So, was anyone surprised? I haven't been up all night watching the Oscars, but looking at the results this morning, the only one nobody really predicted was The Departed winning best picture as well as Scorsese getting best director. None of our panel did, anyway. With Scorsese, the Academy has sent out a clear message: you can spend a lifetime making bold, risky, trailblazing films, but we shall reward generic remakes!
One thing that immediately strikes you is how un-American this year's Oscars were - even most of the American films. Scorsese won with a story originally made in Hong Kong, Infernal Affairs. Forest Whitaker won for playing a Ugandan in a British-made film. Helen Mirren flew the flag, of course, and gave one of the best speeches ("For 50 years and more, Elizabeth Windsor has maintained her dignity, her sense of duty and her hairstyle"). Best animation went to Happy Feet, directed by Australia's George Miller. And the technical awards mostly went to foreign films, such as Pan's Labyrinth (deservedly so - surely it was a better picture altogether than The Departed?) and Babel (original score - the only one it deserved). Even the short film winners were all foreign. Is this the death of Hollywood creativity, or a triumph for diversity? If it's the latter, you'd have to factor in Melissa Etheridge winning for best original song and thanking her wife.
The only real all-American winners were Alan Arkin (as with Scorsese, the general consensus was: "It's his turn."), Al Gore (he lost the elections, had to give him something) and Jennifer Hudson (likewise, albeit for American Idol rather than the US presidency). Hudson also deserved a best fancy dress award, since she appeared to have come as the Bilbao Guggenheim. Hers was undoubtedly the most Hollywood award of the night, the kind of real-life rags-to-riches story that's destined to be a biopic of the future. "And the award for best picture 2045 goes to... The Jennifer Hudson Story!"
