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Photo By oscar.org
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Adrien Brody's Best Actor win for his portrayal of a
Jewish musician in The Pianist was a highlight of this
year's Oscar telecast.
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A word of warning: This analysis of the 2003 Academy Awards will have precious little to do with whether or not the show should have gone on in these trying times of war. As Nicole Kidman said during her acceptance speech for Best Actress in The Hours, there should be an acknowledgement that art is important and meaningful. This is supposed to be about art. Granted, a certain amount of debate about the Oscars encourages our artistic health.
It all means far less than we think anyway. After last year's historic wins by Denzel Washington and Halle Berry in their respective lead categories, there was the sense that African-American performers were on the verge of entering a dramatic screen renaissance. Yet in a recent interview in support of his work in The Core, actor Delroy Lindo refuted that expectation.
"I'm not being facetious here," he said, "but all it meant was that Denzel Washington and Halle Berry were given the Academy Award for being the best in their category. That's all it meant. Time will tell, but I think we should all guard against reading too much into the fact that those two were given those awards."
Does it matter Martin Scorsese didn't win an Academy Award for best director? It does, because despite all the ethical implications of giving an award to a fugitive from justice, Roman Polanski's directorial work on The Pianist was by far the best of the five nominees. A win by Scorsese for Gangs of New York would have been about rewarding him for his far better, unacknowledged efforts and would have been a testament to the power of Miramax campaign led by Harvey Weinstein. I hope Weinstein gets his money's worth out of the best picture win by Chicago. Only time will tell.
One of the truly moving moments of the evening belonged to Adrien Brody, who became the youngest best actor Oscar winner for The Pianist against a distinguished field of past winners. The grace of his speech took me back to my early interview with him when The Pianist was released in December. At that time, Brody was reluctant even to discuss the buzz his work in the film was generating.
"If something happens," he told me, "it would be great for me, and I would appreciate it. If it doesn't, that too would be fine because that wasn't my motivation to make this movie." Well, now it has happened and it was indeed a great moment.
The IFP (Independent Features Project) Independent Spirit Awards took place the day before the Academy Awards under a huge tent on the beach in Santa Monica, Calif. The FINDIE (Friends of Independents) awards began in 1984 presenting winners with shoestrings suspended in Plexiglas acknowledging the miniscule budgets of independent films. Two years later, the awards became the Independent Spirit Awards to honor the spirit of creativity in the face of challenging financial considerations.
This year's IFP Best Feature nominees, Far From Heaven, The Good Girl, Lovely & Amazing, Secretary and Tully, were largely confined to the art house circuit. In many cases either the films themselves or featured performers enjoyed some Oscar buzz. The virtual sweep of the major categories by Far From Heaven, which won best feature, best director (Todd Haynes), best lead actress (Julianne Moore) and best supporting male (Dennis Quaid) offers proof that there are few opportunities for real surprises during awards season, even in the independent world.
The Independent Spirit Awards also bestow several cash awards to emerging filmmakers to encourage new work. Film artists Prezmyslaw Shemie Reut (Paradox Lake), Jennifer Dworkin (Love & Diane) and Effie T. Brown (Real Women Have Curves, Stranger Inside) all won cash prizes, but none of them received the chance to speak during the telecast.
As a presenter and member of IFP/LA's board of directors, Don Cheadle read what could be considered a political statement of purpose for the independent film community at any time, but seemingly more so during these times.
"Independent means being brave enough to stand alone, while knowing we are all interconnected and part of a greater whole. We should strive to be independent but not arrogant, brave but not reckless, self-assured but not dogmatic, proud but not disrespectful. We have many voices, independent and spirited, and we should raise them until they are heard."
That artists are called to raise their voice should be a given. But the community that supports them should be far more willing to take the sometimes simple and necessary steps to make sure they will be heard. By not offering equal time to nominees in all categories, the Independent Spirit Awards fell in line with every other awards presentation. Their "best" voices were kept silent. ©
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