Francophilia and Self Love Alive and Well in Hollywood - A Look at the Years Oscar Nominees

With the Oscars a mere week away, it is time to look at the nominees for Best Picture.  And as we look over the field there is a real continental feel to the movies nominated.  As in North America and Europe.  Save for The Descendants which is based in Hawaii (which, as we know, is in fact a US state) every story comes from one or the other.  Some might argue The Tree of Life is actually based in someone's dream, but they speak English enough to guess it is set in America.

This seems to point to the state of movie making in general.  With the economy still in its recovery, ever increasing ticket prices, and quality content being provided on any number of platforms, people need a good reason to go to the movies.  To attract the public you need to have ingenuity, intrigue, and interest.  The best way to do that is to go with what you know, return to your base (a lesson most often learned in politics, it is an election year after all).  This year there are no tales from exotic far off lands, strange alternate universes, or alien planets.  This years crop are based in well known familiar settings.  That is not to say that there are not elements of the fantastic.



On this side of the pond we are graced with stories from the deep south (The Help), Baseball (Moneyball, what is more American than that?), and the patriotic emotional powder keg of 9/11 (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close).  Two of which I have not seen, one out of disinterest, and another because it hits a little too close to home.  But I liked the baseball movie, though I don't think it holds up against some of the other movies nominated this year.

The Descendants, is technically an American film, though set in the distant beauty of Hawaii, it could take place in Anytown, USA.  Much like the family the story is about, it has roots in Hawaii, but it is as Haole as they come.  The decision between keeping thousands of acres of pristine Hawaiian real estate or selling out for millions and millions of dollars fall firmly in the category of "White People's Problems".  It deals with some real eyebrow raising family issues, and has some wonderful performances, but this type of story is common, bordering on mundane.  It really is a very good movie, and it has a lot of buzz, but I think there are better films up for the award.

Three of the nominees are based, at least in part, in France.  War Horse is a World War I epic following the valiant service of a horse from Britain to Germany.  Unfortunately, Steven Spielberg's name doesn't hold the same weight it used to, mostly due to the many projects that he has been attached to of late that haven't been as interesting and groundbreaking as his earlier work.  So, I have yet to see this one too, but it's next up on the list.  It does follow a common theme of this years film though...

There are no French People in France.  Or at least they are a minority.  Just think about it, even their horses are British.  If we are to believe either Midnight in Paris or Hugo, Paris is infested with non-native, English speaking, writers, orphans, tourists, toy store owners, artists, librarians, flower girls, flappers, security guards, and musicians.  But if you can get past that minor logical flaw, these are two wonderful films.

I don't know what I was expecting from Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, but anytime something is dubbed a "Romantic Comedy" I start to cringe.  Mostly because the genre is so filled with drivel, and has become so formulaic that it just isn't worth the time.  This movie breaks that trend, so much so I think it is misclassified.  Sure it deals with romance, and it is a comedy, and there isn't a better category for it to fall.  But don't shy away like I typically would.  This is such a fun story of a young man time traveling back to revel with some of the greatest characters in Parisian history (few of them actually French mind you).  He rubs elbows with Hemingway, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Salvadore Dali, and on and on.  And Owen Wilson may be the only actor to ever deliver Woody Allen's dialogue better than Woody can himself.  Of all the nominees this is the one I would venture to guess I will see the most.  It will be hard to pass up on cable when I'm just flipping around.  Alas, I do not think that means it will be earning a little gold statue.

I do know exactly what I was expecting when I went in to Hugo: a 3D cartoon children's story.  I was partly right, it was in 3D.  It is not a cartoon, but the vivid 3D overlay and lush copper and gold hues give it a uniformity rarely matched in live action film.  And while it is a movie aimed at children, it is not only a children's movie.  The story of a young orphan maintaining the clocks at the Paris train station after his father is killed in an accident, twists and turns, and is hard not to enjoy no matter the age of the viewer.  Martin Scorsese does a wonderful job taking film into a new era, while celebrating its past.  One of the most technologically advanced movies ever, yet it hearkens back to the birth of cinema and pays homage to the generations that lead the way.  It is so advanced that the 3D almost becomes an additional character to the story, while at its core it is a tip of the hat to old Hollywood.  It is a passing of the torch of sorts, taking the best of the old, and applying new techniques to create a captivating film that should be seen by one and all.  This is a fun movie, and should be seen in 3D, but (of the 6 nominees  I HAVE seen) it is hard for me to say that it deserves an Oscar.  But it does have something in common with the movie that I think will take home the award...

Hollywood Celebrating Hollywood!!!  (Remember: when in trouble, go back to what you know best.)  Where Hugo is reverential of old Hollywood, and shows off how advanced we have become, The Artist wallows in old Hollywood.  Taking regression literally to an art form.  Who would have guessed that a silent movie would have been the most entertaining two hours at the theater this year?  Sure, there is no dialogue.  And it's in black and white.  And we don't know the main actors.  And yes, it is a "Romantic Comedy".  But this movie is just damn good and a lot of fun.  It is refreshing in our ADD, fast food, on demand, give it to me now, bigger, brighter, louder, culture that someone went the complete other direction with it.  Ironically the lead actor Jean Dujardin was told he would never make it in the pictures because his face is too expressive, which is a necessity in silent film.  Double Ironically he's a Frenchman with a film set in Hollywood while the rest of Hollywood is pretending to be French.

I would loath to call the group of nominees weak, because there are some really fun movies here, and on the whole I think it is quite solid.  Maybe a more complete class than in years past.  Whichever wins this year I fear will be accused of being an also-ran in previous races.  There are no slam dunk winners on this list.  While The Artist might not be groundbreaking, it is ballsy and deserving.  It was certainly a reason to go to the theater.  Intriguing, interesting, and most of all it reminds us why we started going to the movies in the first place.

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