FILM (Ah yes, I remember that)
To prove that I pretty much watch the BAFTAs because they’re on, I watched the reformatted awards this year even the only film that was nominated for anything that I’d seen was Emma.(costume design, didn’t win) which I’d seen pre-pandemic. But I would like to see a few of the winners or nominees, although I have no plans to return to the cinemas in May (which may only apply to England anyway) due to personal circumstances on top of the pandemic.
I mostly liked splitting up the awards into two shows, having the Opening Night meant that not only did all the technical award winners got their moment, but their work was discussed decently. I thought the ratio of insight to what I call guff was positive. With all due respect to Joanna Scanlan, it did end up being about ‘how these technicians help actors with their work’ as if that’s the most important thing, so maybe a writer-director would have been a better guest, but these things often get very actor centric.
And one got used to seeing men on Zoom in dicky bows very quickly.
The second night hewed closer to the awards ceremony template, although I can’t have been the only one who thought ‘Tron homage?’ when they tried to get us excited about the augmented reality!Liam Payne, Edith Bowman and Dermot O’Leary were okay as presenters/hosts, sparking properly once or twice. She seemed overstimulated by being around people, 2 metres from Dermot, on the stage with an actor every now and then. The initial link-ups to LA were a bit dodgy, so there was a sense of relief when the duet in London and LA went off well. I am excited about Corinne Bailey Ray’s comeback, and although I thought her and Leslie Odom Jr.’s performances were objectively more proficient, Celeste provided a real Moment. She looked magnificent, she sang powerfully (if pretty much the same way until the last couple of lines,) and in the absence of Meryl Streep being delighted by Cirque de Soleil (normal BAFTA shenanigans) I’ll take it..
I also started remembering that gowns are a big part of BAFTA when Felicity Jones appeared. Cynthia Erivo was the SPARKLIEST and I loved Audra Day’s green. In a year when BAFTA was mostly patting itself on the back for diversity, her off Bridgerton won the posh off (ladies division) and Tom Hiddleston the gents’ (he’s in a thing with Gugu Mbatha-Raw? I suspect it will be on a streaming platform I don’t subscribe to, like most of the films nominated, alas, so I will put a lid on any interest/excitement.)
Two of the rising star nod cut their teeth on The Huntsman’s War. I loathe that film because it’s a wrecking ball instead of a sequel. The winner was so excited (not as excited as the documentary award winners,) but her reeling off a list of people she knew who had passed away (from COVID?) was telling (and yet she can’t make the ‘-dd’ sound, and people who can speak Welsh and English fluently blow Edith Bowman’s monoglot mind? You’ve still got a ways to go on diversity, BAFTA.)
I mainly stared at what I could see of Aaron Sorkin’s house when the script nominations came up. You did get a sense that the BAFTAs do matter to Hollywood still. Although, also, for most, it meant dressing up for a Zoom call/opportunity to get out of the house instead of flying to London to get rained on. Other than the two best actor winners, snerk. I have a sense that one of the reasons for the diversity of the nominees (e.g. everyone up for best supporting actress was new to me) is that some films didn’t get released. I know the overhauled the voting etc.
‘Promising Young Woman’ is one of those films I will try to see, even if it’s on DVD. Every time Emerald Fennel talked, I did think ‘as scripted by Richard Curtis’ though.
Hugh Grant gets an A* for being Hugh Grant as he introduced Ang Lee, who gave a nice speech (I both melted at every clip from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which is up there for me, and wondered if he’s made an acclaimed film since ‘The Life of ‘Pi’.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/458434.html.
I mostly liked splitting up the awards into two shows, having the Opening Night meant that not only did all the technical award winners got their moment, but their work was discussed decently. I thought the ratio of insight to what I call guff was positive. With all due respect to Joanna Scanlan, it did end up being about ‘how these technicians help actors with their work’ as if that’s the most important thing, so maybe a writer-director would have been a better guest, but these things often get very actor centric.
And one got used to seeing men on Zoom in dicky bows very quickly.
The second night hewed closer to the awards ceremony template, although I can’t have been the only one who thought ‘Tron homage?’ when they tried to get us excited about the augmented reality!Liam Payne, Edith Bowman and Dermot O’Leary were okay as presenters/hosts, sparking properly once or twice. She seemed overstimulated by being around people, 2 metres from Dermot, on the stage with an actor every now and then. The initial link-ups to LA were a bit dodgy, so there was a sense of relief when the duet in London and LA went off well. I am excited about Corinne Bailey Ray’s comeback, and although I thought her and Leslie Odom Jr.’s performances were objectively more proficient, Celeste provided a real Moment. She looked magnificent, she sang powerfully (if pretty much the same way until the last couple of lines,) and in the absence of Meryl Streep being delighted by Cirque de Soleil (normal BAFTA shenanigans) I’ll take it..
I also started remembering that gowns are a big part of BAFTA when Felicity Jones appeared. Cynthia Erivo was the SPARKLIEST and I loved Audra Day’s green. In a year when BAFTA was mostly patting itself on the back for diversity, her off Bridgerton won the posh off (ladies division) and Tom Hiddleston the gents’ (he’s in a thing with Gugu Mbatha-Raw? I suspect it will be on a streaming platform I don’t subscribe to, like most of the films nominated, alas, so I will put a lid on any interest/excitement.)
Two of the rising star nod cut their teeth on The Huntsman’s War. I loathe that film because it’s a wrecking ball instead of a sequel. The winner was so excited (not as excited as the documentary award winners,) but her reeling off a list of people she knew who had passed away (from COVID?) was telling (and yet she can’t make the ‘-dd’ sound, and people who can speak Welsh and English fluently blow Edith Bowman’s monoglot mind? You’ve still got a ways to go on diversity, BAFTA.)
I mainly stared at what I could see of Aaron Sorkin’s house when the script nominations came up. You did get a sense that the BAFTAs do matter to Hollywood still. Although, also, for most, it meant dressing up for a Zoom call/opportunity to get out of the house instead of flying to London to get rained on. Other than the two best actor winners, snerk. I have a sense that one of the reasons for the diversity of the nominees (e.g. everyone up for best supporting actress was new to me) is that some films didn’t get released. I know the overhauled the voting etc.
‘Promising Young Woman’ is one of those films I will try to see, even if it’s on DVD. Every time Emerald Fennel talked, I did think ‘as scripted by Richard Curtis’ though.
Hugh Grant gets an A* for being Hugh Grant as he introduced Ang Lee, who gave a nice speech (I both melted at every clip from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which is up there for me, and wondered if he’s made an acclaimed film since ‘The Life of ‘Pi’.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/458434.html.