Loath as we are around here to give away free advertising, the last lunge of Inglourious Basterds' sprint to the Oscar-race finish line is something that both awards-season campaigners and observers will be studying for a while. Sure, the suspicious Hurt Locker takedowns and the rabbi-recruitment drives are one thing, maybe even kind of standard in the historical scheme of things. But this new, crunch-time banner ad wields its own scintillating magic -- the kind of magic that springs one to attention, tilts your head in curiosity and coaxes that most profound purr of reactions: "Say whaaaa?"
Taking care not to decontextualize the devices at hand here, let's first consider what the hell we're looking at, one element at a time:
OK, so a few grammatical errors aside, I'm with it. No reason to be picky! And Mick LaSalle really did write a piece in the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday, so hey -- so far so good.
Say whaaaa? Presumptuous much? I thought the whole thing about Oscar campaigning is how voters didn't like to be told what what to do, hence part of the backlash that erupted from Hurt Locker co-producer Nicholas Chartier's infamous campaign e-mail last week. Beyond being illegal, it was just tacky. But these are the Weinsteins, and anyway, you haven't seen tacky yet.
Say whaaaa? What does that even mean? The Weinsteins themselves might have had the same question when LaSalle wrote a similar sentiment last December in his Top-10 list: "When all is said and done, this movie is what happened in cinema this year." (Weirdly, he wrote two spots later about Up in the Air: "More than any other film, this one took the pulse of who we were in 2009." Confused!)
Whether he felt like fleshing that out for Harvey or just found it easier to paraphrase his headscratcher, LaSalle finally offers an ad-copyable answer in two parts. First:
Say whaaaa? Maybe it's obvious, maybe it's not, whatever. But when did the Star of David replace the Nazi swastika in the Inglourious Basterds logo? If the heavy Jewish-vote courtship wasn't over the top since all that Basterds-as-Purim wackiness in recent months, this probably will do it. Just don't tell anybody Best Supporting Actor front-runner Christoph Waltz plays a Nazi, I guess?
All right, where were we? Oh -- "What movie represents the thing that happened in cinema this year?" Yes! The thing:
Say whaaaa? Books! In 2110! LOLZ. Anyway, yes, that is some thing, all right. Note also what immediately followed this passage in LaSalle's original piece:
But a decent second choice among the nominees would be The Hurt Locker, which is not quite as brilliant, not quite as audacious, but almost as innovative, and which is also the product of a director's highly personal vision. If academy members don't have the stomach to vote for the true best film of the year, they should at least find the courage to vote for the year's second best film. Anything short of that would be a joke.
Oh damn, James Cameron is pissed. But is Basterds nominated for anything else?
Say whaaaa? Again with the extra Stars of David -- one slapped on the side of the Nazi helmet, another added to the top of the Bear Jew's bat, as if to say, "The last step in the Jews' revenge on the Third Reich is to award Basterds Best Picture." This coming from a distributor who last year maneuvered Kate Winslet's sympathetic Nazi to a Best Actress win. "But it was her time!" Harvey might yell. Right! And now it's time for Hollywood's Jews to forget all that because there's a blood-streaked Star of David busting through the equivalent of a Nazi's head. I am so lost.
But it's OK, because the Weinsteins make it simple:
Say whaaaa? Is a campaign e-mail like this really any different from Nicholas Chartier's note just because it was sent via a prominent Hollywood Web site's mailing list? No, really, Academy, I'm asking you: Is it really any different? Or does it slide because it's sent on the "last day you can vote"?
Either way, congrats to Basterds for putting up a valiant fight. If there's any doubt after all this who wanted Best Picture more in 2010, then let's hear it below. (And click through to the next page to see the full ad.)
PREVIOUSLY: Movieline's Say Whaaaa? Archives
The full advertisement sent out March 2, 2009: