Not to gamify art. . .

BUT!

When watching a talking-heads documentary — no, not a doc about the band; rather, a doc that revolves around a coterie of interviews — do you ever find yourself ranking which interviewee’s words seem to add the most to the movie? The face/voice you’re most excited to see/hear upon their return?

I’ve dubbed this distinction the MVTH, or: The Most Valuable Talking Head (which, now that I mention it, could be called The David Byrne Award).

Two recent winners, for elucidation’s sake, from two documentaries about movies:

For Godard Cinema: Julie Delpy.

And for the Oscars-shortlisted Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy: Bob Balaban, particularly because of the frankness with which he discusses the titular movie’s intersection with salacious issues, befitting the character he plays therein.

In contention: Jon Voight, whose candidacy is felled by his couched answer when asked for his (presumably, politically right-leaning) thoughts on Abbie Hoffman.