The Academy Awards are like the State of the Union Address: Something I feel I need to suffer through. We saw Parasite Friday evening, in the nick of time, and I found it a little disappointing; the sensationalism seemed more of an easy than an artistic way out. And my shock at the winner of the live action shorts owed much to the fact that it was the least political of the group (which is to say, not political at all). So there was victory in that.
The In Memoriam segment, which I always look forward to, paired some (lesser known) people, while the more famous who got single billing were pictured twice, a head shot next to an action shot, which was confusing. And, to conclude the puzzling evening, the night's most political speech was not delivered by Jane Fonda.
