OSCAR
SYMPOSIUM
with
your host Nathaniel
R and very special guests
February 2007
NATHANIEL: Welcome to the 2nd Annual Oscar Symposium. In order to prevent sophomore slump, I've asked --OK begged -- six fine writers and film enthusiasts to join me in discussing this year's Oscar race. Nick Davis of Nicks Flick Pick and Joe Reid of Television Without Pity & Low Resolution return for a second round (masochists!) Nick & Joe: Meet Sasha Stone founder and goddess of Oscar Watch. Sasha, Nick, & Joe: Meet Ed Gonzalez of Slant. Ed, Sasha, Nick & Joe: Meet Jeremy C. Fox of Pajiba. Jeremy, Ed, Sasha, Nick and Joe: Meet Arden of Cinephilia. [This is like that endless crosscutting reaction shot scene in The Rocky Horror Picture Show "Nick: Jeremy: Nathaniel: Arden: Ed: Sasha: Joe: Sasha: Arden: Ed: Nick: Joe: Sasha: Nick: Ed: Jeremy: Nathaniel." So, if you're reading along at home you can give us nicknames and shout them out when our names appear]
I'm killing time. See, I have no idea where to begin this year. I'm normally bursting with Oscar fever. But this year I feel a drip drip rather than a gushing of Oscar related thoughts. Initially I attributed my lack of interest to the films in the mix (only The Departed made my top ten list). But then I realized it was the homogeny of awards season rearing its now familiar but still hideous head. What to do about the repetition. What to do. Is it just inevitable? Are all awards bodies too timid now? Or are they just too large? After all, the more votes that are in play the more likely you are to see similar results. The idiosyncratic choices are naturally shown the door when there are thousands of votes fusing together for a shortlist of nominees.
At this point I'd rather see individual "best of" ballots celebrated, wouldn't you? That's (presumably) where truly fascinating choices might emerge. Although that said: There's no accounting for taste. Robert Duvall claims in the new issue of Premiere that Apocalypto just might be the best film of the past 25 years. He/she who has enormous talent, we are instantly reminded, does not necessarily have good taste. So, maybe we're better off sticking with the communal choices.
SASHA: Hi everyone, nice to meet you all. Thanks for inviting me along, Nat. I too feel sort of tired of it all way too soon. Years ago, this would be the most exciting time. Turns out, the most exciting time is pre-nominations. It all kind of felt like that half wet dream you sometimes get and you wake up unsatisfied yet too spent to go back in for a second try? That's sort of what it feels like right now. Is there just too much awards coverage for such an ultimately empty event? I would like to see "best of" ballots as well, or at least to see the vote counts released.
JEREMY: Greetings, all; it's a pleasure.
Personally, I've never gotten very excited about the awards, per se, be they Oscars or SAGs or even Razzies (am I kicked off the symposium already?). It's all a lot of hollow back-patting and only rarely, and probably coincidentally, related to the actual quality of the work. For me, this year's malaise is specific to the films under consideration -- as much as I might disagree with the Academy's choices, I couldn't put together a much better list myself, simply because I didn't see much last year that really blew me away. I loved The Departed and The Queen, but very little else. I think when we look back 20 years from now, there will be two or three of these movies that "enter the canon," so to speak, and most of the others will be forgotten. Unless, of course, Little Miss Sunshine wins Best Picture. Then we'll remember 2007 along with 2006 as a period of unmitigated Academy stupidity and, God willing, the beginning of a Hollywood Bastille-storming.
ARDEN: So I had this realization today that I usually have my "year reflection" moments not on New Year's (the designated holiday for such musings) but around the Oscars. Everytime they roll around I think... Man, it's been a YEAR. Remember last year?! I didn't watch the Oscars. I spent the three and a half hour telecast getting laid and Tivoed it. This year, I will be at the awards in the parking lot drowning slowly in a sea of chaffeurs.
My enthusiasm has been, to put it kindly, dwindling. Almost like a crush on Jonathan Taylor Thomas that *sigh* cannot support itself beyond 1996 leaving an empty pit in one's stomach. I think the last time I was genuinely excited was when Roberto Benigni won Best Actor just because it was like a shot of heroin directly into your eye. Since then, Johnny Depp's nom was really the only real cinephile triumph. And that was because I had been wearing a shirt that said "Johnny Depp for Best Actor" for months.
This year... the Little Miss Sunshine nom is pretty impressive. The guy I saw that movie with told me it would get nominated for Best Picture and I poo-pooed the idea. So in a way, the movie one-upped me and I respect that. If you don't like that movie, you really are dead inside. The only people I've heard accuse it of being manipulative and inane have been snobs. I think it actually earnestly addresses some large issues in American culture. Most often... the missed beat between hard work and results. That is compelling to me.
Much more compelling than a remake of a BETTER film by an AGING auteur packed with stars. It's not that I don't like The Departed. It's just so the roommate of the girl you really want to nail. You're like "Okay... if this is it... then... fine."
SASHA:You say "aging" like it's a bad thing. Filmmakers, other than Orson Welles, appear to get better as they get older. I think, sad to say, that Little Miss Sunshine is the roommate (all heart but not quite hot enough to get a rise out of you), Babel is the Euro girl who doesn't shave her armpits; you're attracted to her but you aren't sure you're up to the task of actually sleeping with her. Truth is, you're intimidated by her mystery. The Queen is like the smart but unsexy other friend who doesn't smile much but will marry well. Letters from Iwo Jima is the girl who always does well in school but never quite enters your circle of friends. You eye her from afar thinking, well, it would be too embarrassing to date her but I kind of am attracted to her. She's the one who plays the violin AND the cello. The Departed is the hot one. So hot, in fact, that you can't even bring her home to meet your parents. If only you could put the brain of the Letters chick into the body of The Departed, add in the friendly but unsexy Little Miss Sunshine roommate for a heart, put the clothes on from the Babel girl and you have the perfect date.
I can't believe i just wrote that.
JEREMY: Sasha, I believe you wrote that, and I think I love you for it.
ARDEN: Sasha, this is genius.
