The 2015 European Film Awards were a television event that honored that year's best in film, restricting itself to European artists, performers and movies. It ran for 2.5 hours roughly and eventually had Youth dominate the event, even if that was not really expected after the first 90 minutes. They spread the fame a bit here. Not so much for the acting categories where Caine and Rampling were thanked for visiting the event with a Best Actor/Actress awards AND a lifetime achievement award. However, looking at Michael Caine all night thanks to the camera work, he was about as much bored by the whole ceremony. And when it wasn't boring, then it was just a huge mess like Wim Wenders handing a glass of champagne to Christoph Waltz during another winner's acceptance speech was disrespectful to say the least. The way the categories were announced felt also quite messy. And if Thomas Hermanns is the closest we got to Stephen Fry here on the continent, then we are really doomed. He is a good stand-up comedian and it is impressive what he turned the QCC into, but this event was clearly out of his league. He was downright embarrassing most of the time and the audience's (lack of) reaction to his jokes as well as his own reaction to his jokes made things even worse. I am generally all for a host of an awards show getting more screen time than they get in America these days, but if that is the material they have, then I absolutely need to rethink my approach. The moments when he appeared in that dress at the end and when he tried to turn his friend Gayle Tufts into a star were absolutely cringeworthy. I am sure 99% of the audience had no idea who that old swearing woman was and will never hear about her again. And then the English language. Generally shockingly bad that night (with some exceptions though like Waltz and Wenders for example) How about if Hermanns talks all night about diversity, he actually knows how to pronounce the word. The sequence about Berlin dancers also added nothing and felt so random. The film connection was missing completely in big parts of the show involving Hermanns' hosting. As for the winners, they weren't bad, but not too good either. I am sure Europe has a lot more quality to offer in film than was displayed here and I really also hope they have more to offer in terms of award shows, but if we rely on a director whose most known career effort is probably Zwei bei Kallwass, then perhaps it is best to not have any further editions of this event. Also you probably won't have somebody like Rampling on board every year who was almost the only positive aspect of the show. The Oscars may be overlong, but at least they are very entertaining, this is none of the latter, just the former. Oh yeah, the female television commentator was also pretty irritating and uninformed. Don't watch.
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