Of course, not every award needs to be high-profile, but still... Four Oscars (best film, director, actor, screenplay) for the already lavishly praised stutter drama in other places The King's Speech, would anyone there surprised yet?
Admittedly, Colin Firth's lead role is one of great class, as is that of his counterpart Geoffrey Rush, for that matter, and subsequently we were able to see how this royal couple dragged this film with all the traits of a glorified television drama in its wake. But then why didn't Nathalie Portman (Oscar best actress) succeed with Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky's dance fantasy directed with convincingly much more guts, virtuosity and imagination?
A quick look at this year's Oscars shows mostly a list of harmless choices. Cinematic adventure is not a priority at the Academy Awards for a while, as evidenced by the results in the non-English-language film category. The Danish In a Better World, gripping but unchallenging drama with many good intentions, trumped tantalising opponents like Biutiful, Dogtooth and Incendies off. And it's not even Susanne Bier's best film.