From left: Previous supporting actress Oscar winners Angelica Huston, Tilda Swinton, Goldie Hawn, Eva Marie Saint and Whoopi Goldberg flank Oscar holder Penelope Cruz, the
newly inducted winner to the Oscar winners' circle.  Ms. Cruz won last night for her performance in Woody Allen's film "Vicky Cristina Barcelona".  (Photo: Bryan Crowe/©A.M.P.A.S.)

OSCAR IMPRESSIONS
An Inclusive, Intimate Aura On Oscar's Big Night
By Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com    SHARE
Monday, February 23, 2009

For 80 years Oscar had a stiff upper lip but last night his lip quivered a little as the 81st Academy Awards was a marked departure from the traditions of high formality that have lavished this awards spectacle over eight decades, with a more relaxed and restrained glamour, perhaps in sensitivity to the current economic depression-type state of the world.  The light, breezy and exuberant production of the show by Lawrence Mark and Bill Condon lent a deeper emotional resonance and joy to the proceedings, with host Hugh Jackman leading off in style, nodding to past host Billy Crystal's trademark with brisk musical production numbers, fresher and sharper not only because of Mr. Jackman's grace as Tony Award winner who had hosted several awards shows in the past, but because of the much cheaper cost of the production spectacle.

Oscar was still spectacular last night though more charitable, generous and efficient.  Although the ceremony lasted three and a half hours, it was the fastest 210 minutes on television, faster than the 167 minutes of a certain Oscar contending Best Picture nominee.  The most significant touch was the respectful and inclusive aspect of having five previous Oscar winning actors speak to their respective nominees directly in person from the stage, making intimacy and recognition the most profound diversion from the past.  In this manner not only was each nominee recognized, but the history and nostalgia of Oscar glory fused instantly with the present day, on stage before our very eyes.  This was one of the masterstrokes of the evening, and anyone who watched the telecast saw that it meant everything to the actresses and actors involved. 

As for prognosticators, anyone who had an inkling about who might carry home the Best Actor award last night would have to have been clued in to the fact that of the five Oscar winners who appeared on the stage to pay tribute to their fellow nominees, three of them -- Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro and Adrien Brody -- had all worked with Sean Penn on the big screen.  And when Mr. De Niro spoke in heartfelt turns about his good friend, you knew that Mr. Penn was going to be as good as Oscar gold once again.  Mr. Penn's speech was impassioned and his reference to "you commie, homo-loving sons-of-guns" might have been met with alarm in recent years past, but in this new and button-open Academy Awards, the joke was welcome, as was Cuba Gooding Jr.'s playful and satiric jab at Robert Downey Jr. for playing a character who is playing a character in blackface in "Tropic Thunder", when speaking to him from the stage.  For whatever reason Mr. Downey apparently eschewed the new Academy protocol, looking tense if not uncomfortable all night long.
 
Last year this writer asked a nice gentleman named Sid Ganis, the Academy President who is stepping down now after four good years, about whether there was any politics in who won the acting Oscars at the Academy Awards.  At the time Mr. Ganis very politely said no, that the actors were rewarded for the best performance regardless of race, color, gender or anything else.  While Mr. Ganis was completely sincere about this, the record seems to show something a little to the contrary, but Mr. Ganis, who was born and raised in Brooklyn with the movies literally gleaming in his eyes, stayed true to his beliefs.  Mr. Ganis avoided making a speech last night, a tradition of Oscars past that underlined its stuffy demeanor, choosing to go with the flow that made last night an effervescent event, culminating in the stage presence of over 30 people including numerous small children from India to celebrate and receive the Best Picture Oscar for "Slumdog Millionaire", which was shot in Mumbai.

One of the most emotional aspects of the night was Heath Ledger's posthumous win as The Joker for "The Dark Knight".  A profile in goose bumps and lubricated eyes, the four-minute tribute in speeches by some of his surviving family members accepting the award on his behalf made Oscar an intimate family affair.  All too often viewers and audiences are accustomed to hearing Oscar winners thank their wives and husbands and parents for making the moment possible, and last night it was refreshing and poignant to see Mr. Ledger's relatives speak about what Heath meant to them as a person not just what he as an actor meant to the film world and moviegoers.  A moment of reflection that was punctuated by shots of Mr. Brody and others with tears welling up in their eyes.  Even the In Memoriam tribute, sang by the glamorous and elegant Queen Latifah, was more inclusive, with her sweet sounding and soothing voice wrapped around the memories of those past, with Paul Newman getting a rousing applause when his image appeared at the very end.

Finally, the generosity of Kate Winslet's acceptance speech was significant, as she effusively hailed her fellow nominees as "goddesses".  It was also good to see Eddie Murphy, two years removed from his "Dreamgirls" Oscar experience, although Mr. Condon, who directed the Oscar-winning film, may have been the one who asked him to make the appearance as the actor-comedian handed the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to one of his idols, Jerry Lewis.

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