By the power of grey skull, I sincerely hope Kathryn Bigelow wins the Best Director Academy Award tomorrow night. I know that I've
mentioned this before, but her win would mark the very first time that a woman has won the award. As far as I'm concerned, the best picture/best director nominees are the only ones not cemented in stone yet. The acting and technical choices were basically decided months ago because the same handful of people, as undeserved as they are in some cases, keep winning awards over and over again. I'm actually still in shock that Abbie Cornish and
Bright Star were totally left out of the running. Well, aside from Janet Patterson's nod for her amazing costume design.
In any case, I hope you'll remember to tune in tomorrow night and see some history in the making. Her win will undoubtedly open many previously locked doors for women in the industry.
Now I will leave you with my Oscar predictions. I'll mark what I think will win and what I want to win. What are your picks?
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Nominees:
Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia (2009)
Will Win: Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side
Should Win: Abbie Cornish for Bright Star, but I can't vote for that. So, I'll say Carey Mulligan for An Education.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Best Achievement in Directing
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Best Achievement in Cinematography
Best Achievement in Editing
Best Achievement in Art Direction
Best Achievement in Costume Design
Best Achievement in Makeup
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Nominees:
Up (2009): Michael Giacchino
Will Win: Michael Giacchino for Up
Should Win: Either him or Alexandre Desplat for Fantastic Mr. Fox
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Nominees:
Up (2009): Pete Docter
Will Win: Pete Docter for Up
Should Win: Pete Docter for Up
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
I'm not going to add a vote for the short subject films or the
documentaries because I haven't seen enough of them to warrant a good
opinion!
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3 Comments
Cassandra Gaddo said:
Sara, did you see the article on Salon.com about Bigelow? I'm curious as to what you thought.....http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/the_hurt_locker/index.html?story=/ent/movies/film_salon/2010/02/24/bigelow
Sara Freeman said:
Hey Cassandra,
I did read that article on Salon. I don't really know why the author is using John Wayne as a reference point. I don't see Will James as a modern day John Wayne. She's making a lot of generalizations about Wayne and Bigelow that are frustrating. I'm not madly in love with The Hurt Locker by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a well-made and well-directed film. All movies about war glorify war without ever meaning to. It's impossible to not make the images look attractive, even if they're showing terrible things. They're iconic. The Hurt Locker knows and understands that. Will James loves war. It seems more real to him than any sort of familial setting ever could. I don't know if Bigelow or Mark Boal actually feels that way about it, but they know that their character does, so why beat around the bush? They didn't just give her the award last night because she's a woman. Bigelow deserved to win her Oscar.
The transvestite quips really bother me as well. I don't see Bigelow as this strutting, butch figure just because she makes male-driven movies. She just feels more comfortable exploring those environments. Though, god be damned if Blue Steel (with Jamie Lee Curtis) isn't her best movie. I'd take that over The Hurt Locker any day of the week. I *do* think her being a female filmmaker bothers her though. She would rather be regarded as just a filmmaker instead e of singled out for her gender. This is a famous quote by her:
“I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about what my aptitude is, and I really think it's to explore and push the medium. It's not about breaking gender roles or genre traditions.”
I'm not sure what to say about the Ephron/Marshall comparisons. Though not every good film needs to be helmed by an auteur to make it work, I think auteurs, like Bigelow, create stronger, more personal films that are bound to stay with you longer than any film made by a non-auteur. That might not be true in all cases, but it's my personal opinion. I like Julie & Julia and It's Complicated, but they won't stand the test of time like The Hurt Locker will.
Cassandra Gaddo said:
Sara, I definitely agree. It's like she's trying to advance some woman's cause while herself getting lost in all this tangled-up gender stereotyping. Women can't be violent or have anything but a blind fear of war (really? Let's ask a female soldier what she thinks of that)? She only wants a woman to break the "glass ceiling" of the Best Director award if that winner does it in a way that the author finds gender appropriate. Bigelow's a transvestite, but she's also in drag, but she's also a tough guy....wow, I'm confused right now.
It's a well-known fact that male-lead driven films find more respect in Hollywood than female-lead driven films. I think Nochimson is trying to get at this point, but getting lost in gender stereotypes isn't going to help further the discussion. In attributing Bigelow's win to her gender, she's as bad as men who claim that women (or minorities) only achieve in the workforce because of affirmative action--it strips us of any ability to judge them based solely on their accomplishments. It's odd that a man's gender is often "invisible" in these situations, but women can only do things through the lens of their gender. No one questions James Cameron's masculinity for making a love/environmentalist story (haven't seen the movie, but from what I understand, that's the gist).
Ending rant now....was just curious as to your reaction to the article since you've been such a supporter of Bigelow. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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