'Oscar-2019': who and why received the coveted statuette

The Academy Awards were presented for the 91st time in Los Angeles, California.

Фото: Depositphotos

For the first time in 30 years, the ceremony went without a lead: comedian Kevin Hart withdrew his candidacy, being in the center of a homophobic scandal; replace the search did not. Shortly before the ceremony, artist Plastic Jysus installed a golden statue of a comedian with the flag of the LGBTQ community.

Photo: Twitter / Pop Crave @ PopCrave

The Dolby ceremony was opened by Adam Lambert and the band Queen, which everyone was talking about again in connection with the film Bohemian Rhapsody, the biography of Freddie Mercury.

Photo: Instagram / theacademy

The picture, as expected, became the leader in the number of statues. True, of the main nominations, she received only the award in the category “best actor” (this was received by Rami Malek, who played Mercury), the rest were “editing”, “sound” and “sound editing”.

The best film was awarded to “Green Book,” a road movie about racial segregation in the 1960s from “Dumb and Dumber” director Peter Farrelly. Peter Farrelly's film also won prizes for Best Original Screenplay (Nick Vallelonga, Brian Curry, Peter Farrelly) and Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali).

The film “Roma” by Mexican-American director Alfonso Cuaron, on which bookmakers placed the highest bets, won prizes for best director and best cinematography (both received by Alfonso Cuaron himself), and was also recognized as best foreign language film.

Photo: Instagram / theacademy

The plot of the tape is based on the life of an ordinary middle class family during student riots in Mexico in the 70.

Another one of the leaders in the prize race was Yorgos Lanthimos’s costume drama “The Favourite,” about rivals who are ready to do anything in the fight for the attention of the sickly and childish Queen Anne.

Photo: Instagram / theacademy

The picture got only a reward to the best actress: she received the British Olivia Coleman.

The best documentary was "Free Climbing Solo" - a film by rock climber Alex Honnold, who conquered the 900-meter El Capitan mountain without insurance.

Singer Lady Gaga won the coveted statuette for her composition Shallow for the film “A Star Is Born.”

Photo: Instagram / theacademy

МК notes that Lady Gaga arrived at the ceremony of presenting the American film awards in a necklace with one of the most famous diamonds in the world in 128,54 carats.

This piece of jewelry with a canary-yellow stone, called the Tiffany Diamond, was worn to social gatherings only twice before Lady Gaga - in 1957 and 1961.

Why these films received awards

Dmitriy Desyaterik, film critic and member of the Oscar Committee told for the TV channel Present Time what Oscar-2019 film awards will be remembered for, and why those films that won won.

The most important factor that influenced the film award this year was that it was awarded in the third year of the Donald Trump presidency. This largely determined the outcome of the vote already at the nomination stage.

This is where the trend among the nominees comes from – intimacy and unconventional directorial thinking. The style of the 45th President of the United States is large sums, spectacular statements and bright colors. The emphatically quiet and not entirely “American” selection of candidate films clearly contrasts with this style. The lyrical “The Favorite” and “Roma” eventually became leaders in the number of nominations (10 nominations each), and the radical political tragic farce “Power” (Vice, Adam McKay) received 8 nominations.

In addition, almost all of the films that were nominated for an Oscar this year were based on biographical material. The same trend can be seen at European film festivals.

Photo: Instagram / theacademy

The second most important feature of all nominees and winners: thematic topicality. Oscar has always been sensitive to what can be called “social order” - that is, to the mood of the mass audience. But the current “right turn” in the United States has brought to the fore problems that seemed to have been resolved 30-40 years ago: xenophobia, homophobia, racism, hypocritical morality.

Photo: Instagram / theacademy

"The Favourite", "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" and “Bohemian Rhapsody” somehow deal with LGBT issues. BlacKkKlansman (Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay) and Green Book are not always funny comedies about racism and anti-racism. "Power" is a scathing satire of the Republican establishment, based on the rise to power of controversial politician Dick Cheney, vice president in the George W. Bush administration. Moreover, in the last frames the director directly establishes the connection between the then and today’s Republican rule.

The third feature of the Oscars 2019 follows from the previous two. For the first time, a comic book film was included in the leading category. However, the point is not only that “Black Panther” from the cult studio “Marvel” collected a record box office – a billion dollars. This film is about black superheroes, about the fictional prosperous African country of Wakanda, and in general about what can be called Black Power (black power, black power). In the end, academicians noted the spectacular nature of the film, awarding it statuettes for the best costumes, music and artist’s work.

And finally, Roma’s leadership. This has never happened before in an award show entirely focused on an English-language big-budget product. In 2000, the film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” by Taiwanese Ang Lee was also nominated for awards in 10 categories, but this product was just a commercial costume blockbuster about martial arts: standard Hollywood, only in Chinese. Cuarón has a fundamentally different register. Roma is a Spanish-language film about the life of an Indian-born maid in a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s. It is about private existence, which is invaded by cruel external realities. And at the same time, her chances were initially, it is worth repeating, assessed highly, taking into account two Golden Globes: for best director and for best foreign film.

If Roma were given the main Oscar statuette, it would be an unheard of precedent: never before has a non-English-language film become a leader in the central category. In addition, the Trump factor would work again: the current US president bases his policy on anti-immigrant rhetoric, aimed primarily at migrants from Mexico, and is eager to build a wall on the southern border. Giving a prize to a Mexican film would be an excellent opportunity to really prick the president.

But the miracle did not happen. “Oscar” is, after all, an award for mass genres and audiences of millions. A subtitled, and even black-and-white film is too contrary to the written and unwritten laws of the film industry. Straightforward, not visually rich, but very clear in its anti-racist message, “Green Book” turned out to be preferable to the Academy. In this regard, it is worth mentioning “BlacKkKlansman” - which spoke on the same topic of racism in an even harsher form.

Yet the second most important prize, the statuette for best director, had never before gone to a non-English film, and Cuarón made history anyway. In general, “for the first time” is almost the most common characteristic in relation to the current Oscars. “Roma” became the first winning film created by an Internet platform (Netflix) and distributed exclusively online. For the first time, the Oscars went to three non-white actors/actresses: for Mahershala Ali this is the second statuette, for 48-year-old Regina King (supporting actress for the family drama “If Beale Street Could Talk”) and for Rami Malek the first.​

In addition, Malek is the first actor of Arab origin to receive an Oscar. Rami, receiving the award, remarked: “I was not such an obvious choice. I want to tell all emigrants: elevate your life. I am the son of first generation immigrants from Egypt.”

How does this distribution of prizes correspond to the artistic merit of the laureates? Kristan Bale stunningly reincarnated as an American politician, Dick Cheney, playing it at all stages of life - from the young strolling hard worker to the blurred, bald and aged genius of political intrigues. However, Cheney in the USA is still hated, especially at the Film Academy, and therefore the prize was given not to Bale, but to his make-up artists.

On the other hand, back in January, all laurels were awarded to “Rhapsody,” which, despite the mediocre and melodramatic direction, attracted an audience of millions and revived the cult of Mercury. However, shortly before the ceremony, director Bryan Singer's chances fell to zero due to accusations of pedophilia.

Of course, The Favorite had no equal in visual sophistication. Its author, Yorgos Lanthimos, is a purely festival postmodernist director who has developed his own, complex and sometimes even hermetic film language. “The Favorite” is the pinnacle of his work: filigree direction, exquisite work of the cameraman, costume designers, decorators, make-up artists, an impeccable ensemble of actors (Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone deserved praise no less than Colman), a considerable amount of provocation in the plot - presenting Queen Anne as the pinnacle female love triangle. However, this product is too marked by a kind of festival self-sufficiency - and this is not close to film academics.

Cuarón did just that which Lantimos couldn’t: ideally withstand the author’s statement, without giving up artistic principles, to remain equally acceptable to experienced blue-eyed people and to the masses.

In essence, Oscar 2019 has become one big statement of sorts, practically a manifesto for the film community. Racism, the situation of people of color, the priority of the intimate over the public, the ineradicable vices of the management system - almost all the pain points of today's America are covered.

Has cinema as an art benefited from this? Partly yes: the encouragement of Roma, Favorite and Vlast still remains a fact. It’s just that the Film Academy never forgets: cinema is not only an art, but also an industry. And the situation in the country is a subject equally worthy of both a newspaper page and the big screen. Therefore, the compromise announced yesterday in Los Angeles is not the worst. The political, artistic and commercial found some semblance of balance in him.

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