I think Meryl Streep said it best when she got up to accept her ACTOR, the statuette given to the Screen Actors Guild winners. She pretty much admitted that she was not prepared for the call on stage and that as privileged actress she now knows that there is no such thing as the Best. And anyway, she claims to have done this so often that she's over it, not to mention that she didn't even buy a dress. Of course I am paraphrasing but that is truly more or less of what she shared with her peers and on television tonight seconds after hearing her name as winner, kissing her proud daughter and jumping for joy on her way to the podium. Hypocrisy? Not so sure but very telling why as much as we enjoy the competition, and even more so the glamour of these nights, at the end of the day, other than the addition of footnote in film history, there is no right or wrong.
However making this an even more indecisive and perhaps exciting race to the Oscars this year is the fact that Kate Winslet lost her Best Actress nomination for her role in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD to Streep but did claim the Supporting Actress prize for THE READER the exact same film that she is now nominated for as lead and up against Streep at the upcoming Academy Awards [on November 22nd]. So at least now it would be interesting to see how their peers vote and select their so-called winner of one among many.
Streep went on to say that not only are her co-nominees, co-stars in DOUBT and unsung actors everywhere are all one and the same. But it's easy for her to say, she's won oodles of awards in her lifetime.
At the very start of the evening Winslet graciously picked up her award and also added the tried and true adage that everybody's a winner in the room. Obviously they all show up to win but are then embarrassed of doing so in front of their peers but deep inside I am sure they really really love it.
Regardless it is absolutely true that awards ceremonies for performances on film, and in fact in the arts in general, are not a science. Otherwise how can one explain how Philip Seymour Hoffman, leading star of DOUBT lands in a Best Supporting category against the late Heath Ledger and then loses to the dead actor. Did Heath win because he was that good and a cut above the rest of his competition or is it because he has now become a legend of his time.
The same can be said about Winslet's win for THE READER. I've been saying all along that this is clearly a leading role but from the start she was pegged as a Supporting player in order to accommodate her REVOLUTIONARY ROAD turn as a leading one. However, even as it clearly working in her favour, all the while she was getting nominations in both categories, but finally when the Oscars were announced a few days back she ended up with only won mention as a leading Actress but for the less expected film.
Again, was she better than anyone else that she went up against? Is it even fair to compare her to Viola Davis who has been garnering raves and beyond for one ten minute scene up against Streep? Forget the comparison to Winslet. What about her co-star Amy Adams, another supporting nominee? Adams clearly has a lot more to do in the film but both got nominated and, believe it or not, Davis got far more critical acclaim than Adams thus far.
And by the show's end, Sean Penn picked up his prize and gave a politically daring, if not incorrect, speech and then also praised his peers. he too suggested that it is not necessarily fair to have such a competition but did not seem to hesitate to get up there to pick up his prize or to make a grandstanding speech. I am a huge fan of Penn but even I know that as much as I love him and his portrayal of Harvey Milk, who's to say that Langella or Rourke [or to the same extent, no differently, Pitt or Jenkins] are not any better or just the same.
And it all became quite telling when the best Ensemble Cast award was presented at the end of the night. I had wished for MILK to take the prize, perhaps as a statement of gay equality [a nonsense logic, I know] but felt that any other film could have grabbed it from a different angle but at the end of the day SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE picked up that prize, perhaps because of the tiny tykes playing in the fields, or the boys trying to save their own lives, or the adults recognizing their emotions. For whatever reason a group of peers decided that SLUMDOG had the best Cast this past year of any movie and this includes a film, DOUBT, for which all its principal actors got nominated. Now, how's that so?
It is only so because every single year a list of five films, actors, editors, what have you, is dwindled down from over a hundred on an even bigger list. People who are privileged to do so and who, in their own minds, take the time to do it right, are the ones responsible for these lists and the ultimate winners. Once reduced to the essential five, it is apparent that only one can take home the prize in any given category. This is how it's done. No other logic - in fact, no logic whatsoever - can determine that. This is why this year, Penn, Streep, Winslet and the late Ledger collected their prizes. This is how the SLUMDOG cast was determined as the best cast. At the end of the day it could have been almost anyone [perhaps not THE HAPPENING cast]. But It just happens [get it?] that these are the ones most buzzed about at the moment. It's all so of the moment. This is why a majority of these films are positioned for release right about the same time as that supposed moment happens, around the Holiday season.
And based on our very own personal tastes and opinions, we decide if we like these winners of the moment or not. But by the very next morning, we are already on to bigger and better things, most probably handicapping next year's slew of potential nominees.
So let's see, who was I rooting for again? But for Penn [yes!], Winslet [she got the wrong win I'm afraid], Cruz just an itsy bitsy past Tomei, Ledger and the cast of MILK. But then again, my entire top five nominations list looks a lot different than the one at the SAG or the OSCARS. And at the end of the day who's to say I'm right or wrong. It is simply my opinion.
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