The Oscar goes to…
As the 84th annual Academy Awards concluded, I decided to check my Facebook and Twitter accounts to read people’s reactions to the results. My newsfeeds were blowing up with posts ranting about Harry Potter’s lack of nominations while others were outraged over the fact that Twilight also didn’t have a single nomination. Are those movies as good as we perceive them to be, or do these types of movies beg the question, “Why did they make this?”
Cartoon by Abby Gross
The best answer to that question comes from looking through every movie made and arriving at a universal conclusion. Unfortunately, I don’t have that time.
What I have concluded is that one needs to take the time to fully recognize what is truly brilliant in a film. I still wonder why people go crazy over the Twilight films, because I think the acting is terrible and there is literally no emotion; it’s almost as if the actors didn’t want to try. Simply put, I find the films extremely boring.
I learned early on to view a movie for both personal enjoyment and whether it is a truly remarkable film. After seeing most of this year’s and past years’ Academy Award nominees for Best Picture, I found some of these movies didn’t have the greatness that was celebrated by commercials, critics and friends.
“The Artist” was the big winner at the Oscars this year, and rightfully so. The classic feeling of the film and the fact that it was a silent film were brilliant. Many people say the Oscars look for the classic feel in a film to win the big prize, and “The Artist” did just that by being in black and white and looking like it was made in the 1920s.
So why exactly did “The Artist” win over blockbusters such as “The Help,” “Moneyball” or “Hugo”? The answer is quite simple: because what critics and audiences alike want to see in a film is something that either hasn’t been done before and or leaves them saying, “I really want to see that again.”
Take last year’s Oscars, for example. “The King’s Speech,” the Best Picture winner, took home the top prize over one of the most critically acclaimed movies of the year, “Inception.” “Inception” clearly won more awards overall that night, but most of those awards were for technical aspects such as special effects and sound editing and mixing, while “The King’s Speech” took home the bigger awards such as Director, Best Actor and Best Picture.
The same happened this year, with “The Artist” winning three of the top awards and “Hugo” taking home five of the Oscars, mainly those pertaining to sound, cinematography and effects. Seeing a film with amazing graphics and top-notch sound is fascinating, but what I feel is the best way to judge a film is the overall impact it has on you.
After seeing “The Artist,” I felt it paid homage to classic dramas such as “Casablanca” and “City Lights” (two of my favorite movies). It was a true love story that also focused on the demise of silent films and the rise of films with sounds, or talkies, and one couldn’t help but love the characters that were in it.
Movies such as “Moneyball,” “The Help” and ”The Descendants” that were also nominated for Best Picture shared the same entertainment aspects that many blockbusters before them have demonstrated, but I believe the Academy wanted something more out of those films. After seeing them, I didn’t feel a change of emotion that made me believe any of them was the best film.
The best way to label a remarkable movie is by the overall message and the emotion it leaves you with. It could be a good or bad feeling, but it leaves what many movies don’t: impact.
