An Oscar Nom for Annie?

Many Oscar pundits, including the esteemed Nathaniel Rogers over at The Film Experience, are predicting that Anne Hathaway may land her first Academy Award nomination for her role in Jonathan Demme's upcoming dramedy, "Rachel Getting Married" (trailer below.)

I must admit, watching this, while it does appear to be Ms. Hathaway's grittiest and, perhaps, meatiest performance, I'm not convinced. Looks a little too much like the obligatory pretty-actress-gets-ugly-and-dirty-for-Oscar to me. But then, what am I saying? It usually works, i.e. Charlize Theron ("Monster," "North Country"), Naomi Watts ("21 Grams"), Nicole Kidman ("The Hours"), Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball"), Salma Hayek ("Frida"), etc., etc., etc. (I will not include Hillary Swank, who, as poor, white, trash, was basically given two trophies for playing herself -- the only thing she does well.)

This trailer does remind me of my all-time favorite Thanksgiving movie, "Pieces of April," which had that same, stripped-bare, DV aesthetic. Incidentally, that film landed Patricia Clarkson a Supporting nod. Perhaps the compounded grittiness of the feature and the female within in it will get Academy members to remember Annie's name in the same way they did Patty's. Fine with me. She still deserves some sort of consolation prize for being the sole "Brokeback Mountain" star whose stellar work was almost universally ignored. We'll see.