A quick look at the Oscars

The 87^th Academy Awards took place last Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. If we had to describe it in a few words, we could say that it was musical, touching and full of protest. The host of the ceremony was Patrick Neil Harris, a very well-known actor by most of us thanks to his role of Barney Stinson in the acclaimed sitcom How I met your mother. Being the host of the Oscars is usually a risky business: being funny and keeping a captive audience for over four hours is not an easy task for the actor or actors who dare to take up the challenge. The expectations were high and even if Neil Harris did his best, his work hasn´t been notably recognised.

Music is always part of the show in this kind of event but everybody agrees that one of the most touching moments of the show was Lady Gaga´s performance: a medley of The Sound of Music songs was beautifully sung by the eccentric singer to mark the 50^thanniversary of the film.

Julie Andrews appeared on the stage and hugged Lady Gaga after her wonderful performance, a tribute to the veteran actress and a film which is a classic.

The protest overtones came in the form of Patricia Arquette´s acceptance speech: she denounced pay disparity between men and women and the singers of Glory, the song from the film Selma paid tribute to civil rights campaigners.

                  Patricia Arquette won the Oscar for best supporting actress in Boyhood.

JK. Simmons – winner of the Oscar for supporting actor in Whiplash – also made a speech full of emotion.

It is also noticing that all the winners of some of the most important categories were also BAFTA winners: Julianne Moore, Eddie Redmayne, Patricia Arquette and J.K. Simmons were presented with the sought-after statuette.

Boyhood and Birdman were competing for the Oscar in the same categories but the winner was Birdman: it got four Oscars for best picture, director – Alejando González Inárritu – cinematography and original screenplay. Michael Keaton plays the main role in the film and he was also a nominee for the Oscar as best leading actor but the British actor Eddie Redmayne deprived him of that honour.

Julianne Moore plays the role of a linguistics professor who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer´s disease in Still Alice and she referred to the disease in her acceptance speech. This was Moore´s fifth nomination as she had been previously nominated for Boogie Nights, The End of the Affair, Far from Heaven and The Hours.

Eddie Redmayne was elated at receiving the Academy Award. He won the Oscar for his performance of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, a film based on a book written by his ex-wife Jane Wilde. E. Redmayne dedicated the award to "all of those people around the world battling ALS" – a form of motor neurone disease – the illness that left Professor Hawking in a wheelchair.

 

What´s so special about the Oscars? Why are the winners so thrilled with the Academy Award? What´s the difference between winning an Oscar and winning a different award?

Just a few days before the Oscars

It´s just a few days before the Oscars or the Academy Awards ceremony which is the most important event worldwide as far as the film industry is concerned; however, we can´t deny that – these days –  cinema plays a very important role in the entertainment events calendar of different countries. This month also includes a red-letter day for the Spanish film industry because the Goya Awards ceremony was held last Saturday but it is also essential for Britain thanks to the Baftas. However, the event which catches our attention for a longer time is the Berlin film festival which lasts ten days.

 Antonio Banderas was honoured with a Life Achievement Award at the Goya Awards ceremony.

 

                                 The poster for the 65^th Berlin International Film Festival.

The world premiere of Fifty Shades of Grey will take place today at the Berlin film festival. Fifty Shades of Grey is an adaptation of EL James´ bestselling novel of the same name but it does not compete for Berlin´s Golden Bear. Irrespective of the critical reviews, this film has already obtained a great deal of media coverage and its trailer was named the most viewed of 2014. Nevertheless, the Berlin film festival has also focused its attention on less commercial films: Andrew Haigh´s 45 Years, Isabel Coixet´s Nobody Wants the Night, Wim Wenders´ Every Thing Will Be Fine or Werner Herzog´s Queen of the Desert. In addition to Wenders and Herzog, who are two prominent figures of German cinema´s establishment, a new generation of German film-makers is represented by Oliver Hirschbiegel. His Princess Diana biopic Diana was poorly received but Downfall has been described by a German critic as “the ability to turn history into entertainment and also into awe-inspiring art.”

Another film-maker who is worth mentioning is Jafar Panahi. In his third film Taxi, the Iranian director appears as a taxi driver who drives a number of passengers – a DVD bootlegger, a schoolteacher and Panahi´s own niece – through the chaotic streets of Tehran. Jafar Panahi has been arrested in his house since 2010.

Last Sunday –  8^th February – the  historic Royal Opera House in Covent Garden played host to the BAFTA Film Awards , that is, the British Academy Film Awards. Among the winners, some very well-known stars such as Julianne Moore who won the award for her role in Still Alice as best actress in a leading role; she is also nominated for the Oscar award in the same category. Boyhood won the awards for best film and best direction and the actress Patricia Arquette won the award for her role as the supporting actress of this film. The Theory of Everything also won three awards: one award for its adapted screenplay, another one as Best British Film and the actor Eddie Redmayne won the award for his role as a leading actor in this film. This year, the British Academy decided to give its annual Bafta fellowship to Mike Leigh, a veteran director who has been recognised in the same way as Ken Loach, Vanessa Redgrave or Terry Gilliam  were previously honoured with the Bafta fellowship, an award which was first awarded in 1971 to Alfred Hitchcock.

                                                        The 2015 BAFTA winners.

Have you watched any of the films which were competing for the awards that I have mentioned? In what ways does winning an award make a film more appealing to the public?

                                

Humour versus hatred

The terror attacks which took place in France and Nigeria last week were triggered by hatred. It is extremely difficult to counteract the effects of hatred, which cannot be justified or understood in any way. As I´ve mentioned before, films help us to get a better understanding of our reality: the problems and the challenges that we face in our everyday lives are reflected on the big screen and very often, this is achieved by means of humour. In this respect, a French film comes to my mind: Serial (Bad) Weddings (“Qu'est-ce qu'on a fait au Bon Dieu?”), one of the most successful comedy films in the recent history of French cinema. Serial (Bad) Weddings makes use of humour to describe the new and complex relationships of French families as a result of a multicultural society where people from different nationalities, religions and traditions live together, which is not easy at times. However, the film shows us that humour and willingness lead to not only mutual understanding but also to respect and even love. Humour as a way of overcoming prejudices and misconceptions is the formula that this French film recommends even if it´s only a comedy which merely aspires to make us have a good time for a short while.

Have you ever watched a film which has helped you to learn more about a different culture or society? In which way do films help us to become familiar with the traditions, customs, problems and challenges of other countries?