Nobody thought this period segregation comedy was perfect. Could we please have a touch of nuance? And that fried-chicken scene makes everyone cringe. But “Green Book” tugged hard on a lot of voter heartstrings. One producer in his late 60s said the movie’s feel-good ending made him “absolutely melt.”
Peter Farrelly, who directed “Green Book” and was one of its writers, has also proved to be an effective campaigner, a couple of voters noted, with his self-effacing speech at the Producers Guild Awards in January as Exhibit A. “When you make ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ you never expect to get an award,” Farrelly said, referring to one of his early films. “I’m damn thankful.”
One voter, a studio executive in his 50s, admitted that his support for “Green Book” was rooted in rage. He said he was tired of being told what movies to like and not like. (Much of the public debate about “Green Book” has turned on its handling of racial issues, which some see as woefully retrograde and borderline bigoted.)
‘Roma’
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón and distributed by Netflix, “Roma” seems to be prompting a crisis of conscience.
Do we vote for “Roma” because we think it’s the best? Or do we withhold our support — regardless of the film’s artistic merit — because we see Netflix as a threat to moviegoing? Although the company pushed “Roma” into about 250 independent theaters in the United States, on par with many foreign-language releases, the streaming giant mostly bypasses cinemas. There are voters in both camps. A couple of those in the anti-Netflix group told me that they would vote for Cuarón for best director as a way to assuage their guilt.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/movies/best-picture-oscars-voters.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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