And the Drama Category winner is.....

Our winner could also be categorized as a biopic, however it is sufficiently speculative about things that are unknown, and downright revisionist in other areas.  I'm going to look like a hypocrite here because I've already panned a few movies for taking a true story and blurring the lines between fact and fiction.  Our winner however, makes no claims to being historically accurate and makes it clear that that isn't the point.  It takes two historical figures and uses their story as a backdrop to sympathetically explore the depths of human jealousy and how personal rivalry separates humanity from God.  One character's twisted sense of piety ultimately sets him up for a life so steeped in sin, that he is oblivious to the fact that he has damned himself to a life in hell while still living on earth.  It's like taking the story of the Prodigal Son, but never allowing the older dutiful son to reconcile with his father, and seeing how that plays out over the long haul.  If ever there were a tragedy of our modern world worth putting to the big screen, it is the all too unfortunate truth that humans cause themselves so much unnecessary suffering simply by never trying to become any good at forgiveness and accepting that they are worthy of being forgiven.  Our winner puts it all out there right in front of us to see this tragic human flaw.

So without further ado, the Big Empty Gen X Drama Movie Award (patent pending) goes to:

Drama: First Runner Up

So I’m getting behind schedule and part of the reason is that this particular category is harder to cover. Drama movies require a little more analysis to do them justice, and it is also difficult to find good clips. These movies are more fiercely protected by our capitalist overlords so while every scene that I want may have been posted at one time on YouTube, there is a good chance it has been taken down due to a violation of rules about posting licensed material by someone who didn’t have proper authorization.

Drama Continued

With a few honorable mentions now named and discussed, I'll move on now to the finalists and winner.  For me, a drama movie is meant to serve the purpose of giving us a look at ourselves from an angle or through a particular lens, allowing us a view we would not normally have.  If done very well, it will compel us to consider or reconsider certain truths that we as individuals have established for ourselves.  The drama film can be used as a tool to exhibit what is inspiring, discouraging, beautiful, ugly and all things in between about humanity.  But when it's a good drama (in the way Big Empty defines good), it won't be spoon fed or obvious.  Which brings me to my second runner up:

We tackle the Drama from a Gen X perspective

So with one complete category behind us, we charge forward to explore what's good in the world of drama.  As previously mentioned, the selections here will come from a crowded field.  The challenge here is that the drama movie is the sandbox that Oscar talk plays in.  I need to be upfront that every movie is on a level playing field in this project.  Just because a film had a run that included a star studded red carpet evening where people in Versace cried about how much it meant to them to be involved in it before carrying a gold statue stage left gives it no extra points here.  It is noted that the deciders of who receives those statues don't care what we here at the Big Empty think and the feeling is pretty much mutual.  The Academy is ultimately a political entity as much or more than it is a judge of quality.  Put another way, it is an institutional gathering for the sole purpose of congratulating and celebrating the institution.  That doesn't mean they always get it wrong, but it definitely doesn't mean they always get it right either; and when they do get it right, they took a very different path to get there from the one I would take.  To represent the folks like me and what we think, the only voice we have is our $$$.  So we here take it seriously that if the institutional insider opinion and ticket sales are really the only measure of what's good, that we need to bring something important to the narrative to make this a useful exercise.

Phew, well that was a mouthful of a preface.