The Oscars a hive of controversy
Is this the real life, or is this just fantasy? That’s what most people associated with The Academy Awards (Monday, TVNZ2) will probably be thinking after the past few months, which have been less about films and more about controversy.
Whether it’s if A Star Is Born’s light deserves to fade, whether Green Book’s race issues will affect it, whether Kevin Hart will host or won’t – the list this year is endless.
Yet, it’s all coming at a cost – not one person is talking about some of the excellent performances that will be eclipsed on the night by their peers.
I suspect Rami Malek’s cosplay-in-extremis turn as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody will be tops on the night, beating out the others.
The film’s just been released on DVD and it still does little to assuage my fears that it’s nothing more than a crowd-pleasing jukebox of Queen hits among the corny musical biopic tropes.
It’s the actress category that offers the most hope, primarily because the nominees are so strong.
While Glenn Close, Lady Gaga, and the ever-brilliant Olivia Colman have already won, I’d dearly love to see some appreciation for Melissa McCarthy’s nuanced turn in Can You Ever Forgive Me? but I’d equally love Colman to take it out for The Favourite, if only because her unpredictability and honesty in acceptance speeches would make the win more than memorable.
Netflix’s Roma is likely to continue winning awards as well, presenting the Academy with the unwatched, less populist problem once again.
Sure, it’s black and white, foreign and gorgeous-looking – but it’s barely been seen, with many – myself included – putting it on a Netflix watchlist and never quite getting to it.
The Trump factor could be at play here. A film about Mexico is likely to stir the voters, potentially sending the United States president a message as the debate about that wall rumbles on. It’s sad though, that one could even consider it a protest vote rather than a win on merit.