The Daze After
From: David Edelstein
To: Lynda ObstPosted Monday, March 25, 2002, at 1:18 AM ETWho are these people?
Well, Lynda, you pretty much called it. The headline tomorrow won't be A Beautiful Mind wins big but that African-Americans took home the lead actor and actress prizes on the same night the Academy rose to honor its Jackie Robinson, Sidney Poitier. Sidney Poitier, possessed of superhuman grace, honored a lot of other people—Jews, actually, with a token Episcopalian (Norman Jewison). Two aging white liberals, Hiller and Redford, got a little lost in the shuffle. As for Halle Berry, I better hold my tongue for the moment. It is hard not to be moved by emotion so overflowing—but in all honesty I felt the same lack of control in the performance. Denzel Washington was blessedly emotional and eloquent, and he tied it all in a neat bow by gesturing back to Poitier.
It is a little peculiar, a little skewed, a little absurd that the man who put A Beautiful Mind over, Russell Crowe, was the night's big "loser." And he'd won for Gladiator…
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Nathan Lane had the best lines of the evening—sticking it to Walt Disney and the Weinsteins. Why was his stuff so good and Whoopi's (apart from the Ashcroft joke) so awful? The schizophrenic gag was one of the all-time Oscar lows.
I liked Cirque du Soleil's number—which underlined the fact that Oscar has finally jettisoned the Vegas aesthetic. I loved when Randy Newman ordered the band not to play—it almost made up for the fact that it's one of his worst songs ever (and I love Randy Newman). I'm sorry Julia Roberts had to make the reading of the envelope about her reaction, but she made up for it by virtually riding Denzel off the stage: Her elation was true.
Yours?
David
The Daze After
From: David Edelstein
To: Lynda ObstPosted Monday, March 25, 2002, at 1:18 AM ETDavid Edelstein is Slate's film critic. You can read his reviews in "Reel Time" and in "Movies." He can be contacted at . Lynda Obst is producer of How To Lose in a Guy in 10 Days
and author of Hello, He Lied.
Photograph of Halle Berry on Slate's Table of Contents by Gary Hershorn/Reuters.
Notes From The Fray Editor:
Dira Necessitas said "I love Denzel, but Crowe was robbed" and touched off a long argument. Other topics of interest were Halle Berry's speech (many posts, few defenders), Gwyneth Paltrow's dress (no compliments), and Russell Crowe's choice of roles (one post, strong if slightly wild views).
Reader Comments From The Fray:
See, this is what really depresses me about Hollywood and its movies. Ron Howard makes consistently squishy, feel-good movies that are just next-door-to-really-good enough that he gets Oscars, or is at least a real contender for one. He could put that manipulativeness to work for him and turn out some really brilliant films if he could get rid of the Here Comes the American Hero attitude (I think he played the Opie and Ritchie Cunningham roles too long.) A bit of a darker, more cynical attitude could have boosted several of his films to another level altogether. Imagine Apollo 13 directed by a cross between Howard and David Lynch. Doesn't that sound like a good idea? Actually, given Lynch's films, he would have been a much better choice for director of A Beautiful Mind. We would have gotten a really good view of a schizophrenic mind, I think...
--Kathleen
(To find or answer this post, click here.)
So maybe the Academy gave into some sentimentality and political correctness. So what? If it was the triumph of style, it was not at any great sacrifice to substance. Rather, I think Hollywood brought substance to the rest of us this year with their stylistic choices. Through some partly deserved and partly symbolic gestures, they set an example and gently reminded the rest of us as a society that of which we are capable but have yet to achieve fully. Indeed, in Hollywood at least, the only two remaining groups snubbed by Oscar are wizards and hobbits - and there is always next year!
--The Bell
(To find or answer this post, click here.)
(3/25)
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Notes From The Fray Editor:
Dira Necessitas said "I love Denzel, but Crowe was robbed" and touched off a long argument. Other topics of interest were Halle Berry's speech (many posts, few defenders), Gwyneth Paltrow's dress (no compliments), and Russell Crowe's choice of roles (one post, strong if slightly wild views).
Reader Comments From The Fray:
See, this is what really depresses me about Hollywood and its movies. Ron Howard makes consistently squishy, feel-good movies that are just next-door-to-really-good enough that he gets Oscars, or is at least a real contender for one. He could put that manipulativeness to work for him and turn out some really brilliant films if he could get rid of the Here Comes the American Hero attitude (I think he played the Opie and Ritchie Cunningham roles too long.) A bit of a darker, more cynical attitude could have boosted several of his films to another level altogether. Imagine Apollo 13 directed by a cross between Howard and David Lynch. Doesn't that sound like a good idea? Actually, given Lynch's films, he would have been a much better choice for director of A Beautiful Mind. We would have gotten a really good view of a schizophrenic mind, I think...
--Kathleen
(To find or answer this post, click here.)
So maybe the Academy gave into some sentimentality and political correctness. So what? If it was the triumph of style, it was not at any great sacrifice to substance. Rather, I think Hollywood brought substance to the rest of us this year with their stylistic choices. Through some partly deserved and partly symbolic gestures, they set an example and gently reminded the rest of us as a society that of which we are capable but have yet to achieve fully. Indeed, in Hollywood at least, the only two remaining groups snubbed by Oscar are wizards and hobbits - and there is always next year!
--The Bell
(To find or answer this post, click here.)
(3/25)