My Take On Oscar 73Mar 26 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Boring production, but Steve Martin was hilarious & edgy and the Academy, for once, was unpredictable. A solid show with worthy winners.
Man, that whole 20s glamour vibe sure was in vogue this year. Now that I've got that crap outta the way, on to the important stuff. First things first: Steve Martin lived up to expectations. Heck, he even exceeded mine. How? By fearlessly slamming the industry in his opening monologue! This was the type of sarcasm that got David Lettermen packing after one year. Martin's unrelenting stabs at Hollywood (jabbed at a level I don't think anybody was expecting) were best exemplified in his feigned thankfulness for having the winner announcements being read as "The Oscar goes to..." rather than "The winner is...". To paraphrase Steve, "After all, we wouldn't want to turn this into a competition. It would just make the Oscar campaigns crass." HEAR HEAR! Way to go, you wild and crazy guy! You had your moment, you took it, and you nailed all of the pretentious, self-absorbed, and fleeting aspects of this industry -- right to their surgically enhanced faces! I tell you, after that monologue, I thought any hopes Martin may have held for future invites were instantly doomed. Then I realized how all his slams were geared towards men but yet, being a gentleman, he never embarrassed any women. Steve proved to be rather self-effacing as well. But after that opening rant concealed in a polite smile, Martin showed mercy by pulling back on the industry slams while maintaining a sharp comic edge. Not quite on a Billy Crystal level yet, but with another year or two Steve Martin could prove to be one of the all-time great Oscar hosts. I hope we see him again next year. As for the night itself, one of the most lifeless and boring Oscar productions I've ever seen was not only held up under the strength of Martin's wit, but it was actually given life by what was the most suspenseful Oscar night in my lifetime. It was fairly wide open in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, but then the night's evolution of award winners only heightened the already existing (and extremely rare) dramatic tension. Right off the bat, Crouching Tiger's Art Direction win proved that Gladiator wasn't about to sweep as some thought it might, and then more wins by the Asian contender proved to have even the most ardent Oscar followers scratching their heads. Then Marcia Gay Harden comes along and really rips things wide open with her Best Supporting Actress win. This should've been more foreseeable than it was, too. You look back in recent Oscar history (the last decade) and Oscar has switched from giving the Supporting awards to old stars who never won before (James Coburn excepted) and has instead used them to boost the careers of struggling but gifted actors who've paid their dues and finally deserve a good career to go with their talent and work ethic. Marcia Gay Harden definitely fit that bill. What her win also did was basically say that all bets were off for the rest of the night. And finally, for once, Oscar was unpredictable. And I was loving it. After the documentaries and shorts were awarded, Gladiator tipped the scale back to itself with what many consider a shocking Visual Effects win (I did a double take). But then the real doozy came when Hilary Swank read the Best Actor winner and the name "Russell Crowe" came out of her mouth. Crowe was clearly as stunned as everyone else, most of whom must have thought that after Harden won Harris was all but assured his long awaited Oscar moment. But it was not to be, and again, I was loving it. Think what you want about Crowe, believe all the tabloid reports if you like, but his speech was a blue-collar, down-to-earth winner. In a night when more recipients than usual seemed to be reading straight from their thank you notes, Crowe proved more eloquent by speaking from his heart: "To anyone who grew up in the suburbs anywhere, a dream like this seems vaguely ludicrous. But this moment is directly connected to those childhood imaginings. For anybody who's on the downside of advantage, relying purely on courage, it's possible." His performance proved him to be a worthy winner, but his speech showed him to be a classy, even humble person. I wanted to applaud right there. (Side note: I also dug his Flock Of Seagulls look. Sure, he looked stupid with it, but anytime an actor seems to frankly care less about the shallow insanity of Oscar fashion -- nay, perhaps even invite worst dressed honors -- I love it. Same goes for Bjork's swan roadkill.) Well, then we had Julia. Maybe I'm going to be in a teeny minority here, but I thought her acceptance speech was rather embarrassing. In short, it was "me me me". Yeah, she tumbled through the perfunctory list of people fortunate enough to work with her, America's sweetheart, but where was the perspective? Where was the sobering reality about her true story film, that thousands of people contracted horrible diseases -- some even fatal -- because of corporate greed and heartlessness? Heck, Julia didn't even thank Erin freaking Brockovich! Sure, okay, it was "Julia's moment". But you know what, the best Oscar winners realize that they're onstage for more important reasons. They know they're only there because of a legion of other people. They know how, in the grand scheme of things, this isn't just "their moment". (Tom Hanks anyone?) Julia didn't though; this was her time to shine alone, everything had to be about her, and she made darn sure of that. It was shameful. Well, after Roberts ruined the moment she'd been longing for her entire career (it played like a scene from one of her movies, NOT from real life), Oscar provided some more intrigue with the Original Screenplay win. Cameron Crowe's victory wasn't a shock by any stretch of the means, but Kenneth Lonergan's You Can Count On Me had been talked up so much in Academy circles that this was definitely a surprise (and, who knows, maybe the years closest race as well). But then, the granddaddy of all surprises came with the Best Director win. Crouching Tiger had already notched up a formidable 4 Oscars, so that combined with Ang Lee's recent Directors Guild win all but sealed the fates that the highly respected Asian would hear his name called for the first time. But then Tom Cruise (props to him for showing up -- without so much as a tie, no less -- amidst arguably the hardest phase of his life) reads "Steven Soderbergh, Traffic", and I was loving it. Again. Why? How's this for a speech: "I want to thank anyone who spends part of their day creating -- a book, a film, a painting, a piece of dance, a piece of music -- anybody who spends part of their day sharing their experience with us. I think this world would be unlivable without art."" Yeah, I wanted Lee, but once more I salute Oscar for not only awarding a deserving nominee in what was his year, but the Academy also proved that being so good that you're nominated twice in one category DOESN'T mean that you're so good you automatically cancel yourself out. This isn't just the most respectable Oscar citation of the year, it ranks right up there with one of the best of the last several years, if not of all time. Oscar really did itself proud on that one. So, now with Traffic boasting four Oscars including an upset from Soderbergh himself, that Gladiator Best Picture win was looking rather vulnerable. Would Oscar really go all the way and shock us all one last time? When Traffic star Michael Douglas walked out to announce the Best Pic winner, it only added to the suspicion that maybe the Academy knew something we didn't. Sure, Shakespeare In Love provided arguably the biggest Pic shock ever two years back, but I can't remember a time when a Best Picture victory had this much volatility preceding its announcement (even Braveheart was more of a shock than a viable competitor among many). Well, as we all know now, Oscar just didn't have one last "NO WAY!" left in him. The Academy picked the type of Picture you'd expect them to, and yet while even ending on somewhat of a deflating note (though personally, I'm solidly behind the Gladiator win), Oscar concluded what was the most unpredictable awards ceremony of a generation. Not only that, but the Academy did a very uncharacteristic thing in that they spread the wealth with great equity among its most respected nominees. Gladiator won 5 including Picture, Traffic smuggled in 4 of its own including a directing trophy for Soderbergh that so many were rooting for, and even Ang Lee wasn't left hanging as he was given the Oscar for Crouching Tiger's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar win while his glorious epic went on to martial up three more. In the end, even though a few of your favorites may have left empty-handed, and even if the production was fairly boring, I gotta believe that all of you, like me, are just itching for another ceremony next year as full of suspense, shocks, and all-around unpredictability as what we were blessed with this year. And not only that, it clocked in at a scant 3 1/2 hours, too. No sprint, mind you, but after two 4 hour ceremonies in a row, this moved with a welcome, brisker purpose (even if some things could still stand to be eliminated). Good show, Oscar. Bravo.  |
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