The only people talking about the Oscars are the people who are mad at the Oscars. They are mad because they get the nominations wrong! They are mad because they get the winners wrong! They are mad because they give awards for too many things (the show should be shorter!) or too few things (Bring back Sound Design and Sound Mixing!) or the wrong things (where are the stunt men?). They are mad because the voters don't even watch the movies! (It has been admitted that some voters didn't even watch Dune Part II. I honestly assumed they didn't watch most of them. I figured it was just me and a handful of other non-voters who do this. But it does certainly seem like a flaw in the system.)
So what is this event that is so wrong about everything? It's an awards ceremony where a set of human beings vote for what they like best.
Let's break that down. First, have you ever been to an award ceremony? Or high school? Who wins all the awards? The popular kids! If my friend was nominated would I vote for them? Yes! Yes, I would unless it was painfully obvious that their work was shit. But I would know the hardships my friend had faced making it and their point of view would be clear to me, so I probably wouldn't even know their work was shit. Some people just vote for who they think will win rather than what they personally love because they like to be right or in step with the crowd. We all know how Awards work!
Secondly, human beings are voting. Humans are flawed and stupid and tribal. You can't trust them! Enough said.
Finally, people are voting for what they liked best (or what they think represents the best.) Either way, it's an opinion! There is no RIGHT answer. Each person has their own set of priorities for enjoyable, moving or influential entertainment. I do not care if visual effects are present or if it is pioneering some new direction in cinema but it BETTER be paced well. Some people can't even appreciate a good performance from an actor if the music is bad - it ruins everything for them! It's completely subjective and not ever being scored on the same rubric.
So it's messy! Let it be messy, let it be wrong. I'm still curious at the end of the day, with this incredibly messy and unreliable data set as the input to the problem, what will come out as the output? We'll find out tonight!
(I didn't even get into the financial burden of getting your film considered or buying votes for it! Let's leave that for another day.)
The movie selection is confounding this year! I've tried and tried to understand what in particular the mood of the voters is this year. What are they looking for? These films feel all over the place. Escapism is huge with Wicked and Emilia Perez and Dune Part 2 and The Substance - going to places that are not at all like our own world. There are two real life heroes to look up to in A Complete Unknown and I'm Still Here and the rest are dramas about the abiding unfairness of the world. So I guess that's where we are right now; Wishing we could escape the overwhelming unfairness of the world and feeling like we don't have that many heroes at the moment. Yep, that seems like an accurate snapshot!
Let me quickly make my usually very inaccurate guesses about the winners:
I think they are going to scatter these awards in all directions rather than being focused on one or two films.
The Brutalist will take Best Picture, but director will go to but Coralie Fargeat for The Substance.
Acting awards will go to Timothee Chalamet, Kieran Culkin, Demi Moore and Zoe Saldana. Unless the Oscars has decided to completely distance itself from Emilia Perez, in which case it will be Isabella Rossellini.
Animation will be Flow and International will be Emilia Perez and Documentary will be No Other Land. While short film awards will go to Death By Numbers, Yuck! and A Lien.
Cinematography will go to The Brutalist, Editing to Wicked, Costumes to Wicked, Make Up to Wicked and Production Design to Wicked.
Original Score will go to Wicked and Original Song to Emilia Perez.
Sound and Visual Effects will go to Dune: Part II. Original Screenplay to The Brutalist and Adapted Screenplay to A Complete Unknown.
That's it. That's my guesses! Go watch The Oscars if it's your cup of tea! Or maybe get outside and enjoy some nature if you can!
With my Oscar Glutton duties concluded I lose my biggest distraction from the realities of having no time frame for when I can return to my home or my belongings or when my town can come back to life. I sit in (beautiful) temporary housing that will expire soon, wearing (comfortable) donated clothes and drinking tea from a borrowed mug. Everything feels uncertain so I'm glad that I can at least be sure that whatever happens at the Oscars tonight, people will be mad!
No comments:
Post a Comment