Oscar Gamble: High Lights and Low Lights
My own picks.
Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books, including “Hiroshima in America,” “Atomic Cover-up,” and “The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood—and America—Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” He has directed three documentary films since 2021, including three for PBS (plus award-winning “Atomic Cover-up”). You can still subscribe to this newsletter for free.
Didn’t plan to do this but 1) woke up early today amid Daylight Savings disruption 2) I watched the damn Oscars show so I might as well comment and 3) I’m now a film writer/director myself (e.g. here on PBS) plus two of my books are currently optioned for possible Hollywood dramas 4) everyone else is writing Bests and Worsts so I might as well have some fun with it.
That’s my photo above from a visit to L.A. last March at Oscars time. Now a cartoon:
High Lights:
—Of course, if you know me, I have to start with near the end, and Kimmel reading the Trump post. Trump can’t help self-destructing. Now, some people say it was amazing that Kimmel or producers could think on their feet that quickly but I’d guess that someone was watching Trump’s feed all night, or maybe Kimmel himself had suggested it, knowing that Trump had mocked him many times earlier and comedy gold was certain to come.
—”I’m just Ken,” which reminded me that almost no one well known has been named Ken for many decades (maybe Ken Starr ruined the name for good). Even the Gosling/Blunt banter was above average.
—Speech by Jonathan Glazer—only “political” one all night—on Gaza/Israel, with ties to his “Zone of Interest.” Yes, Cillian Murphy hailed “peacemakers” but that’s about it. I did note the very few stars wearing red buttons calling for ceasefire amid general Hollywood cop-out (30,000 dead mainly via our weapons and with our support), including Ramy, Mark Ruffalo, Billie and bro. Tim Robbins: How the mighty have fallen--no button. See related op-ed here.
—Though they didn’t win, happy to see a little airtime for terrific films from my own list of Best Films, including “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Perfect Days,” “Teachers Lounge,” “Four Daughters,” “Bobi Wine,” “Past Lives” and so on. My list here. Great to see “Zone of Interest” win for sound, refreshingly (and meaningfully) subtle, especially vs. earsplitting competition.
—Looking forward to the new “Godzilla” as it draws inspiration from shock and aftermath of Hiroshima bomb (the use of which “Oppenheimer” basically endorses). Also its win reminded me that the revered Kurosawa actor, Takashi Shimura (who starred in three of the greatest films made by anyone, “Rashomon,” “Seven Samurai” and “Ikiru”) was in the original “Godzilla.’
—Happy that Cillian’s win will help draw audiences to his next film, based on a great Claire Keegan novel and related to the Magdalene Laundries.
Low Lights
—The In Memorial was a disaster. Even on a big screen many of the names and photos were hard or impossible to make out, so I can’t imagine what it was like seeing this on a phone or pad. And then the distraction of dancers. The Grammys segment was bad but at least you could make out the honorees.
—No, I don’t need to see Jon Cena nearly nude. He seems like nice guy but just a slab of beef in that context.
—Will not complain at length (again) about the troubling flaws in “Oppenheimer” so will just point you to my separate newsletter and a summary of many of them. Note: It’s finally opening in Japan at end of the month and I’ll be covering that for sure. BTW, book by friends Kai Bird and Marty Sherwin much better. Also, I have just learned that my own corrective, “Atomic Cover-up,” has won a major award but can’t announce it for another month or so… and it’s still viewable via PBS.org.
—I love Lily Gladstone as much as anyone (her prison scene in “Reservation Dogs” a highlight of TV season) but I said from the start she had a supporting, not lead role, so Emma—who acted more if not better—was likely to earn upset from Academy.
—Arnold and Danny DeVito on stage forever? The lame Kimmel sidekick tequila plug (for one of the sponsors)? All of those Rolex commercials with dozens of stars.
—I joke, but maybe"Maestro" would have won everything if it had more Beethoven.
—Al Pacino: His “I see” thing I thought at first was referring back to his Oscar-winning role as blind man in “Scent of a Woman.” Then someone tweeted that Laurence Olivier had done the same thing in 1985. Well, I HOPE there was some sub-text. Let’s hope we don’t read that the walked off stage to the bathroom where he had planted a gun above the toilet and went out looking for the Ghost of Sterling Hayden.
