The Best Oscars Ever?

No, I don’t mean the ceremony, though Steve Martin did a great job. I mean that so many deserving but highly unlikely winners pulled out some upsets. Namely:

Spirited Away: The only non-American production and the one seen by fewer people than any of the other nominees. Even distributor Disney didn’t put as much money into For Your Consideration ads as it did for Lilo & Stitch. But it won.

Eminem: Two major rock ‘n’ roll icons (Paul Simon & U2) get their first nominations and the Best Picture winner gets a nod, but they go with what was actully, unquestionably the Best Song, even though the Academy’s usually a good decade behind-the-curve when it comes to musical tastes.

Pedro Almodovar: Again, they could’ve voted for an English-language production, but even competing against another Spanish-language film, there was no Arthouse vote split and the Best Written of the 5 nominees pulled it off.

The Pianist: I think everyone agreed this film would be lucky to get a single award, but 3? Including the exiled Polanski? There were any number of reasons to rationalize a vote against all 3 of the winners, so for all three (Actor, Writer, Director) to win is truly remarkable.

Yes, Chicago won more than it deserved, but it’s not a bad movie and that’s more than can be said of recent winners (including last year). Lord of the Rings got 2, which is decent and a nice precursor for next year’s highly anticipated finale.

All of the actors who won were fine, though Nicole’s the most dubious (chalk it off as a Moulin make-up). No real complaints, though. And yes, Michael Moore won for his incoherent and disorganized mess of a film, but he came off as a classless horse’s ass, especially compared to the moving words of Brody (among others).

So, No, it wasn’t perfect, but I can’t think of another year where so many deserving, unlikely winners came out ahead. Didn’t help in my Prediction Contest, but I’d rather be wrong for the Academy to Get It Right.

I second the list of unlikely but satisfying winners and would also point out the number of interesting moments and good speeches:

  • Brody’s acceptance speech, with its blend of humor and poignancy.
  • Moore’s speech. You may not like him, but it was the kind of political moment the Oscars haven’t seen in years.
  • Nicole Kidman’s mention of wanting to make her mother and daughter proud.
  • Scorsese leading the standing O for Polanski.
  • Kirk and Michael Douglas presenting together, with a bit of warmth and wit.
  • O’Toole’s classy, eloquent and relatively brief speech.

It was the most interesting Oscar show I can remember in a long time.