The Oscars

This has been a tough year for the Oscars, in my opinion. This is has been an Academy Award season of disillusionment, remembering that, prestigious as the awards are, the Oscars are still the biggest party in Hollywood.

I do not understand why the Best Picture category was expanded, perhaps it is because the nominations this year are relatively weak. Overall, there were no surprises. No underdogs with surprise wins, no unknowns became known. The Oscars catered to the masses, honoring films that the majority of America saw and enjoyed.

Why is it that the films I actually want to see, like The Secret of the Kells and many of the documentary nominees, are not yet released in the US?

Still, there were some good moments. Jeff Bridges is a brilliant character actor, and fully deserved his award. His performance is a true inhabitation of the role, and his award a long-deserved recognition of his great gift as an actor.

Of course I loved Up and was thrilled to see it win Best Animated Film, but how amazing would it have been to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox or The Secret of the Kells win Best Animated and Up win for Best Picture? These are the films that really deserved recognition.

This is the first year where I do not want to see all the nominees, and the ones I have seen I have had real issues with. So many of the films this year made me angry. There are some serious issues we are dealing with today, as these films all make clear, but the way in which these issues have been depicted and interpreted through film has been tragically misguided, confused, and superficial. War, race, colonial legacy, and environmental collapse...these are issues that simply are not dealt with responsibly in Hollywood. If I had my way, Up in the Air would have won the major awards. This was a film that dealt with our culture and times in an incisive, intelligent, and honest but uplifting way. If you want to see real films deal with stories in an honest and intelligent manner, don't look to the Oscars to tell you what those films are. Go to your local independent theater and catch a film you haven't heard of. Go see Lucy and Wendy or The White Ribbon, or even A Single Man or A Serious Man. Notice the natural performances and refreshing absence of cliche in Lucy and Wendy, the disturbing complexity and art direction of The White Ribbon, and the symbolism in the mis en scene of the Coen brothers. Great films are out there, you just have to search. And sadly, few of them were honored here tonight.