When the Golden Globe nominations were released I made a number of predictions about who would win. So, if I had put £10 on each prediction (£110 squid in total) on "red-at-roulette-rules" - (you win, you double - you lose, you lose) how would I have fared? Well, I lost out, winning just £100, which is not brilliant.
I was right in thinking that Brokeback would do well. I correctly called that it would win Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. I also correctly called that Phlip Seymour Hoffman would win Best Actor (Drama) for Capote, and that Joaquin Phoenix would get Best Actor (Comedy/Musical) for his performance as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line.
However, I was way too cynical about how the gongs would be handed out in the other acting categories. In particular, while I wanted Best Actress(Comedy/Musical) and Best Film (Comedy/Musical) to go to Walk the Line and Best Supporting Actor to go to Syriana, I feared these gongs would go to The Producers and to Pride and Prejudice. In the end, the LA foreign critics, who vote for these awards, were more in line with my thinking that I had expected. The real upsets were Best Actress (Drama) going to Felicity Huffman, of Desperate Housewives fame, for Transamerica. I thought the gong was going to go to Charlize Theron for North Country, but should have gone to Maria Bello forA History of Violence. I also thought that Best Supporting Actress would go to Michelle Wiliams for Brokeback, but instead they gave it to Rachel Weisz for the mediocre The Constant Gardener. Finally, I desperately wanted Best Foreign Film to go that work of cinematic genius, Kung Fu Hustle. Instead it went to some Palestinian flick. Sucks.
So overall, what do we learn from this experience? LA's foreign film critics have better taste than I thought. No doubt, the hysterical conservative right will see a number of the awards as "politically correct" - after all, Capote, Brokeback and Transamerica all feature gay protagonists, The Constant Gardener is a damning indictment of Big Pharma, and instead of voting for Kung Fu, they have gone for arty Middle Eastern politics for Best Film. However, I prefer to think that these films are good old stories, and that the "political correctness" of the themes is just coincidental.
I was right in thinking that Brokeback would do well. I correctly called that it would win Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. I also correctly called that Phlip Seymour Hoffman would win Best Actor (Drama) for Capote, and that Joaquin Phoenix would get Best Actor (Comedy/Musical) for his performance as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line.
However, I was way too cynical about how the gongs would be handed out in the other acting categories. In particular, while I wanted Best Actress(Comedy/Musical) and Best Film (Comedy/Musical) to go to Walk the Line and Best Supporting Actor to go to Syriana, I feared these gongs would go to The Producers and to Pride and Prejudice. In the end, the LA foreign critics, who vote for these awards, were more in line with my thinking that I had expected. The real upsets were Best Actress (Drama) going to Felicity Huffman, of Desperate Housewives fame, for Transamerica. I thought the gong was going to go to Charlize Theron for North Country, but should have gone to Maria Bello forA History of Violence. I also thought that Best Supporting Actress would go to Michelle Wiliams for Brokeback, but instead they gave it to Rachel Weisz for the mediocre The Constant Gardener. Finally, I desperately wanted Best Foreign Film to go that work of cinematic genius, Kung Fu Hustle. Instead it went to some Palestinian flick. Sucks.
So overall, what do we learn from this experience? LA's foreign film critics have better taste than I thought. No doubt, the hysterical conservative right will see a number of the awards as "politically correct" - after all, Capote, Brokeback and Transamerica all feature gay protagonists, The Constant Gardener is a damning indictment of Big Pharma, and instead of voting for Kung Fu, they have gone for arty Middle Eastern politics for Best Film. However, I prefer to think that these films are good old stories, and that the "political correctness" of the themes is just coincidental.
I know man, who cares what motivates suicide bombers, we want to see Japanese people kick the living shit out of each other.
ReplyDeleteAnd not just any Japanese people. Samurai zombie Japanese people with cool hair-cuts!
ReplyDeleteSo true. Violent zombie-japs rule. Versus, Battle Royale, KfH, it's all good.
ReplyDeleteAs predicted, the political furore has alreay kicked off....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-1990992,00.html