Yes, we all know awards shows are a crock, but the Oscars are still a major cinema event and decent cultural thermometer, so I wanted to set down a handful of thoughts about how they let us down this year. In no particular order:
—PARASITE FOR BEST PICTURE YEAH BABEY
–Seriously, I can’t say enough good things about Parasite. It deserves every award it gets and more. Remember when Bong Joon-ho called the Oscars “very local?” He knew we’d be disappointed and he tried to warn us!!
–Not entirely certain what the Academy saw in the one about the clown, a exhaustingly okay movie at best, that would earn it so many nominations in so many high-profile categories. Best Actor, sure–Joaquin Phoenix’s work is admirably disquieting–but Best Picture is, much like its similarly adequate peers Ford Vs. Ferrari, Jojo Rabbit, and Marriage Story, confusing at best, and, let’s be honest, the Best Director nomination is wildly unwarranted, especially to the exclusion of far more capable and nuanced work by Greta Gerwig and Lulu Wang, to name just two of the more notable snubs.
–On that topic, there’s been a ruckus, wholly deservedly, surrounding the exclusion of women and people of color in the nominations. Second verse, same as the first. It’s likely to continue for as long as the Academy continues to have bizarrely bad taste, but this year feels like the worst in recent memory, thanks to the complete lack of pretension in these absences. The Academy consistently uses some kind of numbers game as an excuse–“there were just sooOoOoOooo many good performances that we hAaaaAaaaAd to not pick even one person that isn’t white”–but this year it’s done so brazenly that it feels insulting to our intelligence instead of just our sensibilities. Most categories aren’t flooded with excellence; they’re populated entirely by white folk that did a good job looking sad, I guess. The aforementioned Greta Gerwig and Lulu Wang directed knockout movies, two of my favorites of the year; why are they not present and Todd Phillips’ pale Scorsese imitation is, especially considering that Scorsese himself is already present in the same category for a monumental and far better movie? Why is none of the uniformly excellent cast of Parasite present in the acting categories? Did the Academy even see Ruth Carter’s costume design for Dolemite Is My Name? How is Scarlett Johannson’s thoroughly pedestrian work in Marriage Story even remotely superior to Lupita Nyong’o’s transcendent performance in Us? While we’re at it, how is Scarlett Johannson’s thoroughly pedestrian work in Jojo Rabbit even remotely superior to Jennifer Lopez’s career-best in Hustlers?
–Genuinely surprised by the total lack of recognition for The Farewell and Uncut Gems, two excellent pictures with precisely zero nominations between them. The Farewell is a touching meditation on death that somehow manages a defiant balancing act of humor; Uncut Gems is an unnervingly tense thriller that features a staggering performance from Adam Sandler and a far more intrinsic and natural grit than, say, a certain clown movie that won’t be named here can only ape. They’re both superb movies and deserve better than what they got here; check them out if you can.
–Actually, no, let’s name the clown movie. Remember when Arthur Fleck crosses out the middle two words of “Don’t Forget To Smile,” and the Academy all said in unison “really makes you think” and nominated it for Best Adapted Screenplay? Do they give Best Adapted Screenplay to the fridge magnet at your mom’s house that says “the beatings will continue until morale improves” too?
–The Academy’s bias against genre films is well-established by now, the clown movie notwithstanding, and it’s as frustrating as ever this year. John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum, Midsommar, High Life, and The Nightingale are just a few of the films that, thanks to some arbitrary reasoning, the Academy considered unworthy of attention.
–Is it just me, or is the Best Foreign Film category somehow stronger than the whole of the Best Picture category?
–I am, in general, not a Leonardo DiCaprio fan. He never feels as committed or as precise as the movie wants him to be, and he doesn’t quite seem to understand the fine, fine line in between humanly gross and just regular gross. It’s for this reason that I want to put down in writing that he is a delight in Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood. It’s my favorite performance he’s ever given, one I can praise without asterisks or caveats, and if he wins Best Actor (among this current field of nominees) (sorry, one asterisk) it’ll be well-deserved.
–Along with Leo, there’s a handful of worthy nominations that I want to recognize to make myself appear unbiased: Little Women for Best Picture, Bong Joon-ho for Best Director, Florence Pugh for Best Supporting Actress, Yang Jinmo (Parasite) for Best Editing, and yes, grudgingly, Hildur Guðnadóttir (The Clown Movie) for Best Original Score. I haven’t seen 1917 yet but my vote goes to Roger Deakins’ cinematography anyways.
–gang if Parasite doesn’t win Best Picture I’m seriously going to riot
Movies That Are Worse Than “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015) 