Wednesday, December 7, 2011

BELLIGERENT NOSTALGIA:  The new Mark Harris thinkpiece on the potential Oscar field is a must-read:
If this turns out to be a year that yields, say, six Best Picture nominees, and those nominees are The Artist, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, War Horse, The Tree of Life, and (speaking of escaping from present-day realities) The Help, what will anyone make of the list 15 or 20 years from now? All they will glean about 2011 is that (a) 2011 was an immensely unappealing subject to the filmmakers who endured it, and (b) an extraordinary number of people either lived in France, came from France, fought wars in France, or really wanted to visit France. 
Is this an issue with the Oscars or with the movies? It’s easy to say that Academy Awards are only a reflection of what’s out there. But plenty of 2011 movies are, on some level, about the way we live now, and they’re eminently worthy of consideration. Imagine a list composed, for instance, of Moneyball, Margin Call, The Descendants, Contagion, Ralph Fiennes’ contemporized Coriolanus, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Collectively, they’d create a very different snapshot of a year and a world — more specifically, a recognizably post-9/11 world in which we are largely obsessed with and freaked out about money and war and an always looming sense of threat. Throw those six movies into a time capsule and, when it’s unearthed generations hence, someone might at least be able to make a reasonable guess as to when it had been buried.

8 comments:

  1. He's dead right about "Win Win" - wish it had gotten the Oscar release date and push.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I believe Jeff Wells pointed out that it's wrong to lump Midnight in Paris in as "nostalgia," since the ultimate message of the film (at least in his and my view) is "everyone is nostalgic for the past, so don't let nostalgia prevent you from living in the now."  (Notably, at the end of the film, Owen Wilson's character makes the decision to remain in the present, rather than in the past.) 

    I also think that Midnight in Paris is quite overrated--it's a nice trifle, but nothing more.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Harris: "As<span> the plot of a third Best Picture contender, Woody Allen’s </span>Midnight in Paris<span>, reminds us explicitly that nostalgia for values you never actually held from an era you yourself didn’t live through isn’t really nostalgia — it’s sentimentality."</span>

    ReplyDelete
  4. The end-of-the-year dump for good movies is a big problem. There were months this year where there were maybe one or two wide releases worth seeing. I think I went one stretch of three months without seeing anything in theaters that Ryan Gosling wasn't in (Drive, Ides), and it wasn't like I was missing out on a lot of sure-fire great movies.

    Oh, and a friend watched "The King's Speech" for the time two weeks ago and his annoyance with it made me re-angry it somehow beat "The Social Network" for Best Picture. Hurray, Oscars!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nigel from Cameroon12:21 PM

    I have not seen any of the prime 6 films he lists. Nor do I want to. Perhaps this is more a statement on me than the movie year, I don't know.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous8:05 PM

    Infοrmativе aгticle, еxactly ωhаt Ι ωаs looκing foг.


    mу blog post; quick cash
    My web page :: quick cash

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous9:34 PM

    Excellent way of exρlaining, and nice aгticle to obtаin data concernіng my
    ρrеsеntation subject mаtter, ωhich i am going to convеy in schoοl.


    Stop by my web blog payday

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous5:00 AM

    Wonderful beаt ! I wish tο apρгеntіce at thе sаme tіme аs you amеnd уour
    web site, how can i subsсrіbe for a weblog webѕіtе?

    The accоunt hеlρeԁ me a acceptablе deal.

    I have been a littlе bіt аcquаіnted
    of thiѕ your bгоadcast prονidеd viѵid transpaгent concеρt

    my homepagе :: Instant Payday Loans

    ReplyDelete