Mar 1, 2017
Oscars 2017
Recap: And the Winner is…or is it?
I am glad I took a couple of days to process what
had happened at the end of the Oscars 2017 telecast. My initial
reaction was one of shock and anger. The film I believe to be the
best of the year (La La Land) had won Best Picture. And then it
hadn’t. Instead it went to Moonlight which didn’t figure into my
Top Ten films this year, though it did crack my Top 25. In fact,
out of the nine nominated films Moonlight ranked last for me. I
found the pacing too slow and I actually had a hard time staying
awake while watching it. But if I had written a recap on Monday
morning I would have done Moonlight a disservice. I would have
focused on the debacle that took place instead of the historical
importance of this film.
Moonlight became the first film to win Best Picture
that has a LGBT community member at the center of its story. It’s
the second film to win Best Picture that was directed by an
African-American; joining Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave. It may
not have been the best made film of the year but it was without
question the most culturally important. Moonlight depicts a young
black man coming to terms with his sexuality while subtly
proclaiming “I will be who I am meant to be”. Like Omar in The
Wire, the character of Little/Chiron/Black grows into a
contradiction of the stereotype the world has come to know of a gay
man. That is the real beauty of the film…shattering the stereotype
and opening the world up to acceptance. In my younger more ignorant
days, I was admittedly homophobic. I never actively discriminated
against homosexuals but I didn’t understand how someone could be
attracted to the same gender. Then I saw Brokeback Mountain. That
film opened my eyes and taught me that you love who you love; it is
not a choice. I hope that Moonlight will have the same effect on a
new generation. I think that it will because I believe in the power
of film. I believe in the power of storytelling.
It’s a shame that Moonlight didn’t get its full
moment in the sun. Its triumph will always be linked to the epic
fail of the accounting firm of PwC. The partner whose only job was
to correctly hand out envelopes was too busy tweeting to fully
focus on the task at hand. He will almost certainly be fired and
PwC may lose its contract with the Academy Awards, as well as other
accounts. But that won’t make up for robbing Moonlight’s cast and
crew of that initial rush of hearing their film’s name called out
as Best Picture. Thank goodness for the grace and humility of La La
Land producer Jordan Horowitz. His thoughtfulness created an
unforgettable moment of comradery when he announced the true winner
and said, “I’m going to be really thrilled to hand this to my
friends from Moonlight.” I, in turn, will give credit where credit
is due.
Now that I’ve said my piece on the Best Picture
controversy, I want to simply go over some of my favorite moments
of the night…
Justin Timberlake’s opening performance – The Oscars
are typically a little stuffy so it was nice to see the evening
start off with some energy. JT’s ‘song of the summer’ brought the
crowd to their feet before they had to sit around for four
hours.
Legendary Duos – Charlize Theron & Shirley MacLaine,
Javier Bardem & Meryl Streep, Faye Dunaway & Warren Beatty were
awesome pairings but my absolute favorite of the night was Seth
Rogen & Michael J. Fox. Rogen’s words were synonymous with my
childhood; I grew up with the DeLorean and Back to the
Future.
Cravalho powers through – 16-year-old Auli’I
Cravalho’s performance of Moana’s nominated song “How Far I’ll Go”
was outstanding. Not only were her vocals phenomenal, she got hit
in the head with a flag and kept her composure.
Tour Group – The bit might have gone on too long but
the tourists truly reveled in the moment. The looks on their faces
were priceless. Imagine getting to meet all those A-listers on the
front row, being married by Denzel Washington, kissing Meryl
Streep’s hand, and touching Mahershala Ali’s statuette…all in the
span of five minutes. Gary from Chicago sure made the most of
it.
In Memoriam – This year we lost way too many
talented people. An impeccable rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Both
Sides Now” by Sara Bareilles set the mood while we said our last
goodbyes to the likes of Willy Wonka and Princess Leia.
The Academy spreads the love – As much as I wanted
La La Land to dominate the night, I did enjoy seeing many different
films take home hardware. Only four films won multiple Oscars (La
La Land with 6, Moonlight 3, Hacksaw Ridge 2, and Manchester by the
Sea 2). Arrival, Fences, The Jungle Book, Fantastic Beasts and
Where to Find Them, Suicide Squad, and Zootopia all won a single
trophy.
La La Land takes 7…okay 6 – Despite having the rug
pulled out from under it on the evening’s final award; La La Land
still had a pretty solid night. The film’s greatest attributes were
rewarded with wins for Best Director, Actress, Cinematography,
Production Design, Score, and Song. Of course I would have loved to
see it win Best Picture but 6 wins and 14 nominations is still an
incredible feat. It will go down as one of the greatest films in
the history of cinema.
Thank you all for taking the time to read my thoughts on the Oscars
and this year’s films. Movie award season is my favorite time of
year; that and March Madness (Go Tar Heels!). I’ll be putting
together my Top Ten lists for this past year in film. All too often
some great films go without any awards recognition (cough, cough,
Green Room). Be on the lookout for those in the coming weeks.