At the start of each Oscar season, which "officially" begins in late August with the start of the Venice Film Festival, bloggers and writers from around the film world are hopeful and excited. Endless possibilities await, and we're finally about to get a reprieve from the cataclysmic blockbusters that have dominated the multiplexes throughout the summer. Telluride and Toronto generate giddy excitement from film fans, and the rest of the season sees the release of several big-ticket movies from both new voices and famed auteurs. But just a few short months later, everyone who has a vested interest in the Oscar race has lost his/her soul. It's gone, vanished, never to return- well, until the following year, at least. The never-ending cycle of award shows, the online vitriol and backlash aimed at movies we all loved not too long ago, the non-stop campaigning and jockeying by the studios- it's all so exhausting, and this comes from someone who doesn't even live in the thick of it.
This year felt worse than usual. Not only because many of the films arrived much earlier in the year (Call Me By Your Name debuted at Sundance 2017, while Get Out arrived last February), but because the online clashes were more intense than ever. From the swift and brutal backlash against Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards to the "It's not an Oscar movie!" cries lobbied at Get Out, the 2017-2018 Oscar season was filled with controversy. Throw in a tumultuous time for Hollywood, and you have a recipe for chaos. So in the end, it's fitting that the Academy went with what was probably the safest risky choice in the race. On Sunday night, Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water led the way with 4 Oscar wins, including Best Production Design, Original Score, Director, and of course, Best Picture. The film broke the decades-long SAG streak, becoming the first film since Braveheart to win Best Picture without a crucial Outstanding Ensemble nomination from the guild.
But despite that trivial bit of history, The Shape of Water's win wasn't surprising. Sure, I predicted Get Out, but that was more of a hope than a serious conviction. As many have noted, The Shape of Water exists at the generational middle ground in the Academy. It's an old-fashioned film, one that still has appeal to older voters who like familiar tastes and safe options. But for the younger members of the Academy, it's a unique and colorful celebration of diversity, one that also happens to feature sexual activities between a woman and a fish man. It's not Get Out or Lady Bird, but it sure isn't Darkest Hour either.
Personally, I responded to the win with a big shrug. I consider myself to be a del Toro fan, but I've struggled to see Shape as the romantic masterpiece that everyone else seems to think it is. We can't like all the movies though, and I've given up on having the Oscars align with my specific tastes. And anyways, by the way the evening was going, I could tell that it would be The Shape of Water. There were no real surprises during the ceremony, no shocks along the road to the final prize. Gary Oldman, Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, and Allison Janney all won the acting awards as expected, while Jordan Peele and James Ivory took home the well-deserved writing prizes. There were no real upsets in the craft categories either, and it led to an evening that felt an increasing degree of inevitability. Entertaining? Sure. But there were no signs of weakness along the way for The Shape of Water, nothing quick like the cracks La La Land demonstrated in the craft categories last year.
Best Picture was unpredictable until the very end, and I would be lying if I said that I knew for certain that Warren Beatty would announce The Shape of Water when he pulled out that card. But ultimately, we may have overlooked just how much of a consensus pick this was. In an awards season that was so all over the map with varying favorites and dissenting opinions, this feels like the natural conclusion.
And with that, awards season is over. The Oscars are great, but yeah, I've had enough of last year's movies. I'm excited to firmly focus on the movies of 2018 and what lies ahead. Congrats to The Shape of Water and the rest of this year's winners.
Images courtesy of Fox Searchlight
This year felt worse than usual. Not only because many of the films arrived much earlier in the year (Call Me By Your Name debuted at Sundance 2017, while Get Out arrived last February), but because the online clashes were more intense than ever. From the swift and brutal backlash against Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards to the "It's not an Oscar movie!" cries lobbied at Get Out, the 2017-2018 Oscar season was filled with controversy. Throw in a tumultuous time for Hollywood, and you have a recipe for chaos. So in the end, it's fitting that the Academy went with what was probably the safest risky choice in the race. On Sunday night, Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water led the way with 4 Oscar wins, including Best Production Design, Original Score, Director, and of course, Best Picture. The film broke the decades-long SAG streak, becoming the first film since Braveheart to win Best Picture without a crucial Outstanding Ensemble nomination from the guild.
But despite that trivial bit of history, The Shape of Water's win wasn't surprising. Sure, I predicted Get Out, but that was more of a hope than a serious conviction. As many have noted, The Shape of Water exists at the generational middle ground in the Academy. It's an old-fashioned film, one that still has appeal to older voters who like familiar tastes and safe options. But for the younger members of the Academy, it's a unique and colorful celebration of diversity, one that also happens to feature sexual activities between a woman and a fish man. It's not Get Out or Lady Bird, but it sure isn't Darkest Hour either.
Personally, I responded to the win with a big shrug. I consider myself to be a del Toro fan, but I've struggled to see Shape as the romantic masterpiece that everyone else seems to think it is. We can't like all the movies though, and I've given up on having the Oscars align with my specific tastes. And anyways, by the way the evening was going, I could tell that it would be The Shape of Water. There were no real surprises during the ceremony, no shocks along the road to the final prize. Gary Oldman, Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, and Allison Janney all won the acting awards as expected, while Jordan Peele and James Ivory took home the well-deserved writing prizes. There were no real upsets in the craft categories either, and it led to an evening that felt an increasing degree of inevitability. Entertaining? Sure. But there were no signs of weakness along the way for The Shape of Water, nothing quick like the cracks La La Land demonstrated in the craft categories last year.
Best Picture was unpredictable until the very end, and I would be lying if I said that I knew for certain that Warren Beatty would announce The Shape of Water when he pulled out that card. But ultimately, we may have overlooked just how much of a consensus pick this was. In an awards season that was so all over the map with varying favorites and dissenting opinions, this feels like the natural conclusion.
And with that, awards season is over. The Oscars are great, but yeah, I've had enough of last year's movies. I'm excited to firmly focus on the movies of 2018 and what lies ahead. Congrats to The Shape of Water and the rest of this year's winners.
Images courtesy of Fox Searchlight
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