Yeee haaawww!

February 11: 15 sleeps to go

Picking up the pace now, because I’ve been kind of remiss, but here’s some news: the BAFTAs were announced today. Here’s the link: http://imdb.com/features/rto/2008/baftas

Basically, Atonement won the Best Film award, but was out-paced by No Country for Old Men and La Mome in the all-round tally. Hmm. Not sure how much of a barometer they are this year, but in some cases they have more interesting nominees.

Meanwhile, talk is brewing of the writers’ strike reaching a resolution any day now. YAY! Oscars! If not, however, I have a plan. I say we grab some ordinary people and designate them celebrity identities for the night. “You sir, with the grey hair, you can be George Clooney. And you, lady with the red hoodie. You’re Ellen Page.” It’s brilliant, I say. Just think of what those speeches would be like...

Anyway. As we wonder whether or not there will be a red carpet upon which the actors and actresses can strut, waving from a safe distance at screaming fans, today’s BEANIE is for:

Best There-But-For-The-Grace-Of-God-Go-I Moment

...and it goes to...

I’ve always wanted to be a cowboy… (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford)

Jesus, if there was ever a case for a cautionary tale against fans (for those of you who learned nothing from Fatal Attraction), it’s here. Young Robert Ford (he’s a coward, didn’t you know?) is in awe of his idol, outlaw Jesse James, and creepily, he winds his way into the latter’s life. Then things get weird; it’s the pressure of outlawing, you know. First you’re riding around with a hanky over your face yelling “YEE HAW!” then there’s a price on your head and it’s just gotten high enough to interest people. The winters are cold and bleak, the paranoia stakes are high, and life on the lamb doesn’t seem as glamorous as it once did. Outlaws have feelings too! Just like celebrities!

Brad Pitt is pretty good at portraying Jesse’s spiral into mild insanity, and there’s not a moment that Casey Affleck spends on screen where he doesn’t make my skin crawl, but that’s actually a good thing. So if you’re dreaming of one day meeting and befriending Al Pacino, careful. You might end up shooting him, and then Nick Cave’ll be singing derogatory songs about you for the rest of your life.

I’m just saying.

But it is a good movie—slower paced than you might expect a western to be, but then it’s not really about the “western” aspects of Jesse James. The movie comes in where Jesse is already famous, and in a sense shows us the beginning of his end. We all know how it turns out, I suppose (apparently Brad Pitt got it in writing that the title of the film wouldn’t change), but there’s always more to it than that. None of this is as simple as the title suggests. Sam Rockwell is always a welcome oddity on screen, too.

So let’s look at this movie’s nominations:

Supporting Actor—Casey Affleck
The only one who might come within a hair’s breadth of taking this award from Javier Bardem, other than Hal Holbrook. But really, this award is Javier’s to lose. Pity, because as mentioned, Affleck is skin-crawlingly good.

Cinematography—Roger Deakins
If you haven’t heard of Roger Deakins, I don’t know what I’ve been doing wrong. Here’s his resume: The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, Kundun, O Brother Where Art Thou?, The Man Who Wasn’t There, and No Country For Old Men. Oscar nominations all. He plays a lot with colour and texture in his lighting, and really seems to be trying for something special in each frame, which is more than can be said for some (Pride & Prejudice, I’m looking at you). But Jesse James is shot at points as though it’s through one of those old sepia cameras—it’s extraordinary. I’m pretty sure he’ll win this year, the biggest competition coming from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, whose cinematography is really pivotal to the film, and possibly from Atonement, for no spectacularly good reason other than that huge one-shot I mentioned.

Ok, time to close, and leaving y’all with another quote from our BEANIE winner. This here’s what we call “clutching at straws”, or “who in their right mind would welcome this guy onto their gang?”

“Well, if you'll pardon my saying so, I guess it is interesting, the many ways you and I overlap and whatnot. You begin with our Daddies. Your daddy was a pastor of the New Hope Baptist Church; my daddy was a pastor of a church at Excelsior Springs. Um. You're the youngest of the three James boys; I'm the youngest of the five Ford boys. Between Charley and me, is another brother, Wilbur here, with six letters in his name; between Frank and you was a brother, Robert, also with six letters. Robert is my Christian name. You have blue eyes; I have blue eyes. You're five feet eight inches tall. I'm five feet eight inches tall. Oh me, I must've had a list as long as your nightshirt when I was twelve, but I've lost some curiosities over the years.”
-- Casey Affleck – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford