Utopian Oscars oh-seven

Stylus has their Alternative Oscars up, including my swoony blurb on Maggie Gyllenhaal in World Trade Center. While their awards may be "Alternative", they're not "Utopian".

Standard caveat: the likely contenders I haven't seen are Running with Scissors, Days of Glory, The Painted Veil, The Pursuit of Happyness, Notes on a Scandal, For Your Consideration and no others.

PICTURE
1. Army of Shadows
2. Inland Empire
3. Casino Royale
4. Children of Men
5. Pan's Labyrinth
Also: Three Times; Shortbus; Why We Fight.

DIRECTOR
1. Jean-Pierre Melville, Army of Shadows
2. David Lynch, Inland Empire
3. Alfonso Cuaron, Children of Men
4. Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth
5. Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Three Times
Also: Paul Greengrass, United 93; Eugene Jarecki, Why We Fight; John Cameron Mitchell, Shortbus.

ACTRESS
1. Laura Dern, Inland Empire
2. Maggie Cheung, Clean
3. Sook-Yin Lee, Shortbus
4. Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
5. Karen Young, Heading South
Also: Helen Mirren, The Queen; Gretchen Mol, The Notorious Bettie Page; (oh, alright) Isabelle Huppert, Gabrielle.

ACTOR
1. Lino Ventura, Army of Shadows: He underplays, except when his character thinks he's going to die, which is often. Fear has rarely been so convincing.
2. Peter O'Toole, Venus: Sexiest septugenarian ever.
3. Will Oldham, Old Joy: Please quit your day job.
4. Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
5. Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Also: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat; Clive Owen, Children of Men; Enrique Arreola, Duck Season.

SUPP. ACTRESS
1. Shareeka Epps, Half Nelson: She and Gosling are crazy good together. Her reaction to the fluffed joke at the end makes for the best ending of the year.
2. Eva Green, Casino Royale: Huh, she learned wit. Didn't think that was possible.
3. Maggie Gyllenhaal, World Trade Center
4. Simone Signoret, Army of Shadows
5. Viola Davis, World Trade Center
Also: Maribel Verdú, Pan's Labyrinth; Luminita Gheorghiu, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu; Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada.

SUPP. ACTOR
1. Jean-Pierre Cassel, Army of Shadows: I've used this word before, but I'll use it appropriately this time: Gabinesque.
2. Nick Nolte, Clean: Can we finally start giving the guy some respect?
3. Sacha Baron Cohen, Talledega Nights: Cohen acts!
4. Andrew Bujalski, Mutual Appreciation: The best thing about his movie is that he's in it.
5. Bruce Willis, Fast Food Nation
Also: Mos Def, 16 Blocks; Robert Downey Jr, A Scanner Darkly; Jeremy Irons, Inland Empire.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
1. Pan's Labyrinth
2. Shortbus
3. Duck Season
4. Inland Empire
5. Letters from Iwo Jima
Also: The Death of Mr. Lazarescu; Talladega Nights; Three Times.

ADAPTATION
1. Army of Shadows: Its fiction is as unsettling as The Sorrow and the Pity's fact.
2. Heading South
3. Tristram Shandy
4. Casino Royale
5. Fast Food Nation
Also: Fateless; A Prairie Home Companion; Old Joy.

The techie awards:
CHILDREN OF MEN: Best cinematography
IDLEWILD: Best music
INLAND EMPIRE: Best sound, best editing
MARIE ANTOINETTE: Best frocks
PAN'S LABYRINTH: Best effects

Person of the year: the smart-ass in me really wants to say Paul Haggis. But really, 2006 was Melville's belated year.