Those Little Gold Statues

After spending months patiently waiting for the Oscars, they are now right around the corner. This Sunday, the biggest night in Hollywood will captivate the attention of many film lovers as all the celebrities unite in order to recognize each others' achievements.

 

To this day, I can still remember watching the Oscars for the first time with my older brother. The glitz and the glamour of the awards immediately caught my eye and made me wish to one day stand up on that stage, holding my award for Best Original Screenplay (which I sometimes still hope for).

 

However, now that I am older, I am able to better understand the whole ceremony and the kind of recognition that results afterwards. I also know how such awards affects those that love film and those that work in it. For example, everybody expected the director of Argo, Ben Affleck, to be nominated for Best Director since Argo is nominated for Best Picture. In the months leading up to the nominations, I was also one of those people that believed Affleck would receive a nomination, even if he did not win. However, this did not happen of course, and I was completely stunned.

 

Before, when I was much younger, I did not really process this kind of information, but now that I am older, I realize just how important it is. I am sure Affleck must have also hoped of receiving a nomination for his movie, especially if he had been following all the crazy but positive media attention his directing was receiving. Yet, to not have been able to even compete with other respectable directors such as Steven Spielberg, must have been really hard for Affleck to accept. Still, I believe that Affleck is not a man only concerned with awards, but instead, makes movies for the sheer joy and pleasure in communicating a valuable story with others, which in my opinion, is one of the best reasons to make a movie. 

 

I cannot really say with much confidence who the winner of Best Director will be. I know everyone immediately thinks of Spielberg, which is very understandable, yet I cannot help but remember that it was only last year that he was also nominated for the same category (for War Horse) yet he lost to Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist). This situation further complicates itself because it is usual for movies that are nominated for Best Picture to have a director nominated for Best Director for each respective movie. I will just have to see what happens on Sunday.

 

Since the Oscars are always full of unexpected and sometimes silly surprises, I cannot imagine what this year will bring. However, I can almost guarantee that if (hopefully when--crossing my fingers!) Anne Hathaway wins for Best Supporting Actress, she will cry halfway during her acceptance speech :) It appears that Hathaway really wants this from all the interviews and speeches she has given so far. If she wins, I will be extremely happy because she is a very talented actress, who won my heart in her memorable performance as Kym, a deeply troubled yet caring young woman in the 2008 drama, Rachel Getting Married.

 

Overall, the Oscars are always very exciting and dramatic and I cannot wait for Sunday night.