‘No Country For Old Men’ Big Winner At The 80th Academy Awards

Daniel Day-Lewis scored the Best Male award for his bloodcurdling “There Will Be Blood” performance as many predicted, but evening wasn’t without its surprises. Julie Christie was heavily favored to win Best Actress, but the award went to (the increasingly gorgeous) Marion Cotillard for her role as the tragic Edith Piaf in the underrated “La Vie En Rose.” The weekend must have been extra resplendent for Cotillard as she won France’s Cesar award for Best Actress on Friday in Paris (and ‘Rose’ was the country’s big winner).

Likewise, in the Best Supporting Actress category, many assumed the up-for-grabs field was a three way race between Cate Blanchett, Ruby Dee and Amy Ryan, but the award was given to David Bowie circa “The Man Who Fell To Earth” the very alien-looking Tilda Swinton for her role as the ice-queen chief executive in “Michael Clayton.”

As illustrated by the winners above, the 80th Oscars was quite the international affair (both Swinton and Day-Lewis are from the UK) with many of the winners either speaking part of their acceptance speech in a foreign tongue (Javier Bardem dedicating his award in Spanish to his mother, his grandmother and Spain), or having limited grasp of the English language (Marion Cotillard – “Thank you life, thank you love. It is true there [are] some angels in this city,” she said heavily accented and overjoyed) or just simply struggling to just get out the basics (Live Action short winner “The Mozart Of Pickpockets” Philippe Pollet-Villard).

The Musical Moments
Musically, the night’s big winner was Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova whose “Falling Slowly” song from the indie-hit “Once” bested out three “Enchanted” songs to win Best Original Song. The Irish and Czech duo were overcome with emotion, Hansard appearing as if he were on the verge of joyous tears. Irglova’s acceptance speech was cut off early and in a classy move after the commercial break, host Jon Stewart – whose irreverent, playful tone and strike-happy quips were excellent btw – called Irglova back to the stage so she could finish her speech.

Highlights/Lowlights:
Other highlights and embarrassing moments included us losing almost all traces of lust and erection for Amy Adams after she sang the ridiculously dorky “Happy Working Song,” from “Enchanted;” Miley Cyrus, Colin Farrell and John Travolta almost all slipping on the same spot near the podium (lord, why couldn’t of Travolta ate it); Katherine Heigl look lovely, but too nervous for this big of a star; the awful glut of tedious montages; Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill’s funny riff while presenting an award pretending and fighting over who would be Halle Berry and Dame Judy Dench; Cameron Diaz somehow butcheringthe pronounciation of the word, “cinematography”; the return of Owen Wilson; and the terrible C-list presenters like The Rock and snaggletoothed Miley Cyrus.

Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
Winner: No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Paramount Vantage producer Scott Rudin did most of the talking for the taciturn Coen Brothers. Ethan Coen barely said a word all evening in his three times at the podium (Best Director, Best Picture – they co-produced and Best Adapted Screenplay), letting his big brother Joel Coen do the (limited) talking for him.

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

Ditto. Their speech was short and sweet. Ethan acknowledged again, he had little to say outside of “thanks.”

Best Actor
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Jonny Greenwood got his 10 second due when Day-Lewis and cinematographer Robert Elswit won the two ‘Blood’ awards of the evening and you could hear the haunting orchestral strains of his Oscar ineligible score.

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

Cotillard was a joy to watch as she was in genuine shock at her victory.At the podium she was full of cute Frenchism, struggled with the English language (in a terribly cute way of course) and was full of overwhelmed tears. She was the first French woman to take home the best actress Oscar since Simone Signoret’s win in 1960.

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Winner: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Gee, who expected this one? Ok, some did, but this totally blindsided us. We did not expect this at all. Swinton’s speech was charming and funny and her joke about George Clooney’s was pretty amusing. ““The seriousness and the dedication to your art, seeing you climb into that rubber bat suit from Batman & Robin, the one with the nipples, every morning under your costume, on the set, off the set, hanging upside down at lunch, you rock, man.”

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Winner: Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Yes, he’s finally a Hoscar winner. He basically won this award in November.

Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Diablo Cody, Juno
Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Brad Bird et al, Ratatouille
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages

Not to be all Mr. Blackwell about it, but Diablo Cody’s leopard-print and ham-sandwich revealing dress was a little much, but her earnest speech was great and the haters need to back the fuck off her already. The part about her parents accepting her for who she was at an early age was pretty great. Cody gave lovely nods to the “superhuman” “Juno” lead Ellen Page and director Jason Reitman who she said she “considers a family member.”

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

No major suprise here.

Best Animated Feature
Persepolis
Winner: Rataouille
Surf’s Up

Brad Bird got the music early and seemed annoyed. Oh well, it’s not like Pixar doesn’t win every fucking year.

Best Art Direction
American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Winner: Sweeney Todd
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
Winner: There Will Be Blood

And Roger Deakins splits the vote and Elswit wins. Oh well, everyone was worthy in this category outside of “Atonement.”

Best Costume Design
Across the Universe
Atonement
Winner: Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie en Rose
Sweeney Todd

Best Documentary Feature
No End In Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Winner: Taxi To The Dark Side
War/Dance

Pretty sure, most people had “No End In Sight” picked. We heard ‘Taxi’ was good, but our bet is this took most people by surprise.

Best Documentary Short
Winner: Freeheld
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari’s Mother

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

What’s up with Bourne winning all the technical awards? It’s not surprising when you think about it. Action tends to dominate the technical categories, but most people either thought the Coens eerie sound design or the Transformers would sweep the sound categories. And as for the Editing award that generally goes to the Best Picture? Well for one they probably weren’t going to give it to a pseudonymn (“No Country for Old Men”s “editor” Roderick Jaynes is code for Ethan and Joel Coen). Secondly, the Bourne did win at the Guild Eddie awards so at least that one made sense (although other pre-Oscar guild awards didn’t fall into line either so go figure on this crapshoot).

Best Foreign Language Film
Beaufort (Israel)
Winner: The Counterfeiters (Austria)
Katyn (Poland)
Mongol (Kazakhstan)
12 (Russia)

Best Makeup
Winner: La Vie En Rose
Norbit
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Best Score
Winner: Dario Marianelli, Atonement
Alberto Iglesias, The Kite Runner
James Newton Howard, Michael Clayton
Michael Giacchino, Ratatouille
Marco Beltrami, 3:10 to Yuma

Best Original Song
Winner: “Falling Slowly” (Once)
“Happy Working Song” (Enchanted)
“Raise It Up” (August Rush)
“So Close” (Enchanted)
“That’s How You Know” (Enchanted)

Best Animated Short
I Met The Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Even Pigeons Go to Heaven
My Love
Winner: Peter & The Wolf

Best Live Action Short
At Night
The Substitute
Winner: The Mozart Of Pickpockets
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman

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

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

Best Visual Effects
Winner: The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Transformers

Watch: “Once” Acceptance Speech

Watch: Marion Cotillard’s Acceptance Speech