A Few Thoughts on the Bource Backlash

Personally, I wouldn't have given the Academy Award for Best Original Score to Ludovic Bource's work on The Artist. However, I did quite like Bource's effort, as it's a breezy, infectious, warmly-orchestrated throwback to golden age film music which works superbly in context.

Unfortunately, it seems that some are remarkably angry about Bource's win. Not because they found his original material lacking in quality, mind you (though some certainly do), but rather because of the manner in which The Artist incorporated an iconic musical selection from Bernard Herrmann's score for Vertigo. It's doubtful that any of the folks complaining will actually read this, but I feel a need to clear up some common misconceptions for the sake of aiding those expressing misguided outrage.

1. It's not Bource's fault.

Quite a few have accused Bource of demonstrating shameless behavior by simply ripping off the Vertigo theme instead of writing original music. The decision was made by the director, not Bource. In fact, Bource actually wrote original music for the scene, which was rejected in favor of the Herrmann piece (you can actually hear Bource's fine composition for the scene on the soundtrack album).

2. The music wasn't stolen.

The piece of pre-existing music was licensed by the filmmakers and was used in entirely legal fashion. This is done in almost every movie - a song written for a Tom Waits album turns up in Domino, a piece of music from The 13th Warrior turns up in Kingdom of Heaven and the theme from Across 110th Street appears in Jackie Brown. Granted, it might have been inadvisable to use such an immediately recognizable piece of film music in this case, but The Artist doesn't violate Vertigo any more than Kill Bill violated Navajo Joe (and it certainly didn't "rape" Kim Novak's "body of work"). If the Herrmann estate didn't want the music used in the film, then they wouldn't have allowed the producers of The Artist to buy the rights to that particular selection.

3. The music wasn't re-arranged for the movie by Bource.

This is a smaller complaint, but a surprisingly common one. The music wasn't arranged by Bource. It is actually a 1993 recording of the theme conducted by Elmer Bernstein. So much of the vitriol lobbed at Bource has gone back to his alleged employment of the Vertigo theme in his score, but Bource simply had nothing to do with it.

The misplaced anger is exasperating, but not exactly surprising. Surprisingly few film critics actually bother to learn anything about what film music does or how it is created, which leads to every other critic referring to any large-scale orchestral score as sounding like a rip-off of John Williams. This also leads to artists who avoid traditional film music technique - Ry Cooder, Trent Reznor, Vangelis, A.R. Rahman, etc. - getting overpraised, simply because their music is so explicitly different from the norm that many critics can't help but recognize that it doesn't sound like everything else. In fact, the distinct nature of Bource's score is likely what earned it the Oscar win in the first place. His music is too thoughtlessly praised, too thoughtlessly condemned and not appreciated enough for what it really achieves.

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Some Thoughts on the Oscars

I really enjoyed watching the Academy Awards last night, but as always, that was largely because I was with a crowd of people I enjoy hanging out with. The actual ceremony was... well, it was an improvement on last year. That isn't saying much, but the show was rarely embarrassingly bad this time around. No, it was safe, with a typically pleasant and inoffensive Billy Crystal cranking out wheezy old jokes (he started by calling himself a war horse and claiming that "extremely loud and incredibly close" is how his relatives watch the Oscars). Everything about the Oscars felt a little old: the jokes, the host, the nominees (Best Supporting Actor winner Christopher Plummer is now officially the world's oldest Oscar winner) and, uh, the movies highlighted.

Strangely, there was little emphasis on the movies 2011 had to offer, as we were given numerous sequences which highlighted movies of yesteryear. An opening montage paid homage to flicks like Ghost, Jaws, Forrest Gump, Titanic, Raiders of the Lost Ark, etc. A series of Errol Morris-directed montages featured a host of celebrities waxing eloquent about the older movies they love. A clever short film by Christopher Guest recreated a focus group discussion following a screening of The Wizard of Oz. A bizarre Cirque du Soleil performance took place in front of a screen offering clips of older movies. However, there were surprisingly few moments highlighting the actual nominees.

Perhaps that's appropriate, given that 2011's nominees were also ruminating on the past. Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris may be a lesson about how we need to appreciate the present, but it still luxuriates in the glory of days gone by before it gets there. Hugo is in love with older movies. The same can be said of The Artist and Rango. Moneyball and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close look back at momentous events in the recent past, while Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Help, War Horse and The Tree of Life look back increasingly further.

Most of the wins were predictable. Hugo racked up a large number of technical wins, including Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Art Direction and Best Visual Effects. It was good in all of these areas, but wasn't the best in any of them. Meanwhile, The Artist took home five larger prizes, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Score and Best Costume Design. It was expected that one of these two would take Best Editing, but instead that went to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (a movie which wasn't nominated in any other category). I really like both Hugo and The Artist, so I don't exactly begrudge them their success, but a good deal of superior work was overlooked in most categories in order for these two charming flicks to earn their pile of Oscars. Screenplay awards went to The Descendants and Midnight in Paris, because the Academy wanted to recognize both of those movies in some way without giving them the biggest prizes: the former because it was so good, and the latter because it was Woody Allen's most popular film to date. As usual, Allen didn't attend the ceremony, as he was undoubtedly busy playing jazz or working on yet another screenplay.

I was happy to see Rango win Best Animated Film. It's a deserving winner, even if the overall category was a disaster this year. Similarly, I was happy to see Bret McKenzie's "Man or Muppet" win best song, as it was possibly the best movie song of the year despite landing in a category which was handled horribly this year (the only other nominee was the middling "Real in Rio" from Rio). Octavia Spencer was given an Oscar for her colorful supporting turn in The Help, though Viola Davis gave that film's finest performance (alas, Ms. Davis was robbed by Meryl Streep, who acknowledged that most of America was probably groaning in dismay as they watched her accept yet another award). Christopher Plummer gave the evening's loveliest speech, and examined his Oscar with affection: "You're only two years older than me. Where have you been all my life?"

Overall, it was a rather unmemorable evening. There were no significant upsets aside from Streep, few truly inspiring victories, few painfully bad moments (save for Cirque du Soleil and whatever that was Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. did) and fewer moments of legitimate hilarity (save for the aforementioned Christopher Guest short and Chris Rock's pointed, entertaining routine on racial typecasting in animation and the challenges of doing voice work). 2011 offered a lot of great stuff, but this year's Oscars offered very few indications of that. For a show all about celebrating the greatness of Hollywood, it seemed awfully hesitant to boast about its latest achievements.

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Some Thoughts on This Year's Academy Award Nominees

Every year, I see the same comments made about the Academy Awards: The Oscars are a joke, someone or something was horrifically overlooked, undeserving rubbish was nominated, awards ceremonies are disgusting, the Oscars don't mean anything... you get the idea. There's certainly merit to those arguments, but I still anticipate checking out the nominations each year, because I still find the Oscars the most compelling, consistent and legitimate barometer of what the film industry really regards as its best work each year. Of course things I love were ignored, and of course things I dislike were nominated, but that's going to be the case anytime anyone other than myself chooses the best films of the year. How many times have we looked at someone's "best-of" list and thought, "Wow, that's a great list!" rather than "How on earth could they pick this over that?" And yet we enjoy best-of lists anyway, because they give us an insight into how another person/group/publication/organization thinks. Let's take a look at this year's nominees, category by category.

1. Best Picture: "The Artist," "The Descendants," "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," "The Help," "Hugo," "Midnight in Paris," "Moneyball," "The Tree of Life," "War Horse."

- Interesting that we have nine nominees this year. Many analysts were predicting seven. The pleasant surprise is "The Tree of Life," which was ignored by quite a few of the other groups. The biggest surprise is "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," which must surely be one of the most poorly-reviewed Best Picture nominees in history. Critical response has been mixed at best, with quite a few prominent critics labeling it one of the year's worst films. The others were more or less expected to get nods, though I suppose one could argue that "Midnight in Paris" and "War Horse" also qualify as surprises.

2. Actor: Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"; George Clooney, "The Descendants"; Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"; Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"; Brad Pitt, "Moneyball."

- Two enormous surprises here. The first is that Michael Fassbender wasn't nominated for his fine work in "Shame," an NC-17-rated film which might have proved a bit too uncomfortable for the traditionally conservative (in contrast to other groups, at least) Academy. The second is that the little-known Demian Bichir was nominated for the little-seen (and little-promoted) "A Better Life." I haven't seen the film, but I will say it's nice to know that Academy members are looking beyond the universally-accepted frontrunners for their nominees. The biggest heartbreak (though it was probably inevitable) is that Michael Shannon's unparalleled turn in "Take Shelter" wasn't nominated. The biggest relief is that Leonardo DiCaprio's underwhelming work in "J. Edgar" wasn't nominated.

3. Actress: Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"; Viola Davis, "The Help"; Rooney Mara, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"; Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"; Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn."

- Wow. This category is actually kind of weak this year, with two overpraised impersonations from Ms. Streep and Ms. Williams heading the list. So many strong performances (Elizabeth Olsen, Kirsten Dunst, Vera Farmiga, Jessica Chastain) ignored in favor of more traditional "Oscar bait."

4. Supporting Actor: Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn"; Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"; Nick Nolte, "Warrior"; Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"; Max von Sydow, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."

- None of the nominees are particularly surprising, but I am surprised that one of them wasn't bumped in favor of Albert Brooks' work in "Drive." Personally, I'd flick Jonah Hill off the list. He was effective in "Moneyball," but it's hardly one of the year's best performances.

5. Supporting Actress: Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"; Jessica Chastain, "The Help"; Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"; Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"; Octavia Spencer, "The Help."

- Another batch of unsurprising nominees, though it's interesting to see so many lighter performances nominated. McTeer could end up taking this simply on the basis of dramatic weight, but I'm guessing it's probably down to Spencer and McCarthy.

6. Directing: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"; Alexander Payne, "The Descendants"; Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"; Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"; Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life."

- It's generally accepted that the five films nominated in the "Best Director" category would be the five films chosen for Best Picture if we were still under the old system. If that's actually the case, then these are exceptionally surprising. It seems the Academy likes "The Tree of Life" even more than we might have initially suspected. No predictions just yet, other than that Woody probably won't attend the ceremony.

7. Foreign Language Film: "Bullhead," Belgium; "Footnote," Israel; "In Darkness," Poland; "Monsieur Lazhar," Canada; "A Separation," Iran.

- As usual, I'm afraid I haven't seen most of these... um, any of these, actually. "A Separation" continues to get a great deal of praise and is regarded as the frontrunner.

8. Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, "The Descendants"; John Logan, "Hugo"; George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon, "The Ides of March"; Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, "Moneyball"; Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy."

- No surprises here.

9. Original Screenplay: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"; Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig, "Bridesmaids"; J.C. Chandor, "Margin Call"; Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"; Asghar Farhadi, "A Separation."

- Many thought "Bridemaids" would snag a Best Picture nomination, but Original Screenplay will have to do. I'd say that's more than fair. The film is funny, but let's not pretend it's a whole lot more than that. "A Separation" is the rare foreign film to receive recognition in another category (making it basically a lock for the Best Foreign Film win). I'm happy to see newcomer J.C. Chandor get recognized for the overlooked "Margin Call," which you need to check out as soon as you get a chance.

10. Animated Feature Film: "A Cat in Paris"; "Chico & Rita"; "Kung Fu Panda 2"; "Puss in Boots"; "Rango."

- Far and away the most bewildering category this year. I haven't seen "A Cat in Paris" or "Chico & Rita," so I can't speak as to whether they're deserving, but I can guarantee you that "Kung Fu Panda 2" doesn't belong here. Also, where is "The Adventures of Tintin"? Or the lovely "Winnie the Pooh"? I just... I can't...

11. Art Direction: "The Artist," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," "Hugo," "Midnight in Paris," "War Horse."

- Yeah, basically.

12. Cinematography: "The Artist," "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "Hugo," "The Tree of Life," "War Horse."

- I have to say, I'm glad that "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" was nominated in this category, because it's deserving. These are some terrific-looking movies, and I'd actually be okay with any of them winning. "The Tree of Life" ought to, and this is probably the category where it stands the best chance.

13. Sound Mixing: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "Hugo," "Moneyball," "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," "War Horse."

- Good choices. Glad to see someone noticed what strong sound work was done on "Moneyball."

14. Sound Editing: "Drive," "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "Hugo," "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," "War Horse."

- More good choices.

15. Original Score: "The Adventures of Tintin," John Williams; "The Artist," Ludovic Bource; "Hugo," Howard Shore; "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Alberto Iglesias; "War Horse," John Williams.

- The biggest relief is that Trent Reznor's overpraised, distracting, poorly-written score for "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" didn't get nominated, as many were simply allowing Reznor to coast on his reputation rather than actually listening to his dull, meandering work. That said, John Williams really didn't need a nomination for "Tintin." It's a good score, but a nod for "War Horse" would have been sufficient. Surprising to see the low-key, jazzy Iglesias score nominated.

16. Original Song: "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets," Bret McKenzie; "Real in Rio" from "Rio," Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett.

- Wow, only two nominees? Let me say this: these are both songs which actually play a key role in the movies they appear in, so I'm happy the Academy isn't just nominating some tacked-on end credits tunes. Well done. That said, the Muppets song is so much better than the Rio song. This isn't even a contest (unless Sergio Mendes generates a sentimental vote).

17. Costume: "Anonymous," "The Artist," "Hugo," "Jane Eyre," "W.E."

- Period movie = costume design nomination.

18. Documentary Feature: "Hell and Back Again," "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front," "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory," "Pina," "Undefeated."

- Haven't seen any of them, plan to check out most of them. As usual, some of this year's best documentaries weren't even eligible.

19. Documentary (short subject): "The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement," "God Is the Bigger Elvis," "Incident in New Baghdad," "Saving Face," "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom."

- I should probably watch these.

20. Film Editing: "The Artist," "The Descendants," "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "Hugo," "Moneyball."

- I'd like to see this one go to "The Artist" or "Hugo." I'd prefer "Drive" or "The Tree of Life," but hey, it is what it is.

21. Makeup: "Albert Nobbs," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," "The Iron Lady."

- Oh yeah, the Harry Potter series ended this year. Will the Academy pay homage to it with, um, a makeup award?

22. Animated Short Film: "Dimanche/Sunday," "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore," "La Luna," "A Morning Stroll," "Wild Life."

- I should probably watch these. I see that Pixar's "Toy Story" shorts aren't getting any love, which is probably for the best.

23. Live Action Short Film: "Pentecost," "Raju," "The Shore," "Time Freak," "Tuba Atlantic."

- I should probably watch these.

24. Visual Effects: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," "Hugo," "Real Steel," "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," "Transformers: Dark of the Moon."

- Interesting category. Say what you will about "Dark of the Moon," it had some terrific visual effects work. Still, this prize will probably go to "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," thanks to all of those "Please vote for Andy Serkis" promos which reminded everyone that they needed to vote for the visual effects team.

An interesting batch of nominees this year. Certainly not the worst group of films the Academy has picked in recent years, but then 2011 had so many superb offerings. What do you think?

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