On the 80th Academy Awards

I don't usually do this, but I watched the entire show last Sunday. I'm glad I did, not the least because of Javier Bardem's Acceptance speech, and those of Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton, both of whom looked shocked and amazed that Cate Blanchett hadn't won. I know that there's a lot of glitz and glam and hype and all, and that for most of us, those aren't real people, or we think of them as superior in some way. So I love it when humanity shows up, when new faces are honored, and when films and performances that were truly amazing and artistic are honored and recognized. I've been a Coen Brothers fan since Barton Fink and Raising Arizona, and it can hardly be argued that after giving us so many incredibly inventive and quirky films, they deserv all the awards they raked in for No Country for Old Men. Anyone who hasn't seen it yet needs to go right now. These guys are directors who use the medium of film to not only tell story, but to get us all to think and react on multiple levels simultaneously, we don't even know exactly why we have such strong emotions connected to their work, but we do. (I Have a friend who vets new friends by asking if the candidate has seen Fargo, and if they liked it. If they didn't like Fargo, he won't be their friend. He just knows that there is too much essential difference between them, and trying to connect with that poerson is going to lead to frustration and disappointment. I don't apply his tet to my new friends, but I get his point. There are people who understand and appreciate the language of film, who can decode the subtext, who aren't put off by the blood or violence, but sdee through to what's being revealed about themselves and about all of us when Tommy Lee Jones just stares off blankly, sighing wearily. Perhaps a blog devoted entirely to Coen Brothers films should be constructed...hmmm... Another highlite of the Awards for me was the Original Screenplay Oscar going to Diablo Cody. There's a girl who has learned how to be herself without apology. You go Girl!!!