"It's OK to Breathe Again!" by Scott Mantz

There's an old saying that goes something like this--in life, having is not as pleasing a thing as wanting. The notion is that as we set goals, it's the journey that makes life worth living, not the achievement of the end result. Well, no where better has this been exemplified than with the events surrounding the 72nd Annual Academy Awards. After months of speculation and debate about the nominees and potential winners, not to mention all of the logistical snafus leading up to the big night, this was clearly one for the books.

While predictions about who would win the 13 1/2 inch tall, 8 1/2 pound gold statuette changed on an almost daily basis, there was one thing that almost everybody could agree on--that 1999 was a truly memorable year in movies. The fact that so many movies and performances were shut out of the race (sorry, Jim Carrey) was a clear indication of that fact. When the nominees were finally announced on February 15, it was clear that none of the major categories contained a shoo-in to win the big prize.

After all the paranoia and hysteria surrounding the dreaded Y2K bug, the new year came and went without a hitch--that is, until the preparations for the Academy Awards got under way. For a while, it looked like the biggest night in Hollywood was headed for one big disaster. For starters, the always-reliable US Post Office lost almost 4000 voting ballots. Even if they were found, there would have been no time for voting members to fill them out and send them back in time for the March 21 deadline. The Academy scrambled together another 4000 ballots and extended the due date to March 23 to accommodate for the delay.

Problem solved, right? Wrong. By the time the missing ballots finally turned up, 55 of the gold-plated Oscar statuettes were stolen from the loading docks of Roadway Packing. Apparently, a couple of entrepreneurs got the bright idea to steal them and sell them at a later time for profit. Once again, the Academy rose to the occasion and ordered replacements, saving the day. Had it not been for Willie Fulgear, who was scouring trash bins behind a supermarket to look for boxes for a future move, who knows how long it would have been before the missing Oscars were finally found?

With two potentially huge problems solved, it was sure to be smooth sailing up to the big event, right? Wrong again! Those roving reporters over at the Wall Street Journal decided to run a huge piece predicting the winners only a few days before the event. While that's nothing different from just about every other publication in print journalism, what made this such a dicey situation was that they were calling Academy members directly and asking them who they were voting for. The Journal argued that they were digging deep to cover a story, but that wasn't a good enough excuse for Academy President Robert Rehme. He issued a statement, asking the Academy to avoid contact with anybody claiming to be from the Journal. It worked for the most part, but not before over 300 members could spill the beans. As it turned out, the Wall Street Journal was pretty much right on the money.

Political correctness and logistical problems aside, the actual Academy Awards presentation went off without a hitch. Producers Richard and Lili Fini Zanuck promised a new and improved awards show from years past, boasting a shorter running time and the elimination of those dreaded dance numbers. On top of that, the re-induction of past host Billy Crystal was sure to keep the proceeding fresh, funny, and fascinating.

In the days before the event, there was no doubt that you could feel the electricity in the air. News programs and print publications all had in-depth analysis of who should win and why. Experts from inside and outside the biz gave such detailed commentary on the nominees, you'd think they were experienced psychologists. They may be just movies, but this proves just how important movies are to society and how entertainment news is news in itself.

It's now the big day, and after baking in the sun for days in the bleachers lining the red carpet, diehard movie buffs were rewarded with their patience by catching a glimpse of Tom Cruise, Kevin Spacey, Clint Eastwood, and just about everybody who is anybody in Tinseltown. As the stars did their usual dog and pony show for the press, they made their way past celebrity interviewers like Roger Ebert and Joan and Melissa Rivers to take their seats in the Shrine Auditorium. ABC revamped their pretentious and boring half-our pre-show from last year by giving then-host Geena Davis the boot and sprinkling in a few different interviewers to keep the excitement going. It worked, and as it should, it went by fast.

After a kickoff that included Crystal in a montage of other films, he made his stage appearance with the first of many jokes about the missing Oscars for the night. Already, it was clear that this was going to be a different show from those in years past. Out was the big band musical accompaniment that introduced the presenters and winners, and in was a more rock'n'roll and hip-hop style. It may have seemed like an episode of "Saturday Night Live", but it still worked and gave the Awards the feel of a changing of the guard. Also, show announcer Peter Coyote may have looked like a Time/Life operator, but it was still a nice touch and it kept things moving.

It's been the tradition of past shows to start with a bang by presenting the awards for Best Supporting Actor and Actress. The next two hours are usually filled with boring nonsense, including the technical awards, the costume awards, the musical numbers, and the special awards. You could actually go out and see another movie and make it back in time without having missed anything important. That wasn't the case this year. The first award to be handed out was to Lindy Hemming, for her costume design for "Topsy-Turvy".

With the Best Supporting Actress Award to Angelina Jolie for "Girl, Interrupted" (no surprise there) out of the way, that gave way to the real nail-biter of the night--Best Supporting Actor. While Michael Clarke Duncan and Jude Law were excellent in "The Green Mile" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" respectively, they didn't really stand a chance. Haley Joel Osment's touching and emotional performance in "The Sixth Sense" was so strong that you really believed he could see dead people. Also, considering his screen time, he actually should have been nominated for Best Actor. After being overlooked for lead roles in "Born in the Fourth of July" and "Jerry Maguire", Tom Cruise hit paydirt with his career-defining performance as the sexist self-help guru in "Magnolia". Then there was Michael Caine's ether-addicted orphanage doctor in "The Cider House Rules". While his performance was notable, many still predicted the winner as a toss-up between Cruise and the kid. That all changed once Miramax mounted a staggering advertising campaign. Caine won his second Oscar trophy, but it was his humble and classy speech honoring the performances of his colleagues in this tight category that proved to be the high point of the night.

In a sheer sign of the times, "The Matrix" won all four of the technical awards for which it was nominated, beating out "Stuart Little" and even "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace". The sheer power of the Warner Bros gamble was surely felt, and it paid off big-time. Every movie from here on in knows it has to compete against these groundbreaking achievements.

Say what you like about Warren Beatty, because it really doesn't matter--there's nobody quite like him. As an accomplished actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, he's always played the independent game among the bureaucratic studios--and he's almost always won. While his stubborn reputation has always preceded him, it was nice to see him so humble as he nervously accepted the coveted Irving Thalberg Award. Of course, who better to present the award than long-time friend Jack Nicholson. Only he could get away with mimicking his cues and looking so cool in the process.

After going through the motions with a relatively boring mid-period, things picked up again in the last 45 minutes. After "American Beauty" and "The Cider House Rules" won for Best Original and Adapted Screenplay respectively, it was time for the Best Actress Award. There's no doubt that Annette Bening was excellent as the insensitive, "Martha-Stewart-from-hell" housewife from "American Beauty". A win for her immediately following hubby Beatty's Thalberg acceptance speech, not to mention the fact that she could give birth at any moment, would have kept Hollywood buzzing for years. However, it was Hilary Swank's groundbreaking performance as the sexually confused gender-bending risk taker in "Boys Don't Cry" that provided the only sure thing in a tight race. There has never been a more believable role in recent memory, and the Academy's recognition of this was duly justified.

Debate doesn't get any better than when you consider the nominees for Best Actor. In the 11th hour, it was down to Kevin Spacey and Denzel Washington, and predicting who would win was no small feat. As a miserable suburbanite trying to reclaim his happiness, Spacey was the centerpiece of "American Beauty". Still, Denzel Washington's performance as the wrongly-imprisoned Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was incredible. The physical and emotional transformation Washington went through was staggering, but the movie was plagued by factual inaccuracies. An Oscar win would have made him the second African-American to win Best Actor (the first was Sydney Poitier for "Lillies of the Field", and that was in 1963!), but that was not to be the case. The award went to Spacey, who graciously acknowledged Washington in his acceptance speech.

As for the Best Picture Award, there was no debate about what would win, but maybe there should have been. The race came down to "American Beauty" and "The Cider House Rules", but just ask anybody who's seen it, and they'll tell you that "The Insider" was really the best picture of the year. The mere mention of the plot, about a tobacco whistle-blower and a reporter's battle to air his story, is enough to make you reach for the No-doze, but director Michael Mann made an incredible film with engrossing performances. Miramax was hoping for history to repeat itself with another Best Picture win. It's possible that the media backlash surrounding their ad campaign for last year's "Shakespeare in Love" hurt "Cider's" chances, but "American Beauty" was still the better of the two. When it won, it seemed appropriate that the last film of the Millennium to win the Best Picture Award would have a name like "American Beauty".

When the Academy Awards show concluded, there was definitely a feeling of emptiness in the air. In fact, even when it began, it felt like a let-down. The best part about the whole experience was debating over who would win and who should win. Whether it was hanging out around the water cooler, making nervous conversation on a first date, or talking about it with your friends and family, this was one conversation that everybody could join in on. Once the show started, all that was over. All we could do then was sit around and wait for the envelopes to be ripped open. Not that that's not exciting, but we weren't involved anymore.

As for the big winner, let's not forget the true message of "American Beauty", which was to "look closer". Look closer at the little things in life. Look closer at the things that make life beautiful. Don't let life pass you by. When you have a chance to be happy, seize that opportunity, because it may never come again. While you're at it, look closer at the movies of 2000--I can't wait to take this journey again same time next year.

Check out Scott's Best and Worst of 1999 articles as well as his predictions on who would take the Oscars in the
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