I never was into the Oscars. You know this glamorous awards thing that happens once a year in Los Angeles. But this time it was special. Let me start from the beginning.
As I said I never had much interest in this event. Not at all. I am a Film-Freak, yes, that is for sure. But the Academy Awards always looked like a political choice to me (and still do!) and not a choice of quality. So I didn't actually think about staying up to watch them. I never did that and I thought I never will. But the other day I oversaw that a local Theater, Cinema and Concertplace was going to make an Oscars Special. Not the Oscars thrilled me but they were going to show the three nominated movies with german participation (in two cases the full-production actually) and two of them happen to be movies I wanted to see for a long time. And I wanted to see them in theater and not at home on a tiny screen. So I decided to go and watch them and what the hell, if I like it there I might also stay for the live broadcast of the Oscars, too.
Between this two movies they were also going to show a Short Movie from 2007: Spielzeugland. I didn't know about it yet but I love short movies anyway. So I was excited about seeing these three movies.
Before they actually started a guy and young woman came on the stage and explained us the how and why about this event. And it turns out that almost the full cast of exactly that short movie was in the room. Among us - you could say. Only two were missing because they were in Los Angeles at the Kodak Theater waiting if their movie might get the oscar for the best Short Movie this year.
So we watched the movies. Had some small breaks in between just enough time to go to the toilets and get something else to drink so that you could go to the toilets again in the next break. The movies were great. All three of them. The first one (Waltz with Bashir): terrifiengly good. The second one (the Short Movie "Spielzeugland") ... I still wonder if it is a real story or not. I hope it is. And the third one (The Baader Mainhof Complex) tought me so much about the history of my country (a part a lot of people like to forget about) with brilliant actors, a good story line and a straight style (not as shaky as so many german movies are currently...). It was a great nite.
But it wasn't over yet. After the last film was done I looked on my watch and realized that it is almost two in the morning. On a Sunday. Next to a Monday. A Workday-Monday. So I thought "what the hell, now you can stay. doesn't make a difference any more..". So I did. Got another coke and watched the Oscars. For the first time of my life.
Sadly we had only the german broadcast of it. They told us they tried to get the original but hadn't had enough time to hook it up. The broadcast was done by Pro7 which obviously wasn't able to sell all its commercial time as they made a lot of commercials for their own products - again and again. Was a bit annoying. Also the fact how unprofessional their overblending felt. It was just rough cuts between the german adverts and back to the live show. With different volume, colours and well.. mostly grace and glamour. It was just unprofessional. But what the hell, who cares.
As I said I haven't seen the Oscars yet but still I have the feeling that this time it was different. I already got that feeling when they said on the red-carpet show before that they didn't announce who is going to do the speeches on that day. That felt... different. But made me curious. And I was everything but disappointed. The Acedemy tried some new things. The placed the people at different places on the stage, showing stuff in the background. They varied in the amount of people on stage. For some parts it was one person for three similar categories (like Will Smith doing "post production") for others there were actually as many people on stage as there are nominees. And the special clue they all were winners. Also the main line of the show was a brilliant idea. Taking you through the production of a movie in time by putting the different categories together and in order (pre-production, post-production to mention two). It was done very well.
But there was one thing that made is special for me tonight. It was the announcement of the short movies nominees. When suddenly that great movie we just watched appeared on screen. With everyone knowing that the cast was in the audience. And in a matter of seconds an incredible atomsphere got into the crowd of people and without having won anything we were applauding and cheering. Just like that. We were not totally done yet when the guy (I didn't know him) tried to pronounce "Spielzeugland". Well, he failed. But that was not important. It was just an amazing cheering and applauding for the next couple of minutes. And it was at that point, when I wrote down to my cell:
Ever been in the same room with the full cast of a short movie when it was announced that they won the oscar?
Just amazing.
And so I stayed the whole night there. Just came back a couple of minutes ago. And I am wondering: should stay or should I go? Should I stay up and continue the day without any sleep or should I go to bed instead? Considering that I wrote this after I came home and it is already after 7 in the morning by know I might just stay up... or go to bed... I'll see in a couple of minutes.
