This will be my last film-related post in a while, I promise. I’m getting pretty sick of it myself. Especially after the anticlimactic ceremony last night. I stayed up till 6:30 a.m. to see The Departed win for Best Picture? Shameful. As I’ve said before; what does it say about Hollywood that its best production of the entire year is a remake of a foreign film made only four years earlier? This was supposed to be the year the Oscars went international and opened up more to foreign filmmaking, with a larger number of foreign nominations than ever before. Yet, in the end, it was the same old sentiment that prevailed: we can’t understand their films, but we don’t have any ideas of our own, so let’s make them again - Hollywood style!
In a way, it made perfect sense though. 2006 really was the year of remakes, more than ever before. A whole bunch of old films had an, at best, mediocre new film made with its name on it. Here’s only a small selection: The Hitcher (original from 1986), The Omen (1976), The Wicker Man (1973), Poseidon (1972), All the King’s Men (1949), The Hills Have Eyes (1977), When a Stranger Calls (1979), The Pink Panther (1964), and the list goes on. Announced to be released within the next couple of years are remakes of genuine classics (some of them are more of cult classics, but still) such as Hitchcock’s The Birds, The 39 Steps, Evil Dead (WHY?!), 1984, Tron, Easy Rider, Footloose… Even some films that have already been remade before, such as The Fly and The Blob.
Now, I know how tiresome it is to hear this kind of endless whining, but it really makes no sense to me to make all these films all over again when there are so many original screen-writers out there dreaming of having their ideas put into production. It’s not illegal downloading that’s keeping certain films from being made (as the studios claim); it’s the lack of will to take a chance on an original story when a remake is a much safer bet. It’s exactly the same as in the music industry; why waste energy on writing new songs when you can make a fortune recycling other people’s old hits? Anyway, sorry about the tirade. Let’s get back to the Oscars, shall we?
Apart from the disgraceful best picture award, there weren’t that many surprises last night. While I don’t think Scorsese deserves an Oscar for this or any of his other recent films, I’m kind of happy for the guy. He should have won one a long time ago, but that’s an entirely different issue. Pan’s Labyrinth not bringing home the foreign film award was probably the biggest surprise of the evening. I definitely expected (and wanted) that one to win, but I’m also very happy about The Lives of Others winning. While most people already know about Pan, maybe this award will cause a few more people around the world to have a look at this great German film as well.
Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker. Never really any question, was there? Ryan Gosling would have been a nice choice, as well, but I’m really happy for Whitaker. He’s been in the game for a long time now. Same goes for Alan Arkin; it’s nice to see solid veterans getting awarded. I love the fact that Little Miss Sunshine got a couple of awards as well. Not much else to say about the other categories, really, that I didn’t already say in yesterday’s post.
Best speech? Can’t remember many of them, but I liked the one by the winner for best short film (West Bank Story). He made some good points about why these small categories are important. Even though most of us probably don’t care about them, they are basically where new, promising filmmakers have a chance to get discovered. I just have to check out that fil, by the way. A comedy musical about the Israel-Palestina conflict. Sounds rather post-Yugoslavian, if you know what I mean.
What about Ellen DeGeneres? She was fine, I think. A bit silly, but appropriately so. Her opening monologue appeared partly improvised and was pretty funny. It’s worth noting that she’s only the second woman ever to host the Oscars. Second. In 79 years. Let’s hope she returns, because these events need something to break the male dominance. You may not think it makes any difference, but it does a lot for the overall feel of the show.
The musical acts were a real bore, though. Three Motown tunes in a row is the last thing I need when trying to stay awake late at night. I’m glad Melissa Etheridge won for best song. That American Idol reject was just terrible, and Beyoncé too.
In conclusion, I would just like to remark on the broadcast on Swedish television (Channel 9). They had this film critic in the studio, Hans Wiklund, a man I can’t stand because he never has anything relevant to say about anything (you could say the same thing about me, but hey, my opinions are free and I would never motivate giving a film a bad rating because I think the main actress is ugly). Whenever he was asked about something in the studio (where they would discuss things during the commercial breaks on American television), he was just staring at his notes, stating the most obvious facts. Not to mention he kept complaining about how Al Gore was still “campaigning for his film” even though “it’s a bit late now”. He actually seems to think Gore has only been after the Oscar all this time. Nevermind the subject matter! Jebus. I’m so hoping they’ll get rid of that guy for next year.
