A reflection on the winner of seven Oscars

Hollywood has been celebrating itself for nearly three months, at all its previous awards shows and parties (from the revamped Golden Globes to the SAGs (its strong actors’ union) and more), culminating sometime in March with the delivery of The Oscars, although many times that day ends up being a confirmation and withdrawal of previous awards. Namely, the harvest of “Everywhere at the same time” was so great that it remained only to know how many statuettes they would get.

The film premiered in United States in June 2022 and eventually became a cult film, with a special niche and an ardent following. Made with a modest budget of HRK 14 million. No one would have predicted that it would win seven awards out of eleven nominations, including best actor and supporting actress, best actress and director: the now famous “Daniels”, who are not related, just a duo who share the same name.

The film refers to multiverses, parallel universes in which anything can happen. Where there are superheroes, realities and past lives. A family of oriental origin that has a “laundry room” and lives behind the large rooms. But there is not only a house, but also the possibility of other worlds, where you can access those previous lives, with the possibility of changing your destiny.

The winning film relies on superhero movies, which have dominated the past fifteen years or so – many of them very well made with excellent directors and very good stories – but it feels like it’s already too much.

One would think, at best, yes “Daniels” they only expose what is happening and in a certain way make fun of this cinema and its stories.

However, this is a worrying trend, where cinema becomes just a series of hyper-edited and stylized shots, with the occasional spark of a story and related elements, which at one point lose their meaning and cinematic value. If we add to that that its last forty minutes – of the eternal two hours and twenty minutes – are soporific, it’s even worse.

The worst part of the matter is not so much the film itself, which despite its niche will surely be forgotten in a short time, if not what it represents. And an industry trend that will persist in seeking success in its copies.

From these lines, the pedantry of defining what cinema is or is not will not be exploited: an art full of avant-garde, rich in history and anecdotes, nevertheless “Everywhere at the same time”, as part of industrial cinema, and In the very bowels of the country where films are produced and consumed all over of the world, bland, excessive and explosive cinematography is created.

If we add to that that it competed with films like “Tara” by Todd Field, “The Fabelmans” by Spielberg himself, which left empty-handed, the artistic failure and trend is even greater.

I was on that list too “Top Gun: Maverick” that out of six nominations, he received only the Oscar for the best sound: a mega hit, a real blockbuster, ten times more representative of Hollywood, its abilities and the industry. Not for nothing, Steven Spielberg himself grabbed Tom Cruise by the shoulders at the Academy Awards – not only the star, but also the producer – and told him: “You made a mess for Hollywood, let them be forever grateful.” Cruise is highly respected for postponed the premiere of “Top Gun” due to the pandemic and waited until it could be shown in theaters, which is what it was intended for. “We did this for you,” he declared.

In the same way, Steven Spielberg appears just minutes before the screening of his autobiographical film “The Fabelmans” thanks to him and his team for choosing to see the film in the cinema. AND tribute from the teacher to his viewers.

Martin Scorsese stated a few years ago that superhero movies are not cinema, just an amusement park, just attractions without much substance. The commotion was huge, events give it more reasons every day.

Cinema – in cinemas – will certainly endure, although streaming and household consumption It is there in a bad way, however, there is the old guard, like Spielberg, actors and producers like Cruise, and now Scorsese himself, whose new film with Di Capriro and De Niro called “Killers of The Flower Moon” is rumored to be to be presented at the Cannes Film Festival in just two months.