BAFTA Film Awards: The British Oscars

A quick response to the British Oscars that we watched in preference to the Grammys, which I suppose is evidence that I value movies more than music.

1. Although in theory I dislike Stephen Fry, in practice he’s a bloody good presenter/raconteur/wit. When Meryl Streep was reading Charlie Kaufman’s bizarre acceptance speech and misread “I’d like to spank—I’m sorry, I’d like to thank Spike Jonze,” it took a very quick mind to quip, “Thank goodness it wasn’t William Jones.” (But can we stop pretending that Donald Kaufman exists? “Neither Charlie nor Donald are here to accept it?” Puh-lease) He kept the proceedings fair zinging along, too.

2. Pedro Almodóvar is the master of puzzling poetics. Like his mystifying speech when he won the best foreign-language Oscar for All About My Mother, even when the English was correct and even though his accent has improved, what he said sounded very poetic—moonlight, darkness, Iraq, captain—but didn’t make a whole heap of sense.

3. The acting challenge of the night seemed to be for U.S. actors not to give away their personal feelings when Pedro, Gael García Bernal, and Saul Zaentz made their anti-war comments. Meryl Streep and Jennifer Connelly were particularly effective at transmitting “blank face.”

4. The BBC zoomed right in on the “losers,” and I swear there was more openly displayed disappointment on display than you get at U.S. awards shows.

5. It might be a good idea to trim the number of ancient presenters. Lord Attenborough might be the chairman of the academy, but when he repeatedly referred to the potential winner of the Carl Foreman Award as “he” or said the winner would be able to use the cash payment to fund “his” next project, he seemed unaware that one of the nominees was a “she” who’d be using it for “her” next project. Surprise, surprise, the woman didn’t win. Michael Caine wasn’t that bad, but it was puzzling to see him reading her nomination script from a big piece of paper. (Last-minute changes? TelePrompTer anxiety?)

6. For an irrational reason (perhaps Billy Elliott-related), I have taken against Stephen Daldry, who always seemed to have a naff look on his face whenever the camera pointed at him. Consequently, I took an evil pleasure in Philip Glass referring to him throughout his acceptance speech as “Michael Daldry.”

7. Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Salma Hayek, Nicole Kidman: Bless! Oh, OK, and Catherine Zeta-Jones too.

Adaptation, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Hours, Chicago

Adaptation (U.S.), Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (N.Z.), The Hours (U.S.), Chicago (U.S.): A victim of high expectations after the director/writer's last collaboration; a sweeping narrative that won me over despite a lack of characters I could care about; an acting-lovers' dream; an overrated razzle-dazzle 'em.

Bend It Like Beckham

Bend It Like Beckham (U.K.): Lots of "ish-shoes," most of them deftly handled, in this Indian girl self-actualizes through soccer movie. A feel-good fiesta, an uplift-athon. (Seen Feb. 20, 2003.)

City of God and Gaza Strip

City of God (Brazil) and Gaza Strip (U.S.): What happens when the system is so corrupt that lives have no value? Kids become killers. (Seen Feb. 2, 2003 and Feb. 3, 2003.)

What To Do in Case of Fire

What To Do in Case of Fire (Germany): Six former members of an ‘80s commune/radical AV club reunite at their old squat when a bomb they planted more than a decade ago explodes and they scramble to retrieve an incriminating piece of evidence from police custody. After the initial setup, the film veers between a daft comedy caper and a serious examination of the triumph of capitalism. At the end, they conclude that the fight is no longer between left and right but rather between the winners and the poor slobs who refused to sell out, whichever side they used to be on. (Seen Jan. 5, 2003.)