San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Film mecca shrugs at Oscar snubs
After a year in Oakland filmmaking that felt like the cinematic equivalent of a Warriors victory parade, the Academy Awards are easy to frame as a sputtering finish.
Boots Riley’s “Sorry to Bother You” and “Blindspotting,” from Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs, were shut out entirely from the festivities that culminate at the 91st Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 24, despite a strong argument for both to garner at least a screenwriting nomination. “Black Panther” is nominated for best picture, but the wagering odds of an upset win over “Roma,” “Green Book” and “BlacKkKlansman” (yes, people can bet on this) are about 33-to-1.
That’s a little like saying your marriage is a bust because your wedding photos didn’t appear in People magazine. Or in regional terms, like someone declaring your music career is a failure because you got your start selling records out of the trunk of your car.
Making three great movies, then not getting the highest honors by a mainstream awards show, is the most Oakland thing that could happen to these films. Regardless of what occurs on a stage in Los Angeles on Sunday, Oakland moviemaking in 2018 — and the 2010s as a whole — will help define the town’s cinematic culture for generations.
Last year’s procession began with Ryan Coogler onstage, surprising a Grand Lake Theatre crowd at the first public screening of his film “Black Panther” on Feb. 15, 2018, then telling a very Oakland story.
“I just wanted to come out and say thanks. I hope you guys enjoy the film. There’s nothing I love more than the Bay Area,” Coogler said to an exuberant Oakland crowd. “If you all pay extra close attention, there’s a couple Easter eggs in there for the bay.”
Those “Easter eggs” turned out to be a major Oakland subplot that framed the movie’s story, and offered a message of empowerment that passed through the East Bay city. (We will politely look the other way, as
most have, at the fact that Coogler filmed those memorable Oakland scenes in Georgia.) “Black Panther” jumpstarted a year that would include the July releases of “Sorry to Bother You” and “Blindspotting.” The latter film wove in the fabric of the town with regional specificity; rap artists on the soundtrack often aligned with the neighborhood where an Oakland scene took place.
The long wait for an Oakland filmmaking surge, followed by this recent string of excellence, mirrored the Warriors’ bust-then-boom basketball history.
Oakland for decades had been absent or had gotten a skewed depiction on the big screen. The best early examples of Oakland films incorporating Oakland themes are releases like “The Mack” (1973), a social commentary featuring a pimp and a neighborhood activist finding their place in their violent community.
“The Principal” (1987) was shot in Oakland, without acknowledging the location, which was a blessing. The Jim Belushi white savior action drama seemed designed in a lab to accentuate the worst Oakland stereotypes, with youth gang members of color needing a baseball-bat-wielding white principal to keep them in their place. (The 1993 Whoopi Goldberg/Ted Danson comedy “Made in America,” with scenes at Oakland Tech and Lake Merritt, also left Oakland out of the plot.)
Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the 1999 thriller “True Crime,” which paid respect to the city where the filmmaker was raised. But the setting felt more like a series of postcards than a true exploration of Oakland’s modern themes. While Oakland was lovingly shot by cinematographer Wally Pfister, “Moneyball” (2011) was more of a baseball film than an Oakland film.
Oakland’s locally sourced filmmaking boom arguably started with Peter Nicks’ stellar 2012 Highland Hospital documentary “The Waiting Room.” Coogler’s breakthrough 2013 film “Fruitvale Station,” about the last day of BART shooting victim Oscar Grant, was an inspiration for the “Blindspotting” stars and other filmmakers. Add Anthony Lucero’s small-budget “East Side Sushi” (2014) to the critically acclaimed Oakland films released in the 2010s, and worthy-ofrediscovery “Kicks” (2016) by Justin Tipping. Together, the artistic output is reminiscent of the 1970s in San Francisco, when “The Conversation,” “Dirty Harry” and “Foul Play” were released.
So why did this Golden Age feel like a letdown for some, in the wake of the subsequent Academy Awards nominations?
(It’s noted that “Black Panther” could also get a win in several technical categories, plus best original song and best original score.)
Boots Riley addressed the issue directly in a Twitter thread in January, after the nominations were announced, and fans responded angrily to the lack of Hollywood love for the two smaller budget Oakland films. Short version of Riley’s breakdown: It’s all good, because we didn’t pay for an Oscar marketing campaign, and we’re thrilled so many people liked “Sorry to Bother You.”
“(The) campaign that we did do — press runs, red carpet stuff — got a lot more ppl 2 see the movie,” Riley wrote on Twitter. “That’s, 4 me, the big attraction to any film award.”
Indeed, positive results for Oakland filmmaking are already visible. Riley has more projects lined up, and Casal will direct “First Sight” for Lionsgate — hopefully in Oakland as well.
Allen Michaan, the longtime leaseholder of the Grand Lake Theatre, announced in August that he had purchased the property and would seek a historical landmark designation; the success of the three Oakland films contributed to the best year in Grand Lake Theatre history. (Which in turn, he said, gave him more leeway when he worked with banks during the deal.)
Which brings us back to another Coogler moment, at the same “Black Panther” screening, reminiscing about his first memories as a filmgoer.
“My father … took me here to see ‘Boyz n the Hood’ when I was like 4 years old or 3 years old or something crazy like that,” Coogler told the diverse Oakland audience. “I sat right here in this back row right there and cried like crazy at the end of the movie. Probably annoyed everybody. So hopefully nobody’s got no babies here like my dad did.”
If the next Ryan Coogler was in the audience at the “Black Panther” premiere, and let’s hope so, just think of the thrill the next two hours brought that youngster — seeing a positive portrayal of their hometown in the biggest blockbuster film of the year.
Think of the current generation of small children, who will become old enough to see “Sorry to Bother You,” and discover a daring absurdist political comedy filmed in eclectic corners of Oakland.
Think of the future generations who will appreciate “Blindspotting” as a nuanced time capsule of Oakland’s gentrification issues in the early 21st century. Oakland films won 2018. And the results of a 2019 popularity contest can’t change that.