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Ishtar
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The Devils
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The Fortune
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Betrayal
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Play It As It Lays
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The Outfit
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Alex in Wonderland
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The Legend of Lylah Clare
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In The Cool of the Day
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That Cold Day in the Park
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Thumb Trippin'
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Midas Run
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At Long Last Love
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Outcast of the Islands
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Run of the Arrow
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House of Secrets
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Saint Joan
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The Fiend Who Walked the West
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Five Gates to Hell
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You're a Big Boy Now
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I Never Sang for My Father
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Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
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Drive, He Said
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When the Wind Blows
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Housekeeping
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Drowning by Numbers
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Haunted Summer
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The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
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City of Hope
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In a righteously angry L.A. Weekly piece about the awarding of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar to the "relentlessly medicore" Departures instead of the much more deserving Waltz With Bashir , critic Scott Foundas has written that "it seems likely that Ari Folman's film was simply too innovative for the Academy's notoriously calcified tastes.

"Certainly, by Academy standards, it was one of the more radical works ever to be nominated in the Foreign Language category -- a fragmented memory film in which truth and illusion collide on a tide of uncertain recollection. There are multiple narrators, dreams masquerading as reality (and vice-versa), and so many genres exploded moment by moment that it becomes impossible to squeeze the film into an easily definable box.

"And while Waltz builds to a conclusion that many (including this critic) counted among the most emotionally devastating in movies last year, it is a moment that is earned by the film rather than cheaply calculated, and which raises more questions than it answers. That's something that many viewers of Folman's film have found thrilling to behold, but which may well have inspired paroxysms of rage in Academy voters who stand by the belief that a movie should have a clear beginning, middle and end and send people out of the theater feeling better about 'humanity.'"

Departures Hasn't Got It<< previous | next >>Watchmen Uptick

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 24, 2009 at 7:08 PM

comment #1

Ethan says ...

While watching the Oscars with my Step-Mother, she noted the following while the Waltz With Bashir clip came up "EW!!! Who would want to watch that!"

I spent the next few minutes explaining to her the level of acclaim it received and the subject matter it deals with. But she simply kept replying "But's it like paper cut-outs!"

Posted by Ethan at February 24, 2009 7:21 PM

comment #2

corey3rd says ...

we overestimate the intelligence and taste of Academy members. A majority of them are schlubs

Posted by corey3rd at February 24, 2009 7:33 PM

comment #3

the400blows says ...

Get over it, Jeff. Waltz With Bashir was not that great. There were times I found it dragged at times and as a result, lost my attention. To me, it was not "edge-of-your-seat" type of movie. And I felt the one-dimensional animation made it even less appealing.

Posted by the400blows at February 24, 2009 8:45 PM

comment #4

Yuval says ...

I do find it fitting that a group of people thinking Slumdog Millionaire was the best movie this year don't appreciate Waltz with Bashir.

Posted by Yuval at February 24, 2009 8:53 PM

comment #5

TVMCCA says ...

Kenneth Turan said something in the TIMES about how the folks who watch all five nominated Foreign Films tend to be conservative in taste and lean towards MOR fare. Give Turan credit for being right in this instance.

Posted by TVMCCA at February 25, 2009 12:13 AM

comment #6

TVMCCA says ...

Re the400blows comment on WALTZ WITH BASHIR: You could argue that the final shot, which includes live footage of the atrocities, edged a bit too much into the territory of Steven Spielberg colorizing the little girl's dress in a key setpiece of SCHINDLER'S LIST.

Posted by TVMCCA at February 25, 2009 12:21 AM

comment #7

D.Z. says ...

Ethan: Just argue back that the ending credits for 300 are the equivalent of shadow puppets.

Posted by D.Z. at February 25, 2009 2:16 AM

comment #8

Rich S. says ...

Again, why do people think that the Academy Awards lend any sort of validation to their work? Why do they care? Everyone recognizes them as a mainstream beauty pageant that's riddled with politics.

I guess it's nice to be recognized by your peers, but was Michelangelo pissed when he didn't receive the "Meddy" the year he finished the Sistine Chapel?

If you're an artist, you create the art, put it out there, and hope it connects with the largest audience possible. If you're doing it for the awards, you're in the wrong business.

Posted by Rich S. at February 25, 2009 5:28 AM

comment #9

DavidF says ...

I think the reasons are ultimately political and if it makes me sound crazy, so be it.

Everyone knows Hollywood likes Holocaust movies; "Jew as Victim" plays really well. Jew as agressor does not.

It's precisely the same dynamic writ large that had the world sympathizing with Israel up til 1967 and has seen many backing the PLO and Hamas ever since.

Nobody likes it when them Jews get too uppity and fight back so even if the movie has a "left wing" or "humanist" slant, it's still about Jews killing Arabs (albeit indirectly) and that's not as compelling a story for many as Jews getting killed by Germans.

(One could argue Hollywood has the same feelings about movies regarding homosexuality, native americans and other traditionally oppresed groups; we like a heartbreaking tale of humanity and suffering but we don't need to see two gay cowboys humping in a tent.)

For my money, it was a great movie that captured the insanity of war in ways that often reminded me of the more far-out moments in Apocalypse Now but with (obviously) a far more realisitic feel.

The animation was equally spectacular and as great as both WallE and Man on Wire were, I think you make an argument that Bashir would have been a worthy winner in the animated, documenatry or foreign categories.

I haven't seen the winning film so I won't criticize it or say that Bashir SHOULD have won but, call me cynical, I don't think the quality of the film was as decisive as its inherent character.

Posted by DavidF at February 25, 2009 6:20 AM

comment #10

DavidF says ...

p.s. Is anyone else getting annoyed by the banner ads featuring two dudes in underwear with guns?

Posted by DavidF at February 25, 2009 7:22 AM

comment #11

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

DavidF in Comment #9: "Nobody likes it when them Jews get too uppity and fight back... One could argue Hollywood has the same feelings about movies regarding homosexuality..."

DavidF in Comment #10: " Is anyone else getting annoyed by the banner ads featuring two dudes in underwear with guns?"

Posted by MikeSchaeferSF at February 25, 2009 7:52 AM

comment #12

DavidF says ...

You've got me on the apparent irony, Mike.

However, my first point was about the Academy preferring the portrayal of homesexuality in Philadelphia, for example, to Brokeback Mountain.

the latter point was annoyance about the aesthetics of Jeff's banner ads in general and this one in particular. I've seen those skinny dudes a lot and it was no less annoying to watch Kate Winslet rolling up her stocking in the same location these last few weeks, I assure you.

Still, touche.

Posted by DavidF at February 25, 2009 8:33 AM

comment #13

Krazy Eyes says ...

I don't think the best film of the year has won an Oscar for Best Picture in ages so I don't know why people are getting into such a huff about it happening in the Foreign-Language category. Missing the mark seems to be what the Oscars are best at.

Posted by Krazy Eyes at February 25, 2009 8:36 AM

comment #14

Floyd Thursby says ...

"we overestimate the intelligence and taste of Academy members."

I strongly deny this accusation. It's always a miracle when any Oscar is deserved.

Meanwhile, I could watch Kate roll up them stockings all day.

Posted by Floyd Thursby at February 25, 2009 8:50 AM

comment #15

Discman says ...

It's time to say it: The maligned Golden Globe Awards made the right call many more times than did the Oscars. A reminder here:

http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/

Posted by Discman at February 25, 2009 12:00 PM

comment #16

George Prager says ...

Having the Japanese version of Chico Escuela go up to accept the award only rubbed more salt in the wound.

Posted by George Prager at February 25, 2009 1:32 PM

comment #17

D.Z. says ...

David: No one, no matter how sympathetic to the Palestinians, likes the PLO or Hamas. And the same people who criticize Israel weren't willing to call out the Khmer Rouge, Milosevic, or Sudan on their aggression. As for BBM, I wasn't fond of it for different reasons, but it does feature humanistic elements. It's just that the gay sex is only what the shallow idiots at the Academy saw on the surface, which is ironic, given that they had no problem with it in Midnight Cowboy. And Bashir is apolitical.

Posted by D.Z. at February 25, 2009 2:26 PM