2020 Awards Season

[Chris Knipp]

The Oscars were (mostly) obvious, but still. . .


I have said elsewhere: Hollywood is patting itself on the back for choosing a Korean film but of course didn't pick a good one like BURNING but a slick but basically crude one like PARASITE.
See my review: http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/vi...php?f=1&t=4298

Giving PARASITE the double "Best" nomination was pointless. . It also made no sense to have only one foreign film in the Best Picture category and all the others American, and then pick the foreign film. If they were going to give foreign films a crack at Best PIcture, they should have nominated other foreign films in this category.

The world outside South Korea certainly went wild over PARASITE this year, starting with Cannes. They went overboard. Best "International Feature" would have been enough. In my opinion more than enough. It would have been nice to give that to PAIN AND GLORY - or even CORPUS CHRISTI.

I liked Laura Dern in Marriage Story - a droll performance - but that was a much smaller, less significant role than Brad Pitt's sophisticated, touching portrayal of a fading stunt man, which was almost on a par with Leo's role.
But certainly one of the Oscars that most pleased me was Brad Pitt's.

THE JOKER is a shallow movie and the lead performance is a corny, exaggerated one. A typical error of giving an acting award to something that is conspicuously, in this case crudely, "actror-y" rather than a subtle performance.

UNCUT GEMS should have won something for Adam Sandler, and its sibling directors should have been nominated.

Scarlett Johansson's performance in MARRIAGE STORY has more soul and humanity than Rene Zellweger's in JUDY - they gave the prize for technique, not feeling.

JOJO RABBIT is a silly, odd film, and I imagine Scorsese and Greta Gerwig must have secretly felt more than a little stung at its winning Adapted Screenplay over their serious efforts.

Whose clever idea was it to change the name of BEST FOREIGN FILM to INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM? What is an "international feature film"? Aren't American films international? What is "international"? Why should a Korean film be "international"? Isn't it just Korean? Why is a French film more "international" than a Hollywood one? "International" is such a stupid term. But, form out point of view, we know what "FOREIGN" means - foreign to Americans. The trouble was someone thought it was embarrassing to admit some movies are "foreign" to us.