Life imitating art...

...or films more like! Today as I was walking in the university carpark I saw a white palstic bag floating up high, being carried for a considerable distance by the wind, then swirling quickly downwards to be whirled back into the air. Such an occurence always reminds me of American Beauty one of my favourite films ever, dealing with a cynical man in mid-life crisis in a life that supposedly mirrors the American Dream, but in reality things are rather different. This film had some wonderful poetic imagery, including the plastic bag and the falling petals scenes and a good dose of (black) humour, besides an outstanding performance by Kevin Spacey, who in my opinion is one of the best actors of his generation, and an awesome soundtrack. It's incredible how such a simple thing as a plastic bag could evoke something so...beautiful, perhaps because of its own simplicity. Yes, I need to watch this movie again...it must have been 6 years since I last watched it. However, I must first watch some films which I have never seen, and I have quite a list including most of this year's Oscar nominees - haven't been to a cinema in months!

And since I started this post with a movie which had won Best Film at the Academy Awards, I might as well continue on this topical subject! This morning I was quite surprised to hear that Crash and not Brokeback Mountain had won the coveted Oscar, as indeed were the producers of both films I imagine! Perhaps ironically, Crash is the only film I had watched from the nominees, so I really can't comment on the others (but I can't wait to watch Brokeback and I have a feeling it's the kind of movie I like). I say ironically because most of my favourite films happened to have been the Oscar winners for Best Picture including Braveheart, Shakepeare in Love, American Beauty and many more. And I must say that I quite liked Crash and found it a very good film in the way it dealt with racism and bigotry in a very tought-provoking manner. I also liked how all the individual stories were somehow connected and how the story came full-circle. Still, I really didn't expect it to win the major award. However, I'm pleased that by winning, this film will continue getting much more exposure and in this way, so will the issue at its core, hopefully making people think about their prejudices and actions.