Well, three out of five ain’t bad. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences nominated Elizabeth, Life is Beautiful, Saving Private Ryan, Shakespeare in Love and The Thin Red Line as the best pictures of 1998.
I would gladly second their nominations for the middle three but I would’ve just as easily jettisoned their bookend nominations for say, Gods and Monsters, Men with Guns, Happiness or even The Truman Show or Pleasantville.
Even with that having been said, this part of the competition is pretty cut-and-dried: It’s Saving Private Ryan hands-down. It’ll probably also bring Steven Spielberg another Oscar for his direction as well. And from here, the picks get a bit more tricky.
In Best Actor, I’d like to see journeyman thespian Nick Nolte take the gold for his smoldering performance in Affliction (see following review) but he could get nipped by Ian McKellen for his subtle portrayal of James Whale in Gods and Monsters. I believe Cate Blanchett will take top honors for her strong portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in the aptly titled Elizabeth.
In supporting categories, the early money has Billy Bob Thornton taking home an acting Oscar this year for his remarkable turn in Sam Raimi’s dark, stylish thriller, A Simple Plan. Thornton, who was edged out in last year’s Best Acting category by Jack Nicholson (for his performance in As Good As It Gets), did pick up a “consolation” Academy Award for his original screenplay, Slingblade.
Well, Thornton is even better in A Simple Plan playing a dim-witted brother who isn’t quite as dumb as he looks. A Simple Plan treads the same territorial turf as Fargo without quite achieving the latter’s cult status. Still, the emotional Of Mice and Men-like ending rings very true. And, like Thornton, grande dame Judi Dench was passed over last year for her role in Mrs. Brown in favor of Helen Hunt’s realistic turn in As Good As It Gets. No such bad luck this year though, as I think Ms. Dench will win going away for her forceful portrayal of Queen Elizabeth (again!) in Shakespeare in Love.
Remember, the Oscars are on ABC on Sunday night this year (March 21) and not the usual Monday night affair. And, for the third year in a row, I’ll be on WDSU-Ch, 6’s Breakfast Edition on Friday, March 19 to predict the winners and then come back on Monday, March 22 to defend my choices. See you then.
Wow! This Russell Banks is some kind of dark novelist. It was his book that produced The Sweet Hereafter in 1997 and now Paul Schrader has come along and adapted his Affliction in heartbreaking fashion, Aided by Nick Nolte’s excellent work (along with others), Affliction is difficult to watch at times but undeniable in its truths.
Nolte plays Wade Whitehouse, a small town loser with a mottled past. He’s Nobody’s Fool without Paul Newman’s winning smile. Wade trudges through life with his head down and blinders on. He endures the spittle from other people’s slurs but somehow, through. Nolte’s magnificent performance, we sense that he’s brought a lot of this misery on himself.
And then’ we meet his dad, played to a grotesque degree (and filmed in grainy 8mm) by James Coburn. So, this is where the welts were raised-he and his brother, Rolfe, and a sister and maybe another brother who was lost somewhere along the way In Vietnam. Everything is half-remembered and half-thought out in this crooked line to a frozen center.
Nolte broods over the entire film, casting a big shadow that’s never too big. It’s in the same emotional temperature range as Nicolas Cage’s Oscar-winning performance in leaving Las Vegas. It’s also wonderful to see Sissy Spacek working her little wonders: again, the intelligent awareness of her strangely alert face. A nearly unrecognizable Mary Beth Hurt subtly contributes in her scenes as does Brigid Tierney, who plays the daughter in this dysfunctional bunch, And Coburn is just right-all hunched and horrible-as the patriarchal monster who has contributed much to this troubled lineage.
Schrader creates an overwhelming sense of dread that begins with, a series of wintry, still-lives that open the mm. It continues with Wade talking uncomfortably to his daughter about Halloween, or at least the missing of Halloween. It then gets ratcheted up notch after notch until something approaching the inevitable finally happens, And for the guy that is responsible for American Gigolo, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, Schrader shows remarkable restraint here.
A bit of a truncated plot is tacked on near the film’s finale (you’ll know it when you see it) but that doesn’t diminish the metaphorical, not to mention the emotional, impact that Affliction has on the viewer.
Rushmore is an pseudo-intellectual Revenge of the Nerds featuring strangely affecting performances by Jason Schwartzman, Olivia Williams and Bill Murray. Written and produced by the same team that gave us Bottle Rocket–Dlirector Wes Anderson along with co-writer Owen Wilson-Rushmore tells the story of 10th grader, Max Fischer, a wannabe scholar at Rushmore Academy, who falls in love with a first grade teacher named Miss Cross (Williams), In his quest to build Miss Cross an aquarium at the school in her honor, Fischer goes to one of the school’s benefactors, a steel tycoon named Mr. Blume (Murray). Initially, Fischer and Blume become good friends but then things start to go awry.
Anderson frames his story in a series of quirky, fisheyed images with the always resourceful (although not always successful) Fischer struggling to get his point across, A dandy dresser in his school uniform, Fischer uses the younger students at the academy as his entourage, encouraging them to take notes on his latest and greatest schemes. Fischer is a hapless Sad Sack with a penchant for not giving up.
The oddball charm of Rushmore is the interplay between Schwartman, Williams and Murray. While Schwartman sticks to his guns as the little fighter who won’t give up, Williams interjects vulnerability and compassion into the equation. Their pas de deux is soon subdivided by Murray who transforms it into an embittered menage a trois. Stir in a healthy dose’ of off-the-wall humor-such as Fischer’s plays on police corruption, inner-city violence and war-and you have the recipe for Rushmore, a breezy 93 minutes at the theater.
Hailed as a “masterpiece in violence,” Takeshi Kitano’s Fireworks combines visual poetry and some outstanding set pieces of carnage to drive home a few points about justice and redemption. Starring Beat Takeshi (aka -Kitano) as a hardboiled ex-cop, haunted by a troubled past and pushed to the edge by the shooting of his partner, Fireworks juxtaposes serene images of nature and the sea with moments of hideous, slo-mo violence. The result is quiet film that reverberates like a gangster-film noir. Think of it as a Japanese Charles Bronson/Death Wish movie and you’re halfway home.
A Day in the Life of a Nightstand
It’s hard enough to get a feature length mm shot on location much less a short, but that’s exactly what one Los Angeles-based crew did last month. Composer Joel Clemens and director Javier Prato, along with a cadre of local film talent (Paul DeCorte •. David Ross McCarty and many others), filmed A Day in the Life of a Nightstand in and around Jackson Square. Chad Hudson, a waitress at the local Lucky Cheng’s, plays the lead.
According to Clemens, the 35mm art film will convey its story through “hands and music.” “It’s a mystery,” says Clemens, “whose apartment it is. There’s a nightstand with a clock radio on it, which gives us the time of day and a lot of different music, and that’s where I come in. Many different sets of hands are seen, and from those images and the music we have chosen, we hope to tell an interesting story. Oh yeah, and there’s a surprise twist at the end.”
The 22-year old composer says that anyone who wants to get into the business should try and write music every day of their life. “It keeps you loose,” says Clemens. “And I also think it’s important to enjoy all forms of music.” Clemens says that he admires the work of master film composer Henry Mancini and the current versatility of the red-hot Babyface. The producers say that they will unveil A Day in the Life of a Nightstand at the New Orleans Film & Video Festival in October.
Quick Pick on Video: Whatever written and directed by Susan Skoog and starring Liza Weil. A true-to-life coming-of-age film with a great soundtrack and good performances throughout.
