See all in Features

Luckey in Amsterdam

Features

Babel rousers

None of the Best Actor nominees, on the other hand, can I see lodging a convincing bid for the White House, though all embody some of the contradictory elements needed for a successful film career. By day Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson indoctrinates his inner-city junior-high class with a left-wing agenda worthy of Sean Penn; by night he indulges a derelict lifestyle that would be the envy of Robert Evans. Leonardo DiCaprio’s mercenary smuggler in Blood Diamond is as ruthless as any studio honcho and his redemption as phony and hypocritical as any studio movie. In Venus, Peter O’Toole embodies Hollywood’s self-aggrandizing apotheosis of its own venality as he plays an aging legend whose past and future shittiness fades before the sentimental glory of being an aging legend. In The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith’s dogged family values and Horatio Alger determination make it okay that he becomes the kind of capitalist who puts people like himself on the street in the first place. And might not Forest Whitaker have drawn some inspiration from Harvey Weinstein in his portrayal of Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland?

Speaking of Africa: the continent has lately become fashionable in Hollywood, and not just for celebrity adoptions. Representing the millions of Africans starved, murdered, displaced, tortured, and maimed there of late, the photogenic Djimon Hounsou should get a Best Supporting Actor nod for Blood Diamond. Brad Pitt in Babel stands in for all the spoiled white people indifferent to the sufferings of others and due for a comeuppance as his Moroccan tourist gets a lesson in the interconnection of life, the stupidity of American bureaucrats, and the lousy medical care available in the Third World. And Jack Nicholson in The Departed, Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls, and Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children will be cited for bringing a human face to, respectively, Whitey Bulger, James Brown, and a child molester.

It’s the otherwise disposable Best Supporting Actress category, however, that the Academy has always reserved for paying homage to the despised, despairing, and broken little people of the world. Such as exhibitionist Japanese teenagers, as depicted by Rinko Kikuchi, and harried illegal immigrant housekeepers, as played by Adriana Barazza, both in Babel. Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls shows that American Idol losers can bounce back playing watered-down versions of a Supremes back-up singer. Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine proves that even pot-bellied ugly ducklings can compete on the JonBenét Ramsey circuit. And Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal demonstrates how even a privileged, talented, beautiful ex-hippie can be redeemed if she lays off the 15-year-olds and returns to the bosom of her hideous family.

As for directors, I think they will parallel the Best Picture selections, with one exception. I can’t see Emilio Estevez getting a nomination for Bobby. And though Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris got one of the five Directors Guild nominations, I think they might lose out because the Academy has never nominated co-directors. It just seems, I don’t know, too unwieldy.

• Share:
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•