Almost everyone involved is fully deserving of that slap in the face from the public. At a time of increasing economic insecurity, when more and more people are wondering how they are going to make ends meet in six months' or a year's time, it is not surprising that this spectacle of opulence and empty-headedness has begun to wear thin for broad sections of the population. All three are poor films. The victory of Gladiator is the most distasteful. While it was pleasant to hear Chinese names singled out for praise by the winners in a number of categories for Crouching Tiger , Ang Lee's film is vacuous and a poor representative of Taiwanese cinema.
Traffic is the policeman's eye view of the drug problem, which explains nothing and educates no one.
There was a time when award winners attempted to make some statement about the industry or the world. Sometimes the comments were self-indulgent, sometimes they were silly, occasionally they were insightful. It's tedious and simply underscores how little any of these well-paid people have to say. It is difficult to speak of high points. Marcia Gay Harden winning for Pollock , a sincere if not terribly satisfying film, was one.