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AP writers say`No Country' wins Oscar
2008-02-21
Associated Press movie writers David Germain and Christy Lemire like to differ, but they generally agree on who will win the top prizes at Sunday's Academy Awards. Muzi.com News 10061814-0 (muzi.com)They disagree only on best actress, though both concede that race could go either way. Muzi.com News 10061814-1 (muzi.com) Here are their predictions, with both sounding off on best picture and actress, Lemire offering their opinion on best actor and supporting actor, and Germain presenting their take on director and supporting actress. Muzi.com News 10061814-2 (muzi.com) BEST PICTURE Muzi.com News 10061814-3 (muzi.com) Nominees: "Atonement," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood." Muzi.com News 10061814-4 (muzi.com) GERMAIN: It's a good thing for Joel and Ethan Coen, the ever peculiar directors of "No Country for Old Men," that a film even weirder than theirs was nominated. Muzi.com News 10061814-5 (muzi.com) The majestically bizarre oil saga "There Will Be Blood" makes the Coens' crime story seem merely odd by comparison, and therefore more palatable to Oscar voters whose tastes traditionally are safe and mainstream. Muzi.com News 10061814-6 (muzi.com) With "No Country," the Coens strike a masterful balance between accessibility and their idiosyncratic style, an acquired taste for which many viewers don't have the palate. Muzi.com News 10061814-7 (muzi.com) The result is two-thirds of a great, utterly engrossing pursuit thriller, with a third act spinning into mystifying twists that still have me enthusiastically wondering what happened six months after I first saw the film. Muzi.com News 10061814-8 (muzi.com) Many critics pegged it as 2007's best, including Christy and me, the two of us agreeing for the first time on the year's No. 1 film (I personally still rank "Miller's Crossing" as the Coens' best movie, though that's just me and about 12 other Gabriel Byrne-Marcia Gay Harden fans). Muzi.com News 10061814-9 (muzi.com) What you could say about past Coen flicks -- too strange to win Hollywood's top honor -- applies this time to "There Will Be Blood," an intoxicating epic whose own twists and turns probably are too much for enough Oscar voters to embrace. Muzi.com News 10061814-10 (muzi.com) The tragic period drama "Atonement" has the British class and sheen that academy types often love, but it's not a film that has pierced them in the heart. Likewise, the rich, worldly legal drama "Michael Clayton" resembles some of the great 1970s Oscar contenders, yet it's a challenging film resonating more in the head than the gut. Muzi.com News 10061814-11 (muzi.com) And the pregnancy comedy "Juno" is this year's "Little Miss Sunshine," a sunny, enormously entertaining tale that proves Oscar voters can lighten up -- just not enough to hand out the big trophy to a cheery little comedy. Muzi.com News 10061814-12 (muzi.com) LEMIRE: I just love everything about "No Country." It's more than two-thirds' great: The boldly enigmatic ending, which has proved so divisive, is completely profound and makes you reassess everything you just saw for the previous two hours. And yes, I'm also still thinking about the many twists that occurred on the way to the film's crescendo (if you can even call it that -- it's so subtle). Muzi.com News 10061814-13 (muzi.com) How often does a film captivate you that way, for that long? "No Country" will go down as Joel and Ethan Coen's masterpiece, and will finally earn the brothers their well-deserved Oscar after decades of provocative, original work. (And in case anyone cares, my favorite Coen films before this were "Fargo" and "The Man Who Wasn't There.") Muzi.com News 10061814-14 (muzi.com) "There Will Be Blood" is Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece; it, too, sticks with you long afterward. (It's tied with "No Country" with a leading eight nominations.) But Dave's right, it's probably just too intense for academy voters, too out-there. Muzi.com News 10061814-15 (muzi.com) As for "Atonement," when I first saw it I thought, that's totally going to win best picture. Right after the 5 1/2-minute tracking shot. Everything about it cries out Oscar: the performances, the score, the costumes, the literary source material. All top-notch. But then I realized later that it's the kind of film Oscar voters went for a decade ago, in the same vein as "The English Patient." Between "Crash" and "The Departed," it's obvious their tastes have gotten more eclectic and -- dare we say it? -- edgier. Muzi.com News 10061814-16 (muzi.com) "Michael Clayton" is a solid, smart, well-acted thriller but it's not a best-picture winner. "Juno" just charmed its way in. Muzi.com News 10061814-17 (muzi.com) BEST DIRECTOR Muzi.com News 10061814-18 (muzi.com) Nominees: Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"; Jason Reitman, "Juno"; Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"; Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood." Muzi.com News 10061814-19 (muzi.com) GERMAIN: The Coens won an Oscar for their "Fargo" screenplay. But since they used to split their producing and directing credits, this is the first opportunity for Hollywood to give its top directing prize to that entity known as the Coen brothers -- a single filmmaker with two heads and one shared and very active imagination. Muzi.com News 10061814-20 (muzi.com) Everything about the Coens' direction on "No Country" is right -- the casting, the pacing, the intense sound, the starkly beautiful Texas landscapes captured in their long and fruitful collaboration with cinematographer Roger Deakins, the editing (which they did themselves, earning a nomination in that category under their pseudonym Roderick Jaynes). Muzi.com News 10061814-21 (muzi.com) The competition, all first-time directing nominees, combined to present a wonderful range of admirable films. But this is the year for the academy to prove that unswerving individuality such as the Coens' is as much a part of show business as big, flashy blockbusters such as "Titanic" and "Gladiator." Muzi.com News 10061814-22 (muzi.com) BEST ACTOR Muzi.com News 10061814-23 (muzi.com) Nominees: George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"; Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"; Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"; Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"; Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises." Muzi.com News 10061814-24 (muzi.com) LEMIRE: In a year of formidable performances, no one even comes close to Daniel Day-Lewis. I mean, you wouldn't want to cross any of these guys. But Day-Lewis just completely dominates. Muzi.com News 10061814-25 (muzi.com) Does he go over the top? You bet. And it's riveting. Muzi.com News 10061814-26 (muzi.com) As turn-of-the-century oil man Daniel Plainview, Day-Lewis has given us one of the most complex performances in modern cinema. He can be charming and cruel in the same breath. And as his character descends further into alcoholism, reclusiveness and madness -- stomping, snarling, even drooling -- he becomes more captivating to behold. Muzi.com News 10061814-27 (muzi.com) It's the culmination of an impressive, eclectic career, and should rightly earn him his second Academy Award for best actor. (The first came for 1989's "My Left Foot.") Muzi.com News 10061814-28 (muzi.com) Clooney is pitch-perfect and any other year would have a great shot. Depp is an ideal fit to play a murderous barber but audiences just didn't respond to this musical. Jones is a bit of a surprise here; his better work comes in "No Country." And Mortensen is tremendous in a movie that unfortunately came out too long ago for anyone to remember. Muzi.com News 10061814-29 (muzi.com) BEST ACTRESS: Muzi.com News 10061814-30 (muzi.com) Nominees: Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"; Julie Christie, "Away From Her"; Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"; Laura Linney, "The Savages"; Ellen Page, "Juno." Muzi.com News 10061814-31 (muzi.com) LEMIRE: Marion Cotillard gave a tour-de-force performance as Edith Piaf, and the fact that she portrayed the doomed French singer over a long period of time, heartache and drug abuse meant she was essentially playing more than one character. She deeply immersed herself. She's a real discovery -- but she was great in a rather mediocre, by-the-numbers biopic. Muzi.com News 10061814-32 (muzi.com) Julie Christie, meanwhile, was great in a great film: "Away From Her" also has a much-deserved screenplay nomination for writer-director Sarah Polley. It's delicate and achingly poignant, and Christie, as a wife succumbing to Alzheimer's, simply breaks your heart with her grace, humor and strength. A win here would be a lovely complement to the Oscar she received 42 years ago for "Darling." Muzi.com News 10061814-33 (muzi.com) Blanchett is too blustery in her reprisal of Queen Elizabeth I, the role that turned her into a star and earned her an Academy Award nomination nearly a decade ago. Linney is solid in everything but it's not her year. And Page is a wonderful find with great things to come. Muzi.com News 10061814-34 (muzi.com) GERMAIN: So Christy is going with Christie. In Cotillard's native French, "Quelle surprise." Muzi.com News 10061814-35 (muzi.com) I've waffled between Christie or Cotillard, but I'm picking the latter for a performance whose range simply blew me away. Muzi.com News 10061814-36 (muzi.com) No, the film wasn't that hot, but Cotillard embodied Piaf from brash teens to frail 40s with overwhelming energy and conviction as surely as best-actor winner Jamie Foxx did with Ray Charles in "Ray." Muzi.com News 10061814-37 (muzi.com) And as Foxx proved, lip-synching realistically is an art in itself, and Cotillard does it to perfection. Muzi.com News 10061814-38 (muzi.com) SUPPORTING ACTOR: Muzi.com News 10061814-39 (muzi.com)
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