2007 Oscar Comments

Another thing I've decided would be fun to try and do each year (including going back through the various years I did my movie list) is comment on the Oscars. I'll only comment on categories where I saw at least 3 of the 5 nominees, and usually I'll only comment on the 8 major awards.

Best Picture:
Winner: The Departed
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

I probably like "The Departed" less than anyone else I know. While I thought it was a good film, it suffers greatly in my mind because I consider it FAR inferior to the original Hong Kong film it was based on "Infernal Affairs." Actually, "The Departed" really takes the whole "Infernal Affairs" trilogy and squeezes it into one movie, with 80% of "The Departed" being "Infernal Affairs" while the other 20% is a 20 minute or so intro that tries to capture the prequel "Infernal Affairs 2" and a super brief finale (maybe 5 minutes?) that sort of goes through "Infernal Affairs 3." Now "Infernal Affairs 3" was actually pretty terrible, and is best forgotten, so the "The Departed" definitely improves on it.

The middle section of "The Departed" tracks the events of "Infernal Affairs" quite closely, but I feel that the Hong Kong original is simply tighter (it only runs 97 minutes), with better performances, and the little details that change between the movies (like how the two men are communicating with their superiors during the main deal) are cooler and make more sense in "Infernal Affairs."

My biggest problem, however, is with the abbreviated prequel in "The Departed." In the Hong Kong original, the idea is that the two men have been undercover for years and years. So long, in fact, that "Infernal Affairs 2" has different actors portraying the two leads because they are so much younger when their undercover lives starts. In "The Departed" it is hard to tell how much times passes. From what you see on screen, it seems like it is only a few months and suddenly both men have somehow risen miraculously to the tops of their professions. I guess you're supposed to believe that a lot of unseen time is passing, but even still it's hard to believe it is more than a year or two. This major change in time scale really stretches the believability for me. If the idea is that they have been undercover for over 10 years, you can see how they have each risen so high. The immense pressure that Leonardo DiCaprio's character feels makes so much more sense if he has been undercover for a REALLY long time.

Anyway, I would have been far happier to see either "Little Miss Sunshine" or "Letters from Iwo Jima" win here. I consider both to be far superior movies to "The Departed." To be fair, I still haven't seen "Babel."

Best Actor:
Winner: Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)
Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
Peter O'Toole (Venus)
Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)

Of the performances that I saw here (I still haven't seen "Half Nelson" or "Venus") I thought Whitaker's was the most deserving. He brings a fascinating charisma to the character of Idi Amin, and you can easily understand how the main character gets drawn into Amin's web. I am amused, though, that DiCaprio was nominated for "Blood Diamond" rather than "The Departed." I thought his role in the latter was far more challenging, and he was much more engaging in it. I guess the Academy loves those accents, though.

Best Actress:
Winner: Helen Mirren (The Queen)
Penelope Cruz (Volver)
Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal)
Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)
Kate Winslet (Little Children)

I didn't see "Notes on a Scandal" or "Volver," but it would surprise me a lot if either performance topped Mirren's deserving win for "The Queen." Her performance is the type that I really love, and the Academy often overlooks: understated, in control, and nuanced. This was an especially strong year in this category since I think that Winslet and Streep were wonderful as well. I was a bit surprised that it was such a foregone conclusion that Mirren would win since Streep's role in "The Devil Wears Prada" is flashier in a way that Oscar voters usually love.

Best Supporting Actor:
Winner: Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children)
Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond)
Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)
Mark Wahlberg (The Departed)

I never saw "Dreamgirls," so I can't comment on Arkin's upset win over Murphy in this category. While I thought Arkin was great, Jackie Earle Haley's performance in "Little Children" was the one that really stood out for me here.

Best Director:
Winner: Martin Scorcese (The Departed)
Clint Eastwood (Letters from Iwo Jima)
Stephen Frears (The Queen)
Paul Greengrass (United 93)
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel)

I guess I'm glad that Scorcese finally got a long overdue Best Director win, but I thought that Eastwood should easily have won in this category.

Best Original Screenplay:
Winner: Little Miss Sunshine
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

Maybe I'll change my mind when I finally get around to watching "Pan's Labyrinth," which is currently saved on my DVR, but I would have been furious if anything but Little Miss Sunshine had won in this category. The movie was just so original, and surprisingly unschmaltzy for something of its type.

Best Adapated Screenplay:
Winner: The Departed
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Children of Men
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal

I thought the nominees in this category were kind of strange. While I thought "Borat" was extremely funny, I don't see how you can give its screenplay much credit, given how much of the film was unscripted. Most of my complaints in my above rant against "The Departed" are about the screenplay, so you can probably guess that I wasn't happy to see it win. I really liked "Children of Men," but I definitely felt that was mostly due to cinematography and performances rather than the script. I did think "Little Children" was extremely well written, though, so I have no problem saying I thought it should have won.