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| Denzel Washington wins Best Actor for Training Day at the 2002 Academy Awards ceremony. |
There is a lot going on in the world right now, and it feels
like a million years ago that director Bong Joon-ho and his brilliant thriller Parasite
triumphed at the 2019 Academy Awards. In fact, as of this writing, it was less
than two months ago that a Korean blockbuster ruled Hollywood for one glorious
night. At the time, I called it one of the few “moments of pure bliss” the show
has offered me since I began truly following the awards.
That got me thinking about those moments of bliss, as well
as my personal history with the Oscars. It would be customary to wait for some
round-number anniversary or some other made-up milestone to do a look back like
this, but given the circumstances, I think a fun reflection on times gone by is
timely enough in and of itself.
Yes, of course the Oscars are silly and frivolous in the
face of a deadly virus. And of course, wealthy, beautiful people handing each
other gold statues seems gauche in these times. But we find joy where it can be
found, and for each of us, that is in a different place. I remember where I was
and what I was doing and who I was with for every Academy Awards ceremony I
have watched. They are as much a time capsule of my personal history as they
are a reflection of the film industry’s days past.
We will start the series in 2004 (the 2003 awards) so that
we have an unbroken streak, but let me touch briefly here on the 74th Academy
Awards (ceremony date: March 24, 2002) because that is the furthest back my
memory of the ceremony goes with any certainty.
I could not tell you exactly why the Academy Awards have
ended up meaning so much to me. Movies were always important. I grew up across
the street from a video store. We did not have a lot of money, and when you do
not have a lot of money, one thing you can still do is rent videos – and rent
videos we did. By the handfuls. My dad also bought a lot of the used VHS tapes,
and by the time DVD came in and changed home viewing forever (or until Blu-ray
and streaming came along), we had amassed quite the collection. So, movies were
always around, always a part of life.
Even still, “prestige” films were not necessarily on the
menu. My dad was a single father in his late 20s and early 30s for most of this
period, and he had grown up in the ‘80s. This meant action films – a steady
diet of Seagal (Under Siege, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, and Out
for Justice), Van Damme (Bloodsport, Time Cop, and Sudden
Death), and other staples (Road House and Mortal Kombat spin
kick to mind).
I loved sports movies as a baseball-obsessed kid and darker
kids’ films such as The Addams Family and All Dogs Go to Heaven.
I have expounded at length on this site about my early love of horror and will
not go into it again here. Some of the traditional stuff was in there, too,
such as Spielberg, Disney, and other kiddie comedies. It was eclectic, and I
had mostly free reign to watch what I wanted. I did not realize at the time I
was receiving an education.
All of that said, sometimes my father would bring home
something great. His taste still surprises me and deserves its own post –
perhaps once we reach month two of quarantine. I remember Reservoir Dogs
and the hard cut to black at the end. I remember Pulp Fiction and trying
to title the unnamed chapters. I remember Forrest Gump and Bubba and
shrimping. I remember Dazed and Confused and thinking that was what
going to high school would be like. I did not understand these as important,
praiseworthy works of art. I just knew I loved them.
Fast forward to March 24, 2002. The night of the 74th Academy
Awards. I was 13 years old. The only film among the nominees I am absolutely
certain I had seen at the time was The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of
the Ring because I saw it in theaters with a group of friends, and I
remember not liking it. I thought it was long and kind of hokey, and being
unaware of its literary origins, I was upset it had no ending.
With that context, I remember three distinct things from
that ceremony, all at the end and two among the Academy’s most memorable
moments ever. In this year, the producers did Best Actress and Best Actor
before Best Director, something they probably would not have done in hindsight,
given the enormity and historical import of the two acting winners.
First up came Halle Berry. I have spent a lot of time
rewatching speeches from old ceremonies, and some are fresher in my mind for
that reason, but I will try to go off what I remember in the moment for this
series. And, what I remember in the moment about Berry’s speech was the
unfiltered emotion of it all. I do not believe I was aware at the time of the
history being made, which certainly makes the speech even more of a knockout in
retrospect, but I remember being happy for this actress I only kind of knew
from The Last Boy Scout in a movie I had not even heard of. (I have seen
Monster’s Ball exactly once since.)
Then came Denzel Washington. It seemed a wonderful kismet at
play to make it so that Sidney Poitier would receive his lifetime achievement
Honorary Academy Award on the same night these two superb black actors would be
recognized in the top categories. Washington was even one of the presenters of
Poitier’s award. The moment I remember most is when he singled out Poitier
during his Best Actor speech. It was a lovely moment, though one wishes it had
meant more for the future of people of color in Hollywood in general and at the
Oscars specifically.
Finally, Ron Howard and his John Nash biopic A Beautiful
Mind were named in the top two categories. I had not seen it. I had not the
faintest clue what it was about. All I remember was being happy Richie
Cunningham from Happy Days had won an important award. I loved Apollo
13 growing up, but I had not yet put two and two together, so my context
for Howard was Happy Days, a favorite show of my father’s and something
of a youthful obsession for me.
In 2003, I must have missed the ceremony. Not sure why or
what I was doing, but it clearly was not important enough to me at the time to
make room for it in my Sunday evening. That would be the last time I felt that
way. From 2004 on, the Oscars have been appointment viewing. No matter what was
going on in my life, I made sure I was sat down in front of a television set at
5 p.m. on Sunday night for the show (some years it started at 5:30, but I always
enjoy the red carpet).
It is my hope this series will serve as a fun distraction in
this time of chaos and uncertainty. It is also likely I will be writing about
the chaos and uncertainty in other pieces on this site, so I will try to keep
these as free of such discussions as possible. Let’s just have a nice time and
forget that we are inside because we must be.
____
Next time: The 76th Academy Awards, a Lord of the
Rings sweep, and memories of Lost in Translation.
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