When there seemed a good chance that the Oscar ceremony this year might go the same way as the Golden Globes, there was great anticipation that this year's Bafta awards would attract the Hollywood A-list who were suffering from red carpet withdrawal syndrome. Amusingly this did not prove to be the case and the American talent that showed up for last night's awards did not appear to include many of those actually in contention; however the group did include some lesser personages who were given presenting duties for no good reason. I fail to see what Sylvester Stallone or Kate Hudson or Cuba Gooding Jr. added to this British occasion.
A few years back the British Academy moved their ceremony date forward so that it would precede the Oscars and be taken more seriously. I do watch it each year and I am usually amused by its home-grown and often amateurish approach to international glory; I don't mean this cruelly. There is enough British talent around to avoid aping Hollywood. The presenter this year was Jonathan "Woss" who is an improvement in my book on Stephen Fry who is usually so self-consciously bright and precious. So while I'm at it, let me give you some of my further "take" on the proceedings:
"Atonement" was up for the largest number of awards but only won one major one, namely best picture. Would someone please explain to me how this is different from best British picture for which it was also nominated, but didn't win.
There was a suspicious consistency to the major award winners actually being present, perhaps this explained some of the Hollywood absences -- it was almost as if the organisers ensured that the main winners would be in the audience. In the acting categories these were Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Javier Bardem, and Tilda Swinton and at least one Coen brother in the best director category.
The big surprise -- to prove that Bafta can still produce them -- was the best acting nod to Cotillard for "La Vie en Rose" over home-grown talent Keira Knightley and Julie Christie, both of whom were present. She seemed as generally flabbergasted as the rest of the audience, which was rather sweet.
Bafta made a big deal about boasting that "The Lives of Others" was up for four awards which could not happen at this year's Oscars. Maybe that's because that German film was a winner at last year's Academy Award ceremony.
Do I think that last night's awards foresage the Oscar results in just under two weeks? Not really. I would be more than surprised if "Atonement" was judged best pic, although Day-Lewis and Bardem seem a lock, and positively amazed (though not unhappy) if Cotillard duplicated her success.
One last question for you. Cate Blanchett has been nominated both here and in the U.S. for best actress as "Elizabeth" and best supporting actress for her Bob Dylan turn in "I'm not There" (neither of which she won yesterday). How can one of five or six actors who split the leading role in a biopic be considered a supporting actor. There are some weird definitions extant.
1 comment:
I wonder if the Baftas are not going the way of the Oscars where promotional
efforts tend to win the day - look at the Miramax results under the Weinsteins as
an example. I haven't seen anything more of 'Atonement' than the selected
clips but somehow do not see Keira Knightley as a top actress. Arguably Stallone
added 'glamour' and he did have a premiere to boost but some of the others were
cotton candy at best. It does come across as a very provincial event as do most
of the European equivalents.
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