Canadian Film Review: Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006)

Director: Erik Canuel
Starring: Colm Feore, Patrick Huard

In Bon Cop, Bad Cop, Erik Canuel takes a familiar formula – the buddy cop film – and turns it into something fresh and distinctly Canadian. There’s something for everyone here: a lot of action, a lot of humour, some sex, some hockey, and a light-hearted take on Canadian Anglo-Franco relations. It’s a film that perhaps can’t be completely appreciated unless you are Canadian or have lived in Canada for a significant amount of time, but even if you don’t meet that criteria this is still an accessible film, engaging and well-made.

It begins with a murder. When the victim is tossed from a helicopter and lands on a billboard which straddles the border between Ontario and Quebec, Toronto cop Martin Ward (Feore) and Montreal cop David Broussard (Huard) are assigned to work together until the proper jurisdiction can be determined. It becomes apparent pretty quickly that the murder is hockey related as more victims pile up, each one providing a clue to the next in the form of a tattoo given to the victims by the killer. When the killer finally reveals himself, he explains that he’s out to get the people who have ruined hockey by selling out teams and players to the States. It’s a… very Canadian motivation.

The trope of oil and water partners is no doubt familiar to you, but what makes it special here is the way that it is used to play on the national consciousness. Martin and David aren’t just two cops whose styles differ and who don’t get along; they also represent the age-old rivalry between English and French speaking Canadians, and more specifically the rivalry between Toronto and Montreal. Martin is a staid, by-the-book guy who isn’t cool – which falls in line with Canadians’ general view of Toronto. David, on the other hand, is sexy, kind of dangerous and plays by his own rules, and is definitely cool – which falls in line with Canadians’ general view of Montreal. On the surface we’re presented with two individuals who must learn to get along, but they’re representative of the entire nation.

The film is very funny in a completely Canada-centric way, from the scene at the beginning when David’s superior attempts to translate first from French for Martin’s sake and then from English for David’s, only to discover that he’s the only one in the room who doesn’t have a firm grasp of both languages, to the following exchange between Martin and a Quebequois suspect:

     Therrien: What planet are you from?
     Martin: Toronto.
     Therrien: That explains why I hate your face.

My favourite, however, is the scene following one of the film’s many explosions. David and Martin have just escaped from a burning house that was once a grow-op. Having inhaled a lot of the smoke, both are a little… giddy. When he has to explain to his superior what has happened, Martin (between giggles) assures him that he has a perfectly good “halibi.” This is a movie that totally embraces the idiosyncrasies of Canadian culture and runs with them, which makes it a very rewarding film to watch and makes it easy to understand how this became the highest grossing Canadian film ever in Canada, and why it took home last year’s Genie for Best Picture.

If you’re looking for a realistic police drama, this isn’t the film for you (it’s difficult to effectively resolve a case when you go around blowing up witnesses and suspects and using a would-be victim as bait). This is more or less a satire of the cop movie formula (sort of in the same spirit as the Lethal Weapon movies), hockey fanaticism, and real-life Anglo-Franco relations. It's directed and edited in a crisp, well-paced style, the inter-play between Feore and Huard is great, and it's ultimately just a really fun movie to watch. This is a definite must-see for any Canadian movie fan.

Genie Nominations

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television announced their nominees this afternoon. David Cronenberg's Russian mob thriller Eastern Promises and Roger Spottiswoode's Shake Hands With The Devil, based on Roméo Dallaire's account of the genocide in Rwanda, lead the nominations with 12 apiece, including Best Picture nominations for both.

The other Best Picture contenders are Sarah Polley's Alzheimers drama/love story Away From Her, Denys Arcand's Days of Darkness which explores the magical inner life of an ordinary civil servant, and Stéphane LeFleur's Continental, a Film Without Guns about a man who disappears into the forest and the impact this event has on the lives of four other people. Full nominations under the cut.

Picture
Away From Her
Continental, a Film Without Guns
Days of Darkness
Eastern Promises
Shake Hands With The Devil

Director
Denys Arcand (Days of Darkness)
David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises)
Bruce McDonald (The Tracey Fragments)
Sarah Polley (Away From Her)
Roger Spottiswoode (Shake Hands With The Devil)

Actor
Roy Dupuis (Shake Hands With The Devil)
Marc Labreche (Days of Darkness)
Claude Legault (The 3 Little Pigs)
Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises)
Gordon Pinsent (Away From Her)

Actress
Anne-Marie Cadieux (You)
Julie Christie (Away From Her)
Ellen Page (The Tracey Fragments)
Molly Parker (Who Loves The Sun)
Beatrice Picard (My Aunt Aline)

Supporting Actress
Marie-Ginette Guay (Continental, A Film Without Guns)
Laurence Leboeuf (Ma Fille Mon Ange)
Veronique Le Flaguais (Surviving My Mother)
Fanny Mallette (Continental, A Film Without Guns)
Kristen Thompson (Away From Her)

Supporting Actor
Danny Glover (Poor Boy's Game)
Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge (The 3 Little Pigs)
Armin Mueller-Stahl (Eastern Promises)
Michel Ange Nzojibwami (Shake Hands With The Devil)
Gilbert Sicotte (Continental, A Film Without Guns)

Original Screenplay
Marc-Andre Lavoie, Simon Olivier Fecteau, David Gauthier (Bluff)
Steve Knight (Eastern Promises)
Douglas Coupland (Everything's Gone Green)
Denys Arcand (Days of Darkness)
Pierre Lamonthe, Claude Lalonde (The 3 Little Pigs)

Adapted Screenplay
Sarah Polley (Away From Her)
Michael Donovan (Shake Hands With The Devil)
Maureen Medved (The Tracey Fragments)

Editing
The 3 Little Pigs
Away From Her
Eastern Promises
Poor Boy's Game
The Tracey Fragments

Art Direction
Continental, a Film Without Guns
Eastern Promises
FIDO
Shake Hands With The Devil
Silk

Costume Design
Eastern Promises
FIDO
Partition
Shake Hands With The Devil
Silk

Cinematography
Eastern Promises
Nitro
Partition
Shake Hands With The Devil
Silk

Original Score
The Beautiful Somewhere
Eastern Promises
FIDO
Shake Hands With The Devil
Silk

Original Song
"Breathe" (Poor Boy's Game)
"Kaya" (Shake Hands With The Devil)
"Young Triffie's Been Made Away With" (Young Triffie's Been Made Away With)

Sound
Citizen Duane
Eastern Promises
Shake Hands With The Devil
Silk
The Tracey Fragments

Sound Editing
Eastern Promises
Nitro
Romeo et Juliette
Shake Hands With The Devil
The Tracey Fragments

Documentary Feature
Panache
Radiant City
Sharkwater

Live Action Short Drama
Apres Tout
Regarding Sarah
Screening
The Tragic Story of Nling
The Wake of Calum MacLeod

Animated Short
Here and There
Jeu
Madame Tutli-Putli

Winners will be announced on March 3rd.

Awards Watch: SAG & DGA winners

The guilds have spoken and No Country For Old Men pulls out to lead the tight Best Picture race. Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men) took the prize at the Directors Guild Awards on Saturday, while the cast of No Country won the Best Ensemble prize from the Screen Actors Guild, and Javier Bardem won the Best Supporting Actor prize.

As for the rest, Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) won Best Actor, Julie Christie (Away From Her) won Best Actress, and Ruby Dee (American Gangster) won Best Supporting Actress.

Canadian Film Review: Eastern Promises

David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises is as effective and well-crafted a thriller as you’ll ever see. It’s economically told – there are no superfluous scenes here, every single one only adds tension and dimension to the story. The performance by Viggo Mortensen as a Russian hitman is amazing, and the supporting performances by Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel and Armin Mueller-Stahl are excellent.

“Sometimes birth and death go together,” Anna (Watts) informs Nikolai (Mortensen) early in the film. This concept is at the heart of the story, which begins with a 14-year-old Russian girl giving birth and dying on Christmas Eve. Anna is the mid-wife who delivered the baby and has the dead girl’s diary translated in an effort to track down her family so that the baby won’t have to go into foster care. She first asks her uncle to do the translating for her and then, in what proves to be the worst mistake she could make, she takes a copy of the diary to a Russian named Semyon (Mueller-Stahl), who at first appears to be just a restaurateur but is in actuality a mobster and the father of the baby. Nikolai, a new recruit to his organization brought in by Semyon’s son Kirill (Cassel) is sent to take care of the situation, but he has a conflicting agenda of his own. Birth and death come together most obviously in scenes between Anna, a giver of life, and Nikolai, a dealer in death, but it’s a trope that runs throughout the film.

Concepts of “family” drive the film – family as a biological, family in the organized crime sense, and also family in the sense of a community of immigrants in a foreign country. All these different understandings of family connect birth and death in ways both natural and unnatural. There are a number of vicious deaths in this film beginning with a man named Soyka, whom Kirill has paid to have killed for spreading rumours that he’s gay. “Soyka had brothers,” Semyon warns when he finds out and, indeed, the brothers are soon in London, looking to take out everyone who played a part in Soyka’s death. To save Kirill, Semyon arranges to have Nikolai set up which leads to a memorable and bloody knife fight in a bathhouse.

The fight scene is one of many instances where the film displays its fascination with the male body. Prior to this scene there’s a ceremony where Nikolai is given his stars – tattoos that mark his affiliation to Semyon’s organization. He has many other tattoos, each other which tells part of the story of his life. The other mobsters in the film have similar collections of tattoos. The fixation on the body feeds into a fixation on concepts of masculinity within the Russian community. Kirill has someone killed for saying that he’s gay, and he orders Nikolai to have sex with a prostitute in front of him to prove that he’s not gay. Throughout the film there is a consistent concern with Kirill’s sexuality, and whether or not he actually is gay, he is impotent with women and attempts to mask it through overt and aggressive displays of heterosexuality when he’s around other men. Semyon and Nikolai are "real" men as defined by the standards of their community, but Kirill has something to prove both as a man and a member of the crime syndicate. He's born into the crime family, but as a criminal he's also rather impotent and overcompensates for it by ordering Nikolai around.

Vincent Cassel’s performance as Kirill is excellently layered, and Armin Mueller-Stahl is a chillingly effective villain. Naomi Watts is outstanding as always, adding dimensions to a character whose place in the story ultimately doesn’t give her much to do. As for Viggo Mortensen, not enough can be said about how great he is here as he slips completely into this tricky role. Accents can be difficult to pull off for actors who are famous enough that the audience knows the accent is adopted, but here you don’t even think about it as Mortensen opts for a very subtle and subdued accent, aided in no small part by the way he carries himself. He sells this character so completely that you never see Viggo, just Nikolai. It’s a quiet, intense performance that perfectly complements the tone of the film.

Canadian Film Review: New Waterford Girl (1999)

Director: Allan Moyle
Starring: Liane Balaban, Tara Spencer-Nairn, Mary Walsh, Nicholas Campbell

New Waterford Girl is a delightful comedy with a lightness of touch that is admirable. It’s characters are quirky without being burdened by the weight of their quirks, it doesn’t stamp itself with false sentimentality, and it gives some interesting twists to what is in essence a very standard story. Moonie Pottie (Balaban) is fifteen years old and lives in Cape Breton – “God’s country.” She’s alienated, outcast and sarcastic, and dreams of moving to New York to be an actress. Think you’ve seen this movie, more or less, with a different name and different actors? You couldn't be more wrong.

The film takes place in the 1970s and opens with a voice-over by Moonie sarcastically describing how wonderful it is to be a teenager in Cape Breton. She is embarrassed by and resentful of her family in the way that many teenagers are. She has four siblings and no room to call her own (after being ordered to her room by her father, she replies: “I don’t have a room, I sleep in the hall, remember?”) and finds her parents a consistent source of irritation, especially in the ways they try to get her out of whatever book she’s reading and into the world to be social, like her sisters. With the exception of her teacher Mr. Sweeney (Andrew McCarthy), she doesn’t have much in the way of friends until a mother and daughter from New York move into the house next door. Moonie is resistant, at first, to the attempts made by Lou (Spencer-Nairn) to befriend her, but eventually succumbs, resulting in some of the film’s most charming sequences such as when Lou decides that she and Moonie are going to cruise the town’s main “strip” only to find that it consists of one short road that turns onto a dead end. “What are we supposed to do?” Lou asks, “go back down and pretend they’re different guys?”

Lou and Moonie go to a party which sets the main plot in motion and also sparks a subplot. The subplot involves Lou becoming the deliverer of a kind of vigilante justice on behalf of the wronged girls in town after she punches a guy at the party and knocks him out. His girlfriend is happy with the result, explaining that he needed a good knocking around and soon other girls are paying Lou to punch their boyfriends. Lou justifies herself through her theory that the guilty always fall down when punched, and all the guys she’s punched so far have fallen down. Eventually she’ll be coerced into entering the ring with a male boxer from a neighbouring town, the community having agreed that she’s their best chance at actually winning the event for once.

The main plot, of course, involves Moonie. Although the town is predominantly and deeply Catholic, there are nonetheless a number of girls at school who are officially sent away to visit relatives, but are in actuality going away to have a baby and give it up for adoption. This gives Moonie an idea for getting out of town and she begins going around making out with several guys, knowing that they’ll tell people they slept with her and that she can create the impression of sexual activity without actually having to engage in it. She feigns pregnancy in order to get out of town, planning to take a detour to New York where she has won a scholarship to a performing arts school with the help of Mr. Sweeney. It’s easier said than done though, especially when she’s faced with her parents’ reaction to the news, particularly that of her heartbroken mother. The truth eventually comes out but Moonie is allowed to go to New York anyway. In her closing voice-over she ruminates again on her hometown, this time in a much softer, more nostalgic way, leaving us with an ending that is bittersweet but absolutely earned.

In certain respects this is a very predictable movie and there are plot elements that don’t really work - Moonie’s relationship with Mr. Sweeney, for example. However, it is also a very funny and enjoyable film to watch. Liane Balaban gives a winning performance as Moonie, a character who could have easily been reduced to a tangle of teenager cliché’s but instead rises above, largely on the strength of Balaban’s performance. Mary Walsh and Nicholas Campbell are similarly excellent as Moonie’s parents, and Tara Spencer-Nairn is engaging as Lou, even though the character isn’t given much room for growth. All in all, this is a film that transcends the conventions and clichés of its type to create something new and different, and is ultimately a movie you’ll want to watch again.

Oscar Nominees Announced

Oscar nominations are in and while I didn't do too great with my predictions, I didn't do nearly as badly as I was expecting, scoring 4 out of 5 in most of the major categories. I went 5 for 5 in the Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay and Cinematography categories, and my worst was Foreign Language Film where I only predicted one of the five nominees, but in my defense I'm still a little thrown by the fact that neither Persepolis nor 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days were eligible. Full list under the cut plus thoughts on the surprises, the snubs, and the way the race is shaping up.

Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
There Will Be Blood

Director
Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Joel & Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)
Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton)
Jason Reitman (Juno)
Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)

Actor
George Clooney (Michael Clayton)
Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)
Tommy Lee Jones (In The Valley of Elah)
Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises)

Actress
Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age)
Julie Christie (Away From Her)
Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose)
Laura Linney (The Savages)
Ellen Page (Juno)

Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There)
Ruby Dee (American Gangster)
Saorise Ronan (Atonement)
Amy Ryan (Gone, Baby, Gone)
Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)

Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James)
Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson's War)
Hal Holbrook (Into The Wild)
Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton)

Original Screenplay
Brad Bird (Ratatouille)
Diablo Cody (Juno)
Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton)
Tamara Jenkis (The Savages)
Nancy Oliver (Lars and the Real Girl)

Adapted Screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Joel & Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)
Christopher Hampton (Atonement)
Ronald Harwood (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Sarah Polley (Away From Her)

Editing
Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into The Wild
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Art Direction
American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood

Costume
Across the Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie En Rose
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Make Up
La Vie En Rose
Norbit
Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End

Original Score
3:10 To Yuma
Atonement
Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille

Original Song
August Rush ("Raise It Up")
Enchanted ("Happy Working Song")
Enchanted ("So Close")
Enchanted ("That's How You Know")
Once ("Falling Slowly)

Sound Mixing
3:10 To Yuma
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country For Old Men
Ratatouille
Transformers

Sound Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Ratatouille
Transformers

Visual Effects
The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End
Transformers

Documentary
Operation Homecoming
No End In Sight
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance

Foreign Language Film
12 (Russia)
Beauford (Isreal)
The Counterfeiters (Austria)
Katyn (Poland)
Mongol (Kazakhstan)

Animated
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surk's Up

Some definite surprises in there. The biggest for me is the Director nod for Jason Reitman, followed pretty closely by the Actor nomination for Tommy Lee Jones. Very happy to see Sarah Polley in the Adapted Screenplay category, a little thrown by the almost complete shut-out of Into The Wild. Laura Linney's nomination is and isn't a surprise for me - I toyed with the idea of including her in my final predictions but figured if she got in she would take Cate Blanchett's slot, not Angelina Jolie's. Of all the snubs, I think I'm most sad about Lust, Caution not getting a nomination for it's score.

So, my thinking at the moment is that Best Picture will come down to No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Looking strictly at thematic elements, Atonement is the film that fits in best with the majority of past winners as it features two of the Academy's favorite elements: romance and war. However, it is rare for a film to win Best Picture without a director nomination (the last was Driving Miss Daisy in 1989), and rarer still for it to win without an editing nomination (you've got to go back to 1980 and Ordinary People for that). When you factor in that, over the last couple of decades the film with the most nominations usually wins, that leaves No Country and Blood, which are tied for nominations and the only Picture nominees to have both Director and Editing nominations.

Of course, given the kind of the year it's been in terms of predictions, anything is possible.

Final Oscar Predictions

Oscar nominations will be announced tomorrow morning and no one seems to know what to expect other than to expect to be surprised. It's a testament to what a great year 2007 was for movies that even now, the race is hard to pin down - but it's a real pain in the ass for those of us trying to finalize our picks for the Oscar pool at work. Anyway, my final predictions:

Best Picture
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)
Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton)
Sean Penn (Into The Wild)
Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)

Best Actor
George Clooney (Michael Clayton)
Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd)
Emile Hirsh (Into The Wild)
Denzel Washington (American Gangster)

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age)
Julie Christie (Away From Her)
Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose)
Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart)
Ellen Page (Juno)

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There)
Catherine Keener (Into The Wild)
Saorise Ronan (Atonement)
Amy Ryan (Gone, Baby, Gone)
Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James...)
Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)
Hal Holbrook (Into The Wild)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson's War)
Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton)

Best Original Screenplay
Brad Bird (Ratatouille)
Diablo Cody (Juno)
Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton)
Tamara Jenkins (The Savages)
Nancy Oliver (Lars and the Real Girl)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)
Christopher Hampton (Atonement)
Ronald Harwood (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Sean Penn (Into The Wild)

Best Editing
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into The Wild
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Art Direction
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood

Best Costume Design
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie En Rose
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best Make Up
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Hairspray
La Vie En Rose

Best Original Score
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
Grace Is Gone
The Kite Runner
Lust, Caution

Best Original Song
Enchanted ("That's How You Know")
Grace Is Gone ("Grace Is Gone")
Hairspray ("Come So Far")
Into The Wild ("Guaranteed")
Once ("Falling Slowly)

Best Sound Mixing
3:10 To Yuma
American Gangster
Hairspray
No Country For Old Men
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best Sound Editing
300
The Bourne Ultimatum
Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End
Ratatouille
Transformers

Best Visual Effects
300
Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End
Transformers

Best Documentary Feature
Body of War
Crazy Love
Lake Of Fire
No End In Sight
Sicko

Best Foreign Language Film
The Counterfeiters (Austria)
Days of Darkness (Canada)
The Unknown (Italy)
The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (Brazil)
You, The Living (Sweden)

Best Animated Feature
Persepolis
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie

... and, in honor of the annual contest by Oscar Watch...er, I mean Awards Daily, my three No Guts, No Glory picks:

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead - Best Picture
Ben Affleck - Best Director
Emmanuelle Seigner - Best Supporting Actress

Review: There Will Be Blood

As his name suggests, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a man of singular purpose, and There Will Be Blood follows him towards the end in a similar fashion. The film and its protagonist are unapologetic and unrepentant in pursuit of their goals. This is a film devoid of warmth; it’s characters are isolated, somehow, from each other. They know each other, but there’s no real human connection that binds them to each other – they’re not unlike characters from an Ayn Rand novel that way. What we're presented with here is an ugly and depressing view of the world, but one shown to us with such technical brilliance that in the end it’s as excellent as it is gloomy.

The film opens with Plainview mining for silver by himself in the middle of nowhere. He falls down the shaft and breaks his leg and manages not only to haul himself out, but to drag himself to the nearest settlement. This opening section tells you everything you need to know about the character’s relentlessness and tenacity. He is a man who simply will not stop. The film then flashes forward four years. Plainview is now working with other men to mine for silver, accidentally finding oil. One of the men dies and Plainview takes it on himself to care for the man’s infant son, whom he will raise as his own. Ten years later, he and the boy (whom he calls H.W., played wonderfully by Dillon Freasier) are looking to expand their enterprise and find more land to drill on. Plainview is approached by Paul Sunday (Paul Dano), who informs him that his family’s land and the surrounding area is rich in oil. Plainview and H.W. go there and find that oil is literally bleeding out of the land. Plainview begins making plans to buy up the land, drill it and get rich, and finds his progress at every point impeded somehow by Eli Sunday (also played by Dano), the local preacher.

Plainview’s purpose isn’t getting rich. He does want that, but only as a means of isolating himself further from other people, whom he sees as weak and detestable. What Plainview really wants is not necessarily his own success, but rather the failure of the people around him. “I have a competition in me,” he says, “I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people… I want to rule and never, ever explain myself. I’ve built up my hatreds over the years, little by little.” The performance by Day-Lewis is mesmerizing as he embodies this absolutely hateful and demonic character. This is a man who ultimately feels nothing for other people, even the boy he calls his son. There is an accident early in the film which leaves H.W. deaf. Plainview is quick to run out to save him from further harm, but just as quickly abandons him to get back to the business at hand – his oil. His right hand man, Fletcher (Ciaran Hinds) stands beside him, watching an oil derrick burn, and asks if H.W. is all right. “No,” Plainview replies without emotion. Fletcher disappears to see to H.W., but Plainview stays where he is. Later, a man claiming to be Plainview’s brother (Kevin O’Connor) shows up. Plainview sends H.W. away to San Fransisco (doing so by abandoning him on a train) and sets the brother up in H.W.’s place as his companion and witness. His interactions with H.W. and Henry, the brother, show us that he’s not so much lonely and in need of companionship, but rather desirous of an audience.

Plainview’s best interactions are with Eli, a preacher of incredible fervour who is not exactly what he seems. Their relationship is always shifting, always on the verge of erupting. Eli finds a way to make Plainview bend to his will by submitting to be baptized by Eli in his church, which involves Eli slapping the sin out of Plainview before he’s officially “saved.” Eli thinks he’s won, but really this is nothing to Plainview other than one more perfectly surmountable obstacle to his ultimate goal. Years later, Eli and Plainview will meet again for the last time, and Plainview will show him how completely and utterly he’s “won” and then will delight in destroying what's left of Eli. The last scene of this film is alternately frightening, gruesome, and kind of funny (personally, I will never look at a milkshake the same way again). The Plainview we see in the film's final scenes is someone now as physically twisted as he is mentally twisted.

What’s startling about this film is the way that it defies expectations. We don’t expect a character like Plainview to “win” and live happily (which he does, in so far as his goal was to separate himself from the world and he ends the film master of a cavernous and forbidding mansion). One of my favourite shots in the film plays on audience expectation: in the center of the shot are railroad tracks leading into the distance. The expectation is that we’ll see a train coming along them but instead, off to the right, a car emerges down an unpaved road and the camera turns from the tracks to follow it. It’s a simple thing, but also brilliant.

There Will Be Blood is a masterpiece on every level. The cinematography and score are excellent, the pacing is brisk (it clocks in at about two and half hours but doesn’t feel like it), and the direction is masterful. The acting, too, is excellent, especially the performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. If he doesn’t win an Oscar for this role, something is very, very wrong.

Canadian Film Review: Lost and Delirious (2001)

Director: Léa Pool
Starring: Piper Parabo, Misha Barton, Jessica Paré

Lost and Delirious is a film that is almost painfully unflinching in its portrayal of teenage angst. It can be difficult, at times, to watch. While the film deflates somewhat when it verges to far into the symbolic, the moments grounded firmly in reality can be very powerful. The spectre of tragedy hangs over the film from the moment it begins – the tropes of the genre stand out almost like flags – and it unfolds in a way that compels us to see it through to its conclusion, even if we don’t necessarily “want” to see how it ends.

The film takes place at an all girl’s boarding school. We’re introduced first to Mary (Misha Barton), a shy and quiet girl, an observer who essentially becomes our surrogate. She shares a room with Paulie (Piper Parabo) and Tori (Jessica Paré), who don’t let Mary’s sudden presence disturb their nocturnal habits. The first time she sees them together is from afar and she tells us in a voiceover that she thought they were just practicing for when they were with boys. This line is telling not because of what it tells us about Mary, but because of what it tells us about Tori. At one point Tori explains her attitude towards boarding school by likening it to a fantasy: “This is much more home to me than home. Like the lost boys in Peter Pan. Except we’re the lost girls.” There’s a separation for her between the “real” of her home life and the “fantasy” of life at school. The tragedy is that Paulie doesn’t pick up on this and, unlike the audience, is surprised when Tori breaks up with her to be with a boy. Tori’s decision stems partly from the homophobia of those around her, but her own internalized homophobia is what ultimately drives her. The real world and the fantasy world are never meant to collide, and Paulie’s inability to understand the way that Tori has compartmentalized her life are what ultimately leads to her undoing.

Paulie is easily the most interesting character and is well-played by Parabo. She’s your typical bored, sarcastic teenager who has to be pushed by her teachers in order to put in the effort to realize the potential that they see in her. She carries herself as if she’s tough, but in reality she’s as delicate as an exposed nerve. She’s intelligent, but lacks the emotional maturity and life experience to deal with feelings made all the more intense by the fact of living in this very insulated world. Basically, she’s a character of extremes. When Tori breaks up with her, her solution to get her back is to march into the library (with a sword no less), stand on a table, and recite poetry to her. Later, she challenges Tori’s boyfriend to a duel. As the film progresses, she becomes more difficult to watch. You just know that she's willing to harm herself as long as it makes a point.

The film plays out at a level of intensity tailor made for teenage angst, escalating as if nothing will ever be as important as what is happening right at that moment. It’s one of the film’s strengths that it adapts itself to this pace, submerging us in this cloistered world of extreme emotion, rather than holding us at arm’s length. It’s other great strength is the performances of the three main actresses, especially Parabo. Paré is good, too, in what is a less flashy and far less sympathetic role, and Barton proves that there was in fact a time when she could act. I’ve always found the ending just slightly over the top – not Paulie’s final act of rebellion against the cruelty of the world, a moment the film is clearly leading up to from the beginning; but the symbolism of the wounded falcon that Paulie has been caring for. The film doesn’t need it to heighten the emotion and it comes across as too much. However, the film as a whole is good enough to overcome it’s slight (albeit poetic) shortcomings.

I Have Seen The Future. It Is Bleak...

...but more about the Golden Globes under the cut. Plus, Producers Guild of America nominations, and some obsessive Oscar stuff.

The Golden Globes aired last night in truncated form to less than stellar results. Being a west coaster I knew the winners before the broadcast but thought I'd check it out anyway. I lasted all of ten minutes before being driven away by the pointless drivel coming out of the mouths of the Access Hollywood crew. If anything, this is just further proof of why Hollywood needs its writers and needs to resolve the WGA strike like yesterday. Should it carry on, I'm hoping tbe Academy comes up with something better - anything would be better - and not repeat of the idiocy from last night. But I digress, last night's winners were:

Best Picture (Drama): Atonement
Best Picture (Musical or Comedy): Sweeney Todd
Best Director: Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Best Actor (Drama): Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Best Actress (Drama): Julie Christie (Away From Her)
Best Actress (Musical or Comedy): Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose)
Best Actor (Musical or Comedy): Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd)
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There)
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)
Best Screenplay: Joel & Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)
Best Animated Film: Ratatouille
Best Foreign Language Film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

As an Oscar forecaster the Globes are essentially... useless. The votes for Oscar nominees have already been cast and will be announced next week, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the voting body for the Globes, has absolutely no association with the Academy. Anyway, I realized last night that I don't even put any stock into who the HFPA choose, and that really the only reason I watch every year is for the drunken celebrity speeches.

And now for an award that actually does tell us something about the state of the race, the nominees for the PGA:

Theatrical Motion Picture
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Animated Theatrical Motion Picture
Bee Movie
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie

Documentary Theatrical Motion Picture
Body of War
Hear and Now
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
Sicko
White Light/Black Rain

So, focusing on the way the critics and other precursor awards have played out, here's how the race is looking:

Best Picture

No Country For Old Men leads in terms of awards won, followed closely by The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. It should, however, be noted that nearly all the awards given to Diving Bell have been as Foreign Language Film, an Oscar category for which it is not eligible.

In third is There Will Be Blood and forth finds, appropriately, four films that have each won one precursor award: Atonement (Golden Globe – Drama), Sweeney Todd (Golden Globe – Musical/Comedy), Juno (Golden Satellite – Musical/Comedy), and The Assassination of Jesse James (San Fransisco Film Critics).

The fact of Tony Gilroy and Sean Penn receiving Directors Guild Nominations and their films receiving Producers Guild Nominations puts Michael Clayton and Into The Wild firmly in the running.

Current Prediction:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Juno
Into The Wild
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Contender I Most Want To See Nominated: with No Country a lock and The Diving Bell looking pretty solid, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for Atonement

Best Director

Joel & Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men) are way in the lead in terms of awards won. PT Anderson (There Will Be Blood) follows and is followed in turn by Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly). Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd) is in fourth, having won the National Board of Review award for Best Director.

Of the above, Burton is the only one that didn’t get nominated for the DGA. He still has a chance, but not getting that nomination makes the chance very slim indeed. Sean Penn (Into The Wild) and Tony Gilroy did get DGA nominations, which makes their chances considerably better despite not winning any precursor awards.

Current Prediction:
PT Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Joel & Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)
Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton)
Sean Penn (Into The Wild)
Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)

Contender I Most Want To See Nominated: I'm not holding my breath but it would make my day to see either Sidney Lumet (Before The Devil Knows You're Dead) or Sarah Polley (Away From Her) nominated.

Best Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) has dominated the Best Actor race, followed by George Clooney (Michael Clayton). Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) pulls in third, followed by Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd), Ryan Gosling (Lars and the Real Girl) and Frank Langella (Starting Out In The Evening).

Current Prediction:
George Clooney (Michael Clayton)
Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd)
Emile Hirsh (Into The Wild)
Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises)

Contender I Most Want To See Nominated: Without a doubt Ryan Gosling (Lars and the Real Girl).

Best Actress

Julie Christie (Away From Her), Ellen Page (Juno) and Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) are the only actresses who have been winning any of the precursor awards.

Current Prediction:
Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age)
Julie Christie (Away From Her)
Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose)
Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart)
Ellen Page (Juno)

Contender I Most Want To See Nominated: As long as Marion Cotillard is nominated, I'll be happy.

Best Supporting Actress

The race has largely belonged to Amy Ryan (Gone, Baby, Gone), with Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There) putting up a good fight in second place. Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) comes in third, and the only other actress to be named Best Supporting Actress by any voting body is Allison Janney (Juno).

Current Prediction:
Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There)
Catherine Keener (Into The Wild)
Saorise Ronan (Atonement)
Amy Ryan (Gone, Baby, Gone)
Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)

Contender I Most Want To See Nominated: they're all good.

Best Supporting Actor

Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men) leads the precursor awards, with Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James) coming in second. Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton) is in third, and Vlad Ivanov (4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days) is in fourth, having won the Los Angeles Film Critics award for Supporting Actor.

Current Prediction:
Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James)
Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson's War)
Hal Holbrook (Into The Wild)
Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton)

Contender I Most Want To See Nominated: Tommy Lee Jones (No Country For Old Men).

Review: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Words can’t adequately describe how beautiful this film is, nor how moving. It tells the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby (played by Mathieu Amalric), the editor of Elle who at the age of 43 suffered a stroke which left his entire body paralyzed, with the exception of his left eye. Learning to communicate through blinking, he dictated his memoir, also called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which would be published just 10 days before his death. This is a heavy film, but there is also a weightlessness to it that is extraordinary. It is to director Julian Schnabel’s credit that the film so effectively balances the tragic with the triumphant and even, at times, the comedic.

The film is seen largely from Bauby’s perspective, restricted by his own limited mobility. It begins with him waking from a three month coma and the initial shots are hazy and blurred, conveying Bauby’s own confusion at what is happening as doctors and nurses go about examining him. He tries to speak but quickly realizes that the words exist only in his head, that those around him can’t hear him. A specialist explains to him that he has “locked-in” syndrome, a rare disability which finds the body disconnected from the brain but the brain in perfect working order. Bauby is a prisoner in his own body. Early in the film his right eye, from which he can see, is sewn shut because he’s not able to blink and there’s the likelihood that the cornea will turn septic. We see the procedure from inside his head, as he screams for them not to shut his eye. But, of course, only we can hear him and the eye is sewn shut and he becomes more dejected. Henriette (Marie-Josée Croze), his speech therapist, develops a system for him to communicate by blinking his left eye. He informs her that he wants to die. Her response, and her persistence, play no small part in rallying him not only to learn to communicate, but to put his story to paper.

Henriette becomes an important woman in Bauby’s life, but there are others as well. Henriette sets the stage for Claude (Anne Consigny), the woman to whom Bauby will dictate his story. As their working relationship progresses, she seems to fall in love with him and it is from her that he gets the title for the book. There is also Céline (Emmanuelle Seigner), the mother of his children, and Ines (Agathe de La Fontaine), the woman for whom he had left Céline. Céline is a big presence in the film, his first and, after Claude, his most frequent visitor. Ines is a much more elusive character, only ever glimpsed briefly, mostly in moments of Bauby’s memories and fantasies. There is a heartbreaking scene where Ines calls Bauby and Céline is the only person around to interpret his blinks for her. Céline disdains Ines not so much for taking Bauby away, but for failing to be there for him now, always making a point to comment that Ines still hasn’t been to see him. Bauby is grateful for Céline’s support, but is clearly still completely infatuated with Ines despite her inability to show up. Ines, for her part, loves Bauby but can’t stand the thought of seeing him as he is now. It’s a difficult scene to watch, especially when Céline must communicate to Ines that Bauby waits for her to come everyday.

There is another scene which also involves Bauby, an interpreter (this time it’s Claude) and a voice on the other end of the phone, which is equally difficult to watch. The voice on the other end is Bauby’s father, Papinou (Max von Sydow). Papinou, too, is a prisoner, unable to leave his apartment because his age has limited his mobility. He’s an old man facing his own mortality and making sure that his son is aware of the location of a letter which explains his final wishes. He breaks down in tears as he speaks, perhaps because he realizes that his son is unlikely to live long enough to carry out those wishes. von Sydow only appears in two scenes (the other is a memory, during which he chastises his son for breaking up his family), but leaves an indelible impression.

A good deal of the film is spent in observing Bauby as he blinks his messages to the world, and as his friends and family learn to receive those messages (in one of the film’s lighter moments, Bauby’s friend Laurent, played by Isaach De Bankolé, attempts to communicate with him but is so focused on the specialized alphabet in front of him that he forgets to watch Bauby’s blinking), but Bauby’s experience is also conveyed through his memories, his fantasies, and images that he simply conjures up. It is here that the film truly captures the spirit of the story, not limited by the conventions of traditional storytelling, but soaring as freely as the imagination. It is amazing that such a tragic story can come to feel so uplifting. When it's over, you won't feel depressed over the failure of Bauby's body as much as you'll be astonished and inspired by the strength of his mind and spirit, both of which are so beautifully captured in this remarkable film.

Canadian Film Review: The Barbarian Invasions (2003)

Director: Denys Arcand
Starring: Rémy Girard, Stéphane Rousseau, Marie-Josée Croze

The Barbarian Invasions is a film so delightful and charming that you forgive it for the clichés on which its story hangs. There are a lot of things about the film you’ve probably seen before: a group of old friends reuniting and both celebrating and lamenting the way their lives have changed; the libertarian father and his distant, conservative son who is determined to be nothing like him; the Casanova whose former lovers come together, in this case to give him a proper send off. But, these familiar elements are perhaps a credit, rather than a debit to the film. We feel instantly comfortable in this world, as if we know these people – and that’s how the film gets to you.

The film begins with Rémy (Girard), a college professor on his deathbed. We are made immediately to understand that he’s had a… colourful love life as we watch his latest lover berate him for his history of infidelity. Rémy knows he doesn’t have much time left and doesn’t bother much in the way of an apology. He knows who he is and what he’s done, and he’s made peace with it even if she hasn’t. As the film progresses, his ex-wife, two of his former lovers and a couple of his lifelong friends will join him to spend his final days in reminiscence. Also on hand, albeit reluctantly, is his son Sébastian (Rousseau). Sébastian, who has always resented Rémy’s laisser-faire attitude towards relationships is determined to be different from his father, is determined, in fact, to have nothing to do with his father until some intervention on the part of his mother. Sébastian is shocked when he arrives at the hospital and the film is, at least in part, a condemnation of the Canadian health care system, which is presented here as overburdened and unorganized.

Sébastian goes about trying to make Rémy more comfortable, first by bribing someone at the hospital so that he can move Rémy to a floor that has been left entirely vacant after renovations, and then by bribing some of Rémy’s students into visiting him, making him believe that he’s made an impact on their lives. Sébastian does these things less out of love for his father than out of a need to do something, anything, to control this situation which leaves him feeling so powerless. He further takes control by bypassing traditional medicine, which has lost its effect on Rémy, to find something to ease his pain. A nurse suggests heroin, which Sébastian procures through Nathalie (Croze), the daughter of Rémy’s friend/ex-lover. Croze is wonderful as Nathalie, warning Sébastian from the outset that he shouldn’t trust a heroin addict to be reliable (a point she later proves) and later shooting up with Rémy.

This is a very conversational film, which is part of its charm because these people are so good at talking. They talk about art and politics, about love and sex, and they do so in such a way that you believe that these people have been drifting in and out of each other’s lives for decades. There are stories told in the film that seem to have nothing to do with the narrative – one friend tells of a meeting with an ex-girlfriend, Rémy tells a story about visiting China and attempting to flirt with a beautiful woman by praising the Communist government, only to discover that that system has led to much suffering on her part – but which nevertheless fit so well with the film as a whole. This is a film that not only acknowledges that its characters have thoughts and ideas and read books, but pauses to listen to them talk these things out.

The performances in the film are excellent across the board, especially those of Girard, as the dying man coming to terms with a life lived to its fullest, and Croze, as the damaged woman hurtling towards her own destructive end. The film ends on a note that is ambiguous, but also perhaps appropriate. There’s been some suggestion that Nathalie’s troubles are rooted in part by the hedonistic lifestyle that was enjoyed by her mother (and Rémy, and the others like them) when she was growing up. The film ends with her and Sébastian sharing a moment that you begin anticipating as soon as they meet. To get involved might destroy Sébastian (or, at least, his image of himself), but it might be Nathalie’s salvation. Life can be messy that way, and we don’t know for sure what will develop from this brief encounter. But to end on that note, with this loose end left untied, is the best way for a film like this to conclude because it suggests that life carries on, which is what The Barbarian Invasions has been trying to convey to us from the very beginning.

Awards Watch: Critics Choice Winners & DGA Nominees

The Directors Guild announceds its nominees today. Given that the DGA is usually a good indicator of Best Picture & Best Director Oscar nominations, it's good news for Into The Wild and Michael Clayton, bad news for Juno and Atonement. Of course, when the Producers Guild announces its nominees, this could all turn around again. Meanwhile, the Critics Choice Award winners were announced yesterday and show No Country For Old Men, Daniel Day-Lewis, Julie Christie and Amy Ryan all continuing to hold strong.

Directors Guild of America Nominees

Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)
Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton)
Sean Penn (Into The Wild)
Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)

Critics Choice Award Winners

Best Picture: No Country For Old Men
Best Director: Joel & Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Best Actress: Julie Christie (Away From Her)
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan (Gone, Baby, Gone)
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)
Best Screenplay: Diablo Cody (Juno)
Best Foreign Language Film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best Animated Film: Ratatouille
Best Documentary: Sicko

Review: Juno

There doesn’t seem to be much left to say about Juno. It’s every bit as smart and funny as you’ve heard. It’s well acted, well paced, and definitely worth seeing. It is also, of all the films gunning for Best Picture this year, the one that seems most likely to be on the receiving end of backlash by the time the Oscars actually roll around, and one that is already being politicized in ways the filmmakers probably didn’t intend or anticipate.

Juno centers on 16-year-old Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) who has sex once with her friend Paulie (Michael Cera) and finds herself pregnant. Having decided to keep the baby, and found prospective adoptive parents (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman), the film follows Juno through her pregnancy and her attempts to define her relationship with Paulie in light of these recent developments. Director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody present the characters very clearly, not letting any of them lapse into being stupid for the sake of a cheap joke or as a shortcut for propelling the film forward. The characters in this film – from Juno and her friends to her parents – are excellently drawn, fully fleshed in a way that characters in comedies aren’t always allowed to be. Ellen Page is the standout, but Garner, Batement, and J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney (as Juno’s father and stepmother) also give solid performances. Michael Cera is good, too, but he ought to be given that this is the same role he seems to play in everything. Hopefully as his career progresses, he’ll branch out into different kinds of characters.

The film walks a fine line. Some people will find it clever, and others will find it too clever by half, and I worry that the film might ultimately be undone by the amount of goodwill that it has already built up. After months spent hearing how good it is and how funny, I know of a few people who’ve walked out of it claiming that it isn’t that funny. The hype that it’s been building up since it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival has undoubtedly helped it find its audience, but the ensuing Juno lovefest in the media is also probably starting to turn people off or setting people’s expectations too high. This is a great movie, but it isn’t the best movie ever made. This is a great comedy, but not the best comedy ever made.

Hype is one of the reasons why I worry that this movie is a prime contender for backlash, and the other is an aspect of its subject matter. People have already begun to make note that between this film and Knocked Up, 2007 was a year with little room for the pro-choice point-of-view (which, frankly, doesn’t really make it any different from any other year. The only film I can think of in recent years that has actively explored a pro-choice argument was Citizen Ruth, which completely copped out at the end). Juno does consider having an abortion, but the time spent on this decision is brief and the film doesn’t really engage the process of her choice. With the United States going into an election year where the pro-choice/pro-life debate is already a hot button issue, and with the recent announcement of 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy, the excellence of the film might soon be eclipsed by the politics attached to it.

I hope that Juno rises above any problems that politics and media saturation might present, because it really is a wonderful movie. The acting is uniformly good and the story progresses in a way that is very believable, especially in terms of Juno’s relationship with Paulie. The performance by Page and the screenplay by Cody both seem to be givens for Oscar nominations, but hopefully some love with also be shown to the supporting cast, all of whom are given a moment of their own to shine.