man on wire (2008)

and now for a film that the academy did get right... and a british film too.

james marsh's "man on wire", the tale of philippe petit, a young french man and his attempt to cross the two towers of the world trade center by rope, is the best reviewed film of all time. quite an impressive feat, but then so is the film itself. the fact that no actual video footage of petit crossing the towers actually exists doesnt prevent the film from being a towering achievement (pun intended), as instead we follow his plight and plan to scale and cross. the film is told in the manner of the heist film, with each detail and problem explained and tackled in the appropriate manner. the forty year old opinion of those involved is shown too, with each displaying a huge amount of emotion and reverence to the event.

analogy towards the events of september the eleventh are left to be made by the viewer, but the detailed shots of the buildings themselves are enough to provoke thought and exploration into those later events. the manner in which petit describes the towers as things of unimaginable beauty comes across as a striking anchor point for how the towers are now remembered.

post oscar 2009 report

well our predictions werent too bad (although i am aware that beth beat me in best director!). in hindsight sean penn was a much safer bet than expected, with him taking the SAG award and whatnot, but it was still a shock to see roure lose out. i did love penn in ''milk'' though, and if i could be so bold as to quote my own review of the film from january 12th -

for me the oscar race has heated up. i didnt really consider milk to be much of a contender, but after tonight i find it difficult to believe that there has been a better performance this year than that of sean penn as harvey milk.

it would have been great to see rourke take it tho, if not for some academy recognition for aronofsky's "the wrestler".

winslet's win came as no surprise to anyone, although i do think the win being for "the reader" was undeserved when compared to her turn in "revolutionary road". i would have been pleased to see her take it for that, but "the reader" winning just reaks of hollywood politics in action (with the vile harvey weinstein back to his manipulative ways of old).

"slumdog millionaire" winning everything else also proved to be no surprise. im pleased that the film won so much, and the internet backlash is beyond annoying. sure there are films that i would have prefered had beaten it to best picture, but i am still really pleased to see danny boyle's film take home so much praise. the genuine happiness that everyone involved displays is refreshing when compared to the stoic nature usually associated with this sort of thing. "wall-e" really should have taken the sound awards tho.

one final thing, the obituaries were incredibly moving this year, due in no small part to the inclusion of paul newman. the way in which the lights all fell upon his moment, and the quote rang out amongst the auditorium was just perfect.