Late “At Night” Oscars
It's 4:00 o'clock in the morning darnit, listen to me good. That's an Elton John song I just thought I'd add it in there for effect. You see, I have been awake since 4:00 a.m. Last night, I had some "half baked notion" to stay up past my bedtime to watch the late, great Heath Ledger in the Oscar winning, cowboy romance film "Brokeback Mountain." I'd forgotten that much of it was taped under the clear blue skies and amongst the beautiful landscape that is Alberta, Canada.
Immediately after that, I watched one of my personal favorite films, the Danish coming of age film Råzone. I was surprised and happy to learn that the Director of Råzone, Christian Christiansen is nominated for an Oscar this year for his short film "Om natten," or "At Night."
Produced by Zentropa, the film is about three young women, all who have cancer and share their life's problems while spending their holidays in a hospital cancer ward. It stars the talented Danish actresses Julie Ølgaard and Laura Christensen. I've not seen this film so I can't comment much more than that, but I do know that Christian really has a real knack for understanding the youth of today and their dilemmas. He then brings that knowledge to the screen in a powerful and moving way.
I'm facing a dilemma of sorts myself, with regards to the upcoming Oscars. Two of my favorite actors are nominated for Oscars for best male actor, Viggo Mortensen for his performance in "Eastern Promises" and Johnny Depp for his performance in "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street." To be fair, I have not seen either of these films so in order to make an unbiased decision, I'd have to see them. Cate Blanchett is nominated as best actress and best supporting actress. I'd vote for her, but again, I have not seen the films she's been nominated for so that wouldn't be very objective now would it?
Who to root for, decisions, decisions. I guess we have a month to try to see some of these films and be judge and jury. The Oscar's takes place Sunday the 24th of February at 5PT/8ET.
