Here's a list of the Oscar nominees for best picture in 1990 (in alphabetical order):
*** Awakenings
*** Dances with Wolves
*** Ghost
*** Godfather Part III
*** Goodfellas
Ok, now guess which film won? If you guess Godfather Part III then you have some serious issues and should probably never watch another movie. In fact, you should just close this window and never come back to this web page ever again.
Now, for the rest of you, which of the four actually watchable movies won? If you are currently under the age of 30, I'm willing to bet you guessed either Ghost or Goodfellas. Why? Because of all the nominees those two are the ones people still watch, that people still adore. Awakenings is proudly sitting in the cut-out, bargain bin of your local video store and Dances with Wolves is probably a footnote referring back to a time when Kevin Costner wasn't a complete tool.
Of course, neither Ghost nor Goodfellas won. It was, in fact, Dances with Wolves, which is by no means a horrible film. At the time, it really seemed to be up in the air which would be the better film. People were throwing around superlatives like "genius" to describe Kevin Costner's acting and directing. Seriously. Nearly twenty years later, it's hard to fathom: how could Goodfellas not be a better movie than Dances with Wolves? It's so obvoius.
In 1998, people were all aflutter about Shakespeare in Love -- yeah, when was the last time anyone talked about that movie (except when talking about Oscar mistakes)? Want to guess what movies Shakespare beat out? Saving Private Ryan, Elizabeth, and The Thin Red Line (I'm purposely not mentioning Life is Beautiful because that's also fallen into the waste bin of irrelevancy).
I mention these past Oscar horrors because ... well, I have this nagging feeling that ten years from now, some young person will look back at the 2008 Oscars and ask, "Really? Slumdog Millionaire won? Does anyone watch that movie anymore?"
Don't get me wrong. I actually like this film quite a bit and I've always been a big fan of Danny Boyle (see my review of SUNSHINE in the DECEMBER archives). Right now, of the five nominees, I think it might have the best chance of winning (the other top contenders being MILK and BENJAMIN BUTTON). This is such a huge difference from last year. All five films were pretty amazing and two of them (No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood) were destined to become legendary classics. This year, the field is a lot weaker.
If there's one thing this movie has going for it is this: I went to see this flm with Grumpy Old Guy (GOG). Now GOG got his name for a specific reason (and doesn't have to do with age). Despite that, however, he felt emotionally drawn to this film and, as he said to me a week later, "the more I think about this movie, the more I really like it."
I would have to agree with GOG. Slumdog Millionaire does an amazing job of being sentimental without being saccharine. Few movies can really pull that off. Additionally, while the plot, on its surface, is incredibly absurd, there's a certain magical realism that makes you want to believe in the improbable.
But, with all that said, I can't really believe in the film itself. I see it as being very much of its time -- perhaps the hope in a world of destitute hopelessness appeals to the Zeitgeist? For whatever reason, I'm convinced that Slumdog is going to be the Dances of Wolves of 2008 and that kind of bums me out.
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