No Country for Old Men has won the National Board of Review honors for Best Film of 2007 (you can see their Ten Best List and other awards right here). It has become popular to diss the National Board of Review as inconsequential and not without good reason. And there are times when their picks are so nutty that the board comes off as some kind of odd cult. Rumors start spreading about them. They only wear white as a sign of their purity… They shave their eyebrows… They live in the Ramapo Mountains with the Jackson Whites and they only come out on a crescent moon’s night… But the fact is they are important for one big reason: they are the first major organization whose ten best list is compared and argued and laughed at to start Oscar season.
Online journalists have made Oscar handicapping a year-round event, with many predicting Best Picture picks for the coming year well before the summer even begins. Hell, I did an early Best Picture column for Film.com back in July (damn you, In The Valley of Elah). I don’t think the NBR’s recent list for the ten best films of 2007 is much of an indicator as to how the Academy – or the Hollywood Foreign Press for that matter – will vote. But they've got my fingers on the keyboard, doesn’t it?
So while we’re at it talking about all the Oscar and award hoopla, I wanted to give my own two cents and nominate two personal picks in each major category that -- at this stage -- I fear will be ignored by our pal Oscar. Sometimes the whole affair becomes herd-like with voters never stopping to consider some less-than-obvious choices. The Academy lacks in imagination and here’s just a helpful reminder that hype isn’t everything and that maybe the NBR wackiness and different voice isn’t the worst thing in the world. Keep in mind the below picks are not necessarily what I consider the best of the year (though some of them are), but simply contenders I don’t think are getting nearly enough love.
Best Picture
One cent: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: This movie is the full package. It isn’t a terribly emotional film, though I was strangely moved by its final twenty or so minutes. With top-notch acting, dialogue and cinematography, there’s a poetry to this movie unmatched by any film I’ve seen this year (so far).
Two cents: Zodiac: Jeffery Wells over at Hollywood-Elsewhere has been obsessively banging the war drums for this movie since its release last spring and I’ve been doing my best Matthew McConaughey imitation on my set of bongos as well. I’ve seen this movie a good five times now and I can’t really shake it out of my head.
Runner-Up: Eastern Promises
Best Director
One cent: Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton: The Bourne franchise scribe graduated to director this year and the results were impressive. It’s one of the most intelligent thrillers of recent years and his simmering approach makes the film’s final ten minutes one of the most satisfying of 2007.
Two cents: Brad Bird, Ratatouille: Who says animation directors can’t be nominated? When did this become a rule? I’d argue their job is just as difficult – and in many cases more so – than a live action director’s.
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