Deciding that breaking out and being a little different wasn’t their style, the Toronto Film Critics Association followed, well, nearly every other association of critics and voted No Country for Old Men best picture of the year. The violent and meditative thriller by Joel and Ethan Coen also won the brothers accolades for best director and best screenplay. Javier Bardem won best supporting actor, increasing the number of times he has been singled out by a critical organization for his psycho killer performance to….all of them.
Our friends from the great North did try to mix things up with some of the acting choices, other than Bardem. Although they continued a trend by naming Julie Christie as best actress for Away from Her, they added Ellen Page for Juno as the co-winner. Viggo Mortensen was named best actor for Eastern Promises rather than Daniel Day-Lewis. In one of those Crying Game moments, Cate Blanchett won best supporting actress for playing Bob Dylan in I’m Not There.
Brad Bird’s Ratatouille won for best animated feature and seems to be a shoo-in for the Oscar. The lack of love for the brilliant The Simpson’s Movie rankles me, but I don’t begrudge Ratatouille, which is very deserving. Just not as deserving. The Romanian movie you will never see 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days was considered best foreign film. This makes you wonder why all of the U.S. movies aren’t considered for this award, too. No End in Sight was named best documentary.
This being a Canadian association, some home grown love was in order. Sarah Polley’s Away from Her won best Canadian film and best first feature. All in all, a very respectable (if predictable) list from the home of the McKenize Brothers. The trend of No Country for Old Men, Javier Bardem, Julie Christie, and Ratatouille that we are seeing again and again is probably a good indicator of what will happen come Oscar time.
