Oscar's Intimate Gathering

Another Oscar ceremony over, and this year had few surprises for the historians, but the show itself had a distinctly different feel from the long line of overblown extravaganzas. Bill Condon and Laurence Mark, who produced this year's show for the first time, took a different approach to the whole thing, making it more intimate, as if we were peeking in on a private club. I think it was successful, for the most part, and hope that even if these two aren't back next year (and they might be, since ratings were up) that some of the innovations stick.

The stage, though sporting a massive curtain made of crystal, seemed like a nightclub. The stars were very close to the action, as if they were watching a magician doing card tricks. The Kodak Theater is huge inside, but none of its expanse was evident during the telecast. The show also had something of a theme, arranging the awards in the order of how a film is put together, with screenwriting first, then design, post-production, etc. Some presenters gave as many as four awards, cutting down the number of stars needed.

But then, on the other hand, the acting awards picked up the slack, by having five previous winners of the award come out and stand in a semi-circle, like inquisitors. Though the look was intimidating, the effect was much warmer, as each previous winner lauded one of the five nominees in that category. I thought this was crackerjack, creating a further intimacy as presenter and nominee bonded. I expect Anne Hathaway doesn't even care that she didn't win, as she was blown away by Shirley Maclaine taking two minutes to tell her how great she was. I did miss the usual clips of the performances--we had to rely solely on the spoken word of the presenter.

I also found intriguing the handling of the clips for the Best Picture nominees. Instead of one scene, or even a montage, the clips were interspersed with scenes from other Best Picture nominees through history, following on the themes of this year's. Thus when we got a scene from Frost/Nixon, we then saw a scene from All the President's Men, and clips from The Reader were mingled with some from other Holocaust-themed films such as Schindler's List and Life Is Beautiful. It was a fascinating reminder that not only is there nothing new under the sun, but the art of film builds on all that has come before it.

As for the host, Hugh Jackman, I thought he was refreshing. He was the first non-comedian to host since the 1970's, and signaled a shift away from quipsters making cracks about Hollywood toward a song-and-dance man who is unashamedly in love with Tinseltown. The first musical number, a twist on the old Billy Crystal numbers incorporating the Best Picture nominees into song, was terrific (and they didn't limit it to the five nominees, also including The Dark Knight and The Wrestler). The second one, a tribute to movie musicals, wasn't as successful. The selection of musicals seemed random, and including youngsters like Zach Efron and Amanda Seyfried, who aren't exactly household names (at least not in this house) left me wanting.

As for the winners, I wasn't surprised by the eight major awards, getting all of them correct. There was a stunning surprise in Foreign Language Film, which is always ripe for shock because the voters have to see all five nominees, meaning that it's a small voting group. A Japanese film, Departures, beat the critically ballyhooed Waltz With Bashir and The Class. This is the first time a Japanese film has won the award in competition (they won a few in the fifties when it was a special award).

Another surprise was the brief and dignified speech Jerry Lewis made as he accepted a well-deserved Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. I am not a fan of Lewis' comedy, but you can't argue with his impact on helping sick children, raising two billion dollars over the year. Lewis, who for years came across like an oily lounge lizard who seems to be in love with his own image, was perhaps too infirm to deliver the self-aggrandizing speech he might have given ten years ago. Or maybe he recognized the magnitude of the moment and dialed it down out of respect for the occasion.

Most of the speeches were good. There was some politics--Bill Maher dissed all deities as silly in his presentation, and Sean Penn blasted every Californian who voted against gay marriage rights, but mostly we saw raw emotion and humility. Penelope Cruz made a nice statement about art as a unifying thing, and Kate Winslet may have given the Academy a marketing idea--shampoo bottles shaped like Oscar. The moment when Heath Ledger's family accepted his Oscar caught the audience tear-stricken in a display that seemed sincere and moving.

What will linger from this year's awards is the showing of Slumdog Millionaire, which won eight Oscars, and was a coming out for Indian cinema (even though the film was produced, written, directed, edited and photographed by Brits). There were plenty of Indians who did win, such as musician A.R. Rahman who won two, and the gathering of the cast on stage for the last award was a pleasant moment, especially when I learned on the news tonight that some of those kids still live in poverty in Mumbai (but have trust funds waiting for them).