It was only two years ago that Ledger earned a well-deserved Academy Award nomination for his incredibly moving lead performance in "Brokeback Mountain" -- a performance that makes it impossible to argue with those (like 'friend of the blog' John Shepperd) who say he gave the Best Performance of the Year! [Even though Phillip Seymour Hoffman was a deserving winner as Truman 'Capote,' and even though, if I had a vote, I would have picked Terrence Howard, as the loveable Memphis pimp in "Hustle & Flow."] Ledger brought shadings to that gruff, uncommunicative cowboy that made you ache for his unhappiness.
I don't know for whom to feel more sad: co-star and former lover Michele Williams (and mother of his only child), co-star Jake Gyllenhaal, who shared some very intense and intimate moments with him onscreen in 'Brokeback,' or former co-star ("Ned Kelly") and lover Naomi Watts, who must be bummed that "Eastern Promises" got only ONE nomination! ("Transformers" got 3, for Christsakes!)
I am just relieved that Mary-Kate Olsen was cleared of all wrongdoing in this matter, in spite of the over-zealous New York Times reporting (Get your facts straight, NYT!)
Now, on to the nominations ....
WHAT? Did somebody decide "Michael Clayton" was a good movie and not tell me? Maybe I saw a different movie: the one I saw was a potentially-interesting story scuttled by an inept script and an even inept-er (!) director! I can think of half-a-dozen directors more deserving of an Oscar nomination than Tony Gilroy: David Cronenberg-Tim Burton-Joe Wright-Sidney Lumet-David Fincher-Sean Penn-Ben Affleck-Paul Greengrass (that's 8, and that's off the top of my head!!!).
In short, the movie was inept. Tom Wilkinson is a great actor, but he did NOT deserve a nomination for his valiant but unsuccessful effort to create a plausible character out of that mess of a script he was given: because Gilroy wanted to film it both ways, Wilkinson was not convincing as either a cutthroat corporate lawyer or as a stark-raving lunatic. So he failed to elicit respect or sympathy in his brief time on screen. I would have stood and cheered if that movie earned two nominations: for George Clooney's and Tilda Swinton's riveting performances. Instead, the Academy gave it seven, and a superior effort, Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" got two lousy nominations.
But the Academy's ineptness doesn't stop there. The EASIEST category to fill in 2007 was for "Best Original Score": there were exactly five film scores that transcended all competition:
ATONEMENT - Dario Marinelli (I have the CD!)
EASTERN PROMISES - Howard Shore
INTO THE WILD - Eddie Vedder
ONCE - Glen Hansard (I have the CD!)
THERE WILL BE BLOOD - Jonny Greenwood
(Notice a theme? Three of the five are by rock musicians.) The Academy, in its infinite hipness, got exactly one out of the five right (Atonement). ONE! Even the Globes got 3-out-of-5! My only solace is that John Williams was unemployed this year.
But that's not the biggest outrage: in the Best Actor category, Ryan Gosling ("Lars and the Real Girl") and Emile Hirsch ("Into the Wild") carried every frame of their respective movies. And what do they have to show for it? An invite to the SAG awards, that's what!
P.S. I feel as bad as anyone that Angelina Jolie got passed-over for her dead-on portrayal of Marianne Pearl in "A Mighty Heart." But don't blame Laura Linney for 'stealing' her spot. She was awesome in "The Savages." Instead, the weak member of the Best Actress category is -- surprisingly -- CATE BLANCHETT! [And I enjoyed both her and her movie!] But compared to her bust-out performance in "I'm Not There," this reprise of her already-nominated role in "Elizabeth," coming on the heels of Helen Mirren's stunning performance of the same character on HBO, just feels obligatory.
P.P.S. Don't even get foreignfilmguy started on the Best Foreign Language Film category! Romania was not even short-listed! That's how pathetic this category has become! [How can you not short-list Romania?]
I STILL LOVE YOU, CATE!
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