SBIFF Outstanding Performer of the Year Jennifer Lawrence manages to save awkwardly moderated tribute

I was very excited to head down to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival yesterday to attend the Outstanding Performer of the Year tribute to Jennifer Lawrence.  What I wasn't expecting was how distracted I would be by the moderation of the event, conducted by executive director Roger Durling.  Normally, the moderator is the encyclopedia of knowledge about the performer, engaging them in a colorful dialogue that runs the gamut from talking about their early life before acting to where they find themselves in their career as they look to the future.  After messing up a fact about Lawrence's involvement in local theatre early on (which was also documented in the program), Durling turned the evening into a one-sided gushing over Lawrence, often bringing the program to a painfully awkward lurch, forcing Lawrence to shrug her shoulders or put in a position of having nothing to respond to.  Thankfully, the talented young actress has a great unfiltered manner and was able to save the night on several occasions with a funny aside to the audience or a self-deprecating joke.

After twenty minutes, the conversation fell into the pattern of Durling telling Lawrence that she was fantastic in a role and then simply asking what it was like to work with the director.  This format seemed to hold for the rest of the night.   While I couldn't agree more with Durling on the skill Jennifer Lawrence has shown over the course of her young career, I expect moderators to do their homework and show up with a knowledge of the performer.  I would have loved to see the night moderated by a Leonard Maltin, Anne Thompson, Dave Karger or Kris Tapley, journalists or historians who seem to have no problem connecting with the young performers they often interview.  I will give credit to Durling for assembling a wonderful clip package of Lawrence's career so far, and I enjoyed opening the evening with clips of Carole Lombard in 'My Man Godfrey', Claudette Colbert in 'It Happened One Night', Barbara Stanwyck in 'The Lady Eve', Diane Keaton in 'Annie Hall', and Cher in 'Moonstruck', in roles that showed their great balance of comedic tones and drama.  Closing the night by saying he has trouble taking compliments, you would think Durling would be able to put himself on the opposite side of the table and make the night a little more relaxing.  It's unfortunate that for most of the people sitting around me in the beautiful Arlington Theatre, it was a night of squirming in our seats.