Monday morning MANG...the Ocsars are done...the smoke has settled...and its still so HAAARD out here for a pimp...MANG
I got back to the city last night just in time to catch the awards...I missed best supporting actress MANG...Shoulda been Michelle Williams MANG...but how how can you not be excited watching dem boys from 36 MAFIA...MANG...it's that kind of excitement that makes it all worth it..
I predicted Phillip Seymour Hoffman for Best Actor, I correctly picked Reese Witherspoon for Best Actress. I got Best Foreign Film right with TSOTSI. I havent even SEEN that one but TSOTSI managed to get SO much press in the past few weeks that I knew it had to be the one. I'd heard and read NOTHING on any of the other foreign films. I got Best Picture WRONG, as I think MANY others did as well. I have mixed feelings about CRASH...and I dont really think it had BEST PICTURE written all over it...BUT...I rarely think the film that wins Best Picture was worth of the honor. Sometimes you get a film that is UNDENIABLY the best...but CRASH was not one of those films. Here is some immediate online chatter on CRASH, heard through the NY TALENT group:
Crash could have been great if I didn't always feel like I was being beaten by a giant aluminum "morality" bat. A little ham fisted, wasn't it. Sad since there were so many great little moments in the film. Good actors popping out of crap direction and heavy handed story telling. Sad.
I saw CRASH recently, was deeply moved and thought it was incredibly well-crafted. Despite the warnings and opinions I'd read here on NYTALENT (or perhaps because of them -- I'm a bit of a contrarian), I didn't have a hammers over the head viewing experience. I also saw it as a modern day Morality Play, much in the same vein as Shanley's DOUBT. It's about essential human truths and flaws and doesn't wrap anything up neatly. I saw alot of subtlety and humanity within a very effective, thoughtful structure, which made it artful.
I also thought CRASH was brilliant...in every way!
Crash won Best Picture Oscar. I hate to think that it comes down to homophobia, but doesn't it?
So if CRASH hadn't won, would it have been because of racism? To me the biggest tragedy of the night was not about CRASH winning, but the fact that, unless I missed it, the camera never once focused on the brilliant mind who actually created the stir about BROKEBACK - Annie Proulx. Ang Lee mentioned her specifically, yet the camera didn't point her out. And it is because of her that BROKEBACK will be remembered long after the triteness of CRASH disappears.
Oscar night is always a major event in my life as an actor. One reason is beacuse its a night to appreciate the absolute best in the field and to honor hard work, commitment and passion as well as the struggles that come before me. Its a time for reflection and it's a time to kick yourself in the ass, to get up the morning after and get to it...make art...make magic...
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