The Oscars can get a lot of things wrong, often tragically so (in fact, we just predicted them to do it again this year!). But that doesn’t mean they always do. So, as a sister to our Oscar Predix, we present a list of our favorite winners (one in each of the categories we predicted earlier, with a couple wild cards) from the last decade:
Best Picture: No Country For Old Men
Its been a bleak decade for Best Picture, but you can’t fault the voters for naming the Coens’ haunting, messed up portrayal of violence and avarice in a dying West as the best film of 2007 (even if I prefer the superior There Will Be Blood).
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard, Ma Vie En Rose
Yeesh, this was pretty dire. Overrated turns by Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Hilary Swank are among the many crimes against acting that the Academy saw fit to reward this decade. By default, it falls to Cotillard, whose performance looks similar to many of the other ones (dramatic make-up work, playing a real person) but who brought a zeal and energy to her role. Still, from the looks of it, Sandra Bullock should make a worthy addition to this lot.
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Not just the best actor of 2007, but the best performance of the decade if these yahoos are to be believed, there isn’t much left to say about Day-Lewis’ bravura performance, so short of shouting “drainage!” at the top of my lungs, I’ll just move on to the next category.
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Ledger leaves nothing behind on The Dark Knight, giving us a character so intelligently, calculatingly menacing that he nearly swallows the film whole. His performance takes a character who has been played for goofy camp in all of his film experiences and shapes him into a horrifying, pure force of frightening chaos, bringing the shot of gravity and verisimilitude to Christopher Nolan’s dark vision of Gotham that the series needed.
Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Oscar doesn’t usually give awards for understated, subtle turns, so Tilda Swinton probably has her excellent career to thank for this one. But nonetheless, despite what the naysayers think, this is a truly great performance, so full of delusion and self-loathing that her character, moreso than Clooney or Wilkinson, becomes the hinge on which the film’s entire commentary turns. Just watch that scene where she tries to find any way to avoid saying the words “kill him.”
Best Director: Peter Jackson, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Jackson managed to bring to life one of the most vividly-detailed and meticulously constructed works of fiction of all time in a way that satisfied long-time fans and captured the imaginations of newbies.
Best Original Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, and Pierre Busmuth for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Perhaps the best winner in any category, Eternal Sunshine balances big ideas with pathos (and just a touch of science fiction) and shows how the Gondry-Kaufman collaboration can lead to a film that keeps both men’s crazier impulses in check and grounds the film in a devastatingly emotional place.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor for Sideways
Sideways’ stock has kind of tumbled in recent years, but Payne and Taylor’s script is still witty and heartfelt (even if it would have been nicer to see Before Sunset’s surprise nomination turn into a surprise win).
Best Animated Feature: Spirited Away
Pixar has deserved this every year its won, but its also been a pretty easy choice for Oscar voters. Much more surprising: them nominating a cartoon of such unique and visionary wonder as Spirited Away in the face of more profitible and conventional picks. This category has never been as eclectic as I would like, but at least in 2002, they did a really great job.
Best Cinematography: Conrad Hall, Road to Perdition
Pan’s Labyrinth and There Will Be Blood were also fantastic choices, but every frame of Road to Perdition is like a photograph, every shot so full and meaningful. The movie is a perfect period at the end of one of the finest technical film careers of all time.
Best Documentary Feature: Man on Wire
One of the most interesting documentaries of the decade, Man on Wire was also a refreshing change of pace from the advocacy documentaries that dominated the Oscars this decade.
Michael
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