If I Were a Member of the Academy [don’t upset me, Oscar]

I used to love awards season. I felt like a devoted member of the audience. I’d sit at my television, watching from pre-show to after-party, as starlets won and lost, with grace and sometimes embarrassing shame. When I started college, and time became scarce, I had to work around my class schedule, and really could only justify making time for one award show: The Academy Awards.

Like many of the home-viewers of the Oscars, I take a personal stake when my favorite stars, directors/producers/writers, and all-around films are nominees. While I’ve seen several fair movies since moving to New York, I’ve seen one film recently that made me want to create my own award of excellence for the cast: The King’s Speech.

I left the theater feeling absolutely inspired, touched by Colin Firth’s performance, and became immediately mentally devoted to the idea of him being nominated for an Oscar. It’s like I’m hearing Sandy Kenyon‘s plea to NY taxi passengers that they should see the movie, and because I did, I am wondering, “what’s next?”

Firth committed himself to this role, from stammer to overall stage presence, and his supporting cast is equally deserving of nomination. Helena Bonham Carter portrayed Queen Elizabeth with absolute grace, and Geoffrey Rush emoted a level of quirk so believable that I wanted to practice his speech exercises during the film.

My grandfather, who was born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, often tells of his 1939 memory from the fourth grade (or grade four as he so puts it), when he saw Queen Elizabeth (King George VI remained inside the train) as she and her husband toured Canada, before heading to Washington DC to discuss the plans of declaring war. He shared this memory once more when I told him about this movie, which made my seeing it just that much more special.

For anyone who enjoys a good film, especially one based on history, I give The King’s Speech the highest level of recommendation possible.