Recently, I got a request from one of my readers…
Okay, okay, my only reader. Or the only one to actually leave comments so far.
So I think she deserves a good response, even if it is way after the fact.
Regarding my column about the Oscar controversy this year, Lynn asked: “When are you going to tell us what you thought when it was all over?”.
Well, the answer is pretty much what you might expect.
The reason I didn’t think it was even worth adding an update to my column was because the show played out almost exactly as I predicted. Only worse.
I thought the show was a debacle. Maybe the most painfully uncomfortable and hard-to-sit-through in all the 45 or so years I have been an Oscar watcher. And that includes the times where Rob Lowe sang “Proud Mary” with Snow White and David Letterman did stupid pet tricks, so that’s really saying something. Chris Rock got off maybe three good jokes at the start, but the rest of it was terrible. The bottom line on handling any controversy is: Can you make it funny? Can you ease the tension, move on from it and bring the audience back together? Rock did not accomplish any of the above. Rather, he beat the topic to a bloody pulp and succeeded in casting a pall over the entire evening. I didn’t laugh, I just cringed. Then, as he wouldn’t drop it, I got angry. Ultimately, the ceremony is a celebration of people’s work and that totally got lost in the mix.
As I said before, Rock is a talented man, but in his comedy act, especially in the last ten years, he often belabors a subject until it becomes repetitive and grating, and in my opinion, this was the Perfect Storm for his worst traits as a performer. I thought he was a bad fit in his last Oscar gig, so it was not a surprise. When he repeated the same gag of asking black moviegoers in nearby Compton what they knew about this year’s Oscar nominees – knowing full well the answers he would get – the result was not just unfunny, patronizing, pointless, it was downright depressing. His only message seems to be that the gulf between races (or classes, or both) is insurmountable – which I think is mostly a belief rooted in his own advanced years. Even if it is still true, how is he helping?
It reminds me of George Carlin in his last years as a comedian when his act stopped being funny and became a hectoring lecture on the sham that is Capitalism. Whatever truth he was speaking to power was drowned out by the vitriol, and eventually, felt almost – almost – as ugly to me as Dennis Miller’s reactionary right-wing routine.
A great comedian finds a way to seduce you into, if not agreeing, then at least understanding and laughing along with their point-of-view. If they can’t do that with genuine wit, browbeating the audience is not the same thing, and no longer really comedy. In the end, the mood was so sour even Rock’s anodyne gag about selling his daughter’s Girl Scout cookies left a bad taste.
So, imagine my surprise the next day when I read the reviews and found everyone raving about how daring and hilarious Rock was. What? Even a lot of my friends felt Rock had shaken up the proceedings in a healthy way, made them more lively at least. I must have seen a different show. Or perhaps I take it all too seriously. In any case, I don’t think Rock will be asked back next year. I think the Academy has endured enough self-flagellation for a while. Hopefully, the 2017 nominations will, in fact, show real diversity – if the industry does its part by releasing good movies of color – and the ceremony can return to just being the world’s highest honor for excellence in film.
The postscript (and post-modern) punchline, of course, is that Rock actually ended up being accused of racism himself for his admittedly lame joke with the three Asian child “accountants”. You couldn’t make it up, the irony is sublime. Hollywood has turned into an eco-friendly production of “The Crucible”.
The Academy apologized, naturally.
Chris Rock didn’t.
I can’t help but applaud him for that.
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As for the winners…
I think they were all very deserving.
I would have loved to see Saoirse Ronan win for Brooklyn – hers was by far the most moving performance of the year in my humble opinion. It was a stunner. But Brie Larson did a fine job in Room and was a lock, probably the surest thing of the night. It’s interesting to me that the Best Actress category’s median age seems to be getting younger and younger every year. Maybe actresses of a certain age need to come up with a protest hashtag – #Oscarssonubile! No, no. I think it’s more a result of truly substantive roles for and work by the younger generation and is a good sign for the future of film.
Call it the Jennifer Lawrence Effect.
It was great to see Leonardo DiCaprio win – not only because I thought his work in The Revenant was excellent, but yes, also because it was overdue after years and years of excellent work.
Stallone’s loss in Best Supporting Actor was a surprise, but maybe it shouldn’t have been. My guess is his forgetting to thank director Ryan Coogler and his co-star Michael B. Jordan at the Golden Globes did not sit well with the voters. It seemed to show a real hubris and lack of perspective. Like Burt Reynolds and Michael Keaton before him, his ego may have ended up sabotaging the fairy-tale ending of his big comeback. It managed to trip up Eddie Murphy as well. Once that feel-good award starts to feel too expected and the recipient just a little bitter or smug, it can all curdle pretty fast.
Besides, the optics of giving an award to The White Guy in Creed, no matter how much of a veteran, would have been legitimately awkward. Especially since the success of that film rests squarely on the shoulders of Coogler, who is maybe the great breakout filmmaker of the year.
And Mark Rylance, a well-respected theatre actor, but up until recently an obscure name in the US, was a feel-good winner himself. It’s always nice when a real working character actor wins. And now he is lined up for Spielberg’s next THREE FILMS, so we will be seeing much much more of him.
The boy from Room macking on Sofia Vergara. Good eye, kid.
I didn’t see Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl, but her work in Ex Machina blew me away. Yet another young actress with skills way beyond her years.
I loved all the technical wins for Mad Max: Fury Road, the greatest popcorn film of the year…the big wins for direction and cinematography on The Revenant (both men winning for the second year in a row! Proud Mexican nationals, by the way, Diversity!)…and that Spotlight won Best Original Screenplay, then nipped in at the finish line and pulled a Best Picture win. They were right choices all the way around. It showed Academy voters really can delineate the strengths of each film and spread the honors around accordingly. It was a very satisfying eclectic mix.
My only nitpicking complaints would be The Big Short for Best Adapted Screenplay (instead of Brooklyn) – a film I felt was vastly overrated; and the mystifying Best Song nod for the anemic Spectre theme. Although I’m glad it beat Lady Gaga’s entry, which despite the laudable subject matter, was just awful. The REAL racism scandal was the omission of the song “See You Again” from Furious 7 from even the list of nominees. The song category is an annual embarrassment. Ms. Academy President, you might want to retire that geriatric bunch of has-beens before doing anything else!
But, overall, a great selection of winners…
Like I say, it’s just sad the night wasn’t really about them.
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Okay…there you go, Lynn – my take, for what it’s worth.
And thanks for reading me – I really appreciate it.
On to the next comment… Uhm, someone? Anybody?