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| The Oscar® Eye's Final Oscar Predictions 2007/08 |
by Erik Childress
The Oscar® Eye takes one final leap to close out the film year of 2007. Category by excruciating category, I'm breaking down Sunday’s Oscar race and smelling the obvious. Like Eastwood, Spielberg, Zemeckis, Cameron, Soderbergh, Howard, Jackson, Ang Lee and Scorsese since 1992 - this is the Coens' year.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem "No Country for Old Men"
Hal Holbrook "Into the Wild"
Philip Seymour Hoffman "Charlie Wilson's War"
Tom Wilkinson "Michael Clayton"
Affleck, Hoffman and Wilkinson – all deserving nominees – all will be applauding someone else. Will it be Javier Bardem or Hal Holbrook though? Holbrook is the sentimental favorite. First-time nominee at 82. A dozen years the senior of James Coburn who received his first nomination for Affliction at 70 and his victory came with little pre-award fanfare. Only the Independent Spirits and SAG even nominated him back in 1998. Holbrook has been nominated by SAG, Chicago, Detroit, the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Online Film Critics Society. He was even a runner-up in L.A., Dallas and Utah. But those latter two groups, along with nearly everyone else has given it up for Javier Bardem. The Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globes, BFCA, Chicago and New York all named Bardem this year’s Best Supporting Actor. But could that be more of a curse than a blessing? Only once (2000) in the last ten years have New York’s choice gone on to win the Oscar. The BFCA, despite their bragging, have only nailed this category twice (2002 & 2003). Same goes for BAFTA (2000 & 2006). Chicago only 30% (1999, 2000 & 2003). SAG 40% (1997, 1999, 2003 & 2004). The best track record of the majors over the last decade belongs to the Golden Globes who have nailed it five times. And those five were in the last seven years. We all brace for upsets when it comes to the golden timers, but if there was one character aside from Daniel Day-Lewis’ Daniel Plainview that will be remembered from 2007 it’s Bardem’s Anton Chigurh and it’s near impossible to believe this isn’t his year for gold. WINNER: Javier Bardem “No Country for Old Men”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan "Atonement"
Amy Ryan "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton "Michael Clayton"
Of all the acting categories, this promises to be the most exciting of the night. Despite there being some school of thought that the pre-awards became an Amy Ryan vs. Cate Blanchett rivalry, Ryan clipped her 17-7 in victories. Those stats don’t lie. Blanchett got her six from Chicago, Toronto, Vegas, Ohio, the New York Film Critics Online, the National Society of Film Critics and the Golden Globes while Ryan got N.Y., L.A., the Online Film Critics Society, the National Board of Review and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. I suppose an argument can be met that they split the majors evenly. But where was SAG in all of this? Oh yeah, they gave it to Ruby Dee. Only SAG and the Golden Satellites even nominated her, and yet here she is mounting a serious challenge to the presumed frontrunners.
So, let’s break it down. With her Globe victory, Cate Blanchett brings with her a 60% winning percentage since 1997 with that group. Those odds could be better and she’s also fighting the stigma of having won this category just three years ago with The Aviator. That 60% though is favorable over Amy Ryan’s BFCA win who is only 50/50 with their choices in that same period. Her New York victory also arrives with the east coast only seeing their choice go on to gold in 2000 & 2006. Ruby Dee, on the other hand, has the benefit of that SAG win whose choice for Supporting Actress have won the Oscar for the PAST FIVE YEARS and 7 of the last 10. Want another interesting statistic in her favor? Both Chicago and Los Angeles haven’t seen their choice go on to win the Oscar since they both picked Dianne Wiest for her work in Bullets Over Broadway back in 1994. In 2007 they chose Cate Blanchett and Amy Ryan, respectively. The Jessica Tandy rule kicks in and two more deserving actresses will join in on the standing ovation. WINNER: Ruby Dee “American Gangster”
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BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Juno (by Diablo Cody)
Lars and the Real Girl (by Nancy Oliver)
Michael Clayton (by Tony Gilroy)
Ratatouille (by Brad Bird)
The Savages (by Tamara Jenkins)[big]
I’m sure someone out there is trying to write-up some kind of horserace for this category, but everyone knows its pretty much been Diablo Cody’s from the minute Juno ended its first screening in Toronto. Stats with the major groups are a little skewed due to some of the history of only choosing one screenplay instead of two, but just to humor the Michael Clayton wannabes out there; the one screenplay of the five that hasn’t won an award to date…Chicago and the Broadcast Film Critics Association picked Juno. When the Windy City has named an Original script as their choice (they split the category in 2006), its gone on to win the Oscar 4 of the last 7 times. The BFCA? 6 of the last 8. Boston had gone with Ratatouille and the National Board of Review tied Lars and the Real Girl with Juno. The only other script to pick up more than one pre-Oscar award was Tamara Jenkins’ The Savages, grabbing kudos from San Francisco, the National Society of Film Critics and Los Angeles. As for those L.A. boys and girls, their last six “original” choices, including ones in 2005 & 2006 have failed to walk off with Oscar glory. Oh yeah, and the Writer’s Guild took time away from their strike to honor Juno as well. 7 of their last 10 choices have won the Oscar, including the last four. Sorry to all the misguided, we’re-hip-cause-we-hate-Juno haters out there. [big]WINNER: Diablo Cody “Juno”
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BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Atonement (by Christopher Hampton)
Away from Her (by Sarah Polley)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (by Ronald Harwood)
No Country for Old Men (by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen)
There Will Be Blood (by Paul Thomas Anderson)
Equally simple to call is this race and in some cases the numbers are even more supportive. It’s hard to believe that Joel & Ethan Coen have only been nominated twice before for their writing efforts (Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou?) and they aren’t the only former winners (Christopher Hampton for 1988’s Dangerous Liaisons and Ronald Harwood for 2002’s The Pianist). Sarah Polley’s award is her nomination for Away From Her, so maybe that leaves Paul Thomas Anderson as the Coens’ chief competitor. With the Coens looking good in the directing category, if the Oscars wanted to mix things up they could potentially do it here. Since 1980 only three people have won both the directing and a screenplay Oscar in the same year: James L. Brooks (1983 – Terms of Endearment), Bernardo Bertolucci (1987 – The Last Emperor) and Peter Jackson (2003 – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King). The Coens are in line to be the fourth, but can we make a case for PTA’s There Will Be Blood? The Diving Bell and the Butterfly just picked up a win from BAFTA, who are only 4 of their last 10 here. Atonement only picked up a win from the Golden Satellites and There Will Be Blood got its solo victory from San Diego. Chicago, New York, the Golden Globes and the Writer’s Guild all went with No Country for Old Men. Chicago and the Globes when choosing an adaptation have seen that choice go on to win the Oscar four out of five times each. New York is 50/50 and those two choices went on to win when they agreed with L.A., who went Original this year. And the WGA is 6 of the last 10, including the last three years. WINNER: Joel & Ethan Coen “No Country For Old Men”
BEST ACTOR
George Clooney "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis "There Will Be Blood"
Johnny Depp "Sweeney Todd"
Tommy Lee Jones "In The Valley of Elah"
Viggo Mortensen "Eastern Promises"
Is anyone betting against Daniel Day-Lewis for this? If you are, remind me never to go to Vegas with you. Do you seriously want to make a case for an upset in this category? No Adrian Brody this year. Tommy Lee Jones was, arguably, THE surprise (albeit deserving) nomination of the whole batch of nominees and that’s his victory. Viggo Mortensen won the Golden Satellites drama award and honors from Toronto. Honestly though, Toronto honoring a Cronenberg flick is like the BAFTAs failing to ignore anything with an English accent. Some thought it might be Johnny Depp’s year, but he’s only received a nomination from the BFCA and a win from the Globes in the Comedy/Musical category which has only seen Oscar gold twice since ’97. George Clooney has actually been the most honored next to Day-Lewis, picking up wins from the National Board of Review, D.C., San Francisco, Detroit and Oklahoma. Aside from Depp’s Globe victory, you may notice a lack of mentions for the four actors from any of the majors. Yeah, that’s because they were all beat out by Daniel Day-Lewis. The BFCA, the Globes (drama), SAG, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and, just recently, BAFTA. Since 1997, N.Y. has only been batting .100 (with their hit coming just last year), Chicago & L.A. are hitting .300. The Globes .400. BAFTA is at .500 while the BFCA & SAG are nailing .600. All those percentages will be up for next year. WINNER: Daniel Day-Lewis “There Will Be Blood”
BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie "Away From Her"
Marion Cotillard "La Vie En Rose"
Laura Linney "The Savages"
Ellen Page "Juno"
Don’t look now but we have a horse race. And it doesn’t involve Cate Blanchett or Laura Linney. It began as a Christie vs. Page shootout during the early awards. 16 wins for Julie and 11 for Ellen. But coming on in the late rounds has been Marion Cotillard. With six wins under her belt, she grabbed the Golden Globe (for Comedy/Musical) that everyone expected to go to Page. She just won BAFTA and won very early with Los Angeles. Page’s biggest win came from the Chicago Film Critics Association, who have only seen 2 of their last 10 choices win the Oscar. Page does happen to be the only nominee from a Best Picture contender though and 6 of the last 10 Best Actress winners have come from a Best Picture nominee. Here’s a fun little fact though. From 1998-2006, it’s been a flip-flop. One year they win, the next they don’t. Like following a Jew with a Gentile from Quiz Show. Last year’s winner was Helen Mirren and The Queen was nominated for Best Picture. That doesn’t bode well for Ellen Page. So now it’s turned into a Christie vs. Cotillard race. Cotillard has L.A., BAFTA and the Globes pulling for her. The Globes have only seen their Comedy/Musical winner go on to Oscar twice (1998 & 2005) since ’97. L.A.’s winner has won three times (1999, 2000 & 2006) and BAFTA four times (2000, 2002, 2005, 2006). Christie’s supporters include the Globes (Drama), BFCA, New York and SAG. New York matches L.A. for 10-year percentage with 30%, choosing the same winners in 1999, 2000 & 2006. The BFCA is at 60% for Actress. The Globes’ dramatic winner is hitting 70%. But it’s the Screen Actors Guild throwing around the most weight at 80%, hitting the winner the past four years and only coming up short in 1999 & 2002. There needs to be an upset in this category. There deserves to be. No one seemed to blink at Christie’s Alzheimer’s joke at SAG. This is her fourth nomination in a career than spans 45 years and she hasn’t won since 1965’s Darling. They aren’t going to deny her this evening. WINNER: Julie Christie “Away From Her”
BEST DIRECTOR
Julian Schanbel “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Jason Reitman “Juno”
Tony Gilroy “Michael Clayton”
Joel & Ethan Coen “No Country for Old Men”
Paul Thomas Anderson “There Will Be Blood”
Jason Reitman and Tony Gilroy got their director nods to match their Best Picture nominations. Congrats. Both got nominations from Chicago and Gilroy got a DGA nod prior. And that’s about where their story ends. The Coen Brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson and Julian Schanbel all got their share of the pre-awards pie, but PTA and Schanbel together didn’t rack up as many wins as Joel & Ethan. Yes, Paul Thomas Anderson was L.A.’s choice and they have a 40% win percentage on their choices in the past decade. Schanbel got better odds with the Golden Globes who have hailed the last four Oscar winners and seven of the last 10, with a 2000-02 streak of non-recipients. The Coens’ New York award matches the L.A. percentage. Chicago does them one better with 50%. Then you have the BFCA honoring them and they have predic…I mean, awarded, 8 of the last 10 times. But that’s all small potatoes compared to the stats that the Director’s Guild have racked up just since 1980. In those 27 years, 23 of the DGA winners have gone on to win the Oscar. (And two of those years they didn’t – Ron Howard (1995 – Apollo 13) & Steven Spielberg (1985 - The Color Purple) – they weren’t even nominated.) So, that’s 25-of-27 when the DGA winner has been nominated for an Oscar and 19 of those times the film has gone on to win Best Picture. (20 if you count Chicago winning the Grand Prize while DGA winner Rob Marshall lost the Oscar to Roman Polanski.) You have to like those odds for the brothers. WINNER(S): Joel Coen & Ethan Coen “No Country for Old Men”
BEST PICTURE
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
New York, Chicago and the BFCA all went for No Country for Old Men. Those kooky international folk at BAFTA and the Golden Globes went for Atonement. Los Angeles went for There Will Be Blood. Only the Satellites went for Juno and nobody has chosen Michael Clayton. That looks to be a similar fate for Tony Gilroy’s film across the board on Oscar night. Los Angeles hasn’t matched a Best Picture since 1993’s Schindler’s List. New York has only hit it once (2003’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) since 1997. BAFTA is only hitting 40% in that time, but the Globes are hitting 70% on one of their Best Picture selections winning the Oscar. That might be good news for Atonement if only they hadn’t missed on both accounts the past three years. Chicago is also only hitting 40%, but have matched Oscar 3 of the last 4 years. And the BFCA is hitting 60%, including 6 of the last 8 years. Add in those Director’s Guild stats and you’ll be seeing No Country for Old Men is going to lead the way on Feb. 24 and its going to end with this award. WINNER: “No Country For Old Men”
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf’s Up
Since the nominating committee decided to again screw Robert Zemeckis and his team on Beowulf by nominating Surf’s Up instead (2004’s The Polar Express got snubbed by Shark Tale) the race comes down to Ratatouille vs. Persepolis. An upset could be order in response to the way the Foreign Language committee royally screwed up this year with its short list and even shorter list of nominees. With Persepolis out of the running there, a statement could be made by throwing it this award. Pixar is 2-and-2 in this category, getting its second loss just last year with Cars. The first being 2001’s Monsters, Inc. with the inaugural award in this category. Finding Nemo beat out the previous foreign nominee before Persepolis in The Triplets of Belleville. Ratatouille is the most nominated animated feature since 1991’s Beauty and the Beast (nominated for Best Picture) and the most nominated film in this category with five. Here’s some trivia for you though: What do Shrek, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles have in common? They all received a screenplay nomination when winning Best Animated Feature – the only three to receive a writing nod here. Ratatouille shares that distinction. WINNER: “Ratatouille”
BEST FOREIGN FILM
12 (Russia)
Beaufort (Israel)
The Counterfeiters (Austria)
Katyn (Poland)
Mongol (Kazakhstan)
Everyone knows how they screwed the pooch on this category. As much as I’m looking forward to Mongol (the first of a planned trilogy on Genghis Khan), most audiences not attending the South by Southwest Festival won’t get to see it until June. That leaves a film that put me to sleep in Toronto last year (The Counterfeiters) as the most recognized of the titles. Which means it probably won’t win. Give it to the other film in limited release. WINNER: “Beaufort”
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance
Would have been nice to see The King of Kong or In the Shadow of the Moon in this category, but its certainly not a bad list – if not overly Iraq. As much as Michael Moore may have been right during his infamous acceptance speech for Bowling for Columbine, the Oscars may not want to go through that again. Or, maybe this is their way of apologizing for the boos. Better yet, they award it to an Iraq doc that is the epitome of what has been said all along. WINNER: “No End In Sight”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
There’s really not a bad choice in the lot. Will Deakins split his two nominations between Jesse James and No Country? Janusz Kaminski just got his first non-Spielberg nod for Diving Bell. Will Atonement’s long tracking shot be the coup de grace? Robert Elswit’s work on There Will Be Blood won the American Society of Cinematographer’s award and they have missed on Oscar glory 6 of the last 10 years. It would be my personal pick. But this is Deakins’ sixth and seventh nomination without a victory (and fourth for a Coen Bros. flick.) I’m calling an upset. WINNER: Roger Deakins “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”
BEST EDITING
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
In the last ten years, five times (including three of the last four), this award has gone to a film nominated for Best Picture. Could that mean No Country for Old Men or There Will Be Blood? Not if the American Cinema Editors have anything to say about it. Nine of the last ten years, one of their winners (the category was split into Comedy and Drama in 1999) has gone on to win the Oscar. Only in 2000 did Almost Famous and Gladiator lose out to Traffic. This year the A.C.E. chose Sweeney Todd and The Bourne Ultimatum, respectively. Do you see Sweeney Todd on the nominee list? WINNER: “The Bourne Ultimatum”
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
3:10 to Yuma
Atonement
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
After the Oscars ridiculously disqualified Jonny Greenwood’s work on There Will Be Blood and ignored Nick Cave’s score for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, there really is only one standout score of the bunch. WINNER: “Atonement”
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Falling Slowly" (Once)
"Happy Working Song" (Enchanted)
"Raise it Up" (August Rush)
"So Close" (Enchanted)
"That's How You Know" (Enchanted)
We’ll make this simple. If any song other than Falling Slowly wins, we should all find August Rush and beat the shit out of him. WINNER: “Falling Slowly” (Once)
BEST ART DIRECTION
American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood
This looks to be a race between eight-time nominee Dante Ferretti for Sweeney Todd and first-time nominee, Jack Fisk for There Will Be Blood in a career that goes back to Brian DePalma’s Phantom of the Paradise and the collective work of Terrence Malick. The Art Director’s Guild liked Blood along with No Country for Old Men and The Golden Compass and they’ve been on track six of the last ten years. WINNER: “There Will Be Blood”
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Across the Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie En Rose
Sweeney Todd
Marit Allen got her first nomination for La Vie En Rose, a few months after she tragically passed away from a brain aneurysm. Jacqueline Durran got her second Joe Wright-sponsored nomination for Atonement. Alexandra Byrne is a four-time nominee and, who knows, may have reused some of the leftover costumes from the first Elizabeth flick. Albert Wolsky got his sixth nod for Across the Universe, his first since 1992’s Toys. Yes, Toys. Colleen Atwood leads the pack with her seventh nomination for Sweeney Todd. She’s won twice for Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha. Wolsky’s also won a pair for All That Jazz and Bugsy. Tough call here, but I’m smelling a trifecta. WINNER: “Sweeney Todd”
BEST SOUND MIXING
3:10 to Yuma
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
Transformers
The Bourne Ultimatum and Transformers seem like the hot picks in this category simply because they are the LOUDEST of the nominees. Films like The Matrix and King Kong have won this category in the past, but half of the time it’s gone to the film that has the most nominations for the evening (amongst all the films) and 6 of the last 10 years it’s gone to a film nominated for Best Picture. There’s only one here that fits that bill and it’s sound design is as much a character. WINNER: “No Country for Old Men”
BEST SOUND EDITING
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers
This has been a category devoted in the past to big budget spectaculars or war films like Saving Private Ryan, Letters from Iwo Jima, Pearl Harbor and U-571. Transformers is the biggest grosser in the pack, but only four times since ’97 (and not since 2002) has the numero uno grosso won this category. Eight films have swept the Sound Mixing & Sound Editing categories since the latter’s inception in 1988 (Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, Speed, Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, King Kong). Two Camerons, two Spielbergs, two Jacksons. Could a Bay or Greengrass pop up and get their first? Not this year. But a Greengrass will get a half. WINNER: “The Bourne Ultimatum”
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Transformers
Hate the movie though I did, I have nothing bad to say about the film’s special effects aside from one daytime shot on the side of a building that looked like a Presto-Magix brought to life. WINNER: “Transformers”
BEST MAKEUP
La Vie En Rose
Norbit
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
The very film some credit as a key factor in snubbing Eddie Murphy last year now returns as an Oscar nominee itself. Like Transformers, a bad movie. But the makeup is still rather impressive no matter how much we hate to think of Norbit as an Oscar nominee. As if that somehow makes Beowulf and Knocked Up inferior by comparison. The 11th nomination for Rick Baker, a six-time winner who got four of those nods for putting makeup on Eddie Murphy (and won for The Nutty Professor.) Ve Neill has been nominated seven times (twice with Martin Samuel on the Pirates trilogy) and he’s won three times, including sharing the Ed Wood victory with none other than – Rick Baker. Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald, on the other hand, received their first nomination this year and delivered, arguably, the subtlest and most impressive makeup creation in transforming Marion Cotillard into Edith Piaf. WINNER: “La Vie En Rose”
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
At Night
Il Supplente (The Substitute)
Le Mozart Des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman
A substitute teacher, a nervous internet dater, a trio of cancer patients, a pair of pickpockets and an exiled Navajo captive are just some of the characters competing for this year’s Live Action Short Film. Some are shorter than others, but it was nice to actually see all of them prior to this year’s telecast instead of just guessing the most eye-catching title. A big thanks to Magnolia Pictures, Brian Ross of Landmark Theatres and Emily Dixon at Dominion3 for hooking me up with this year’s shorts.
At Night (Denmark, nominees: Christian E. Christiansen & Louise Vesth) puts us into the final days of some of the most attractive cancer patients you’ve ever seen. There’s some promise in the beginning but it takes a full 40 minutes to discover it’s little more than your typical death’s door of regret with the message that Chris McCandliss never learned until he ate some berries. Nicely acted, but anything but short. (* * ½)
Il Supplente (The Substitute) (Italy, nominee: Andrea Jublin) was the first of the shorts I saw and was, far and away, the best and most original of the lot. A rowdy high school class gets shaken up when a new teacher comes in and makes Robin Williams in Dead Poet’s Society seem like Robin Williams in Awakenings. It’s very funny and keeps us wondering what’s going to happen next, manages to twist things up and ends on a perfectly heartfelt note that’s a lesson we can all take with us. At 17 minutes, it’s a perfectly realized short that would be welcomed in front of any feature. If this doesn’t win the Oscar of this batch than something is rotten in the state of Denmark. (* * * *)
Le Mozart Des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets) (France, nominee: Philippe Pollet-Villard) is cute in the cutest sense of the word. Two pickpockets avoid police capture and inherit a deaf-mute kid from the streets who latches onto them. They try to include him in their ways and finds the child has a few tricks up his own sleeve. Funny in spots, but mostly cute. If a feature were made of it, you’d likely see it as that cute nominee that frequently winds up in the Foreigh Language category. (* * *)
Tanghi Argentini (Belgium, nominees: Guido Thys & Anja Daelemans) is another cute short that is my second favorite of the lot, also not wearing out its welcome at only 13 minutes. A lonely guy on the internet at work sets up a date with a tango lover – only he doesn’t know how to tango. He enlists his supervisor’s help, a dancer in his own right, to help him create the perfect evening. Their practice scenes are quite amusing and when things don’t go quite as planned the film goes to another level and twists things up quite satisfyingly. (* * *)
The Tonto Woman (United Kingdom, nominees: Daniel Barber & Matthew Brown) ironically is the only short in English and boasts some impressive source material in a short story by Elmore Leonard. A cattle poacher comes across an exiled woman at a ranch who was held for over a decade by Navajos and left with a large jaw tattoo. He takes a liking to the frequently topless lady and attempts to bring her out of her shell while fending off some rough riders. This is as beautiful a shot film to come out of 2007 and all kudos should go to cinematographer Ben Davis for the portrait-worthy landscapes he finds with the camera. But at 36 minutes the film is just, well, too short, to develop any lasting emotional pull with the characters. (* * ½)
WINNER: Il Supplente (The Substitute)
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
I Met the Walrus
Madame Tutli Putli
Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go To Heaven)
My Love (Moya Lyubov)
Peter & The Wolf
I Met the Walrus (Canada, Nominee: Josh Raskin) takes an actual taped recording of an interview that 14 year-old, Jerry Levitan, did with John Lennon back in 1969 and re-imagines it if you will into one of the richest and most gratifying works of animation I’ve seen in recent memory. Levitan got five minutes with Lennon after sneaking into his hotel room with a tape recorder and now Josh Raskin has Gilliam-ized it into a deconstruction of every word and thought that Lennon had in those few minutes. Considering how much he had to say about war, art and big business, this short is a living, breathing tribute to the crusader that Lennon was for peace and an impressive declaration on the lasting power of old school animation. Bravo! (* * * *)
Madame Tutli Putli (Canada, Nominees: Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski) is the speechless title character who packs, seemingly, all her worldly possessions aboard a train and heads into a surrealistic nightmare along the way. What begins amusingly enough as a bumpy ride turns downright frightening and surprisingly gruesome as some unwelcome passengers may have a different sort of tunnel in mind. Really nicely animated, particularly in the frantic middle section. Only the resolution is a bit of a letdown as it’s rather predictable and a little too J-horror well past the time they seemed resonant. (* * *)
Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go To Heaven) (France, Nominees Samuel Tourneux & Simon Vanesse) is a wonderfully cynical piece about a priest trying to sell an old man a machine that will take him to Heaven. A con man through and through, he’ll do anything to make his sale including convincing him that he’s unworthy of the journey. The animation has a fun, crisp style to it and a couple nice twists make this a very entertaining nine minutes. (* * * ½)
My Love (Moya Lyubov) (Russian, Nominee: Alexander Petrov) presents itself as a classical painting brought to life which is an intriguing style for a few minutes until you realize you’re in for the long haul of 27 minutes with a story where knowing the players of a love triangle are ideal. The most in focus appears as the tool at the center of this ménage who can’t make up his mind between the doe-eyed blonde and the exotic brunette whose cat he rescued. It’s about the only time you’ll believe this fop will hand anyone’s pussy to them. A now four-time nominee, Petrov’s The Old Man and the Sea was the first IMAX film to win an Oscar for Animated Short, but this one is more of an unfocused eyesore than an engaging piece of storytelling. (* *)
Peter & The Wolf (United Kingdom & Poland, Nominees: Suzie Templeton & Hugh Welchman), along with I Am The Walrus are the unquestionable triumphs of this race but its this one that gets the edge on sheer man hours alone. Setting Sergei Prokofiev’s classical 1936 piece about young Peter and the four animals he has adventures with one afternoon (audiences unfamiliar with the symphony may know portions of it as Scut Farkus’ theme from A Christmas Story) to stop-motion wonderment is as ambitious as Fantasia and is as enjoyable of its best segments. Without a syllable of dialogue spoken of Prokofiev’s music, the filmmakers have given us laughter, excitement and horror in a rich 29 minutes that deserves the Oscar and will likely run away with it. (* * * *)
WINNER: “Peter and the Wolf”
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Freeheld
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari's Mother
An Iraqi mother and her son, dying of AIDS no less. Dying lesbian cops. A real-life Survivor meets The Condemned. And a Kolkata gentleman screening films for children.
Didn’t get screeners for any of these, so I have no idea.
Assuming they go Iraq in the Doc Feature category, let’s rule out Sari’s Mother. The nasty subject matter of “murderers, guerrillas and thieves” in La Corona (The Crown) just doesn’t sound Oscar-ish here. Freeheld sounds like The Wire meets I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. But the tale of a family man “using a hand-cranked projector to screen discarded film scraps for the kids in his surrounding neighborhoods” (Thank you, IMDB!) is precisely the kind of warm-hearted story that Oscar loves. WINNER: “Salim Baba”
For those keeping tallies, that puts No Country for Old Men winning 5 Oscars and There Will Be Blood and The Bourne Ultimatum with 2.
Solo Oscars: American Gangster, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Atonement, Away From Her, Beaufort, Juno, La Vie En Rose, No End In Sight, Once, Ratatouille, Sweeney Todd, Transformers
Multi-Nominee Shutouts: 3:10 To Yuma, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, The Golden Compass, Into the Wild, Michael Clayton, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, The Savages
link directly to this feature at http://hollywoodbitchslap.com/feature.php?feature=2393
originally posted: 02/19/08 21:46:31
last updated: 02/20/08 09:12:01
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