"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is one of the most beautiful, vibrant, moving films I can remember. It is brilliantly directed by Julian Schnabel, who somehow transforms not even a talking head but a BLINKING one into a completely gripping, compelling film of such simplicity and sensitivity that it took my breath away. It is truly a great movie that somehow isn’t nominated for Best Film this year, even though Schnabel is for Best Director.

This film has such perfect performances. In fact, "performance" is a misnomer here as the acting is invisible. Just pure and true. And the beauty of the images is searing, but always simple. How Schnabel filled a story about a man’s months suffering from the rare and anguishing "Locked-in Syndrome" — where his only means of movement or communication was the blinking of a left eye lid — with the constant swirl of his imagination and the deep compassion of his family and caregivers, seems to me a total miracle. It is the most life-affirming film I can remember in years.