My first BAFTA: A night of Hollywood and British-ness

  

              This is my first BAFTA...to watch on the small screen. 

 I always wanted to watch it out of curiosity on how the British do their awards shows. Especially that they made a rave about Stephen Fry's hosting on last years' awards.  Now that I am not so busy  and fueled by my new found crush on Michael Sheen (not because of Masters of Sex, I don't watch that show but mainly of his comedic work on 30 Rock and Spoils of Babylon), he was there as a presenter, so this year is my chance.

           

            The English are so different to the Americans as the BAFTA is different to the the Oscars. Let me list them up by category:

1. The venue

Oscars

BAFTA

                

Just by the looks of it, you can tell which is American and which is English. And if you take a look inside, the BAFTA has a much smaller theatre.

2. The Hosts

Oscars

  

            

BAFTA

         For the past years till now, the Oscars hire a variety of people, differing by gender, age and race. But the BAFTA mostly hire Stephen Fry (above) for the job. He first started doing it since 2001 all the way to 2006 .Other notable host is Jonathan Ross back in 2009 and the next few years (I guess, I only did  minimal research) until Fry was hired back again. BAFTA 2014 will be his ninth. I guess the English don't like to be too spontaneous. For example, their favorite past times has always been tea drinking and pub crawling for the past centuries until now.

       

      Yet there is a reason why Stephen Fry is always hired for the job. Fry's warmth and charm is comfortable and the jokes are welcoming to the live audience, to the TV viewers and to the producers. No irk of bad taste was heard from him on that night, and I like his on-going joke that every story from the best film nominees has somewhat reflected his own life. My favourite was his fake anecdote about the time that he and Tom Hanks were both stuck in the same elevator. And when they were finally rescued, Hanks cried like the way he did in "Captain Philips" when his role was rescued from the pirates.

3. Musical Performances

       I was a little surprised on why the BAFTA this year has only one musical performance throughout the program. Or is it usual for the BAFTA to have only one musical performance? I am just so used to three or more musical performances, like in the Oscars.

Tinie Tempah and Laura Mvula (BAFTA 2014)

4. At the BAFTA, presenters carry the trophies (no assistance required)

Is about time that famous presenters just carry the award trophies by themselves with no one to help them. It does not take much effort and it helps limiting the people on the stage. No Ms. or Mr. Golden Globes (referencing to the Golden Globes, another US awards show).

best moments at the BAFTA 

Aside from Fry's warmth and welcoming humor and Michael Sheen presenting an award, my favourite moments are Will Poulter and Barkhad Adbi winning at their respective categories.

Will Poulter : Rising Star Awardee

We all know Will from the last Narnia flick and We're the Millers, the latter where he amazed us with his comical skills and his flawless yet fake American accent. His rendition of "Chasing Waterfalls" by TLC, from the said US comedy flick, still kills me until this very day. We'll done chap, we knew you could do it.

Barkhad Abdi with apparent new fan, Emma Thompson

Isn't he the most luckiest  limo driver that ever lived? When high tips or picking up a famous client are the only 'best days' during work for typical limo drivers, Barkhad Abdi has actually set up the bar 50 feet high for his former peers at that fateful night. This American-Somalian won best supporting actor for his portrayal of the modern day pirate captain in "Captain Philips".

His moment was priceless and he was very much humbling when he grasped that trophy.I guess we can't help but feel proud for this 'surprise winner' , and so were his colleagues from the movie. Tom Hanks and the rest were giddy on their seats as they still can't believe it even after Barkhad left the stage.

Hopefully, he will not be  a one-hit wonder as we still yearn for actors like him that tries to breaks down stereotypes in Hollywood. The good news is that he is currently directing a short Somalian film and is now reading scripts for a TV show.

The show ended with final words from Fry. Maybe inspired by Abdi's win, his finale emphasized that everyone can get recognition or success in the film industry, just have to start somewhere. He added that the biz does offer "equal opportunity for all". Creative dreamers and future hopefuls, like me, wish the same.