..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Kim Voynar
..Michael Wilmington

13 Weeks To Go:
The Year Of Ambiguity

We've seen The Year of the Bio-Pic, The Year of the Big Director, The Year of The Indie ... but this year, it's The Year of Ambiguity.

But like years past, it is looking like the thing that it is the "year of" may turn out to be the thing that becomes the least Oscar celebrated thing of all.

Australia, Che, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Defiance, Doubt, Revolutionary Road, The Reader, The Wrestler ... all ambiguous in different ways ... some ambiguous emotionally, some intellectually, some morally, some in style ... but hard to nail down.

Great for critics.  Crappy for marketing.

And in the end, the Oscar Season is a season of marketing.  Sorry.  Hope there wasn't any water in that bubble as it burst over your head.

It is one of the treacherous pitfalls of being an Oscar Monkey that we start to think that our personal opinions about these films are meaningful.  And those opinions can be very useful, so long as you can see past your own nose.  My experience on this field has been that the movies I am most vulnerable to misreading are the ones I most love.  I have a 99.9% accuracy record on films I really dislike.  (That is, films I actually hate ... not films that others decide I hate because I don't love the film as much as they do.)

But there is not a single title on my List o' Ambiguity that I "really dislike."  There are very few films that I really "love" this year.  And that seems to be, in another ambiguous turn, what Academy voters and movie lovers all over town are feeling as well.

Of course, every movie has passionate followings ... and passionate detractors. 

But if you want to know exactly why the Slumdog bandwagon has gotten so heavy (and subject to backlash) lately, it's not just the movie ... it's that people feel something intensely when they walk out of the movie theater.  It's not "okay."  They aren't discussing what it meant.  They aren't picking out which performances they liked or didn't like.  They just had, with a few exceptions, a great f-ing time at the movies.  And that is, in the end, what it is all about.

Frost/Nixon?  Terrific story, well told.  Everyone comes in knowing the players.  Nixon's charm and humor is a surprise.  But it's not very challenging material.  It's just a very good movie.  And that is likely enough for it to overcome all of the fireworks and ambiguities of other films. 

Milk?  A powerful emotional piece about an underdog finding a raison d'être at 40, bringing unending passion and the need to bring some meaning into his life to his cause.  The movie is about more than gay men and civil rights ... but make no mistake, this is a film about civil rights (as seen though the eyes of one iconic individual) and those civil rights are for homosexuals. 

Of course each film has its complexities ... but in spirit, simple, clean, and direct.

This doesn't mean that no movies of ambiguity can or will make it to the Best Picture slots.  But it's a hard road to hoe ... or more importantly, to find a focused constituency for. 

For instance, I still think there is a very good chance that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will land in the Top 5, but more in spite of the ambiguity that turns on so many of its most fervent supporters than because of it.  What's my logic?  I'd say that Ben Button is the only massive, visual epic of the season in play (given Australia's style inconsistencies).  And the experience of it, through those visuals, is so intense that the impact on audiences who are not lingering in their lack of emotional connection will be profound.  (And yes, some people will find it emotional as well.)

But if I was behind The Dark Knight or Wall-E, I would imagine that it's time to redouble my efforts, as all this ambiguity is leaving the door open to at least one more very clear pitch. 

When you look at the films of some ambiguity that have made it, you see distinct ideas fronting those films.  Bill Murray as the sad clown in Lost In Translation.  The emotional harshness and internationality of Babel.  The indie buddy comedy for wine lovers of Sideways.  The actress showcase of The Hours.  Really, you have to go all the way back to Gosford Park, which is, essentially, a manor house mystery, to find a movie that chugged into Best Picture on the movie without a diamond sharp pitch about what the movie was.

If I had Rachel Getting Married, I would be picking a very specific angle to push right now.  Ride Debra Winger for a while.  Or create a push that sells the notion that Rachel is the great women's movie of the season, with three awards-worthy performances from great actresses and even more in support. 

If I was selling Che, it would all be about it being the epic of our time.  Epic.  Epic.  Epic.

Stephen Daldry is not interested, understandably, about giving away the second act of his film, The Reader.  But if you want to stay in the BP game, the marketing better be as brazen about the sex as it is about the emotional twists.  Same with Revolutionary Road.

Doubt?  Sell both arguments?  One campaign suggests he "did it" and another says he "didn't do it" and you have to see the movie to make up your own mind.  It's got to be the "secret" of The Crying Game, even if the answer remains more elusive than Jaye Davidson's manhood.

Of course, I am punching along here, talking about selling the movies and not the movies themselves.

Why do I think so many ambitious films are lingering in such ambiguity this year?  Well, I would guess that it is the manifestation of thinkers lingering in a second four-year Bush administration, leaving them unsure of why our nation didn't see Bush and his policies the way liberal America did.  Australia and Defiance seem to be outliers here, though in a way, with good men in the woods trying to determine whether it is better to fight the power or to just survive it, it seems to fit right in. 

And why aren't these feelings being reciprocated as one might expect them to be?  Well ... President Obama isn't helping.  Happy days are here again, even with a worldwide economic crisis.  When you have hope, you are less likely to be interested in lingering in the questions of whether you have done the right thing. 

Meanwhile, there are Dark Knight DVD ads on the tube ... and it looks so great! 

Or as Sam Goldwyn is oft quoted as saying, "If you want to send a message, call Western Union."  Even during Oscar season.

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