Monday, March 06, 2006

Was Crash that good?

George Clooney is proud that Hollywood is "out of touch" and courageous. They really showed that last night giving the award for best picture to a film that boldly proclaims racism to be really bad. And we thought those Danish cartoonist in hiding were brave!

Crash turns out to be the only one of the nominated movies I've seen. It's the kind of film I normally like. I tend to enjoy these films that intertwine several story lines in an effort to say something about a community. I am one of those odd people that actually like Los Angeles and I enjoy movies that explore its odd social fabric. Liked Magnolia, Grand Canyon, etc.

Crash was disappointing. Maybe the problem was that I saw it on a flight to Denmark, but seemed heavy-handed and more contrived than compelling. Ann Althouse thinks its besides the point to object that there is not that much racism in real life because the point of the movie was to offer a surreal concentration of racism. But that's what made the movement seem preachy and implausible. It was good, but I wouldn't have said 'gee, this should win an academy award." Maybe I should take another look.

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