Invasion of the Oscar Snatchers
Them furriners done took our Academy Awards
By Scott Patrick Wagner 03/27/2008
As has been written almost to the point of jingoism, all the major acting awards at this year’s Oscars were won by un-Americans — I mean, Europeans. If you are a media aficionado on a budget, now is the time to catch up on all these Academy Award winners, since the bulk of them have just been released on DVD. So let us do a thoroughly subjective rundown on what is worth it.
There Will Be Blood won’t be released for two more weeks, so Daniel Day-Lewis won’t be discussed right now. Since we are in Lead Performance, let us talk about Frenchy, even though that film hit DVD a while ago. Marion Cotillard’s Oscar-winning role in La Vie en Rose was impressive in that, “Wow, she aged from 15 to somewhere near mummification" kind of way, but I have to say the histrionics left me a little cold. Yeah, I know she was playing Edith Piaf, whose life was très dramatique, but how do you say, “Put those bug eyes back in their sockets, please,” in French?
On to the Supporting Players. Javier Bardem is just as spooky as you have heard in No Country for Old Men. The film itself becomes deeper and richer as it proceeds, and you are ultimately left understanding why it won Best Picture (even with that ending). Tilda Swinton won Best Supporting Actress for her part in the involving Michael Clayton. I don’t quite understand why. Don’t get me wrong, I like Swinton and her career of weird and wanton roles. But this performance seemed mostly about looking in the mirror and worrying, and she sounded like a Brit doing an American accent. If the Academy wanted to honor a fantastic performance by a woman with a foreign accent, why didn’t they give it to Amy Ryan for her extraordinary work in Gone Baby Gone? That character was from Boston, and talk about foreign accents!
What roundup of the Oscars would be complete without a mention of films nominated (and winning) for Best Song, particularly since the winners were Europeans also? Granted, nobody involved in Enchanted was a foreigner (unless you consider the fairy-tale country of Euthanasia, or whatever the hell they called it), and none of the three songs deserved to win (which they didn’t). The other two Best Song nominees were from Once and August Rush. I’m probably going to make a lot of enemies with this, but I thought Once (a perfectly titled film, since I will never see it more than that) was the most self-indulgent, bilious piece of busking boredom to shake a shillelagh. And that song! May I never have to hear the four mercilessly repetitive notes of that melody again (and they will no doubt be haunting elevators for decades to come, seeing as how it won the Oscar). At the other end of the spectrum is “Raise It Up,” the song from August Rush. Granted, at the Oscar telecast this song seemed unimpressive. But in the context of the film, it is extremely effective and very moving. And speaking of this film — I loved it. The music was extraordinary, the story eloquent, the performances resplendent. And the ending was everything you have ever wanted an ending to be. And Jonathan Rhy Meyers is a much better Irish singing dude than What's-his-name-who-looks-like-he-needs-a-shower from Once.
Scott Patrick Wagner can be contacted at www.scottpatrickwagner.com.
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