Awards Aftermath - Part 2

[Lyle (Mooska)]

The best films of the '00s:
The AVClub

From the AVClub website, Top Fifty films of the decade:
 
#43 - Brokeback Mountain (2005)

It can be prohibitively difficult to separate the considerable aesthetic merits of Brokeback Mountain from the culture-wide wave of controversy, snickering jokes, and embarrassed tittering it unleashed upon its 2005 release. Honestly, it was as if Americans had never seen a serious film about gay cowboys before. Four years on, it’s much easier to extract Ang Lee’s tragic romance from the hype. In a powerfully internal lead performance, Heath Ledger plays a tormented ranch hand who stumbles into a passionate affair with rodeo cowboy Jake Gyllenhaal while tending sheep one summer. Over the next two decades, their forbidden bond looms over their doomed attempts to conform to society’s narrow conception of masculinity. Brokeback Mountain attains a devastating cumulative power as time, circumstances, and Ledger’s profound ambivalence and self-loathing conspire to keep these two lovers apart. Though the seemingly incongruous juxtaposition of cowboy iconography and homosexuality made Brokeback Mountain a pop-culture phenomenon, it endures as a powerful, universal story of love won and lost. 

Heath film:
#41 - The Dark Knight (2008)

Another film from 2005
not nominated for Best Picture:
#37 - A History Of Violence (2005)

Ang Lee film:
#29 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)  

Film with a main gay character, a real-life hero even,
never identified as such:
#22 - United 93 (2006)

Jake Film:
#21 - Zodiac (2007)

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-films-of-the-00s,35931/4/

[Lyle (Mooska)]

The Best-Reviewed Movies of the Decade, 2000-09
from Metacritic

This is a review site like Rottentomatoes.
I don't know how they compute the scores,
but these are the results:

#63 - Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Ang Lee film:
#9 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Gay themed film:
#21 - Beau Travail (or at least homoerotic)
#49 - Capote

Gay character:
#31 - United 93 (not identified as such)

They rent Brokeback Mountain in it:
#99 - Knocked Up (2007)

Unless you are a cinema aficionado, you probably noticed something else about the list above: you haven’t heard of many of those movies. Indeed, a large portion of that Top 100 is occupied by foreign films and less-publicized art house films — films that played in few theaters (especially outside of Los Angeles and New York). A full 43% of the films listed above are foreign-language films, and many of those that are in English are obscure gems, like the documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself (which isn’t even available on DVD) and the unconventional buddy drama Goodbye Solo.

What if we filtered out those limited release movies, and compiled a list of the
Top 100 wide releases from the past ten years?

The Best-Reviewed Wide-Release Films of the Decade, 2000-09

#27 - Brokeback Mountain   2005

Ang Lee film:
#7 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Gay themed films:
#23 - Capote
#40 - Milk

Heath film:
#62 - Dark Knight, The

Movies rated higher than crash, 2005:
#66 - History of Violence, A
#79 - Good Night, and Good Luck

Gay characters:
#15 - United 93 (not identified)
#80 - Little Miss Sunshine
#87 - Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire

Jake film:
#96 - Zodiac

Metacritic's Best-Reviewed Westerns of the Decade, 2000-09

#1 -   Brokeback Mountain

http://features.metacritic.com/features/2009/the-best-movies-of-the-decade/

[Lyle (Mooska)]

I have to comment on Capote's high metacritic rating.
Perhaps I will never understand, even after all the reviews
I have read of that film, and commentary, why critics thought
so much of it.  Usually I can figure out why some like a film in
ways that I do not, but in this case, I really don't get it.  And even more
so after seeing Infamous which was the same telling of the same
story.  I will just have to agree that they were all wrong and someday
they'll figure it out and then someday after that admit it.

[fritzkep]

I have to comment on Capote's high metacritic rating.
Perhaps I will never understand, even after all the reviews
I have read of that film, and commentary, why critics thought
so much of it.  Usually I can figure out why some like a film in
ways that I do not, but in this case, I really don't get it.  And even more
so after seeing Infamous which was the same telling of the same
story.  I will just have to agree that they were all wrong and someday
they'll figure it out and then someday after that admit it.

About as likely as the person who dreamed up New Coke will admit that that was a mistake, Lyle! 

[BayCityJohn]

Worst Movie of the Decade: ‘Crash’

by Sara Libby

I haven’t created any best-of or worst-of lists yet, but I think that the 2000s featured one cultural phenomenon that deserves its own special shoutout for true heinousness: the 2004 2005 best picture winner “Crash.”

It’s been called a “feel-good” racism movie – one that leads people to believe they’re on the right side of racism, when in fact they’re just having their buttons pushed and their preconceived notions re-affirmed.

The fact that racism exists should go without saying, and yet “Crash” wastes an entire film trying to prove what we already know is true. The movie beat out “Brokeback Mountain” for a surprise best picture win at the Oscars. It’s no surprise, really, given all the clamor about our “post-racial” society, while the gay rights movement is still suffering setback after setback.

http://trueslant.com/saralibby/2009/12/23/worst-movie-of-the-decade-crash/

[BayCityJohn]

Best. Gay. Decade. Ever. (December 23, 2009)


by Michael Jensen, Editor
December 23, 2009

THERE WAS BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN AND THEN EVERYTHING ELSE
Much like 2006 seemed it could be a pivotal moment in kicking down the celebrity closet, the release of Brokeback Mountain in 2005 also seemed like it might mark a turning point in how Hollywood approached gay material.

After all, the movie was a critical success taking in $175 million around the world while becoming the most critically acclaimed movie of all time before somehow losing the Best Picture Oscar to Crash. Fortunately, our readers have twice named it the Greatest Gay Movie of All Time so not all is lost.



Will anyone ever get tired of this picture? No, seriously. Anyone?

http://www.afterelton.com/bgwe/12-23-09?page=0%2C7

There is a poll on the site:

But which gay movie did you think was the decade's best? Frankly, since we all know the answer to that is going to be Brokeback Mountain, I'm going to let everyone pick two movies. I'm also including polls for best gay indie movie and worst Hollywood movie.

[BayCityJohn]

2 more polls in the same article on AfterElton.

I'm posting the poll here and highlighting the correct answers 

What was the best gay/bi pop culture story of the decade?

Neil Patrick Harris, T.R. Knight, Lance Bass coming out

The success of Brokeback Mountain

The success of Adam Lambert

Luke and Noah finally having sex on ATWT

Dustin Lance Black's Oscar acceptance speech

Matthew Mitcham wins gold medal at the Beijing Olympics

Torchwood becomes a smash hit

Richard Hatch wins Survivor

Neil Patrick Harris' success after coming out

George Takei and Brad Altman marry

Kevin and Scotty get married on Brothers & Sisters

The success of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy



What was the worst gay/bi pop culture story of the decade?


Brokeback Mountain loses Oscar to Crash

Stephen Gately dies unexpectedly

Heath Ledger dies unexpectedly

Perez Hilton turns Carrie Prejean anti-gay icon

Tim Hardaway airs homophobia on radio

Snicker's Superbowl kissing ad

The Adam Lambert controversy

Torchwood kills off Ianto Jones




POLLS:
http://www.afterelton.com/bgwe/12-23-09?page=0%2C9

[brokebacktom]

What was the worst gay/bi pop culture story of the decade?[/b]

Heath Ledger dies unexpectedly

POLLS:
http://www.afterelton.com/bgwe/12-23-09?page=0%2C9

THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN #1 IN MY BOOK.

[brokebacktom]

The Movie Madden here in Minneapolis named CRASH one of the worst movies of the decade. I forget her name. She was on the movie special that was on Public Radio. Its a Yearly thing. This year's was about the Decade.

[Lyle (Mooska)]

This is an article about when ampas chooses a different
best picture winner than the director winner's film.
In the article he gets the year wrong, even though
he says it's "our favorite year"...lol... 

"Oscar Flashback – Famous Big Splits"
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily

No, we’re not talking about Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins (sob), but of those recent years where Picture and Director split. 
[...]
Then we get to our favorite year, 2004, the Crash v. Brokeback Mountain year.  This is unique from the others in that Brokeback was not a war film.  It was an epic, though, and it was most certainly the critics’ darling (and the guilds, etc.) Crash was an uplifting story with an unbelievably miraculous ending.   I mean unbelievably and unbelievable.  Brokeback Mountain was the better movie, there is no question.  I know that more people “liked” Crash better – that is, the muggles for sure.  More people told me they liked Crash in real life than Brokeback.  Me, I preferred Brokeback to almost every other film that year.

http://www.awardsdaily.com/?p=17024#more-17024

Broughtback Mountain:
A couple replies to the article that show this still irks the hell out
of us when it is broughtback to our attention.

And, no, I am not Jay, lol:

screenguy 
December 24th, 2009 at 10:07 am Reply #5

Nice piece, Sasha. I’d never really looked at the splits that way, but most of the recent ones (and some historical ones where the big entertainment piece beat out the “auteur” director film (Around the World in 80 Days/Giant; American in Paris/A Place in the Sun; Greatest Show on Earth/The Quiet Man) definitely show a trend in that direction.

I’m not sure Crash/Brokeback really fits the mold though. I think Brokeback did not win best picture for one simple reason: Some very vocal Academy members let it be known that they would never even watch a “gay cowboy movie” let alone vote for it, and they championed Crash as the alternative.

Jay
December 24th, 2009 at 10:09 am  Reply #6

Chariots also won the Golden Globe for foreign film. And remember, there were very few precursors back then, so even though it was an upset, its not like anything had overwhelming support. Reds was robbed.

Every year I post articles by Ken Turan and Erik Lundegaard, and my own rants about why the Oscars have no integrity since the Brokeback loss. I am reposting them again below. I think the success of California Prop 8 only reinforces what I am saying (and each year, more and more people seem to agree). Its a source of great satisfaction that Brokeback, along with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, seems to be on the most major best of decade lists, while Crash is nowhere to be seen on any. The London Film Critics 10 Best of the Past 30 Years (with Brokeback #5) was also pretty amazing.

In any event, thanks to Sasha for indulging me these posts, but I think they are worth reading, as they present a valid point of view as to what the Oscars truly are, a corrupt political body, alas like so many others. Thanks.

“The Oscars are an endless source of irritation to me, so I’d love to try to convince you why they are corrupt and not worth your time. To provide context, I used to have a 100+ person Oscar party every year in my apartment, Jodie Foster and some less famous types attended a few times, so I know what you mean by the entertainment value. However, in 2005 they abandoned the shred of integrity they still possessed, they outraged not just me but thousands of film buffs and people generally appalled by discriminatory politics, so I have been on a mission to provide context to those willing to listen.
Truth be told, the Academy’s history mirrors the country’s mood at any given time. They committed unforgivable artistic atrocities in the 1950s under the influence of the McCarthy era, and they have done the same the past decade or so as the country turned against Clinton per Monica, and over to Bush, the worst of all It is not just about some stupid movie award, they yield a lot of power as a microcosm of the American power elite, so I find it all most interesting.

It is fine for people to prefer Brokeback to Crash,
or Crash to Brokeback. Roger Ebert preferred Crash; he
is not a bigot (but he is virtually the only major
critic in America who did prefer Crash, virtually all
others overwhelmingly preferred Brokeback). However,
for those of us who call the Academy bigots for
selecting Crash, there is
a huge amount of evidence. I never previously called
the Academy bigots for denying other films with black
or Jewish or gay themes the Oscar, but this was
different. The Crash upset over Brokeback Mountain is
considered by many film historians to be the biggest
and among the most egregious in film history for the
following reasons:

Please try to forget one’s own personal opinion of
Brokeback as you read this (believe it or not, I am),
and consider Oscar history. In its 78 year history,
the “best” film of the year has rarely won the Oscar,
10-20 times at best, a poor history. But last year’s
Best Picture upset was unprecedented, and it happened
for insidious reasons. Brokeback, prior to the Oscars,
was the most honored film in movie history for a
single year, winning more Best Picture/ Director
prizes than any other film ever, including Schindler’s
List (though admittedly there are more prizes now, but
Brokeback still did slightly better than even that
film when you take Director prizes into account).
Nothing with its combination of critical AND guild
prizes had ever lost. L.A. Confidential swept the
critics’ prizes in 1997, but then Titanic’s onslaught
gave it the Globe, major guilds prizes, and the stage
was set for the Oscars. But Brokeback won the
Producers, Directors and Writers Guild awards. No
film with those 3 had ever lost. Brokeback won the
Golden Globe, DGA and had the most nominations. No
film with that combination had ever lost. Brokeback
had the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics awards,
with the most nominations, again, a trio that had
never lost. There are other combos along those lines.
And
it even won major prizes in Europe, like BAFTA,
Venice, ultra- prestigious Sight & Sound’s #1 film,
etc. I can go on.

Just as important, Brokeback was the top box office
earner among the nominees and,
rated the number 1 box office story of the year among
all 2005 films, per major site Box Office Mojo. And,
Brokeback was undeniably a cultural zeitgeist. When
you do the math, there is absolutely no way, no how
Brokeback should have lost. The only other losing
film even in Brokeback’s league vis-a-vis pre-Oscar
prizes was Saving Private Ryan. But even Ryan didn’t
have Brokeback’s overwhelming dominance at critics’
prizes,
plus Ryan fell short at the Writers Guild and other
screenplay prizes, whereas Brokeback won many,
including the Globe, Guild, etc. So what happened???

Shortly after the nominations, the
Academy received a petition signed by 60,000 right
wingers stating that they would never watch the Oscars
again if “the gay movie” won, and that their friends
felt the same. Then, the late night talk shows
stepped up the gay jokes, and the film started to
become a bit of a joke. Then, Hollywood
relics/legends Tony Curtis and Ernest Borgnine each
publically stated that neither they nor any of their
friends would even see Brokeback, because “John Wayne
would roll over in his grave”. As an aside, can you
imagine the (rightful) outcry there would have been
had people said they refused to see the black film,
the Jewish film, the hispanic film?

Anyhow, that’s when the pundits started saying that
perhaps another film would win. Nobody believed them
because of the overwhelming dominance of Brokeback,
and besides, there was nothing to support. That’s
when Crash become “the great straight hope”. Pundits
like Tom O’Neil who predicted Good Night and Good Luck
prior to the Globes gave up on that film, while
everyone knew that both Munich and Capote were lucky
to be nominated (deserving, but still lucky, most
thought Walk the Line would take one of their slots).
Crash, which had was not a factor in any major
critical races except for the Roger Ebert awards -
excuse me – the Chicago Film Critics awards, suddenly
won the Actor’s Guild Ensemble prize, and suddenly,
there was a film to rally behind. Never mind that
that ensemble award is NOT a Best Picture prize, past
winners include The Birdcage, The Full Monty, Gosford
Park, etc., none of which were remotely serious
contenders for the Oscar. At the Oscars, however, 3
performances were nominated from Brokeback, only 1
from Crash, further confirming that SAG voters likely
appreciated the huge cast of Crash and supported it as
such (plus that video onslaught); Brokeback had a
number of important rolls, but really it’s a 2-4
person movie, at most; Crash had a solid dozen. But
still, Crash got a 69 at metacritic,
a terrible score, the lowest of any nominee (I think
since metacritic’s inception), and Crash wasn’t even
nominated for the Golden Globe. Since the Globes
started in 1943, every single Oscar winner had at
least been nominated for the Globe, with only one
exception, The Sting, and supposedly that was on
account of category confusion – was Sting a drama or
comedy. (I had the same problem with Crash, but it
wasn’t supposed to be funny). But there was nothing
else, and Lion’s Gate mounted an extremely aggressive
campaign, giving the anti-Brokebackers – the senior
males of the Academy – something to rally behind.
People like Ebert (one of only two 100 major national
critics who took part in a what should win poll who
didn’t support Brokeback, the other being a
conservative from Kansas City) and Oprah Winfrey
chimed in, and instead of condemning Curtis and
Borgnine for their blatant homophobia, things became
strangely, shockingly silent in Hollywood re:
Brokeback. Everyone suddenly talked Crash – but NOT
for Crash’s newly discovered merits (it was the
earliest release of all nominees and pretty much a
non-event), but because the Academy decided to play it
safe, go with politically correct Crash, and cower to
blant bigotry. This was not a
Warren-is-too-arrogant-so-we’ll-pick-Chariots-over-Reds
backlash. This was not Harvey Weinstein going door to
door (literally) for Shakespeare in Love. This was a
blatant act of cowardice by the Academy. There is
truly no other explanation, I wish there was, but
there is no way that they suddenly deemed it better
when almost everyone else disagreed. The Academy had
never been mavericks, the Picture favorite almost
always wins. [By the way, this is not meant to chide
Ebert & Oprah, they both cited Brokeback as a great
film, each genuinely preferred Crash, fair enough, but
their influence was used by others to create the
illusion of
mediocrely-received Crash as a true contender]

I had been an Oscars fanatic since I was 8 years old,
saw a list of major winners, and with an odd
photographic memory remembered them all. I still do.
And, I had disagreed with the Academy’s Best Picture
choice all but twice in the prior 20 years. But I
realized my opinion wasn’t the thing: was the Academy
being honest? I thought they were. But now, members
were admitting they were voting without even watching
all the nominees, the overwhelming slam-dunk
front-runner, because “John Wayne would roll over in
his grave”. Am I the only one incredibly offended by
that? Gay/straight, black/white, etc., should not
matter, we should all be
offended because that is prejudice at its worst. And
besides, where is the Academy’s credibility if their
members aren’t forced to watch all nominees before
voting, at least in the categories where they vote?
Committees are appointed to nominate foreign films and
documentaries, and I agree with that policy since
obviously Academy members are too busy to see every
film, whereas committee members commit to do so. It
is it too much to ask the Academy to watch their Best
Picture nominees, and if they feel they have a
personal conflict with one (to put it kindly), to
recuse themselves and not vote? And is it too much to
ask the Academy to condemn bigotry, in whatever form,
from their members? I still cannot believe Brokeback
Mountain lost, although so did Citizen Kane, The
Grapes of Wrath, Raging Bull, Dr. Strangelove, The
Graduate, Goodfellas, Fargo, The Pianist, non-nominees
2001, Vertigo, The Searchers, Singin’ in the Rain,
Some Like It Hot, City Lights, Touch of Evil, etc. But
despite the greatness of these other movies,
Brokeback’s is the most egregious loss because it was
“supposed to win” more than any other ever (playing by
the Academy’s own rules), because it so deserved the
prize – even Paul Haggis said so in Entertainment
Weekly (“EW: can anything stop Brokeback?; PH: No, and
nothing should, it’s a wonderful film” – good for
Haggis). And it lost because a very large contingent
refused to open their minds and hearts, or to even
watch it, the antithesis of what an Academy should do.

As a crazy avid movie buff, it is painful for me to
shut off the Academy after 30 years, but I am done. It
is the right thing to do. I am aware of the Academy’s
power, I don’t care if my protest is in a vacuum
(though am pleased to have discovered so many others
who agree). But I hope it’s not, because like
everyone else, they too are slaves to almighty
ratings. If enough people demonstrate they will not
tolerate bigotry and cowardice, perhaps in time they
might lose some of their luster. I hope so. Thanks
for reading.”

P.S. Not even nominated, English-language only: The
General, Sunrise, The Crowd, The Wedding March,
Frankenstein, City Lights, Duck Soup, Top Hat, Modern
Times, Make Way for Tomorrow, Bringing Up Baby, Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs,
Gunga Din, Fantasia, The Lady Eve, To Be or Not
To Be, Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, Meet Me in St.
Louis, My Darling Clementine, Brief Encounter,
Stairway to Heaven, Notorious, Odd Man Out, Monsieur
Verdoux, Letter from An Unknown Woman, Red River, Kind
Hearts and Coronets, The Third Man, The African Queen,
Singin’ in the Rain, The Band Wagon, Rear Window,
Night of the Hunter, Rebel Without a Cause, Bad Day at
Black Rock, The Searchers, Paths of Glory, Sweet Smell
of Success, Vertigo, Touch of Evil, Some Like It Hot,
Rio Bravo, Psycho, Spartacus, The Manchurian
Candidate, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 2001: A
Space Odyssey, The Wild Bunch, Easy Rider, Young
Frankenstein, A Woman Under the Influence,
Close Encounters, Manhattan, Blade Runner, Sophie’s
Choice, Once Upon a Time in America (& West), Blue
Velvet, A Cry in the Dark, Do the Right Thing,
Thelma and Louise, The Usual Suspects, Breaking the
Waves, Gods and Monsters, The Truman Show, Fight Club,
Being John Malkovich, Almost Famous, Mulholland
Drive, Far From Heaven, Finding Nemo, Eternal
Sunishine of the Spotless Mind, The Constant Gardner,
A History of Violence, Before the Devil Knows You’re
Dead.

Just a few famous nominated, deserving include Grand
Illusion, The Wizard of Oz (good thing for Wizard they
had 10 nominees back then or it wouldn’t have made the
cut- GWTW, Wuthering Heights, Stage Coach, Mr. Smith &
Goodbye Mr. Chips all did much better than Oz at the
nominations, those would have been the 5), The Grapes
of Wrath, The Magnificent Ambersons, Double
Indemnity, It’s a Wonderful Life, Great Expectations,
Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Sunset Boulevard,
Streetcar Names Desire, Place in the Sun, High Noon,
Shane, Giant, Defiant Ones, Dr. Strangelove, Doctor
Zhivago, Virginia Woolf, The Graduate, Bonnie and
Clyde, The Lion in Winter, Butch Cassidy, MASH,
Clockwork Orange, Last Picture Show, Exorcist or
American Graffiti, Cries and Whispers, Chinatown,
Barry Lyndon, Nashville, Jaws, Network, Taxi
Driver, All the President’s Men, Star Wars, Apocalypse
Now, Raging Bull, Reds, Raiders of the Lost Ark,
E.T., Tootsie, Field of Dreams, Goodfellas,
Beauty and the Beast, Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank
Redemption, Quiz Show, Babe, Sense and Sensibility,
Fargo, LA Confidential, Saving Private Ryan,
Crouching Tiger, Traffic, Fellowship of the Ring, The
Pianist, Brokeback Mountain, and oh yeah, Citizen
Kane, which got only one award in 1941.

Oscar misfire: ‘Crash’ and burn
The Academy takes yet another step toward irrelevance
with its latest pick

COMMENTARY
By Erik Lundegaard
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 3:09 p.m. ET March 6, 2006

Talk about ruining a perfect evening. Jon Stewart was
funny, George Clooney was sharp, Salma Hayek looked
to-freakin’-die-for, Philip Seymour Hoffman won in
humble-but-lovable fashion and Ang Lee, the director
of one of the best movies of the year, became the
first non-Caucasian to win the Academy Award for best
director.

Then Jack Nicholson, presenting the best picture
winner, ruined everything. He didn’t say “Brokeback
Mountain”; he actually said…“Crash.”

No, he didn’t. Did he? He did. My god.

This is the worst best picture winner since “The
Greatest Show on Earth” in 1952. It may be worse than
that. “Greatest Show” was a dull, bloated romance set
against the backdrop of a three-ring circus but at
least it didn’t pretend to be important. “Crash”
thinks it’s important. “Crash” thinks it’s saying
something bold about racism in America.

But what is it saying?

That we all bear some form of racism. That we all
“stereotype” other races. That, when pressured, racist
sentiments spill out of us as easily as escaped air.

Here’s my take. Yes, we all bear some form of racism —
that’s obvious. Yes, we all “stereotype” other races
in some fashion — that’s obvious. (Particularly
obvious in the Los Angeles of “Crash,” where so many
characters are stereotypes.) But, no, we don’t easily
give voice to our racist sentiments. And that’s why
“Crash” rings so false.

Last month I wrote an article on the best picture
nominees (called “Anything But ‘Crash’”) in which I
talked about how the most potent form of racism in
this country is no longer overt but covert. Once upon
a time, yes yes yes, it was overt, which is another
reason why “Crash” sucks. It’s doing what
simple-minded generals do: It’s fighting the last war.

The “Crash” quiz
Here, let’s take a little quiz. Say you’re an Asian
woman who has just rear-ended the car in front of you.
What do you do? Do you…

Wait in your car until a police officer arrives
Exchange licenses with the driver of the other car
Notice that the driver of the other car is someone who
looks like Jennifer Esposito, immediately assume she’s
Mexican-American (as opposed to, say,
Italian-American), and then tell the African-American
police officer that “Mexicans no know how to drive.”
How about this one? You’re talking to a bureaucrat on
the phone about getting extra care for your father who
is having trouble urinating, and she is not helpful.
You ask for her name and she tells you: Shaniqua
Johnson. You still need her help. What do you say?

“Shaniqua. That’s a beautiful name.”
“Shaniqua. You could do a better job of helping my
father, who is in pain.
“Shaniqua. Big f—ing surprise that is.”
One last one. You’ve just been told by your hot, hot
girlfriend, with whom you’re lucky to be sleeping in
the first place, that she is not Mexican as you
presumed; that her mother is from Puerto Rico and her
father is from El Salvador. What do you say?

“I’m sorry, honey. I’m surprised I didn’t know that.
Now come back to bed.”
“Really? How did they meet?”
“Who took [all Latinos] and taught them to park their
cars on their lawns?”
And on and on and on. Every scene. Put a little
pressure on somebody and they blurt simplistic racist
sentiments. Right in the face of someone of that race.

Worse, none of it feels like sentiments these
characters would actually say. It feels like
sentiments writer/director Paul Haggis imposed upon
them to make his grand, dull point about racism, when
a more telling point about racism might have emerged
if he’d just let them be. “Crash” is like a Creative
Writing 101 demonstration of what not to do as a
writer. To the Academy this meant two things: Best
screenplay and best picture.

The Sandra Bullock/Ludacris scene
A few readers objected to my column last month — and
will no doubt object to this one. They felt “Crash”
taught them something important about race. More’s the
pity. They said they learned that even good people do
bad things, and even bad people have moments of
compassion. Sorry they didn’t already know this. They
felt like “Crash” was a movie the average person could
support. “Average,” I guess, is the key word here.

Some agreed with me that the most potent form of
racism today is covert rather than overt; but they
added that this was a movie, after all, not a book,
and in a movie you can’t show characters thinking.

Ah, but you can. Paul Haggis even did it in “Crash” —
in the scene where Sandra Bullock’s character grabs
her husband’s arm as two black men approach. Her move
toward her husband is silent and instinctive, and
Ludacris’ character suspects she does what she does
because he’s black, and she’s scared of him, but he
has no evidence. We only get the evidence later, from
her, when she argues with her husband about the Latino
locksmith. And even this scene is handled ineptly. She
should have argued with her husband upstairs, away
from the help. But Haggis wanted her to complain about
the Latino locksmith within earshot of the Latino
locksmith — because apparently that’s how we all do
it. Lord knows if I don’t trust someone because of
their race and/or class I raise my objection within
earshot of them. Doesn’t everyone?

The main point is that you can dramatize our more
covert forms of racism. But here’s how bad “Crash” is.
Even though the Bullock/Ludacris scene is one of the
more realistic scenes in the movie, it is still
monumentally simplistic. I have a white female friend
who lives close to the downtown area of her city.
Usually she walks home from downtown. If she does this
after dark, and two men are walking towards her,
she’ll cross to the other side of the street to avoid
them. But if the two men are black? She won’t do this,
because she’s afraid of appearing racist. That’s how
much of a conundrum race is in this country. “Crash”
didn’t begin to scratch that surface.

So why did it win?

There are rumors that older Academy members shied away
from even viewing “Brokeback Mountain” for the usual
homophobic reasons. Lionsgate also pushed “Crash” on
Academy voters; it handed out a record number of DVDs
and advertised heavily. I don’t know which explanation
bothers me more. All I know is I feel sick. It feels
like the ’72 Olympic basketball finals, when the
Russians cheated and won; it feels like the ’85 World
Series when a blown call in game six tilted the
balance towards the Royals. It feels like the good
guys wuz robbed.

My friend Jim is more interested in the Academy than
anyone I know who isn’t involved in the industry.
(He’s a chauffeur in Seattle.) By early summer he’s
already talking up possible nominees. The discussion
reaches a fever pitch in November and December when
the prestige pictures are rolled out and critics make
their “best of” announcements. He goes to see these
films. He talks about them. He actually cares.

Not anymore.

“Crash’s” win did him in. The Academy, he said
afterwards, “is not a serious body of voters who vote
rationally. If they’re influenced by a DVD sales
pitch, they’re not worth my time.”

Are they worth anyone’s time? Once again, they showed
themselves susceptible to something other than a
legitimate search for “the best.” Once again,
marketing appears to have won. The Academy is 78 years
old and acting every bit of it, and last night they
took another doddering step towards irrelevancy.

Breaking no ground
Why ‘Crash’ won, why ‘Brokeback’ lost and how the
academy chose to play it safe.
By Kenneth Turan, Times Staff Writer
March 5, 2006

Sometimes you win by losing, and nothing has proved
what a powerful, taboo-breaking, necessary film
“Brokeback Mountain” was more than its loss Sunday
night to “Crash” in the Oscar best picture category.

Despite all the magazine covers it graced, despite all
the red-state theaters it made good money in, despite
(or maybe because of) all the jokes late-night talk
show hosts made about it, you could not take the pulse
of the industry without realizing that this film made
a number of people distinctly uncomfortable.

More than any other of the nominated films, “Brokeback
Mountain” was the one people told me they really
didn’t feel like seeing, didn’t really get, didn’t
understand the fuss over. Did I really like it, they
wanted to know. Yes, I really did.

In the privacy of the voting booth, as many political
candidates who’ve led in polls only to lose elections
have found out, people are free to act out the
unspoken fears and unconscious prejudices that they
would never breathe to another soul, or, likely,
acknowledge to themselves. And at least this year,
that acting out doomed “Brokeback Mountain.”

For Hollywood, as a whole laundry list of people
announced from the podium Sunday night and a lengthy
montage of clips tried to emphasize, is a liberal
place, a place that prides itself on its progressive
agenda. If this were a year when voters had no other
palatable options, they might have taken a deep breath
and voted for “Brokeback.” This year, however, “Crash”
was poised to be the spoiler.

I do not for one minute question the sincerity and
integrity of the people who made “Crash,” and I do not
question their commitment to wanting a more equal
society. But I do question the film they’ve made. It
may be true, as producer Cathy Schulman said in
accepting the Oscar for best picture, that this was
“one of the most breathtaking and stunning maverick
years in American history,” but “Crash” is not an
example of that.

I don’t care how much trouble “Crash” had getting
financing or getting people on board, the reality of
this film, the reason it won the best picture Oscar,
is that it is, at its core, a standard Hollywood
movie, as manipulative and unrealistic as the day is
long. And something more.

For “Crash’s” biggest asset is its ability to give
people a carload of those standard Hollywood
satisfactions but make them think they are seeing
something groundbreaking and daring. It is, in some
ways, a feel-good film about racism, a film you could
see and feel like a better person, a film that could
make you believe that you had done your moral duty and
examined your soul when in fact you were just getting
your buttons pushed and your preconceptions
reconfirmed.

So for people who were discomfited by “Brokeback
Mountain” but wanted to be able to look themselves in
the mirror and feel like they were good, productive
liberals, “Crash” provided the perfect safe harbor.
They could vote for it in good conscience, vote for it
and feel they had made a progressive move, vote for it
and not feel that there was any stain on their liberal
credentials for shunning what “Brokeback” had to
offer. And that’s exactly what they did.

“Brokeback,” it is worth noting, was in some ways the
tamest of the discomforting films available to Oscar
voters in various categories. Steven Spielberg’s
“Munich”; the Palestinian Territories’ “Paradise Now,”
one of the best foreign language nominees; and the
documentary nominee “Darwin’s Nightmare” offered
scenarios that truly shook up people’s normal ways of
seeing the world. None of them won a thing.

Hollywood, of course, is under no obligation to be a
progressive force in the world. It is in the business
of entertainment, in the business of making the most
dollars it can. Yes, on Oscar night, it likes to pat
itself on the back for the good it does in the world,
but as Sunday night’s ceremony proved, it is easier to
congratulate yourself for a job well done in the past
than actually do that job in the present.

[brokebacktom]

^^^^

The reply from Jay was great. Jay was a member of this fourm at one time. I forgot his stage name here on the site. He nailed back than and he nailed now.

[brokebacktom]

Another list I found as Brokeback at #2 movie of the decade.


http://hollywoodandfine.com/fineblog/?p=432

[Lyle (Mooska)]

Thanks for posting that, Tom.

It is interesting to me that another film from 2005 is making
a great many of the best of the decade lists--A History of Violence.
I, too, thought it one of the best of at least 2005.  A haunting film,
yet entertaining with a lot to say.  Directed by a man who also
made another film named Crash.  It seems the academy couldn't
even get the nominees right that year.

[dback]

Very interested to see what USA TODAY says on Thursday.  If it's Claudia Puig, who knows; she was a big "Crash" fan, but also a huge "Brokeback" proponent.  (Conversely, Scott Bowles, who often does movie writing, always seemed to emphasize "the Oscar-winning Best Picture 'Crash'" every chance he got, and said very little about "Brokeback.")  Mike Clark, however, is one of the paper's most senior critics and handles the video column, and his anger after the 2006 Oscars knew no bounds. 

But for those keeping track, "Brokeback" has now been chosen as one of the best of the decade (indeed, often in the Top 10) by Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Metacritic, and the London folks.  Nice.

[garyd]

Thanks for posting that, Tom.

It is interesting to me that another film from 2005 is making
a great many of the best of the decade lists--A History of Violence.
I, too, thought it one of the best of at least 2005. 

Yes, I think so too. LOL, we had quite the discussion
about this way back when.  I think DC and I were pretty much at each other's throats. 
Oilgun or dback, as I remember, had to pull us apart.
Anyway, it is a good flick.  Not sure Hurt deserved an Oscar nom but I'm not sure who
I would have put in his place either.