Everything, Everywhere, All Over the Place.
By Steve Sharp
There was particular local interest in last Saturday’s Oscars because the immensely kind and talented Charlie Mackesy was nominated for the animated film of his best-selling book, The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse. His book broke all records, spending over 150 weeks in the Sunday Times best sellers list and the subsequent film premiered on BBC 1 on Christmas Eve.
He won!
The usual glitz and glamour of the event is easy to avoid given its late night broadcast, but the reporting in the following days is headline news, with views on winners, losers, fashion disasters, or as happened last year, slapping.
Having seen only one nominated film, All Quiet on the Western Front, we set about selecting three others to catch up on this week.
My wife’s mum had seen The Banshees of Inisherin and said it was heartbreakingly sad and made her cry, whilst her cousin said it was extremely funny and made him laugh.
It was both, sad and very funny, but the things that made it special was some superb acting and the extraordinary filming of locations on the Irish isles of Achill and Inishmore.
Note to self. Add visit to bucket list.
Despite being nominated for nine awards it won none.
A travesty in our view as Jenny, the miniature donkey alone deserved a gong.
What did win is the Irish knitting industry, a with reported spike in sales of traditional jumpers sported by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.
Next up was The Whale. A play turned film which, with at least one critic suggesting it should have remained on the stage.
The story of a tragic figure who, following tragic events becomes grossly obese. It’s a tough watch, and frankly not enjoyable.
It won Brendan Fraser Best Lead Actor, Hong Chan an Oscar for her supporting role and Best Makeup award for the transformation of Fraser with amazing prosthetics.
Finally. Everything Everywhere All at Once, which swept the board recording eight wins including Best Picture.
Why?
This absurdist movie sharply divides opinion from, “…a joyous film” to “It’s a challenging, provocative, manic, self-indulgent movie”
You have to admire, the acting, the filming and the CGI but not necessarily a simple story of domestic trials and tribulations made hallucinogenic.
It is, everything all at once, all over the place!
Wondering what happened to the film industry’s view of what’s good we looked back at decades of Oscar winners.
1960. Ben-Hur
1970. Midnight Cowboy
1980. Kramer vs Kramer
1990. Driving Miss Daisey
2000. American Beauty
2010. The Hurt Locker
All great stories, well told, brilliantly acted and still good to watch today.
Steve