For one night the red carpet rolls out in Hollywood, more crisp and crimson than normal. Around the world film fans gather round TVs at obscene hours, making themselves comfortable for the long road ahead. It takes stamina just to watch the arrivals. One by one, the great, the good and the lucky parade by. These people are dressed the best they ever will be in their entire lives. At least that’s what they think. Some of them look terrible. Posing in ill-fitted efforts the colour of bad fruit, as the epitome of style and beauty glides past beside them. Borrowed diamonds hang round girls' necks, and borrowed girls hang round somebody who used to be something. You could make a career out of trying to explain this bizarre spectacle, and too many do.
Before the guests make it inside, we get the obligatory soundbite interviews. The nominees think everyone else was amazing. Everyone agrees it’s a really strong year and when pushed for a preference predictably name people they’ve worked with and the clear frontrunners. After all, it’s never wrong to be right. Now the famous faces find out how important they really are by who they are sitting next to for the next 3 hours and we’re ready to begin. This year’s host is Hugh Jackman, with musical razzle dazzle replacing glib industry in-jokes. Both designed to fight a trend of declining viewing figure. But when the curtain comes up all anyone watching really cares about is the big question, who’s won....
Alright so here’s the way it went...
In the Best Actor category Senn Penn proved a slightly surprising winner for his turn as real life gay politician Harvey Milk. Conventional wisdom had put Mickey Rourkes career resurrecting performance in the Wrestler as the clear frontrunner. Perhaps following Rourkes triumph at other award nights such as the BAFTAS people felt he’d already had his day in the sun, or maybe in the wake of the national embarrassment of proposition 8 the academy felt the need to send a clear message of tolerance. It’s likely the risk of putting Rourke on the world must public stage proved too great for some voters. In truth he was the only nominee almost certain to provide an expletive laden bag of crazy as an acceptance speech. As a disappointed spectator I console myself with the fact that Senn Penn is an actor of sufficient class and accomplishment to deserve the acclaim.
In the Best Supporting Actor category Heath Ledger was as expected given academy recognition in the wake of his tragic death. Awarded more for his body of work and in sympathy at the cruel loss of a talent that promised so much, rather than for his actual performance in Dark Knight. Perhaps an honorary Oscar would have been more appropriate, since it seemed a little unfair to put the other nominee’s creditable efforts up against such a massive weight of legitimate public sentiment.
For Best Supporting Actress, Penelope Cruz proved a popular winner for her scene stealing flamboyant performance in Woody Allen’s well crafted sex comedy Vicky Christina Barcelona. Amidst the typically solemn roles her performance as a smouldering fiery tempered bisexual no doubt proved more alluring to voters. Firmly suggesting that making out with Scarlett Johansson on screen can only help your career.
For Best Actress, six time former nominee Kate Winslet’s win was as close as possible to being an inevitability. It was openly accepted before the ceremony that it was finally her time to win one. To deny one of the best actresses of her generation for a seventh time would be just too cruel. Her typically powerhouse performance as an illiterate former concentration camp guard was clearly a role well crafted for collecting acting accolades.
Representing the pinnacle of Pixar’s magnificent work and displaying an extraordinarily multilayered adult sophistication, Wall-E was an essential winner for Best Animated Picture. We can only wonder what would have happened had it been allowed to throw its hat in the best picture ring. Its stunning visual wizardry and eco-friendly environmentalist subtext might just have been enough to cause an upset.
In so many of the categories including Best Director and Best Film, Slumdog Millionaire walked away the worthy and predictable winner. As a crowd pleasing fairytale which doesn’t shy away from grim realities few films can boast its emotional impact and cultural resonance. Danny Boyle’s unique and visceral style of direction, combined with mesmerizing performances from its cast of unknown un-American faces, earned Slumdog every bit of its wide acclaim. Perhaps the only mystery was how none of Slumdogs acting talent found themselves up for nomination. It may be that the sheer strength of the cast made it hard for the academy to identify who was specifically responsible for its magic and deserving of personal recognition. A more cynical assessment might be that the academy simply prefers familiar names on its ballot slips. But hopefully the overwhelming success of Slumdog goes some way to showing the Academy’s open-mindedness to new talent and cultural diversity. Time will tell, but for now the moment belongs to Slumdog and all its rising stars.
When the curtains fall on 2009, we congratulate ourselves on staying up for the whole thing and are left only to hope that 2010 will bring us more of the same...
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