Finally, I took an interest in the Oscars

I finally took an interest in the Academy Awards, Of course, it wasn’t the night of the awards ceremony but the day after and only after I’d seen some reference – after all, it was everywhere - to an outrageous event that had taken place the evening before. It was of course "the slap heard round the world" that Will Smith had delivered on emcee Chris Rock. Rock apparently had made a joke about Smith’s wife’s Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldish head as her being in “GI Jane 2” a reference to Demi Moore’s shorn locks in 1997‘s film GI Jane (Ridley Scott). Jada, not amused (yes, I watched the video) rolled her eyes. After laughing apparently hilariously at the joke, Will, perhaps eyeing his wife’s reaction, lost the smile, and left his seat and walking on to the stage slapped – slapped, why not punched? - the comedian across the face. Normally even an event like this wouldn’t get me too excited but it captured my imagination – perhaps it was a slow news week. My immediate reaction was that Smith should be condemned, censured, arrested and even banished from Hollywood. This was assault pure and simple. But of course none of that has happened (yet). According to a show producer LA police were on hand to make an arrest but Rock, being the stand-up guy (and not just comedian) he is, didn’t want charges pressed. Will Smith, in the days afterward, became more contrite, fully apologizing (eventually to Rock) and resigned from the Academy. It will be interesting if the slug – sorry, slap – will tarnish his career and reports indicate some productions are reviewing the great actor's status. I couldn’t believe the audience at the Oscars actually seemed to come to Smith's defense, with actors like Denzel Washington and Bradley Cooper “comforting” him. And then the guy gets a standing ovation later in the ceremony when he accepts the best actor award for his role in King Richard (Reinaldo Marcus Green). (That, by the way, is the only award I know of from last week’s Oscars). Well, I thought, that’s Hollywood for you. Always siding with the bad guys. You have to ask why. Wasn’t Smith the guilty party for making an assault? It doesn’t particularly matter what the reason was – defending his wife’s “honor” (so chivalrous!)? - and then perhaps only after Jada didn’t find the joke amusing. Rock indeed should have been called out for joking about a health issue – Jada's alopecia or hair loss. But he claims he knew nothing about it. But a slap across the kisser or cheek or wherever the slap landed? But, hey, it got me interested in the Oscars, if only in hindsight. And, you know what, I still don’t know which film won for best picture.  

Very excited about the Criterion Channel’s April releases, with the new French film from France’s Bruno Dumont called, well, France the first name of a glamorous TV journalist (Léa Seydoux) whose life is upturned by a freak accident. There’s also a retrospective of actress Delphine Seyrig’s career. I had had no idea who Seyrig was but recently caught her in Luis Buñuel’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) (see March 21 post) and last night – finally – watched Alain Resnais’s Last Year at Marienbad (1960), in which she stars. She’s glamorous (photo), but with a script by the novelist Alain Robbe-Grillet, whose revolutionary spare writing style is the equivalent of Minimalist art, this may not be your cup of espresso, in more ways than one.  Other major groups of films released by Criterion this month include the Blaxploitation films of the 1970's, Ethan Hawke’s personal picks, 14 films by John Ford and Asian American filmmaking 2000-2009.