Oscarwatch: Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Dec. 28th, 2012 04:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apocalypsosI did not expect that to be as good as it was, so maybe that was the point of the name, to lower expectations to the point where you're like, "Oh, man, this is going to SUCK," and then it turns out to be really great.
The plot is pretty much exactly what the title is (a sheikh with an English estate wants to bring salmon fishing back to his home country), but at the same time it's a statement on government obfuscation and media ploys and war and terrorism and faith, and there's a nice little love story chugging along throughout, and it all plays out over some really pretty shots of the English countryside and of Yemen, or whatever country was standing in for Yemen. I'll admit I was afraid there might end up being a "white savior" vibe to the whole thing, just because you basically have these white people showing up to put salmon in some Yemeni stream, but there really isn't. There could have been, to be fair, but they do a good job of avoiding it.
I think Ewan MacGregor (who, if you think he's hot at all, you NEED to see this movie) and Emily Blunt definitely deserved their Golden Globe nominations, although I'm not sure if they're going to get Oscar nods, too. It's actually a pretty strong year for once, at least in terms of frontrunners, and these aren't flashy roles. Quite honestly, I'm more surprised that Kristin Scott Thomas didn't get a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in this, because she is the flashy one in a movie you don't expect to be flashy, she's the comic relief, and while the love story's wonderful she is the best thing about the movie. It's a lot of fun to watch her be a bitchy press secretary, and there's a great chats-with-the-prime-minister schtick which was the funniest thing in the whole film.
Seriously, though, it's worth seeing. It's way better than I thought it would be given the lousy Oscar-baity title.
The plot is pretty much exactly what the title is (a sheikh with an English estate wants to bring salmon fishing back to his home country), but at the same time it's a statement on government obfuscation and media ploys and war and terrorism and faith, and there's a nice little love story chugging along throughout, and it all plays out over some really pretty shots of the English countryside and of Yemen, or whatever country was standing in for Yemen. I'll admit I was afraid there might end up being a "white savior" vibe to the whole thing, just because you basically have these white people showing up to put salmon in some Yemeni stream, but there really isn't. There could have been, to be fair, but they do a good job of avoiding it.
I think Ewan MacGregor (who, if you think he's hot at all, you NEED to see this movie) and Emily Blunt definitely deserved their Golden Globe nominations, although I'm not sure if they're going to get Oscar nods, too. It's actually a pretty strong year for once, at least in terms of frontrunners, and these aren't flashy roles. Quite honestly, I'm more surprised that Kristin Scott Thomas didn't get a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in this, because she is the flashy one in a movie you don't expect to be flashy, she's the comic relief, and while the love story's wonderful she is the best thing about the movie. It's a lot of fun to watch her be a bitchy press secretary, and there's a great chats-with-the-prime-minister schtick which was the funniest thing in the whole film.
Seriously, though, it's worth seeing. It's way better than I thought it would be given the lousy Oscar-baity title.
