Monday, December 10, 2007

NYFCC

The group is voting right now. These are the results so far:

Best Foreign Film The Lives of Others
Best Animated Film Persepolis
Best First Film Sarah Polley Away from Her
Best Documentary No End in Sight
Best Cinematographer Robert Elswit There Will Be Blood
Best Screenplay Joel and Ethan Coen No Country for Old Men
Best Supporting Actress Amy Ryan Gone Baby Gone

I have a bad feeling...I'll keep you posted.

UPDATE:

Best Actor Javier Bardem No Country for Old Men
Best Actress Julie Christie Away from Her

Oh well.

UPDATE 2:

Actual winners

Best Foreign Film The Lives of Others
Best Animated Film Persepolis
Best First Film Sarah Polley Away from Her
Best Documentary No End in Sight
Best Cinematographer Robert Elswit There Will Be Blood Best
Screenplay Joel and Ethan Coen No Country for Old Men
Best Supporting Actress Amy Ryan Gone Baby Gone
Best Supporting Actor Javier Bardem No Country for Old Men
Best Actress Julie Christie Away from Her
Best Director Joel and Ethan Coen No Country for Old Men
Best Actor Daniel Day Lewis There Will Be Blood Best Picture No Country for Old Men Lifetime Achievement Sidney Lumet Special Critics' Award Charles Burnett Killer of Sheep

I'll be the bigger person and not say what I'm thinking (mainly that their Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress picks suck butt cheeks), and say instead jolly good NYFCC, you might have missed the boat on this one, but you did it with panache. Stay classy (eye roll).

13 comments:

k said...

That's what I was worried about. Julie's got the indie cred :(

Dorothy Porker said...

I'm surprisingly pissed about it. Even though I sort of expected it. Am I missing something with Julie's performance? I just don't think they're even in the same league.

k said...

And it's odd they've put Bardem in lead actor even though he's campaigning for supporting. Maybe that's just a typo?

Dorothy Porker said...

Nah, I think they just recognized that he is in the film just as much as Brolin. I don't think they go by campaign category designations...still curious about who'll win Supporting Actor. Hopefully it'll be Max Von Sydow.

k said...

I have to say that Away From Her bored me to tears. Julie Christie was nothing spectacular to me; I actually really do enjoy her work, but AFH is, by no measure, her best performance and it's not the best performance of the year. And I wasn't a Marion fan UNTIL I saw La Vie en Rose, so I don't consider myself to be biased.

If I were to give an Oscar to any of the actors in the cast, I would give it to Gordon Pinsent. I thought he was wonderful. This year, this season, though, the Best Actress Oscar belongs to Marion.

The thing I'm worried about is Christie's standing as something of an acting heavyweight -- a legend, if you will. People tend to look at that over other performances that may be more deserving. I mean, look at Al Pacino's retribution win for Scent of a Woman over Denzel Washington, Stephen Rea, Clint Eastwood, or even Robert Downey, Jr; or Judi Dench winning for Shakespeare in Love over Brenda Blethyn, Kathy Bates, Lynn Redgrave, and Rachel Griffiths. There are just better competitors in their categories, but voters look at the name rather than the work.

I'm not saying that I don't think Christie doesn't deserve a win -- she does, but not this year, and not for this performance. This year it should go to Cotillard. Who cares if she's an unknown, or is French, or her film wasn't perfect? Look at the actor, not the body of work or the name. That's all I'm saying...

k said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dorothy Porker said...

You make a really good point. However, I think that what differentiates say, Pacino and Company's wins, is the fact that they appeared to be "due" their Oscar; they hadn't won before. Christie has won before, so that's, fair or not, a strike against her nowadays. I'll hold on to that hope until February.

Dorothy Porker said...

And I agree 100% about Pinsent -- he was the heart of that film. It just goes to show how weird these award entities ultimately are.

OK, I have my presentation, but I'll check back in as soon as I'm done.

k said...

Yeah, she's not due anything, but this is her big ~comeback~

Even though she earned international praise (and a BAFTA nomination!) only two years ago for Finding Neverland -- a film where she had virtually nothing to do!

k said...

Ah, they've fixed Bardem's placement.

Best Supporting Actress - Amy Ryan, GBG
Best Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem, NCFOM
Best Actress - Julie Christie, AFH
Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis, TWBB
Best Director - Joel & Ethan Coen, NCFOM

Dorothy Porker said...

Man, K. I'm still pissed. I really want NYFCC to do the right thing because they are really the group I respect the most, but they screwed this up badly.

k said...

I'm not happy about it either.

If it makes you feel better, it doesn't do any good to take these awards at face value. I was hoping Marion could land a couple wins right now only to get her the American attention she needs to land a SAG/Oscar nomination and, hopefully, win.

Daniel Day-Lewis was the big Best Actor winner in 2002-2003 for Gangs of New York, typing occasionally with Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt, but Adrien Brody went on to win the Oscar. Julie Christie could win EVERY critics award on record for Away From Her, but the Oscar could still go to Marion. In that same respect, Marion could win every critics award and the Oscar could go to someone else. The Oscars are unpredictable.

Like, in 2005, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen were not able to secure SAG nominations. However, after they won the Golden Globes, they got the attention of Academy voters (actors) and landed Oscar nods. Marion's in a good position right now because she 1) has a couple of major critics wins and 2) has the HPFA behind her. I wouldn't lose hope.

k said...

Some awards:

- AFI Awards: December 16
- Chicago: December 14
- Broadcast Film Critics: December 11