Turning the spotlight on the nominees seated at the Kodak Theater, the Academy Awards was a display of reaction shots—to good effect but making me wonder, what’s with Jack Nicholson’s head?
In a season where almost all winners were predicted—even Best Film for The Departed and Best Director for Scorsese, -- it was certainly more fun to take our eyes off the stage to see Ellen Degeneres handing a script to Marty and mugging for a photo with Clint taken by Steven Spielberg, who perfectionist that he is, had to stand to get it just right. Ellen said her role as host was to make everyone comfortable and she did, even me at home in my pajamas wishing I had gone to one of those parties where I had gambled on the winners. Of course one friend did call to say she had lost a $1000 bet on Eddie Murphy based on my forecast. Does etiquette demand that I pay her for her loss? The cameras fortunately did not dwell on Eddie’s losing to Alan Arkin. In a pre-show interview with Barbara Walters, he seemed much as Jennifer Hudson observed about him when asked how he was to work with: kind of quiet and shy, vulnerable, until performance time when . . . well, we are aware of his antic wide-grinning self. His Jimmy Early in Dreamgirls was stellar, outsized and, in my opinion, the more Oscar worthy.
As we know, Oscar has a logic all his own. Let’s take for example Guillermo del Toro and his magnificent, magical Pan’s Labyrinth. From the time that the film picked up awards for cinematography, art direction, and makeup, with each speech declaring the director’s genius, his genial face registered uneasy pleasure, as if he knew that these early wins might be indicators, consolation prizes in lieu of Best Foreign Language Film. In the past weeks the scales had tipped toward The Lives of Others and so this win was no surprise. In my interview with the young Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the German director, imagining the worst for his film, said he didn’t mind losing to Guillermo: he is so nice. He also pointed out that the last time a German film won, its cast was rudderless in Hollywood. When Nowhere in Africa took the prize in 2002, the director Caroline Link was home in Munich nursing a sick child. Talk about priorities! As Florian returned to his row of actors, a beaming Sebastian Koch among them, I wondered, would this heartthrob, a star of another film, the Dutch Holocaust era epic, Black Book, opening in April, make it back to New York today in time for a private screening tonight? Is he partying hearty as I write? And Al Gore, is he dancing on clean air? How good is it to see him grounded and confident? 
You could have staked your life on an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth. Best Documentary contenders are always high-minded principle-oriented films. Still, I keep griping: Shut Up and Sing should have been nominated in this category. The film, co-produced by Barbara Kopple, about the Dixie Chicks and the fire storm following an off the cuff swipe at Bush made by lead singer Natalie Maines, addressed first amendment issues and was simply an excellent non-fiction feature. Oh well, the Dixie Chicks were vindicated, reigning at the Grammys.
Speaking of rulers, the movie about the ill-fated queen, Marie Antionette, nevertheless was recognized for Best Costume Design. Milena Canonero thanked Francis Ford Coppola for introducing her to his daughter, director Sofia when she was just a little girl. Meantime Sofia Coppola was spotted in New York shopping for art at the Armory Show on the Pier pushing her new daughter in a stroller. Could it be that she like me was home watching in her pajamas?
And the regal Helen Mirren in Christian LaCroix, how gorgeous was that golden gown? Portraying the dowdy queen did not dampen Mirren’s natural fashion sense. At the New York Film Festival where The Queen premiered on opening night, Mirren wore the most spectacular Stella McCartney, and from there it’s been one frock more fabulous than the one before. Paraphrasing Mel Brooks, it’s good to be queen.
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Posted by: VeraSoto24 | March 14, 2010 at 03:47 PM