How many times have you watched it? 5 times ? 10 times ? 20 times? We’re going to watch it one last time. Thoroughly. As experts from The antechamber do it for a Canadian goal or Yvon Michel for a K.-O. by Kim Clavel. By analyzing every detail. It lasts 55 seconds — 55 seconds that will change Hollywood and its world.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
Chris Rock is on stage. He just made a joke about the Cruz-Bardem couple. Penélope Cruz is nominated in the category of best actress; her husband, Javier Bardem, is in the category of best actor. He says if Penélope loses her Oscar, Javier better lose his too. If he wants to have a good night, it better be Will Smith who wins. The couple laugh. Will Smith too. Note that Will Smith, like many other stars, sits level with the stage. A few steps from the presenter. If he had been seated in the FF row of the St-Denis Theater, would he have disturbed his seat neighbors, sorry, sorry, sorry… then climbed eight steps to give his sniffles? Physical distancing not only protects us from COVID-19, it also protects us from our impulses. Between Smith and Rock, there was no pitfall. Direct access. Something tells me that next year the Academy will return to a more traditional seating plan.
We continue.
Chris Rock notices Jada Pinkett Smith next to her husband: ” Jada, I love you… G.I. Jane II, can’t wait to see you! Okay! The audience laughs. Will too. Jada rolls her eyes. Chris Rock opens his arms. As if to say: what do you want, it was too obvious. He even comments on his joke: That was a nice one… Unfortunately, the camera is not in the right place. We should see the turning point where Will Smith stops laughing and decides to settle his account in comedy. What triggered this change in attitude? Is it the humiliated gaze of his wife? Is this a flashback to his childhood? Will have to wait for the film on the life of Will Smith.
Rock stops talking, he sees Smith coming towards him. The surprised eye. He doesn’t seem afraid. On the contrary. In good showman, he seems excited. Something is going to happen. That’s entertainment! He has both arms behind his back. Ready to let the man in black speak. Will stops in front of him. And gives him a cuff. A good right. Luckily for the presenter, it’s the fingertips of whoever played Ali that hit his face. If it had been the palm that hit him, the Rock would have cracked. There, he staggers a little, puts his hands behind his back and lets out a: ” wow! » Genre: we have a show! Smith returns to his seat. The prankster sums up what just happened: Will Smith…” But we no longer hear it. The broadcaster mutes the audio. A few minutes later, all social networks will relay the missing soundtrack: “ Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me. People laugh. Not Will Smith. He screams : ” Keep my wife’s name out of your fuck*** mouth! Chris Rock replies:
” Wow, dude…
– Yes!
– It was a G.I. Jane joke… »
The comedian pleads that his joke is not worth a slap in the face. Smith does not budge: Keep my wife’s name out of your fuck*** mouth! »
Rock, in the tone of a child who has just been punished by his father, ends the discussion thus: I’m going to, okay? And he introduces the winner of the next category.
The scariest thing about this surreal event is not what happened during it, it’s what didn’t happen afterwards. Everything continued as if nothing had happened.
Although Will Smith was deeply bruised because his spouse had been injured, he did not leave the scene. He sat down again. Hoping for his Oscar.
Chris Rock had just received a slap on the face, he began to read the teleprompter. Should have given an Oscar.
The producers decided not to take a break, in order to sort out what had just happened. We can’t stop the Oscars.
Especially not before the punch of the evening: the puncheur winning the trophy for best actor of the year. And declaring, crying, that love can make you do crazy things. A scene worthy of Don’t Look Up. God this world is phoney !
The one who received the biggest slap last Sunday was not Chris Rock, it was Oscar. That Will Smith’s brutal gesture didn’t bring anyone back to reality, that he was sanitized by the glam of the evening, that he did not stop the crowd from giving the attacker a standing ovation when he won demonstrated how the whole enterprise is an immense futility.
Come back to earth. The Oscars, like all award shows, is just a big party. Jane Campion is no better than Denis Villeneuve. The film CODA is no better than The Power of the Dog Where West Side Story. This is a game to promote views. Stop crying like you found the cure for cancer.
Winning an Oscar cannot be a lifetime goal. It’s in the movies that you are better, not in the galas.
It is by deflating the balloon of the Oscars that we will deflate the ego of its stars, and that we will avoid slaps in the face.