I've just finished watching "Heaven Can Wait", Ernst Lubitsch's 1943 comedy about a man (Don Ameche) trying to justify his life while waiting in hell.
It was one of the nominees for Best Picture in what turned out to be the last year when they had ten nominees in the category.
Until now...
Watching it and then searching for the year's other nominees I couldn't help but wonder what will occur this year. Back then the category was constituted of epics, biopics, light-yet-classy comedies like this one and WWII dramas.
What will AMPAS do to satisfy those slots now?
Out of the nominees from that year, which I've seen, I can only come up with four films worthy of being in the running for the big prize.
And all of those are films that fill the prerequisite slot nowadays as well. Does that mean that Oscar has such influence that we end up only remembering what they want?
If so will future generations flock to their shortlists to see what was happening in our times?
Many films from the Golden Era of cinema have remained lost, damaged or in the best cases are practically impossible to find for wider audiences worldwide.
Isn't this the same thing that's occurring now with Oscar nominees anyways? Half the world never gets to see those movies, not even people living in the States get to see them all.
AMPAS is once again rushing into what seems to be an optimal healing for its slow death, but in the process it's forgetting that quantity has never equaled quality.
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