oscar thoughts

No Country for Old Men won four oscars (picture, director, adapted screenplay and supporting actor) and lost four others it was nominated for. The second biggest winner of the night was The Bourne Ultimatum which won all three oscars it was nominated for (Film editing, sound editing and sound mixing).

Not only were all the acting oscars awarded to foreigners (Day-Lewis, Bardem, Cotillard, Swinton) but foreign accents dominated the awards throughout the evening from art direction, to make-up to song. The Coen brothers, Diablo Cody and Brad Bird were some of the few Americans to win.

Same sex couples won big. The documentary winner, Freeheld, is the story of a New Jersey detective's struggle to give her pension to her same-sex, unmarried partner. And the co-producer of the best picture, Scott Rudin, thanked his partner and held up his oscar saying, "Honey, without you this is just hardware."

One of the shows montages showed the Best Picture winner for every year since 1929 the first year of the awards existence. Unlike the list of grammy winners for Record of the Year the oscars can be proud of their honorees. I was surprised to see how many musicals had won best picture from Broadway Melody in 1930 to Chicago in 2003. At least 10 in all including 5 between 1959 and 1969 (Gigi, 1959; West SIde Story, 1962; My Fair Lady, 1965; The Sound of Music, 1966; and Oliver!, 1969)