Channukah Presents for the Coen Brothers

By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 17, 2007 3:49PM

If you're like us, you're already getting pumped up for the Oscars! Not. Jeez, let's get past New Year's first, O.K.? Oops. Too late. The Chicago Film Critics Association has already jumped the gun and handed out their awards. To the surprise of no one the big winner was No Country for Old Men, the new Coen brothers movie that both impressed and disturbed us when we saw it last month. It won four awards in all (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem). We're very pleased that Bardem won; there wouldn't be much of a movie without his chilling character study, and he damned well better win the Oscar.

Juno was also a strong contender, winning three awards, but it's the Coen Brothers movie that looks to be the one to beat for the Oscars. It's already won several honors, including some big ones from the New York Film Critics Circle. But Paul Thomas Anderson's twisty saga There Will Be Blood picked up the Best Film award from the L.A. Film Critics Association. We're excited about this movie for two reasons: 1. We love Paul Thomas Anderson; and 2. How cool is it that in 2007 someone has adapted an Upton Sinclair novel?! It opens in Chicago on January 4th.

Other highlights of the CFCA awards: the Best Foreign-Language Film award went to 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, which was a sensation at the CIFF in October; Best Original Score went to the popular Irish movie Once; and Cate Blanchett won Best Supporting Actress for playing Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. Looks like this year Cate could pull a Linda Hunt.