The funny thing about Oscar-winning movies - Fiona Duff

You would think I should have learnt by now. Films that win the Oscar for best film are generally pretty rubbish, at least to my uneducated eye.

Frances McDormand as Fern in the Oscar-winning Nomadland

On Tuesday, for the first time in about 15 months, I went to the cinema with friends. I cannot begin to say how excited we were. The auditorium was not even a third full what with all the social distancing malarkey, but we settled down to watch Nomadland I had heard some film buff on 5 Live talking about how this simply had to be seen on a big screen so that is why we chose to see it for this outing.

However, it was a bit meugh to be honest. Of course Frances McDormand was brilliant, although quite why we had to see her peeing in a field is beyond me. The scenery was amazing, music really lovely but it sort of went nowhere and was a bit repetitive at times. And seemed to go on for a long time - although only 100 minutes according to my watch.

I had gone with a friend to see Parasite, which won in 2019 and we couldn’t really see what the fuss was about. Later we went to check out the French film Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, released in the same year, and both decided it was a far superior film. Indeed I would go as far as to say that it is probably one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen.

The other Oscar winning films which have been bored me witless are too many to mention here, but there has been a heck of a lot of my pocket money wasted going to check them out. And why are so many of them so depressing?

So on leaving the cinema we four made a pact. We need to find a comedy to go to view next time; something that the critics have hated and is unlikely to have even a wink at an Oscar. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.