Some (Not So) Final Thoughts on This Years' Academy Award Winners

I have been catching up with my friends here in the blogosphere, and have observed with amusement the many opinions offered on the outcome of this year's Academy Awards. It would seem as though I have given short shrift to my own viewpoint, what with the Arizona travel and the whirlwind of activity that swept me up upon my return from the land of deserts and cactus.  So I would now like to contribute to the conversation with a few semi-final words on the winners and contenders.  There are no final words....

"Inglourious Basterds."  I was frankly surprised by the film's strong showing in the nominations. It was well-written at times but lumpy and oddly paced; ultimately frivolous, weighted only by some outrageous brutality amid the casual offhandedness and strained atmosphere of slapstick. Christof Waltz was strong and creepy and original; honestly though, I believe that if I saw this before any talk of awards, I would not have immediately said, "wow, this is Oscar material".  I think Waltz, interesting as he is, truly had the benefit of a somewhat forgettable field.

"Precious".  Being confronted by ugliness and despair makes most of us uncomfortable.  One  triumph of art is to distil an essence of humanity from something ferocious and ugly, and discovering some beauty in that which we may callously write off.  "Precious" shows us a hideous existence, yes, but does so in a singular way as to not cast a whole demographic in this light. We often refuse to admit that life in all of this sorrow can really exist; we would rather not know. "Precious" not only presents this world, but moves us within it, jars our senses with it, and provides a catharsis that brings us in touch with the potential for good in our own humanity.  Mo'Nique left me with no doubt that here was a portrayal of the ages, deserving of any amount of recognition.  And Gaby Sidibe did what few young actors have done recently: she performed with raw honesty, convinced me that this character was alive, and reduced me to tears; I could not help react to her despair, nor to her teacher's advice to keep writing to overcome her sadness.     Its Screenplay victory was among my biggest cheers of the evening.

"Up"... A Masterpiece, in my opinion.  Tomorrow I am going to review this artful, wonderful and, yes, buoyant piece of work. Having now seen it twice, I can hardly find words to express my appreciation for its artistry, originality, and generous and loving observaion of people on the fringe...and its spot-on characterizations of dogs.  This is what animated films are all about...."Up" could not exist in any other way but as an animated film, and it packs more genuine emotion, excitement, and laughs of recognition than most any other film this year.  The Oscar-winning score is a carnival, a Chaplin movie (thanks Mark), a Fellini circus, a banquet, a dying flower....a perfect marriage of sound to film. 

"Avatar"....Certainly deserved all three of its wins.  I did have one nagging question during the telecast: why did we not see clips associated with the nominees for cinematography?  That was a disturbing irony, to me, that we missed representative work from the most visual category.  I was a little surprised that "Avatar's"  huge popularity did not carry it to a Best Picture win.   I guess it peaked at the wrong time, or that the usual success-resentment backlash had set in during the voting period.  But then again, could many voters have seen this film only on a 2-dimensional screener CD?  The awe of its effects would certainly have been diminished in this format.

"The Hurt Locker"  This is a visceral character study that made voters feel noble.  To be fair, however, it is an excellent and effective little suspenser that was impossible to ignore.  While I was not a proponent of its rather cliched visual style, I admired its staging and capturing of movement and brilliant cutting.  In many ways it is as mysterious in its ascribing of motivation to its central character as was "Lawrence of Arabia".  It wisely sidestepped any political argument in favor of forcing the viewer to focus on the activities of Jeremy Renner's dangerously obsessed yet likeable character.  That is the key to my wanting to re-visit this intense world again soon.  This was a worthy choice for best Director and Picture.

I have already reviewed "The Blind Side" and "Crazy Heart" on these pages.  Neither one would have been my choice for Leading Actor/Actress accolades, even though both did very well with badly developed material.  I wonder if we will be talking about these performances next year with the same fervor and enthusiasm with which many of us remember....Slumdog Millionaire?

Ah well....  more about the movies as the year rolls on.....

IN APPRECIATION:

Great writing last week by Ben (Runs Like a Gay), Tom (Sophisticated Lunacy), Ultra Dave,  Bill Up Close, Russ (Blue Truck Red State),  Walter (The Silver Screening Room), Adam (The Oscar Completist), Andrew (Encore), Cathy (Cinema Style), Reality Zone, Charles (Do Something  Fun), and Steve (Holy Queer).

Movies: "Precious"

Yesterday I reviewed "Brothers", an admirable work of surprising power.  Today, I share my views on "Precious', a movie that has received more attention than "Brothers", and which I had avoided, certain that the film itself could not live up to the emotional promise of its trailer.  Well, I am glad to say that "Precious" delivered a stunning emotional punch....it is a true vision of hell, one that exists maybe no further away than the closest big city.

Precious Clarice Jones is overweight, inarticulate, angry, and afraid, raped by her father (resulting in two pregnancies), and trapped in a home with a dangerously controlling and irrational mother.  This is a story of Precious' escape from despair through education, her courage to leave an oppressive homelife, and her journey into a world that keeps handing her one heartbreak after another.  Here is an individual who needs to reinvent herself in the most fundamental of ways, merely to survive.  The sad irony is that, by the end, it is implied that her effort may not have been enough.

The iconic film image of the year maybe the face of actress Gabourey Sidibe as Precious, in close profile, the rolls of flesh effectively covering her anguish.  This movie is a look into a world many of us turn away from, and while I admired the film rather than wholly embraced it, I am glad I took the chance; I was rewarded with a riveting emotional connection with a character I will never forget.  Director Lee Daniels elicits great work from all involved, especially from Sidibe; and also from Mo'Nique, who is nothing less than a revelation as the monster mother, who relieves her own deep feelings of inadequacy and loneliness by belittling and hurting her daughter. 


I was especially astounded by Mo'Nique's final scene in her confrontation with a social worker (wonderful work as well by Mariah Carey).  In a cunningly well-written monolog, she reveals layers of desperation and rage, morphing instantly from jealousy, to neediness, once pleading, then hateful, and actually succeeds in wringing some sympathy for her character.  She just might join the Oscar ranks of Shelly Winters' abusive-mother role in "A Patch of Blue". 

At one point in the film, a teacher uses the word "unrelenting".  That word perfectly describes the oppressive life Precious Jones must endure: Taunted on her way home from an unispiring public school; confined to a bleak ghetto apartment, the curtains perpetually drawn to keep out the light; a world of mindless TV and cooking and eating and insensitivity; of beatings and sexual abuse;  pregnant at 16-and already raising a child with Down's syndrome,  it is a world of no hope, with seemingly nowhere to go.

"Oppressive" is a word I keep coming back to when I think of the overall atmosphere.  Scenes within the apartment between Precious and her dangerously angry mother had me as anxious and apprehensive as scenes in Buffalo Bill's depraved cellar in "Silence of the Lambs".  (Later I dismissed the possibility that this was just a subliminal reaction to her name..."Precious" and  "Clarice" were also names used in "Lambs".)  The camerawork is tight, and the lighting and color render the setting as unattractive as a refuse heap.  Precious "escapes" the dreariness and emotional horror through "fantasies" inspired by images from her limited exposure to pop culture.  She imagines herself a glamorous star, or a model, or a member of a church choir.  My favorite of these is a funny and telling satire of DeSica's "Two Women", which Precious sees on television.  The sequence is filmed in black-and-white, and is spoken in Italian with English subtitles.  It is funny, but also poignant in that Precious' fantasies of a loving mother involve a kind-faced woman who still uses foul language and who still orders her to keep eating.

I enjoyed these eloquent stylistic touches, and the use of montage to create new meanings, as well as to lighten up this bleak portrait.  I was reminded of the ferment and experimentation of films of the '70's, when this kind of creativity was encouraged.

The title character is not always a passive victim.  Unable to speak whole sentences or project her voice from her large frame, she nevertheless has a surprising ability to protect herself, resorting to unexpected outbursts of violence, the only way she has learned to resolve differences. 

The film is completely absorbing once Precious is admitted to an alternative school, mentored by a no-nonsense teacher who demands that each girl in her class write each day.  We have come a long way from the "ghetto school" Sidney Poitier supervised in "To Sir With Love".  I did wonder why the film necessarily was set in 1987; maybe a modern story would be so beset with cell phones and texting that the plot would be stranded at the gate...or maybe because the AIDS virus, which provides a horribly moving plot twist, was new enough--and lethal enough--for viewers to draw their own conclusions about a resolution to the story that the movie leaves ambiguous.

Daniels might have encouraged Sibide to enunciate better while retaining the flavor of her inarticulate street-language vernacular.  She is often terribly difficult to understand, and this character needs to be heard clearly.  Also, I am weary of directors' current fascination with throw-up scenes....and if you're sensitive be warned.  It is almost never necessary to be explicit.  Suggestion is usually sufficient, and was all that was needed.

Those criticisms aside, I must finally describe my favorite sequence, a breathtaking show of emotion by Precious in the classroom.  After all she has been through, thinking she has finally escaped, she gets another life-altering bit of bad news, and is unable to cope and cannot work. She finally breaks down, completely vulnerable, and unburdens her emotions, convinced that she cannot be loved, that love has done nothing but hurt her.  Her teacher, caring yet firm, gives her a one-word bit of advice:  "Write", she says to Precious. 

I wept during that sequence, a scene which, to me, was worth the entire experience.