Oscar Winners & Thoughts

Here’s a selection of Sunday night’s Academy Award winners.

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black for Milk

Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actress: Kate Winslet in The Reader (While many think Winslet won for the wrong role, I’m glad to see her win. She’s a phenomenal actress. Stay tuned for a review of Revolutionary Road, the movie that should have earned her the Oscar.)

Best Actor: Sean Penn in Milk

Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Ms. Cruz is better than this role. The film earns our first Ripley’s Rebuke; stay tuned for the review.)

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

Best Director: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Foreign Film: Departures

Best Documentary: Man on Wire

I enjoyed last night’s show, which I do every year, on a subjective level. I liked the quirkiness, and think Hugh Jackman provided for a lot of laughs. The acting awards were presented well; I enjoyed the format of each actor’s performance introduced by a previous winner–a much more personal and substantial format than the usual movie clips. However, this style of presentation really highlights the way we (unfairly) privilege acting above all else in film. An actor, no matter how great his or her performance, would have nothing without an excellent character in a well-written story. I was happy to see the writing awards so early in the production, as the “technical” awards were presented in the order in which they actually happen in film (writing first, editing last). Let’s hope the producers can find a way to revamp the technical awards to puts emphasize the art of categories like writing and editing. Especially on the art of the screenplay.

Now that award season has come to an end, here’s to getting back to movies–and getting to some of those winning or nominated movies I’ve yet to see.