Oscar 2006 Comments

Well, there had to be a surprise as always, but I really didn't expect Crash to take Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain, a film that has really gotten into the audiences minds and into society's culture. But maybe it's not a surprise at all, we've gotten hints all the way, like Crash winning Best Ensemble Cast at the SAG Awards, or Brokeback not being nominated for Best Editing. It's fine though, I loved Crash and I think it deserved it too, it's just that society loses more by having Brokeback losing than if Crash had lost, because now it's like Hollywood didn't want to give the gay cowboy movie the Oscar.

The rest of the ceremony was very predictable, with John Williams indeed canceling himself for having 2 nominations leaving the road empty for Gustavo Santaolalla to win it for his amazing work with the Brokeback score. Too bad the Academy didn't give Brokeback and Rodrigo Prieto the award for Best Cinematography, which went to Geisha instead.
Another controversial pick by the Academy was to give Best Foreign Film to Tsotsi instead of to the amazing Palestinian film Paradise Now. And a very pleasant surprise came when Three 6 Mafia won Best Original Song for their song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from Hustle & Flow.
The ceremony was great, the montages worked fine I thought and Jon Stewart was amazing. The opening scene with all the past hosts was excellent.

And here's the list of winners:

Best Picture
Crash

Best Director
Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain

Best Actor
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote

Best Actress
Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line

Best Supporting Actor
George Clooney, Syriana

Best Supporting Actress
Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener

Best Adapted Screenplay
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain

Best Original Screenplay
Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco, Crash

Visual Effects
King Kong

Animated Feature
Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Costume Design
Memoirs of a Geisha

Make-Up
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Documentary Feature
March of the Penguins

Art Direction
Memoirs of a Geisha

Original Score
Gustavo Santaolalla, Brokeback Mountain

Sound Mixing
King Kong

Sound Editing
King Kong

Original Song
"It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," from Hustle & Flow

Foreign Language Film
Tsotsi (South Africa)

Film Editing
Crash

Cinematography
Memoirs of a Geisha

Short Film (Live Action)
Six Shooter

Short Film (Animated)
The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation

Documentary Short Subject
A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin