More than art on show
GOING by a lot of the discussion surrounding this year’s Academy Awards nominations, the motion picture industry’s night of nights would appear to have taken a cue from our very own Brownlow Medal count.
I mean, the AFL’s top honour is presented to the player who’s not only the best but the fairest and best — someone who exemplifies the most honourable traits of the sport.
And when we look at the films and the filmmakers up for Oscars this year, something that becomes apparent is that their morality and integrity are being examined as closely by some pundits as their artistic quality.
Perhaps this is to be expected in the wake of the sexual misconduct scandals that have shaken Hollywood in the past year, and the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements that have subsequently emerged.
You can see it in yesterday’s announcement that Casey Affleck, last year’s winner of the Best Actor award, had declined the traditional role of presenting this year’s Best Actress award.
Affleck, after all, settled out of court claims of what’s been called “inappropriate behaviour” towards two female co-workers in 2010.
Then there’s James Franco, previously considered a frontrunner for this year’s Best Actor award for his performance in The Disaster Artist.
One can only speculate about a connection between recent claims of sexual harassment against Franco and the fact that he wasn’t even named among this year’s nominees.
If the entertainment industry is indeed making a statement about calling out bad behaviour, that’s great.
Like it or not, the stories that are told and shared worldwide can have some degree of influence on how we perceive and understand one another.
But at the same time, I believe it does art and entertainment a disservice to judge it purely on its moral stance.
I mean, this is just my opinion, but I was a little taken aback to see that The Shape of Water, Guillermo Del Toro’s romantic fairytale for adults, had the most nominations of any movie this year — 13 in total, including Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay.
It’s a lovingly crafted film, and has a terrific, expressive performance by Sally Hawkins (also a nominee) at its heart, but its anti-prejudice theme is heavy-handed to a fault.
But maybe obviousness is what’s currently called for.
After all, Martin McDonagh’s scathing black comedy Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri — which has seven nominations in total — tries to introduce a few shades of grey into its story of small-town bigotry and intolerance.
And as a result, it has drawn its share of vitriol from critics who don’t believe the film goes far enough in decrying the backward or blinkered attitudes of some of its characters.
On the other end of the spectrum, though, you have pundits shaking their heads that Jordan Peele’s “social thriller” Get Out is in the Best Picture race, convinced the confident, well-made film is there only for its examination of white racism against African-Americans.
How much of a part will politics play in who actually wins an Oscar on Monday, March 3?
We’ll see in a month’s time, but meanwhile here are my personal picks for who should win the main awards: Best Picture: Dunkirk, although I wouldn’t mind if Call Me by Your Name won. Best Actor: Gary Oldman, partially for so vividly playing Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour but mostly for a career of being Gary Oldman. Best Actress: Frances McDormand for Three Billboards, although congratulations to Margot Robbie for her full-throttle performance in I, Tonya — this won’t be the last time we see Robbie’s name on a list of nominees. Best Supporting Actor: Three Billboards’ Sam Rockwell. Best Supporting Actress: Lesley Manville in Phantom Thread — not many actors can draw the eye away from Daniel Day-Lewis, but Manville does it consistently.