Fred Said . . .

This is the third of the five Oscar Best Picture nominees that I have seen. I would not have expected this movie to be a Best Picture nominee at all if watched this last year. The build up of the movie is very slow. It only gains momentum in the middle and then it has you under its masterful grasp. The ending is quite neat though, even predictable, thus exposing the simplicity of the plot. However, it would also emphasize the excellence of the directorial style of Tony Gilroy (in his directorial debut) that makes the totality of this film transcend the limitations of the script.

The acting was definitely excellent. The three main characters all play lawyers. All three were deservedly nominated for Oscars in acting. In fact, as a testament to the level of acting in "Michael Clayton", this is the only movie with more than one cast member nominated for Oscar Acting awards this year.

The star is definitely George Clooney. He was really very good here in a subtle and quiet way (so unlike the over-the-top style of Daniel Day Lewis in "There Will Be Blood"). He plays a lawyer who is employed by a firm as a "fixer", someone who uses under the table methods to smooth out creases in the cases of other lawyers. Clooney deglamorizes himself here (if that's possible) in playing a sad, down-and-out character who gets caught in a high stakes legal case involving big business. He makes the audience forget his real life persona. That lingering close-up on his face as he rides a taxi at the end shows him going though an entire gamut of emotions without a word nor gesture--excellent.

Tom Wilkinson, whom I have admired as an actor since "In The Bedroom," is Arthur. He plays a big time defense lawyer who discovers that the firm he is defending, U-North, was actually killing people with its weed-killer products, and turns crazy in the process. His monologue about the sins of the company directed towards the agents whom he found out were bugging his apartment was a highlight of acting excellence.

Tilda Swinton was not really an actress I liked from her past work. I will always picture her as the Snow Queen in the Narnia movie. This may be the only film that I have seen her in modern dress. Here, she plays the in-house attorney of U-North who had to resort to desperate measures to cover up for the sins of the company she works for. Cool on the surface, a bundle of nerves behind the scenes. Very good also.

Compared with the other two nominees I have seen, this is actually more accessible to the regular viewer, since it is modern and the language used is clear. It is very effective as a character study. I am of the opinion though that its chances of winning Best Picture is a long shot. It lacks the epic feel that Oscar seems to love. The nomination alone may be its reward.