The Journey to Best Picture

Last year I almost made it. I saw four of the five films nominated for Best Picture. The only one I missed, Mystic River, I saw a couple of weeks after the Oscars.

I don't think I'll even get that close this year. With only six days left, I have three films to see. But I'm going to try. Of the five nominated films, I saw Ray about four weeks ago and Million Dollar Baby yesterday. Having seen Eastwood's latest film, I have to ask two questions:

1 – Is Million Dollar Baby really one of the five best films of 2004?
2 – Why didn't Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind receive a nomination for Best Picture?

There's been a lot of controversy about Million Dollar Baby and if you haven't seen it, I'll be bringing up a few SPOILERS now. But forgetting the controversy concerning the ending (which bothered me, but other things bothered me much more), I want to talk about the film itself and whether it deserves the "Best Picture" nomination.

Now anybody that follows movies will tell you that the five films nominated for Best Picture are not always the five best films of that year. Many films (especially independent ones) are often ignored by Hollywood for obvious reasons. Some years are better (or worse) than others and sometimes a film that's just not that good slips in. That's the case (at least for me) with Million Dollar Baby.

This isn't a boxing movie. I didn't believe for one minute that anything happening onscreen was in any way true to boxing. I'm no boxing authority, but what I do know about it contradicted what I saw onscreen. So if it's not a boxing movie, what is it?

It's a melodrama.

Don't get me wrong, it's pretty good as melodramas go. But the story feels manipulated, contrived and artificial. Morgan Freeman's narration reminds us way too much of The Shawshank Redemption and when at the end we learn the reason for the narration, we think, "That's just not plausible. Why would this man write this letter to a woman he'd never met? And why would she even read it?" Frankie's (Eastwood's) strained relationship with his daughter only serves one purpose: to have Freeman's character narrate the story.

Again, the boxing scenes are just too much to accept, especially Maggie's title fight. I didn't believe one bit of it, plus it was telegraphed in big, flashing letters. Maggie's family consists of stereotypical cardboard characters that just aren't convincing. A director asks his audience to believe that certain things can and would happen under certain circumstances and I didn't believe Clint this time. I just don't think this film's that good.

And I certainly don't think it is a better film than Eternal Sunshine, which is original, well acted and directed, brilliantly edited, compelling and satisfying. But I've learned over the years to never expect justice on Oscar night.

More about writing next time. I promise.

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