And the Oscar Should Have Gone to...

[Deleted]

I wouldn't be upset if there had actually been ANY indication in the previous months for significant Crash love in the industry. But BBM sweeped everything like no film has done before. And to top it off it loses to the worst picture in the bunch(though I haven't seen GNaGL) which prides itself in revealing prejudices. And given all the reports I heard in recent months of AMPAS members refusing to even see BBM because of its subject, there is nothing anyone can say that will make me believe homophobia didn't at least play some part in Crash's winning.

At least I can comfort myself with the fact that this will probably go down as one of the worst decisisons by AMPAS. I already read a scathing MSNBC article on it, and I hope the media doesn't hold back.

[Shanmac]

Courtesy of one of my MySpace friends: How many of us are feeling about "Crash"'s victory. Hee. No offense to all of you who enjoyed "Crash" [/disclaimer].

[realitybug]

Brokeback Mountain, of course.

And I would love to take that Oscar away from Reese and give it to Felicity. God, she's so overrated.

[Deleted]

I agree with you about Felicity but forgive me for being a spoilsport but Brokeback Mountain was a good movie not a great movie.

At first I agreed with everyone about Crash winning; however, after sleeping on it, I was very, very offended by the coments about the so-called "sugar-coating" many posters have said about the movie. Yes, there is homophobia but there is still racism as well.

Was Crash a perfect movie? Absolutely not but everyone is treating it like it was the Ashton Kutcher/Bernie Mac film. Now that was an embarrassing film about race relations.

I didn't find Brokeback Mountain the "ground-breaking" film everyone said it was. I can think of others but then again everyone thought it was Citizen Kane.

Please forgive my rambling but I had to get this off my chest.

[huntergrayson]

The problem with Crash is that Haggis never bothered to approach the film as just a film first --the characters were not developed and the plot was off-the-charts unbelievable - because all he is concerned about is the issue. In every scene, in every way, everything lies in service to the "theme," no matter how much that may strain credibility or cause actors to behave in bizarre ways. Oh, but good people do bad things and vice versa, so it's "deep?" Nope. I'm going to have to refer to MSNBC's Erik Lundegaard on this one: "“Crash” has another big problem. It assumes that by showing us the two extremes of a single character it’s giving us a full character...But two extremes are not a full character. They’re just extremes."

Neither is swift, sudden character change brought about by amazing coincidence a substitute for a genuine character arc. Wow, I fell down the stairs and 2 scenes later (and 10 minutes of screentime), I'm not a racist anymore.

Brokeback - for its faults and yes, I'll admit there are some - was considered to be"ground-breaking" precisely because it didn't take Haggis's route of making the characters/plot/etc. serve the agenda, no matter what - rather than making the themes serve the film. Ennis, Jack and Alma are all fully developed, 3-dimensionally realized characters first and characters in a "gay cowboy movie" second.

The film itself is doesn't reduce the couple to mere victims of a homophobic society - it doesn't flich from showing the negative consequences of the relationship, Ennis is shown to be destructive and closed-off, Alma tries to sympathize with her husband's struggle, etc. Brokeback isn't trying to say everything about homosexuality and homophobia - its "agenda" is to these characters and this story - which happens to bring up certain issues in society. The issue isn't so, pardon the turn of the phrase, black and white...which Crash ultimiately is: a world in which everyone is a racist (regardless of rhyme or reason) is just as inaccurate and bad as depicting one where racism is magically solved and doesn't exist.

I said it before...a complex film about racism, taking place in a single day, amidst a multi-ethnic cast. Yes, that's called Do the Right Thing and rewarding Haggis doesn't make up for ignoring Lee's true masterpiece.

FWIW, I think Network shares the same problem as Crash in terms of making everything all about its message, all of the time. Which is why I think its a vastly overrated film.

Egoyan for Sweet Hereafter over James Cameron for Titanic.

Julianne Moore in Far From Heaven over Kidman in The Hours. (letting Kidman win a year earlier for Moulin Rouge or The Others).

[Deleted]

I said it before...a complex film about racism, taking place in a single day, amidst a multi-ethnic cast. Yes, that's called Do the Right Thing and rewarding Haggis doesn't make up for ignoring Lee's true masterpiece.

Look Hunter, I agree that Do the Right Thing got screwed by the Academy; however, to continue to knock Crash as if it was Soul Plane is a disservice to moviegoers everywhere. I think to take Crash's Oscar as an insult to tolerance shows how narrowminded even gays like yourself can be. This is a movie not a social cause.

[mrpancake]

I personally feel that with BBM the whole did not equal the sum of its parts. I can't say why that is, I'm not sure. I felt like the elements were there that would have made it a really good movie, but something about it went awry. Race was a focal issue in Crash, but the only thing unbelievable about it to me was the interweaving of all the characters. But that's why it's a movie from an original screenplay and not a true story. It's funny to me how so many people from everywhere from newpapers to message boards automatically have assumed that Crash winning was some sort of slap in the face to BBM and not the possibility that this particular academy happened to like Crash better by what was likely a very small margin. I also don't buy the whole "it was a self-congraulatory award" because it takes place in LA. A zillion movies take place in LA, and it's all pretty self-congratulatory as it is, I don't think anyone felt the need to give an Oscar because the film was set in LA.

ETA: Hunter, I hope you don't think I mean you as someone who says Crash winning is a slap in the face to BBM. Clearly you aren't one of those people, and your reasons for not liking Crash are valid and well-argued. I meant more of the ONTD crowd and other various Oscar messageboards.

[huntergrayson]

Yes and it's a bad movie because it's concerned about nothing but the social cause. Not developed characters or a non-melodramatic, compelling plot. Not believable dialogue.

The objections I made were cinematic - I never said anything about how the Oscar was an insult, or how Brokeback lost because of homophobia or how the issue of racism no longer exists to indicate my "narrow-minded"ness.

[Deleted]

But the was the whole point of Crash: the social cause.

By saying that the characters weren't developed enough was the point of the movie. The point was you can't change people's prejudices overnight. I didn't expect the Sandra Bullock character to invite people of color into her house nor the Matt Dillon character to become a bleeding heart. Hell, even the Loretta Devine character showed her true colors at the end of the film. But that's the way of the world.

[Shanmac]

Another reason to love Ang Lee, from IMDb:

The director was disappointed that his film didn't take home the top honor and is baffled as to why it didn't win. He explains, "I would do exactly the same. I'm so proud of the movie. They (the Academy) didn't vote for it, I don't know (why)...I'm just glad the audience embraced it. It was a surprise (not winning), quite frankly."

That's some refreshing candor right there. I hate it when an actor/filmmaker is like, "Oh, it's an honor just to be nominated." Yeah, but we all know you wanted to win, so admit it. I heart Ang Lee.