The Oscars: I really didn’t want to do this, but I was soooo pleased

Obviously there has to be a post about the Oscars every year even though it has nothing to do with anything (consider it “bonus” …) And even though I know that the Oscars don’t mean anything, that most of it is just “political”, but once in a while political turns out good. And of course it is a pity for “La-La-Land” if it is really this great film – I don’t care, and I didn’t see it. I didn’t get a chance of seeing “Moonlight” either because it didn’t start here until the week after the Oscars, but I was looking forward to it, not least because I realized that Mahershala Ali (from “House of Cards”) is in it. But I had the most pleasant surprise when I switched on the radio on Monday morning after Oscar night, actually expecting nothing (I didn’t check on any nominations this time so as not to be disappointed), and heard that he won “best supporting actor”! I still cannot believe it … and YES, I KNOW that he won it because he is black AND muslim but what the …! Probably the first time in his life THIS combination turned out to be an advantage. And if he had won “Sexiest man alive” on top of that I would have been baffled but certainly not displeased. Though that’s not why I like him, at least I don’t think so. It’s his quiet “collectedness”. He appears like somebody who actually can focus, or meditate, so as to make things happen. But I only know him as Remy Danton. O, and of course he has this great (sexy) voice …

And I definitely liked it that I was right for once. I knew that there was no way it would be “La-La-Land” after what happened last year at the Oscars, and after they had managed to produce two films with none but black actors. It HAD to be one of them. As there is no “impartial” choice anyway, I will certainly be better pleased with “Moonlight”. And even though I was kind of delighted about Mahershala Ali I was deeply and quietly pleased about their choice of “best actor” because “Manchester at the Sea” would have been my choice for “best film”, and Casey Affleck would actually have been my choice for “best actor” if I hadn’t seen “Indignation” just last week … I usually dislike this kind of film where you see nothing but the face of an actor full screen for about fifty minutes out of ninety, but this young actor whose name I forgot instantly actually achieved to tell completely what his character is about just through the constantly baffled look on his face. And it was a good adaptation of the novel as far as I can tell but not an extraordinary film. So it is more than okay because “Manchester at the Sea” is a really beautiful film and Casey Affleck an extraordinary actor. Even more so as, with the usual kind of acting and thinking about something like this – how do you live on after the worst of your nightmares has come true, and it’s YOUR FAULT? – it would have turned out the same kind of boring and depressing films like this usually turn out – which is why I usually don’t watch them. But this is a quiet, ultimately “poetic” film where groundbreaking things happen without much of a story to it. Just the thing I like.