Dish of the Day

Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:

Monday, February 20, 2023

A few quick thoughts on the BAFTA Awards which I recorded and just watched:

I was worried in the beginning with the trendy opening musical number and the hosts’ (Richard E. Grant and Alison Hammond) lack of comedic material. The show settled into respectfulness right after this flashy opener and thankfully the winners were a lot briefer in their acceptance speeches than most of those on the other recent award shows I’ve seen. A few were even classy (i.e. Barry Keoghan who won for Supporting Actor in The Banshees of Inisherin thanked [Marlon] Brando in his brief acceptance speech and The Fellowship recipient, Costume Designer Sandy Powell, represented the epitome of sophistication in receiving her honours which was a pleasant surprise. Most welcome of all was the In Memoriam segment. In both of last year’s shameful Academy Awards presentation and Emmy Awards show, the producers felt they needed to put on a musical performance right in front of the screen, the “entertainment” which of course received all the attention. Those lost to us formed an obfuscatory backdrop. In this Awards show, the restrained segment restored the dignity missing from the others mentioned, moving many in the audience and on the podium to tears.

Recently added to my article entitled Plundering the Genre: Film Noir is a list of British Films Noir almost all of which were produced between 1940 and 1959. In the future, I will list films in the same category from France, include other countries, plus Proto-noir (before 1940) and Neo-noir films (after 1959).

The Third Man

The updated article can be read here.

All responses are not only welcomed but encouraged in the comments section below.

Hope to see you tomorrow.

A.G.