Hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway were not an inspired choice by the Academy; they certainly looked good standing side by side (especially in HD), but they were not funny; however this won’t worry the Academy, as Franco and Hathaway were chosen to play it safe in a post-Gervais world of entertainment (after Ricky Gervais’ hosting of this year’s Golden Globe ceremony was largely judged by the American public as being in bad taste), and although the Academy will have been aghast to hear the first ‘dropping of the f-bomb’ in 83 years; by Melissa Leo (The Fighter); there was no great drama on stage all in all (not even the slightest fashion faux-pas).
As for the actual awards, they were more interesting; The King’s Speech had been the early favourite, but The Fighter was generating the late hype, and at one stage it looked like it might not be a successful night for Britain (especially when The Fighter’s Christian Bale beat The King’s Speech star Geoffrey Rush to Best Supporting Actor; a category which was one of the toughest to predict, given the quality of both performances).
The victory of The King’s Speech did feel hollow for two reasons; firstly, despite having made some remarkable films (Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac), David Fincher (The Social Network director) still hasn’t won an Oscar (the film did win Best Adapted Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin; writer of The West Wing), yet he is a director who deserves an Oscar, and The Social Network was a film that gave the impression of a filmmaker who is so at ease in his craft. Secondly, Inception should have been nominated and won Best Picture and Best Director for Christopher Nolan; there is no logical reason why it was not nominated in both categories (as BBC film critic Mark Kermode correctly pointed out); and this took some of the shine from the King’s Speech victory.
On the same subject Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) lost out to the potty-mouthed Melissa Leo (The Fighter) for Best Supporting Actress, even though Steinfeld managed to be the most captivating person on screen in a Coen Brothers film starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin; meaning she should have won Best Actress (for which she wasn’t nominated); but she is young, she has talent, and will probably win an Oscar in the near future.
The winner of ‘the-most-rehearsed-surprised-face award’ was the Toy Story 3 team; who were always going to win the Oscar for the Best Animated Feature; as Colin Firth and Nathalie Portman both made heartfelt, serious, and tearful speeches, but the best acceptance was Luke Matheny’s (a little known Brooklyn based filmmaker who won the Oscar for best short film for God of Love) who had the opening gambit of ‘Wow, I should have had a haircut’ (he was right, he should have; as you can see in the picture on the right).
A few films that were thought to have been in with a good chance didn’t win anything; 127 Hours (which perhaps should have been recognised for having had the most impressive cinematography and editing), True Grit, and The Kids Are All Right; but despite this there were no great shocks (and no drunken actors), but there was plenty of thanking of parents and plenty of schmalzy emotional crescendos; It was Hollywood not at its finest, but at its most normal.
A full list of this year’s Oscar winners can be found here.
