Yes, I was certain (and deeply hoped) that Writer/Director Richard Linklater's career and artistic masterpiece "Boyhood" would walk away with the statuette for Best Picture as bestowed by the Academy Awards but the cinematic competition was distinctly ferocious this year as Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's electrifying high wire act of a film entitled "Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)" won the title. "Birdman" won clearly much of the evening's awards, with only Writer/Director Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" running evenly with it and even Writer/Director Damien Chazelle's incendiary "Whiplash" gathering three awards of the night as well.
While I am disappointed that "Boyhood" didn't take the top prize as I still feel that it should have, I guess that it shouldn't be that much of a surprise that "Birdman" did ascend to its fullest heights as it is film about actors and the artistic process, therefore making this victory one where Hollywood rewarded itself. Even so, "Birdman" is a masterful, supremely bold, and sensationally "outside of the box" achievement that did indeed deserve all of its victories, Dear readers, I am looking at the whole evening through these lenses: When the top films of the year are the likes of those four titles, we, as viewers and movie goers are all winners, to say the least, as each film found new and veteran filmmakers working at the very peak of their artistic powers as they all gave us films to regard and behold over and again.
Now, as for the actual Oscar telecast...well...
I have said it over and again to you and in person to friends, that watching the Academy wards telecast is my personal Superbowl. Even so, it is a telecast that has historically drowned in its own self-importance, taking what should always be a night of jubilant celebration and transforming it into an often pretentious slog that drags on and on into the night, making casual viewers wonder just what is the fuss all about over a show that is, frankly just so damn boring.
Last year, host Ellen DeGeneres transformed the Oscars into a speedy evening that felt like a party that viewers at home were able to join in with. Even the celebrities themselves looked as if they were having a good time in the theater, joshing around, snapping that now famous "selfie" (man, do I hate that non-word), and getting shaken down for the ordered pizzas that were delivered during the broadcast. It was the first time in many years where I had fun watching the show and last night's telecast, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, was unfortunately a return to the norm, as the program was a torpidly and often somberly paced affair that was undercut by Harris' glib blandness making the show as a whole as dry as wallpaper.
Harris is just a figure that I have never truly had a firm opinion about during his entire career. Yes, he is indeed talented and more than versatile and I suppose he looked comfortable in his hosting duties, especially after his long celebrated turns on the Tony and Emmy Award telecasts (are the Grammys next?). But even so, for me, I felt that he was missing a certain je ne sais quoi that kept me at arms length and ultimately uninterested in his particular hijinks.
I did enjoy the opening number which owed very much to Billy Crystal's openings in past years as the sequence blended Harris' song and dance (pus surprise appearances by Anna Kendrick and Jack Black) with cleverly placed film clips. But when the dancing Stormtroopers arrived on the stage, to me, it just all felt to be...off.
As did Harris' few jabs concerning the lack of nominations for "Selma" and for actors of color in general. While exclaiming that the night of the Oscars celebrates "the best and whitest...errr uh..brightest" talents may seem to be edgy it clearly isn't as it was written with this self-congratulatory nod of attempting to be in on its own controversy instead of acknowledging that Hollywood's intense lack of diversity on and behind the camera and within the industry itself is indeed the problem in the first place.
That being said, what did surprise me was that placed within the context of the evening, it was surprising to see just how politically charged of a night the telecast actually became due to the nature of the nominated and awarded films. Patricia Arquette's winning speech for Best Supporting Actress for "Boyhood" found her surprisingly roaring for women's rights and wage equality certainly spoke to the arc of her character as well as the harsh economic realities within the industry and the country at large. Eddie Redmayne's winning speech in the Best Actor category for "The Theory Of Everything" made notice for those afflicted with ALS while Julianne Moore's Best Actress winning speech for "Still Alice" brought increased attention to Alzheimer's disease. Screenwriter Graham Moore (and fellow University of Chicago Lab School graduate to boot!), who won the Best Adapted Screenplay category for "The Imitation Game," spoke passionately about his own attempted suicide as a teenager, therefore speaking to all of the teens and adults watching as well as speaking to themes contained within the film concerning being persecuted for existing as a homosexual.
Hands down, the moment of the night was OWNED by John Legend and Common's blistering, sobering performance of the Best Song winner "Glory" from the film "Selma," a performance that gave me chills due to its furious immediacy. This sequence of the program was then furthermore intensified by Legend and Common's poetically political speeches which spoke directly to the state of the nation as well as the film itself regarding how the Civil Rights era has not only remained and is on-going but is more crucial right now than ever.
The seriousness of the evening was recognized especially when the terrible "wrap it up" music got played off due to the content of speeches more winners, one of which focused on soldier suicide...but then Neil Patrick Harris followed with a poorly timed joke that mocked the winner's gown.
I guess that the problem I had with the program other than the turgid pacing which dragged and dragged (the tribute to the 50th Anniversary of "The Sound Of Music" went on and on as did the "In Memorium" section which, for whatever reason, did not have Jennifer Hudson perform as the images were being presented but afterwards, therefore stretching it out longer than it needed) was the overall balance between the host and content. It almost felt like a tug of war, which made Harris' skits feel flat to me.
Harris' nod to "Birdman," during which he ended up on stage in next to nothing felt so forced (and should have been a signal to me as to which film would win Best Picture) but nothing was worse than his "Oscar predictions" which were locked in a glass box and that Octavia Spencer was instructed to keep close tabs on for the duration of the show. That was a running gag that felt as if Harris had to remember to keep plugging away at as it was just so inconsequential.
But hey, another year, another show and I have to say that my own Oscar predictions were quite solid this year, losing in only two categories.
Better luck next year, for myself and for the Oscar telecast.
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