I was certainly satisfied to see Return of the King take the Oscar last night; it wasn’t necessarily the best film of the trilogy, but the whole masterpiece really deserved recognition.
When they announced the Best Actor, Bill Murray definitely had that “I’m never gonna have another chance at an Oscar” look on his face . . . I did see Lost in Translation a few weeks ago, and while some of the hype was overdone, it was quite good. Murray gave a fine performance, albeit one that was mostly your typical Bill Murray, just more subdued. I actually though that the person who really deserved recognition was Scarlett Johansson, who gave a really vivid portrayal of an aimless young woman.
At least, that’s what I thought until I read that the movie was semi-autobiographical. If you saw Godfather III, you know that Sofia Coppola projects only the most minimal emotional range. Having seen Coppola’s ‘acting,’ I came away wondering if Johansson’s performance was more an extended (and highly accurate) impression rather than a characterization from whole cloth.