Tuesday, March 7
It was, and is still a regret that Brokeback Mountain didn't win "Best Motion Picture". I dun think it was overrated; the fact that BBM has garnered numerous awards elsewhere does prove BBM to be one of the best film in history. The fact that Oscar awarded Best Directing to Lee Ang for BBM, but not Best Picture, could perhaps be that Crash is still a safer choice. I can't comment much on Crash coz I haven't seen it, but still, I would have much preferred BBM to win. It's really deserving, IMO.
Wel that's the major upset for the Oscar, i guess. There were also other slight unhappiness, like Reese Witherspoon winning Best Actress instead of Felicity Huffman, and George Clooney for Best Supoorting Actor.
Like it or not, the results of award presentations are not always what are expected. People often go around saying, "Too bad lor... It's ok if people outside know who are the best." But there's always the prestige of winning something, and the joy of going onto stage to receive a award that u have worked hard for. And the problem often lies with the selection of the judging panel.
Perhaps some of the judges had no idea who/what's the best, which happens too often in SMS voting contests (like what happened to our dear Lee Teng) when the judges are the audience, who should ideally offer the best opinions but unfortunately, the results would be flawed if it eventually boils down to simply who is richer. And when the judging panel is not the audience, who are they? Professionals in the field? Outsiders? Common civilians like you and me who might be just ticking boxes not knowing who/what they are voting for?
And perhaps it's not really the judges' fault. Sometimes the organisers have to share the pork to please everyone (This situation often happens in our local prestigous Mandrian pop awards to entice foreign artistes to come).
In the case of BBM, well BBM sure causes many audience to be discomfortable with the displaying of affection by 2 guys, especially the anal sex part, i guess. But it doesn't show much anyway! And as what co-screenwriter Larry McMurtry said, Americans do not like cowboys to be gay.
Thus, BBM had to contend with 3 awards at the Oscar:
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
(Gustavo Santaolalla)
Adapted Screenplay
(Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana)
Achievement in Directing
(Lee Ang)
(*Pictures obtained from www.oscar.com)
Oh and I bought 2 new books today! It's not hard to guess one of the books right... haa!
