Monday, February 13, 2012 — Partly Cloudy -5°C
Film

Water Water Everywhere...

Posted by Carrie / February 26, 2007

17 Comments

20070225_Water.jpg

Okay, I can almost forgive the OSCARS tonight for determining that the screenplay for Infernal Affairs was Japanese not Cantonese when announcing The Departed as best adapted screenplay, or placing the country of origin of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in Taiwan not China (or... er, the amalgamation of countries involved with that production). I mean, for self-proclaiming this year's schmooze-fest as being the most International ever, you'd think they'd at least google or check the films' facts on the IMDB first. Small quibbles, I'll admit.

However, I will never get over the fact that Deepa Mehta's Water, one of the best movies I've seen in the last so many years, was overlooked not by Pan's Labyrinth as I suspect everyone expected to win in the Best Foreign Language Film category but by Germany's Das Leben der Anderen, which seemed to be a pick way out of left field. But perhaps I just say that because my adoration for Deepa Mehta blinds me to any other contender.

Go Deepa, go Deepa....

(I change my mind: the Infernal Affairs blunder was unforgivable.)

Discussion

17 Comments

Sort By Oldest First / Newest First

Subscribe

Carrie / February 26, 2007 at 12:26 am
user-pic
Hehe, Scorsese made sure to mention the Hong Kong writers in his speech and gave a nod to Asian cinema as well. Go Scorsese, go Scorsese....

(also, I am assuming it was written in Cantonese; if it was written in Hakka or another dialect, please forgive) :)
Reply
Tim / February 26, 2007 at 12:30 am
user-pic
Hey Carrie,

The Lives of Others wasn't a pick out of left field. It won a ton of European awards and was the darkhorse to win this category. It's an amazing film. Have you seen it?
Reply
Carrie / February 26, 2007 at 12:45 am
user-pic
Watching the film is beside the point!!! I love Water--nothing else matters. Haha. (seriously though--I'll watch it tomorrow)

*runs away quickly
Reply
Johnny / February 26, 2007 at 12:51 am
user-pic
One of the better Oscar shows in recent years. Scorsese basically won his lifetime achievement award; Ellen carried the show quite well; the montages weren't terrible (Michael Mann even threw in the Naked Gun clip with the queen... hey why not?); The Departed won best pic... hard to be upset at that, though glad I was betting.

Yeh, Carrie, Infernal Affairs was in Cantonese. And Tawain was one the many Countries where Crouching Tiger was produced, and Ang Lee is from Tawain.
Reply
Carrie / February 26, 2007 at 12:55 am
user-pic
Yeah, thanks Johnny. I knew it had a Taiwan connection in there somewhere. I think as many of these productions become increasingly more international these country designations at the Oscars will become obsolute. Water and Crouching Tiger are both good examples of this.
Reply
Johnny / February 26, 2007 at 12:55 am
user-pic
Opps, Taiwan not "Taiwain" ... funny fingers typing.
Reply
Jerrold / February 26, 2007 at 12:55 am
user-pic
The Oscars awards ceremony stunk, like usual :)
Reply
Carrie / February 26, 2007 at 12:57 am
user-pic
I felt is was... lethargic?
Reply
Jerrold / February 26, 2007 at 01:00 am
user-pic
I was glad to see Pan's Labyrinth take home a few - such a great film. I loved it.
Reply
Johnny / February 26, 2007 at 01:03 am
user-pic
Nah, relatively speaking, it was one of the better ones... better than last year at least. I can't be too down on the Academy, they are what they are. The fact Volver didn't get many nominations was enough of a letdown, but what can I do? We're at least happy Babel didn't win, right?
Reply
Matt / February 26, 2007 at 01:34 am
user-pic
WATER?! Of the many, many disappointments this evening, Water not winning is in the bottom five.

High point: NFB short film DID indeed win Best Animated Short.

Low points: Pan's Labyrinth getting turned away for Foreign Language, Peter O'Toole losing Best Actor.

Most amusing: Beyonce Knowles rising up out of the stage to upstage Jennifer Hudson. "You wanna hear what a real singer sounds like, kitten?"

And I'm glad as anything that Scorsese won (and how adorable were George, Steven and Francis?) but I wish it had been for a better movie!
Reply
mark / February 26, 2007 at 03:14 am
user-pic
personally, my highlights were 1) the lives of others winning best foreign film [it's an incredible film], 2) forest whitaker's speech, 3) the utter gushing of sincere gratitude & praise from all of the Pan's Labyrinth winners to their capitaine, Guillermo del Toro, and, of course, d) will ferrell, jack black & john reilly.
Reply
samic / February 26, 2007 at 05:58 am
user-pic
You were right about that, Carrie. Infernal Affairs was Cantonese. It was made in Hong Kong of cause it was in Cantonese.
Reply
brokenengine / February 26, 2007 at 08:59 am
user-pic
First time in years I watched the whole program without saying "Screw this, I'll tune in for the end to see the 'Big 4'".

Peter O'Toole losing sucked. Hard. The man doesn't have an Oscar, and he was Lawrence of FRICKIN Arabia! Thats broken.

I loved the line when Ellen wanted to take a picture with Clint Eastwood "for Myspace", and the look of genuine joy when she looked around and asked "Can someone take this? Oh, Steven Speilberg, YES!"

I'm usually not an Ellen fan, but I think she was perfect last night...
Reply
Cosima / February 26, 2007 at 03:04 pm
user-pic
<i>Infernal Affairs</i> is written in Chinese, not Cantonese. Cantonese is a spoken dialect, and Cantonese speakers write in standard Chinese. Written Cantonese is basically standard Chinese modified with special characters and colloquialisms that more accurately reflect vernacular speech; it's generally not used outside of informal writings.

Pedantry aside, my expression was one of "Oh no they din't" when I heard the <i>Infernal Affairs</i> flub.
Reply
Carrie / February 26, 2007 at 04:41 pm
user-pic
OMG!!! So embarrased. And of course Johnny and I both knew that too. Duh. That's almost as bad as the OSCARS originally flub. Werd.
Reply
carrie / February 26, 2007 at 04:45 pm
user-pic
I also liked the OSCARS better when the winner was whoever was closer to death.
Reply

Add a Comment
Other Cities: Vancouver – Montreal