off-topic: Oscars ‘08

Movies mean a lot to me, and so too, in their own perverted way, do the Oscars. Is it nothing more than a popularity contest? Yeah. Do they get things wrong almost as often as they get things right? Definitely. Still, as a film geek, I can’t help but get caught up in it all year after year, and this year is no exception.

I saw No Country For Old Men on opening night. It was drizzling rain, and the line wrapped around the block. I’ve always been a Coen Brothers fan, and everything I’d read about this film convinced me this was gonna be their biggest one yet. Unfortunately, I was a little drowsy that evening, so I ended up drifting in and out in places. As a result, I thought I had missed the ending – I couldn’t recall what had happened to Josh Brolin’s character and whether or not Javier Bardem caught up with him or not. As we know now, their fate was deliberately left unresolved. I saw it a second time a couple of weeks ago after reading discussions about what that ending is supposed to mean (I also talked about it with friends at Mid-Ohio Con over dinner) and it makes a bit more sense the second time around, I think. I believe it was never Brolin’s story, it was Tommy Lee Jones’ story all along – he does begin and end the movie, after all. It’s a wonderfully resonant film, one that lingers in your memory for many reasons – the cinematography, the tension of the script, the characters. It’s very reflective and thoughtful in a way most modern movies aren’t.

I haven’t been as freaked out by a film as much as There Will Be Blood in years – not since Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream. It amazes me how deeply this has been embraced by a large number of filmgoers, because I found it so difficult to sit through. Daniel Day-Lewis’ character is repugnant on just about every level imaginable and there’s no redemption for him in the end. Yet I cannot deny that this is a remarkably well-made film. Paul Thomas Anderson and his cast and crew knocked it out of the park in every category, and it absolutely deserves every accolade it has gotten – but man, is it a tough film to watch. I can’t love it, like many do, but I can appreciate it.

I wasn’t willing to believe the hype around Juno for a long time. I kept seeing the trailer during the fall, and I kept thinking, “Okay, this looks like it’ll be cool and all, but no way is this a Best Picture contender.” Well, that and also “Hey, it’s Kitty Pryde, J. Jonah Jameson and Elektra in one movie – cool!” (Speaking of which, if Ellen Page wins Best Actress, do you think she’ll choose to come back for a fourth X-Men film? And if so, how much will she ask for?) Most of the talk around this one has centered on the screenplay, by the ex-stripper turned Hollywood phenom Diablo Cody (indeed, this has been an outstanding year for women auteurs). Yeah, the dialogue is more than a little self-aware and clever in the beginning, but if you stick with it, the movie’s heart shows through in the end. It’s very sweet and entertaining, and it’s always good to see at least one comedy among the Best Picture contenders. Oh, and it also made a ton of cash! Best Picture, though? I dunno…

I think people had the wrong idea about Atonement. Yes, it’s a romance, but the romance is tangential to the really important story, that of the character Briony, portrayed by three different actresses at three ages. I think people were expecting something more traditional, like The English Patient or Shakespeare in Love or Titanic and this isn’t exactly like those films. The ads didn’t help much – at one point, the radio ads included some contemporary pop-sounding music which does not fit with the film’s tone at all. I enjoyed it a great deal, but it no longer looks like the sure thing it once did.

Michael Clayton was a good, enjoyable film but it’s not Best Picture-worthy. In what was a killer year for movies, the fact that this got in over The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Into the Wild (saw it twice! My favorite film of the year), Ratatouille (also saw it twice), American Gangster, Zodiac, and Sweeney Todd, among others, is questionable at the very least. Does it really come down to the star power of George Clooney? Maybe. I can’t see this winning the big prize, but stranger things have happened.

I believe No Country will go all the way – Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, and Adapted Screenplay for starters, possibly more. Day-Lewis has Best Actor sewn up. Julie Christie in Away From Her is the favorite for Best Actress, but I think the winner here will be Marion Cotillard from La Vie en Rose. Oscar loves biographies and they love ingenue actresses, and while it is in French, I suspect Cotillard’s transformative performance will enable the Academy to look past the subtitles. Supporting Actress is a toss-up. I think Tilda Swinton will take it but I’m rooting for hometown girl Amy Ryan, who went to my old high school! Juno’s gonna get Original Screenplay (though Clayton could challenge here).

I’m in an Oscar pool this year for the first time, started by Stagger Lee writer Derek McCulloch. I’ll let you know how I did.