Hype: Oscars Night

Now, I’m not one to watch the Oscars for the big musical performances and glamour factor. For me its all about those special moments; like in 2001 when Steven Soderburgh won Best Director for Traffic, when most people thought that Ridley Scott had it in the bag. What about when Adrien Brody won Best Actor for The Pianist and locked lips with presenter Halle Berry? These are the moments that make the Academy Awards ceremony memorable years down the line, and perhaps it was this that was lacking last year when the ratings hit an all time low.

Although this years show went pretty much according to expectations, it was certainly an emotion filled ceremony. In especially liked it when the former winners in each acting category introduced this years nominees (Robert DeNiro introduced Sean Penn, Anthony Hopkins did the same for Brad Pitt) although some had more to say about their counterparts than others, which made the idea slightly redundant and a bit cringeworthy at times.

Arguably the most shocking occurrence of the evening was Sean Penn trumping Mickey Rourke for the Best Actor accolade. Some have said that Sean Penn’s fairly brash acceptance speech (“I know that sometimes I make it hard for people to appreciate me”) for Best Actor in Gus Van Sant’s Milk, illustrated just how incredible his transformation into Harvey Milk really was. Heath Ledger’s family accepting his posthumous Supporting Actor Oscar was touching, as was the tribute to those in the industry that left us this year, and yes, Hugh Jackman was a solid and refreshing choice as host.

Surely this is what the Oscars has to be all about, mixing it up and giving the audience some suspense to cling onto. If I think I know who’s gonna win every major award, and they aren’t for films that I’ve necessarily connected with, then I’m slightly put off watching. I think this is what happened last year, and its a major put off alright. This isn’t really something the Academy can control however, and we cant exactly claim that they’re too stuffy these days; they did after all let Chris Rock host the thing in 2005, although I don’t think he’s getting invited back anytime soon. (Remember his joke about Jude Law? Old Sean Penn did like that too much) Slumdog Millionaire won big on the night, and rightly so; this certainly was one that worldwide audiences connected with. In the words of one of its stars, Anil Kapoor, speaking to E! television’s Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet outside the Kodak theatre, “We love you India!”. Here here.