Oscar final thoughts

This is late. I wrote this Sunday evening and left the USB on the way to the office realizing the show was just minutes away. I thought it was a bad omen, having left it. But then, let's see.

Tomorrow’s the big day for the best of 2006 cinema and I have been waiting for this since December. Though a Guardian article critiqued that too much hoopla on trivial matters like who’s going to take home Oscars is an indication of intellectual and critical demise in America, still award shows like this offer an escapist perspective once in a while especially in an America beset by the worries of war. Even for onlookers alike, the show will satisfy thirst for Hollywood fame and glamour in that red carpet.

So what’s it going to be then, eh?

I have been toying with the idea that Little Miss Sunshine would actually take home the bacon. It’s not hard to imagine though and LMS can actually nail it. Statistically, they have the aces – Producers Guild, Writers Guild and the SAGs (best ensemble, in which Crash won last year), a standing ovation at Cannes, and critics are saying everybody loved it. It can’t be dismissed. It’s uplifting, lively and Hollywood never runs out of that dysfunctional-family sort of thing.

But then to actually think of it winning over The Departed would be way too safe. I like LMS but then Departed was, by far, the most entertaining and critically acclaimed kick-ass movie of 2006. It has been hailed as Marty’s comeback to the old genre. Technically, this film just gets everything right – tight editing, fast-paced and intelligent script, and an ensemble cast that sizzles on screen you could actually feel it hissing – Dicaprio, Damon, Nicholson, Baldwin, Sheen, even Vera Farmiga shined albeit her underwritten role, and Wahlberg whose last great performance I think was in Boogie Nights. And Leo would have a bigger chance of toppling Whitaker's reign had it been The Departed he was nominated for.

Some have argued that Departed is bloody and vulgar, not the type the conservative Academy voters would cast their votes on, but hey, really now? Plus the fact that it’s a remake (though writer William Monahan admitted he never watched Infernal Affairs). But then isn’t The Godfather I and II the same path Departed is treading? Of course it’s a lesser film compared to the two but it has to be one of its kind that have come in years. Marty will and should get the directing nod. If not for The Departed, just think of Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, for which he was atrociously robbed. I remember watching Taxi Driver in film appreciation class, and it was one of those movies that got me into thinking about the power of films and cinema.

Of the rest – Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, The Queen – I think Babel comes close. It certainly is closest to the likes of Crash (its triumph over Brokeback Mountain last year was a glaring manifestation of the Academy’s conservatism) and it has supposedly the message (however muddled it may seem) that the Academy is looking for. It would definitely be an upset but not a surprise.

Mirren and Whitaker are lock-ins. There’s gotta be no pissed-off moment than these two actually losing on the Oscar having won every accolade along the way. I don’t like Eddie Murphy and J.Hud winning the supporting roles though they will be anyway. Murphy is way overhyped – can you think of any other film he starred in that didn’t have him ridiculous, silly or box office-whoring? The most important supporting roles this year were snubbed. Think James MacAvoy in The Last King of Scotland and Michael Sheen in The Queen. They provided the roles that made it possible for their leads to be triumphant. Hell, even Brad Pitt did a better job.

Foreign language film will be a toss-in between Pan’s Labyrinth and The Lives of Others, both heaped critical praise. I love Pan’s and I think it being credit in the other categories (cinematography, art direction and original screenplay), makes it a lead. As for the other categories, I made known earlier my picks after the noms were given out on a previous blog.

Over the years, the Academy as proven to be out of touch (here is another article from the Guardian) so it won’t really be a shocker if it pulls out upsets. So after all the fuss and the glitter dies down the red carpet, let’s not take it seriously.

Here's a scene (I've got an informer in my outfit!) from The Departed.