I have realised that the subjectivity of the Academy Awards is extremely baffling, and the mood of the movie-watching audience, even more so. Or may be its just the distribution and marketing that decide the success/failure of a film.
Either way, from a lay audience perspective, if you really want to watch good cinema, I am more than convinced that you need to go out there and look for it. What comes to you without any effort, is mere marketing gimmicks. Its not bad, but its not all.
I saw Fracture(2007) yesterday, after having seen Micheal Clayton(2007) a week ago.
Fracture is a gripping tale of mind games between an eerily smart murder convict and an egoistic lawyer. Anthony Hopkins (as the convict) lives up to his name and Ryan Gosling (as the lawyer) is able to match the skills and lends color to the duel. Hopkins murders his wife as she was cheating on him, and cleverly frames the
police inspector making his arrest, who also happens to be the man his
wife was involved with. He pleads guilty initially and later backtracks. What initially seemed like an open and shut case for Ryan, transforms into a challenge of cracking a carefully planned murder with almost no proof of the convict having committed it.
Right after the first 10 minutes, the movie keeps you engaged till the end. Its not really fast paced, but it doesn’t loosen up either. (I saw Ryan Gosling again recently, in "Lars and The Real Girl". He’s good!).
Now, this may not be the most thrilling suspense movie ever, but its way way better than possibly 99% of Hollywood releases of 07. What will put it in perspective for you is its comparison/contrast with Micheal Clayton.
Both movies are very similar in terms of the strength of the plot, characterization, acting strength and the gripping nature. MC might score a notch more on the twists in the screenplay, but Fracture makes up with its relatively more intriguing story. Both are similarly paced and have the court room, and both also have an almost predictable end, with just that little element of surprise which makes the climax worth the wait.
If not better than MC, then Fracture is at least at par.
Now what really boggles me is this. On one hand, Micheal Clayton won 1 oscar, got 6 oscar nominations and performed well (either winning or getting nominated) across 22 other awards and fests. On the other hand, Fracture never won anything for its cinematic excellence and got just 1 nomination, that too in the "Teen Choice Awards". The other nomination it got was for its music in "the world soundtrack awards"! And most probably you havn’t even heard of it!
I’d say, if you liked Micheal Clayton, you’ll like Fracture too. If you haven’t seen either and are looking for a good suspense thriller, then the Award list on the DVD cover is not really a good shortlisting criteria!