THE LAST LAUGH: REMEMBERING HEATH LEDGER

It may not have been the kind of day that marks people but I still remember where I was when I first heard that Heath Ledger had died. It was nowhere special. I was just sitting at my desk at work when my brother called to tell me what he had just seen or heard or read on the news. It didn’t make any sense to me. It couldn’t possibly have been true. He must have been mistaken or the reports must have been overblown. And while the details surrounding Ledger’s death in the press certainly were blown out of proportion, my brother was definitely not mistaken about what he had seen, heard or read. The 28-year-old actor and father died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs on January 22, 2008. A dark night, indeed.


I walked home stunned and, after pouring myself a generous glass of red, I settled into my couch to watch BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. I was compelled to do so. I somehow felt that by watching this modern classic that transformed Ledger from another pretty face in the crowd to a bonafide contender would keep him alive for a couple more hours. You know what? It did. Watching Ledger as Ennis Del Mar is like witnessing the miracle of life. The manner in which he mutters instead of talking, his tongue unconsciously twisting inside his mouth and the hushed self loathing that permeates through his squinted eyes stripped him of his charmer looks and revealed a calculated talent capable of creating great, new depths of character. Though Ledger had been seen on Hollywood screens for nearly ten years (ever since his eye catching turn in the Shakespearean teen adaptaion, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU), it was his Oscar nominated performance in the revelatory BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN that made him a real star.


After his first taste of Hollywood success, the native Australian saw his career heading in a direction he wanted nothing to do with. When he saw his giant mug plastered across America and the world as the face of the medieval joust comedy, A KNIGHT’S TALE, he put on the brakes. He was offered the lead in the SPIDER-MAN series but turned it down because it simply wasn’t him. He wanted to make movies that spoke to him. The first signs of his emerging talent showed themselves in his brief part as a suicidal police officer in MONSTER’S BALL. He carried himself with such sadness and disappointment that I wondered how much of his depression was based in reality. The years that followed brought disappointments despite his best efforts but BROKEBACK opened his doors wide open. In the little seen, CANDY, Ledger shows that no movie is too small as long as the story is strong. His turn as a heroine junkie is somehow just as romantic as it is heartbreaking. Showcasing his delicate ability to balance duality yet again, Ledger plays Robbie in Todd Hayne’s Bob Dylan masterpiece, I’M NOT THERE. Again, Ledger makes the unlikable somehow still sympathetic. And just as all of the world’s eyes were turning toward him, he passed, leaving only one role left to be seen.


Of course, that last role will become infamous. It will be nearly impossible to take your eyes off of Ledger as the iconic Joker in Christopher Nolan’s second Batman feature, THE DARK KNIGHT. There is no way to know if the world would be buzzing as much as it is about Ledger’s performance had it not been his final one but the world is watching and that’s what he wanted. The Joker himself would probably find the whole thing quite amusing. Young kid makes good and finally learns to infuse his passion for the craft into the Hollywood machine but doesn’t live to see it unleashed. Oh, the irony. I like to think that Ledger is smiling too about the whole thing. After all, he went through such trials to divert our attention to the performance and not the person and, without him here, we will be forced to do just that.

Heathcliff Andrew Ledger
April 4, 1979 to January 22, 2008

THE 2008 MOUTON D'OR AWARDS

“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.” These are the words of Anton Ego, RATATOUILLE’s imposing food critic who has grown sour after years of being fed what he deems to be mediocrity. This, however, is a humbled moment that gives birth to a newly invigorated soul. Ego did not become a critic in order to criticize but rather to feast upon that which he appreciates the most. His expectations are just a little high.

This scene actually makes me cry. Watching films with a critical eye certainly skews the viewing but, like Ego, I am merely waiting to recapture the joy and warmth that movies have brought to my heart since I was a boy. Peel my expectations and disappointments away and you will not find a critic but rather a film enthusiast.

I am also an awards geek.
Welcome to the 2008 Mouton d’Or Awards.

BEST POPCORN FLICK

I like to be entertained just like anybody. As much as I enjoy getting lost in thought and opening my mind up to perspectives unlike my own, I also enjoy shutting off and leaving my worries alone for a little while. What makes all the nominees in the category of BEST POPCORN FLICK special is that they all successfully entertain in big, bright fashion but also manage to tickle your brain at the same time. Paul Greengrass’s schizophrenic THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM is non-stop action, speed and intelligence, cut together in a style that gets your heart pumping faster than perhaps it should. THE DARJEELING LIMITED is Wes Anderson’s unfortunately overlooked masterpiece. It is colorful, insightful and hilarious. Unlike most of his previous work, it is also touching and real. As the 2nd half of the GRINDHOUSE double feature, DEATH PROOF feels long but as its own separate feature, the great modern visionary, Quentin Tarantino, offers another uniquely visceral experience. Fast cars, hot chicks, smack talk galore and edge of your seat car chases propel this potentially ridiculous premise into the fast lane. Buckle up! I have never seen New York City look so haunting as it does in I AM LEGEND. Call it a vampire flick or a Will Smith puff piece but you cannot deny the odd beauty of deer hopping through grass ridden New York streets and cutting through halted traffic. Smith carries this film on his well built shoulders and never shows signs of tiring. All this said, it is no secret that I gave my heart away this last year to one very endearing and very inspirational rat. Little chef Remy finds his fate when he isn’t looking and learns to accept and embrace who he truly is. The script is calculated while still unexpected; the camera work, scattered while still controlled. The results are a delectable delight. This year’s Mouton d’Or for Best Popcorn Flick goes to Brad Bird's RATATOUILLE.


BEST LITTLER MOVIE

Not everyone gets to make a film with a gigantic conglomerate backing them up. The category of BEST LITTLER MOVIE is given to the film that shows genuine intention, artistry and heart. Todd Haynes’s Bob Dylan tribute, I’M NOT THERE, is ambitious in scope and abundantly original. Despite its many detractors, Haynes continues to stay true to his vision and asserts himself further as one of the great contemporary American filmmakers. JUNO is highly watchable. Repeat viewings only draw you closer to these wonderful, relatable characters. Director Jason Reitman’s 2nd feature has opened his career wide open and congratulations are due to him and screenwriter, Diablo Cody, for giving the world a young heroine with no shame and a sense of self not found in most teenage screen representations. LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is a lonely experience. While that may repel some, those who are brave and fortunate enough to find themselves observing Lars as he embarks on a real relationship with a not so real partner will be given the opportunity to face their own fears about what being alone truly means. WAITRESS is just scrumptious. Every time it feels like the film might go off in a direction that would render it totally bland, it doesn’t. The late Adrienne Shelley’s choices as both director and writer are sharp and revealing for all those who know what it means to be going down a path that you never thought would be your own and without any control over that direction. Love and indie are not often words used in the same sentence. Indie and musical? Even less so. Yet here we are with a small Irish film about two people who find each other and themselves in song and the harmony they create together by simply putting their voices out there. For grounding the musical in a reality that is not tragic but progressive and for allowing love to be omnipresent without carrying anyone away, the Mouton d’Or for Best Little Movie goes to John Carney’s ONCE.


THE WORSE MOVIE I SAW ALL YEAR

Here’s where it gets a little nasty. THE WORST MOVIE I SAW ALL YEAR goes to, well, the worst movie I saw all year. I see a lot of movies but I can’t see everything so how do I gage what to nominate here and what should win? Essentially, the winner is the film that angered me more than any other. This generally happens when potential is there, when you can smell it all around you but you are instead forced to watch it be squandered away or when the film is just plain dumb. ALPHA DOG falls into the latter category. My feelings about this film are best expressed by remembering the scene where Ben Foster takes a dump on his nemesis’s living room floor. Imagine the living room floor as this film and the scene becomes wonderfully apropos. About five minutes in to BLACK SNAKE MOAN, Christina Ricci is seen convulsing in the grass. She’s got the itch; that’s what they call nymphomania. The biblical implications of a girl being led back to salvation and pulp aesthetic cannot save this film from its own ridiculous staging. Oh, and Samuel L. Jackson should never be allowed to sing on film again. Canadian darling, Denys Arcand, came back this year with L’AGE DES TENEBRES (DAYS OF DARKNESS). His Oscar for LES INVASIONS BARBARES (BARBARIAN INVASIONS) has clearly gone to his head as he now seems to see himself as a prophet sent to warn us of the consequences of a banal life based on lies and materialism. Thanks Denys, but I think we all had that one figured out already. I don’t know why I expected more from TRANSFORMERS. I guess I wanted to be a kid again but this clunky, confusing disaster (due props for its special effects design work though) was made for today’s kids and I don’t get why they seem to enjoy being condescended to. Still, no film made me angrier this year than this particularly pointless musical. Those who loved it appreciated its artistic innovation. Art without purpose though might as well be commerce and this film took the genius music of The Beatles and rendered the words that have inspired millions meaningless and hollow. For this unforgivable offence, the Mouton d’Or for The Worst Film I Saw All Year goes to Julie Taymor’s ACROSS THE UNIVERSE.


THE TREVOR ADAMS ANIMATED FEATURE AWARD

Thanks to my friend, Trevor, animated film excites me in ways it never did before. This is why the award is named in his honour and the films that find themselves in this category are honoured for both their delicate craftsmanship and their ability to outshine the countless live action films that don’t measure up. As the technology in the field makes new worlds of animation possible to explore, the nominees this year are a mixed bag of 2D and 3D animation. Going the traditional 2D route to tell an entirely untraditional story, PERSEPOLIS is mostly black and white and magical. While many strive to create animated features aimed at kids as enjoyable for both adults and children, Marjane Sartrapi tells the painfully adult story of her life growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution in an unapologetically mature manner. It is a true expression of artistry and brave use of the medium. There is nothing mature about THE SIMPSONS MOVIE. The numerous creative minds behind this first feature length offering made so many people laugh this year and they did so by not only remaining true to their roots and their fans but they brought new sides to characters we have allowed in our living rooms for nearly twenty years. It may not be a work of genius but it is a solid reminder why the Simpsons are the quintessential nuclear family. Meanwhile, one animated feature achieved the implausible by getting audiences around the world to let rats into the kitchen. The good people at Pixar are the leaders in the industry but they never take their position or the story behind each of their ideas for granted. In fact, they take very good care of it. The recipe they used for their latest reveals new flavours with every serving, including inspiration, perspective and philosophy about how one’s true nature factors into one’s destiny. And their presentation is always impeccable. This year’s Mouton d’Or for The Trevor Adams Animated Feature Award goes to RATATOUILLE.


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

There are new technical awards this year, including this category for BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY. The results here surprised even myself. Watching ATONEMENT means weaving in and around a beautiful mansion maze with dimly lit corners that reveal shocking secrets. It all culminates in an unmatched 4½-minute continuous shot recreating the evacuation of British soldiers on the beach of Dunkirk that choreographed to perfection. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN makes desolate and alone into something picturesque. Sweeping landscapes or violence in cramped hotel rooms are equally invigorating. LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON blurs its edges and straps the viewer down to a hospitable bed with no possibility of escape. Feeling trapped has never been so artistically liberating. THERE WILL BE BLOOD takes the stillness of the desert and frames its beauty into a feeling of what it must have been like to be right there. One film though above all these wonderful works seems determined to elevate cinematographic possibilities with every shot. The film itself is not amazing but you cannot look away from its stunning style – from fields of endless wheat flowing in the wind to a screen of nothing but black suddenly interrupted by the light at the head of the train turning the corner and shining through a densely populated forest. Improving his odds by being nominated twice in this category, the Mouton d’Or for Best Cinematography goes to Roger Deakins for THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD.


BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC

In the category of Best Original Music, all five nominated films are made better by their musical accompaniment. In INTO THE WILD, I was mostly uninterested in the majority of the film but became interested each time Eddie Vedder’s light acoustic guitar filled out the frame and lent depth to the often pretty pictures. THERE WILL BE BLOOD would have been an entirely different film if it weren’t for Jonny Greenwood’s haunting and disturbingly intense score. His music made everything that much more eerie and urgent. Michael Giacchino’s score for RATATOUILLE is whimsical and wind-instrument heavy. He helped put the bounce in Remy’s scamper. The tapping of the typewriter in Dario Marionelli’s score for ATONEMENT is commanding and drives the film forward with a march and romantic swell. It is the lyricism, the melodic lull and the harmonized passion of this Best Littler Movie winner that takes the prize though. Singing brings people together in this movie and the music lives on as the two leads and composers, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova continue to tour the world with the moving music of this film. The Mouton d’Or for Best Original Music goes to ONCE.


BEST EDITING

Chop, chop, chop. Editing sets the pace of a film and should not be noticed but certainly should be celebrated. ATONEMENT plays with time and expectation. Glimpses of moments to come are spliced in and told out of sequence with their true account and significance only revealed when the right time has arrived. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN cuts back and forth between cat and mouse and changes the roles whenever it feels like. What is cut out in this film is often the most telling. LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON manages to avoid cliché despite cutting back and forth between the past and the present. Though we go to the past, we are always present. ZODIAC is epic in length and while some feel the film is long, the manner in which it is edited is done for exactly this effect so that you too can feel the exhaustion of running after a killer for years without result. The winner in this category though cuts when he feels like it instead of when it is expected. A fight scene in a tiny bathroom reaches dizzying heights of force and the viewer is never allowed to sit still to situate where in the world the film is now because the editing is relentless. The Mouton d’Or for Best Editing goes to Christopher Rouse for THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

It’s performance time. As the coward, Robert Ford in THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD, Casey Affleck is an awkward, uncomfortable star-struck boy playing in a man’s game. He embodies an inner struggle to prove himself to the idol he has emulated for years and the only way to do that is to conquer him. In MICHAEL CLAYTON, Tom Wilkinson may be crazy but it’s just the price he has to pay for his genius. The conflict between his soul and the corruption he perpetuates in his career as a lawyer has him completely unhinged and his conviction to make things right is the only thing that keeps balanced. In Wilkinson’s shoes, he is always teetering. Hal Holbrook is a welcome sight in the lengthy INTO THE WILD. This lonesome older man only appears in the later parts of the film but he leaves the most lasting imprint. His is a life that is nearing its end and yet the hope he feels still continues to overshadow a lifetime of regrets. In CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR, Philip Seymour Hoffman is one pushy bastard. He is curt, crafty and calculated. Hoffman looks like he could blow up any time he graces the screen but yet good intentions and ideals can always been seen underneath his rough exterior. It only takes five minutes to spot the winner in this category. The evil in his eyes as he stares up at the ceiling while strangling a naïve policeman is so blank and cold. There is no meaning to his madness. He just exists it. Anton Chigurh is a new face of evil, an instantly iconic character brought to life in a triumphantly unflinching performance. The Mouton d’Or for Best Supporting Actor goes to JAVIER BARDEM in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
It’s the ladies’ turn now. In MICHAEL CLAYTON, Tilda Swinton is a power player in way over her head. Her ambition has led her to heights she perhaps never imagined but her nervous nature is constantly at odds with her position and status. It is a pleasure to watch her sweat. In GONE, BABY, GONE, Amy Ryan takes the character of a mother who has had her child taken from her and turns one of the most sympathetic archetypes in narrative history into someone you want punch and shake. Yet somehow, you still just want to see her get it together all the while. Saoirse Ronan is an enormous force in a tiny frame in ATONEMENT. As Briony Tallis, she is brilliant and talented but needs constant reassurance to build her fragile confidence. When she tells her infamous lie, you can tell she knows what she’s doing is wrong but has no concept of just how wrong that is. Jennifer Jason Leigh is no stranger to fragile characters that are put upon by those who surround them. In MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, she brings new layers to the troubled soul she knows so well. Her character lives the influence of her history and tries to please everyone while struggling with the knowledge that she will never reach her future until she learns to please herself. The winner in this category is an unorthodox casting choice for the character she played and yet she gives the most natural performance of the entire cast. She shares the duties of playing Bob Dylan with five other male actors and despite her sex, or perhaps because of it, gives the performance that best captures the poet. She is fidgety, angry, mouthy and still breaks just like a woman. The Mouton d’Or for Best Supporting Actress goes to CATE BLANCHETT in I’M NOT THERE.


BEST ACTOR

The category of Best Actor was immensely competitive this year. Narrowing it down to five performances was extremely difficult and it meant some very fine performances could not be recognized. I guess that means if you’re here, you damn well deserve it. In addition to his fantastic turn in AMERICAN GANGSTER, Josh Brolin has an incredible return this year. In NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, he doesn’t say very much. The man doesn’t remember that his own mother has died but the moves he makes to avoid being caught by the hunter who is after him are nothing short of inspired. His focus never fails and neither does his performance. Ryan Gosling won this category last year for his turn as a drug addict high school teacher in HALF NELSON. He returns this year as a man so lonely, he invents a personality for an anatomically correct plastic doll in LARS AND THE REAL GIRL. Being a good boyfriend to her is a lot easier than dealing with real people for the man who seems to fear the day light and any interaction with a real person. He needs closeness but that is what he fears the most. Tommy Lee Jones cannot find his son in IN VALLEY OF ELAH. His calm, polite nature is his defense against the bizarre new world of violence and technology. On this level, he shares a lot in common with the character he plays in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Only here, his acceptance of the reality he now lives in is quiet on the outside but tumultuous on the inside and never the two shall meet. If this were a different year and the competition were different, Viggo Mortensen would be the winner in this category for his performance as a chauffeur to the Russian mob in EASTERN PROMISES. His accent and ferocity are commanding and impressive and his vulnerability and sensitivity expose his monster front to reveal the human underneath. Still, nothing can compare to the embodiment and complete transformation of this year’s winner. One has come to expect these kinds of revelatory performances from this choosy actor but his capacity to create such detailed characters from words on a page is always surprising. As Daniel Plainview, he is ambitious, conniving and downright frightening. He is the original entrepreneur and the prototype for the watered down versions of sharks swimming in business today. The Mouton d’Or for Best Actor goes to DANIEL DAY-LEWIS in THERE WILL BE BLOOD.


BEST ACTRESS

The Best Actress category was not difficult to narrow down but was difficult to select a winner for. Julie Christie will likely go on to win the Oscar for her performance as a resident with Alzheimer’s adapting to her new home in AWAY FROM HER. She is delicately confused and traces of her former self sneak through at random moments. Considering we never met her before the onset of the diseases, it’s pretty impressive that we would even recognize her. As the title character in MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, Nicole Kidman is a complete mess. Because she is successful, she thinks that she is better than the rest of her family but she may just be the most neurotic of the bunch. Watching her fall apart is at times enjoyable as she is not terribly likable but she still gets us to feel very sorry for her. Marion Cotillard saves LA VIE EN ROSE from being a fairly straightforward biopic. As French singer, Edith Piaf, she is radiant, fragile and exuberant. Her moods are erratic and the changes are frequent. Her descent from fame to disease is tragic but Cotillard’s performance is transcendent. Angelina Jolie should have been nominated for the Oscar for her role as Mariane Pearl, wife of kidnapped and murdered American journalist, Daniel Pearl, in A MIGHTY HEART. Her performance is so nuanced and contained. She is constantly trying to keep it together that by the time she lets it all out, you want to scream and shout with her in support. The winner in this category has done something remarkable. Her performance of a headstrong pregnant teenager has the potential to become an iconic companion to Holden Caulfield. She is smart and determined, witty and winning but also frightened and searching for more truths. Her command of her own self and her assertiveness that spites social norms is an inspiration to a group of people who have never seen themselves on screen like this before. The Mouton d’Or for Best Actress goes to ELLEN PAGE in JUNO.


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Aw, the writers. Before you turned Hollywood on its back this year with your impactful strike, you wrote some lovely screenplays and here are the best of the bunch. The tone in ATONEMENT is achingly romantic. The manner in which Christopher Hampton’s story of unrequited love and lecherous regret unfolds inspires sympathy without utilizing sap to get there. The balance between time and space gives way to an ending I did not see coming that made more sense than anything I would have imagined. LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON is a hollowing experience that replenishes itself before the credits close. Ronald Harwood fearlessly puts us in the mind of a bed ridden patient with locked-in syndrome and forces us to deal with the same claustrophobia and anguish his character does. The tale is telling of the endurance of the human spirit. Paul Thomas Anderson’s script for THERE WILL BE BLOOD is a bizarre and bewildering. Things are being said about commerce and oil and business and religion. So much is being said without deliberately pointing to anything in particular that it’s hard to tie it all together. Despite this, the genius gushes in every spill. Jason Vanderbilt’s ZODIAC is playfully demonic. In its earlier sequences, it bounces back and forth between the bewilderment felt by the public regarding the Zodiac killings and the gruesome killings themselves. So much time goes by without any resolution and Vanderbilt makes sure that we want the puzzle solves just as bad and before we know it, we are just as lost as the poor detectives assigned to the case. The winning script is the one that has the most fun with its audience though. The play between the hunter and the hunted keeps everyone guessing and the writers have the audacity to thwart convention by leaving out key details that would tie everything together nicely. What we’re left with is a quiet contemplation on modern horrors and unexplained human atrocities. The Mouton d’Or for Best Adapted Screenplay goes to JOEL and ETHAN COEN for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Original is too light a word for the nominees in this category. Steve Zaillian’s script for EASTERN PROMISES crosses two people trying to do right by the world and themselves in starkly different fashions. Neither is selfless yet both are fighting the good fight in a world run by mobsters, allowing each of them to learn the consequences of what happens when you get too close. Nancy Oliver not only wrote a screenplay when she wrote LARS AND THE REAL GIRL; she also wrote a strong character study. Lars has lost all touch with people and yet still functions in society. In exposing this character’s palpable loneliness to the world, Oliver showed millions that they are in fact not as alone as they thought. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – rats in the kitchen is a hard sell. Through careful plotting and sharp, subtle decisions, Brad Bird manages to not only make RATATOUILLE plausible but also an exhilarating good time. By bringing us beneath the surface, Bird enlightens our minds with motivational philosophy about how the unlikeliest among us has the potential to be extraordinary. With THE SAVAGES, Tamara Jenkins makes dementia funny. That isn’t really true. What she actually does is show us how horribly taxing it is on everyone involved and teaches us that laughter must be had in order to survive it all. This year’s winner was chosen for its somehow smooth exposition of what it means to be a pregnant teenager in America today. By deciding to keep her baby and give it up for adoption, Juno MacGuff has become a poster child for both sides of the abortion issue and shown the world that having choices doesn’t automatically assume which will one will be made. It is also a love story between two young people who have found themselves in a confusing position where they have adult issues to face long before they have figured out how to feel about themselves or each other. For being honest, frank and just as hilarious as it is touching, the Mouton d’Or for Best Original Screenplay goes to DIABLO CODY for JUNO.


BEST DIRECTOR

The Best Director category was also very competitive. Many seasoned directors made masterworks while many novice directors solidified their names and talent. Paul Thomas Anderson is from the former category. THERE WILL BE BLOOD is such an incredible change of direction for the director of BOOGIE NIGHTS and MAGNOLIA. Not only is a drastic departure but it is an immensely successful one. He wanted to challenge himself and he surpassed all expectations by doing so. Todd Haynes embodies creativity in I'M NOT THERE. He is the rare director that has found a way to work within the mainstream while creating entirely unconventional work. The sheer scope of his Bob Dylan biopic is so vast that it is impossible to take everything in upon first viewing. He has not only delivered a glorious tribute to an American icon but has changed the mechanics of the biopic itself. Painter Julian Schnabel’s LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON is a brave work of art. It is as fearless as its protagonist needed to be in order to accomplish the feats he did while he was alive. The experience is gut wrenching but worth the insight derived. Joe Wright also cast out a wide net when trying to reel in the enormity of ATONEMENT. His control over everything is felt throughout the production and he breathes a new sensual energy into a genre that is all too often frigid. It is a duo of seasoned directors though that take this award this year. After making quirky, original features for years, these siblings have finally made their masterpiece. They did so by abandoning all of their tested practices and without altering their aesthetic to the point that their involvement is unrecognizable. It is smart, darkly humourous and its intelligence is matched only by its ferocity. This year’s Mouton d’Or for Best Director goes to JOEL and ETHAN COEN for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.


BEST PICTURE

You’ve made it this far and I’ve said all there is to say about each of the five nominated films for Best Picture. So, I will get right to it, not only because I'm sure you can't read anymore but I can't write anymore. Thank you for reading and your support over this last year. It has been a pleasure watching and reporting back. Here are the nominees and winner for the 2008 Mouton d’Or for Best Picture …

THE 2008 MOUTON D'OR NOMINATIONS

Black Sheep’s Best of 2007

This time last year I was trudging through garbage in search of a half-eaten cheese sandwich I could dust off and pass off as one of the better films of the year. 2006 was certainly no country for an old man like myself. I’m happy to say though that this year, I was able to keep my hands clean as 2007 was the year even the rats were allowed in the kitchen to make themselves a real snack before settling in for a flick. 2007, you can rest easy for you have sufficiently atoned for the sins of 2006. I assure you there will be no blood shed here, just some love and recognition in the form of an award or two. No, Canada, this ain’t the Juno’s – it’s the 2007 BLACK SHEEP REVIEWS’ MOUTON D’OR AWARDS!

But seriously folks, 2007 has been a great year both on the screen and off for this here film critic. I have had the opportunity to see over 80 first run films and write over 50 reviews. I even manage to get myself invited to press screenings now. That might seem like nothing to some but as it doesn’t happen often for me, waking up to a movie, a coffee and a croissant with a handful of film enthusiasts is a little like heaven to me. I was published for the first time in March, discussing THE ASTRONAUT FARMER in The National Post’s Popcorn Panel and went on to find my way there another seven times. I was voted Critic of the Week twice on Zip.ca – once because I got all my friends to vote for me and once was a complete surprise. I ended my run as a regular DVD reviewer for Ioncinema.com and began covering film festivals for them instead, like the Montreal World Film Festival and the Nouveau Cinema Festival. This allowed me the chance to meet and speak with directors as diverse as Michael Davis (SHOOT EM UP), Bruce McDonald (THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS) and Jeremy Podeswa (FUGITIVE PIECES). In the online world, my work found a new forum on Montreal Film Journal and continued to be read by hundreds on Smart-Popcorn. The official Black Sheep Reviews Facebook group has reached over 450 members. The Globe and Mail and The Edmonton Sun both interviewed me as an up and coming voice in the field of freelance film criticism. My actual voice found its way to the airwaves on 940 Montreal, where I debated on an almost weekly basis what people should spend their money on at the theatres and finished the year by announcing my Top 10 on New Year’s Eve. I may have had to pay my own way but I finally found myself at the Toronto International Film Festival. I was suddenly surrounded by Ang Lee, Catherine Keener, Jake Gyllenhaal, Eddie Vedder, Reese Witherspoon, Emile Hirsch and Peter Saarsgard to name a few. Sure they had no idea I was there but who cares? A separate trip to the New York Film Festival gave me the chance to catch the advance screening of MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, with both Jennifer Jason Leigh and Noah Baumbach on hand to discuss the experience. And last, but naturally not least, Black Sheep Reviews found its face in a beautifully animated sheep named Sheldon, designed by my humble and talented friend, Trevor Adams. Sheldon makes for an amazing flyer and there are times when I’m handing them out and people tell me they’ve already been to the site or visit regularly. There are times when I’m sitting at my day job worried that all of this is for nothing and that no one is reading my words but thanks to all of my amazing supporters, that is simply not true. If it weren’t for you, Black Sheep Reviews would never have been voted the 4th Best Blog in Montreal (Montreal Mirror) or be visited by thousands monthly.

Right, so enough about me, let’s get to the movies. Before December and the onslaught of critic’s list announcements, 2007’s award race was wide open. It was exhilarating to know that any number of films could become the front-runner for the Best Picture crown. All too often, the hype machine has already solidified certain titles as sure bets but this year, all the bets were off. While this made the wide variety of possibility exciting in my MOUTON D’OR nominations, whittling the selections down to five in each category was almost exhausting … even after I added new categories to honour as many films as possible. Joining the regular categories from last year are three more technical categories – Cinematography, Editing and Original Music. Also, another year means another change for an award title that I just can’t get right … It is meant to embody the spirit of independent film but the idea of what is independent is so blurred that the best I could come up with as an award title is Best Little Movie That Could: An award for genuine intention, artistry and heart. Let’s not waste another moment … Here are the nominations for Black Sheep Reviews’ 2007 Mouton d’Or Awards:


BEST POPCORN FLICK

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
THE DARJEELING LIMITED
DEATH PROOF
I AM LEGEND
RATATOUILLE


BEST LITTLE MOVIE THAT COULD:
An award for genuine intention, artistry and heart

I’M NOT THERE
JUNO
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
ONCE
WAITRESS


THE WORST MOVIE I SAW ALL YEAR

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
ALPHA DOG
BLACK SNAKE MOAN
L’AGE DES TENEBRES (DAYS OF DARKNESS)
TRANSFORMERS


THE TREVOR ADAMS ANIMATED FEATURE AWARD

PERSEPOLIS
RATATOUILLE
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (Roger Deakins, cinematographer)
ATONEMENT (Seamus McGarvey)
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Roger Deakins)
LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON (Janusz Kaminski)
THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Roger Elswit)


BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC

ATONEMENT (Dario Marianelli, composer)
INTO THE WILD (Eddie Vedder)
ONCE (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)
RATATOUILLE (Michael Giacchino)
THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Jonny Greenwood)


BEST EDITING

ATONEMENT (Paul Tothill, film editor)
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, Christopher Rouse)
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Roderick Jaynes)
LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON (Juliette Welfling)
ZODIAC (Angus Wall)


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

CASEY AFFLECK
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
JAVIER BARDEM
No Country for Old Men
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN
Charlie Wilson’s War
HAL HOLBROOK
Into the Wild
TOM WILKINSON
Michael Clayton


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

CATE BLANCHETT
I’m Not There
JENNIFER JASON LEIGH
Margot at the Wedding
SAOIRSE RONAN
Atonement
AMY RYAN
Gone Baby Gone
TILDA SWINTON
Michael Clayton


BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

JOSH BROLIN
No Country for Old Men
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS
There Will Be Blood
RYAN GOSLING
Lars and the Real Girl
TOMMY LEE JONES
In the Valley of Elah
VIGGO MORTENSEN
Eastern Promises

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

JULIE CHRISTIE
Away From Her
MARION COTILLARD
La Vie en Rose
ANGELINA JOLIE
A Mighty Heart
NICOLE KIDMAN
Margot at the Wedding
ELLEN PAGE
Juno


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

EASTERN PROMISES (Steven Knight, screenwriter)
JUNO (Diablo Cody)
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (Nancy Oliver)
RATATOUILLE (Brad Bird)
THE SAVAGES (Tamara Jenkins)


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

ATONEMENT (Christopher Hampton, screenwriter)
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Joel and Ethan Coen)
LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON (Ronald Harwood)
THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Paul Thomas Anderson)
ZODIAC (James Vanderbilt)


BEST DIRECTOR

PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON
There Will Be Blood
JOEL AND ETHAN COEN
No Country for Old Men
TODD HAYNES
I’m Not There
JULIAN SCHNABEL
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon
JOE WRIGHT
Atonement


BEST PICTURE








Winners will be announced Oscar weekend (February 23) and be sure to check back this weekend for the first wave of the Black Sheep Reviews 2008 contest Top 5 lists.

Happy 2008!

I’M NOT THERE

Written by Todd Haynes and Oren Moverman
Directed by Todd Haynes


Interviewer: Mr. Quinn, have you got a word for your fans?
Mr. Quinn: Astronaut.

In true tribute style, I’M NOT THERE opens with the sounds of adoring fans waiting for their favorite folk-rock star to grace the stage. The camera maneuvers in first person point of view through the winding corridors leading from the dressing room to the stage. This build toward the reveal is one we’ve all seen before but this is perhaps the most traditional thirty seconds of the entire film. It isn’t long before the cheers are interrupted by the roar of a motorcycle and a man on a bike driving across a deserted dirt road. The shot is ultra wide and the sky is that deep grey only black and white film can provide. Writer/Director, Todd Haynes inadvertently announces, in the mere seconds it takes the shadowy biker to cross from one end of the screen to the other, that what we are about to watch will be anything but traditional, aesthetically breathtaking and an experience unlike any other. Blinking boldly on and off in the middle of the sky are the words of the title – one by one they appear out of sequence until they settle for a moment in order and all at once, before flickering away yet again. I’M NOT THERE is inspired by the many lives of Bob Dylan but he is somehow nowhere to be found in the two hours that follow and yet still everywhere at the same time.


I’M NOT THERE is entirely and unapologetically experimental. Six different actors (Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Ben Wishaw) play six different characters that represent human incarnations of Dylan from various periods of his existence or from inspired interpretations of where his life could have gone. No one story is told from beginning to end nor overtly connected to any of the surrounding stories. Each is told with a different visual motif, from smooth to grain, from subdued black and white to brilliantly expressive color, from cinema verité to abstract imagery that leaves you lost and puzzled. The entire undertaking can be daunting and overwhelming if you aren’t prepared. Even if you go in armed with sharpened knives ready to dissect the onslaught of non-linear imagery, it will come at you so fast, your knives will be dulled before you can make the first cut. While it certainly helps to be a fountain of Dylan knowledge, it won’t hurt if all you can do is maybe hum along to “Blowin’ in the Wind” on a good day because Haynes is not concerned with telling a direct account of Dylan’s story. Rather, he is paying homage to what his life and how he lived it inspired both passion and rage in millions.


What saves I’M NOT THERE from being overbearing, pompous and pretentious is intention. Haynes had been a Dylan fan in his high school years but only recently rekindled his love for the artist. His decision to cast and shoot without boundaries was meant to embody the same spirit and freedom of the man whose life story he was telling. His unfettered approach does at times come off as film student idealism (with expert technique, mind you) but his innovative and open-minded choices ultimately win out as inspired. His decisions are not only experimental but also successful. There is never a moment that Haynes’s love for Dylan is in question. In fact, his love is so potent that, just like the real love experienced in intimate relationships, it clouds his vision. Haynes’s Dylan is put upon and criticized to the point of hiding and recluse but his attackers (members of the press or fans who have turned on him) are always portrayed as people disappointed that he is not what they want him to be or need him to be. People needed Dylan to bring them peace but all he could claim was that you couldn’t change the world with a song, that all he could sing was what was inside of him. In that regard, he never stopped singing about the truth.


The truth behind I’M NOT THERE is that it is best enjoyed if you don’t try to define it. If you allow it to be what it is, to let it go where it must in order to be complete, then its secrets will inevitably reveal themselves when they are meant to be seen and understood. I don’t pretend to say I understand the film in its entirety. I have theories about what is being said and how it needs to be said in a certain fashion but I can’t claim that any of them are accurate. For me, both Todd Haynes and Bob Dylan are poets and this film is but a love poem from one man to the other.

BLACK SHEEP @ THE FESTIVAL NOUVEAU CINEMA

Every fall in Montreal, a seemingly small festival sneaks in with the colder weather. I had never paid it much mind in the past. It always appeared as too experimental for my taste. This year though, I was asked to cover the festival and interview directors so I had to put my entirely unfounded apprehension aside and deal with my fear of the experimental. If only I had done so sooner. As it turns out, there is very little that is experimental about the FESTIVAL NOUVEAU CINEMA. The festival is dedicated to showcasing new and original works from the independent field of cinema. New films by Denys Arcand, Brian De Palma and Gregg Araki were screening. Films that were already working the festival circuit, like PERSEPOLIS and LARS AND THE REAL GIRL, were screening. And then there were the three films I caught that I am now presenting to you – FUGITIVE PIECES, DEFICIT and I’M NOT THERE. One is by an experienced director whose works are only getting bigger all the time; one is by an actor-turned-first-time-director who should perhaps stick to what he’s already good at; and the last is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.


Jeremy Podeswa. The name meant nothing to me when I was asked to schedule an interview with him to discuss his new film, FUGITIVE PIECES. The night before the screening of the film, I sat down to watch a season two episode of SIX FEET UNDER, entitled “The Invisible Woman.” The opening credits were rolling and there it was, “Directed by Jeremy Podeswa.” I paused for a moment to grasp the coincidental timing of it all as this was just the next episode in line on my trek to rewatch the series. By the time the episode, in which a woman dies alone in her home and no one discovers her for three weeks, was finished, I could not wait for the screening. Podeswa not only allows his characters to be flawed, he encourages it. At the same time, he does not lay blame on the characters for their troubles but rather forgives them and gives them the space to understand themselves. FUGITIVE PIECES is sweeping and romantic but still hard and honest. When Jakob is a young boy (Robbie Kay) in Poland, he is hidden under a table by his mother before Nazis break into the home, kill both his parents and leave with his older sister. He survives the ordeal and the war but years later (now played by Stephen Dillane), as he struggles with relationships and himself in Canada, it is clear, he is still hiding under that same table and praying for it all to end. The film defines itself by its nuanced performances, tight storytelling and unorthodox editing, choosing to tell both Jakob’s story as a boy and as an adult simultaneously instead of one after the other. The result is an intimate portrayal of his life with an understanding of how he became who he did and desperate longing for him to realize whom he could be.


Gael Garcia Bernal is a talented actor. He brings depth and innocent curiosity to his performances. The roles he takes on are often socially relevant and insightful contemplations on human interaction. After so many years in the business, making the move to directing would seem like a natural progression for someone of his pedigree. Somehow, this is simply not the case. His first feature, DEFICIT, is aimless. Any point it thinks it might be trying to make is entirely undermined by lack of driving action in the plot and the exhausted clichés that are used as character definition. Bernal stars in his own movie as Cristobel, a spoiled, young college student who has come to his Mexico home for the weekend to party it up with some friends. He gets to the house. His sister is already there with friends. His friends show up. They party by the pool. They drink and do drugs. The boys try to get with the girls. Someone almost overdoses. He cries about how he’s lonely and can’t get into the college of his choice. People go home. The movie ends. The young party goers all seem to be having a grand time but why would I want to watch this? Quite frankly, I’d rather be at such a party than watch other people have it. Throughout the day, Cristobel makes looks and comments at the house staff so it would appear as though he is trying to point out the disdain between classes. It is so plain a statement, so obvious in its execution and so underdeveloped that it hurts the film more than it helps. Why bother trying to make a point when you’re not quite sure what point it is you’re trying to make?


And then there was that Dylan movie everyone’s talking about. This is the one where six different people play different incarnations of the American icon from his illustrious life. There is no sequence to the story; there are no boundaries in the casting. Todd Haynes’ I’M NOT THERE is simply the most accessible experimental film I have seen and the most original film of this year so far. Throughout his life, Bob Dylan has filled many roles. He has been a folk-singer, a sellout, a husband, an outlaw, a hero and, at one point, he was someone he was not. Much like FUGITIVE PIECES, Dylan’s story is told in a fragmented fashion to paint the complete picture of this one complex man. Each fraction of his life is a story unto itself but intrinsically linked to the whole and each features a different actor playing the Dylan part. Albeit fine performances are delivered by Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and even Richard Gere, it is Cate Blanchette’s performance that is most memorable and most moving. She plays Dylan at a very low point in his life. His fans worldwide have turned on him, accusing him of being a sellout and going against everything he ever stood for. He has also traded sleep for drugs, making it near impossible to stop shaking his leg. In this time of confusion, all he is trying to get across is that he never believed he could change the world with a song despite everyone wanting him to do just that. Blanchette plays him as righteous, put upon and fragile and she is a marvel in this man’s shoes. I’M NOT THERE implies that Dylan is at the same time none of these people and still all of them at once. Haynes’ direction of the brave effort is genuine in intention, not the least bit pretentious and creatively alive – just like the man whose portrait it paints so beautifully.

As the festival has now wrapped, I can look back and honestly say that covering it – from morning press screenings to free passes to interviewing directors to mocha javas in between – has made me feel more like a legitimate film critic than I ever have before. Funny how being a part of something designed to distance itself from the mainstream managed to make me feel so included.