film

I did not watch the Academy Awards. I had the television on for a bit so that I could listen, but fell asleep long before the big awards were announced. Monday morning I checked out who and what had won. I was quite surprised that "Crash" won best picture. I had seen it a few months ago--on dvd--and while it was interesting, the plot was contrived and the script verged on ridiculous, as the characters seemed to speak in slogans with grand rhetorical flourishes, making much of the dialogue unbelievable. So the fact that it won best screenplay made me wonder what people were thinking.

I did not think "Brokeback Mountain" should have won either; while it was a compelling story and some of the actors, particular Michelle Williams (who played Heath Ledger's wife, and actually is Heath Ledger's wife in real life) were excellent. But there was no true chemistry between Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall. And I must admit I find Jake Gyllenhall quite unattractive. I truly do not understand his appeal. And Ledger spent the entire film with his entire body so clenched that there was no dimension to his character.

The Oscars always annoy me because of how seriously Hollywood takes itself; actors are just people, not gods or heroes, and filmmaking is more about money than anything else, at least in America. So let's not pretend that these people are so special.