Sunday, March 26, 2000
Oscar’s blunders - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- One of the things I’ll be watching for in this year’s Oscar telecast is who’ll win. More importantly, who’ll lose. I’ve been watching the Oscars in their entirety for about 7 years now and in the last 4 or 5 years I’ve been intently watching the nominees way before nomination morning and following them through to Oscar night. In doing so, one becomes, fans almost, of certain people and personally rooting for them on the telecast. Case in point: I was watching the Cannes Film Festival’s closing ceremonies about a year and a half ago in June of 1998, when an Italian man who had the energy of 5 men, bolted the stage to accept a prize for his film, La vita e bella. The entire audience at the Palais jumped to its feet yelling and cheering for the victorious film maker who just exuded happiness and joy. Roger Ebert who was doing the voice-over made a comment that months later was so prophetic, “Imagine what he would do if he won an Oscar?”
The film was Life Is Beautiful and the man was Roberto Benigni. So there I was baffled by this man’s energy one June afternoon, wondering from then on if he’d actually win the Oscar and what would he actually do. It was a tremendous moment a year ago when the enchanting Sophia Loren handed him an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Hilary Swank will probably end up like many other Oscar nominees of year’s past. She’s gotten a hell of a lot of praise and coverage regarding her performance in Boys Don’t Cry, but she won’t win. (The very-pregnant Annette Benning will win.) The press can build up stars and then forget they ever existed after Oscar night. Whatever happened to the brilliant Brenda Blethyn? She was nominated three years ago for her lead turn in Mike Leigh’s brilliant Secrets and Lies, she lost and last year was nodded for her work in Little Voice. She lost again. How about Robert Forester who was nominated two years ago for Jackie Brown? He was nominated, publicity was rampant on his chances to win and when he lost he fell off the media’s radar screens. How about Gloria Stuart? Remember she was the old lady in Titanic. One role and poof from show biz? Well, she was 90-years old, but I still wonder how she’s doing.
Another peeve of mine are the people that do lose. The race for the Oscar usually gets going around Christmas and an average acting race has about 7 to 10 worthy competitors and by nomination morning in February it’s widdled down to 5. By then 2 or 3 get snubbed, for example Jim Carrey two years in a row for The Truman Show and for Man on The Moon. By Oscar night, 5 nominees yields 4 losers and one winner. It is a climactic rise that falls, much like an inflated balloon when the air is taken out.
In my honest and modest opinion, there have been some Oscar oversights that are simply deplorable. Last year for example: How could Fernanda Montenegro’s brilliant performance in Central Station or Meryl Streep’s in One True Thing, not better than the winning Gwyneth Paltrow? How about Jack Nicholson’s turn in As Good As It Gets, was it actually better than Robert Duvall’s The Apostle? Come on, Bobby Duvall was far far far more superior in that film. How about in that same year, Judi Dench, or rather Dame Judi Dench in Mrs. Brown losing to... Helen Hunt in As Good As It Gets? Even Hunt claimed she didn’t deserve it. Then there’s Brenda Blethyn’s performance in Secrets and Lies, losing to Frances McDormand in Fargo. An outrage if you ask me.
What will it be this year? I sincerely hope they gut the tasteless applause during the segment where they show pictures of the stars and folks in the motion picture industry that have died over the past year. In recent years during this segment the audience would clap everytime it would be someone famous. Lesser famous folk would get no applause, thus we’d be treated to rising and falling applause from the audience.
Nevertheless, the year so far has been an interesting one. First, the Wall Street Journal tried to pop the bubble of the Oscar’s by claiming to phone a majority of the Academy‘s members and asking them who they voted for. Well in Friday’s edition they managed to print up the results of their “un-scienfic poll”. So says the poll: Best Picture is American Beauty, Actor will go to Denzel Washington, Actress to Hilary Swank, Supporting Actor to Michael Caine and Supporting Actress to Angelina Jolie. Now since the poll is only 6% of the entire membership one should not take stock in their findings. The Academy has since denounced the Journal’s article and poll and it’s not the only skirmish that they’ve had to weather. The Oscar ballots went missing, as did the Oscar’s themselves. A comedy of errors? Absolutely. The curse of Saving Private Ryan losing last year? The curse of Gil Cates? The curse of Whoopi? Perhaps.
Amidst the drudgery of error, they could do no wrong with having Burt Bacharach in the orchestra pit.
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