2006 Oscars Wrap-up

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On 5 March 2006, America´s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) handed out its Oscars for motion-picture achievement in 2005. During the past week, my colleagues posted an article about the worst Oscar flubs in history. This year joins that list. As I wrote in my review of the DVD, "Crash" is Paul Haggis´s serving of haggis to the world. This is independent distributor Lionsgate´s first Best-Picture Oscar win, but it´s really a disgrace for a company that has released so many great movies in the past. "Crash" is a terrible, terrible, terrible beast, especially since it so egregiously over-simplifies the very real problems that American society faces on the issue of race relations.

This year was notable for having four movies with three awards each. "Crash" won for Picture, Original Screenplay, and Editing. "Brokeback Mountain" won for Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Original Score. "Memoirs of a Geisha" won for Cinematography, Art Direction, and Costume Design. "King Kong" won for Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, and Sound Editing.

Was "Crash" really so much of a surprise upset winner over "Brokeback Mountain"? Not really. First of all, "Crash" is an "industry" movie, set in L.A. and featuring a huge cast. A vote for "Crash" was a vote for oneself if you are a member of the Academy. Also, "Brokeback Mountain" was not nominated for Editing, and usually the Best-Picture winner gets at least a nomination in that category (if not a win). There was the feeling that "Brokeback" had peaked too early in the race. It led the race from when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival in late-summer/early-autumn, and it´s difficult to sustain your legs when people get tired of hearing you win and win and win. Finally, yesterday gave us a late warning shot when "Brokeback" won several awards at the Indie Spirit Awards. Usually, when you win big at the Indies, you don´t win big at the Oscars on the following night. The "Brokeback" team must be fuming right now since this is the first time that a movie has won everything in sight without taking the big prize at the end of the race.

Still, it was a big night for Ang Lee. Lee is one of only four Asians/Asian-Americans to have been nominated for Best Director. He is the first Asian/Asian-American to win for Best Director. In mentioning his father during his acceptance speech, Lee not only bucked the evening´s Oedipal trend of thanking mothers but also re-confirmed my thesis´s claim that most of Lee´s movies are about him dealing with his relationship with his dad. (The other trend of the evening was having an Asian wife. Heck, even Ang Lee has an Asian wife.)

The other categories went as expected, though "Brokeback" snuck a win in the Original Score category. Most people expected John Williams to win for "Memoirs of a Geisha", though Williams probably split his own vote since he was also nominated for "Munich". "Good Night, and Good Luck" was the evening´s biggest loser since it had six nominations but left with nothing. George Clooney and Warner Bros. could take comfort in the fact that their other middle finger to the extreme right, "Syriana", was saluted for Supporting Actor.

Of this year´s nominees, I felt that Steven Spielberg´s "Munich" should´ve won Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Editing, though Spielberg got blanked even though he had two movies in contention ("War of the Worlds" lost to "King Kong" in three categories). Even though the people who made the expensive "Memoirs of a Geisha" could not buy their way to a good movie, they bought their way to a couple of trophies courtesy of a production that had the benefit of being pretty. As much as I hate "Crash", I can take comfort in the fact that Spielberg had his hands in more nominations (five for "Munich", three for "War for "War of the Worlds", and six for "Memoirs of a Geisha" if you take into account his producer´s role) than any other person of the evening.

Picture:
"Crash"

Foreign-Language Film:
"Tsotsi", South Africa

Animated Feature:
"Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit"

Documentary Feature:
"March of the Penguins"

Director:
Ang Lee, "Brokeback Mountain"

Actor:
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Capote"

Actress:
Reese Witherspoon, "Walk the Line"

Supporting Actor:
George Clooney, "Syriana"

Supporting Actress:
Rachel Weisz, "The Constant Gardener"

Original Screenplay:
Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco, "Crash"

Adapted Screenplay:
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, "Brokeback Mountain"

Cinematography:
"Memoirs of a Geisha"

Editing:
"Crash"

Art Direction:
"Memoirs of a Geisha"

Costume Design:
"Memoirs of a Geisha"

Make-up:
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe"

Score:
"Brokeback Mountain"

Song:
"It´s Hard Out Here for a Pimp", "Hustle & Flow"

Sound Mixing:
"King Kong"

Sound Editing:
"King Kong"

Visual Effects:
"King Kong"

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