Crash and Ebert, Continued
Roger Ebert follows up on the Oscars in today’s Sun-Times with a strong rebuttal, once again, to critics of “Crash,” this year’s Best Picture winner. For sure, no one will be able to watch this movie again without either hating it or loving it, and I don’t get it at all. Even if you somehow disagree with the “politics” of this movie, of which I believe have only been applied by the haters, you can’t dismiss the power of the film and the simple fact that it was a well-acted, well-told story.
Ebert: “more than one critic described ‘Crash’ as ‘the worst film of the year,’ which is as extreme as saying John Kerry was a coward in Vietnam. It means you’ll say anything to help your campaign.”
Ebert said it all last night on Leno when he stated that Hollywood was not “out of touch” with mainstream America but rather, mainstream America is out of touch with quality films.
Danny, one thing I noticed in the run up to the Oscars was a sort of hipster backlash against “Crash.” I’ve read a couple of takedowns and snide comments (on golden fiddle, Lindsayinsm, etc.) that surprised me. Have you seen similar reactions? I also read somewhere (sorry I can;t provide links to all this at the moment) that posited that it’s a generational split- older movie goers like Ebert like “Crash” over “Brokeback,” while the reverse is true for younger moviegoers.
i haven’t seen that, i just figured it was conservative nuts trying to find something to bitch about. too liberal, too gay, too out of touch. “Crash” isn’t easy to watch, the person i saw it with wanted to turn it off, but that’s the point, i think. it’s difficult, it makes you think. nothing wrong with that.
I think you should watch the movie again. It’s a decent movie, but it takes the soft and easy way around a difficult subject. Almost like a nice Disney type of ending, what it needed was something with guts, and what it wound up with was a rather general Hollywood type ending. It should not have been nominated for this award.
Crash was good. Brokeback Mountain was a far superior film, however. The cinematography was excellent. As with all Ang Lee films, a meloncholic ambience was palpable throughout the film and the acting was superb. I felt that Brokeback Mountain was a legitimate piece of art. Crash came across more like a TV movie. There were good performances, just getting a non-actor like Sandra Bullock to actually be believable was an achievement in itself, but the film was definitely not the best of all of the nominated films. And I agree with Bill V., the ending was so much Hollywood cotton candy.
ever notice that Ebert always gives thumbs up to movies with lesbians and/or young girls having sex?
i haven’t noticed that, Coward, but i’m sure that’s part of his criteria.