Report by Jean Lynch
 The
79th Academy Awards are going to go down in
Oscar history for one thing and one thing only: the night
Martin Scorsese came in from the cold. His 30-year
drought – so much worse than Spielberg’s prior to his
win for Schindler’s List – had seen
him unbelievably overlooked time and again for such films
as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas and
which was turning into Hollywood’s biggest scandal with
each passing year, finally came to an end when his old
comrade, Steven Spielberg himself, announces Scorsese
as Best Director for The Departed.
With barely a dry eye in the house, and to a tumultuous
standing ovation, the man even the audiences think of
as ‘Marty’ asks if they could double check the envelope.
He
says: “so many people over the years have been wishing
this for me. Strangers. You know, I went walking in the
street, people say something to me. I go in a doctor's
office, I go in a whatever. Elevators, people saying, "You
should win one, you should win one." I go for an X-Ray, "you
should win one." I'm saying, "thank you." Friends
of mine over the years and friends who are here tonight
are wishing this for me and my family, I thank you. This
is for you”.
Scorsese
is still in the wings, being hugged heartily by his star Jack
Nicholson, when The Departed is also
named as Best Motion Picture.
 The
possibly biggest upset in Oscar history fortunately doesn’t
happen as Helen Mirren does indeed walk away with
the Best Actress award. Considered the most sure
winner in 15 years, the bookies had reportedly already
paid out on Saturday. And Dame Helen does not disappoint.
This, apparently, is the first officially ‘green’ Oscars
and there is certainly a humanitarian ethos to tonight’s
proceedings, with the Jean Hersholt Award going
to Sherry Lansing, former head of Paramount Pictures,
who has now retired from the film industry to continue
her work in cancer research, education and with third world
countries on a full-time basis. Al Gore graces the
stage after his environmental discourse An Inconvenient
Truth takes Best Documentary Feature.
Hollywood seems to be reminding itself that it has a conscience
but at the same time being self-congratulatory for that.
A montage, put together by Michael Mann, which shows
how American history has been depicted on screen throughout
the years, predictably ends with a full screen shot of
the stars and stripes. The Best Actress category follows
shortly after and this wonderful, aristocratic lady of
Russian heritage has the gall to stand on the stage in
front of Hollywood’s finest and not only pay tribute to Queen
Elizabeth II in her acceptance speech, saying “for
50 years and more, Elizabeth Windsor has maintained her
dignity, her sense of duty, and her hairstyle. She's had
her feet planted firmly on the ground, her hat on her head,
her handbag on her arm and she's weathered many, many storms,
and I salute her courage and her consistency” but to
also hold her Oscar aloft and cry “Ladies and gentleman,
I give you The Queen”. Score one all.
 Forest
Whitaker being named Best Actor for his portrayal
of Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland is
expected and deserved. However, this is one occasion
when most of us Brits would have liked Oscar to display
it’s unpredictability and instead be handed to Septuagenarian Peter
O’Toole for his role as the lecherous Maurice in Venus.
Although the recipient of a honorary Oscar, this is his
eighth nomination without winning and his desire to do
so is well-documented. There IS a slight surprise in
the Best Supporting Actor category, with Alan
Arkin being named for Little Miss Sunshine rather
than the favourite, Eddie Murphy for Dreamgirls. Jennifer
Hudson DOES win Best Supporting Actress for
the film, however, and although it’s not a surprise it
is still moving to see the rejected American Idol contestant
standing on the stage, clutching a little, gold bald-headed
man, putting Gwyneth Paltrow to shame in the sobbing
stakes. She says: “wow, if my grandmother was here
to see me now. She was my biggest inspiration for everything
because she was a singer and she had the passion for
it but she never had the chance. And that was the thing
that pushed me forward to continue.” It’s the real
cinderella/ugly duckling, rags-to-riches story that belies
the American Dream.
 Pan’s
Labyrinth takes Best Make-up, Art
Direction and Cinematography but misses
out on the Best Foreign Language Film which
instead goes to the German production The Lives
of Others. Dreamgirls loses out to the
conscience lobby as, despite having three out of
the five nominated songs, Melissa Etheridge scoops
the trophy from under the performers noses with her
track from An Inconvenient Truth, a shame
as both Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce had
sung their hearts out in what appears to have been
a battle of the divas, Jennifer a bone fide member
of the Hollywood elite now while Miss Knowles is
RnB royalty but still not quite the respected actress
she wants to be.
The
most bizarre moment of the night is the honorary Oscar
for Ennio Morricone who, after the obligatory montage
of films he’s scored, cannot speak English and so Clint
Eastwood translates his acceptance speech, falteringly,
on his behalf.
Other
winners include Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead
Man’s Chest for Best Visual Effects, Little
Miss Sunshine for Best Original Screenplay, Happy
Feet for Best Animated Feature and Marie
Antoinette for Best Costume. Thelma
Schoonmaker also takes Best Editing for The
Departed. Probably not a lot of people know this but
there’s quite a contingency here in Kent, where Close-Up
is based, who root for Thelma. She was married to the late
great Michael Powell (as in Powell & Pressburger),
one of Canterbury’s favourite sons, and the lady herself
still pays visits to Christ Church University where the
film buildings are named after him.
 Ellen
DeGeneres is this year’s host, only the second woman
to present the awards. Whoopi Goldberg has proved
more than up for the job in previous years and, although
Degeneres gives a heartfelt proclamation at the Kodak
Theatre that hosting the Oscars was her childhood dream,
the host’s opening segment, for which the benchmark still
remains Billy Crystal’s musical numbers, is a
little lacklustre. Despite being casually dressed in
crimson crushed velvet trouser suit and white winklepickers,
Ellen’s nerves are evident and while Billy or Whoopi
can get away with harping on about how nervous the nominees
must be on their ‘make or break night’, Ellen doesn’t
quite pull it off. Recognising the fact that it’s the
most international Oscars ever, with Spain, Mexico and
Japan all represented, the ‘too many Brits’ quip and
singling out Peter O’Toole rather than Martin Scorsese
for a quick acid jibe about being most nominated without
winning (the Best Director category is still hours away
at this point), or saying Judi Dench wasn’t in
attendance because she was getting the bags under her
eyes done, didn’t quite feel tongue-in-cheek. Fortunately,
after a shaky start – and a quick change into a white
satin suit – she gets better, accosting the star spangled
audience, asking Marty if he’d take a look at her script
and, my personal highlight, asking Steven Spielberg to
take her picture with Clint Eastwood and telling the
Oscar-winning director to make sure he got them both
in. Ultimately, she’s not destined to become an Oscar
legend but her laid back, self-deprecating style has
a certain appeal, and she never resorts to embarrassingly
introducing Uma to Oprah or indulging in top ten lists
than only the Americans amongst the billion world audience
stand a chance of understanding.
There
are some things that Oscar does well and some things it
doesn’t. The showy interludes, such as the gospel choir
prancing up the aisles while cheesily singing in celebration
of the nominees is an example of the latter, as are the
oh-so-clever silhouettes of dancers who role behind a giant
screen and then assemble themselves into a shape that represents
nominated films – a gun for The Departed, the camper
van for Little Miss Sunshine. However, what Oscar
does have a talent for is to ensure that the nominations
in each category are treated with respect, and to demonstrate
what the category is for. So, for editing, we see a final
cut film clip above which are three shots, the raw footage
from which the editor worked; for best costume we have
a glamourous floor display as the five nominees are each
represented by an illuminated tableau of dazzling finery.
The presenter will spend a moment or two in explaining
exactly why this category is so important to the production
of a movie. There is also a glorious sense of camaraderie
between the attendees. Unlike our increasingly glitzy BAFTAs,
there’s the impression that everyone in the room knows
each other and is supportive of one another. Then again,
they ARE the best performers in Hollywood.
“Satisfying”
is probably the best word to describe the 79th Academy
Awards. Mostly the good guys won and the upsets were minor.
There were tears and thanks to God and stories of impoverished
childhoods; we celebrated the lives of those who had passed
in the last 12 months, including Robert Altman, Carlo Ponti,
Jack Palance and June Allyson; Jaden Smith and Abigail
Breslin were cute as they read out the nominations for
Best Animated and Best Live Action Shorts (geddit, ‘shorts’?)
and there were some even cuter little animated penguins
who everyone likes to pretend are real. However, this is
the one where we’ll all remember how Helen did it for Britain
but most of all for how Hollywood finally did it for Marty.
Here’s
looking forward to rolling out the red carpet again next
year for the 80th – you know it’s going to be
a big one!
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