Cinema Vitæ

The blogosphere is rife with Academy Award predictions as the race makes the final turn heading toward the finish line this Sunday, February 24, 2008 (5pm/PST). In the spirit of a good horse race, it seems only fair to go head-to-head with a fellow blogger to see who has the better spread. For this little exercise, I’ve chosen my classmate’s Oscar post which you can find here. This may be an unfair choice because my blogpetitor wrote her post on January 23rd, well before the typical Oscar jockeying took place. Still, all is fair in love and blogging. That said, let’s open the gates.

My blogpetitor (let’s call her Ms. White) makes a critical error from choice #1. For Best Picture, Ms. White has chosen Atonement. While this film had some initial buzz due to its classic Academy Award elements (war, romance, beautiful sweeping cinematography, wonderful scoring, and other “epic” qualities), it is slowly losing position to No Country for Old Men. This latter film has picked up the pace because of its popular directors (The Coen Brothers) and it’s quirky, dark material which the Academy loves and the masses hate. No Country will win by well more than a nose.

In perhaps her biggest Oscar prediction faux pas, Ms. White has chosen Ellen Page (from Juno) as the horse to beat in the Best Actress category. I’m afraid that Ms. White has let her emotions get the best of her. Don’t get me wrong, Ellen Page plays a compelling character and does it smashingly, but this is not the most challenging nor worthy female performance of the year. I think this is a two pony race and Ms. Page is at the back of the pack. It’s going to be neck and neck to the wire and the horses we should be concentrating on are Julie Christie (Away from Her) and Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose). Julie Christie’s performance is nuanced and beautiful and much the same can be said of Ms. Cotillard’s. Both would be worthy of the winner’s wreath.

The final race I’d like to direct your attention to is the Best Supporting Actress derby. Here, my blogpetitor has chosen Cate Blanchett in I’m Not There. I’ve actually chosen the same horse, but I am beginning to doubt my choice. Ms. Blanchett is not doubt worthy of this award, but having already won an Oscar this seems like the perfect race for the Academy to apply the riding crop on the Tilda Swinton pony (for her performance in Michael Clayton). This is perhaps the most difficult race to call and neither I nor Ms. White may win this spread.

Outside of the derbies listed above, Ms. White and I agree on all the other significant races. I invite you to check out my other choices here. Also, if you haven’t had the chance to read my reviews on some of these films, please click through for my thoughts on Atonement, No Country for Old Men, and Juno. Check back soon for my review of Michael Clayton.