Oscar Standout Messi The Dog Gave One Of The Best Performances Of The Year
The Academy Award-winning French courtroom thriller "Anatomy of a Fall" is one seriously chilly movie. It's visually quite cold, taking place in winter in the mountains, and its characters are equally icy. Not even a cover of 50 Cent's "P.I.M.P" played on the typically breezy steel drums can warm it up, but there's one magical element in the movie that manages to make things feel a bit less freezing: the dog Snoop, played by Messi the border collie. Messi is the MVP of "Anatomy of a Fall," and that's really saying something considering the film's powerhouse performances from Sandra Hüller, Milo Machado Graner, and Swann Arlaud (Hüller is nominated for Best Actress for her role). Messi won the Palm Dog this past year, which is like the Palm d'Or but for dog performers at Cannes, but he doesn't stand a chance of winning any Oscars at the Academy Awards. Perhaps one day we'll have a best non-human performance category (and we can give Jenny the Donkey from "Banshees of Inisherin" her well-deserved post-career toast), but until then, the Palm Dog will have to do.
Then again, there is one thing Messi can do, and that's attend the Oscars ceremony. For a little while there it looked like he might not be able to because there was a minor uproar over Messi attending the Oscars luncheon because people were concerned that his presence might sway voters, but thankfully, Messi is at the Academy Awards ceremony, making us all winners.
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"Anatomy of a Fall" is a murder-mystery that seeks to determine if Sandra (Hüller) murdered her husband by pushing him out of the attic window. Detectives and lawyers seek to prove Sandra's guilt, and no one seems to be completely without motive. The only two who seem truly innocent in all of this madness are Sandra's son Daniel and his dog Snoop. Snoop seems more human than some of the human characters he shares the screen with and is even the center of a major plot point when Daniel does an experiment on Snoop that may very well poison him but will exonerate his mother of murder. (Don't worry, Messi was never in any danger, although the danger for poor Snoop was very real indeed.)
Canine acting can be a somewhat complex thing depending on what the movie calls for the dog to do, but a great deal of what Messi does best in "Anatomy of a Fall" is just be a good dog. There are no wild tricks, just a sense of love for his family that can be somehow transmitted over the screen. Messi is incredibly lovable despite having haunted Victorian doll eyes, and has seemed to be perfectly behaved at the various awards events he's been invited to. Now he'll steal the show at the Oscars just as many times as he did in "Anatomy of a Fall." The Academy Awards has gone to the dogs, but in the best way ever.