for Best Actor
It’s awards season again and for the 4th year in a row I’ll be “live tweeting” the Oscars over on Twitter. As usual, I haven’t been able to see all the Best Picture nominees but in all honesty most of them hold little interest for me. I did see a lot of 2011 releases but overall I thought 2011 was a rather lackluster year for modern movies. And many of the films I enjoyed watching such as Lars von Trier’s MELANCHOLIA, Abbas Kiarostami’s CERTIFIED COPY and Nicolas Winding Refn’s DRIVE felt all too familiar. There’s been a lot written about the nostalgia surrounding Oscar nominated films such as THE ARTIST, HUGO and MIDNIGHT IN PARIS but I think it’s symptomatic of something bigger. Director’s are relying much too much on “homage” lately when they should be developing their own vision, their own voice and their own ideas.
So if I’m not all that interested in most of the movies up for nomination this year why am I watching the Oscars? As I’ve explained many times before, I’ve been watching the Academy Awards since I was a kid and I appreciate the pomp and circumstance of the whole gaudy affair. I like seeing my favorite actors dressed to the nines and hobnobbing with one another. And I enjoy rooting for my favorite artists and performers to take home that gold statue even if they don’t. And they usually don’t. Most of my favorite directors and actors have never won an Academy Award and they never will. This is showbiz folks and showbiz has very little to do with the fine art of making great motion pictures.
But the fact remains that every year one or two people I greatly admire usually gets nominated for an award and I have fun rooting for them. This year I’m particularly excited for Gary Oldman who’s an actor I’ve admired for a very long time and I thought his low-key performance in TINKER TAILOR SOLIDER SPY was brilliant. The odds are stacked against him but I really hope he takes home that gold statue on Sunday night. His terrific work in films such as SID AND NANCY, PRICK UP YOUR EARS, TRACK 29, ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, JFK and LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL (just to name a few standout performances) should have won him a nomination many years ago. I also appreciate the comedic skill of his top competitor, Jean Dujardin, but Oldman’s quiet, thoughtful and intimate portrayal of an aging British spy was some of the best acting (or non-acting) that I’ve seen in years. None of the actors nominated along with Oldman for Best Actor can match his range or hold a candle to his incredible body of work.
Among the Best Supporting Actor nominees four of the men nominated are performers I admire a lot and none of them has ever won an Academy Award. It seems bizarre (and it is) but even though Nick Nolte, Max von Sydow, Christopher Plummer and Kenneth Branagh have all been nominated in the past, none of them has ever taken home an Oscar. I think Max von Sydow and Nick Nolte are both extremely talented actors and I have a soft spot for Christopher Plummer. As for Branagh, he’s also done some great work and recently he’s been in top form on the excellent PBS crime drama WALLANDER so it’s nice to see him getting some much deserved attention. It would be fun to see any of these talented men win the award even though I’ve only had the opportunity to see Plummer in BEGINNERS, where he was his usual charming self. Kudos to them all!
We lost a lot of noteworthy performers last year as well as directors and composers. Elizabeth Taylor, Ken Russell and John Barry are three names that come to mind immediately but there were many more. I hope the Academy makes time to properly honor the memory of some of these people. Just seeing their picture flash by in a quick montage with some sappy song played over it will not do. I’d like to see a musical tribute to Barry and Dame Elizabeth deserves a tribute fit for a queen. Hollywood owes her something special and they better deliver but I’m not getting my hopes up. It’s the Academy Awards after all and chances are I’ll be grinding my teeth and bitching through the whole spectacle tomorrow night. See you on Twitter!
I love your explanation of why you watch the Oscars–it is exactly my explanation.
Thanks, Susan! I don’t take the awards all that seriously but I love the show. With movies like THE ARTIST and HUGO getting so much attention, I suspect the show will be kind of fun since they’ll probably have a lot of tributes to classic movies, etc. Or at least I hope they do. Trying not to expect too much but tomorrow has the potential of being an entertaining night.
I really like this. I also really appreciate your explanation of why you watch the Oscars; I also enjoy the pomp and circumstance of it. And I definitely agree with you that directors (or at least the ones getting nominated) need to focus on their original vision, but it’s kind of ironic for me because the pomp and circumstance of the Oscars reminds me of the old days of Hollywood, when it didn’t seem like this cold, fragmented machine of a thing, but more of a community. That might be a bit naive, but it’s telling that in the first Academy Award ceremony they had a category for “Best Unique and Artistic Quality of Production”. And watching the Oscars, even though I too generally have very little invested in any of the nominees, makes me feel like there’s still something left over from the days where Hollywood truly allowed its filmmakers to push creative boundaries.
Thank you and I’m glad you appreciated my post. When I was a kid growing up in the ’70s and into the early ’80s (yes folks, I’m old!) the Oscars really seemed special. As I got older and wiser they started loosing their mystique and by the time Billy Crystal took over hosting duties I had already figured out that the awards didn’t really mean much. And as Hollywood’s become more commercial, the nominated films have become more predictable and safer. I can’t imagine a movie like MIDNIGHT COWBOY getting nominated for a Best Picture award now but occasionally the Academy surprises me. I loved NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN for example. It was a unique film with a strong artistic vision and it took home a lot of Oscars. It’s important to appreciate the Oscars with some perspective and realize that in the big scheme of things they really don’t mean all that much.
Yeah, seriously! It doesn’t seem like there’s any way Midnight Cowboy could win Best Picture now, or that films like Network or Taxi Driver or Cries and Whispers, for Heaven’s sake!, could even get nominated today. But yeah, the Oscars can still hold some surprises, like you said; it was amazing to see two incredible films like No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood battling it out for Best Picture.
I really like this piece! I also watch the Oscars every year since I was a kid, so I just wouldn’t feel right missing it. I’m also rooting for either Gary Oldman or Jean Dujardin. (In fact, either one of the three who aren’t Clooney or Pitt are more deserving.) I’m also pleased with the supporting actor category… I’ve been a Christopher Plummer champion all year long, because he really nailed it in ‘Beginners’ (I loved the movie, itself) but all four of these men are amazing – huge Brannagh fan and I’ll always believe Nick Nolte was robbed of his leading actor Oscar for ‘Affliction’. Also agree about honoring John Barry and Ken Russell. There must be plenty of people who have no idea who they were, by name – and how much they contributed to the world of films – but those people should be informed of that via the Oscars platform. I will be a little bit devastated, frankly, if they don’t do anything special for John Barry! Ciao for now & have fun watching the show
The Oscar fight between No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood was pretty surprising and amazing in retrospect. It’s rare that films of that caliber get nominated these days and I’m glad one of them took home the award so there’s always hope. This year the nominations are pretty safe but so were most of the films I saw. There’s just not a lot of daring/original filmmaking going on in the US right now.
Thanks, Klara!
I’m really hoping Oldman creates a major upset and snags the Best Actor award but I won’t be surprised if Jean Dujardin wins. I like him a lot but I haven’t had a chance to see The Artist yet. I do like the spy spoofs Dujardin made with Hazanavicius so I suspect I’ll enjoy it. Plummer’s performance in Beginners was really charming but I haven’t seen the others. I’m curious about Nick Nolte’s performance in Warrior since it seems like a good role for him. I will say this, if Jonah Hill takes the award for Best Supporting Actor I will undoubtedly spit whatever I’m drinking all over my TV. It would confirm everything I hate about the Oscars.
I’m with you, Kimberly. I watch the Oscars every year regardless of whether I have seen any of the nominateds or not. This year, I managed to see exactly NONE of the nominated films. Why? As a New Yorker, I am a fortunate member of Film Forum, a repertory theatre that shows old movies every day of the year. For the past three weeks, for example, I have been seeing William Wellman film after William Wellman film (“The Public Enemy,” “The Star Witness” and “Roxie Hart” this past weekend); I’d rather see these great oldies than any new film coming down the pike any day. But the Oscar show still manages to pull me in every year. Thank goodness that this year’s telecast was mercifully short, and that we didn’t have to suffer through those torturous song-and-dance numbers! The tribute to the departed always manages to tick me off, somehow. Last year, for example, I was fuming that the show failed to recognize the passing of Jill Haworth and Tura Satana! And yes, Elizabeth Taylor’s passing was certainly deserving of something more than a brief photo shot. You are so right about that!
Thanks Sandy!
Must add that the 84th Academy Awards was the worst Oscar show I’ve sat through in ages. Between Billy Crystal’s tasteless jokes and the overall dullness of the whole production I can’t believe I got through it all. I still feel abused just from watching it and I’m not surprised they got their lowest ratings ever. I really hope they fire Bruce Vilanch and get some decent writers next year as well as a host who isn’t locked in a 1990 time warp.