Ladies' Night

The 2012 Oscars took place last week on Sunday Feb 26^th. After a furious round of movie watching, I once again saw everything nominated for a major category as well as all the short films. For the second year in a row I think the best picture category is very lacking. I think this may be the worst best picture field ever. No doubt there were some nice movies this year. I think The Artist was very well done. I really liked Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, and Midnight in Paris. I enjoyed Warhorse and Hugo but the idea that ran through my head was “I can’t believe this is one of the best movies made this year”. I would characterize most of the movies nominated for best picture as good not great. The academy recently expanded the best picture nomination field from 5 movies to 10. The thinking was having more nominees would allow for more diverse representation. This year there were 9. That says to me they had trouble coming up with even 9 good movies. Personally, I was more excited seeing 5 outstanding movies even if they weren’t popular and were less inclusive.

I could write about the effects of sacrificing quality for quantity in an effort to expand the field. I could write about the acceptance of mediocrity and the lowering of standards to make everyone feel better. I could write about the lack of originality in Hollywood and how the American movie industry is being surpassed by other industries around the world. These scenarios may not be accurate but they would make for good discussion. Instead, I am going to focus on the positives.

In my opinion, the strongest category this year, by far, is the best Actress category. There were five outstanding performances in five good movies. Usually, I am complaining about the Best Actress category. In past years there have not been a lot of roles where the female lead is the focus of the movie. When this occurs, the Oscar people do one of two things. They either nominate a role that is too small for best actress or they nominate a performance that really isn’t worthy of the category. This creates a dilemma in picking a winner because you are forced to choose a role based on its sheer size vs. a quality performance. In the last few years I think this is changing. This year, there were five nominations where the size of the role was not an issue. In all of these movies the woman’s point of view is what is driving the movie. I didn’t measure how much screen time was given, but in all of them it is very clear that the female role is integral to the movie.

Rooney Mara

I loved the book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. One of the things I like seeing is the vision the movie makers present as compared to the original material. I realize that there are some things that work in print that do not work in movies. It is often times not possible to incorporate all aspects of a book in a movie simply because of time constraints. This movie was pretty good even though I hated the way the ending was done. Rooney Mara on the other hand, for me, was perfect. Her portrayal of Lisbeth Salandar was exactly how I imagined. Not only did she get the look, but the demeanor and the speech. Salandar is already a pretty complex character (I won’t wreck it if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie) but I think Rooney Mara was up to the task.

Viola Davis

My book club read The Help a few years ago. The criticism that a few of the members had was “How could some white lady tell a story of how black people feel?” Some thought that the whole concept of this book was at best presumptuous and at worst even exploitative. I thought the book was very good. I had less of a problem with this book because I acknowledge that this is a work of fiction. I am not naïve as to think that one well baked pie can correct years of systemic oppression. I do have to admit my bias with the traditional southern position. The idea that one group of people could be inferior to others may seem unreasonable today, but in the south not only was it perfectly acceptable - it was the law. To go against that norm was in many cases to break the law. Yet, when people talk about the south it isn’t long before someone mentions how polite people are or how it’s a nice, relaxing, slow lifestyle. The amount of hypocrisy needed to reconcile these two images fascinates me. It makes my head hurt. The situation to me is unimaginable. Maybe I am just heartless, but I cannot get on board with the “Gone with the Wind” Southern romanticism. The character played by Viola Davis makes the audience ask these questions. History does not always tell the story of those socially progressive white people who did what they could to change the situation. This movie does a good job sharing diverse viewpoints in pre-civil rights Mississippi. It is funny without trivializing the seriousness of the situation. On the surface this may seem like just another group of black house keepers and mean southern rich white people. After about 10 minutes of watching this movie I think you will find it is much more. The whole idea of the maids being the main characters is what makes this movie worth seeing. Viola Davis’ performance is compelling.

Meryl Streep

The Iron Lady is a movie about Margaret Thatcher who was the prime minister of England during the 1980s. I found this movie fascinating on many levels. In the 80s I was a kid. I remember seeing Margaret Thatcher on TV. I remember her being a big deal and I remember some of the events on TV. Putting an adult context on these events was, for me, a worthwhile experience. Meryl Streep added to this movie by making the audience aware of the challenges that Margaret Thatcher had in navigating the very “male” British political scene at this time. Streep's performance really captures how groundbreaking women in politics were in 1960s Britain. The most ground breaking achievement was being the longest serving prime minister of the 20^th century and the only female prime minister ever. This performance also highlights the dynamics of the Thatcher family. It was also very well written and the stream of consciousness story telling keeps the audience guessing.

Glenn Close

Albert Nobbs is the story of a woman who has to pretend to be a man in 19^th century Ireland so that she can keep her job as butler. Perhaps no movie this year highlights the issue of social inequality more than this one. The main character in this story has to pretend to be something that she is not just to earn an honest, decent wage. This movie underscores the unfair compromises that people all over the world must make when they are in desperate situations. Glenn Close’s performance most notably points out that, in the end, we all want the same things. We all want to live our lives with dignity, to be treated equally and fairly, and to find love and happiness.

Michelle Williams

I have to admit I am not a fan of Marilyn Monroe. I have always thought that she used sexuality in place of substance. The idea and persona of Marilyn was more relevant than her acting. Michelle Williams’s performance has made me reevaluate this idea. The great point that this movie makes was that Marilyn’s skill set was perfect for the movies. The reason why she was so successful was that stage actors were unwilling or unable to take the skills that they acquired in the theater and apply them to the silver screen. Many actors in this day were so biased or so unwilling to change that they let some actress with no classical training and a little hard work beat them at the movie business. I don’t know if this conclusion is accurate but it cannot be dismissed. Michelle Williams was very good in this movie. She was so good that I am adding a Marilyn Monroe movie to my film fest and reevaluating my opinion of Marilyn Monroe.

The point of this blog is not to say that all of these performances were excellent. Women have always had great performances. The point is that these performances were crucial to each of the films. They don’t just add to the movie, they ARE the movie. Try telling the story of the Iron Lady without Margaret Thatcher. Try making a movie about Marilyn Monroe with out a strong performance from the actress. The success of the movie rests on the shoulders of the actress. That is how I envision the Best Actress Category. The leading actress’ performance makes the movie and doesn’t simply serve as a compliment to the dominant male role. Of course teamwork is important, but these are individual awards. I still think that there are many more of these leading opportunities for male actors than female actresses. I don’t want to see the role of the traditional male actor diminish. I want to see quality roles for everyone. Hollywood is making enough money that there can be good roles for both men and women. I enjoyed watching all five of these performances this year and I think any of them would be a great winner.

Perhaps it says something that these movies got made because the marketplace is more accepting of females in this capacity. Perhaps the Hollywood trend is a reflection of the American workplace as women advance in society. Maybe these are just five good movies that all got nominated this year. Maybe the stars just aligned and these five women got these five scripts and got to make these five movies. Whatever the case, I hope this trend continues.

Here are my picks for this year. As always, this is not a prediction of what I think will win, this is what I feel should win. I must state that this article was written prior to the Oscars show even though this is being posted after the Oscars took place. Last year, the academy agreed with a lot of my picks.

Best Picture – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Best Actor – Demián Bichir- A Better Life

Best Actress – ANYONE, but I hope it is Rooney Mara

Best Supporting Actor – Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actress – Octavia Spencer – The Help

Best Director – Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist

Best Original Screen Play – Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris

Best Adapted Screen Play – John Logan - Hugo

Best Live Action Short – The Shore

Best Animated Shorts - The Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Additional Note

The second strongest category this year was the live action short films. All five of them were very good. Try to see them if you can. Also, I loved the trailers for all five of the foreign films. I only got to see one of them (probably because my artsy Ritz Theater sold out so now they have 3 screens playin’ BEEBER-3D).