Oscars 2022: David Edelstein asks, "Why does this thing still exist?"
This year's Academy Awards promise a new level of bummer. Now, I admit I always make fun of the show. But I've never before wondered, "Why does this thing still exist?"
Oscars traditionally celebrate movies that are both commercial and important, but now you only get that combo on TV.
Everything's in flux, and everybody's angry: under pressure to speed up, it's giving eight awards before airtime, and showing just the highlights. Jessica Chastain vowed not to walk the red carpet, but to sit inside with the people who did her peepers in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye."
Do you even have a dog in the best picture fight? For a while, the most powerful dog looked like Jane Campion's "The Power of the Dog," a portrait of sexually-repressed cowboys, which I found haunting, though I did need someone to explain the ending.
Kenneth Branagh's autobiographical drama "Belfast" has more middlebrow oomph, but there's a dark horse: "CODA," about a family of deaf fishermen. It's very touching, it's totally conventional, which could be the ticket.
If you still can focus on Oscars: Will Smith will likely win for "King Richard." He's Venus and Serena Williams' dad.
Best actress I'm less sure of. "Spencer"'s Kristen Stewart is pick-your-superlative. But Jessica Chastain has the edge. Academy members want to give thumbs-up to people who give the academy thumbs-down.
I expect it will be an unpleasant muddle of a ceremony in the service of an irrelevant medium in a year in which nothing is certain but uncertainty.
Which means it might be the most freakishly riveting Oscars ever – where everyone, at home and in Hollywood, is constantly asking, "Why does this thing still exist?"
For more info:
- oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences)
- oscars.com (Official site of Oscar telecast)
- Complete CBSNews.com coverage: The Academy Awards
Story produced by Young Kim. Editor: Emanuele Secci.
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