That Funny Little Gold Man

There will be much written about the British coming; Welland's vainglorious speech at the Oscar ceremony which didn't herald a new dawn for British cinema at all. Soon after, Puttnam became the first Brit to run a Hollywood studio, but I think he has told of the miserable time he had, & his tenure at Colombia was brief. This time around Kate, Judi & Helen are doing the running & I almost don't want to choose who I would like to win.

If I were to pick by parity, Kate has been nominated 4 times but not won, Helen appears to have been nominated for Gosford Park & The Madness of King George, and Judi won in 1999 for an 8 minute performance in 4 scenes in Shakespeare in Love; 8 minutes of Judi = at least 32 of lesser mortals! I think I would rather like Kate to win, just to say that you don't have to be 'Hollywood' to be great on celluloid, even if she is rather a twiglet now.

In a not so nice moment, I anticipate the luscious competition there will be between these 3 leading ladies though; whilst the rhetoric will be all about how brilliant it is for 3 British actresses to be nominated, there will seething under the surface. I can't wait for the rictus grins of those whose name is not announced, especially if it is another of their compatriots. Given that the subtext of the awards are to give a little gold man to someone who has been overlooked previously, rather for their actual work in the film their name is nominally attached to, I expect Penelope will win for Volver; Pedro Almodóvar's is a real talent which deserves recognition.

Meryl Streep The Devil Wears Prada

Kate Winslet Little Children

Judi Dench Notes On A Scandal

Helen Mirren The Queen

Penélope Cruz Volver

Babel seems to have the most nominations for any film, so must check that out when it arrives in Leicester, & I do want to see Little Children. Otherwise I didn't really want to see The Devil Wears Prada, maybe because I've worked on a women's magazine, albeit of a lowlier status but bitchy as anything. Volver didn't appeal, & I don't actually like Almodóvar's films very much despite finding him talented, although I loved Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. I could imagine The Queen being worth seeing but not enough to desert my dissertation post.

Notes on Scandal was a book I loved, but it has made a very different film, as Zoë Heller diplomatically explained in an interview. I suspect I have to accept that it won't be the book, what film is anyway, and know it will be good anyway. That the screenplay is by Patrick Maber, the director is Richard Eyre, & it would be hard to fault Judi & Cate's performances, will be enough to ensure quality. I was lucky enough to see Cate Blanchett in Plenty because someone else couldn't make it, and feel sure she is a proper actress, as opposed to all those Hollywood 'stars' who are names but can't do the actual acting at all, how does that happen?!

There, that is my confession; I'd love to base my views on the actual quality of the films, but I haven't seen any of them, so here on my blog I exert the right to air my hidden shallows ... again. I'm still suffering from bemusement about Mrs Twinkletoes anyway, we've been planning what we'd wear for about 25 years, but where is her nomination?