratatouille' was made by American's, but it was about a French rat set in Paris. Maybe a suggestion that great film making is happening well away from Hollywood, even the Cohen's are from the industrial north of Minnesota, well away from the Hollyood set.
Secondly this year was a year the usually activist left-wing minds of the academy took a step away from politics. The political films of the year like, 'Charlie Wilson's War', 'The Kingdom' and 'Rendition' were a mile away from the awards, going instead for dark movies like 'No Country For Old Men' and 'There Will be Blood.' Maybe the Clinton-Obama spat has devided Hollywood Democrats and they don't want to be seen taking sides by making politics an issue this year. I doubt this phenomonon will last.
Overall it was a good show, Jon Stewart did a good job of hosting, but few surprises, Swinton apart, in the major awards.
(This site's award nominations will be up on Friday night/Saturday morning, with the winners up on Sunday. Stay tuned for the third annual Moon Of Libert Film Awards)
