If Bowen’s Cinematic picked the Oscars (we don’t)
First a taste of the clichéd and self-righteous: I boycotted the Oscars last year, the prior year’s awarding of Best Picture to Crash being enough, and I didn’t even get on the All the Cool Kids Hate Crash bandwagon. Crash is what it always was, a better than average bit of rich guilt porn. People blowing it all out of proportion and then hating it because THEY overrated it is their issue not the movie’s, just as a certain movie this year that rhymes with Uno (hint: Juno) is a perfectly ok bit of irresponsible teen babe wishful thinking malarkey when taken on its own terms, it’s just not a Best Picture.
Oscar and I are still broken up though, even though they rectified the fascinatingly absurd omission of Martin Scorsese last year. Every year the Oscars leave me feeling a little guilty and woozy, as if I just eaten a box of very heavy candy. I would rather have the candy, or at least the self-congratulation of skipping a ceremony that will do just fine without me.
Because I’m a whore though, and because I’ll do anything for attention, here, out of the nominees, are my picks:
Best Picture: There Will Be Blood.
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson-There Will Be Blood.
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood.
Best Actress: Julie Christie, Away from Her.
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men.
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone.
Best Original Screenplay: Tamara Jenkins, The Savages.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men.
Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins, No Country for Old Men, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
Readers of my site will know that I have a major jones for There Will Be Blood, as well as its star and director, so I will elaborate no further on those. I will say, however, that the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominees largely leave me cold. They all feel so obligatory, so created simply to be honored on this special night that it doesn’t give me much pleasure to really root or talk about them, with one exception: Julie Christie. She’s a legend, she’s beautiful, and neither of those matter. Her performance in Away from Her is not the work of a famed personality resting on their laurels: it’s subtle and vulnerable, deserving of recognition. Gordon Pinsent, the proper star of Away from Her, was even more devastating and understated, but I guess he isn’t famous enough.
Ruby Dee’s work in American Gangster is the equivalent of giving the good actress a gold watch, she’s fine, but there just isn’t much of a part there, Scott’s film is a boy’s club all the way. Tilda Swinton is good, but again, it feels pitched to win awards, as is Cate Blanchett’s Jude in I’m Not There. Blanchett gives good freak show method impersonation, but it’s actually the least interesting Dylan to choose to reward. People accusing Amy Ryan of over-acting don’t know what they are talking about; a prior day job occasionally afforded me a close look at Amy Ryan’s mother in Gone Baby Gone, and let me tell you: they ARE that obviously odious and unpleasant. Ryan’s work is more ambitious than initially appears, beyond the up-front ready made for the Academy white-trash histrionics is an authentic portrait of bitchy entitlement as mask for cancerous self-loathing.
But the Academy overlooked many of my favorite Actresses this year, the most obvious being Wei Tang of Lust, Caution and Carice Van Houten in Black Book. Just because they’re sexy doesn’t mean they’re just sexy, these women give star-making performances in wonderful erotic thrillers of quick-silver deceit and pain. Or if we wanted to honor I’m Not There, what about Charlotte Gainsbourg? She gave the film a yearning that helped save it from tipping too far into the Glory of the Artist abyss. People continually mourn the lack of roles for women in the movies, but the best female performances are frequently ignored anyway.
Best Supporting Actor is an unusually strong category this year, and it seems a pity that Philip Seymour Hoffman shouldn’t win anything despite giving not one or two, but three of the best performances of his career in 2007. That’s how the cookie crumbles though, because Daniel Day-Lewis and Javier Bardem are iconic and un-missable: avenging dust clouds of our collective apathy and despair.
Original Screenplay goes to Tamara Jenkins because she managed, with The Savages, to write an “it was daddy’s fault” pity party that’s quick, funny and plays fair. Michael Clayton would be next, but The Savages gets the edge for giving me either my first or second favorite to date Philip Seymour Hoffman performance, no mean feat. Laura Linney is fine too, but Jenkins’ imagination isn’t quite as generous with her, I never believed I was watching anything other than Laura Linney prestige performance #12.
Adapted Script goes to No Country, primarily because There Will Be Blood appears to be an original script masquerading as an adaptation. The Coens should be recognized anyway, for their graceful distillation of the overly ponderous novel, and for creating a film that’s just about as rich and powerful as Blood.
Cinematography is barely debatable. Roger Deakins shot The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and No Country for Old Men this year. If that’s not enough to convince you, I don’t know the words that will be.
Happy hunting.
February 20th, 2008 at 11:52 am
As much as I’ve flogged the whole awards thing this year, I’m not even ready to be making actual picks. I’m pretty sure how it’s all going to go down, but I’m not ready to think about it as a commitment yet.
I’m in an odd position this year of having my two favorite movies getting the most nominations and one of them having a real shot at winning the whole thing.
Is Oscar getting better or am I getting worse?
February 20th, 2008 at 11:57 am
“Is Oscar getting better or am I getting worse?”
As someone who had the same two picks as you Craig, I vote “freak odd occurence” with it being no reflection on you or Oscar. I think there was, with exceptions of course, just an amazing agreement on what the best films were. Think of how many people had No Country and/or There Will Be Blood at the top of their lists.
Know what? They ARE that damn good, too.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Right. We won’t see two classics like that for a while. So no cinematography for TWBB, eh? Well good on you for not letting the “jones” get out of hand. Hard to argue against Deakins.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:48 am
I debated Elswit for Cinematography, and a strong case could be made for him, but I decided to go with Deakins because this has just been such a damn good year for him. They are both, to paraphrase The Devil’s Rejects, playing on a level that many of us will never know.
Also, just wanted to make sure that everyone understood that these are my PICKS, not predictions. I’m not going there.
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:36 am
Always a pleasure to return to your site after a few days away from the internet and find a few good posts to read. I can’t wait to see Romance and Cigarettes. Chuck, as you know, I’ve always shared your disdain for the self-congratulatory masturbation of the Academy Awards. Hopefully I haven’t been too self-righteous about it. That said, I’m attracted to spectacle in real life and I’ve considered walking down through Hollywood around that time just to see what a zoo it all is. I mean, hell, I’m here.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:09 am
A lot of bold picks, Chuck.
I’m not as much of a fan of The Savages’ screenplay as you, Chuck. Actually, I remember looking at my watch a couple of times when seeing that film and being alarmed at how slowly things were moving. Nevertheless, it does have a very good Philip Seymour Hoffman performance. Saying it’s one of your two favorite Hoffman performances is amazing, considering his incredibly impressive body of work. What would you consider his top three? Not speaking in an order, I’m a huge fan of him in The Big Lebowski, Flawless, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Almost Famous, 25th Hour, Owning Mahoney, Capote, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead and Charlie Wilson’s War… He’s never given a bad performance, though–nor an unmemorable one, actually. And his presence can make otherwise dreadful movies (Patch Adams, Red Dragon) either tolerable or temporarily fun.
Anyway, I’m intrigued by your point of The Savages being one of his two best, Chuck… I think he’s excellent in it (better than Linney, who’s fine as well) and I really enjoyed his comedy-drama turn in Charlie Wilson’s War but somehow Before the Devil… seemed to give him something newer and rawer to do… I love him, though, in a platonic way and will follow him in anything… Well, I haven’t seen Along Came Polly…
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:30 am
Thanks Travis, I think you’re gonna love Romance and Cigarettes.
Alexander, thanks for writing in first of all.
I’m going to cheat and give you my top four Hoffman performances: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, The Savages, Almost Famous, The Talented Mr. Ripley.
No disrespect to any of the performances you just mentioned (it pains me to leave out Happiness and Mahoney, but such is the challenge of playing Top Four with a great actor’s work).
At the risk of hyperbole, I think Devil and Savages are absolutely as good as anything he’s ever done, I’m not saying they are the best films (though Devil is in league) but those performances are amazing.
I also, in fairness, happen to be a sucker for things that strike close to my particular home (some people reject movies for piercing the chinks in their armor, I normally embrace them, sometimes unreasonably) and let’s just say that Hoffman, in Savages and Almost Famous, is giving you a decent approximation of my worldview. Throw in a little Paul Giamatti from Sideways and you’re almost there. I’d like to think I’m a little better looking, but you’d have to ask a friend about that.
I responded to the lack of stylization in Hoffman’s work in The Savages. He’s a raw nerve in that film, and he doesn’t play to the audience, and I like that. He asks the audience to come to him instead, as he does in so much of his work. I respect the film but I never totally bought Hoffman’s Capote, it felt like an exercise, a challenge for the actor more than a full character.
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead begs for stylization, but again Hoffman brings something disarmingly exposed to that part. Devil is a blunt, brutal melodrama, but Hoffman refuses to turn Andy into a black and white portrait. I love the scene outside between Hoffman and Finney, where Finney slaps him. And I love that moment in the car that, if I remember correctly, immediately follows.
February 23rd, 2008 at 12:24 am
I completely agree that Hoffman’s lack of stylization in The Savages is highly commendable and is another showcase for him. It seems he can do anything, from something that does indeed feel a bit like an acting exercise (Capote) to something naturalistic (The Savages) to something viciously juicy, but as you point out, disarmingly exposed (Before the Devil…)
I also agree about Hoffman’s worldview in The Savages being similar to my own. I particularly liked his little speech to his sister about her being the obvious prey for the “better” old age homes because she feels guilt.
Before the Devil… had so many fine moments in general but Hoffman really takes it and runs down the whole field in that film. I loved those scenes between he and Finney, and his car meltdown scene was one of the most sincere and genuinely scary scenes of its kind I can remember seeing in a long time. And then you have the scene where he goes nutso and starts… Well, you know (just so people reading this remain spoiler-free) It’s a true tour de force. It’s a shame there couldn’t have been six nominees for Best Actor this year because he should be in the mix for that turn (or maybe The Savages? I’d go with Before the Devil…, personally).
He is definitely an actor’s actor.
February 29th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Could not agee with you more..