Cinema: Martin Scorsese gets it all at the Oscars...

Martin Scorsese was the big winner of the 79th Oscars' awards! Scorsese, who had missed out on five previous occasions (!) said he was "overwhelmed" and asked to double-check…"Could you double-check the envelope?". 27 years after his first nomination (in 1980 with 'Raging Bull'), he finally made it and it is of course a very well deserved award, even though this years' film 'The departed' is quite a classic mainstream picture.

In 1981 (with 'Raging Bull') he was beaten by Robert Redford's 'Ordinary People'. And he had been nominated four other times, in 1988 for 'The Last Temptation of Christ', in 1990 for 'Good Fellas', in 2002 for 'Gangs of New York' and in 2004 for 'The Aviator'. And he has also received two nominations for best screenplay, with 'Good Fellas' in 1990 and in 1993 with 'The Age of Innocence'. Yet for me his best films are

'After Hours' from 1985) and 'Taxi Driver' from 1976 (and let's not forget 'New York, New York', 1977). Yet 'Taxi driver' won 4 Oscars, for best picture, for best actor (Robert De Niro), best actress in a supporting role (Jodie Foster) and also best original music.

But this year the mob drama 'The Departed' won a total of four Oscars, including that for best film (instead of 'Babel' as I had predicted…).

Forest Whitaker got the statue for best actor in a leading role ('The last king of Scotland'), Helen Mirren got yet another award for her performance in the overrated 'The Queen', Alan Arkin won best supporting actor for 'Little Miss Sunshine'! :-) Jennifer Hudson earned best supporting actress for 'Dreamgirls'. Surprisingly 'Pan's Labyrinth' got three Oscars (well, for best makeup, best cinematography…) and even 'Little Miss Sunshine' got two Oscars, as well as 'An Inconvenient Truth' and 'Dreamgirls'. And german film 'Das leben der anderen' (The lives of others) got a deserved Oscar for best foreign film! Finally, a lifetime achievement Oscar was given to Italian composer Ennio Morricone for his "magnificent and multi-faceted contributions to the art of film music". And let's not forget Marie Antoinette's prize for costume design…

And well, no, Kate Winslet in 'Little Children' and Abigail Breslin in 'Little Miss sunshine' did not make it this year… but they'll come back… maybe.

I must say that I never expect 'miracles' at the Oscars…it is not meant to discover new talents or trends, it's objective is not to award films that take risks and break the rules, that shock, that challenge one's imagination and brains. It targets after all those films that work quite well at multi-cinemas and win at the box-office, in the worst case scenario, after being awarded an Oscar…