Here we have the "British Academy Film Awards 2017", a television event from this year, actually from just a couple days ago that celebrated the best in film from 2017 from the perspective of the United Kingdom. the host once again was Stephen Fry and even if i am a big fan of him usually I felt as if his jokes this year weren't on par with his best from previous years. Still I am somewhat glad that "bag lady" comment from last year did not have any real consequences and I hope he will be back in shape next year and deliver better than he did in 2017. As all awards shows this year, it was packed with anti-Trump and anti-American messages and acceptance speeches. Occasionally we also heard a critical voice about Britain's decision leaving the EU. Regardless of what exactly these contents where, I personally did not like it again and I think these shows should stay unpolitical. As for the winners, "La La land" did not dominate as much as it did at the Golden Globes for example, but the wins for Picture and Director make the film look really really comfortable with the upcoming Oscars. Emma Stone's win also moved her into a great spot as she beat Portman again and I guess Stone is at 85-90% now to win the Oscar as well. The potential spoiler Isabelle Huppert was not nominated this time around, but handed out an award and told a little anecdote about her past at the BAFTAs. The supporting actor award going to Dev Patel surely lifted his Oscar hopes again and Mahershala Ali while still the front runner does not appear to be safe anymore at all. This also hurts "Moonlight" overall in terms of Oscar prospects. Casey Affleck won another award for Best Actor, but his most dangerous rival Denzel Washington wasn't nominated either. Maybe a 60-40 chance for Affleck winning the Oscar perhaps right now. The only one in the acting categories who is really at 99% is Viola Davis, pretty much a lock, but honestly I am glad when we don't have to hear any more speeches from her as they do not only seem artificial and fabricated, which especially hurts the series content about race, but now they are also becoming repetitive.
Best British Film went to "I, Daniel Blake" and this is still my favorite film from 2016, so I am glad it won, even if the category does not make any sense to me. Do the Oscars have a Best American Film? Does Cannes have a Best French Film? No idea why this category exists, but at least there is a deserving winner. The BAFTAs really loved IDB looking at how many nominations it scored. I still find it baffling though that Dave Johns, the heart and soul of the film got forgotten. Oh yeah, Son of Saul won the Best Foreign Language Film category, the Oscar winner from last year and Toni Erdmann did not win again just like at the Globes, so it will be interesting if it can win the Oscar nonetheless without any of these two big trophies or if for example the Iranian entry will receive more votes like it should perhaps. Another upset here came from Kubo but honestly, it's not that surprising that the BAFTAs went for it. I still believe Zootopia is close to a lock at the Oscars. "Hacksaw Ridge", "Jackie" and "The Jungle Book" won a BAFTA too and they are in good positions for the Oscars as well.
As for the show in general, I still have one major concern, namely that it's just not right to include circus performance and stuff like Best Rising Star Award and then leave out much more crucial stuff like Best Score or Best Foreign Language Film while including Best British Film during the live-on.air presentation. How can you justify criticism at Britain leaving the EU and then make a statement like the latter with what you include during the main event. I can really only shake my head at this. Anyway, all in all a fairly mediocre awards show, with some interesting winners admittedly. It's worth seeing if you like these events as much as I do.
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