The Lives of Others Wins Foreign-Language Oscar
Sunday February 25, 2007
Didn't get anywhere near an Oscar: Evan Rachel Wood and
Ed Norton in Down in the Valley. (ThinkFilm)
The German wiretapping drama The Lives of Others won Best Foreign Film at the 79th Academy Awards in Los Angeles last night. Debut filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck was clearly shocked by the win; he literally jumped in the air with genuine glee written on his face, only to come down and hastily shake the hand of Guillermo del Toro, the expected winner for Pan's Labyrinth. Donnersmark was cut off by the orchestra while thanking his wife, but these things happen at the Oscars. The congratulatory ceremony clocked in three hours and forty seven minutes.
It was not a night of surprises. The Departed took the top honor, and after six Best Director nominations, Martin Scorsese finally snatched his own golden statuette for his remake of Infernal Affairs. Helen Mirren and Forrest Whittaker continued their sweep of awards season for historical figures Queen Elizabeth II and Idi Amin. Jennifer Hudson won Best Supporting Actress for Dreamgirls and Alan Arkin took Best Supporting Actor over Eddie Murphy. The Academy most likely wished they could take the award back after Arkin set the statuette on the Kodak Theater floor to read his acceptance speech.
Al Gore was one of the big winners of the night. An Inconvenient Truth won Oscars for Best Documentary and Best Song. George Clooney joked that the former Vice President would not be announcing his candidacy because he'd been drinking back stage with Clooney and Jack Nicholson. No presidential announcement was made, though Al Gore teased the audience before the orchestra -- this time with an obvious understanding -- shut him down.
Though Pan's Labyrinth didn't win Best Foreign Film, the movie did take three Oscars: for cinematography, art direction and achievement in makeup. The indiewood comedy Little Miss Sunshine didn't score a major upset with a Best Picture win, but the film was awarded Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. The previous night, it had received its big hurrah when it took the top prize at the Indie Spirit Awards. Considered the little film that could, we are happy that the movie can now just go away.
Oscar coverage will certainly continue -- critiques of the clothes and Ellen Degeneres' non-offensive jokes, her tuxedo changes -- but we profess to be bone tired of celebrating films we did not love. Here at World/Independent Film, we'd like to use the end of another awards season to give a last shout-out to the forgotten and underrated movies of 2006, among them Down in the Valley, Lemming, Shortbus, Le Petit Lieutenant, Brick, When the Levees Broke, and of course, David Lynch's magnificent Inland Empire. If only all Oscar campaigns were as original and inventive as his.
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Dave Kehr: “So that’s over, and now the industry can get back to making “Ghost Rider II.”