  Penelope Cruz |
In a year in which several worthy films vied for my choice as the best film of 2006-- from The Queen to The Departed -- Pedro Almodovar's sensuous drama Volver still triumphs.
In part, it is because Almodovar stages such an all-encompassing celebration of womanhood.
And because, while melodramatic, the film lingers months after a first viewing. And because the ensemble cast led by Penelope Cruz is glorious. And because the film spins your brain like a top, generating laughter and tears at once.
Here are my choices for who should receive the top individual Oscars:
BEST ACTOR -- Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed: In a performance profoundly different from his past work, a maturing DiCaprio excels as an embittered Boston undercover cop in Martin Scorsese's magnificent mean-streets movie. Other noteworthy leading actors this year include Roy Dupuis for The Rocket (Maurice Richard), Jack Black in Nacho Libre (although he doesn't have a hope in hell at the Oscars), Alan Rickman in Snow Cake and Tommy Lee Jones in The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada (released in 2006 in Canada, it was out in 2005 in the U.S. and was robbed of proper Oscar consideration).
BEST ACTRESS -- Penelope Cruz, Volver: She shared the best-actress prize at Cannes with five co-stars, but the Madrid beauty still emerges from the ensemble in her most exhilarating and sexy performance. In English-language movies, Cruz is good; in Spanish she is sublime. Other noteworthy women of the year include Helen Mirren in The Queen and Judi Dench in Notes On A Scandal, sure to be Cruz's rivals for an Oscar nomination next month.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR -- Sergi Lopez, Pan's Labyrinth: Lopez, a Spaniard, distills the very essence of evil as one of Franco's Nazi stooges, but not in some cliched fashion that takes him out of the human realm. Also noteworthy is Michael Sheen as newly elected British prime minister Tony Blair in The Queen.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS -- Cate Blanchett, Notes On A Scandal: The Australian star, with her alabaster skin tones, shows just how sly and crafty she can be beneath that beauty.
Without flash "acting" she conjures the twisted hell of a predatory high school teacher who stages a sexual affair with one of her students. Other noteworthy performances include Emma Thompson and her ciggies in Stranger Than Fiction.
BEST DIRECTOR -- Pedro Almodovar, Volver: The Spanish master matures to an astonishing level, bringing out the best in himself, in Penelope Cruz and in his unique brand of flamboyant cinema.
BRUCE'S 10 BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR
In alphabetical order
- Babel
- The Departed
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Notes On A Scandal
- Pan's Labyrinth
- A Prairie Home Companion
- The Queen
- Thank You For Smoking
- The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada
- Volver
... AND SOME OF THE WORST
- Black Christmas ... bah, humbug, and butcher the innocents.
- Grandma's Boy ... disown this family.
- Let's Go To Prison ... you first.
