The BAFTAS 2011: Preview Vs My View

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An awful lot of political considerations come into play more than awards of any type. From the Oscars to the Nobel Prize, numerous of us deemed "the ordinary public" would like to think that such accolades relate to excellence, and hang onto a romantic view in which merit and justice bear some relation to every other.

But such views are acquiring tougher and tougher to hold.

A fast appear at the BAFTA 2010 nominations for Outstanding British Film shows two films I really wanted to watch, one I believed I should certainly watch for the reason that I'd observed a clip on Jonathan Ross, and two I thought perfect to stay away from at all expense, if for utterly diverse reasons.

For my cash, Tamara Drewe was one of the finest British films to come out in 2010. Lively performances, evocative camera-work and a great screenplay make it a charming picture, faithful - in clever and surprising ways - to the Posy Simmons graphic novel from which it came.

On the other hand, the excellent and very good of BAFTA know significantly more than I. Tamara Drewe could have been a fairly decent movie, but the category is Outstanding British Film, which implies that the picture need to have a little something far more about it to gain such a heavyweight award.

All these nominated films do have "something about them" - it is accurate: most took healthy returns at the box-office when they opened, at least compared to their much less-nominated peers, and most in particular when they opened in the US. (Sources: IMDB and The Numbers.)

I'm no cynic.

It is critical to preserve the film business going in Britain, so The Academy has to reward success. But it does highlight how those films which have achieved greater box-office could get pushed to the best of the awards list.

In the finish, unless a picture is really newsworthy - like this year's Monsters, supposedly created for much less than a million dollars, and on a single laptop - those films with the greatest promoting cannot assist obtaining the most attention from the judges. The current program works greatest for those films with the correct mix of good quality, marketing and box-office.

There's continually an exception, of course. Some nominations are given to films that seem worthy, usually for political (smaller 'p') or Political (major 'P') factors, whatever the relative merit of the nominees. In the BAFTA world-view this appears to happen considering that the film concerns a topic so abnormally dull that the rest of the globe, outside its native land, could not possibly have the slightest interest in it or considering that it addresses a theme of political correctness that's important pro-tem.

Of course, sci-fi pix with romping special effects and significant marketing and advertising budgets still - inexplicably maybe - make it into the Finest Film category, if only given that they employ everyone in the market. But this year, the sci-fi boys have their work cut out, considering they are up against fascinating films of genuine good quality.

Everyone complains, rightly, about the state of the film business, and bemoans its fate and future.However excellent-top quality films nonetheless will out. The dark, beautiful Biutiful, featuring a haunting and elegiac performance from 2008 Oscar-winner Javier Bardem as a man struggling to put in order his complex personal, psychic and home business affairs before he dies, has already gained huge prestige - not only as a film Not in the English Language, but for Bardem as a candidate for Ideal Actor.... and it hasn't even been released in the UK or the US however.

And films like Tamara Drewe, which pulled in an abysmal $18,604 during its initially US weekend and hasn't gained a single BAFTA nomination,* will sometimes have the last laugh. My prediction is that this picture has a wonderful future as a family preferred and will make every person involved with it - from its perennially outstanding director, Stephen Frears, to all of its adorable cast, to its screenwriter Moira Buffini - quite proud, and, hopefully ever extra effective. More than time, because its autumn release, it is done especially nicely, thank you, and there's each reason to suspect that we may possibly be celebrating its excellence for lots of years to come.

* Gemma Arterton has been nominated for the Orange Rising Star Award, but this is voted on by the public, and is not awarded by the academy.