• Oscars, Intl.

  Posted Monday, February 23, 2009 9:38 AM | By Nina Shen Rastogi
  
  
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  I didn't love the entire Oscars telecast, but I did think there were some lovely grace notes, like Dustin Lance Black's speech (can we all agree it was the high point of the night?) and Kate Winslet's whistling, gap-toothed dad. And who knew Janusz Kaminski was so funny?
  
  But what really made the night for me was the sheer number of foreign accents on display, from Penélope Cruz and her Spanish shout-out, to my dad's beloved A.R. Rahman. ("I chose love, and I'm here." Yes you did, you fillum king! Jai Ho!) Animated short winner Kunio Kato's minimalist and slightly absurd acceptance speech had me giggling all night. There's been a lot of talk about whether the night's big winner, Slumdog Millionaire, can be taken as an authentic portrait of India, or of Bollywood filmmaking in general. (See Dennis Lim's excellent Slate essay here.) I have a lot of conflicted feelings on that topic, but last night, at least, I was basking in Hollywood's internationalism.
  Filed under: Oscars, Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman, Penelope Cruz, Milk
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