My choice to win the Oscar at this years Academy Awards ceremonies in the Best Actress category is, Rinko Kikuchi for her performance in Babel. As far as i'm concerned the only thing good about Babel were the parts of the film that concerned the connection to Japan. There's so much going on in those scenes, that reflect so much of Japanese society, you just have to know what to look for. A good film to watch which also illustrates Japanese society, is the original Japanese version of Shall We Dance? In the Japanese film we actually learn why the dancing is such a big deal, in a country where any kind of public displays of affection, holding hands, kissing, etc is frowned upon.
In the Best Picture category I would like to see Letters From Iwo Jima be the winner. It's big, it's epic, it has excellent production and directing values, it's heartbreaking and it has a number of good performances. I'm not that much impressed with any of the other films in that have been nominated. While I liked The Departed it's really nothing more than a remake of a film from Hong Kong called Infernal Affairs which stars two of Asia's most talented actors, Andy Lau and Tony Leung.