The 81st Annual Academy Awards were held yesterday at the Kodak Theatre, and it was a beautiful night for Slumdog Millionaire. Danny Boyle’s Dickensian rags-to-riches story set in India swept the ceremony with 8 wins, including Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, and Editing. With no further ado, here are my thoughts. Photopost should be following soon -if I have time to write it…
Winners are highlighted in red. You will find further Oscar coverage at the following links: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4.
Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Congratulations Slumdog Millionaire! This win was, of course, very much expected -I don’t think any of us thought any other film was going to win. What can I say, it’s well deserved, and exactly the kind of film the Academy loves, with its unparalleled commitment to hope and love and world peace.
Best Director
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – David Fincher
Frost/Nixon – Ron Howard
Milk – Gus Van Sant
The Reader – Stephen Daldry
Slumdog Millionaire – Danny Boyle
Goddamn it, I am so proud to see Danny Boyle win here. For a thousand different reasons. Congratulations to one of the biggest-hearted, loveliest working directors today! I’m thrilled that Boyle finally gets the industry’s recognition, considering that he’d be classified as more of an independent filmmaker rather than one of the usual players. The Beach was the end of his collaboration with mainstream production, and ever since his output’s been downright incredible, without no-one ever noticing it (28 Days Later, Millions, Sunshine). Well now they do…
Best Actor in a Leading Role
The Visitor – Richard Jenkins
Frost/Nixon – Frank Langella
Milk - Sean Penn
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Brad Pitt
The Wrestler – Mickey Rourke
OH, buuurn. Five years after Mystic River, here is Sean Penn winning the Best Actor prize again, for Milk, when everyone (including me) expected Mickey Rourke to do so! Ah well. Does that mean that the Academy likes gay people now? Can we please give the Best Picture Oscar to Brokeback Mountain then? Ahem.
I kid, I kid. The truth is, I haven’t seen Milk yet (not released in France until two weeks I think), but I can tell it’s a grand performance because: 1- it was directed by GUS VAN SANT, 2- Sean Penn comes from the Daniel Day-Lewis school of acting, which means that the intensity of his dramatic parts are such that you just can’t tell it’s a fictional character.
But hey, too bad for Mickey Rourke who seems to have pulled off an amazing feat as well..
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Rachel Getting Married – Anne Hathaway
Changeling – Angelina Jolie
Frozen River – Melissa Leo
Doubt – Meryl Streep
The Reader – Kate Winslet
A shriek of delight was my first reaction when I saw that the Best Actress of Her Generation, an inspiration to women all around the world, Ms. Kate Winslet, had finally won the coveted prize after five nominations, the Best Actress statuette. I have to admit, though, I hate when the Academy does that, which is –giving an award for the wrong film. Clearly, Kate should have won this ages ago (*cough*EternalSunshineoftheSpotless Mind*cough*). The Reader was good, but then again -Best Actress? Questionable. But still, yay for Kate the Great, I really admire her career choices, hands down one of the best actresses around. And it’s awesome that what she made fun of in Ricky Gervais’ Extras actually became true, heh.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Milk – Josh Brolin
Tropic Thunder – Robert Downey Jr.
Doubt - Philip Seymour Hoffman
The Dark Knight – Heath Ledger
Revolutionary Road – Michael Shannon
Damn it. I dunno why, it’s really upsetting that Heath gets recognised now that he’s not here to see it. Yeah yeah I’m getting all touchy and all, and I understand the fact that he could have not not won, but still, it’s… very hard to celebrate his achievement when, well… anyway. His part in the Dark Knight will be remembered indeed, and not just by the Academy.
In other supporting actor news, Philip Seymour Hoffman is awesome for showing up at the Oscars with a beanie. I applaud the beanie.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Doubt – Amy Adams
Vicky Cristina Barcelona – Penélope Cruz
Doubt – Viola Davis
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Taraji P. Henson
The Wrestler – Marisa Tomei
Hey, another expected winner. Well done, Penélope Cruz. I haven’t seen your performance but I have no doubt it was intense and hot as hell.
Looking at the history of Best Supporting Actress winners, eg. Tilda Swinton, Rachel Weisz, Cate Blanchett, Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones etc., I tend to think that looks really do matter in this category! But hey, I’m just kidding, I’m sure Pénelope Cruz was fantastic in Vicky Christina Barcelona, which I missed out on, to my utter dismay. Still, there’s no denying that this category wasn’t really crowded at all this year..
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
Doubt – John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon – Peter Morgan
The Reader – David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire – Simon Beaufoy
Another major prize for Slumdog: the adapted screenplay. It was well-written, of course, what an amazing story… Feeling a bit sad for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which left the ceremony with 3 Oscars out of 13 nods, and this Oscar would have been a beautiful way of recognising the film (which was bound to be second-best to Slumdog). But oh well. Congrats Mr. Beaufoy, who had previously been nominated for The Full Monty (nice!).
Best Orignial Screenplay
Frozen River – Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky – Mike Leigh
In Bruges – Martin McDonagh
Milk – Dustin Lance Black
WALL-E – Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter
Argh, well done to the young and rather fetching screenwriter of Milk, Dustin Lance Black. BUT WAAAAAAHHH- for Wall-E not winning an ‘important’ prize such as this one. Why? Why does it matter that it’s an animated feature? If Wall-E had been a live motion picture, it would have won, I know it would have. This feels like Ratatouille all over again… Disappointment aside, I guess Milk is worthy of this ‘consolation’ prize. I dunno if the Academy genuinely liked it, or if it was too good to be ignored, or maybe … they liked what it stands for? As far as I’m converned, it’s still a Gus Van Sant film, so it’s good enough for me.
Best Animated Feature
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E
Yay. Sniff. CONGRATULATIONS THE GENIUSES AT PIXAR. We love you, even if the Academy will forever deny that animated features must be considered equals to live action films. It’s still good to see Andrew Stanton recognised for providing us with yet another incredible story. Bless.
Best Art Direction
Changeling – James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
The Dark Knight – Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
The Duchess – Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway
Revolutionary Road – Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt
Darn for the Dark Knight. But I still approve of Benjamin Button’s art design which was all-around fantastic, creating this bizarre world that’s close enough to be reality, far enough to be fantasy. Throughout the times and places, the film looked fabulous. Well-deserved Oscar then.
Best Cinematography
Changeling – Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight – Wally Pfister
The Reader – Roger Deakins, Chris Menges
Slumdog Millionaire – Anthony Dod Mantle
Oh balls, I wish Wally Pfister had gotten this one. I mean the shots in the Dark Knight were splendid, with that special aesthetic that’s so characteristic of Christopher Nolan. Of course, lighting Slumdog Millionaire can’t have been easy at all, and well, it looked gorgeous too, but damn. I guess there was just too much love from the Academy for Slumdog, and Anthony Dod Mantle has impressive films to his credit, so frankly, I’m not that fussed. I’m sure they will be plenty of occasions for the industry to recognise Wally Pfister and Christopher Nolan too, hopefully …
Best Costume Design
Australia – Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Jacqueline West
The Duchess – Michael O’Connor
Milk – Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road – Albert Wolsky
I totally predicted that win! Heh.
Seriously, Oscar luuuurves historical dramas, or period films, or whatever it is that they are called these days. Too bad for Benjamin Button which was spot-on for the costumes, including one particularly beautiful red dress.
In other news, Revolutionary Road went home empty-handed. Blah.
Best Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter
The Dark Knight – Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon – Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill
Milk – Elliot Graham
Slumdog Millionaire – Chris Dickens
Continuing its clean sweep, Slumdog Millionaire bagged another crucial technical award, the Best Editing. It’s well-deserved, as I’ve said before, the editing is a towering achievement, it absolutely completes Boyle’s direction and Beaufoy’s screenplay -and they couldn’t have recognised these two without awarding the editor, Chris Dickens, his own Oscar. Still a tinge of regret for Chris Nolan’s collaborator since Batman Begins, Lee Smith; especially since, good God, the editing of the opening sequence was phenomenal…and the rest of the film was… I’m shivering as I think about it. It’s upsetting that Slumdog was so good it sort of ruined it for everyone else, ha.
Best Documentary Feature
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water
Another thoroughly expected win. Is it just me or are the Oscars getting too predictable and then one or two upsets are thrown in just to annoy us?
At any rate, I haven’t seen any of these so… But I do want to see it, Man on Wire has been one of the most critically acclaimed films, whether documentary or fictional features.
Best Foreign Language Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Class
Departures
Revanche
Waltz with Bashir
Who saw that coming, huh? I certainly didn’t. I was so sure Waltz with Bashir was a lock-in! Anyway, a smaller Japanese film, translated as Departures but called Okuribito, took the statuette home and everyone by surprise. IMDb says it has been selected in a fair number of film festivals, but wow, I’ve never heard of it. Good for them, I guess…? Although to be fair, I was always rooting for our national gem, Entre les Murs. Perhaps France has gotten enough love for the rest of the decade when Marion Cotillard snatched the Best Actress statuette last year (a fact which I’m still gloating about, heh heh heh).
Best Make-Up
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Greg Cannom
The Dark Knight – John Caglione Jr., Conor O’Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army – Mike Elizalde, Thomas Floutz
Second win for Benjamin Button, yay! And yeah, there was no way they wouldn’t win that one, the make-up was so unbelievably good.
Best Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Alexandre Desplat
Defiance – James Newton Howard
Milk – Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire – A.R. Rahman
WALL-E – Thomas Newman
I’m cool, guys. NO I’M NOT BUT HOW COULD THE ACADEMY OVERLOOK TOM NEWMAN AGAIN?!! I don’t knoooow. Of course the music in Slumdog was fantastic but nowhere near the emotional intensity of Wall-E… Or maybe it was, but all I know is that this Oscar is LONG overdue for Thomas Newman, even more so than for Martin Scorsese and Kate Winslet when they hadn’t won yet, so please please please let him get it next year. It’s getting quite unfair for James Newton Howard who’s been consistently good for almost a decade now, and still hasn’t won. Cruel category, I’m telling you.
Best Original Score
WALL-E – “Down to Earth”
Slumdog Millionaire – “Jai Ho”
Slumdog Millionaire – “O Saya”
Slumdog carrying on with the sweep… At the expense of Tom Newman, unfortunately… Nothing new then…
Best Sound Editing
The Dark Knight - Richard King
Iron Man – Frank E. Eulner, Christopher Boyes
Slumdog Millionaire – Tom Sayers
WALL-E – Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood
Wanted – Whylie Stateman
Oh look! Am I complaining too much if I say that I would have liked Wall-E to have won this one? Anyhow, second Oscar for The Dark Knight, well done, and over Slumdog Millionaire, too …
Best Sound Mixing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten
The Dark Knight – Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo
Slumdog Millionaire – Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty
WALL-E – Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt
Wanted – Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt
Oh it’s great to see another film than Slumdog winning… OH WAIT. Naaah seriously, I’m happy they’re getting recognised and all, especially since sound mixing on that particular film must have been tricky with all the chaos, and the music, and everything.
Best Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron
The Dark Knight – Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, Paul J. Franklin
Iron Man – John Nelson, Ben Snow, Daniel Sudick, Shane Mahan
Third Oscar for Benjamin Button, and even if they did beat The Dark Knight to it, congratulations to them! I’m glad they went for Button, in which the special effects aren’t that showy, even though they are part of the very core of the story. Action films always seem to be such an obvious pick in this category, and Benjamin Button is everything but, so it’s all good.
And the winners in the short categories:
Best Documentary Short Subject
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306
Best Animated Short Film
La Maison de Petits Cubes
Lavatory – Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up
Best Live Action Short Film
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)
There you go, yet another year of good films and self-congratulations all around. I’m sorry I couldn’t put any pictures at the moment -see, I’m writing this post at top speed at work, and I don’t think pictures of glitzy, glamourous stars on the desktop would be appreciated, so I shall keep that for later when I get home. Stay tuned, the photopost will come!
