Coens Alone As No Country Dominates Oscars

The Coen brothers' taut and unflinchingly brutal thriller No Country For Old Men dominated the 80th Academy Awards on Sunday, winning best director and best film.

The picture also picked up the best supporting actor Oscar for the menacing performance by Javier Bardem as the folically challenged hitman Anton Chigurh. Rounding things out on a triumphant night for the film, directors Ethan and Joel Coen also won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for their work bringing the vision of novelist Cormac McCarthy to the screen.

In a night short on surprises the heavily-tipped favorite Daniel Day-Lewis won the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of a driven oil prospector in There Will Be Blood. He accepted his award, on his knees, from Helen Mirren, remarking that, "that's the closest I'll ever come to getting a knighthood."

There was a British flavor to much of the evening, with six Oscars going to British nominees. The most notable was to Tilda Swinton for her supporting performance in the legal thriller Michael Clayton. Swinton also produced the most noteworthy acceptance speech of the night, noteworthy for its inclusion of the words "nipple" and "buttock" in the allotted 45 seconds.

Speaking backstage after her win, Swinton admitted to being surprised at her win. "I'm so stoked, as they say, I think it's fantastic. It's completely astonishing, and I'm amazed I'm still standing, but I'm not complaining. It's good."

The 80th annual Academy Awards took place against the backdrop of inclement weather and the aftermath of the writers' strike. The strike took its toll on Hollywood's other major celebration, the Golden Globes, causing that ceremony to be canceled. But its resolution less than two weeks before the Academy Awards left the show's writers little time to prepare, an uncertainty that showed in much of the broadcast. Host Jon Stewart, making his second appearance at the helm of the second most-watched television program in the US, opened proceedings by remarking, "You're here! I can't believe it! You're actually here!"

That sense of relief and disbelief percolated through to the rest of the show. While the Oscars are always keen on sentiment, much of this year's broadcast was given over to nostalgic reruns of previous wins and interviews with stars of bygone years.

"Had the writers' strike continued they would have had to pad out the ceremony with even more montages," Stewart said at one point, before introducing yet another montage of old clips. After it finished, he said, "Thank god we didn't have to show that."

One of the evening's surprises came with Marion Cotillard winning the best actress award for her portrayal of Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. Julie Christie and Juno star Ellen Page had been considered strong contenders for the award, but Cotillard built on her victory at the Baftas to scoop the Oscar.

British winners included Alexandra Byrne for her costume designs for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Jan Archibald, along with Didier Lavergne for La Vie en Rose, and Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman for the animated short Peter and the Wolf.

Daniel Day-Lewis was the only winner to attempt to scale the heights of Oscar hyperbole, when he noted from the stage that There Will be Blood had, "sprung like a golden sapling out of the mad, beautiful head of [director] Paul Thomas Anderson."

But best actress winner Cotillard probably came up with the most touching sentiment of the night when she remarked from the stage that, "It is true, there are some angels in this city."