I think it’s safe to say that objectively, that musical number, judged =only= by its musical quality, is abhorrent. Is part of the agreement to completely abandon aesthetics?
i’m not a huge fan of musicals, but I can appreciate them.
I've watched a fair bit of von Trier's work, but I'd never even heard of Dancing in the Dark. A musical directed by him and starring Bjork! I would have thought it was a parody like this old one from The Onion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZfM1lkLuMI
Although I agree the comments about “sex work” made by the artists during the awards were dopey, to me the film clearly showed Anora’s life at the Brighton Beach Bada Bing was a nightmare. The unexpectedly bleak ending also indicated to me that Anora knows full well going back to that life is not her best move. Also, as a theater director who generates and directs his own work, I was excited to see Baker win so many awards for doing the jobs big budget studios pay other artists to do on behalf of the director. For those of us who have no other path to making work unless we do it ALL ourselves, the recognition of Baker as a multi-tasker was heartening.
I watched and enjoyed ´I´m Still Here´ while it might find approval from the woke mob (analogous witj Trump / America sliding into fascism) there´s some implicit criticism of the leftie father who hasn´t told his wife about his clandestine activities which now impact her and the oldest daughter...not to mention the rest of the family.
There´s a sympathetic character in one of the police so it´s not entirely Good people / Bad people.
I guess it´s beyond the scope of the film to explore why a country such as Brazil slid into a military dictatorship.
Next time a ´progressive´ or wokester starts banging on about Trump, imminent fascism ´the far right´ and so on point out to them that things don´t happen in isolation. There are chains of events, causalities. What we have now is a consequence of what went before.
Why has Trump emerged? What was Obama´s or Biden´s role in Trump´s emergence?
I’ll be honest and say I really never payed attention to award shows, so I don’t have strong feelings.
I’m glad you saw what I saw in Wicked. I thought Wicked was an excellent film, and I don’t want to demean art for expressing a different viewpoint than mine. But I couldn’t help but feel a sense of profound loneliness leaving the theater.
Everyone clapped except for me.
And I don’t like to hold it against media for the fact that I’m not “represented.” But it was a reminder of how there really aren’t movies for people like me who don’t want to embrace “being different,” people who feel “too normal.”
I do my best to avoid awards shows, but they're an occupational hazard! You speak to an important tension in the entertainment industry -- stay the course with a myopic devotion to identity politics or serve those (like you) who are signaling they want something different.
The ineffable sadness of Zoe Saldaña, nominated for supporting actress to a man who played a man and a woman, and was nominated for leading actress.
Of all the women competing with men for women’s accolades, it’s the most obviously egregious.
The leading woman in the film played opposite a man playing a man, presented as a man foe half the film. It’s like Marilyn Monroe opposite Tony Curtis in Some Like it Hot being nominated for supporting actress to Tony Curtis because he wore women’s clothes.
Great article.
I think it’s safe to say that objectively, that musical number, judged =only= by its musical quality, is abhorrent. Is part of the agreement to completely abandon aesthetics?
i’m not a huge fan of musicals, but I can appreciate them.
Sondheim is weeping.
Thanks, Benjamin. I'm with you on musicals and especially that Emilia Perez number. Yikes.
The rot probably started in Europe with Lars von Trier´s Dancing in the Dark then eventually infected Hollywood.
I've watched a fair bit of von Trier's work, but I'd never even heard of Dancing in the Dark. A musical directed by him and starring Bjork! I would have thought it was a parody like this old one from The Onion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZfM1lkLuMI
It was absolutely hated on at the time of it´s release. I´ve not seen it so can´t evaluate...
Although I agree the comments about “sex work” made by the artists during the awards were dopey, to me the film clearly showed Anora’s life at the Brighton Beach Bada Bing was a nightmare. The unexpectedly bleak ending also indicated to me that Anora knows full well going back to that life is not her best move. Also, as a theater director who generates and directs his own work, I was excited to see Baker win so many awards for doing the jobs big budget studios pay other artists to do on behalf of the director. For those of us who have no other path to making work unless we do it ALL ourselves, the recognition of Baker as a multi-tasker was heartening.
Agreed! And I do enjoy Baker's work and his multi-tasking -- he even edits his movies.
I watched and enjoyed ´I´m Still Here´ while it might find approval from the woke mob (analogous witj Trump / America sliding into fascism) there´s some implicit criticism of the leftie father who hasn´t told his wife about his clandestine activities which now impact her and the oldest daughter...not to mention the rest of the family.
There´s a sympathetic character in one of the police so it´s not entirely Good people / Bad people.
I guess it´s beyond the scope of the film to explore why a country such as Brazil slid into a military dictatorship.
Next time a ´progressive´ or wokester starts banging on about Trump, imminent fascism ´the far right´ and so on point out to them that things don´t happen in isolation. There are chains of events, causalities. What we have now is a consequence of what went before.
Why has Trump emerged? What was Obama´s or Biden´s role in Trump´s emergence?
So true. But the Adam Sandler bit was clever, politics notwithstanding. And the memorials touching. So much dying.
"So much dying" Ha, well said. Yeah fun to see Sandler.
I’ll be honest and say I really never payed attention to award shows, so I don’t have strong feelings.
I’m glad you saw what I saw in Wicked. I thought Wicked was an excellent film, and I don’t want to demean art for expressing a different viewpoint than mine. But I couldn’t help but feel a sense of profound loneliness leaving the theater.
Everyone clapped except for me.
And I don’t like to hold it against media for the fact that I’m not “represented.” But it was a reminder of how there really aren’t movies for people like me who don’t want to embrace “being different,” people who feel “too normal.”
I do my best to avoid awards shows, but they're an occupational hazard! You speak to an important tension in the entertainment industry -- stay the course with a myopic devotion to identity politics or serve those (like you) who are signaling they want something different.
I read this elsewhere on Substack: “millionaires giving other millionaires golden statues”.
Not worthy of my time.
Yeah Seriously. If my parents had been watching they’d have had an aneurysm.
The ineffable sadness of Zoe Saldaña, nominated for supporting actress to a man who played a man and a woman, and was nominated for leading actress.
Of all the women competing with men for women’s accolades, it’s the most obviously egregious.
The leading woman in the film played opposite a man playing a man, presented as a man foe half the film. It’s like Marilyn Monroe opposite Tony Curtis in Some Like it Hot being nominated for supporting actress to Tony Curtis because he wore women’s clothes.
It’s amazing the utter blank response.