There’s a problem with my proposal for the Academy Awards to add a Best Ensemble award, and, for this problem, I blame Trevor.
While we complained to one another that ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ had won ‘Best Ensemble’ at Sunday's SAG Awards, putting it one notch closer to taking home the Oscar for Best Picture, a move that everyone will regret once the dust settles and they look around and realize that the Feel Good Indie of the Year was, at best, a mediocre movie levied by credits that rolled over a Bollywood dance number (What would have happened, people, if 'Little Miss Sunshine' had actually WON the Best Picture award it was nominated for?), Trevor asked “How could it win Best Ensemble, when only one member of that ensemble was nominated individually?”
I’m paraphrasing here. But, it’s true. If you, the SAG Board, are nominating the Best Actors (Sidenote: I truly appreciate that the SAG Awards call both males and females “actors”.) throughout individual categories, shouldn’t the movie with the most nominated people have the best ensemble? Doesn’t that just make sense? The fact that, in this case, that movie would have been 'Doubt' - a film I disliked much more than 'Slumdog Millionaire' (which I actually liked some - it's mostly the backlash talking) - is unfortunate, but when a good point has been made, who am I to disagree?
1 comments:
Hi, Aaron here, I have to disagree. An ensemble cast creates an ensemble effect wholly separate from the performance of individuals actors. Therefore it shouldn't matter if one or two were recognized by the academy or guild as being standout. The sum is greater than the parts.
I agree with your feelings on Slumdog, though. As much as I liked it, personally - it has too many flaws to be a best picture. I didn't think the acting was that great, either (no matter how much I loved Frida Pinto and Thriller-Michael Jackson). Dev Patel is a mediocre anti-hero and the rest are bit parts. The only acting awards for Slumdog should be given to the kids for Ensemble Cuteness.
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