Fat Dude Digs Flicks

THE ARTIST has won the best picture Oscar. This is no fluke. This is not the result of a board behind the times. This is not Hollywood showing its fear of the future by embracing its past. This IS an example of Hollywood rewarding the most consistent film of the year. It brings a golden era back to life for a new generation of movie-goers to enjoy. THE ARTIST is an absolute joy to behold. Clearly we live in a more cynical age when people lambast the notion that a joyful film is capable of winning the big prize. Not only is it joyful, but it is astonishingly well put-together. Funny, heartwarming, and, at times, tragic, this film runs the gamut of emotion and pulls the whole thing off exceptionally well.

Still think the stodgy old people known as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences got it wrong. Guess who else gave THE ARTIST their equivalent of the year’s best:

• The Independent Spirit Awards
• The Golden Globes
• The Australian Film Institute
• The BAFTAs
• Boston Society of Film Critics
• Critic’s Choice Awards
• American Film Institute (special recognition, as it is NOT an American film)
• Goya Awards (Best European Film)
• Hamptons International Film Festival
• London Critics’ Circle
• National Board of Review
• New York Film Critics’ Circle
• Producer’s Guild
• Phoenix Film Critics’ Society
• San Diego Film Critics’ Society
• San Sebastian Film Festival
• St. Louis Internation Film Festival (audience award for international film)
• Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle
• Washington DC Area Film Critics

That’s an awful lot of acclaim, isn’t it? And well deserved, too. So rather than spending the next week pissing and moaning about how THE ARTIST shouldn’t have won, but not having a worthy successor to take the title (and don’t EVEN say THE TREE OF LIFE should have won, you pretentious snob), take a second to wallow in the fact that a good, exuberant, well-made celebration of cinema took the top prize with grace and pleasure.

So yes. Here’s what I am saying: THE ARTIST won best picture. Get over it.