Just watched the academy award winning movie ‘Crash’ for the first time. Wow. Just wow. I really feel like I learned something. Sometimes the people who at first seem the worst, are in fact the best. And something else, we’re all racist, deep down. Yeah that’s it. *Cough* That this, you’ll forgive the word, tripe, won best picture, rather than say, ‘Brokeback Mountain’, is as clear a case of homophobia as you’ll find this year. Not, please note, that I’m suggesting Brokeback was the best movie of the year, by any means. The best movie made in the year between the 2005, and 2006 academy awards, was probably made in Armenia, or Vietnam, or Holland; it didn’t make it past the art house, and you’ll never get to see it. But of the films which made it past the US centric, studio focused, homogenised, politicised and gentrified voting process of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, to rise to the lofty rank of nominee, it was the best.
If you like your message movies set in LA, focusing on the thorny issue of race, and featuring lots of intertwining stories and an all star cast, might I suggest the altogether superior 1991 film ‘Grand Canyon‘. It was even nominated for an Oscar. But of course, it didn’t win.