The SAG’s show their sag, or why 2007 wasn’t all that (with a few exceptions)…
Marie-Josee Croze plays the world’s prettiest alphabet teacher in “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
So I caught the IMDB pics of all the dolled-up superstars on the red carpet today. Guess they must’ve all been giddy as schoolgirls ’cause they could now show off their bling and schmooze with Melissa Rivers, without fear of crossing the WGA picket lines. Anyway, for Best Actor and Actress, I think we saw the two who’ll walk away with the Oscars hands down, Daniel Day Lewis and Julie Christie (of course, nothing is absolutely certain). I think Supporting Actor Bardem is gonna win too (the Oscar, I mean), and Supporting Actress is Amy Ryan’s game to lose (isn’t she the odds on favorite for “Gone Baby Gone”?)
This movie year’s been so ho-hum, I almost don’t care for the awards. The best performances do not get acknowleged at these things. Only what’s most buzzed about, what’s PC, and what holds voters’ interest at the opportune moment of voting. Such a crock!!! i.e. Frank Langella is the most overlooked actor at this years’ awards. His graceful performance in “Starting Out in the Evening” is so much more accomplished, nuanced, and flat out better than Day-Lewis’ blank-souled, ham-fisted histrionics! Don’t get me wrong: Day-Lewis is an awesome actor (one of our best) but his performance in “There Will Be Blood” — for lack of a script and direction that gave him (and us) something human to latch on to — is just showboating, an imitation of the flamboyant filmmaker John Huston crossed with his own Bill the Butcher from “Gangs of New York.”
Along with “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood Blood” is the most bafflingly overpraised movie of 2007 — another example of how P.T. Anderson’s ambitions as a filmmaker obsessed with style has always overstepped his dire deficiencies as an inventive storyteller of the human soul — which is the ONLY kind of storyteller there is. Compare “There Will Be Blood” with something masterful like “La Promesse” by the Dardenne brothers, and you will see what a great story must involve and include. On the other hand, 2007’s “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” is, of all the nominated movies this year, the only really satisfying example of storytelling on film. It’s a celebration not just of the human ability to overcome and imagine beyond one’s disabilities, but a celebration of how cinema can approximate human experience. An absolute joy of a film, and the best fiction film of 2007, I think.
Thoughts on “There Will Be Blood,” or any of other Oscar barnstormers, or if you want to talk great performances and great stories, let me know. Now, on to more movies. Oh, if you have a chance, check out the site for “Starting Out in the Evening,” and get a glimpse of how a topnotch actor does his thing.
