Oscar Has a Foreign Accent

The Oscars this year had something of the feel of Ellis Island, circa 1900, as the parade of winners to the podium came from many lands, and many different accents were heard over the course of the night. Almost half of the categories were won by non-Americans, including all four of the acting categories, which has happened only one other time (in 1964, when Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Peter Ustinov and Lila Kedrova were the winners).

The awards were also fairly evenly distributed, with all five Best Picture nominees winning at least one award. No Country for Old Men picked up the most hardware, but it was only four awards, albeit three of the most important--picture, director, and adapted screenplay, along with supporting actor Javier Bardem. The Bourne Ultimatum actually came in second, with three awards.

As for surprises, there were a few. I was behind the curve on Marion Cotillard's win. Some of the blogosphere were on top of it, but I resisted the notion that a foreign-language would win over Julie Christie or Ellen Page. But I hadn't strongly considered a couple of things: Cotillard's transformation into Edith Piaf became more widely known as Cotillard made herself available for press, and the fact that she played a real person, which the Academy seems to go for in a big way (seven of the last nine Best Actresses have played real people). I was less suprised by Tilda Swinton's win as Best Supportin Actress. In a category that was essentially a toss-up, voters may have decided that it was the best place to honor the film Michael Clayton, and that indeed was the only win that film received.

Although it is not a major category, I was somewhat shocked that The Golden Compass won Visual Effects over the much showier Transformers. Golden Compass's special effects were hit and miss (a good polar bear fight, but some of the other animals looked very bad, and the flying witches recalled community theater productions of Peter Pan). Perhaps voters couldn't stomach voting for a movie that was based on a toy, as Transformers went 0-for-3.

As for the show, I watch in a group setting so it's difficult to gauge, as I tend to like the shows because those of us in the room are adding our own quips. I liked Jon Stewart more than I did for his first go-round, because I think he brought less of The Daily Show with him and conformed more to what an Oscar host is supposed to do. He had some good lines, a few that didn't work, and the show moved along with a nice zip. The performances of the Best Song nominees continue to be a time to go to the bathroom, but there weren't any other musical numbers, and I like the montages of past winners.

The show received it's lowest ratings ever, though, so undoubtedly there will be more tinkering for next year's show. I think they should lower their expectations and do the traditional thing, though, and not try to make it a great TV show. Even with lower ratings it's still one of the most highly-watched shows of any TV season.