Tough Decision

Sometimes, in my other incarnation where I do not sweat heavily over a keyboard regurgitating half-imbided conspiracy theories culled from the further corners of the web, I work - or as is sometimes the case, don't work - in a profession of whores, idiots and madmen.

That is right, the film industry.

As a noble practitioner of the arts of writing and direction (or not writing and not directing) I'm a member of the venerable British Academy of the Film and Television Arts which means I get to drink at their recently reappointed bar (they deliver a frosty pint of Boddingtons) and every year at this time I get to vote on who picks up a gong on the big stage.

The voting process occurs in 3 stages. In stage one you're given a list of every film ever released in the UK over the last year and get to vote for whatever you want. Seeing as the final nominations always end up being crassly predictable - c'mon, you telling me 'A Beautiful Mind' caught you off guard? - I refuse to vote for anything that's likey to go all the way on the principle that everyone else will be voting for it too. So I give the forgotten films a chance. Avalon, Mysterious Skin, Head On, Shattered Glass... Haven't heard of them? Well, I tried.

Stage two, where you have a shortish list of 15 films I try and do the same. Alas, my attempts to bring The Bourne Supremacy to the attention of the British Academy voters also failed. By the time we get to the final nominations, maybe there'll be one (two if I'm lucky) flicks in there that I half admire. Last year in particular was tough: I found it very hard to get worked up about the Aviator and it's always a dismal experience for me to see Mike Leigh mumbling darkly in the half-light as he's spray-painted with praise for his particularly cartoonish version of 'realism'. As for the actor nominations! Ye gods... should there be anyone playing a physically or mentally disabled damaged soul who achieves a redemptive epiphany then my vote is as effective as that of a black felon in Broward county.

But this year, I cast my eyes over the nominations and for the first time I find it genuinely difficult to decide who should earn the gong. The films this year have been good - not great - but very good. There's an intelligence and awareness emerging that suggests something may, just may be afoot. But in the acting categories in particular, every single nomination holds outstanding performances. Take Best Actor:

DAVID STRATHAIRN - Good Night, And Good Luck.
HEATH LEDGER - Brokeback Mountain
JOAQUIN PHOENIX - Walk the Line
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN - Capote
RALPH FIENNES - The Constant Gardener

Now, with the exception of Fiennes who's fine in Gardener, I'd say every one of those actors delivers a - for them, up till now - outstanding, career defining performance. Strathairn and Seymour Hoffman are both character actors rooted in theatre. They possess awesome talent and great history, so it's just great to see them up for best man gongs with searing, densely layered performances. Phoenix I've always admired but he can miss sometimes, so it's great to see him in there with - yep, you got it - a densely layered, searing performance. And as for Ledger, he was in danger of being written off by some as a pretty Aussie beefcake so, forget about the gay part, it's great to see him deliver a... Searing, densely layered performance. And it's bloody hard to choose which is most deserving. That's a hard fight there.

Here's Actress in a supporting role:

BRENDA BLETHYN - Pride & Prejudice
CATHERINE KEENER - Capote
FRANCES McDORMAND - North Country
MICHELLE WILLIAMS - Brokeback Mountain
THANDIE NEWTON - Crash

I haven't seen Pride or North Country, though I wouldn't want to be duking it for an acting gong with McDormand. But again - Keener, Newton and Williams turn in outstanding performances. I've never seen Thandie Newton any better than she was in Crash and although her role in Capote is subdued and subtle Keener provides a kind of zenlike balance to the Seymour Hoffman performance that suggests without her the film could keel sideways, holed below hull by camp acid and high-pitched asides. To paraphrase Hollywoods greatest and mostly cruelly victimized of Scientologists, in Capote Hoffman can say to Keener "you complete me".

Here's best film:

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - Ang Lee
CAPOTE - Bennett Miller
THE CONSTANT GARDENER - Fernando Meirelles
CRASH - Paul Haggis
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. - George Clooney

I wasn't particularly touched by Gardener, but it's good work. Has more intelligence and craft than many a past nominee. Capote too. Good Night, Crash and Brokeback - that's another tough league. They're all directed with resounding accomplishment. I wouldn't like to have to choose. But wait...

I just did.