Water Water Everywhere...
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.)
Comments (17)
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) :)
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?
Watching the film is beside the point!!! I love Water--nothing else matters. Haha. (seriously though--I'll watch it tomorrow)
*runs away quickly
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.
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.
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?
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!
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.
You were right about that, Carrie. Infernal Affairs was Cantonese. It was made in Hong Kong of cause it was in Cantonese.
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...
Infernal Affairs 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 Infernal Affairs flub.
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.
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