"Storm" in Hollywood

The 82-year-old Oscar preferred reality to illusions. Even high-tech

It turns out that diamonds from Tiffany, neckline from Dior and Galliano are not enough. As are the world-favorite faces of Clooney, Cruise and Winslet. Last year's television broadcasts of the ceremony gathered a record low number of viewers at the screens. Here are the organizers...

It turns out that diamonds from Tiffany, neckline from Dior and Galliano are not enough. As are the world-favorite faces of Clooney, Cruise and Winslet. Last year's television broadcasts of the ceremony gathered a record low number of viewers at the screens.

So the organizers of the main film parade decided: it's time to infuse fresh blood, pump up muscles. From now on (for how long?) "Oscar" breathes in unison with the explosive planet. To hell with the checkout. Academics are concerned about the shooting of dolphins, the difficult life in Burma, the fate of Vietnamese soldiers and Mexican children (plots of the documentary section nominees).

But the main evidence of change was the unanimous support for independent cinema. "Avatar" - a luxurious computer delight - was not lucky, not his time. The time has come for truthful, impartial, rough cinema. Cinematic Cinderella, hurriedly shedding her glass slippers, tiara and ball gown, puts on a cap and a dirty apron. Rather, to work - to clean the smoky hearth called "planet Earth" ...

Oscar number 82 is a celebration of independent, problematic, low-budget cinema. "The Hurt Locker" ( see "New", No. 3, 2010 ), Kathryn Bigelow's documentary-style military thriller, became the undisputed leader (six awards). The war in Iraq, the torn bodies of American soldiers, reports from the front in a peaceful country - a topic more relevant than saving a virtual Pandora. For the first time, a woman director has won the first of the film awards. She dedicated her victory to the men and women fighting in Iraq, wishing them "to return home soon."

The winner was another anti-glamour social drama (out of six nominations - two awards). "Precious" (the name is translated as "Push" or "Precious", the heroine of the film is Clarice Precious Jones). The story of a 16-year-old African-American woman from Harlem who became pregnant and suffered from obesity and family problems. A modest picture about a "problematic" girl (only $ 10 million) has already received the main prize at Sundance. The spirit of free, unbiased cinema filled the Kodak Hall that evening.

It looks like the Oscars are building a bridge between Hollywood and the Independents. This explains the increase in nominations in the main category "Best Film" from five to ten. Otherwise, both Lee Daniels' film Precious and Cohen's A Serious Man about a Jewish klutz-professor (family, work, health - everything goes to dust) would not shine in the most prestigious nominations. The current list of contenders compete classics ("Education of the senses") and modernity ("Preshes", "Up in the sky"), cinematic asceticism, documentary ("The Hurt Locker") and a riot of technology ("Avatar"). Uninhibited, carnival elements (“Inglorious Basterds”, “Up”, “Serious Man”) and devotion to the genre (“The Invisible Country”, “District No. 9”) are a tomogram of an indifferent, boring, thinking cinema.

Will the inspirers of the world's main film award succeed in breathing new life into it? How long has reality on screen triumphed over illusion? Time will show. And the Oscar will show us the new time that will be in demand by the viewer and the screen.