Bret Easton Ellis, American author, screenwriter, short-story writer, director, always has fascinating insight about current zeitgeist. After all, this is the man who created “American Psycho” and Patrick Bateman, a work and character of transgressive art that warned us about consumer culture.
Remember when he blew a few heads off By explicitly stating that “Moonlight” was overrated and “Green Book” was underrated? That’s Brett Easton Ellis for you, a counterculture advocate who likes to go against the grain.
Ellis is right now in the middle of a book tour for his latest novel, “The Shards.” His last stop was Paris where he spoke to TF1info about the recent Oscars and “Everything Everywhere All At Once”.
So there you go, that's my feeling: I don't think people considered [EEAAO] to be the best movie. But I think to win the Best Picture Oscar, you have to make people cry. Tár doesn't make anyone cry. But it was the best movie I've seen in 2022. Brilliantly written, brilliantly directed, brilliantly acted. Very cold. But amazing. Everything Everywhere All At Once, for a lot of people, it's very entertaining, irreverent. It must be recognized that the directors have a lot of imagination. But there came a time when I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to get out of the cinema. I went there the first weekend with my boyfriend and there are loads of things that I liked. The first half hour, I was moved by this mother, this family and their problems with taxes. As soon as they enter the closet, I didn't understand anything for an hour, even though there are some very successful scenes individually. Except that in the end, people cry when mother and daughter reconcile. And it takes that to win Best Picture. I also think Ke Huy Quan deserved to win, he's awesome. On the other hand, Cate Blanchett should have been crowned best actress for Tár rather than Michelle Yeoh. But it is a political choice.
Of course Yeoh’s win was political, but you won’t have many people admitting that.
In general, winning an Oscar has always been, partly, political, but sometimes you just need to point out the preposterous wins. Yeoh’s win was preposterous. Blanchett gave a time-capsule worthy performance in “TAR.”
Must I repeat that Blanchett gave an all-timer performance in “TAR”? Her losing the Oscar is akin to if Daniel Day-Lewis hadn’t won for “There Will Be Blood” or De Niro for “Raging Bull.” It doesn’t make any sense, but, hey, welcome to the new Academy!
Blanchett having already won twice and Yeoh becoming the first ever Asian lead to win an Oscar became too contagious of a narrative for the Academy to resist. That’s the way voters think nowadays when casting their ballots, it’s not even about the “best” performance.