Archive: "Michael Clayton" (2007)

Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is a fixer. He's the guy lawyers go to when they need some messes cleaned up. These are the kind of messes that lawyers wish to turn a blind eye to, the kind that must be avoided in high-stake lawsuits. Clayton doesn't break the law, but he knows how to bend it a little. He knows when to talk to the right people and how to smooth certain details out. He's not entirely proud of what he does. Late one night at a poker game, Clayton gets a call on his cell phone because a client of his law firm needs help with a hit-and-run just committed by that said client. When the client bitterly states that he thought Clayton was a miracle worker, Clayton states that he's only a janitor. Michael Clayton shoots down the man's options and tells him how it is because sometimes the truth hurts.

After the encounter, Clayton takes a drive and ends up at a serenely empty field. He gets out of his car to admire some horses up on the hill, and gazes at them silently to clear his head. Behind him, his car suddenly explodes. And that's when the movie officially begins as we go back four days previous. A friend of Clayton's from the law firm, Arther Edens (Tom Wilkinson), has gone completely berserk as he stripped down during a Milwaukee deposition and ran naked through a snowy parking lot. Edens has been defending a pesticide company called U North, which is in the middle of a $3 billion class-action lawsuit because the product supposedly killed many of the farmers who used it. His disgust with the company led him to this outbreak and has caused him to be labeled a manic-depressive, where the fact is that he actually may have come across a huge revelation.

Michael Clayton is sent in to keep Arther Edens in line, but there is also U North's counsel at work, Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton). This is a woman who appears to have everything together from her neatly pressed suit coats to the pearls around her neck. Underneath that, however, is a legal shark ready to make the kill as she hires two watchmen to keep an extra eye on Arthur Edens. The issue behind all of this is simple: The corporation is guilty and knows that it's guilty, and the law firm defending it knows that it's guilty, too. Arther Edens, however, holds the piece of evidence that could blow everything wide open, and there are people out there that realize he must be kept quiet.

But, enough of the legal stuff; the movie is named after its title role for a reason. Michael Clayton has a secret life, one that involves a desperate $75,000 debt after a failed attempt to open a restaurant. He's divorced and only gets to drive his son to school and see him on Saturdays. He's forced to get the money for his debt from the head of the law firm, Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack), who has a viciously dry acceptance of corruption. So, you see, Clayton has his own messes to clean up. He has to discover what his own options are and what his own priorities are, which leaves less time to figure out those of his clients. George Clooney is the perfect fit for this character that is never seen without wearing a full suit. He, too, on the surface appears to have everything in check. Clooney just gets better and better as he brings a deeply rich and layered performance as a conflicted man struggling with his own problems while a ruthless legal case swirls around him. Watch his face in the credits after he gets in a cab and tells the driver to just drive anywhere to get away; just in that short and seemingly insignificant scene, there's a whole range of emotions.

Tony Gilroy makes a superb directorial debut with "Michael Clayton." His previous work was writing the screenplay for all three "Bourne" films. What makes this film such a crackling and absorbing legal thriller is that Gilroy doesn't back out by dumbing anything down. Every nook and cranny in the tense case is fully explored with no details left behind. Every scene counts, including one of a conversation between Clayton and his son, along with a scene of watching Crowder stand before her mirror preparing a speech; they're both entirely effective in their up-close views. Clooney is also supported by three solid performances; these include Swinton, Wilkinson, and Pollack, all of whom provide vivid clarity to the psyche of their characters. Just watching Clayton and Crowder face-off in a searing final confrontation is satisfying all on its own.

As the title suggests, this is a film driven by strong performances portraying strong characters. George Clooney all on his own brings a rough-edged, somber feel to the affair and sets the tone from the start. Through its realism behind the characters, this is a drama that has connections to today's life and is mature, accomplished, and profoundly engrossing. The idea may seem like something you have seen before, but "Michael Clayton" reinvigorates the genre and makes it feel brand new all over again. It's a tale about how far corporations are willing to go, the underhanded violence they're willing to dish out, the law firms that help them get away with it, and the loss of humanity behind certain decisions and schemes; most of all, though, it's a glimpse at a man who's not only fighting for his case, but his soul. It's mesmerizing and one of the year's best.

A 'No Country' Night Among Bleak Contenders

The 80th Annual Academy Awards provided no real shockers as everybody had already predicted the outcomes going in. As expected, the Coen brothers came out on top with four wins (for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor) for their highly-acclaimed "No Country for Old Men." It was an interesting finish to a long night with Joel and Ethan lacking any eloquence in their final speech. And yet, by then, they had already been up there twice, and there was nothing left to add.

Even though "No Country for Old Men" was the front-runner of the night, it wasn't a true sweep. The Academy decided to spread the wealth as each Best Picture nominee went home with at least one win. And the movie with the second-highest total of three wins was none other than "The Bourne Ultimatum" for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing. Who saw that coming?

The first big award of the night went to Javier Bardem for Best Supporting Actor, which was memorable in that halfway through his speech, he launched into Spanish addressing his mother in the audience. While all of the Best Picture nominees were distinctly American, it was the foreigners who prevailed in terms of acting. Alongside Bardem, who was the first Spanish actor ever to win, was British actor Daniel Day-Lewis for "There Will Be Blood," French actress Marion Cotillard for "La Vie En Rose," and British supporting actress Tilda Swinton for "Michael Clayton."

Tilda Swinton's acceptance speech, as well, was particularly memorable through her poking fun at George Clooney who she claims to not find charming at all. It was also a delight to see the surprise on her face when her name was read, beating out projected winners Amy Ryan for "Gone Baby Gone" and Cate Blanchett for "I'm Not There."

As expected, Diablo Cody nabbed her win for Best Original Screenplay, and she sent her love out to the writers. Jon Stewart, too, brought up the writer's strike and was overall enjoyable a second time around as host. Also commenting on the darkness of the nominees, Stewart exclaimed, "Thank God for teen pregnancy!" About two hours into the night, it was bizarrely enough "The Bourne Ultimatum" in the lead with a third win for its rapid-fire editing, and as Stewart noted, somebody somewhere just took the lead in the Oscar pool based on a guess.

Cody's win was "Juno"'s only triumph last night, which is actually somewhat of a relief after its whirlwind of popularity. "There Will Be Blood" won its two for Robert Elswit's cinematography along with Day-Lewis. "Atonement" picked its one up for Best Original Score, and Swinton nabbing Best Supporting Actress was "Michael Clayton"'s singular win. "Ratatouille" rightfully received its win last night, as well, over "Persepolis" and "Surf's Up."

The crowd's warmest recognition went to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for their Best Original Song win for "Falling Slowly" from "Once." And bravo to Stewart again for bringing Irglova back out on stage to give her acceptance speech as she had earlier been cut off before she even began to speak.

While the Oscars were rather widespread, there were no surprises as to what everybody considered to be the evening's big film, and it was the Coen brothers who were the clear winners of the entire night.

Also interesting to note is that this 80th telecast of the Academy Awards was one of the least watched ever. Is it because of the movies being rewarded? It very well could be. People may have simply lost interest as the only Best Picture nominee to cross the $100 million mark at the box office was Juno. So, I guess not only was the Best Picture winner bleak, but so was the turnout.

Oscar Nods '08

The nominations for the 80th Annual Academy Awards were announced early morning today, which showcase the stream of excellent movies that began last fall. It's been an absolutely amazing year for movies, and this list of nominations reflects that with so many genuinely worthy candidates competing against each other. It's hard enough to predict the winners, but now with all of the nominees being so deserving, it'll be even tougher.

Leading the pack were "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" with eight nominations each. "Michael Clayton" and "Atonement" came next with seven, followed by "Juno" and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" with four. Last were "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" and "La Vie En Rose" with three, and "American Gangster," "Into the Wild," and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" each with two.

As expected, Best Actor nominations went to George Clooney for "Michael Clayton" and Daniel Day-Lewis for "There Will Be Blood" with one of them most likely receiving the win. I was happy to see nominations for Johnny Depp and Viggo Mortensen beside the two front-runners for their work in "Sweeney Todd" and "Eastern Promises," respectively. Most of all, though, I was thrilled that Tommy Lee Jones finally got recognized for one of his two deeply moving performances last year. The Academy awarded him with a nomination for his work in "In the Valley of Elah."

In Best Supporting Actor, Casey Affleck got nominated for his breakthrough in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" and Hal Holbrook was nominated for "Into the Wild." Tom Wilkinson received a nod for "Michael Clayton," and Philip Seymour Hoffman, of his three movies last year, received his nomination for "Charlie Wilson's War," as expected. The probable winner of this group, though, is Javier Bardem for his haunting serial killer in "No Country for Old Men."

Cate Blanchett received two nominations, one in Best Actress for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and the other in Best Supporting Actress for playing Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There." From a queen to a singing legend? That's quite a range. Beside Blanchett was Julie Christie for "Away from Her," Marion Cotillard for "La Vie En Rose," and Ellen Page for "Juno." Although Ellen Page is the obvious crowd favorite, the award could very well go to Julie Christie or Marion Cotillard instead. The delightful surprise for me was Laura Linney's nomination for "The Savages." She deserves the nomination so much, and I thought for sure she was going to be overlooked. Angelina Jolie for "A Mighty Heart" is conspicuously absent from this category, and I'm thinking that Laura Linney might've slipped out from under her and took the spot.

Aside from Cate Blanchett in Best Supporting Actress, there was the surprise of veteran Ruby Dee for "American Gangster." She was alongside Amy Ryan for "Gone Baby Gone," Tilda Swinton for "Michael Clayton," and the young Saoirse Ronan for "Atonement." It's surprising that Vanessa Redgrave didn't obtain a nomination for "Atonement," as well, but I suppose two supporting ladies from that movie would've been a bit much.

"Ratatouille" got its well-deserved nomination in Best Animated Film, which will most likely result in a win. It has a strong chance against "Surf's Up," which beat out the likes of "Bee Movie" and "Beowulf" for the third slot. Filling the second slot was "Persepolis" as it originally got denied a spot in Best Foreign Film.

In Best Cinematography, it's curious to note that Roger Deakins got nominated for his work in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" along with "No Country for Old Men." Beside that are nominations for the work in "Atonement," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," and "There Will Be Blood." While all had superb cinematography, Deakins' latter work should be taking the prize.

The artist Julian Schnabel did indeed end up getting nominated for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," alongside Jason Reitman for "Juno," Tony Gilroy for "Michael Clayton," Paul Thomas Anderson for "There Will Be Blood," and Joel and Ethan Cohen for "No Country for Old Men" in the category of Best Director. It's surprising that the lesser known Schnabel got nominated over Joe Wright for "Atonement" and Sean Penn for "Into the Wild." Out of the nominees, the brotherly directing duo should definitely win.

Best Documentary nominees were "No End in Sight," "Operation Homecoming," Michael Moore's "Sicko," "A Taxi to the Dark Side," and "War/Dance" with "Sicko" or "No End in Sight" most probable to win. Of the nominations, three of them focused on the conflict in Iraq.

Best Foreign Language Film sure was a shock. The nominees came from Israel, Austria, Poland, Kazakhstan, and Russia, and I haven't heard of any of them. My question is why not the Romanian "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days"?

Strange to me was the fact that Johnny Greenwood's score from "There Will Be Blood" wasn't nominated for Best Original Score. There is, however, the scores from"Atonement," "The Kite Runner," "Michael Clayton," "Ratatouille," and "3:10 to Yuma" with "Atonement" being the probable winner.

"Once" got one recognition in the category of Best Original Song for its song "Falling Slowly." "Enchanted" gathered its three nominations in this one category, leaving Amy Adams hanging.

The big story behind Diablo Cody probably makes her the front-runner for Best Original Screenplay with "Juno." Other nominees include Nancy Oliver for the under appreciated "Lars and the Real Girl" and Tony Gilroy for "Michael Clayton." I was pleasantly surprised to see Tamara Jenkins for "The Savages," and it's remarkable for any animated film to get nominated for its screenplay, but Brad Bird snagged a nomination for "Ratatouille."

The category of Adapted Screenplay contains Sarah Polley for "Away from Her," Ronald Harwood for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," but most notable are the heavy-hitters Joel and Ethan Cohen for "No Country for Old Men," Christopher Hampton for "Atonement," and Paul Thomas Anderson for "There Will Be Blood."

And lastly, the nominees for Best Picture contained no real surprises, and I actually predicted them correctly last night: "Atonement," "Juno," "Michael Clayton", "No Country for Old Men," and "There Will Be Blood." It's usually the case that whichever movie wins Best Editing ends up winning Best Picture, so it's worth noting that "Juno," "Michael Clayton," and "Atonement" are missing. Does this leave the soul-lost oil tycoon to compete against the creepy killer? Or does "Juno" really have enough praise and popularity to be this year's potential upset? My bet is still on "No Country for Old Men" to win, but we'll have to wait and see in about a month from now.