A Navid Sitarian Review of the 86th Academy Awards (slightly updated)
Well, when all is said and done, this year's Oscars will be remembered for two words:
Free. Pizza.
I guess if you are a Hollywood hotshot (I'm talking to you, Leo, Meryl, Julia, etc.), you can enjoy the luxury of elevating your blood pressure and cholesterol.
But I digress.
This year's ceremony was an achievement for a movie like Gravity, which not only became the first movie in five years to win more than six Oscars, but the first movie in a LONG time to win so many Oscars....but not Best Picture.
Instead, it went to a tiny movie called 12 Years A Slave. I have not seen that film, but from the looks of the film, it is a powerful, sweeping piece about racism and perseverance.
Which makes me wonder why they did not award Django Unchained, but Argo, one of the most amateur Best Picture winners I have ever seen. Or not Brokeback Mountain, but Crash. We know, they both deal with social issues, with Crash providing a kaleidoscopic view on race relations. But, where else are you going to find a powerful, shattering movie that seamlessly weaves the western genre with a beautiful love story between two men?
It's no secret that the Academy has gotten incredibly political. I do not know why they waited so long to finally award a film about slavery when they did not films with similar themes in the past.
But, that's another essay.
Regarding the show, Ellen DeGeneres was the emcee tonight, and perhaps the safest. I do not think she was trying to be funny as much as trying to clean about the wreckage created by a Seth MacFarlane. Somehow, she seemed to relish the distinction of being the among the Hollywood elite, going to clubs, fraternizing with other celebrities. Of course, to insult them in a Ricky Gervais kind of way would be to exclude yourself.
Gosh, sounds like the Skull and Bones society at Yale.
The winners tonight were noteworthy. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto were the deserving victors; they immersed themselves in their roles powerfully and viscerally. They did not play Ron Woodruff and Rayon, they became them. They shone the light on AIDS effectively and honestly and they sure earned their golden statuettes.
Cate Blanchett is Australia's answer to Meryl Streep. Her performance as an embittered wife of a Madoff-esque broker was the core of the film. People were whispering Oscar upon seeing her performance, as was I. As for Lupita N'yongo, 12 Years a Slave was her film debut, and a brilliant one. She conveyed the horrors of slavery, and a brutal reminder of how Americans treated minorities in the 1800s. A movie like 12 Years is a lesson on never forgetting the past...and never repeating it.
Overall, the structure of the show was redolent of last year's: the musical numbers, the standing ovations (hey, these days, if you win an Oscar, chances are people will stand up for you :)). The In Memoriam section was interesting because after we saw the montage of the fallen actors/filmmakers (and legendary critic Roger Ebert) from the past year, Bette Midler comes on and sings (or at least tries to) her famous ballad "Wind Beneath my Wings." What would have made the performance more poignant was if she would have sang it DURING the montage, not after. Otherwise, it would be just another musical number (the kind where in Oscars of late, people stand up and applaud).
Was this year's Oscars good? Oddly enough, yes. Maybe I am being a little kind, because I am getting older, but I thought it was a nice ceremony.
Well, on to the 87th....
Grade: A-
Navid Sitarian
March 2, 2014