Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actress 2009

The Contenders:

Sandra Bullock: The Blind Side (winner)
Carey Mulligan: An Education
Meryl Streep: Julie & Julia
Helen Mirren: The Last Station
Gabourey Sidibe: Precious

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Adapted Screenplay 2009

The Contenders:

District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious (winner)
Up in the Air

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 2009

The Contenders:

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker (winner)
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Not a Magnet School

Film: An Education
Format: DVD from personal collection on rockin’ flatscreen.

“Period piece” tends to call up visions of a long-ago past filled with corsets, powdered wigs, and fancy language. We’re getting to the point, though, in which a film made now about the 1960s is potentially looking a good 50 years into the past. If nothing else, that defines the idea of a period piece, which makes An Education a period piece by definition.

This is the story of Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a young girl living in London and attending an exclusive private school. Her parents (Cara Seymour and Alfred Molina) are keen on her getting into Oxford, and on doing everything possible to make that happen. This is particularly true of her father. Their daily conversation seems to consist of what she is doing to impress the folks at Oxford, in fact. There are some odd ideas here—she is forced to consider playing the cello as a hobby, which means that her father tells her she doesn’t need to practice it, because hobbies aren’t for practicing. However, she’s also not allowed to quit the youth symphony, because that shows that she’s serious about the hobby. Her mother is quite a bit less intense, but no less focused.