Okay ‘Awards Season’ is officially under way. The film critics have started naming their favorite films and performers. (This before all the top ten lists come out in the next few weeks) First up: The Los Angeles and Boston Film Critics who made their choices known this weekend.  From these a few frontrunners have emerged. One of them is “The Hurt Locker”  Kathryn Bigelow’s movie about an army bomb squad working in Iraq starring Jeremy Renner. (I will be taking their word for this one because I’ll be skipping it.) The second is…drumroll please…, Mo’Nique who plays one hellava mother in Lee Daniels “Precious”. In fact, the Boston critics cited the entire cast of “Precious” as the best ensemble (in a tie with the new “Star Trek”). If Mo’Nique wins over the Hollywood Foreign Press next with a Golden Globe nod then she’s got a strong chance for a run at Oscar. 

Now there are a few reasons that I think recognition of Mo’Nique’s work is important. First, it looks like she’s managed to outrun the spate of negative buzz that persisted after she failed to show up to promote the film at the Toronto Film Festival and at its New York City premiere. Back then the rumor mill had Oprah and Tyler Perry throwing their weight behind the film’s other stars namely, Gabourey Sidibe and Mariah Carey, in the all-important Oscar campaign. (Thus leaving the sister who was quickly being labeled as tempermental out of their plans). I can’t even tell you if that’s really true but nevertheless it looks like things have changed.

The second reason is that this individual performance stands out despite the spirited debates that are happening within our community about whether “Precious” is poverty porn being disguised as ‘art’ or that it’s a film that continues to promote the great light-skinned versus dark-skinned divide. Well it’s a little off the subject but here’s my two cents: I think “Precious” is a story that makes us uncomfortable. And if we only think of art of something that is beautiful than it may not qualify. But I think art is designed to move us to feel something and in the case of “Precious” it is discomfort (for most of the film). As for the colorist views being espoused I just don’t see it that way (nor will I boycott “The Blind Side” because it’s a white woman who rescues a young black man). Plus most of the film critics don’t look like us so they may not even know we’re discussing these issues.

Okay so back to Mo’Nique’s chances for an Oscar. If we learned anything from Eddie Murphy and his decision to promote the joke of a film “Norbit” around the time of his “Dreamgirls” nominations the members of the Academy are always watching. That means Mo’Nique’s chances will be impacted by what folks who vote on nominations and awards think of her nightly gabfest on BET. (I’ve only watched a snippet of one show and can’t bring myself to tune in again so I can’t really offer an opinion). So with that in mind, I think Mo’Nique’s got a 50/50 chance of  seeing her name on an Oscar ballot.  But I’ve got to say just having her at the Academy Awards would give me the feeling that anything can happen.

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