The Oscars came and went and although I didn’t exactly earn a bonafide, “I told you so,” I did come close to predicting the curveball. The Academy, in its infinitely diminishing wisdom, awarded Everything Everywhere All at Once the Oscar, undeservedly, for not only Best Picture, but for Director(s), Original Screenplay, Actress in a Leading Role, Actress in a Supporting Role and Actor in a Supporting Role. And probably a gift card to Texas Roadhouse, too, because why not?
I know this was not meant to be a personal affront to me, so why does it feel that way?
I said in my last column that the movie is fun, but “fun” doesn’t make it How Green Was My Valley or Casablanca or All About Eve or Lawrence of Arabia or The Godfather. It also doesn’t even make it The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King or No Country for Old Men, which were two, more recent Best Picture winners from the last 20 years.
My question of who the show is for didn’t get answered either. At least not exactly. The only answer I can get close to is: apparently, the Oscars are not for me and not for lovers of movies.
If it was for movie lovers, then it wouldn’t need to placate the audience or lecture us about diversity or sell the bill of goods that okay movies are great movies because of the cultural moment.
I have to imagine and hope that EEAAO won because the film is original and creative, not because it’s chaotic and juvenile. It also touches a kind of cultural malaise around not reaching one’s full potential. And many of the headlines reminded us it champions diversity as it features a majority Asian leading cast and many who won Oscars were the first Asian winners in those categories in Oscar history.
That is something to note and to be proud of, but all this got me thinking how small and short-sided movie culture has become – how narrow-minded even self-proclaimed “movie audiences” have become.
Sure movies can be mindless, blockbuster entertainment or politically motivated propaganda. I have no problem with that. But the Academy should know better, because the Academy should be full of movie lovers who want to reward great movies.
And if you love movies, chances are you already watch and absorb everything, so there’s no reason to pretend that film history isn’t giant and sweeping.
Those of us who love movies – really love movies, watch them constantly and always (mostly always) with an open mind, know that film has always been as varied if you knew where to look.
Film fans know about Japanese cinema because of Kurosawa and Ozu. We watch Korea cinema for Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho (before he won the Oscar).
We know about the politically charged cinema of Iran through Asghar Farhadi and Abbas Kiarostami.
We know about black directors like Melvin Van Peebles and Spike Lee and Marlon Riggs. We know about female directors like Lynne Ramsay of Scotland or Lina Wertmüller of Italy.
We even know classic Hollywood female directors like Ida Lupino and Dorothy Arzner because we watch everything from everywhere, though perhaps not all at once.
I understand maybe the general public doesn’t know all these filmmakers or their films and that’s totally fine. But movie lovers should. And the Academy definitely should. Can we please try awarding movies because they’re great, complex artistic achievements that wrestle with adult themes and views of the world and not because they tick the right boxes of the moment?
Signed, a frustrated movie lover.
–Michael Williamson is a reporter for the Journal-Tribune.