In the past 96 Oscars, because " Oppenheimer " was too powerful, several characters that could have shined in the Oscar years were completely overshadowed. Among them, there is the "Staying in School Alliance" that performs well.
Speaking of the creative team of "Stay in School", first of all, director Alexander Payne is an Oscar-winning villain. As one of the most powerful directors in Hollywood at the moment, Alexander Payne has been nominated three times for Best Director and once for Best Picture for "Sideways", " Descendants", and "Nebraska" , was nominated twice for Best Adapted Screenplay, and successfully won an Oscar for "Sideways". However, despite holding the Best Screenplay Award, Payne's main identity is still a director. Nominated many times, it is fully capable of winning awards.
Paul Giamatti, the male protagonist of "Stay in School", although he is not handsome enough, in terms of acting ability, he has always been considered to be one of the Oscar winner's great talents. He has starred in films such as "Sideways", "The Iron Fist", "John Adams", "Barney's Life" and "Billions", all of which performed well. This time, he was nominated for an Oscar for his role in "Stay in School" and was the biggest competitor of Cillian Murphy who eventually won the award. Although he lost, it was an honor.
While director Alexander Payne and actor Paul Giamatti both lost Oscars, what was unexpected was that supporting actress Damien Joy Randolph was given the green light all the way to win the Oscar without any competition. With a strong advantage, she successfully won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the biggest achievement of "Stay in School". It is gratifying and congratulatory, and the hard work was not in vain.
If you want to discuss what kind of story "Stay in School" tells, it will be clear at a glance if you compare it with a movie, that is "Scent of a Woman".
"Scent of a Woman" is a classic film, and everyone pays more attention to Al Pacino's miraculous acting skills. As for what the story of the film is about, they don't care that much.
In terms of story, "Scent of a Woman" is actually a story about redemption. When a young college student didn't know where his future was headed, he met a retired colonel who had lost hope in life. The colonel asked college students to take care of him. As a result, in the process, two troubled souls collided, aroused each other's desires, and helped each other complete redemption.
The story of "Staying in School Alliance" is a story of half redemption. It also tells the story of a young 15-year-old student who was abandoned by his family during the Christmas holidays and left to live alone on campus. The school arranged for a teacher with a weird temper to take care of the child. At the same time, they were accompanied by a fat black aunt.
Three people come from three classes. student, although he is not popular with his family, he comes from an elite family. He originally planned to go abroad for skiing during the holidays. It was an expensive amusement activity for nobles, but his family was unwilling to take him to play. The teacher belongs to the typical white-collar class. He could have become an elite, but he has not graduated from college and teaching in middle schools is not popular among leaders and students. He can only be an ordinary white-collar worker. Black aunts belong to the bottom of society and represent the simple and kind-hearted people, but they have to stay in school during the holidays to work and earn more money.
Three people, three classes, are not supposed to get together, but a special holiday forces them to stay together, forming an alliance of losers. They can only hold together to keep each other warm, take care of each other, and comfort each other.
Although the process is full of friction and even conflicts, this is also the must-see point of the film. In the end, everyone has to get what they need and achieve common growth.
At the end of the vacation, this problem student was saved and found the direction of life. The eccentric teacher, in order to help the child, took up his own responsibility and was fired from the school. Then he learned to let go of himself and gained spiritual freedom.
As for the black aunt, it actually doesn’t matter if her scene is deleted, as it does not affect the theme of the entire film. But Damien Joy Randolph is obviously an actor who adds drama to himself. He performed a role that was not very eye-catching and performed it with characteristics, and he received an Oscar statuette for himself. Before this, this fat black actor had never been famous and had never played an outstanding role. This time, he had accumulated a lot of experience and suddenly exerted his strength to win the first prize in one fell swoop.
Back to the story, young students and middle-aged people help each other and complete the drama of redemption. It is very social and realistic. It touches on the social problems in the United States. For American audiences, it is understandable. There is Qi Qi Yan. For Chinese audiences, the visibility is a bit worse. After all, in terms of explosive acting skills, Paul Giamatti's softer style is still inferior to Al Pacino's explosive acting skills. In terms of restraint, he can't compare to Oppenheimer played by Cillian Murphy in "Oppenheimer", so losing to Murphy is not unfair at all.
However, it still cannot be denied that Paul Giamatti's acting skills are very good. Introverted roles are often more difficult to act than explosive roles. If he hadn't met Cillian Murphy, if it were another Oscar year, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to award the Oscar to him. However, with Cillian Murphy's amazing performance, Paul Giamatti can only continue to be the wrongdoer.
After "DiCaprio" Leonardo DiCaprio, Joaquin Phoenix, and Christopher Nolan each won the long-overdue Oscars, there are not many jokes left for the Oscars. "Batman" Christian Bale can be counted as one, but at least he has already won the Best Supporting Actor once. Among the other talented people who have never won an award, Paul Giamatti is one of them. Hope he can win an award one day.
In terms of movies, "Stay in School" is already among the best among high-quality movies in 2023. It is said that the 2023 Oscars is a rare big year. In fact, apart from "Oppenheimer", you will find that it is still a small year, and there are no other slightly outstanding works. For the public, "Staying in School" is not as good as "Scent of a Woman", and its watchability is much worse. But after all, the two films are different. As mentioned before, "Stay in School" is at most half a "redemption film." In addition to redeeming the 15-year-old child in the film, the character played by Paul Giamatti The teacher's self-awakening is more profound than Al Pacino's character in terms of character connotation.
Al Pacino's character gained his own salvation from the other party's purity and kindness in the process of saving the other party. He also completed his own salvation while not saving him. The teacher played by Paul Giamatti in "Stay in School" has been avoiding himself for many years. From being a math genius to being self-conceding now, he begins to realize that he has to take care of his children when he takes care of them. Get out of yourself, get out of isolation. So, even though the school fired him in the end, from the inside, he had completed the challenge for himself and could finally let go and be himself.
From the perspective of teachers and students, "Staying in School Alliance" is still a warm sketch of the kind of mentors and helpful friends like "Spring in the Cowherd Class" and "Dead Poets Society". It's just that the lack of sunshine in "The Remaining Alliance" makes this film a little bleak, not so well completed, not so dazzling.
For Alexander Payne, if he wants to win the award, he must continue to work hard.
