| |
By:
JBR
The Oscar nominations for 2005 were released in Los Angeles during the last month. On seeing these nominations, a question arises: Is Hollywood bypassing graphics and coming around to human behaviour?
It is common place to find films like ‘Titanic’ and ‘Aviator’ that are huge productions. The Oscar nominations this time have avoided that type of films. On the contrary, five of the films nominated examine the minute nuances in human behaviour. Important among them is Brokeback Mountain.
This film directed by Ang Lee is centred on two cowboys. Their relationship exceeds that of friendship. To avoid that, they separate and get married. But they come together again owing to their personal attraction.
This Ang Lee’s film which proclaims homosexuality has the best chance of winning an Oscar. This film got a huge reception in the screenings held in Toronto and Venice. It also won the Golden Lion award. This film has received 8 nominations including for best film and for best director.
It is to be noted that ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’ directed by the Taiwanese director Ang Lee had already won an Oscar for the best film in the foreign films category.
The film nominated for Oscar is ‘Capote’ made on the life of the bisexual writer Truman Capote. This Philip Seymor Hoffman starrer has received 5 nominations including for best film, best director and best actor. Screenplay written by Dan Futterman, this film is directed by Bennet Miller. Capote has already won 25 awards both within America and outside.
‘Crash’ is a film about the interpersonal relationships among people in Los Angeles city. Paul Haggis has written the story, screenplay and directed the film.
‘Transamerica’ is yet another film that has generated a lot of discussions similar to that of ‘Brokeback Mountain’. The lifestyle problems are depicted through a man changing his sex. Felicity Hoffman who acted as the man turning into a woman has been nominated as the best actor for this film.
Stephen Spielberg’s ‘Munich’ and ‘Paradise Now’ in the foreign films category have come in for condemnation from the Jews.
In the 1972 Olympics at Munich, 11 sportspersons belonging to Israel were shot dead. The measures taken by the Israel government to find out the killers forms the story of Spielberg’s ‘Munich.’ It has been criticized that many of the facts are flawed and also shows Israelites in a wrong light.
‘Paradise Now’ by Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad is about how two human bombs belonging to Nablus are sent on a suicide mission to Tel Aviv. Israeli media and Internet sources condemn this film as being anti-Jew.
'Good Night and Good Luck' directed by George Clooney, has been nominated for 6 categories including best film and best director. It has political overtones and is about America’s broadcast television icon Edward R Murrow.
Apart from this, films like Harry Potter, ‘King Kong’ directed by Peter Jackson who made ‘Lord of the Rings’ and based heavily on graphics, are also in the fray. But these do not figure in the best film, best director, best actor or best actress categories.
On the whole, relationships outside the normal seem to be in favor in this year’s Oscars. Another point is, blockbusters do not figure in the line-up. Surprisingly, the 5 best films nominated seem to be all low budget films, running in the few film theatres in the US. An exception is Spielberg’s ‘Munich’ which was made on a budget of 75 million dollars but compared to a Harry Potter film, this will seem like low budget!
The budget of the other 4 films:
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - 15 million dollars
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK - 7.5 million dollars
CAPOTE - 7 million dollars
CRASH - 6.5 million dollars
The Oscar nominations for 2005 shows that the attention has once again turned back to human relationships as compared to technical wizardry, graphics and mega budgets.
Tamil cinema looks to Hollywood for any and every kind of inspiration. Hopefully, this latest trend will have caught the notice of our film folk, and most importantly for the betterment of our cinema!
|
 |
Feedback!
|
|
|
|
CinePoll
|
|
|
Dream girl of 2007?
|
|
|
Online Support
9 AM to 6 PM IST
|
|
|
Phone Support
|
91-9382311576(24 Hours)
|
Send this page
to your friend!
|
|
|
|
-04.02.2006
