Last night was a first for me. Last night I did not watch the Oscars.
Frankly, I just couldn’t bring myself to care. The Academy Awards have no relevance to my life. They don’t affect my choice of movies one whit. The hype, the red carpet, the fawning, the sniping, it’s like watching a nuclear-powered high school reunion on steroids. Plus, when you boil it down, it’s all about money, money for those at the top–the producers and directors and stars, not the key grip or the clapper-loader–and I grow tired of everything always benefiting those at the top, so I saved myself several hours and gave it all a pass.
So, what did I do on Oscar Night instead?
I watched a movie, of course.
I’ll bet it’s a movie you haven’t heard of, and that’s sad, because it was remarkable.
Ramin Bahrani is a relatively new director and screenwriter (his first full-length film came out in 2000) whose stories usually center around immigrants in America–a Pakistani puschart vendor, a Latino street urchin, or a cabbie from Senegal–but back in 2012 he wrote and directed At Any Price, a drama set in America’s Heartland: Iowa.
Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron play Henry and Dean, a father and son who are at serious loggerheads. Dean, overshadowed by his older brother’s preeminence, rejects his father in just about every way: he does not want to take up the family business (seed sales) or run the family farm, and instead puts his passion into dirt-track, figure-8 racing, aiming for the NASCAR circuit. Henry is a faded high-school quarterback who, despite an oversized ambition and towering self-worth, still can only manage being second best in several areas of his life. He’s a man straddling two worlds: the simpler but laborious family farm life of his youth, and the high-tech, massive, agri-business of today.
Surrounding these two men are a cast of well-written characters. Henry’s main competitor (Clancy Brown) is a strong, self-assured salesman whose quiet confidence stands in sharp contrast to Henry’s near-frenetic smarm. Henry’s father (Red West) is an overbearing patriarch with a keen sense of reality who doesn’t pull punches with his son. Heather Graham plays Meredith, the aging high-school cheerleader who matches Henry pattern, misstep for misstep.
The strongest of this supporting cast, though, is Henry’s wife, Irene (Kim Dickens). Irene is the eye of this familial storm, and though she has the fewest lines in relation to her screen time, she is the one who can boil things down to their essence with a few simple words, such as when she challenges Henry about his affairs: “I love you and everyday you make me feel stupid for doing it.”
In my opinion, this is the performance of Quaid’s career. Rather than Quaid’s usual semi-heroic or romantic lead, Henry is a mess. He has misbehaved his way into serious trouble with his wife (see above) and also with his business (the GMO-patent-wielding Liberty Seed company). He’s a sad man who is cognizant of his own sadness, and his every action reeks with the stink of desperation. It is a brilliant, nuanced, and affecting performance in which we see a man clinging to what he has, only to drop half of it as he scrabbles for more.
Efron’s character is just as damaged, and his actions just as unwise. His anger at his father, at his life, and at the entire world he inhabits drips from him like sweat. Ironically, it is this anger that, building to a crescendo, leads Dean to the film’s turning point where, at a loss, he turns to his father for help.
This isn’t a movie that wraps everything up in a bow. Far from it. It’s a movie about living with your mistakes, and learning from them. But that’s the surface. Beneath that, it’s an examination of the American drive to be Number One, to win at all costs, and to judge everything by the capitalistic yardstick of monetary success. Again, Irene comes up with the thematic statement of the whole movie: “Why can’t you be happy with what’s right in front of you?” To Henry, who regularly blows the horn of his own mediocrity and believes he’s Al Hirt, this is a foreign concept.
Despite their flawed natures, Henry and Dean do learn and grow during this film. They do become better people, but at a cost. The cornfields around them are littered with collateral damage, and families beyond their own feel the pain of their mistakes.
It’s the kind of movie that sticks with you; we went to bed discussing it and when we woke up we discussed it some more.
Go. Watch. Think.
k
Whether it’s dancing, figure skating, or the Oscars — if it’s a competition to be judged either fully or partly on subjective (or “artistic”) merit then I’m not interested.
Having said that. An Al Hirt reference! Wow! Bring back the way back machine!
You might enjoy the Oscars as part of an Oscar Party. Or as a drinking game.
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I think, with enough whisky (and a planned day off on Monday), I could be convinced. As long as folks don’t mind if I puddle up during the “In Memoriam” segment.
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OK but I want to see the dresses. But I save time by seeing them on the news-wrap-up after the Oscars.
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Yep. I hear you on that one. But when the whole fright/delight dichotomy of gowns and the “Here’s who died this year” montage are the high points, it’s time to change the channel.
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I watched Lady Gaga’s special music number on YouTube, it was good. I only watch the good parts and look at the dresses!
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I like yer style!
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I didn’t watch either. I probably would if I had seen any of the nominated films. I don’t have a strong feeling about the value of the Academy Awards, I just wish I could see more movies (and that it didn’t cost $8+ to do so).
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$8? Where do YOU go? It’s $12 and up, here in Seattle. As most of our movie viewing is on disc or via stream, we see fewer of the nominees each year. Probably a contributing factor for my disaffected Oscar spirit.
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Don’t forget the Crest Theater at 5th Ave NE & NE 165th Street, admission $4. Waving to you from the other side of the freeway.
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We walk past the Crest often (for non-locals, it’s a 2nd-run theater), and we’ve taken advantage of its $4 ticket prices in the past, but it’s really the exception to the rule.
However, I did some checking and we do have some smaller theaters that charge $8 per (no cineplexes, just small cinemas), so Todd’s off the hook. I’ve been hoisted by my own petard.
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Just wait until summer, there will be a lot of outdoor movie events and many are $5.
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I used to go to outdoor movies in Golden Gate Park (SF). They were less a movie-going experience, and more a quiet collection of parties with a movie nearby. I know Fremont has an outdoor cinema. What others do you know about?
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One of the best is Movies at Magnuson Park. The titles haven’t been announced yet for this summer. It is an event with food trucks, entertainment and dogs are welcome to come! I guess dogs like movies? http://www.epiceap.com/seattle-outdoor-movies/
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Sounds cool! We go out there for Shakespeare on occasion. The food trucks don’t show up for Shakespeare.
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You can see also, as explained on the Epic Movies page, that the movies at Magnuson are actually free if people don’t arrive until start time. It is also “rain or shine” so if it’s raining, it is still a “go.”
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Oh, Kurt. The Oscars are my Super Bowl. I hunker down for red carpet and all:). But at least you were in the spirit, watching a flick and all . . .
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I know how you feel. I was a faithful viewer for decades but, during the last five years or so, I’ve just grown more and more disinterested until, this year, I realized I was watching only because I’d been watching for so long and not because I enjoyed it. Perhaps it’s partly too because of my viewing habits. Rare is the time we go to the cinema–it’s so loud and generally unsatisfactory–so, since most of the nominees haven’t been out on disc or streaming, I’ve seen fewer of them each year (especially now that they’ve increased the number of BP noms to ten). Honestly, though, I had a better time with this film.
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