31 Jan. - 6 Feb. 2002
Issue No.571
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 31 Jan. - 6 Feb. 2002 Issue No.571 |
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Limelight
A time to reap
Satin and lace are being aired and displayed, in vibrant colours and fetching designs at every couture house. Designer tailors, Armani and Company, are pondering over the imperturbable staid black and white tuxedo. How can they freshen and revamp it! Make-up artists are madly mixing and matching their powders and pastes with sparkle and gloss. Hair-stylists stand at attention, sharp scissors in one hand, foil and colour in the other. Master chefs are furiously cooking around the clock, sumptuous menus, keeping in mind ostrich meat is in, polenta is a must and delectable oriental hot morsels dipped in a piquant sauce, must garnish every gala banquet. And so it goes without rest or respite. The Hollywood award season has begun. It is time for tinsel town to honour its own, with great expectations and breathless anticipation mingled with triumphal fireworks and jubilant merrymaking. The air is thick with excitement and anxiety, as fortunes and careers ride on the award season.
It commenced January 4th with the American Film Institute, a training school and preservation organisation that is well respected for rescuing classical films and for its lists of ranking all-time top American films and screen stars. This however, is the first time in its history that the AFI holds a major award ceremony for the year's accomplishments. Dustin Hoffman hosted the inaugural soirée handing best picture honours to J.R.R.Tolkien's Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring. On the same night, the National Society of Film Critics, a group of 52 newspaper and magazine film critics, gave David Lynch's surreal Hollywood nightmare, Mulholland Drive best picture award. A little known dark suburban drama about grief and revenge, Todd Field's In the Bedroom has also emerged as a strong favourite.
The Broadcast Film Critics Association, the largest of its kind, representing 160 radio, TV and on-line film reviewers both in the US and Canada, chose for best film the extraordinarily gripping biography A Beautiful Mind, deftly depicting the fine line between genius and schizophrenia. It's star, Oscar winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator 2000) won best actor for his astonishingly moving portrayal of Nobel Laureate and mathematician John Forbes Nash, and it's director Ron Howard tied with Baz Luhrman (Moulin Rouge) for best director.
The Los Angeles Film Critics voted In the Bedroom as film of the year, while the New York Film Critics preferred Mulholland Drive.
Such a varied selection of front-runners promises an exciting season for us and an anxious season for the contenders. With no clear favourites, Oscar tendencies become more obscure; more nails are being bitten, more fingers are being crossed. With the Golden Globe picks now revealed, the Screen Actor's Guild follows, and the award season culminates on March 24th with Hollywood's greatest night - the night of the Oscars. Of all the Oscar side-shows, the Golden Globe Awards are the most highly regarded. Though lacking Oscar's razzle dazzle, this award carries more weight and in some circles, commands more respect.
Nicole Kidman: "Her year to shine"
In 1944, a small group of international foreign journalists reporting from Hollywood to their respective homelands, served a simple lunch at the commissary of the old 20th Century Fox Studios, to honour films and film stars of the previous year. With no frayed nerves, no aspirants or hopefuls, the mood was relaxed and convivial. Jennifer Jones and Paul Lukas took home best actor and actress honours for Song of Bernadette, which also won best picture.
One and all agreed that the Foreign Press group delivered an impartial international view of Hollywood films, unlike the Oscars, that are so heavily swayed by the Hollywood bigwigs. It was imperative that they protect their independence by presenting their awards prior to the Oscars. However, their choices remain so close to the Oscars that they are considered the precursor of the main event. Their award is a golden image of a globe encircled with a strip of film mounted on a small pedestal. Their categories differed from the Oscars, some came, some went and some were added with the advent of TV. One category that was a big favourite for nearly 30 years was "World Film Favourite" personality, which was introduced in 1947. A poll was taken every year in 40- some countries, supervised by Reuters, making it a genuine international popularity award. It was a most significant entry for a foreign press association, as well as the most popular, but was discontinued two decades ago when Reuters could no longer manage it, and no reliable replacement could be found. In 1950, the Globe introduced Best Foreign Film by honouring Italy's Bicycle Thief, one of Vittorio de Sica's many masterworks. It was not until 1956 that the Oscars followed suit by including a Foreign Film competition. The Globe, considered a poor cousin to the Oscars in the early days, quickly gained respect and popularity with its innovations and cogitative choices. It became the thinking man's award. In 1951 film and acting categories were separated into "Drama" and "Musical or Comedy", making it a more discerning choice.
The Golden Globe award show is preceded by a dinner where celebrities from motion pictures and television, mix and mingle, and then remain at their dinner table, as the award ceremony proceeds. The show was first televised in 1962 and is now broadcast in 125 countries. It maintains a totally relaxed and informal family atmosphere, which endears it to stars and public alike. The late great Richard Burton was once overheard saying "it's a good deal more fun than the Oscars...jokes flow regularly making us totally relaxed". So the great ones and the shy ones from Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, and even Marlon Brando, who regularly shuns the Oscars, have shown up at the Beverly Hilton's 1100-seat ballroom and have had "a jolly good time".
The 90 plus members of the "GLOBE" have seen every film released, as well as TV series, and TV films, and have been writing about the productions in more than 45 countries throughout the year. A highly respected group, hailed for their individuality and even-handedness, have made a formidable success of their annual event.
So what does the Hollywood Foreign Press Association think of last year's achievements? Their award ceremony, held January 20th, showered A Beautiful Mind with four awards: best film drama, best actor in a drama (Russell Crowe), best supporting actress (Jennifer Connely) and best screenplay (Akiva Goldsman). In The Bedroom's Oscar winner Sissy Spacek (Coal Miner's Daughter, 1980) took best dramatic actress award. Gene Hackman was best actor in a comedy in The Royal Tennenbaums, and Robert Altman, best drama director for his British murder mystery, Gosford Park.
As for Australia's darling, Nicole Kidman this was her year to shine. Selected as Entertainer of the Year in several polls in the US and Canada, Kidman was nominated twice by the foreign press for her two contrasting films of the year: Alejandro Amenabar's creepy ghost story The Others and fellow Australian Baz Luhrman's original Parisian musical, Moulin Rouge. Kidman took home the Golden Globe for Moulin Rouge and fellow Australian director Baz Luhrman won best musical film.
With Russell Crowe (Native of New Zealand) also a big winner, the squeals of joy and triumph can still be heard from down-under. While only a few can win, the losers are many, and losing is an art not mastered by most. Like all hard-workers on this planet, they can take comfort in the words of Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw: "I dread success - to have succeeded is to have finished one's business on earth". Hear! Hear!
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