And the winner is.....

This year's Academy Awards had a decidedly French flavor to it, with several films that featured either Paris, France or French actors in them. "Hugo", nominated for 11 Oscars, takes place in Paris in 1931. "Midnight in Paris", is Woody Allen's film about a writer visiting Paris who is magically transported back to 1920's Paris and who gets to meet his literary heroes, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald. He falls in love with a woman from the 1920s who would rather go back to La Belle Époque when painters like Edgar Degas were working, so they visit that time period and she decides to stay there instead. The whole theme of the movie is that we are never satisfied with where we are and seem to cast a longing and nostalgic eye back at times in which we think we'd rather live. This movie also garnered some Oscar nominations. Then there was "The Artist", starring French actors Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo in a black and white silent movie about a fading silent film star (Dujardin) and a rising young talkie star (Bejo). It was a charming nod to film history, as was the movie "Hugo", which is about a young boy who was restoring an old automaton with his father when he is left suddenly orphaned and goes to live with a drunken uncle at a Paris train station. The uncle disappears and Hugo must live by his wits, stealing to survive. He steals parts from a toy store in the train station to continue repair of the automaton. The toy store is run by a bitter old man who turns out to have been the former owner of the automaton and who was once a renowned pioneer filmmaker, Georges Méliès. The intersection of their two lives serves to bring Monsieur Méliès back to public recognition again when he thought that he had been long forgotten. It's a charming movie that I saw three times and would happily see again.

Well, the night's big honors went to "The Artist", which took home 5 Academy Awards, including Best Actir, Best Director, Best Movie, Best Costuming and Best Musical Score. "Hugo" took home 5 Oscars, too, but mostly for technical achievement, no big surprise, given the wizardry involved in bringing that film to life. Still, I thought that Martin Scorsese would win for Best Director at least. What he did with "Hugo" was nothing short of miraculous. It was a dazzling feast for the eyes and a very heartwarming story as well. It was also way out of Scorsese's usual comfort zone of films that seem to explore the nature of violence. "Hugo" was the very antithesis of that, a gentle, magical family story of redemption and the magical power of cinema. But it seemed like this past year was a real banner year for superlative filmmaking. I saw a lot of first rate films, many of which were vying for Oscar honors, so the competition this year was particularly stiff for just about every category. I do hope this trend of high quality movies continues into this new year. The only trouble is that they do not make it to our local theatres here and we often have to drive to Cleveland to see the really good movies. But it's a small price to pay to see some outstanding movies!