AND THE WINNER IS…

NOTE: These are my personal favorites and have no bearing on my objective projections. No personal desire for a film or performance to be rewarded will ever exceed my personal desire to see the final results prove my projections correct.

My favorite feature films of 2009, thus far:

• “The Hurt Locker”
• “Adventureland”
• “Is Anybody There?”
• “An Education”
• “Julie & Julia”
• “A Serious Man”
• “The Road”
• “District 9″
• “500 Days of Summer”
• “Inglourious Basterds”
• “Up”
• “The Boys Are Back”
• “Precious”
• “The Hangover”
• “The Girlfriend Experience”
• “I Love You, Man”
• “Bruno”
• “Duplicity”

My favorite documentaries of 2009, thus far:

• “Racing Dreams”
• “Valentino: The Last Emperor”
• “American Swing”
• “Tyson”
• “Anvil! The Story of Anvil!”

My favorite leading performances of 2009, thus far:

• Carey Mulligan (“An Education”)
• Meryl Streep (“Julie & Julia”)
• Kristen Stewart (“Adventureland”)
• Viggo Mortensen (“The Road”)
• Michael Caine (“Is Anybody There?”)
• Clive Owen (“The Boys Are Back”)
• Michelle Monaghan (“Trucker”)
• Zooey Deschanel (“500 Days of Summer”)
• Jeremy Renner (“The Hurt Locker”)
• Sasha Grey (“The Girlfriend Experience”)
• Sacha Baron Cohen (“Bruno”)
• Amy Adams (“Sunshine Cleaning”)
• Liam Neeson (“Taken”)

My favorite supporting performances of 2009, thus far:

• Mo’Nique (“Precious”)
• Christoph Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds”)
• Stanley Tucci (“Julie & Julia”)
• Jessica Haines (“Disgrace”)
• Fred Melamed (“A Serious Man”)
• Zach Galifianakis (“The Hangover”)
• Amanda Seyfried (“Chloe”)
• Paul Schneider (“Bright Star”)
• Jason Segel (“I Love You, Man”)

Photo: Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart in “Adventureland.” Credit: Miramax.

Yesterday, I posted my full analysis of “The Road” (The Weinstein Company, 11/25, trailer), which I saw earlier this month at the Toronto Film Festival. Today, I’m pleased to bring you the audio of several related interviews that I conducted there, as well.

The first — which runs about 17 minutes, and which you can access by clicking here — is with the film’s two stars, Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortensen (“Eastern Promises”) and child actor Kodi Smit-McPhee (“Romulus, My Father”), who is now 13. The second — clocking in at about 13 minutes, and accessible here — is with their director, John Hillcoat (“The Proposition”).

Some highlights:

• Mortensen told Hillcoat he’d be happy to read with as many kids as he wanted to test because he, like everyone involved with “The Road,” knew that the film’s success or failure probably hinged upon the performance of the person cast as The Boy, one of the more demanding parts for a child actor in years. He ended up participating in the auditions of four youngsters: one Canadian, two Americans, and one Australian — Smit-McPhee. Among the scenes they each had to audition: the film’s final scene, which Mortensen aptly calls “brutal.”
• Smit-McPhee says that he “didn’t know anything” about Mortensen prior to his audition, jokingly adding that “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy is “so yesterday.”
• Smit-McPhee and a friend from home spent much of their childhoods going to auditions together, and if one didn’t get the part the other usually would. They eventually collaborated on an adorable YouTube series about young detectives called “Tiny Town” (clips of which have since been removed from the Web site). Smit-McPhee’s “big break” was being cast in the Australian film “Romulus, My Father,” for which he won the Australian Film Institute’s Young Actor Award in 2007.
• In addition to performing his scenes, Smit-McPhee had to attend school every day during filming.
• Smit-McPhee tells a great anecdote about the scene in which The Boy offers The Old Man food. After multiple attempts, he says, “I just couldn’t get it,” so Hillcoat said they’d come back to it the next day. Then, on his way home, he was eating some chicken when a wild dog came up to him with “the same blind eye that Robert Duvall had in the movie… asking for food like Duvall was in the movie.” He says, “My dad was like, ‘Feed it! Feed it! Just do it!’ So I fed it, and he said, ‘Alright, now you do the same thing tomorrow.’”
• Hillcoat also chimes in on Duvall’s scene, and shares a fascinating piece of direction that he gave the veteran actor to help him understand what he was looking for in his performance:think of Boo Radley, the reserved, nearly mute character he began his career by portraying in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962).
• Hillcoat says that the script’s vision for the future immediately made him think of today’s homeless.
• Hillcoat found the script “refreshing” because apocalyptic films are usually “all about the big event, and all about the spectacle, and there’s no real human characters in it — you know, they’re just perfunctory, and they just serve this big rollercoaster ride,” whereas in this film we don’t even know about the event, which “focused the spotlight straight onto the man and son.”
• Mortensen and Hillcoat both address the fact that portions of the film were shot in areas of New Orleans that have yet to be rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina. Hillcoat says he also weaved in footage of the smoke plumes that resulted from the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings on 9/11 because “special effects can’t reproduce that.”
• During casting preparation for filming, Hillcoat says he sought someone like Henry Fonda in John Ford’s “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940), a film that reminded him of “The Road”; referenced Vittorio de Sica’s “The Bicycle Thief” (1948); and drew upon the Depression-era photographs of Dorothea Lange.

Photo: Mortensen and Hillcoat on the set of “The Road.” Credit: The Weinstein Company.

Related: My first interview with Viggo Mortensen (2007)

It’s usually an indicator of trouble when a distributor changes a movie’s release date once, let alone multiple times. The Weinstein Company initially announced that “The Road” would be released on November 14, 2008; then moved it to December 2008; then to early 2009; then to October 16, 2009; and finally (?) to November 25, 2009, the day before Thanksgiving. The explanations have varied: the star told a journalist that he was under the impression that CGI and scoring required more time; industry analysts speculated that the studio was in such dire financial shape that it couldn’t fund a proper sendoff and awards campaign; and others concluded that it must just be a disappointment that the Weinsteins hoped to quietly bury altogether. Yet again, the Weinsteins have proven them all wrong: “The Road” is, in fact, one of the very best films of the year and deserves a spot on any list of the greatest dystopian, post-apocalyptic films of all-time.

“The Road” was adapted from the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name — the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and a the selection of “Oprah’s Book Club” — by Joe Penhall (a playwright-turned-screenwriter) and directed by John Hillcoat (“The Proposition”). It is highlighted by a tour-de-force performance by Viggo Mortensen — the most underappreciated actor of his generation, in my opinion. And it features one of the better child turns in recent memory by pre-teen Kodi Smit-McPhee; brief but memorable appearances by Oscar winners Charlize Theron and Robert Duvall; and extraordinary visuals courtesy of production designer Chris Kennedy and cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe, who have managed the rare feat of making a fake world look convincingly, frighteningly real.

The film tells a heartbreaking story. For reasons that are never directly addressed, the planet has begun to destroy itself, breeding chaos and savagery of the worst kind among its dwindling population. We watch this through the eyes of a nameless father and son — The Man (Mortensen), who is of the last generation to know what the world was like before all hell broke loose, and The Boy (Smit-McPhee), who is of the first generation not to — as they struggle not only to survive amidst these conditions, but to also maintain a sense of decency in the process.

In terms of awards, the key thing to understand is that this is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea — indeed, it presents such a vividly bleak vision, at times, that it makes “No Country for Old Men” look like “The Sound of Music” (1965). Consequently, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see audiences and some awards voters shy away from it now, only to rediscover it years down the road (if you will) and turn it into a cult classic like some of its finest progenitors, “Blade Runner” (1982), “Brazil” (1985), and most recently “Children of Men” (2006). In a year with ten nominees, it’s conceivable that it could get a best picture nomination, but I think the much more achievable goal is to try to get a second best actor nod for Mortensen, who was previously recognized for “Eastern Promises” (2007) and is certainly worthy here. (The Weinstein Company appears to be hedging its bets on Mortensen, though, having picked up the rights to another film with best actor possibilities — “A Single Man,” starring Colin Firth — at the Toronto Film Festival.)

Some additional thoughts/observations/questions (includes some spoilers):

• In the film’s production notes, Mortensen offers high-praise for Smit-McPhee: “I can honestly say that in all the movies I’ve been a part of, all the scenes, all the rehearsals with actors from all over the world — I’ve been lucky, I’ve been able to work with some very good performers — I have never had a better acting partner, ever. That’s from the oldest most experienced decorated performers to newer, younger, raw talent. I have never worked with someone who is so consistently in the moment, so consistently there with you. His performance will make this one of those movies that you watch years from now. I really think that.”
• Neither The Man nor The Boy are ever referred to by their names; in fact, The Old Man is the only character in the film whose name is mentioned — Eli. I asked Mortensen about this and he says he thinks it might have something to do with the prophet Elijah.
• Something else that’s conspicuously absent from the script: the phrase “I love you.” It’s clear that The Man felt love for his Wife, and that The Man and The Boy felt love for each other, so why was this never explicitly stated? Is it because “love” as we know it could not survive amidst such hopeless conditions, or because love — as Don Draper jarringly puts in the pilot episode of “Mad Men” — never really existed at all and is merely a comforting notion “invented by guys like me to sell nylons”?
• Duvall is 78-years-old and looks pretty good, but you wouldn’t know it from his his brief/impressive cameo in this film and his starring role “Get Low,” which also played at Toronto: he plays an elderly bearded gent in both and is almost unrecognizable!
• The scenes in which Mortensen provides voiceover narration are terrific. In fact, the juxtaposition of his his melodic, soothing, calm voice with the catastrophic visuals reminded me of Brando’s scenes in “Apocalypse Now” (1979) — in both cases, you feel more than you listen.
• Even more than the scenes featuring fires and earthquakes, the one featuring the trees crashing down around The Man and The Boy was very impressively executed and genuinely scary. (So, too, was the rebellion of the cannibal victims.)
• The scene in which The Man discovers a can of Coca-Cola and shares it with The Boy struck me as a little bizarre — almost like some kind of sick advertisement for the soda brand. They didn’t pay for the product placement, did they?
• If you lived in the world that The Man and Wife did, would you bring a child into it? I’m not so sure most people would…

Photo: Kodi Smit-McPhee and Viggo Mortensen in “The Road.” Courtesy: The Weinstein Company.

With the major caveat that I watch/know a lot less about television than film, here are my projections for the 61st Primetime Emmys, which will be presented this evening in Los Angeles and hosted for the first time by best supporting actor nominee Neil Patrick Harris…

DRAMA SERIES

• “Big Love” (HBO)
• “Breaking Bad” (AMC)
• “Damages” (FX)
• “Dexter” (Showtime)
• “House” (FOX)
• “Lost” (ABC)
• “Mad Men” (AMC)

Commentary: All you have to do is take a look around you to see that all the hints point to the same outcome: “Mad Men.” The show has only gotten better, acquired a much higher-profile, and won over legions more fans since winning this top prize last year. Besides, most of these other shows passed their “It” stage years ago — “House”? “Lost”? They’re so 2005. “Mad Men” may be set in the sixties, but it’s now.

COMEDY SERIES

• “Entourage” (HBO)
• “Family Guy” (FOX)
• “How I Met Your Mother” (CBS)
• “Flight of the Conchords” (HBO)
• “The Office” (NBC)
• “30 Rock” (NBC)
• “Weeds” (Showtime)

Commentary: “30 Rock” not only won this category the past two years; it also won the Golden Globe for best TV comedy and both the Emmys and Golden Globes for best TV comedy actor and actress. In other words, it’s quite possibly becoming to the 2000′s what “Frasier” was to the 2000′s: the comedy that awards voters can’t give enough love to. “The Office” was the last show not named “30 Rock” to win (back in ’06) so it’s probably the closest competition. The wild card, though, is “Family Guy” — it was very funny this season, voters liked enough to make it the first animated series nominated in this category since 1961, and its backers have campaigned hard.

ACTOR (DRAMA SERIES)

• Simon Baker (“The Mentalist”)
• Gabriel Byrne (“In Treatment”)
• Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”)
• Michael C. Hall (“Dexter”)
• Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”)
  
• Hugh Laurie (“House”)

Commentary: This is an incredibly daunting category because any one of these guys is a plausible winner. Last year, Cranston won the Emmy, but Byrne won the Golden Globe, and my own feeling is that Byrne — especially in the episode that he submitted to voters — is just better. (He’d get my vote.) Then again, “Breaking Bad” got a nod for Best Drama Series, whereas “In Treatment” did not, so perhaps voters simply prefer the former over the latter. I, however, am picking Hamm to take home the statuette, partly because he’s terrific (but so are the others) and more so because he’s the face of the show of the moment (and will undoubtedly benefit from its coattails).

ACTRESS (DRAMA SERIES)

• Glenn Close (“Damages”)
  
• Sally Field (“Brothers and Sisters”)
• Mariska Hargitay (“Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”)
• Holly Hunter (“Saving Grace”)
• Elisabeth Moss (“Mad Men”)
• Kyra Sedgwick (“The Closer”)

ACTOR (COMEDY SERIES)

• Alec Baldwin (“30 Rock”)
• Steve Carell (“The Office”)
• Jermaine Clement (“Flight of the Conchords”)
• Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang Theory”)
• Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”)
• Charlie Sheen (“Two and a Half Men”)

ACTRESS (COMEDY SERIES)

• Christina Applegate (“Samantha Who?”)
• Toni Collette (“United States of Tara”)
• Tina Fey (“30 Rock”)
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“The New Adventures of Old Christine”)
• Mary-Louise Parker (“Weeds”)
• Sarah Silverman (“The Sarah Silverman Program”)

Commentary: It seems hard to imagine that anyone can dethrone Fey. This show is her baby and she is personally about as hot a commodity as anyone this year due to both this show and her Sarah Palin impression, for which she received an Emmy on Saturday night. Applegate and Collette are both very good but the former’s show was canceled and the latter’s is only coming off its first season; Louis-Dreyfus and Parker have been nominated for their shows several times but have never managed to beat Fey before; and Silverman is very funny but definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. Fey seems to offer the whole package.

SUPPORTING ACTOR (DRAMA SERIES)

• Christian Clemenson (“Boston Legal”)
• Michael Emerson (“Lost”)
• William Hurt (“Damages”)
• Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad”)
• William Shatner (“Boston Legal”)
• John Slattery (“Mad Men”)

Commentary: Most prognosticators are putting their money on youngster Paul, but I suspect that one of the veterans in the category could upset. I’m tempted to pick Shatner, but I suspect that his co-star Clemenson will pick off a few of his votes, so — for better or worse — I’m going way out on a limb and betting that a flood of “Mad Men” love will carry Slattery along for the ride, too.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS (DRAMA SERIES)

• Rose Byrne (“Damages”)
• Hope Davis (“In Treatment”)
• Cherry Jones (“24″)
• Sandra Oh (“Grey’s Anatomy”)
• Dianne Wiest (“In Treatment”)
• Chandra Wilson (“Grey’s Anatomy”)

Commentary: Sure, there’s the potential for vote-splitting to squash the prospects of both Davis and Wiest — not to mention Oh and Wilson, who may have canceled each other out last year when Wiest, as the sole representative from “In Treatment,” beat them — but I think the two-time Oscar winner and her simmering characterization will attract far more votes than her co-star’s whiny, grating turn. Though Byrne is young and hot, which never hurt a nominee’s propsects, I’m sticking with Wiest.

SUPPORTING ACTOR (COMEDY SERIES)

• Jon Cryer (“Two and a Half Men”)
• Kevin Dillon (“Entourage”)
• Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”)
• Jack McBrayer (“30 Rock”)
• Tracy Morgan (“30 Rock”)
• Rainn Wilson (“The Office”)

Commentary: Jeremy Piven won this category each of the past three years, beating Cryer the past three and Harris and Wilson the past two, but the sushi-faker isn’t among this year’s nominees so it’s anyone’s game. Harris is riding a wave of good feeling lately, especially after his great job hosting the Tony’s, so I give him the slight edge over Morgan (who faces competition from his own show) and Wilson (who may be too quirky for some types).

SUPPORTING ACTRESS (COMEDY SERIES)

• Kristin Chenoweth (“Pushing Daisies”)
• Amy Poehler (“Saturday Night Live”)
• Jane Krakowski (“30 Rock”)
• Elizabeth Perkins (“Weeds”)
• Kristin Wiig (“Saturday Night Live”)
• Vanessa Williams (“Ugly Betty”)

REALITY COMPETITION PROGRAM

• “The Amazing Race” (CBS)
• “American Idol” (FOX)
• “Dancing with the Stars” (FOX)
• “Project Runway” (Bravo)
• “Top Chef” (Bravo)

Commentary: I’d really like to pick “Dancing with the Stars,” which seems to have grown in popularity and profile over the past year (and more age-appropriate for many voters than its competition), but how do you bet against “The Amazing Race” when — for whatever reason — it has won this category (over “American Idol” each time, mind you) every year since the category was created in 2003?

REALITY HOST

• Tom Bergeron (“Dancing with the Stars”)
• Phil Keoghan (“The Amazing Race”)
• Heidi Klum (“Project Runway”)
• Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio (“Top Chef”)
• Jeff Probst (“Survivor”)
• Ryan Seacrest (“American Idol”)

Commentary: Bergeron, Klum, Lakshmi/Colicchio, and Seacrest each seem to get on a lot of people’s nerves, so I’m thinking it’s down to Keoghan and Probst. Keoghan is among this year’s nominees, and his show will probably win the best reality competition category, so it seems like he has a good shot… but I just can’t quite get over the fact that he wasn’t nominated last year; Probst was; and Probst won.

MINI-SERIES

• “Generation Kill” (HBO)
• “Little Dorrit” (PBS)

ACTOR (MINI-SERIES OR MOVIE)

• Kevin Bacon (“Taking Chance”)
• Kenneth Branagh (“Wallander: One Step Behind”)
• Brendan Gleeson (“Into the Storm”)
• Kevin Kline (“Cyrano de Bergerac”)
• Ian McKellen (“King Lear”)
• Kiefer Sutherland (“24: Redemption”)

ACTRESS (MINI-SERIES OR MOVIE)

• Drew Barrymore (“Grey Gardens”)
• Jessica Lange (“Grey Gardens”)
• Shirley MacLaine (“Coco Chanel”)
• Sigourney Weaver (“Prayers for Bobby”)
• Chandra Wilson (“Accidental Friendship”)

SUPPORTING ACTOR (MINI-SERIES OR MOVIE)

• Len Cariou (“Into the Storm”)
• Tom Courtenay (“Little Dorrit”)
• Ken Howard (“Grey Gardens”)
• Bob Newhart (“The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice”)
• Andy Serkis (“Little Dorrit”)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS (MINI-SERIES OR MOVIE)

• Shohreh Aghdashloo (“House of Saddam”)
• Marcia Gay Harden (“The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler”)
• Janet McTeer (“Into the Storm”)
• Jeanne Tripplehorn (“Grey Gardens”)
• Cicely Tyson (“Relative Stranger”)

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE

• “Prayers for Bobby” (Lifetime)
• “Coco Chanel” (Lifetime)
• “Grey Gardens” (HBO)
• “Into the Storm” (HBO)
• “Taking Chance” (HBO)

VARIETY, MUSIC, OR COMEDY SERIES

• “The Colbert Report” (Comedy Central)
• “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” (Comedy Central)
• “The Late Show with David Letterman” (CBS)
• “Real Time with Bill Maher” (HBO)
• “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)

Commentary: “SNL” is in its strongest position in years to win this category, thanks in large part to presidential election parodies generally and specifically Tina Fey. Still, “The Daily Show” — which has won a hard-to-ignore six years straight — was the more consistently funny program and should retain the title unless the similar “Colbert Report” won over some of its base.

DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES

• Michael Rymer (“Battlestar Galactica”)
• Bill D’Elia (“Boston Legal”)
• Todd A. Kessler (“Damages”)
• Rod Holcomb (“E.R.”)
• Phil Abraham (“Mad Men”)

DIRECTING FOR A COMEDY SERIES

• Julian Farino (“Entourage”)
• James Bobin (“Flight of the Conchords”)
• Jeff Blitz (“The Office”)
• Millicent Shelton (“30 Rock”)
• Beth McCarthy (“30 Rock”)
• Todd Holland (“30 Rock”)

WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES

• Carlton Cuse, Damon Lindelof (“Lost)
• Robin Veith, Matthew Weiner (“Mad Men”)
• Matthew Weiner (“Mad Men”)
• Andre Jacquemetton, Maria Jacquemetton, Matthew Weiner (“Mad Men”)
• Kater Gordon, Matthew Weiner (“Mad Men”)

WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES

• James Bobin, Jermaine Clement, Bret McKenzie (“Flight of the Conchords”)
• Jack Burditt, Robert Carlock (“30 Rock”)
• Robert Carlock (“30 Rock”)
• Matt Hubbard (“30 Rock”)
• Ron Weiner (“30 Rock”)

WRITING FOR A VARIETY, MUSIC, OR COMEDY SERIES

• “The Colbert Report”
• “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart“
• “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”
• “The Late Show with David Letterman”
• “Saturday Night Live”

ORIGINAL MUSIC AND LYRICS

• “Hugh Jackman Opening Number” (“81st Annual Academy Awards”)
• “Much Worse Things” (“A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All”)
• “I Love Sports” (“The 2008 ESPYS”)
• “Carol Brown” (“Flight of the Conchords”)
• “A Muppet Christmas: Letters to Santa” (“I Wish I Could Be Santa Claus”)
• “Motherlover” (“Saturday Night Live”)

Photo: The cast of “Mad Men.” Courtesy: AMC.

Since this blog was founded five years ago, no new filmmaker has impressed me more than Jason Reitman. Reitman, the son of the noted director Ivan Reitman, proved beyond a doubt that he was a formidable talent in his own right with his charming feature debut “Thank You for Smoking” (2005), for which he should have received a best adapted screenplay Oscar nomination. Then, two years later, he blew me away with his enchanting follow-up “Juno” (2007), which brought him a well-deserved best director Oscar nod. Now, two years after that, he is back with his third, “Up in the Air,” which is unlike anything he’s done before.

Whereas “Smoking” cost $6.5 million and “Juno” came in at $7.5 million, “Up in the Air” had a $30 million budget. Whereas “Smoking” and “Juno” were independently financed and then distributed/marketed by indie specialist Fox Searchlight, “Air” was commissioned and is now being handled by the oldest Hollywood studio of all, Paramount. And whereas “Smoking” and “Juno” were built around true ensembles headed up by solid but at the time little-known indie actors Aaron Eckhart and Ellen Page, respectively, “Air” is an unabashed vehicle for perhaps the biggest Hollywood movie star of all, George Clooney. Needless to say, the result is a very different kind of movie. I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way… just as I don’t necessarily mean it in a good one.

Many of my fellow Oscar bloggers who saw “Up in the Air” in Telluride and Toronto instantly declared it a masterpiece and among the top best picture contenders. I wonder how much of that is genuine and how much of it is the result of the echo-chamber within which we operate — within seconds of a new film ending, the race is on to be the first to react to it on Twitter, Facebook, and our blogs, and once the first opinions are out there it becomes increasingly intimidating for others to disagree. As for myself? Nearly a week after seeing the film, I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about the film, both on a personal level and in terms of its awards prospects.

Here’s what I know:

• It tackles timely subjects (job-loss, unemployment, and how we communicate today — or don’t) and captures the cultural zeitgeist (fear and anger about the uncertainties of a changing world) in much the same way as the last two best picture winners “No Country for Old Men” (the hopelessness of the end of the Bush-era) and “Slumdog Millionaire” (the hopefulness of the beginning of the Obama-era). In other words, it may just be the right film at the right moment.

• Its central performance can be sold as “bravely” self-reflexive. Just as awards campaigners harped on the fact that “The Wrestler” was as much about Mickey Rourke as it was about Randy “The Ram,” expect them to remind you early and often that Clooney showed a lot of guts by taking on a character not unlike himself — a high-flying, wealthy, witty, seemingly-contented bachelor who has elected to maintain few emotional or material ties to others — and honestly acknowledging the benefits and downsides of such a lifestyle.

• It’s meant as an allegory for the lack of face-to-face communication in today’s society — Web sites, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter bring us closer together but also drive us further apart — but the notion that a company would hire someone (especially a highly-paid specialist like Clooney’s character) to fire someone (especially low-pay employees like many who are canned in the film) — even if some actually do — sounds fairly absurd, particularly when it’s not even going to be done in-person. Most small businesses could never afford to use such a service and most big corporations have never had a problem doing it themselves.

• The character Natalie (played by the talented up-and-comer Anna Kendrick), who is meant to be grating, is at times too grating — as Variety noted in its review, “You can’t wait for her comeuppance.” Also, the backpack metaphor is hammered home a bit too hard.

• Like Reitman’s previous films, it is aesthetically stunning. Credit for this should be shared among Reitman, his regular cinematographer Eric Steelberg, and his regular editor Dana Glauberman, as well as whoever captured the incredible overhead shots of American cities that are interspersed throughout the film (and which were shot specifically for it).

Make of those feelings what you will. All I know is that as much as I like a lot of the people associated with this film — and I really do like them a lot — I am not prepared to declare it “the lead contender to win the 2009 Best Picture Oscar,” as one notable blogger wrote today and others have been insinuating since Telluride. Earlier this week, Awards Daily’s Sasha Stone asked me if I thought the Best Picture race could now be declared over. As I replied at the time: “I have a Crash-ing suspicion it’s never over ’til it’s actually over… or at least until Clint Eastwood sings!”

Photo: Anna Kendrick and George Clooney in “Up in the Air.” Credit: Paramount.

Related: Check out my interviews with Reitman about “Thank You for Smoking” and with Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody about “Juno”

My great thanks go to the following people for their help and kindness during TIFF 2009, without which I would have been lost…

Anjulee Alvares, Brigitte Berman, Lauren Burton, Donna Daniels, Clay Dollarhide, Sidney Falco, Scott Feinstein, Lauren Felsenstein, Julie Fontaine, Sonia Freeman, Karen Fried, Fernando Garcia, Pantea Ghaderi, Sophie Gluck, Flo Grace, Sara Groves, Jeff Hill, Seth Hyman, Barry Dale Johnson, Adam Keen, Katie Martin Kelley, Laura Kim, Alex Klenert, Debra Kriensky, Michael Kupferberg, Bebe Lerner, Rob Messer, Jamie Metrick, Ken Metrick, Renee Metrick, Stacey Mooradian, Hilary Morse, John Murphy, Susan Norget, Lisa Perkins, Keri Putnam, Chris Regan, Kate Rosenbaum, Sara Serlen, Justin Simien, Joe Smithey, Emily Spiegel, Gary Springer, Chelsey Summey, Cynthia Swartz, Lisa Taback, Tamar Teifeld, Sharleen Valentin, Karina Vladimirov, Gena Wilder, Lea Yardum, and Alice Zou.

Photo: A publicist guides Woody Harrelson down a red carpet. Credit: Paul Buck/EPA

Each year, as I sit at the airport in Toronto waiting to board my flight back to the United States, I slowly begin to return to a real-world state of mind. The week of four-movie days, nightly dinners and parties, and awesome interview opportunities will be replaced by the normal daily routine. I’m okay with that, but I do like to take this time to record precisely which bold-faced names I saw, and where, so that I can look back at this months from now — after taking out the trash, or walking the dog, or heating up a TV dinner — and remember that it really happened! So, if you’ll humor me…

Thursday Actor Peter Sarsgaard (here promoting “An Education”) in the lobby of The Intercontinental … Actor Paul Bettany and Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Connelly at Roy Thomson Hall introducting the premiere of “Creation” … Actress Carey Mulligan and actor Dominic Cooper (both here promoting “An Education”) leaving The Four Seasons  Friday Bettany, who I interviewed, and Connelly, who I didn’t, at the Park Hyatt Roof Lounge … Oscar-nominated actor Jeff Bridges, actor Ewan McGregor, and Oscar-nominated writer/director Grant Heslov (all here promoting “The Men Who Stare at Goats”) passing through the Park Hyatt Roof Lounge en route to the makeshift AMC interview booth in the back of the room … Oscar-winning director Jane Campion (here promoting “Bright Star”) for our interview on The Intercontinental patio … Actor Ben Whishaw, who waved a quick hello as he passed Campion during our interview … Oscar-winning actor/writer Matt Damon (here promoting “The Informant!”) chatting with a friend in the lobby of The Four Seasons … Oscar-nominated actor Woody Harrelson (here promoting “Defendor”), who I nearly smacked into while rushing up the stairs of Roy Thomson Hall to see a film … Oscar-winning actor George Clooney, Bridges, and Heslov introducing the premiere of “The Men Who Stare at Goats” … Actor Michael Stuhlbarg and actor Richard Kind (both here promoting “A Serious Man”) sitting a row behind me at that screening … Clooney, Bridges, Heslov, Kind, actor Jason Bateman (here promoting “Up in the Air”), and actor Peter Gallagher (unclear why he was here) at the lavish house party for “The Men Who Stare at Goats”  Saturday Mulligan, Sarsgaard, and actor Alfred Molina following a screening of “An Education” … Director Brigitte Berman and publisher Hugh Hefner and three of his “Playmates” at the premiere of “Hefner: Playboy, Activist, and Rebel” … Oscar-nominated director Jason Reitman, Clooney, Bateman, actress Vera Farmiga, and actress Anna Kendrick at the first TIFF screening of their film “Up in the Air” … TV host/executive producer Oprah Winfrey, Oprah’s friend Gayle King, director Ivan Reitman, director Atom Egoyan (sitting next to me), and director Norman Jewison (sitting at the end of my row) in the audience for the first TIFF screening of “Up in the Air” … J. Reitman, Clooney, Kendrick (seated across from me), Bateman, Jewison, The Weinstein Company studio c0-chief Harvey Weinstein, actor Bill Murray, editor Dana Glauberman, and cinematographer Eric Steelberg at the post-screening Paramount dinner for “Up in the Air”  Sunday Actor Michael Sheen (here promoting “Daybreakers”) heading somewhere inside The Intercontinental … Oscar-nominated actor Viggo Mortensen and actor Kodi Smit-McPhee (both here promoting “The Road”) for our interview at The Intercontinental … Singer Eve heading out of The Intercontinental … Egoyan, I. Reitman, Oscar-nominated actress Julianne Moore, and actress Amanda Seyfried at the premiere of their film “Chloe” … Director Lee Daniels, executive producer Winfrey, executive producer Tyler Perry, author Sapphire, actress Gabby Sadibe, actress Paula Patton, actress/singer Mariah Carey, TV host/actress Sherri Shepherd, and singer Mary J. Blige at the first TIFF screening of their film “Precious” … Actress/director Drew Barrymore and Oscar-nominated actress Ellen Page (both here promoting “Whip It”), as well as actor/Apple spokesman Justin Long, director Brett Ratner, J. Reitman, and Sadibe at the after-party for “Whip It”  Monday Oscar-nominated actor Clive Owen (here promoting “The Boys Are Back”), actor Bill Nighy (here promoting “Glorious 39″), actor Kyle MacLachlan (here promoting “Mao’s Last Dancer”), actress Kristin Scott Thomas (here promoting “Mao’s Last Dancer”), Berman, and Egoyan while waiting for an interview at The Intercontinental…  Moore for our interview at The Intercontinental … Daniels while working in a hospitality suite at The Intercontinental … Actor Michael Cera (here promoting “Youth in Revolt”), actress Alia Shawkat (here promoting “Whip It”), J. Reitman, Kendrick, and Weinstein at the The Weinstein Company party  Tuesday Oscar-nominated writer/director Scott Hicks and Owen at the premiere of their film “The Boys Are Back” … Hicks, Owen, Oscar-nominated actress Brenda Blethyn (here promoting “London River”), and actor Sam Neill (here promoting “Daybreakers”) at the post-screening Miramax dinner for “The Boys Are Back”  Wednesday None.

Related: My 2008 “Name-Checking Toronto” post.

Photo: Oprah Winfrey at the TIFF press conference for “Precious.” Credit: TIFF.

BEST PICTURE
Projected Nominees
[1] “Invictus” (Warner Brothers, 12/11)
[2] “Up in the Air” (Paramount, 12/4, teaser) ▲
[3] “Nine” (The Weinstein Company, 11/25, trailer)
[4] “Precious” (Lions Gate, 11/6, trailer) ▲
[5] “The Lovely Bones” (Paramount, 12/11, trailer)
[6] “An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics, 10/9, trailer) ▲
[7] “The Hurt Locker” (Summit, 6/26, trailer)
[8] “Amelia” (Fox Searchlight, 10/23, trailer)
[9] “Avatar” (20th Century Fox, 12/18, teaser)
[10] “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (2oth Century Fox, 11/25, trailer) NEW
Major Threats
[11] “Up” (Disney, 5/29, trailer)
[12] “The Road” (The Weinstein Company, 11/25, trailer) ▲
[13] “The Tree of Life” (Apparition, 12/25)
[14] “Julie & Julia” (Columbia, 8/7, trailer)
[15] “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company, 8/21, trailer)
On the Outside
[16] “A Serious Man” (Focus Features, 10/2, trailer)
[17] “Capitalism: A Love Story” (Overture, 9/23, trailer)
[18] “Star Trek” (Paramount, 5/8, trailer)
[19] “Bright Star” (Apparation, 9/18, trailer)
[20] “District 9” (Sony, 8/14, trailer)

BEST DIRECTOR
Projected Nominees
[1] Clint Eastwood (“Invictus”)
[2] Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”) ▲
[3] Rob Marshall (“Nine”)
[4] Lee Daniels (“Precious”) ▲
[5] Peter Jackson (“The Lovely Bones”)
Major Threats
[6] Lone Scherfig (“An Education”) ▲
[7] Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”)
[8] Mira Nair (“Amelia”)
[9] James Cameron (“Avatar”)
[10] Wes Anderson (“Fantastic Mr. Fox”) NEW
On the Outside
[11] Pete Docter, Bob Peterson (“Up”)
[12] John Hillcoat (“The Road”) ▲
[13] Terrence Malick (“The Tree of Life”)
[14] Nora Ephron (“Julie & Julia”)
[15] Quentin Tarantino (“Inglourious Basterds”) NEW
[16] Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (“A Serious Man”)
[17] Michael Moore (“Capitalism: A Love Story”)
[18] J.J. Abrams (“Star Trek”)
[19] Jane Campion (“Bright Star”)
[20] Neill Blomkamp (“District 9”)

BEST ACTOR
Projected Nominees
[1] Morgan Freeman (“Invictus”)
[2] George Clooney (“Up in the Air”)
[3] Daniel Day-Lewis (“Nine”)
[4] Viggo Mortensen (“The Road”) ▲
[5] Clive Owen (“The Boys Are Back”) ▲
Major Threats
[6] Colin Firth (“A Single Man”) NEW
[7] Robert Duvall (“Get Low”) NEW
[8] Sean Penn (“Tree of Life”)
[9] Jeremy Renner (“The Hurt Locker”)
[10] Robert De Niro (“Everybody’s Fine”) NEW
On the Outside
[11] Ethan Hawke (“Brooklyn’s Finest”)
[12] Michael Stuhlbarg (“A Serious Man”) ▼
[13] Matt Damon (“The Informant!”) ▼
[14] Ben Whishaw (“Bright Star”)

BEST ACTRESS
Projected Nominees
[1] Carey Mulligan (“An Education”) ▲
[2] Meryl Streep (“Julie & Julia”)
[3] Hilary Swank (“Amelia”)
[4] Gabourey Sidibe (“Precious”) ▲
[5] Saoirse Ronan (“The Lovely Bones”)
Major Threats
[6] Abbie Cornish (“Bright Star”)
[7] Michelle Monaghan (“Trucker”)
[8] Penelope Cruz (“Broken Embraces”)
[9] Charlize Theron (“The Burning Plain”) ▲
On the Outside
[10] Michelle Pfeiffer (“Cheri”)
[11] Audrey Tautou (“Coco Before Chanel”)
[12] Zooey Deschanel (“500 Days of Summer”)
[13] Emily Blunt (“The Young Victoria”)
[14] Tilda Swinton (“Julia”)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Projected Nominees
[1] Matt Damon (“Invictus”)
[2] Stanley Tucci (“The Lovely Bones”)
[3] Peter Sarsgaard (“An Education”) ▲
[4] Christoph Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds”)
[5] Richard Gere (“Amelia”)
Major Threats
[6] Alfred Molina (“An Education”) ▲
[7] Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Road”)
[8] Anthony Mackie (“The Hurt Locker”)
On the Outside
[9] Robert Duvall (“The Road”) NEW
[10] Richard Kind (“A Serious Man”)
[11] Paul Schneider (“Bright Star”)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Projected Nominees
[1] Mo’Nique (“Precious”) ▲
[2] Penelope Cruz (“Nine”)
[3] Marion Cotillard (“Nine”)
[4] Nicole Kidman (“Nine”)
[5] Anna Kendrick (“Up in the Air”) ▲
Major Threats
[6] Rachel Weisz (“The Lovely Bones”)
[7] Judi Dench (“Nine”)
[8] Sigourney Weaver (“Avatar”)
[9] Melanie Laurent (“Inglourious Basterds”)
On the Outside
[10] Catherine Keener (“Where the Wild Things Are”)
[11] Kathy Bates (“Cheri”)
[12] Susan Sarandon (“The Lovely Bones”)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Projected Nominees
[1] “Capitalism: A Love Story” (Overture, 9/23, trailer)
[2] “The Cove” (Roadside Attractions, 7/31, trailer)
[3] “Food, Inc.” (Magnolia, 6/12, trailer)
[4] “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” (Abramorama, 4/10, trailer) ▲
[5] “Valentino: The Last Emperor” (Vitagraph, 3/18, trailer)
Major Threats
[6] “Tyson” (Sony Pictures Classics, 4/24, trailer)
[7] “It Might Get Loud” (Sony Pictures Classics, 8/14, trailer)
On the Outside
[8] “Outrage” (Magnolia, 5/8, trailer)
[9] “American Swing” (Magnolia, 3/27)
[10] “The Age of Stupid” (TBD, 7/19, trailer)

Photo: Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker.” Courtesy: Summit.