The Screening Room

Posted by Tom Maurstad @ 11:46 AM Wed, Feb 06, 2008

I often find with Oscars that I have to divide my thinking between "could" and "should." But this year and this category requires no such division. Javier Bardem gave evil a new face (and hairstyle) with his performance in "No Country for Old Men," playing the psychopath Anton Chigurh as an articulate Frankenstein. I don't really have another name in the "could" category, but in the "should" I have to include Hal Holbrook. He was just so good, so real, so deep as the all-alone old man in "Into the Wild." That scene in the pick-up truck, the flicker of hope that turned to bottomless sadness in his eyes -- my one word review of his performance is "wow."

Posted by Chris Vognar @ 12:43 PM Wed, Feb 06, 2008

Having now seen No Country and Michael Clayton twice each, my favorite among the supporting actor candidates is Tom Wilkinson. His off-the-meds lawyer undergoes a scary but somehow transcendent transformation right before our eyes. He's the film's shifting conscience. I like Bardem as well, but his Terminator-like role doesn't yield the same thrill of growth.

Posted by stephen becker @ 12:50 PM Wed, Feb 06, 2008

Chris -- I like Wilkinson's performance, too, but do you honestly think he has any chance of winning? I will say that he's clearly one of the better character actors going, and he definitely creates a believable bi-polar mess here. But do you think the voters will possibly go against the grain for Wilkinson?

Posted by Chris Vognar @ 1:03 PM Wed, Feb 06, 2008

I think it's Bardem's to lose, and I doubt he will. But I would place Wilkinson second. The film has three acting nominations, which means actors like it a lot. These categories also have a way of swaying toward unlikely winners - Marisa Tomei and James Coburn come immediately to mind. Ah, film as horse race. Thanks, Oscars.

Posted by stephen becker @ 1:12 PM Wed, Feb 06, 2008

I suppose Wilkinson could claim the lone award for Michael Clayton (I think it's going to be this year's Babel -- nominated for a lot but winning little). But I think if someone not named Javier Bardem is to hear his name called, it would most likely be Hal Holbrook. The reason: This category likes old guys. The previously mentioned Coburn, plus Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin, have all won this award in the last 10 years. Can anyone make a case for Affleck or Hoffman having any chance?

Posted by Tom Maurstad @ 1:31 PM Wed, Feb 06, 2008

Can I make an argument for either Hoffman or Affleck -- yes. But I won't because I don't think either deserves to win, although I think Casey Affleck is a really interesting actor and I'm glad to see him gaining recognition. But let me be clear on the could/should front. I don't think Bardem should win, I just think he will. My first vote would go to Holbrook, and not just for the old-man factor. But my next pick would be Wilkinson. I'm thinking of that moment in the street when Clooney finally catches him and is still trying to "reason" with him. The way Wilkinson in a flash goes from stammering,child-like spaciness to razor-sharp clarity as he warns Clooney not to mess with him ("the last place you want to see me is in a courtroom") is just breathtaking. It's a brilliant reminder that a good actor doesn't need computers or green screens to pull off an instantaneous transformation.

Posted by stephen becker @ 1:51 PM Wed, Feb 06, 2008

It's interesting that we all seem to be pulling for someone other than who we all think will actually win (my vote would have gone to Affleck, but, alas, I'm not a memeber of the Academy). So how do we feel about the supporting actresses this year? The waters seem to be a little muddier over there. Cate Blanchett picked up the Golden Globe, but Ruby Dee countered with the SAG Award in the category. Meanwhile, Amy Ryan seem to also have a legit shot without yet winning anything major.

Posted by Chris Vognar @ 2:02 PM Wed, Feb 06, 2008

To continue the could/should theme, I'm a big, big Amy Ryan fan. Loved her as the tore-up Mom From Hell in Gone Baby Gone, then I started catching up with her work on The Wire and was even more impressed. I think she has an outside shot here. I'll always dig Blanchett, though I'm getting a little tired of seeing her on Oscar night. Sorry Cate. Nothing personal. At this point I would put my money on Ruby Dee, a venerable screen and stage veteran who toiled in a lot of subpar projects after lighting up A Raisin in the Sun in 1961. You can make a case for her as the First Lady of black actresses. It's a shame that her husband, the great Ossie Davis, passed on in 2005.

Posted by Tom Maurstad @ 2:23 PM Wed, Feb 06, 2008

Yeah, this is a category where I feel the need to check my cynicism about who's going to win. The easy take is that it's Cate Blanchett's to lose, and it is a great performance in a movie that should otherwise be fast-forwarded through. I, too, love Amy Ryan, as Beadie on The Wire, she stood out in a show full of great acting. And while I admire Ruby Dee, she wasn't given a whole lot to do in American Gangster -- it was kind of one note. So I think if Michael Clayton is going to win one award it should go to Tilda Swinton. She was so great as the brittle, brilliant, broken corporate lawyer. Those scenes where she was rehearsing her lines -- an actress playing a woman who's always acting, always rehearsing, never just being. And that scene in the bathroom,first revealing and then staring at her armpit sweatstain -- being small and scared has never seemed so brave.

Posted by stephen becker @ 2:47 PM Wed, Feb 06, 2008

It sure seems like Swinton had much more to work with than any of the other performers. She certainly had the most screen time. I'm trying to decide how I feel about Blanchett winning the category. On the one hand, she's the most accesible part of a terrible movie, and Tom's right on about just fast forwarding to her scenes. But I wonder if this were an actor playing the part exactly the same, would we be as excited about the performance? Or are we just too transfixed by a woman portraying Dylan? (On a side note, i never really thought about how much Cate Blanchett and 1960s Dylan look alike, but they really kinda do.)

Posted by Chris Vognar @ 2:58 PM Wed, Feb 06, 2008

I'm not a big I'm Not There fan, but I think Blanchett went beyond "chick playing a dude" status. She just seemed so...Dylan. And Swinton is her usual brilliant self in Clayton. What an egoless performance, physically and emotionally.

Posted by stephen becker @ 3:09 PM Wed, Feb 06, 2008

If I had to pick a winner, I'd say it will be Blanchett, with Amy Ryan right on her tail. Ryan and Dee may have a slight advantage in the fact that a) Blanchett won this award two years ago and b) she's also nominated in the lead acting category. So there could be a bit of Cate backlash. It sounds like the one person we can without a doubt count out is Saoirse Ronan, in my opinion the weakest of the three Atonement Brionys. I would have much rather seen Vanessa Redgrave in this spot, if only for her one scene. Only thing Ronan has going for her is, much in the way the supporting actor goes to old guys, this one often goes to newcomers. And no one is newer than her. But I think in this case, the nomination is the award.

Posted by Chris Vognar @ 3:45 PM Wed, Feb 06, 2008

I'm with you on Redgrave. That was one of those minimum screentime, maximum impact performances, like Beatrice Straight's Oscar-winning turn in Network.

So it sounds like we all expect Bardem to win, but there's something about the Dee storyline that I find compelling, and I think voters may as well.

That's it for this week. Tune in next Wednesday when we zoom in on the best actor and actress races.