The work involved in retooling a French comedy-drama for an American setting just can’t compare with the probing intelligence and vitality of Rebecca Hall’s dissection of a 1929 novel in Passing (which isn’t even nominated) with Jane Campion’s incisive grasp of character and milieu in The Power of the Dog, drawing out blisteringly modern perspectives on masculinity and sexual repression from a book published in 1967 or with director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and co-writer Takamasa Oe’s deft interweaving of themes from a Haruki Murakami short story with surging currents from Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya to investigate the mysteries of art and human connection as emotional catharses. To choose one category that typifies the Oscars as a kind of Miss Congeniality contest, it makes my head explode that CODA - all due respect to writer-director Siân Heder - is the frontrunner for best adapted screenplay. That last factor would explain why three of the most accomplished and affecting screen performances of the year - Hidetoshi Nishijima in Drive My Car and Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie in The Worst Person in the World - were overlooked. More often, the Oscars seem to reward what’s most palatable to the widest swath of voters, many of whom still believe movies have to be uplifting, not too intellectually challenging, and not in a language other than English. Maybe this is the year we finally have to acknowledge that the Oscars are seldom primarily about excellence? Sure, the standout film of any given year occasionally squeaks through to a best picture win, like Moonlight or Parasite. The overwhelming depth of feeling, the sheer beauty of Park Yu-rim’s signing, particularly in that silent conclusion - I tear up just thinking about it. ROONEY: I would add Sonya’s closing monologue from Uncle Vanya, about the suffering that’s part of life and the tears we cry. There are scenes and sequences - the opening one with Yusuke and Oto lying in bed enveloped by darkness, the initial table reading of Uncle Vanya and one of the penultimate scenes with Yusuke and Watari - that I still think about for the way they both advance the story and create intimacy with these characters. I love Drive My Car, a film that manages to unfurl deliberately while still being rapturous. I was moved by CODA - I cried at the end! - but I don’t think it should win best picture because there were, quite frankly, better movies. The conversations around the films have the same tenor as the conversations around the significance, or not, of the awards: Everything feels on edge. It’s like when celebrities thought it would be a good idea to make a compilation video singing “Imagine” in the early days of the pandemic - bizarre and uncalled-for. (The show’s producers shut the idea down.) The idea that Zelensky should phone in to an American awards show is ridiculous and self-centered. I hit a new level of annoyance after Amy Schumer, who is co-hosting the ceremony with Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes, talked about her idea of having Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky call in to the show. Awards season always has this unhinged frenzy around it - the rush to predict winners and losers, the hyperbolic endorsements and cruel denunciations. LOVIA GYARKYE: I agree that this season has felt longer than the last. Oscars: Taylor Swift, David Zaslav, Keke Palmer and Ke Huy Quan Among 398 Invited to Join Film Academy
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