IT'S OSCARS TIME AGAIN!

However much I've often disagreed with the Academy, I've always loved the Academy Awards. (But I'm sure many of you regular readers might've figured that already.) For a cinephile like me, Oscar day (as it is in Australia) is much like Christmas. I don't throw a party or anything, but I watch and record the show live (although I've missed it since 2014, to my chagrin, for weather and work reasons), and then discuss it at length with several online friends.

This first year I watched the Oscars was 1999, when Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture and Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful) practically trampled the audience on his way onto the stage (the latter being my earliest Oscars memory). From then, I was permanently hooked.

I do have my longstanding gripes with some Oscar wins, both during and before my lifetime, but hey, disagreements happen and I'm nobody important anyway. But the atmosphere and spectacle of the Awards is just transfixing every fucking time, and what they celebrate - the magic of movies - epitomises contagiousness. There are numerous reasons why cinema, like all artforms, has endured for over a century.

I would now list my most hated Oscar wins, but I'm a cranky, rambling arsehole already. So, here are my picks for the top five winners in each major category ever, in no order besides alphabetical.

BEST PICTURE:

Forrest Gump (1994)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Schindler's List (1993)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)


BEST DIRECTOR:


Jonathan Demme - The Silence of the Lambs
Milos Forman - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Steven Spielberg - Schindler's List
Robert Zemeckis - Forrest Gump


BEST ACTOR:


Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront (1954 - my #6 Best Picture winner)
Robert De Niro - Raging Bull (1980)
Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump
Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs
Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest


BEST ACTRESS:


Kathy Bates - Misery (1990)
Louise Fletcher - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Jodie Foster - The Silence of the Lambs
Holly Hunter - The Piano (1993)
Charlize Theron - Monster (2003)


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:


John Gielgud - Arthur (1981)
Kevin Kline - A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight (2008)
Tim Robbins - Mystic River (2003)
J. K. Simmons - Whiplash (2014)


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:


Angelina Jolie - Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Mo'Nique - Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (2009)
Eva Marie Saint - On the Waterfront (although I consider her leading)
Maureen Stapleton - Reds (1981)
Marisa Tomei - My Cousin Vinny (1992)


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:


Bo Goldman and Laurence Hauben - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Malcolm Johnson and Budd Schulberg - On the Waterfront
Peter Shaffer - Amadeus (1984)
Ted Tally - The Silence of the Lambs
Steven Zaillian - Schindler's List


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:


Ben Affleck and Matt Damon - Good Will Hunting (1997)
Michael Arndt - Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Roger Avary and Quentin Tarantino - Pulp Fiction (1994)
Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard - Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Tom Schulman - Dead Poets Society (1989)


P.S. I realise those are quite repetitive and most contemporary. But they're still genuine.

Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #24: Ruby Sparks (2012).

Calvin Weir-Fields (Paul Dano) is in a rut. In high school he wrote a book that took the literary world by storm and made him a guru for millions of other teens. But now, in his late 20s, he's burnt out. Mired in writer's block and a nascent love life, after appearing on a Where Are They Now?-style TV talk show and in frequent consultation with his therapist (Elliot Gould), Calvin starts writing about a young woman named Ruby (Zoe Kazan), who quickly inspires him. But that brings more than his mind to life. It literally brings Ruby to life! Cue the artist's meltdown. Now, as he comes to terms with the enormity of what he has created, Calvin must also choose whether to keep writing this romance or just see how it unfolds.

Romantic comedies are very hit-and-miss for me, chiefly because they usually follow the same boy-meets-girl formula. Ruby Sparks (2012), however, is an utterly refreshing, smartly plotted, profound and inventive addition to the canon. Dano is nicely layered and funny as what could've just been a younger knockoff of any Woody Allen persona. He's also reunited here with directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who made his/their breakthrough movie Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and while I've always adored that one, this may be even better. They handle this challenging material with such confidence and innovation that it's just striking, most of all in one late scene involving a typewriter that floored me in the cinema and still does. Credit here also goes to cinematographer Matthew Libatique and composer Nick Urata.

But the loudest applause here must be reserved for Zoe Kazan, who also wrote the screenplay. Dano's real-life partner and Oscar-winning director Elia Kazan's granddaughter, as writer she completes a brilliant puzzle of finding and keeping love in our time and of the creative process, and as Ruby she switches seamlessly between laughs and tears. The word "genius" is thrown around now like rice at a wedding but her screenplay is Oscar-worthy and her performance should've been nominated. But somehow, nobody involved was.

I'm prepared to call this the most underrated movie of this decade. And I can't resist ending this way: Ruby Sparks amazement.

Weathering the storms of fame.

Fame is quite a doubled-edged sword. For all the riches, there are rumours, indiscretion and media around every corner. I myself thus both do and don't want to be famous, and not just for my own sake.

This current saga with Grant Hackett (he's an Australian Olympic swimming Gold medalist, for you non-Aussies) is the latest in which a star has been put up on a pedestal. Why do we even feel we must do that to our icons? Just like everybody else, they can only give so much, and their flaws run very deep. Verbally celebrating them like titans is fine, but just so long as we remember they are still human.

Now, I'm not saying Hackett or any other star who's been embroiled in a media scandal didn't misbehave. He must've done something wrong. But beyond that he obviously has serious demons which he should be able to battle privately, so why can't he? He never chose to be famous anyway, nobody ever has. For a more infamous example, Winona Ryder's shoplifting incident in 2001 occurred while she was on prescription medication, and those issues can be overwhelming for even the most obscure person.

Filmmaker Brett Morgen, in his astonishing 2015 Kurt Cobain documentary Cobain: Montage of Heck, delivered a very moving condemnation of the destructiveness of our fame-obsessed culture by showing how the media's invasions of its subject's private life greatly exacerbated his problems (irresponsible though his behaviour often was). But sadly, celebs now have the cards stacked against them even higher.

Can't they at least be dealt another hand?

Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #23: Lars and the Real Girl (2007).

 

Meet Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling), a sweet but very introverted guy living in the icy American Midwest, with his older brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer), when he believes he's found his soulmate in a mannequin named Bianca. Naturally this sounds alarm bells for everybody Lars knows, and a shrink (Patricia Clarkson) is consulted. But Lars is utterly convinced Bianca is a real girl, so he's going to do whatever it takes to prove that.

This is such a beautiful little sleeper hit of a film. Australian director Craig Gillespie, working from Nancy Oliver's deservedly Oscar-nominated screenplay (which should've won the Oscar), brings this challenging story to life with such sincere understanding and sensitivity, pleasingly avoiding flashy visuals and manipulative music (Adam Kimmel's score and David Torn's music are both nicely restrained), while still also making the frosty, isolated setting an accurate metaphor for Lars' mental state.

But on that note, the highest praise must surely go to Ryan Gosling. He may have been Oscar-nominated for Half Nelson and now La La Land, but I still maintain this is his finest performance (especially compared to Half Nelson). This is one role which proves subtle acting isn't always easier, and Gosling nails every nuance and flicker of childlike vulnerability Lars experiences in his state of delusion. He will astonish you, and Mortimer, Schneider and Clarkson provide solid support.

Before seeing this movie, for some reason I'd never considered delusion per se a mental illness, but it immediately changed that perception and it impacts me no less now. That's because Lars and the Real Girl, may promote its messages of tolerating difference and unorthodox romance, but it never judges its subjects, or preaches to us.

A lament about cultural change.

I'm 28 but old school. I'm slow to embrace new technologies, I don't download media (besides YouTube videos) and I still hire Blu-Rays and DVDs. Then there's my music collection, roughly half of which predates me. (And, admittedly, it's almost exclusively male.) Now, I want to clearly state how much contemporary music I really do love, like artists who've broken through in the 2010s, namely Bruno Mars, Sheppard, Charlie Puth and Lukas Graham. The best days are never quite over. (Though I fucking despise most dance-pop artists and (as you know) especially EDM.)

But for many years I've been a classic rocker at heart. AC/DC, KISS, Queen, Led Zeppelin, the Doors et cetera, and of course the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Yet for all their cultural and artistic influence, so many of their hits wouldn't make the charts today, in most cases due to their length. To my knowledge the last Australian or UK number-one hit over seven minutes long was Meat Loaf's I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) in 1993, which I consider a great shame.


In some cases I do buy the argument that songs that long are pretentious and bloated or self-indulgent (especially Dire Straits' Telegraph Road and virtually every Pink Floyd song), but overall it takes clear ambition to try composing such a song, and remarkable talent. My all-time favourite song is the 7:04-long Hey Jude, whose repetitive coda counts for over half its length. If a musician or band can hold your attention for that long, surely that's memorable.


Or have we just become more restless or impatient culturally? If so that's lamentable, but we shouldn't let it increase.

Nevertheless, I'm pleased and proud that many other Millennials (including several of my friends) love both current and older music, through various influences. Without the latter we wouldn't have the former anyway, and keeping up with the times overall is important. However, and I'm sure before long this'll be said about 2017 things, many past (clothing/hair) fashions should stay LOCKED in the past.


I know trends and tastes have always come and gone, culturally. But not everything should change. Call me a musical reactionary, but overall I'm proudly old school. I just love and hate what I do. I'm not trying to justify that; I'm merely trying to promote it. But in any case, just because something's unfashionable doesn't mean it always was, or that it's literally dead. Now, if you'll excuse me, my "old school" class is back in session!

Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #22: No (2012).

Augusto Pinochet was the military dictator of Chile from 1973 to 1990. By 1988, after extensive corruption and human rights abuses, his popularity everywhere had eroded, and he was forced to hold a plebiscite for Chileans to decide whether or not to extend his presidency for eight more years.

Pablo Larrain's 2012 movie No, based on Antonio Skirmeta's play Referendum, tells something of the inside story of the 'No' campaign that set Chile free. Gabriel Garcia Bernal plays Rene Saavedra, a (fictional) firebrand young advertising executive whom Pinochet's opponents persuade to spearhead their campaign. He has a young wife and son for whom he is the breadwinner, but he eventually realizes getting involved with the 'No' campaign (whose cause he sincerely supports) will inspire his son to take a stand in life, so he goes for it. Now, with a very tight budget and under the prying eyes of Pinochet's minions, they hatch their plan to win the referendum and free Chile.

No was nominated for the 2012 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and seeing why is easy. It's not just another self-conscious political drama; Larrain, working from Pedro Peirano's well-structured screenplay, infuses it with real panache and authority. It also brilliantly evokes 1988 Chile through smartly chosen (and placed) archive footage of the real 'No' campaign, featuring prominent supporters like Jane Fonda and Richard Dreyfuss, and Larrain resists using manipulative footage of Pinochet's crimes.

Also crucial is a strong turn from Gabriel Garcia Bernal, taking Rene from a reluctant participant to one who eventually sees why you sometimes must put your cynicism aside and at least try to make a change. No is a brilliant snapshot of Chile in 1988, but in how it explores the effectiveness of grassroots political activism (especially through familiar public resources like the media), it sends a timeless message of how we average citizens CAN change history. Best of all, these ones really did.

Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #21: Patrick (2013).

Kathy Jacquard (Sharni Vinson) is an impressionable young nurse who takes a job at a remote clinic run by renegade neurologist Dr. Sebastian Roget (Charles Dance), who specialises in brutal experiments on the long-term comatose, under the supervision of Matron Cassidy (a wickedly icy Rachel Griffiths). Dr. Roget's favourite patient is Patrick (Jackson Gallagher), a young man who has been lying mute and immobile for three years after being electrocuted. In Roget's words he is now just "limp meat hanging off a comatose brain." But now, Kathy's arrival awakens desires in him and unleashes his withheld psychic powers, especially after she uncovers a shocking secret about his past. Cue the death and destruction.

Patrick is a remake of the 1978 cult Aussie shocker and while I very rarely defend remakes, for me this one (although I did see it first) fucking vacuums AND mops the floor with the original. Firstly because it's more intimate and claustrophobic, with Patrick being able to mentally use a computer and phone in some ways like cyber-harassment (in the original he just uses a typewriter), and another very gruesome death involving an elevator. Secondly, I found Roget a far more interesting character this time. In the original as played by Robert Helpmann, he's just another straitlaced surgeon, and here he's corrupt and insane from the start, although Charles Dance never makes him cartoonish. Plus, it's legitimately scary, which today is miraculous even for an ORIGINAL horror flick.

Director Mark Hartley, who previously made the documentary Not Quite Hollywood about so-called "Ozploitation" flicks including the 1978 Patrick, and writer Justin King clearly considered this a labour of love, and they hit it right out of the park. They wisely steer as clear as possible from the familiar horror devices (there are no creaky floorboards or shrieking violins here), they create cohesive and convincing character dynamics, Hartley's clarity and pacing should make your heart pound like Kathy's, and overall it even raises valid questions about modern health care. When/how does "compassionate" care become abuse? Is there room for risk-taking in medicine and if so, how much?

If you're like me, you should love Patrick. But just make sure HE doesn't love you...

My path to self-acceptance.

I was 12 when I got the diagnosis: Asperger's syndrome. I didn't know what to make of it or even how it made me different; I basically just assumed I wasn't and life went on regardless. But then -  DUN, DUN, DUN! - came puberty. At 14, the reality of my diagnosis very much kicked in, coupled with anxiety issues surfacing then. I remember that phase so vividly, and I deeply regret how I handled it (particularly at school), but I still struggle to articulate my thoughts on those memories.

But even if they've contributed to adult Jarred, they're not the key point here. From diagnosis at 12, I never disclosed it until I was 19, to my then-partner. I've never been more scared in my life, but I got the words out and she took them easily. Admittedly, for all those years in between I was indescribably self-conscious about having it; it had taken me so long to make that many friends, I didn't want anything to jeopardise that, you know? (But for the record, I now know none of them would've cared. I've unfortunately fallen out with some since school, but all for unrelated reasons, and now I suspect at least most of them knew I was different - I can't hide it, and over five years they must've seen me a few times at the (although I resent this term) special education unit.)

And then, after that phone call when I was 19, it was still a few years before I could fully come out as autistic (with all due respect to the LGBTIQ community, coming out can also be a thing for us). I attribute that, along with my family's and other friends' support, to having studied Arts at university. That field attracts many unashamedly crazy types, and I do mean that affectionately (I'm no exception anyway). But once I overcame my former self-consciousness about having Asperger's, I felt genuinely liberated and still do. And if anyone mocks or excludes me for it, that says much more about them.

Now, despite that I've actually never regretted keeping quiet for so long about being autistic. That's because everything about that part of my life has turned out okay (which I appreciate, especially as I know for many of my siblings on the spectrum that's not true), and sometimes you just have to see where life takes you.

But there'll always be others following in our footsteps. So, to anyone, young or old, who's in any minority and struggling with that: you have nothing to be ashamed of, although publicising your difference is your choice. And becoming ready to come our happens subjectively. But as cliched as it sounds, when you're ready, you'll really just know and feel it. And I promise you won't regret it.