Oscar as an escape

Nominations on the Awards of the American Film Academy is a reaction to US President Donald Trump

The nominations for the 89th Oscar showed the absolute triumph of one picture. The musical of the 32-year-old Damen Shazella “La La Land” received 14 nominations. Only two paintings deserved so much before him: “All about Eve” Joseph Leo Mankevich in 1950 and “Titanic” by James Cameron in 1997. Of course, this is not only a sign of the high advantages of the film, but also the proof that Shazell managed to guess the expectations of American cinematography and the public.

“La La Land” is an ideal escape from today's uncomfortable and at the same time an ironic cure for beautifulness

Forward and with a song

In the drama of Mankevich, “All about Eve”, Hollywood said goodbye to his golden age, analyzing the obsession with show business with glory and the tragic consequences of this glory: it is not surprising that that tape (responding with an echo and in La La La Lada) was so enthusiastically found on Oscars. In the Titanic, Cameron escorted the twentieth century, colorfully painting one of his first disasters - it was, in fact, a film about the end of the world, about the World Flood. How does this seem like the most modest musical of the young director, who received the same record 14 nominations from the American Academy, the most authoritative arbitrator in the country and the world?

First of all, Shazell returned one of America’s favorite national genres to the screens. In recent years, the musicals at the US rental have become less and less, and all of them (Chicago, Mamma Mia, Outcasted, Suini Todd) were adaptations of popular Broadway performances. La La Land is an original musical written and set specifically for the cinema. In addition, Shazell did not fulfill the production order, but expressed his fears and aspirations with the help of this archaic form, the composer Justin Gurvitz, his university friend and neighbor in hostel, helped him in this. Thus, sincerity has been returned to the artificial genre.

“La La Land” fights two fronts, managing to satisfy irreconcilable rivals. Those who still protest against Donald Trump’s victory in the elections and do not want to believe in it, are happy to refuse to understand too uncomfortable reality and dive into the infantile dreams of the old cinema and classic jazz, which Sebastian and Mia, lovers of the Musical Shazella, love and live. Those who want to “again make America Great” will hear nostalgia in “La La Lada” by the same non-altitude times of national greatness (the picture has already been reproached for a lack of “ethnic diversity” and any conflict). In general, this tape is an ideal escape from today's uncomfortable and at the same time an ironic cure for beautifulness. More timely cinema and you want to come up with, but it will not work.

Not too white Oscar

Oddly enough, the current La La Lada triumph is not at all a guarantee of the final victory, although most bookmakers make bets on it. Not every time the figurine for the best film is carried away by leaders in the number of nominations. In addition, in the Oscar coordinate system, the paintings are meaningful and problematic often prevailing over the entertaining, even if shiny: so low -budget “overlord of the storm” at one time defeated the Avatar himself, and the modest “in the spotlight” easily defeated the spectacular “surviving”.

The most serious competitor of the musical in the struggle for the main prize is the Lunar Light, the poetic drama of Barry Jenkins about the growing up of a black gay-thin in the poor area. Even from this brief description, it is not difficult to draw a hasty conclusion: the apogee of political correctness, this film is literally doomed to win (and the Golden Globe recognized the best drama of the year precisely the Moonlight). American critics insist: this is not a sentimental speculation, but an original, poetic and deep picture, which, unlike La La Lada, does not turn away from the current agenda, but boldly analyzes it. The film has eight nominations, this is a lot.

Last year, a scandal erupted due to insufficient attention provided by the Academy films of African American authors. It is intentionally or not, but now the error is fixed, and there is definitely nothing to scandal. Along with the “moonlight” in the lists of nominated filmmakers- “fences” , the directorial work of Denzel Washington (he has another acting nomination), and the bright biographical tape “Hidden Figures” about black women who committed a real revolution in NASA in the 1960s.

"Manchester by the sea" is a film about the electorate of Trump, which American cinema-lavaces do not know at all and are just starting to study

Nevertheless, the third most important contender for the title of the best film was another picture. “Manchester by the sea”, declaratively discreet drama Kenneth Lonergan, is a story about plumbing, who, after the sudden death of his brother, is forced to take care of the teenage nephew and return to his hometown from the crowded Boston. A thin, even deceptively simple plot from the point of view of the plot, this almost Chekhovskaya drama has long been in favorites, and almost no one doubts that the main role of Casey Affleck (the younger brother of the Oscar -Minor) will receive his acting Oscar.

“Manchester by the sea” - the annals of the life of humiliated and offended, in which Hollywood cinema rarely pays attention. In fact, this is a film about Trump's electorate, which American cinematographers do not know at all and are just starting to study. The same words can be said about David Mackenzie’s hard, “at all costs” , in which two brothers rob the bank’s branches, which imposed them with a now deceased mother, an overwhelming mortgage loan. This tape has four nominations.

Return to Earth

Along with the “moonlight” in terms of the number of nominations-also eight-the philosophical science fiction picture of the Canadian Denis Vilnev “Arrival” . In recent years, the Academy constantly celebrates science fiction: “gravity”, “Interstellar”, “Martian” ... “Arrival” is different from them in two important details. Firstly, the action takes place not in space, but on Earth. Secondly, among the characters there are no longer only people, but also aliens. The main theme of the film is to establish incredible contact, an attempt to understand a stranger. So modern America is trying to find a common language with those who were on the other side of the barricades after shocking, sharing the country of elections.

“Arrival” - here the action takes place not in space, but on Earth, and among the characters are not only people, but also aliens

Highly appreciating the “arrival” as a directorial and artistic concept, the Oscar unexpectedly did not include in the list of applicants for the Amy Adams acting award, which played the outstanding role of the translator linguist. In general, the list of actresses looks pretty strange, and you can only guess who will win (if not the eternal measurement of the strip , who received the next 20th nomination), is Emma Stone from La La Lada or, for example, Nalie Portman , who played the widow of President Kennedy in the Drama of Jackie? I would like to bet on the most unexpected participant in this competition, an ingenious 63-year-old Frenchwoman Isabelle Jupper , for whom this is the first nomination in life. “She” of Verkhoven Paul is a shocking film, and you should not be surprised that the Academy ignored him, but to give a prize to the actress means to pay tribute to the picture, provocative and witty.

In the animation nomination, the chances of the work of Disney studio “Disney” “Zeropolis” are high-after all, this is not just a fairy tale with animals, but a picture of racial and social diversity, a kind of latest set of esopian fables, which America now really needs. In the category “Best Film Language”, I would like to hope, “Tony Erdmann” Maren Ada , a German tragicomedy about the relationship of an adult daughter with an aging father. This charming tape was ignored by the Cannes jury, later the European film academia recognized her as the best film of the year - the line for Oscar. And we can cheer for her with a pure heart - after all, “Paradise” Andrei Konchalovsky did not fall on the list.

Photo: kinopoisk.ru