During my assessment of her work in the 1950s, I constantly wondered why Deborah Kerr never won an Oscar despite being nominated a mind-boggling six times. There's another lady who has now tied Kerr for being the actress with the most unsuccessful Oscar nominated performances. The actress in question is Glenn Close who in the 1980s lost out in the acting categories a total of five times whilst her most recent loss came a couple of years ago. We've already witnessed one of Close's Oscar-nominated roles, in The Big Chill where she played a well-meaning and friendly Doctor. However, in the tail-end of the decade, Close would demonstrate that she was much better at playing manipulative and at times downright scary female protagonists.
The great thing about Close's performance in Fatal Attraction is that her character initially seems fairly normal. Whilst it's clear that her character Alex Forrest is attracted to Michael Douglas' lawyer Dan Gallagher when they meet at a party there doesn't seem to be anything amiss about her. The audience remain similarly unsurprised when the couple begin an affair while Dan's wife and daughter are out in the country visiting family. The affair between Dan and Alex lasts for one whole weekend during which the latter starts to demonstrate signs that she may not be as normal as we first expected. However, as Alex realises Dan's intentions towards her were only fleeting, she stuns him by slitting her wrists when he attempts to leave. His compassion towards her is misread as something more and soon she's bombarding both his work and home phone with plenty of messages. Dan attempts to evade Alex by changing his phone number but once again she outsmarts him by turning up at his apartment as a potential buyer. Alex eventually admits to Dan that she's pregnant and he's the father but he claims that he wants nothing to do with her. From there Alex's behaviour becomes dangerous as she commits numerous crimes, including one incredibly iconic sequence involving an innocent pet and a pan of scorching water. Eventually Dan admits his affair to his wife and they agree to work together to bring down the psychopathic Alex.
After watching Fatal Attraction my first thought was the shock that a psychological thriller like this was ever nominated for Best Picture. While Fatal Attraction isn't a bad film by any stretch of the imagination it's not a movie that I would associate with the Oscars. Indeed, if Fatal Attraction was released in 2014 it would be instantly seen as a slightly creepy erotic film and may garner a cult audience but nothing more. What I personally enjoyed about Adrian Lyne's film is how the shocking moments are interspersed with plenty of mundane scenes involving Dan and his family. I believe that a thriller only works if the thrills are well built up and Fatal Attraction was a film that certainly was aware of how to do this. I do feel that I possibly would've enjoyed the film more had I not known the basic outline of the plot before sitting down to watch it. That being said I was still incredibly shocked by the final scenes which saw Alex's revenge thwarted by the Gallaghers. One of the reason the film works so well is the performance from Close who is believable as the unhinged Alex who would go to any lengths to ensnare the man she feels she should be with. Close excels both in the early scenes as the flirty, confident businesswoman and later as the psychopathic ex-lover with revenge firmly in her sights. Michael Douglas was the go-to sleazeball of the 1980s and here he takes to his role as the philandering family man with ease. My main issue with the film was the fact that the career woman Alex would be completely willing to sacrifice everything just because of her obsession with one man. This did spoil my enjoyment of the film slightly but then I don't think Fatal Attraction is a film that is based firmly in reality. Overall I found Fatal Attraction to be a gripping thriller with a satisfying ending that proved that Close was the perfect choice to play a manipulative character in the 1980s.
I'm sure that's partly why that, a year later, Close was called upon to play the Marquise de Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons. The film, an adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, portrays Merteuil as a strong woman who attempts to play games with men to avenge the way her sex is treated. Her latest scheme involves getting one over on a former lover by attempting to break in his new fiancée, the virginal Cécile de Volanges, and therefore making a mockery of him in society. To do so she enlists the help of the similarly despicable Vicomte de Valmont who refuses to take part in her plot to deflower Cécile. His primary reason for this refusal is that he's already attempting to seduce another virtuous soul in Madame de Tourvel, a married woman who is currently staying with aunt. Merteuil believes that Valmont doesn't have a chance with Tourvel and makes a wager to this affect making herself the prize. From there the games really start to begin as Valmont manipulates his way around society, professing his love for Tourvel and staging charitable deeds in the hope that she'll see him as a decent man. Eventually, after making a discovery, Valmont agrees to seduce Cécile, an act that proves a lot easier than he first suspected. With a lot of double crossing and sexual encounters along the way, the ending of Dangerous Liaisons is fairly touching. I have to say that I wasn't expecting the sort of conclusion that the film offered and for that reason alone it really surprised me.
Having watched a lot of costume dramas throughout the decades, I can't say without a doubt that Dangerous Liaisons heralded in a new era for the genre. While the Oscar-winning production design and costumes remained fairly traditional the tone of the film was anything just. The tone can be attributed to Christopher Hampton, whose adapted screenplay was incredibly well-placed and was a worthy winner of an Oscar itself. Hampton's mischievous script was full of sexually charged conversations and manipulative characters who generally would have been secondary characters in other costume dramas. Neither Merteuil nor Valmont are particularly likeable characters but it's their hedonistic lifestyle and manipulation of others that makes them so intriguing. Hampton makes sure that neither are considered caricatures and includes scenes in which both explain their motivations for behaving as they do. The supporting characters add different elements to the plot whether it be the piety displayed by Tourvel or the wide-eyed innocence of the ditzy Cécile. Of her two roles in this post, Close is definitely more comfortable playing Merteuil primarily as her vengeance is portrayed as a way of getting back at all the men that have wronged her. Close is great both in her character's scenes with Valmont and those in which she is forced to act as an upstanding pillar of society. Close also shares a brilliant chemistry with John Malkovich who delivers a scenery-chewing performance as the dastardly Valmont. Malkovich controls every scene he's in and I believe its an absolute travesty that he wasn't nominated for his role in the film. Instead, the other nomination went to Michelle Pfieffer who was great at playing the pure Tourvel and in particular portraying her eventual love for Valmont. While I personally enjoyed Uma Thurman's turn as Cécile I felt that Keanu Reeves was miscast as her lover and music teacher Danceny. In fact, as Danency plays a vital part in the closing stages of the film, I would've thought that somebody with a bit mroe experience would've been cast. But that's a minor quibble of a lavishly exotic film that played with the boundaries of the costume drama genre and had fun doing it. Once again it demonstrated that Close was great at playing strong, slightly unhinged female characters.
Ironically, Close's most recent nomination saw her play a woman who was much more at home in her regular guise as a man. I really do hope that Close one day gets her day in the sun and wins an Oscar because, judging from what I've seen in the 1980s alone, she more than deserves it.
Next time a focus on another actress who, unlike Close, successfully won the Best Actress Oscar during the 1980s.
Monday 31 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 285: The Brits Run Away With It
Way back on Day 22 of the Challenge I wrote a post entitled 'The British Are Coming' which was dedicated to the first British film to be nominated for Best Picture, The Private Life of Henry VIII. However the quote itself is attributed to screenwriter Colin Welland who let out the exclamation after winning the Original Screenplay Award for his work on Chariots of Fire. The film itself, described as a Cinderella story by its producer, is a British production featuring on two very different athletes both attempting to compete at the 1924 Paris Olympics. Cambridge University student Harold Abrahams faced anti-Semitism during his time at the establishment but impressed his superiors with his athletic ability. Meanwhile, Scottish missionary worker Eric Liddell is viewed as an extraordinarily quick runner and its his wish to compete in the 100m. But his dreams are quashed by his sister, who feels that his love of running is stopping him from fulfilling his true purpose of spreading God's word. Eventually he's able to convince her that it was God who gave him the ability to run so fast and that he'd be doing his God a disservice if he didn't run. The plot follows both Harold and Eric over the course of a number of years as they race against each pursue their racing dream. It also explores how the world of athletics is a tricky place for both especially the Jewish Harold who is forced to deal with anti-Semitic comments from those at Cambridge. Harold later hires a trainer to help him improve his game with the two forming somewhat of a bond ahead of the Olympics. At the games themselves, Eric and Harold find themselves matched against the superior American team. But, like the film itself, both the British runners find themselves beating the heavy favourites and finding glory when it counted.
As this was my first time watching Chariots of Fire, I was searching for some semblance of patriotic pride that I'm sure the film was going for. My knowledge of the film going in was that it was the little British film that could and had indeed been described as a 'Cinderella Story'. However, I have to admit that for large portions of Chariots of Fire I was thoroughly underwhelmed. My personal problem was that the film never really grabbed me and in a way was almost too polite, just like any decent Brit I suppose. In fact possibly the best scene occurred during the opening credits which included the famous running scenes on the beach accompanied by Vangellis' Oscar-winning score. Welland's script was full of moments of pride and self-reflection but at times I found these scenes almost too worthy. In the roles of Abrahams and Liddell, Ben Cross and Ian Charelson are full of charm but I found neither possessed enough intrigue to truly make me care about their characters. Even the usually reliable Ian Holm, who was Oscar-nominated for his role as professional trainer Sam, didn't really set the screen alight. That's not to say that Chariots of Fire isn't a good film with one of its best qualities being that it lacks the mawkish melodrama that has been present in most of the 1980s Best Picture winners so far. Visually, the film is stunning with the costumes, period detail and exterior locations all proving to be aesthetic treats. The characters were well-drawn even if the stiff upper lips they possessed really prevented me from getting to know them all that much. Ultimately Chariots of Fire is the little film that could and it needs to be applauded for that fact even if I wasn't as engrossed as I possibly should have been.
Next time we focus on a star who really came into her own in the 1980s and in particular two films in which she was nominated for Best Actress.
Thursday 27 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 283-284: Peter's Pictures
Throughout this challenge I have encountered some directors that I've previously been unaware of in the past. This is usually because these directors aren't particularly big names and don't get the same publicity as the likes of Spielberg and Scorsese. One of these directors is British Peter Yates who, by the 1980s, had already helmed a diverse range of films from the Cliff Richard classic Summer Holiday to the iconic Steve McQueen picture Bullitt. But it wasn't till the 1980s that his films began to get nominated for Best Picture, with two very different offerings up for the big prize.
The first film is an incredibly American piece of cinema, so much so that it's hard to imagine that it's been directed by a Brit. Breaking Away focuses on four nineteen-year-old men living in the college town of Bloomington, Indiana none of whom have elected to take on higher education. Dave, Mike, Cyril and Moocher have instead decided to take a year off from doing anything in particular much to the chagrin of Dave's second-hand car dealer father. Dave's big passion in cycling and in particular he has a love from everything Italian from the music to the language. Posing as an Italian exchange student, Dave captures the eye of college attendee Kath and the two begin a relationship. Meanwhile, Dave is excited when a group of Italian racers come to town, primarily as he is eager to compete against them. However, the experience at the race leaves him disenfranchised with life in general and he drops the Italian fascination altogether. Meanwhile Mike, sick of being disparaged by the college students, is eager for the group to participate in the 'Little 500' a bike ride that is traditionally only open to the members of the institution. This forces a dejected Dave to put his life in order and build a proper relationship with a father that he has more in common with than he first thought.
Breaking Away definitely feels like it's been influenced by coming-of-age films like The Last Picture Show and American Graffiti. But, whereas those films were stuck in the past, Breaking Away still feels relevant almost thirty-five years after it was released. There's just something relatable about the four central protagonists who haven't quite decided want they want to do with their lives and are under pressure to find their place in life. Steve Tesich's script is incredibly well-observed as the four protagonists talk to each other as young men would and each has a clearly defined character. The cycling motif of Breaking Away forms some of the film's best set pieces namely the end race which has plenty of time devoted to it. But Breaking Away is more than just a cycling film and is an exploration of both friendship and the bond between a father and a son. I'm not afraid to admit that I got emotional at least once during the last twenty minutes of the film as Dave's dad finally opened up to his son. The whole film is enhanced by the use of the Italian classical music which gives Breaking Away its own identity and sets it apart from other coming-of-age movies. In terms of performances the film really belongs to Dennis Christopher as Dave as he delivers an incredibly captivating turn throughout. Christopher won newcomer awards for his role here but oddly he's the only member of the cast who isn't a recognisable name. Instead Christopher's co-stars Daniel Stern, Jackie Earl Haley and especially Dennis Quaid have gone on to have bigger success further down the line. If I have one criticism of the film then it's that Stern's Cyril really doesn't have a lot to do save a couple of overtly comic moments. But that's a minor quibble in a film that I enjoyed incredibly as it combined emotional, realistic drama with some genuinely funny lines.
To an extent the same can be said for Yates' other offering from the 1980s, The Dresser but it differs in every other way. Based on the 1980 play by Ronald Harwood, The Dresser follows a struggling Shakespearian company who continue to put on productions despite the Blitz being in full effect. The company has been cut quite dramatically due to the war and is ruled over by its often dictatorial star simply known here as 'Sir'. The majority of the film centres around the company's production of King Lear during which 'Sir' is set to play the lead role. However, the day of the performance, he has a breakdown in the street and is hospitalised leading us to believe the he is suffering from senility. The majority of the cast and crew feel that the show should be cancelled and that 'Sir' is in no fit state to be on the stage. The only person who wants the show to go on is our leading man's 'dresser' Norman, an effeminate Northerner who has devoted his life to looking after his idol. Norman is essentially the Smithers to Sir's Mr Burns and is jealous of the affection that he gets from others. He also hates it when people are mean towards 'Sir', often believing him to be past his sell-by-date and living-in-the-past. This is especially true of Oxenby, a younger actor feels he should be part of the group. Over the course of the film we see King Lear played out with 'Sir' dishing out some home truths and Norman hoping his idol can light up the stage one more time. For me, the major problem with the film is the ending, which I felt was a little too over-the-top however there's not much that Yates could do if that's how the play ended.
As is the case with a lot of plays that become films, The Dresser isn't overly cinematic seeing as its primarily set in a theatre. There are some early exterior scenes, including a great set piece at a train station, but once 'Sir' returns from hospital then everything else is indoors. With Ronald Harwood adapting his own play, the script is incredibly tight and really showcases the backstage politics in local theatre. Harwood's main strength is in the creation of the two characters of 'Sir' and Norman both of whom feel incredibly human. Despite both appearing to be difficult to deal with, Harwood ensures we have a huge amount of sympathy for each of them. As we can see he's suffering from senility, 'Sir' is somebody who goes from grand posturing on stage to behaving like a scared child in his dressing room. Meanwhile Norman is somebody who cares for the theatre so much that sometimes he can get incredibly nasty. What made the film for me though was the performances from Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay who sparkle as 'Sir' and Norman respectively. Finney is incredibly convincing as the ageing actor, he was only in his forties at the time, and his sensitive portrayal of the actor's dementia is incredibly moving. Courtenay has the harder role but is absolutely astounding, instantly portraying Norman's role as we see him by Finney's side. Both Finney and Courtenay were nominated for Best Actor but lost out to the deserving Robert Duvall, however Courtenay did tie with Duvall for the prize at the Golden Globes. Though I found it funny and moving at times, I thought The Dresser didn't really showcase Peter Yates' directorial skills as much as some of his other features. This was obviously a labour of love for Yates and he did create a memorable film with two magnificent performances however it was never a film that astounded me visually.
Continuing along the British theme next time we have an Oscar-winning film that proved that the British were definitely coming.
The first film is an incredibly American piece of cinema, so much so that it's hard to imagine that it's been directed by a Brit. Breaking Away focuses on four nineteen-year-old men living in the college town of Bloomington, Indiana none of whom have elected to take on higher education. Dave, Mike, Cyril and Moocher have instead decided to take a year off from doing anything in particular much to the chagrin of Dave's second-hand car dealer father. Dave's big passion in cycling and in particular he has a love from everything Italian from the music to the language. Posing as an Italian exchange student, Dave captures the eye of college attendee Kath and the two begin a relationship. Meanwhile, Dave is excited when a group of Italian racers come to town, primarily as he is eager to compete against them. However, the experience at the race leaves him disenfranchised with life in general and he drops the Italian fascination altogether. Meanwhile Mike, sick of being disparaged by the college students, is eager for the group to participate in the 'Little 500' a bike ride that is traditionally only open to the members of the institution. This forces a dejected Dave to put his life in order and build a proper relationship with a father that he has more in common with than he first thought.
Breaking Away definitely feels like it's been influenced by coming-of-age films like The Last Picture Show and American Graffiti. But, whereas those films were stuck in the past, Breaking Away still feels relevant almost thirty-five years after it was released. There's just something relatable about the four central protagonists who haven't quite decided want they want to do with their lives and are under pressure to find their place in life. Steve Tesich's script is incredibly well-observed as the four protagonists talk to each other as young men would and each has a clearly defined character. The cycling motif of Breaking Away forms some of the film's best set pieces namely the end race which has plenty of time devoted to it. But Breaking Away is more than just a cycling film and is an exploration of both friendship and the bond between a father and a son. I'm not afraid to admit that I got emotional at least once during the last twenty minutes of the film as Dave's dad finally opened up to his son. The whole film is enhanced by the use of the Italian classical music which gives Breaking Away its own identity and sets it apart from other coming-of-age movies. In terms of performances the film really belongs to Dennis Christopher as Dave as he delivers an incredibly captivating turn throughout. Christopher won newcomer awards for his role here but oddly he's the only member of the cast who isn't a recognisable name. Instead Christopher's co-stars Daniel Stern, Jackie Earl Haley and especially Dennis Quaid have gone on to have bigger success further down the line. If I have one criticism of the film then it's that Stern's Cyril really doesn't have a lot to do save a couple of overtly comic moments. But that's a minor quibble in a film that I enjoyed incredibly as it combined emotional, realistic drama with some genuinely funny lines.
To an extent the same can be said for Yates' other offering from the 1980s, The Dresser but it differs in every other way. Based on the 1980 play by Ronald Harwood, The Dresser follows a struggling Shakespearian company who continue to put on productions despite the Blitz being in full effect. The company has been cut quite dramatically due to the war and is ruled over by its often dictatorial star simply known here as 'Sir'. The majority of the film centres around the company's production of King Lear during which 'Sir' is set to play the lead role. However, the day of the performance, he has a breakdown in the street and is hospitalised leading us to believe the he is suffering from senility. The majority of the cast and crew feel that the show should be cancelled and that 'Sir' is in no fit state to be on the stage. The only person who wants the show to go on is our leading man's 'dresser' Norman, an effeminate Northerner who has devoted his life to looking after his idol. Norman is essentially the Smithers to Sir's Mr Burns and is jealous of the affection that he gets from others. He also hates it when people are mean towards 'Sir', often believing him to be past his sell-by-date and living-in-the-past. This is especially true of Oxenby, a younger actor feels he should be part of the group. Over the course of the film we see King Lear played out with 'Sir' dishing out some home truths and Norman hoping his idol can light up the stage one more time. For me, the major problem with the film is the ending, which I felt was a little too over-the-top however there's not much that Yates could do if that's how the play ended.
As is the case with a lot of plays that become films, The Dresser isn't overly cinematic seeing as its primarily set in a theatre. There are some early exterior scenes, including a great set piece at a train station, but once 'Sir' returns from hospital then everything else is indoors. With Ronald Harwood adapting his own play, the script is incredibly tight and really showcases the backstage politics in local theatre. Harwood's main strength is in the creation of the two characters of 'Sir' and Norman both of whom feel incredibly human. Despite both appearing to be difficult to deal with, Harwood ensures we have a huge amount of sympathy for each of them. As we can see he's suffering from senility, 'Sir' is somebody who goes from grand posturing on stage to behaving like a scared child in his dressing room. Meanwhile Norman is somebody who cares for the theatre so much that sometimes he can get incredibly nasty. What made the film for me though was the performances from Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay who sparkle as 'Sir' and Norman respectively. Finney is incredibly convincing as the ageing actor, he was only in his forties at the time, and his sensitive portrayal of the actor's dementia is incredibly moving. Courtenay has the harder role but is absolutely astounding, instantly portraying Norman's role as we see him by Finney's side. Both Finney and Courtenay were nominated for Best Actor but lost out to the deserving Robert Duvall, however Courtenay did tie with Duvall for the prize at the Golden Globes. Though I found it funny and moving at times, I thought The Dresser didn't really showcase Peter Yates' directorial skills as much as some of his other features. This was obviously a labour of love for Yates and he did create a memorable film with two magnificent performances however it was never a film that astounded me visually.
Continuing along the British theme next time we have an Oscar-winning film that proved that the British were definitely coming.
Wednesday 26 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 282: Duvall Does Country
Robert Duvall is an actor that we’ve encountered a number of times during the course of the blog. First cropping up as Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird we’ve since seen him in supporting roles in The Godfather films, The Conversation and Network. However he’s never really featured in a leading capacity but in Tender Mercies he plays the washed-up alcoholic ex-country singer Mac Sledge. Tender Mercies was a project that Duvall was involved with from an early stage and the role of Mac was allegedly written for him by screenwriter Horton Foote. Duvall would later go on to win his only Best Actor Oscar for his role in the film and in my opinion this was completely deserved. You can tell Tender Mercies is written by a playwright as the majority of it happens in one fixed location and there are only a few overly dramatic events. It begins with Mac waking up in a motel and, unable to pay the bill, agreeing to work for the owner at the neighbouring gas station. Mac and the widowed owner Rosa Lee soon become attracted to each other and later marry with Mac becoming step-father to her adorable son Sonny. Happy with the quiet life he's found and off the booze, Mac is soon dragged back into the music industry when a journalist arrives asking some questions about his ex-wife Dixie Scott. Dixie has maintained her star power and the pair shares a daughter, Sue Anne who Mac is forbidden from seeing. Soon the article attracts a band of young country singers to come to the motel seeking advice and wondering if Mac will listen to them play at a local bar. Meanwhile, Rosa Lee gets jealous when Mac visits Dixie to enquire over seeing Sue Anne and later gives her a song he's written. Though there's one major incident that tests Mac's new found sobriety and his marriage to Rosa Lee, ultimately this is a rambling film about the dangers of the music industry and the sudden tragedies that life can bring.
Although Horton Foote claims that he didn't write the part of Sledge directly for Duvall, his friendship with the actor definitely had an overall effect on his creation of the character. Duvall's performance is really what anchors the film and he makes Mac Sledge someone you want to see succeed in his new quiet life away from the industry. Duvall makes the most of his time in the sun and really captivates the audience in every scene he's in with his most powerful moments being those including barely any dialogue. He makes Mac a strong-but-silent type whose major weaknesses are song-writing and the love he still has for the daughter he lost due to drinking. Tess Harper is brilliantly natural as Rosa Lee and indeed was cast for that reason having initially auditioned for a minor role in the film. All of the songs written for the film are expertly crafted and really sound like proper country numbers, in particular those performed by Dixie Scott. Tender Mercies also makes the use of its desolate set, a small gas station in West Texas which was chosen due to its lack of surrounding architecture. This is definitely a place that you could believe a reclusive musician would want to settle down in and it makes the outside world seem all the more glitzy whenever we venture outside of the motel. Tender Mercies really doesn't have much of a plot to speak of but I think that's okay as it's definitely more of a character study about how people can change given the right circumstances. Ultimately this was a film that I found easy to watch and one that contained a career-best turn from Robert Duvall who certainly deserved his time in the spotlight.
Next time we focus on a British director who found two of his films nominated for Best Picture during the 1980s.
Tuesday 25 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 279-281: Jack's Back!
Arguably one of the largest presences throughout the last decade was Jack Nicholson, who won the Best Actor prize for his role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and was nominated numerous times elsewhere. Like many of the stars of the 1970s, Jack's success continued into the eighties but oddly he took a backseat in a lot of his roles. In two of the three Best Picture nominees he appeared in he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor twice before being back to playing the lead in the final film of the trio.
In a way I feel that Nicholson's role as a supporting performer allowed him to improve his repertoire and demonstrated the range that he had. A case in point is his turn in Warren Beatty's Reds in which Nicholson plays playwright Eugene O'Neill, an acquaintance of Beatty's journalist turned revolutionary John Reed. Reds was Beatty's epic retelling of the build-up and response to Reed's 'Ten Days That Shook the World' which chronicled his first-hand experiences of the Russian revolution. The first half of the film is dedicated to Reed's life in New York and his relationship with journalist Louise Bryant who is initially presented as a big fan of his. Reed and Bryant get married but their relationship is fraught to say the least as they split-up and reconcile several time throughout the film. At the same time, Bryant starts an affair with O'Neill which is born out of the fact that he doesn't see her as a particularly decent performer in one of his plays. O'Neill pops up throughout the film and is presented as somebody who observes life rather than somebody who actually does something about it. In fact he's almost the polar opposite to Reed whose political views become more radical after his time in Russia and he tries to make some changes to the Socialist Party in America. The final third of the film looks at political identity in Russia and sees Louise try to find John after he goes missing in Finland. The couple's final reunion is beautifully played although it did take a hell of a long time getting there.
It was clear with Reds that Beatty was influenced by the grand epics of past decades, most of which have been featured in this blog. At over three hours long, Reds achieved epic status but at the same time the film felt awfully modern. As with other epics, Reds had some excellent cinematography as well as some great early 20th century period detail and costumes. But what really made Reds unique was the use of 'witnesses', talking heads who appeared throughout the film to discuss their experiences with Reed and Bryant. I felt that these witnesses really made Reds feel like a documentary and their presence bolstered the film from average melodrama to important historical epic. I found Nicholson's performance in Reds to be rather understated and if anything he was the least passionate of all of the characters. To me it took a while to adjust to Jack Nicholson not playing a version of himself but I felt that he was effective in the handful of scenes he appeared in the film. Conversely, Beatty brought the passion both in front and behind the camera to create an idealistic character who was definitely very flawed. Beatty and Diane Keaton had some great chemistry and made us believe in John and Louise's fiery marriage. In fact, Keaton stole the show for me and I enjoyed her performance in Reds more so than her Oscar winning turn in Annie Hall. Oddly, of the four actors nominated for the film it's Maureen Stapleton as Reed's good friend Emma Goldman. There's nothing particularly wrong with Stapleton's performance I just don't feel she's on-screen long enough to warrant the win. Stapleton's only shining moment came towards the end of the film when she delivered a monologue about the changing face of Russian politics. Beatty was awarded with a Best Director prize for Reds, which truly felt like his passion project, whilst a third Oscar was given for the stunning cinematography employed throughout. Ultimately, Reds was a little baggy in places but no more so than other epics and I feel it really benefited from the real life witnesses interviewed throughout. Meanwhile Nicholson delivered an out-of-character performance which demonstrated the range of the actor.
This range continued into a film in which Nicholson won the award for Best Supporting Actor for playing an alcoholic former spaceman who romances his next door neighbour. The film was Terms of Endearment, which itself would go on to win the Best Picture Award that year, and the next door neighbour was Shirely Maclaine's Aurora whose life is chronicled throughout the movie. Over the course of a number of years, we follow the widowed Aurora and her daughter Emma as they fall out and make up numerous times. Aurora is sceptical about Emma's husband Flap, who she believes isn't good enough for her beloved daughter and eventually decides not to attend the woman. This decision puts a wedge between the pair and it takes a while for wounds to be healed and for everybody to move on. When Emma, Flap and their young son move away from Huston things start to unravel as Emma gets pregnant twice more. With Flap never around, Emma is forced to take on the responsibilities of mothering three children with her eldest son beginning to resent her. Throughout the film both Flap and Emma conduct affairs whilst the previously celibate Aurora starts a relationship with Nicholson's Garrett Breedlove, who previously only dated much younger women. The romance between Garrett and Aurora is an interesting one as he is always trying to provoke her whilst she's unsure if he's the right man for her. But a tragic diagnosis puts everything into perspective for the mother and daughter pair who are forced to reconcile for the last time.
As it covers a number of years in our protagonists' lives, I found Terms of Endearment to be incredibly episodic. With its focus on relationships, illness and family bonds I thought that James L Brooks' script suited a soap opera more than it did a Best Picture winner. Indeed, upon watching this film I found little to suggest that it should have been awarded the top prize at that year's Oscars. There were very few likeable characters in the main cast with Aurora being presented as somebody who was realistic to the point of hatred whilst Emma could be quite bratty at times. The only person I had any real sympathy for was Sam, a married bank manager with whom Emma conducts an affair. Michael Gore's Oscar-nominated score was incredibly overpowering and really did nothing for the overall feel of the film. I personally felt that Terms of Endearment's only saving grace were its performances and that's possibly why it went on to win two of the four acting awards at the Oscars. As Aurora, Shirley MacLaine won best actress and I think this was fair enough as she added a slight tenderness to a character who could've been even more detestable in the hands of a lesser actress. However I felt that Maclaine's co-star, and fellow nominee, Debra Winger was more deserving of the Oscar as she definitely turned in the better performance as the tragic Emma. John Lithgow, Jeff Daniels and Danny DeVito lent fine support even if DeVito really didn't have a lot to do as one of Aurora's suitors. But to me it was Nicholson who stole the show as Garrett, a man whose best years are behind him and who is living off one of his previous accomplishments. Nicholson's turn as the man who has to come to terms with the ageing process seemed incredibly real and it almost felt as Garrett's transition marked Nicholson's move to the next stage of his career. Despite him already attaining lead man status, his Supporting Actor Oscar here was more than deserved as he really gave Terms of Endearment the realism is sorely needed.
But, two years later, Nicholson was back where he belonged, in the lead role, as we saw him portray Charley Partanna in Prizzi's Honor. The film is an incredibly darkly comic saga focusing on the Prizzi crime dynasty for whom Charley works as one of their top hitmen. Charley almost married into the family before, conducting a relationship with the Don's grandaughter Maerose, but it ultimately didn't pan out. The film opens at a Prizzi family wedding where Charley spots a beautiful blond woman and wonders who she is. He later runs into this woman at the wedding reception but she quickly disappears before he can ask her name. She later contacts him and reveals herself to be Irene Walker however its only later that Charley discovers that Irene is another contractor for the Prizzi family. In addition, Irene is involved in a casino heist in which she is thought to have stolen a large amount of money from the Prizzis. The film then moves along at a pace as everybody seems to be double crossing one another in order to get money and power. But Irene and Charley's relationship seems to be the only real element of the whole film as they decide to get married. Although the big question is whether two hired killers can ever live together in wedded bliss especially considering all that has gone on up to this point.
Prizzi's Honor was an interesting film in that I never quite knew exactly where it was going. Richard Condon and Janet Roach's script gives us a cast full of characters who really can't be trusted due to the profession that they're all in. In fact the only reliable character is Charley himself who, despite being a contractor, is actually a fairly decent and down-to-Earth guy. You get the impression that, if Charley hadn't been born into this world, then he would just be doing a normal job. At times Prizzi's Honor feels like its spoofing films such as The Godfather especially with its opening wedding scenes which mirror the start of Coppola's classic gangster yarn. The relationship between Charley and Irene also has the feel of a screwball comedy pairing as both are trying to act like the powerful member of the couple. But at times I felt that this comic element made for an imbalance in tone and at times it was hard to decide how seriously Prizzi's Honor was actually taking itself. However John Huston's slick direction made for an incredibly stylish affair which was bolstered by a trio of fine performances. Of all of the performances I've seen of his so far, Prizzi's Honor was the one in which Nicholson played his most down-to-Earth character yet. Nicholson was incredibly restrained as the hitman with a heart who really struggled to know where his allegiance's lay. However Nicholson was eclipsed by his two-female co-stars most notably Kathleen Turner who lent her femme fatale style to the role of Irene. Turner and Nicholson's chemistry was fantastic and I was a little shocked to learn that she didn't receive any recognition from the Oscars. The same cannot be said for Huston's granddaughter Anjelica who won the Best Supporting Actress award for playing the scheming Maerose Prizzi. I though Huston was fantastic throughout the film and really appeared to be having tons of fun playing Maerose. Ultimately Prizzi's Honor was an imbalanced by enjoyable gangster comedy however it wasn't a film that I ever found particularly memorable or engrossing.
Next time we have another Oscar winning performance from an actor who we've seen many times already during this blog.
In a way I feel that Nicholson's role as a supporting performer allowed him to improve his repertoire and demonstrated the range that he had. A case in point is his turn in Warren Beatty's Reds in which Nicholson plays playwright Eugene O'Neill, an acquaintance of Beatty's journalist turned revolutionary John Reed. Reds was Beatty's epic retelling of the build-up and response to Reed's 'Ten Days That Shook the World' which chronicled his first-hand experiences of the Russian revolution. The first half of the film is dedicated to Reed's life in New York and his relationship with journalist Louise Bryant who is initially presented as a big fan of his. Reed and Bryant get married but their relationship is fraught to say the least as they split-up and reconcile several time throughout the film. At the same time, Bryant starts an affair with O'Neill which is born out of the fact that he doesn't see her as a particularly decent performer in one of his plays. O'Neill pops up throughout the film and is presented as somebody who observes life rather than somebody who actually does something about it. In fact he's almost the polar opposite to Reed whose political views become more radical after his time in Russia and he tries to make some changes to the Socialist Party in America. The final third of the film looks at political identity in Russia and sees Louise try to find John after he goes missing in Finland. The couple's final reunion is beautifully played although it did take a hell of a long time getting there.
It was clear with Reds that Beatty was influenced by the grand epics of past decades, most of which have been featured in this blog. At over three hours long, Reds achieved epic status but at the same time the film felt awfully modern. As with other epics, Reds had some excellent cinematography as well as some great early 20th century period detail and costumes. But what really made Reds unique was the use of 'witnesses', talking heads who appeared throughout the film to discuss their experiences with Reed and Bryant. I felt that these witnesses really made Reds feel like a documentary and their presence bolstered the film from average melodrama to important historical epic. I found Nicholson's performance in Reds to be rather understated and if anything he was the least passionate of all of the characters. To me it took a while to adjust to Jack Nicholson not playing a version of himself but I felt that he was effective in the handful of scenes he appeared in the film. Conversely, Beatty brought the passion both in front and behind the camera to create an idealistic character who was definitely very flawed. Beatty and Diane Keaton had some great chemistry and made us believe in John and Louise's fiery marriage. In fact, Keaton stole the show for me and I enjoyed her performance in Reds more so than her Oscar winning turn in Annie Hall. Oddly, of the four actors nominated for the film it's Maureen Stapleton as Reed's good friend Emma Goldman. There's nothing particularly wrong with Stapleton's performance I just don't feel she's on-screen long enough to warrant the win. Stapleton's only shining moment came towards the end of the film when she delivered a monologue about the changing face of Russian politics. Beatty was awarded with a Best Director prize for Reds, which truly felt like his passion project, whilst a third Oscar was given for the stunning cinematography employed throughout. Ultimately, Reds was a little baggy in places but no more so than other epics and I feel it really benefited from the real life witnesses interviewed throughout. Meanwhile Nicholson delivered an out-of-character performance which demonstrated the range of the actor.
This range continued into a film in which Nicholson won the award for Best Supporting Actor for playing an alcoholic former spaceman who romances his next door neighbour. The film was Terms of Endearment, which itself would go on to win the Best Picture Award that year, and the next door neighbour was Shirely Maclaine's Aurora whose life is chronicled throughout the movie. Over the course of a number of years, we follow the widowed Aurora and her daughter Emma as they fall out and make up numerous times. Aurora is sceptical about Emma's husband Flap, who she believes isn't good enough for her beloved daughter and eventually decides not to attend the woman. This decision puts a wedge between the pair and it takes a while for wounds to be healed and for everybody to move on. When Emma, Flap and their young son move away from Huston things start to unravel as Emma gets pregnant twice more. With Flap never around, Emma is forced to take on the responsibilities of mothering three children with her eldest son beginning to resent her. Throughout the film both Flap and Emma conduct affairs whilst the previously celibate Aurora starts a relationship with Nicholson's Garrett Breedlove, who previously only dated much younger women. The romance between Garrett and Aurora is an interesting one as he is always trying to provoke her whilst she's unsure if he's the right man for her. But a tragic diagnosis puts everything into perspective for the mother and daughter pair who are forced to reconcile for the last time.
As it covers a number of years in our protagonists' lives, I found Terms of Endearment to be incredibly episodic. With its focus on relationships, illness and family bonds I thought that James L Brooks' script suited a soap opera more than it did a Best Picture winner. Indeed, upon watching this film I found little to suggest that it should have been awarded the top prize at that year's Oscars. There were very few likeable characters in the main cast with Aurora being presented as somebody who was realistic to the point of hatred whilst Emma could be quite bratty at times. The only person I had any real sympathy for was Sam, a married bank manager with whom Emma conducts an affair. Michael Gore's Oscar-nominated score was incredibly overpowering and really did nothing for the overall feel of the film. I personally felt that Terms of Endearment's only saving grace were its performances and that's possibly why it went on to win two of the four acting awards at the Oscars. As Aurora, Shirley MacLaine won best actress and I think this was fair enough as she added a slight tenderness to a character who could've been even more detestable in the hands of a lesser actress. However I felt that Maclaine's co-star, and fellow nominee, Debra Winger was more deserving of the Oscar as she definitely turned in the better performance as the tragic Emma. John Lithgow, Jeff Daniels and Danny DeVito lent fine support even if DeVito really didn't have a lot to do as one of Aurora's suitors. But to me it was Nicholson who stole the show as Garrett, a man whose best years are behind him and who is living off one of his previous accomplishments. Nicholson's turn as the man who has to come to terms with the ageing process seemed incredibly real and it almost felt as Garrett's transition marked Nicholson's move to the next stage of his career. Despite him already attaining lead man status, his Supporting Actor Oscar here was more than deserved as he really gave Terms of Endearment the realism is sorely needed.
But, two years later, Nicholson was back where he belonged, in the lead role, as we saw him portray Charley Partanna in Prizzi's Honor. The film is an incredibly darkly comic saga focusing on the Prizzi crime dynasty for whom Charley works as one of their top hitmen. Charley almost married into the family before, conducting a relationship with the Don's grandaughter Maerose, but it ultimately didn't pan out. The film opens at a Prizzi family wedding where Charley spots a beautiful blond woman and wonders who she is. He later runs into this woman at the wedding reception but she quickly disappears before he can ask her name. She later contacts him and reveals herself to be Irene Walker however its only later that Charley discovers that Irene is another contractor for the Prizzi family. In addition, Irene is involved in a casino heist in which she is thought to have stolen a large amount of money from the Prizzis. The film then moves along at a pace as everybody seems to be double crossing one another in order to get money and power. But Irene and Charley's relationship seems to be the only real element of the whole film as they decide to get married. Although the big question is whether two hired killers can ever live together in wedded bliss especially considering all that has gone on up to this point.
Prizzi's Honor was an interesting film in that I never quite knew exactly where it was going. Richard Condon and Janet Roach's script gives us a cast full of characters who really can't be trusted due to the profession that they're all in. In fact the only reliable character is Charley himself who, despite being a contractor, is actually a fairly decent and down-to-Earth guy. You get the impression that, if Charley hadn't been born into this world, then he would just be doing a normal job. At times Prizzi's Honor feels like its spoofing films such as The Godfather especially with its opening wedding scenes which mirror the start of Coppola's classic gangster yarn. The relationship between Charley and Irene also has the feel of a screwball comedy pairing as both are trying to act like the powerful member of the couple. But at times I felt that this comic element made for an imbalance in tone and at times it was hard to decide how seriously Prizzi's Honor was actually taking itself. However John Huston's slick direction made for an incredibly stylish affair which was bolstered by a trio of fine performances. Of all of the performances I've seen of his so far, Prizzi's Honor was the one in which Nicholson played his most down-to-Earth character yet. Nicholson was incredibly restrained as the hitman with a heart who really struggled to know where his allegiance's lay. However Nicholson was eclipsed by his two-female co-stars most notably Kathleen Turner who lent her femme fatale style to the role of Irene. Turner and Nicholson's chemistry was fantastic and I was a little shocked to learn that she didn't receive any recognition from the Oscars. The same cannot be said for Huston's granddaughter Anjelica who won the Best Supporting Actress award for playing the scheming Maerose Prizzi. I though Huston was fantastic throughout the film and really appeared to be having tons of fun playing Maerose. Ultimately Prizzi's Honor was an imbalanced by enjoyable gangster comedy however it wasn't a film that I ever found particularly memorable or engrossing.
Next time we have another Oscar winning performance from an actor who we've seen many times already during this blog.
Friday 21 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 278: The Only Way is Wessex
In almost every decade I've gone through during this challenge there's at least one film that's based on a work of a classic British literature. Whether it be Dickens' David Copperfield, Bronte's Wuthering Heights or Thomas' Sons and Lovers; there always seems to be a lot of love for a good adaptation. That continues this decade with Tess, Roman Polanski's take on Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Every time I watch an adaptation of Tess it takes me back to my college days when I studied the text and it was no different this time. Interestingly, Polanski cast German actress Nastassja Kinski in the lead role, presumably because of her looks rather than anything else. I did feel that Kinski brought a certain vulnerability to the role and you believed in all her desires and fears during the film. That being said, I struggled to take her seriously in the role due to the fact that she could never master the Wessex accent that was required of her and every now and then her natural German twang took over. Polanski's adaptation was pretty faithful to the book, which sees Tess work for the devious Alec d'Urbeville who attempts to have his way with her at every turn. I did feel that Polanski slightly toned down the character of Alec from the book as his rape of Tess was never fully explained, but then I can understand that this would probably deter some audiences from watching the film in the first place. From there we see Tess get pregnant, meet her true love Angel and then experience heartache when he can't live with the fact that she isn't as innocent as he first thought. The overriding theme of the film was that all men are evil whether it be the lecherous Alec, the hypocritical Angel or Tess' drunk of a father. I did feel that the final scenes, in which Tess murders Alec then runs away with Angel, were incredibly well-imagined and the Stonehenge finale was skilfully done. Another aspect of the book that was slightly toned down was the ending itself which just sees Tess' arrest rather than her eventual hanging which we simply read about with the help of on-screen subtitles.
I did feel that Polanski's adaptation of the film was a successful one as I think the film would've appealed to fans of the book whilst not alienating a bigger audience who may not have seen it. The film itself was a labour of love for Polanski as his late wife Sharon Tate suggested he adapt the book before her death. Tess is beautifully shot thanks to a stunning Brittany landscape, which doubles here for Hardy's Wessex primarily due to the fact that Polanski couldn't film in the UK for legal reasons. The film's cinematography won an Oscar which was interestingly awarded to Geoffrey Unsworth, who died half way during filming, and Ghislain Cloquet who finished off the work he'd started. The film won a further two Oscars; one for the brilliant period costume and one for the stunning art direction. I believe both of these were deserved as everything about Tess' scenery was incredibly stunning. Away from Kinski, all of the other actors played their characters exactly the way I'd imagined them in the books and this added to the success of the adaptation. Whilst not a great film, I'd say Tess was an incredibly stunning adaptation of a great novel that had a mass appeal to both fans of the book and audiences as a whole.
Next time we return to another actor who we previously met in the 1970s.
Thursday 20 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 276-277: Field of Gold
In my last post I looked at On Golden Pond which featured the final Best Actress winning performance from Katharine Hepburn. Hepburn is famous for being the only woman in history to win the Best Actress prize a total of four times a record that has never been matched. Despite all her nominations, Meryl Streep has only won the prize twice as have Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda and Luise Rainer.
One name whose missing from that list is Sally Field, whose two wins both came during ceremonies in the 1980s. In fact Field's first win came for a film up for Best Picture at the 1980 ceremony in which she played the title character of Norma Rae. Based on the story of Crystal Lee Sutton, Norma Rae Webster is a cotton mill worker in a small Southern town. When we meet her she has two children by two different men and lives with her parents both of whom work alongside her. We learn early on that Norma Rae makes ill-advised decisions as we see her conducting an affair with a married man. However she soon finds love with Sonny, a man with a young daughter who Norma Rae soon raises as her own. At the same time as meeting Sonny, Norma Rae also has several encounters with Reuben Warshowsky, a union organiser who has come to the town hoping to unionise the mill employees. However a lot of the residents are set in their ways and view the union as bad news especially considering how the mill bosses generally treat those who wish to join. But Norma Rae is unmoved in her determination and soon agrees to help Reuben in anyway she can, a move that upsets certain people around her. As she begins to devote more of her time to helping Reuben, Sonny begins to feel neglected and their relationship suffers as a result. But finally, after the death of her father, Norma Rae takes the biggest stand imaginable and this results in some really tear-jerking scenes.
There are a lot of films like Norma Rae being made to this day and their sole intent is to be nominated for as many awards as possible. In fact films such as Erin Brockovich and North Country owe a enormous debt to the film as they share both a similar structure and a story about a single mother attempting to rise above the system and do the right. I feel that if I'd watched Norma Rae when it was first released I might have a bit less of a cynical attitude than I do it in 2014. However I have to admit that the film did move me in its final moments as the factory employees agree to be unionised. The film does do exactly what is says on the tin as this is a story about Norma Rae first and foremost. Screenwriters Harriet Frank, Jr. and Irving Ravetch make Norma Rae feel like a real person as she's a woman who has her faults but has a genuine heart of gold. In addition they paint the picture of the close-knit community perfectly a theme heightened thanks to Martin Ritt's assured direction. But, at the heart of Norma Rae, is the outstanding central performance from Sally Field who at the time was a relative newcomer. Field combines a strength and vulnerability to create a heroine that we just want to succeed at whatever she decides to do. Her performance is what makes the film so captivating and without her I feel Norma Rae could have lapsed into melodrama fairly easily. Ultimately, while not a classic, Norma Rae is a solid feelgood film that has a cracking central performance from an actress who would receive more accolades later in the decade.
Field's second Best Actress win was for her performance as a struggling widow in Places in the Heart. The film, set during the American depression, sees Field's Edna Spalding become a widow when her sheriff husband is accidentally shot and killed. Realising that her husband was still repaying money he borrowed to buy the family farm, Edna is faced with the prospect of moving of splitting up her family. Instead of leaving the house, Edna decides to grow cotton on the land with help from black drifter Moze. Edna gets another lodger when the banker who she owes money to suggests that his blind brother-in-law Mr Will moves in. Mr Will is initially hostile to Edna, and even scolds her children, but later he bonds with the Spalding brood. Edna's new ramshackle family eventually realise that they need to harvest the cotton as soon as possible and get the price for it so Edna can keep the farm. But soon Moze faces difficulty from the racist townsfolk and Will is forced to use all of his facilities to help his new found friend. If this were the only story in Places in the Heart then I may have enjoyed the film a lot more but unfortunately there was a subplot involving Edna's siter and her philandering husband. Edna's brother-in-law Wayne is seen to be having an affair with the local schoolteacher Viola and their story plays out alongside Edna's. However, I found this plot to be utterly pointless and it should have been written out of the film altogether.
In fact one of Places in the Heart's main issues is its script, so it makes it all the more surprising that the other Oscar it won was for Best Adapted Screenplay. Whilst I understand that the screenwriters wanted to remain faithful to the original story, I found the Wayne subplot really didn't fit in with what the rest of the film was trying to do. Like Norma Rae, Places in the Heart is another story of a single woman trying to cope in a male-dominated society. The theme of the outcast is quite prevalent throughout as we have a woman, a black man and a blind man all living together and trying to make the best of a bad situation. Although the story is disjointed, Places in the Heart more than makes up for it with some wonderful cinematography. The period detail is wonderfully realised and cinematographer Néstor Almendros shoots the Texas landscape beautifully. I personally feel that Field's performance isn't a patch on her turn in Norma Rae and she really didn't make me care about the character of Edna very much at all. The performance of the film actually came from John Malkovich as Mr Will as I found his transformation to be utterly believable. Danny Glover similarly excelled as the likeable Moze and his turn here was a million miles away from his performance in The Color Purple. Oddly, Places in the Heart's lasting legacy isn't anything in the film but rather Field's Oscar Speech in which she let out the iconic line, "I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!" Unfortunately, I didn't like the film as much as the academy like Field's performance as I found it overly sentimental with a disjointed story albeit one that has some fine supporting turns and some brilliant cinematography.
Next up we take it back a century with an adaptation of a classic piece of English Literature.
One name whose missing from that list is Sally Field, whose two wins both came during ceremonies in the 1980s. In fact Field's first win came for a film up for Best Picture at the 1980 ceremony in which she played the title character of Norma Rae. Based on the story of Crystal Lee Sutton, Norma Rae Webster is a cotton mill worker in a small Southern town. When we meet her she has two children by two different men and lives with her parents both of whom work alongside her. We learn early on that Norma Rae makes ill-advised decisions as we see her conducting an affair with a married man. However she soon finds love with Sonny, a man with a young daughter who Norma Rae soon raises as her own. At the same time as meeting Sonny, Norma Rae also has several encounters with Reuben Warshowsky, a union organiser who has come to the town hoping to unionise the mill employees. However a lot of the residents are set in their ways and view the union as bad news especially considering how the mill bosses generally treat those who wish to join. But Norma Rae is unmoved in her determination and soon agrees to help Reuben in anyway she can, a move that upsets certain people around her. As she begins to devote more of her time to helping Reuben, Sonny begins to feel neglected and their relationship suffers as a result. But finally, after the death of her father, Norma Rae takes the biggest stand imaginable and this results in some really tear-jerking scenes.
There are a lot of films like Norma Rae being made to this day and their sole intent is to be nominated for as many awards as possible. In fact films such as Erin Brockovich and North Country owe a enormous debt to the film as they share both a similar structure and a story about a single mother attempting to rise above the system and do the right. I feel that if I'd watched Norma Rae when it was first released I might have a bit less of a cynical attitude than I do it in 2014. However I have to admit that the film did move me in its final moments as the factory employees agree to be unionised. The film does do exactly what is says on the tin as this is a story about Norma Rae first and foremost. Screenwriters Harriet Frank, Jr. and Irving Ravetch make Norma Rae feel like a real person as she's a woman who has her faults but has a genuine heart of gold. In addition they paint the picture of the close-knit community perfectly a theme heightened thanks to Martin Ritt's assured direction. But, at the heart of Norma Rae, is the outstanding central performance from Sally Field who at the time was a relative newcomer. Field combines a strength and vulnerability to create a heroine that we just want to succeed at whatever she decides to do. Her performance is what makes the film so captivating and without her I feel Norma Rae could have lapsed into melodrama fairly easily. Ultimately, while not a classic, Norma Rae is a solid feelgood film that has a cracking central performance from an actress who would receive more accolades later in the decade.
Field's second Best Actress win was for her performance as a struggling widow in Places in the Heart. The film, set during the American depression, sees Field's Edna Spalding become a widow when her sheriff husband is accidentally shot and killed. Realising that her husband was still repaying money he borrowed to buy the family farm, Edna is faced with the prospect of moving of splitting up her family. Instead of leaving the house, Edna decides to grow cotton on the land with help from black drifter Moze. Edna gets another lodger when the banker who she owes money to suggests that his blind brother-in-law Mr Will moves in. Mr Will is initially hostile to Edna, and even scolds her children, but later he bonds with the Spalding brood. Edna's new ramshackle family eventually realise that they need to harvest the cotton as soon as possible and get the price for it so Edna can keep the farm. But soon Moze faces difficulty from the racist townsfolk and Will is forced to use all of his facilities to help his new found friend. If this were the only story in Places in the Heart then I may have enjoyed the film a lot more but unfortunately there was a subplot involving Edna's siter and her philandering husband. Edna's brother-in-law Wayne is seen to be having an affair with the local schoolteacher Viola and their story plays out alongside Edna's. However, I found this plot to be utterly pointless and it should have been written out of the film altogether.
In fact one of Places in the Heart's main issues is its script, so it makes it all the more surprising that the other Oscar it won was for Best Adapted Screenplay. Whilst I understand that the screenwriters wanted to remain faithful to the original story, I found the Wayne subplot really didn't fit in with what the rest of the film was trying to do. Like Norma Rae, Places in the Heart is another story of a single woman trying to cope in a male-dominated society. The theme of the outcast is quite prevalent throughout as we have a woman, a black man and a blind man all living together and trying to make the best of a bad situation. Although the story is disjointed, Places in the Heart more than makes up for it with some wonderful cinematography. The period detail is wonderfully realised and cinematographer Néstor Almendros shoots the Texas landscape beautifully. I personally feel that Field's performance isn't a patch on her turn in Norma Rae and she really didn't make me care about the character of Edna very much at all. The performance of the film actually came from John Malkovich as Mr Will as I found his transformation to be utterly believable. Danny Glover similarly excelled as the likeable Moze and his turn here was a million miles away from his performance in The Color Purple. Oddly, Places in the Heart's lasting legacy isn't anything in the film but rather Field's Oscar Speech in which she let out the iconic line, "I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!" Unfortunately, I didn't like the film as much as the academy like Field's performance as I found it overly sentimental with a disjointed story albeit one that has some fine supporting turns and some brilliant cinematography.
Next up we take it back a century with an adaptation of a classic piece of English Literature.
Monday 17 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 275: Fonda Family Values
Throughout these 1980s posts I've primarily been concentrating on stars from the 1970s as well as those who made it big in the current decade. But one film contained two actors whose progress we've been following for the best part of fifty years and who both won acting Oscars for the movie in question. Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn were the stars in question and On Golden Pond would be his last film and her last major role also. In it they play old married couple Ethel and Norman Thayer who spend their summers in the titular lake community where nothing really happens. Their trip coincides with Norman's eightieth birthday and this occasion prompts the couple's estranged daughter Chelsea, played by Henry's real-life daughter Jane, to join them. Chelsea brings along her new dentist boyfriend Bill and his teenage son Billy Ray the latter of whom really doesn't enjoy spending time with an old married couple. Unfortunately this is just what he's forced to do when Ethel agrees to look after the youngster while Chelsea and Bill go on holiday round Europe. The cantankerous Norman and the disenchanted Billy Ray initially clash but later bond over their shared love of fishing. Billy Ray, whose often been disregarded by other adults, comes to love the elderly couple who really appear to care for him. On her return, Chelsea is dismayed to learn of the bond that Norman has formed with Billy Ray as she feels that he was never caring enough towards her.
The relationship between Norman and Chelsea apparently mirrored that of Henry and Jane Fonda who never really saw eye to eye. In fact Jane brought the rights to the play on which the film is based as she thought her father would be perfect in the lead role. I would agree with her as Fonda adds an air of dignity to a role that would seem cliched in the hands of a lesser actor. He also shares a wonderful chemistry with Katharine Hepburn and I was surprised to discover that the two had never even met up to this point. It was clear that they got on wonderfully to the extent that Hepburn even lent Henry the hat of her late partner Spencer Tracy which he would go on to wear throughout the film. Even before learning it was based on a play, On Golden Pond felt particularly stagy and the majority of the film plays out as a collection of scenes often with just two characters talking. Thankfully director Mark Rydell has added a certain cinematic flair to proceedings with some beautiful shots of Squam Lake in New Hampshire which doubled for Golden Pond. If there was a weak link in the film that it was Jane Fonda whose scenes and presence on screen were the only occasions when On Golden Pond lapsed into melodrama. Though I'm sure it was a fairly personal project for the actress I felt she was over-performing and her pondering over whether Norman never showered her with affection just felt a little corny. Ultimately, On Golden Pond played out as the Hepburn and Fonda show which I didn't think was a bad thing. They were both fantastic and deserved their respective Oscars even though it's slightly sad that this is the last time we'll see either of them on this list. However I felt that this exploration of growing old and family life in general was a fitting song for two of the greatest performers of all time.
Next up we meet an actress who won two awards during the 1980s for her leading performances in two inspiring films.
Friday 14 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 272-274: The King of the Blockbuster
Back in the mid-1970s we saw that rise of the blockbuster film with Best Picture nominees such as Jaws and Star Wars leading the way. It would be the directors of these two films, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, who would become synonymous with the blockbuster throughout the following decades. Spielberg in particular would be hailed as the king of the blockbuster after helming four of the 1980s top ten grossing films, two of which were nominated for Best Picture.
In fact the first of these two major blockbusters was a combination between Lucas and Spielberg with the former creating the character of Indiana Jones and the latter helming his first big screen adventure - Raiders of the Lost Ark. According to folklore, the idea was cooked up after Spielberg voiced his desire to direct a James Bond film. Lucas informed his friend that the 'Indiana' character he'd been working on, based on Stuart Grainger heroes of the 1950s, would be an ideal fit. Alongside the film's eventual screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, the pair hammered out various ideas for what would become Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Indiana Jones character eventually became an archaeology professor and treasure hunter who, in this first instalment, is tasked by the US government to find the Ark of the Covenant. The reason for their haste is due to the fact that the Nazis are also after the Ark and conveniently have hired Jones' arch rival Belloq as their head archaeologist. Jones soon runs into his old flame Marion in a bar in Nepal and she has an encounter with the dreaded Nazis before teaming up with Indiana. The majority of the action takes place in Cario where Jones must outwit Belloq and the Nazis and keep Marion safe at the same time.
After the success of Star Wars, you would think that anything with George Lucas' name attached to it would be snapped up instantly. But once again the major studios turned down the Indiana Jones franchise as they felt the story was too over-the-top. Whilst they were right there's no denying that Raiders of the Lost Ark is an incredibly enjoyable watch and is still entertaining over thirty years later. Part of the charm of the Indiana Jones character is the old-fashioned nature of the plot and the square-jawed look of the central character. Playing a slight variation on the Han Solo character, Harrison Ford is perfectly reserved when he needs to be but also shares great chemistry with Karen Allen as Marion. The swashbuckling nature of the plot is neatly counterbalanced by the amount of special effects that were available to film-makers in the 1980s. Indeed, Raiders of the Lost Ark did go on to win the Visual Effects Oscar, which I believe it deserved for the face-melting scene alone. The film won a further four Oscars, all in the visual and technical categories, however unfortunately composer John Williams didn't win an award for his score. Like with all of the Spielberg films he's worked with, Williams' score enhances the mood of the film and helps to convey the character's emotions. Despite it not being as deep as other Best Picture nominees, Raiders of the Lost Ark is a thoroughly enjoyable romp with a well-written story and some great visuals. It's a shame that not more action adventure films get nominated for Oscars but then a lot of them today are simply cheap carbon copies of this brilliant Spielberg original.
One year later, Spielberg had another film in the Best Picture category and this offering would go on to surpass Star Wars as the highest grossing film of all time. The film was E.T. and was loosely based on the imaginary friend that Spielberg created following the divorce of his parents. The lead character in E.T., Henry Thomas' Elliot, is also the child of a recent divorce and currently lives with his mother, brother and sister in California. Whilst his mother still hasn't completely gotten over her divorce, his older brother Michael has taken over as the man of the house and often chastises Elliot for his child-like behaviour. Both his mother and brother don't believe him when he tells them he's encountered a 'goblin' in the back yard that is until he takes him into the house. Eventually, Michael and Elliot decide that their goblin is an extra-terrestrial and has come from outer space. The brothers decide to keep E.T.'s presence a secret from their mother and swear their sister Gertie to secrecy when she accidentally discovers the creature. E.T.'s arrival appears to create a bonding experience for the siblings as they attempt to help him get back to his home planet. But this is easier said than done when government agents swarm the house and quarantine both Elliot and E.T. This sets up a couple of dazzling final scenes that have since gone down as some of the most famous cinematic moments of all time. In fact, one iconic bike ride in particular would later become the calling card for Spielberg's own Amblin Entertainment Production Company.
Like most people of my age I have watched E.T. several times, usually when it airs on the TV over the Christmas holidays. But this is the first time that I really thought about the film as a whole and mostly about how simplistic it all is. Nothing much happens in terms of the story but at the same time it's a film you'll always remember for a number of reasons. Firstly E.T. itself is a wonderful creation, an iconic screen figure whose pointy illuminated finger is a thing of beauty. Secondly, I feel that the three child actors are all brilliant and add a sense of realism to an otherwise fantastical film. Interestingly the majority of the film was shot in chronological order primarily to get the best reactions from the children. Henry Thomas is totally great as Elliot whilst a young Drew Barrymore steals every scene she's in as the fantastic Gertie. Adding some humanity to the film is Dee Wallace as Elliot's mother who portrays the role of a single mother getting over a divorce beautifully. It's this family aspect that gives E.T. its edge and it's easy to see how Spielberg drew on his own childhood to create the central brood. Allen Daviau's camera captures all of the wonderment that Spielberg can throw at it and is particularly brilliant at filming Elliot and E.T.'s first meeting. Finally, I feel that John Williams' score is vital to the film's success as it contains very little dialogue and at times his accompaniment feels like that of a pianist during a silent film. Williams' score was honoured with one of the film's four Oscars with awards also given for achievement in Sound, Sound Editing and Visual Effects. Furthermore the director of that year's Best Picture claimed that E.T. deserved to win but you'll have to wait to find out who that was and what film they won for.
Three years after E.T.'s nomination, Spileberg would have another film in consideration for the top prize. But, unlike his previous Best Picture offerings, The Color Purple was an entirely different beast and demonstrated a new side to the director that he would enhance over the coming decades. Based on Alice Walker's book, the film looks over thirty years in the life of Celie Harris, a young black woman who had a terrible life. We discover immediately that Celie is the victim of sexual abuse from her father and that she has produced two children as a result. She's soon sold on to the despicable Albert Johnson, who really wants to be with her sister Nettie, who basically treats her as a servant. When Nettie rejects Albert's advances he sends her away and Celie eventually believes her sister is dead. Celie's life is improved by two women, the first of whom is Sofia, a woman who later goes on to become her daughter-in-law. Sofia is someone who, unlike Celie, won't be treated like a victim and often hits back at men who hit her. The other woman is jazz singer Shug Avery, Albert's one true love, who takes a shine to the nervous Celie. Over their time together Shug teaches Celie to come out of her skin and eventually helps her find the letters that Nettie sent to her. By the end of the tale everybody has redeemed themselves so to speak and the film concludes with a tearful finale that is incredibly moving for those who don't possess a hear of stone.
The Color Purple was seen as Spielberg's foray into 'serious film-making' and it definitely got a mixed critical reaction on its release. Some felt that Spielberg was tugging at the heartstrings a little too much whilst others felt he was sugar-coating the plight of black people during the early 20th century. While I can certainly see their points, my main problem was that it took so long to get going. Although it's understandable that Spielberg wanted to establish the relationship between Nettie and Celie, the first thirty minutes dragged for me as we had to rattle through a large amount of exposition. The film really got going when Whoopi Goldberg took over playing the role of Celie as her performance was truly stupendous. Goldberg's tender take on the character makes you really care about Celie and she makes every single moment count when she's on screen. The appearances of both Sofia and Shug made the saga progress even faster and from that point on I was completely engrossed until the end credits rolled. This was partly down to the performances of Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery both of whom steal the show in their various appearances. Winfrey starts out by making Sofia a force to be reckoned with before pulling it back to portray her world-weary nature. Similarly, Avery makes Shug a force of nature but changes the character as the years go by, plus she has an amazing singing voice. All three ladies were nominated for acting awards at that year's Oscars but none of the trio were victorious which, in the case of Goldberg, is a disgrace. In fact the film has the dubious honour of receiving eleven nominations without getting a single win. Though the film does have problems, I felt that it was beautifully shot, wonderfully acted and included a brilliant score from the excellent Quincy Jones.
Throughout the rest of his career, Spielberg would go on to balance his output as he continued to create blockbusters while at the same time harnessing his love for the so-called 'serious films'. It would be these historical pictures which would net him two Best Director Oscars in the next decade and one of them would grab the Best Picture honour also. But for now at least we have to bid adieu to Mr Spielberg as we see what else the 1980s has to offer.
Next up we have the final major film by two stars who've cropped up numerous times during this blog.
In fact the first of these two major blockbusters was a combination between Lucas and Spielberg with the former creating the character of Indiana Jones and the latter helming his first big screen adventure - Raiders of the Lost Ark. According to folklore, the idea was cooked up after Spielberg voiced his desire to direct a James Bond film. Lucas informed his friend that the 'Indiana' character he'd been working on, based on Stuart Grainger heroes of the 1950s, would be an ideal fit. Alongside the film's eventual screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, the pair hammered out various ideas for what would become Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Indiana Jones character eventually became an archaeology professor and treasure hunter who, in this first instalment, is tasked by the US government to find the Ark of the Covenant. The reason for their haste is due to the fact that the Nazis are also after the Ark and conveniently have hired Jones' arch rival Belloq as their head archaeologist. Jones soon runs into his old flame Marion in a bar in Nepal and she has an encounter with the dreaded Nazis before teaming up with Indiana. The majority of the action takes place in Cario where Jones must outwit Belloq and the Nazis and keep Marion safe at the same time.
After the success of Star Wars, you would think that anything with George Lucas' name attached to it would be snapped up instantly. But once again the major studios turned down the Indiana Jones franchise as they felt the story was too over-the-top. Whilst they were right there's no denying that Raiders of the Lost Ark is an incredibly enjoyable watch and is still entertaining over thirty years later. Part of the charm of the Indiana Jones character is the old-fashioned nature of the plot and the square-jawed look of the central character. Playing a slight variation on the Han Solo character, Harrison Ford is perfectly reserved when he needs to be but also shares great chemistry with Karen Allen as Marion. The swashbuckling nature of the plot is neatly counterbalanced by the amount of special effects that were available to film-makers in the 1980s. Indeed, Raiders of the Lost Ark did go on to win the Visual Effects Oscar, which I believe it deserved for the face-melting scene alone. The film won a further four Oscars, all in the visual and technical categories, however unfortunately composer John Williams didn't win an award for his score. Like with all of the Spielberg films he's worked with, Williams' score enhances the mood of the film and helps to convey the character's emotions. Despite it not being as deep as other Best Picture nominees, Raiders of the Lost Ark is a thoroughly enjoyable romp with a well-written story and some great visuals. It's a shame that not more action adventure films get nominated for Oscars but then a lot of them today are simply cheap carbon copies of this brilliant Spielberg original.
One year later, Spielberg had another film in the Best Picture category and this offering would go on to surpass Star Wars as the highest grossing film of all time. The film was E.T. and was loosely based on the imaginary friend that Spielberg created following the divorce of his parents. The lead character in E.T., Henry Thomas' Elliot, is also the child of a recent divorce and currently lives with his mother, brother and sister in California. Whilst his mother still hasn't completely gotten over her divorce, his older brother Michael has taken over as the man of the house and often chastises Elliot for his child-like behaviour. Both his mother and brother don't believe him when he tells them he's encountered a 'goblin' in the back yard that is until he takes him into the house. Eventually, Michael and Elliot decide that their goblin is an extra-terrestrial and has come from outer space. The brothers decide to keep E.T.'s presence a secret from their mother and swear their sister Gertie to secrecy when she accidentally discovers the creature. E.T.'s arrival appears to create a bonding experience for the siblings as they attempt to help him get back to his home planet. But this is easier said than done when government agents swarm the house and quarantine both Elliot and E.T. This sets up a couple of dazzling final scenes that have since gone down as some of the most famous cinematic moments of all time. In fact, one iconic bike ride in particular would later become the calling card for Spielberg's own Amblin Entertainment Production Company.
Like most people of my age I have watched E.T. several times, usually when it airs on the TV over the Christmas holidays. But this is the first time that I really thought about the film as a whole and mostly about how simplistic it all is. Nothing much happens in terms of the story but at the same time it's a film you'll always remember for a number of reasons. Firstly E.T. itself is a wonderful creation, an iconic screen figure whose pointy illuminated finger is a thing of beauty. Secondly, I feel that the three child actors are all brilliant and add a sense of realism to an otherwise fantastical film. Interestingly the majority of the film was shot in chronological order primarily to get the best reactions from the children. Henry Thomas is totally great as Elliot whilst a young Drew Barrymore steals every scene she's in as the fantastic Gertie. Adding some humanity to the film is Dee Wallace as Elliot's mother who portrays the role of a single mother getting over a divorce beautifully. It's this family aspect that gives E.T. its edge and it's easy to see how Spielberg drew on his own childhood to create the central brood. Allen Daviau's camera captures all of the wonderment that Spielberg can throw at it and is particularly brilliant at filming Elliot and E.T.'s first meeting. Finally, I feel that John Williams' score is vital to the film's success as it contains very little dialogue and at times his accompaniment feels like that of a pianist during a silent film. Williams' score was honoured with one of the film's four Oscars with awards also given for achievement in Sound, Sound Editing and Visual Effects. Furthermore the director of that year's Best Picture claimed that E.T. deserved to win but you'll have to wait to find out who that was and what film they won for.
Three years after E.T.'s nomination, Spileberg would have another film in consideration for the top prize. But, unlike his previous Best Picture offerings, The Color Purple was an entirely different beast and demonstrated a new side to the director that he would enhance over the coming decades. Based on Alice Walker's book, the film looks over thirty years in the life of Celie Harris, a young black woman who had a terrible life. We discover immediately that Celie is the victim of sexual abuse from her father and that she has produced two children as a result. She's soon sold on to the despicable Albert Johnson, who really wants to be with her sister Nettie, who basically treats her as a servant. When Nettie rejects Albert's advances he sends her away and Celie eventually believes her sister is dead. Celie's life is improved by two women, the first of whom is Sofia, a woman who later goes on to become her daughter-in-law. Sofia is someone who, unlike Celie, won't be treated like a victim and often hits back at men who hit her. The other woman is jazz singer Shug Avery, Albert's one true love, who takes a shine to the nervous Celie. Over their time together Shug teaches Celie to come out of her skin and eventually helps her find the letters that Nettie sent to her. By the end of the tale everybody has redeemed themselves so to speak and the film concludes with a tearful finale that is incredibly moving for those who don't possess a hear of stone.
The Color Purple was seen as Spielberg's foray into 'serious film-making' and it definitely got a mixed critical reaction on its release. Some felt that Spielberg was tugging at the heartstrings a little too much whilst others felt he was sugar-coating the plight of black people during the early 20th century. While I can certainly see their points, my main problem was that it took so long to get going. Although it's understandable that Spielberg wanted to establish the relationship between Nettie and Celie, the first thirty minutes dragged for me as we had to rattle through a large amount of exposition. The film really got going when Whoopi Goldberg took over playing the role of Celie as her performance was truly stupendous. Goldberg's tender take on the character makes you really care about Celie and she makes every single moment count when she's on screen. The appearances of both Sofia and Shug made the saga progress even faster and from that point on I was completely engrossed until the end credits rolled. This was partly down to the performances of Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery both of whom steal the show in their various appearances. Winfrey starts out by making Sofia a force to be reckoned with before pulling it back to portray her world-weary nature. Similarly, Avery makes Shug a force of nature but changes the character as the years go by, plus she has an amazing singing voice. All three ladies were nominated for acting awards at that year's Oscars but none of the trio were victorious which, in the case of Goldberg, is a disgrace. In fact the film has the dubious honour of receiving eleven nominations without getting a single win. Though the film does have problems, I felt that it was beautifully shot, wonderfully acted and included a brilliant score from the excellent Quincy Jones.
Throughout the rest of his career, Spielberg would go on to balance his output as he continued to create blockbusters while at the same time harnessing his love for the so-called 'serious films'. It would be these historical pictures which would net him two Best Director Oscars in the next decade and one of them would grab the Best Picture honour also. But for now at least we have to bid adieu to Mr Spielberg as we see what else the 1980s has to offer.
Next up we have the final major film by two stars who've cropped up numerous times during this blog.
Wednesday 12 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 271: Our Men in Cambodia
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More often than not these Best Picture nominees are based on historical events and that's true of my next film, The Killing Fields. Exploring the struggle of the Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge massacre it sees the atrocity through the eyes of American journalist Sydney Schanberg and his interpreter Dith Pran. Over the course of two years Sydney and Pran become good friends but both realise that events in Cambodia are just getting worse. While Sydney arranges safe passage out of Cambodia for the Pran family, Dith decides not to go with them and instead continues to help his friend out with his stories. Eventually the embassies extradite all of the foreigners out of Cambodia and, after failing to get out of the country with a false passport, Pran is forced to go it alone. The second half of the film primarily deals with Pran's struggles and his decision to play dumb in fear of alerting the soldiers to his true identity. Meanwhile, back in America, Sydney does all he can to locate Pran and tries to bring hope to his family that he's still alive somewhere. But, after winning a Pulitzer, he is chastised by fellow journalist Al Rockoff who himself was in Cambodia with Pran. As American forces start to invade Cambodia, Pran still finds his life in danger and attempts to avoid peril until he finally gets to safety. Though I enjoyed a lot of The Killing Fields, primarily because it side-stepped any sort of Hollywood sentimentality, the final scene in which the two men embrace while 'Imagine' plays over the top is a little cheesy.
It's fair to say that The Killing Fields was tough going at times but I suppose that was point. Director Roland Joffé employs almost a documentary-like style to The Killing Fields as he instructs cinematographer Chris Menges to capture every inch of the atrocity. Menges lets us see the horrific nature of events through the eyes of Sydney and Pran as dead bodies are left on the side of the road and eventually occupy large valleys. In particular I found this to be Pran's story and, in his first ever film role, Dr. Haing S Ngor brought the perfect amount of realism to the role. It was Ngor's naturalistic performance that really lifted the film and added to the believable nature of the story. In fact the second half of the film basically relies on his facial expressions to tell the story of The Killing Fields as the latter Cambodian scenes have few lines of dialogue. Ngor would go on to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor but to me his performance was as much a lead role as Sam Waterston's with the pair having about equal time on screen. Not that there was anything wrong with Waterston's portrayal of Sydney as I found him to be sincere and earnest throughout. Although it took me a while to get into it, The Killing Fields really grabbed me with its Oscar-winning cinematography and editing. Even though the film didn't take the top prize at that year's Oscars, it did win Best Film at that year's BAFTAS and it definitely strikes me as a deserving nominee. Ultimately this was a film to appreciate rather than enjoy but it's a thoroughly interesting watch and Ngor's performance is just sublime.
Next time we have three films from a director who would become synonymous with the big-budget blockbuster.
Tuesday 11 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 268-270: Dustin does the Double
In the 1970s we saw Dustin Hoffman star in a diverse range of films and garner a couple of Best Actor nomination. But it was only during the ceremonies of the 1980s did he finally get rewarded for his fine body of work. In fact in two of the three films below he won Best Actor Oscars and, coincidentally, both films went on to win Best Picture awards.
Hoffman's success started early in the decade when appeared in Kramer Vs Kramer, the winner of Best Picture at the 1980 ceremony. The film saw him play harassed advertising executive Ted Kramer a man who spends a lot more time at work than he does at home. Ted's life changes dramatically one day when his wife Joanna walks out on him without giving him any notice at all. Ted is then forced to bring up the couple's son Billy single-handedly, a task that he finds more than a little difficult. Ted struggles to find the balance between handling a major account at his advertising firm and dealing with the kind of minute details that raising a seven year old brings. These problems are highlighted by the tantrums that Billy has as well as the accident that occurs when he falls off a climbing frame. But gradually the father/son bond grows and Billy becomes the most important thing in Ted's life. So events become even more complicated when, eighteen months later, Joanna returns claiming that she wants Billy to come and live with her. With the bond between Ted and Billy stronger than ever, Ted decides to fight her claim and the two enter a bitter court battle together. The case itself sees major dirt thrown on both sides and ultimately only one side comes out victorious. Just like the rest of the film, I found the ending to be sweet without being saccharine and more than anything it made a lot of sense.
In his script for Kramer Vs Kramer, Robert Benton creates characters who are supremely flawed but are ultimately capable of caring for one another. Ted Kramer is somewhat of a workaholic who we basically see become a proper father to his son over the course of the film. Though Ted makes mistakes, he appears to learn from them and the scene in which he rushes through traffic to get Billy to hospital is extremely moving. Similarly, Benton turns Joanna from the villain of the piece to somebody who we sympathise with due to her final decision in the film. Her actions may not always be right but, just like her ex-husband, she always does what she thinks is best. I have to say, I struggled to like Billy initially and felt that Benton had written him as just a precocious child but he also developed over the course of the film. His realisation that Joanna didn't leave because of him was well-handled and was another example of how true to life Benton had made his characters. In addition to providing some incredible characters, the film offers up some really thought-provoking situations about what it really means to be a parent as it dealt with the changing face of both fatherhood and motherhood. Benton also ended up directing the film after François Truffaut pulled out and it appears as if this was the right decision as he is able to see his words realised on screen. Truffaut's long time cinematographer Néstor Almendros adds some beauty to the piece and is great at capturing some of the silent moments between father and son. One of my favourite recurring motifs is the way that the pair's breakfasts together change over time and the routine they get into by the end of the film is somewhat magical.
I feel Hoffman's Oscar win was more than justified as he appears in nearly every scene of the film and is magnetic throughout. Here he is tasked with playing just a run-of-the-mill father and yet is able to make his character feel every inch a movie hero. Hoffman really communicates Ted's inner turmoil and the love he feels for Billy as the film goes on. Meryl Streep, here winning Best Supporting Actress, is great as Joanna and gives the film a real poignancy whenever she appears. Streep didn't overplay her role and instead brought a quiet fragility to the custody battle in which she and Hoffman both excel. Young Justin Henry was absolutely terrific as young Billy and was much more than just a token child. He made us believe that Billy had been forced to grow up quickly and the chemistry between he and Hoffman was just brilliant. At just over an hour and half, Kramer Vs Kramer never outstayed its welcome and was well-paced throughout. The result of this was a snappy film, with three incredible performances and an incredibly realistic script. Though you'll have to find out if I think it deserved to win Best Picture, I thought that Kramer Vs Kramer was a great film that explored the true meaning of the word family.
In between his two Oscar-winning turns, Hoffman starred in another Best Picture nominee, but this time mainly played it for laughs. In Tootsie, Hoffman played Michael Dorsey an actor who was frequently out of work due to the fact that often argued with directors about what his characters should be doing. Forced to take a job as a waiter, Michael is waiting to raise enough money to put on his flat mate Jeff's play. Informed by his agent that nobody in New York will hire him, Michael goes to extraordinary lengths to continue his career. After providing moral support at a soap audition for his friend Sandy, Michael later takes the drastic step of dressing up as a woman and auditioning for the role himself. The plan works and soon 'Dorothy Michaels' is playing Emily Kimberly, the new administrator on Southwest General. With Jeff and his agent the only two people in on the act, Michael must keep his new identity from Sandy and at the same time begins a relationship with her. But Michael is soon drawn to his new co-star Julie, a single mother who is currently in a disastrous relationship with the soap's awful director. To make things more complicated Julie's widowed father starts to develop feelings for 'Dorothy' and declares his intentions to begin a relationship with her. As Dorothy begins to get more famous, Michael realises that he has to end the charade one way or another. The way he chooses is completely ridiculous and I have to say that I was laughing all the way through this final scene.
In Tootsie, Hoffman really shows his diversity and brings an excellent comic timing to the role. Though we've seen him in comedy films in the past, most notably The Graduate, this is the first time he's been able to show off his comic timing. The script is great at parodying the life of a penniless actor as well as spoofing the ridiculous world of the soap opera. But, unlike most comedies, it is playing for more than just laughs and actually has something serious to say about gender identity. Julie in particular is a character who tells 'Dorothy' that she finds it hard being a woman in the 1980s especially seeing as she's trying to hold down a job and be the sole carer to a young child. The fact that Michael is only able to find fame once he plays an older woman also speaks volumes and I found that Hoffman was utterly convincing whenever he had to play Dorothy. One thing I would have like to have seen was Michael's first transformation into Dorothy and similarly I would have like to have seen more from him when he finally revealed his true identity. Another element of the film that I wasn't a fan of was the film's theme tune 'It Might be You', a generic 1980s number that feels shoehorned in to the movie. But those are just minor niggles in a film that had a lot to offer namely its ensemble cast led by the fantastic Hoffman in another Oscar nominated turn. Jessica Lange, who won the only one of ten awards Tootsie was nominated for, was great as the softly-spoken Julie and added a slice of realism to the film. I have to say though I preferred fellow Supporting Actress nominee Teri Garr as the quirky and paranoid Sandy. Charles Durning as Julie's father, Bill Murray as Jeff and Tootsie's director Sydney Pollack as Michael's agent were all excellent and Murray in particular added a deadpan feel to his character. Whilst Tootsie wasn't the greatest film ever, it was a comedy that had heart and a message while in addition it showed the vast repertoire of styles that Hoffman provided.
Of all the performances we've seen from his so far, Hoffman employed the most amount of method acting to play Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man. Raymond is a high-functioning autistic who has lived in an institute since he was young after his parents were afraid that he'd hurt his younger brother. Due to this his brother Charlie never knew he existed until after the death of their father who left all of his money to Raymond. A product of the 1980s, Charlie is a used car salesman with a beautiful European girlfriend and a fast-talking mouth. Following the death of his mother, he and his father had an incredibly strained relationship and barely talked until his death. Furious that he's been swindled out of his inheritance, Charlie essentially kidnaps Raymond from his house and takes him back to L.A. in an attempt to get half of his money. To add insult to injury, Raymond doesn't even understand the concept of money so Charlie's even more mad that he's now in possession of three million dollars. As Raymond hates to fly, Charlie is forced to drive cross country and along the way starts to learn more about his brother. Initially Raymond's outbursts annoy Charlie but he soon learns to cope with them and is later astonished to discover that his brother was his imaginary friend 'Rain Man' that helped him cope during his childhood. The trip climaxes in a trip to Las Vegas in which Charlie uses Raymond's extraordinary abilities with numbers to swindle a casino out of thousands of dollars. Ultimately the film comes down to whether a bond can develop between family members or if Charlie's greed will mean he's willing to put a price on his new-found relationship with Raymond.
Having seen Rain Man before, I knew what to expect and perhaps the reason that I found a lot of it quite over-the-top. I found the screenplay to be incredibly deliberate and the character of Raymond in particular was fairly over-bearing at times. Though I'm sure writers Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass did their research before creating the character, Raymond's autism feels like a plot device at times rather than something that is particularly well-drawn. Thankfully, Hoffman brings the character to life and this is the first time that we've seen him play a particularly middle-aged character. In the six years between Tootsie and Rain Man he appears to have aged significantly and the disparity between his ageing features and Raymond's childlike nature make for a great balance. But for all the plaudits that Hoffman received for the film, including the Best Actor Oscar, I felt that Tom Cruise gave the better performance as Charlie. At the time Cruise was a big movie star with films like Top Gun and Cocktail putting him on the map. But it was in Rain Man that we first saw that he could really hold his own against an acting great like Hoffman. Cruise is forced to turn Charlie from an arrogant salesman into a loving brother and he portrays the transformation beautifully. The chemistry between Cruise and Hoffman builds throughout Rain Man and in my opinion is one of the reasons for its success. I found that both John Seale's cinematography and Hans Zimmer's score to be the film's other positive attributes with the former capturing the American highway during the brothers' journey. Though it may be forced at times, Rain Man is certainly a very good film that is made better by the performances of both Cruise and Hoffman. Oddly, after all of his success in the last two decades, Hoffman wouldn't appear in another Best Picture nominee again for another sixteen years. But I feel that the three films above all demonstrate his terrific range and show why he's regarded as one of the best actors of his generation.
Next time we head out to Cambodia and follow the journey of an American reporter.
Hoffman's success started early in the decade when appeared in Kramer Vs Kramer, the winner of Best Picture at the 1980 ceremony. The film saw him play harassed advertising executive Ted Kramer a man who spends a lot more time at work than he does at home. Ted's life changes dramatically one day when his wife Joanna walks out on him without giving him any notice at all. Ted is then forced to bring up the couple's son Billy single-handedly, a task that he finds more than a little difficult. Ted struggles to find the balance between handling a major account at his advertising firm and dealing with the kind of minute details that raising a seven year old brings. These problems are highlighted by the tantrums that Billy has as well as the accident that occurs when he falls off a climbing frame. But gradually the father/son bond grows and Billy becomes the most important thing in Ted's life. So events become even more complicated when, eighteen months later, Joanna returns claiming that she wants Billy to come and live with her. With the bond between Ted and Billy stronger than ever, Ted decides to fight her claim and the two enter a bitter court battle together. The case itself sees major dirt thrown on both sides and ultimately only one side comes out victorious. Just like the rest of the film, I found the ending to be sweet without being saccharine and more than anything it made a lot of sense.
In his script for Kramer Vs Kramer, Robert Benton creates characters who are supremely flawed but are ultimately capable of caring for one another. Ted Kramer is somewhat of a workaholic who we basically see become a proper father to his son over the course of the film. Though Ted makes mistakes, he appears to learn from them and the scene in which he rushes through traffic to get Billy to hospital is extremely moving. Similarly, Benton turns Joanna from the villain of the piece to somebody who we sympathise with due to her final decision in the film. Her actions may not always be right but, just like her ex-husband, she always does what she thinks is best. I have to say, I struggled to like Billy initially and felt that Benton had written him as just a precocious child but he also developed over the course of the film. His realisation that Joanna didn't leave because of him was well-handled and was another example of how true to life Benton had made his characters. In addition to providing some incredible characters, the film offers up some really thought-provoking situations about what it really means to be a parent as it dealt with the changing face of both fatherhood and motherhood. Benton also ended up directing the film after François Truffaut pulled out and it appears as if this was the right decision as he is able to see his words realised on screen. Truffaut's long time cinematographer Néstor Almendros adds some beauty to the piece and is great at capturing some of the silent moments between father and son. One of my favourite recurring motifs is the way that the pair's breakfasts together change over time and the routine they get into by the end of the film is somewhat magical.
I feel Hoffman's Oscar win was more than justified as he appears in nearly every scene of the film and is magnetic throughout. Here he is tasked with playing just a run-of-the-mill father and yet is able to make his character feel every inch a movie hero. Hoffman really communicates Ted's inner turmoil and the love he feels for Billy as the film goes on. Meryl Streep, here winning Best Supporting Actress, is great as Joanna and gives the film a real poignancy whenever she appears. Streep didn't overplay her role and instead brought a quiet fragility to the custody battle in which she and Hoffman both excel. Young Justin Henry was absolutely terrific as young Billy and was much more than just a token child. He made us believe that Billy had been forced to grow up quickly and the chemistry between he and Hoffman was just brilliant. At just over an hour and half, Kramer Vs Kramer never outstayed its welcome and was well-paced throughout. The result of this was a snappy film, with three incredible performances and an incredibly realistic script. Though you'll have to find out if I think it deserved to win Best Picture, I thought that Kramer Vs Kramer was a great film that explored the true meaning of the word family.
In between his two Oscar-winning turns, Hoffman starred in another Best Picture nominee, but this time mainly played it for laughs. In Tootsie, Hoffman played Michael Dorsey an actor who was frequently out of work due to the fact that often argued with directors about what his characters should be doing. Forced to take a job as a waiter, Michael is waiting to raise enough money to put on his flat mate Jeff's play. Informed by his agent that nobody in New York will hire him, Michael goes to extraordinary lengths to continue his career. After providing moral support at a soap audition for his friend Sandy, Michael later takes the drastic step of dressing up as a woman and auditioning for the role himself. The plan works and soon 'Dorothy Michaels' is playing Emily Kimberly, the new administrator on Southwest General. With Jeff and his agent the only two people in on the act, Michael must keep his new identity from Sandy and at the same time begins a relationship with her. But Michael is soon drawn to his new co-star Julie, a single mother who is currently in a disastrous relationship with the soap's awful director. To make things more complicated Julie's widowed father starts to develop feelings for 'Dorothy' and declares his intentions to begin a relationship with her. As Dorothy begins to get more famous, Michael realises that he has to end the charade one way or another. The way he chooses is completely ridiculous and I have to say that I was laughing all the way through this final scene.
In Tootsie, Hoffman really shows his diversity and brings an excellent comic timing to the role. Though we've seen him in comedy films in the past, most notably The Graduate, this is the first time he's been able to show off his comic timing. The script is great at parodying the life of a penniless actor as well as spoofing the ridiculous world of the soap opera. But, unlike most comedies, it is playing for more than just laughs and actually has something serious to say about gender identity. Julie in particular is a character who tells 'Dorothy' that she finds it hard being a woman in the 1980s especially seeing as she's trying to hold down a job and be the sole carer to a young child. The fact that Michael is only able to find fame once he plays an older woman also speaks volumes and I found that Hoffman was utterly convincing whenever he had to play Dorothy. One thing I would have like to have seen was Michael's first transformation into Dorothy and similarly I would have like to have seen more from him when he finally revealed his true identity. Another element of the film that I wasn't a fan of was the film's theme tune 'It Might be You', a generic 1980s number that feels shoehorned in to the movie. But those are just minor niggles in a film that had a lot to offer namely its ensemble cast led by the fantastic Hoffman in another Oscar nominated turn. Jessica Lange, who won the only one of ten awards Tootsie was nominated for, was great as the softly-spoken Julie and added a slice of realism to the film. I have to say though I preferred fellow Supporting Actress nominee Teri Garr as the quirky and paranoid Sandy. Charles Durning as Julie's father, Bill Murray as Jeff and Tootsie's director Sydney Pollack as Michael's agent were all excellent and Murray in particular added a deadpan feel to his character. Whilst Tootsie wasn't the greatest film ever, it was a comedy that had heart and a message while in addition it showed the vast repertoire of styles that Hoffman provided.
Of all the performances we've seen from his so far, Hoffman employed the most amount of method acting to play Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man. Raymond is a high-functioning autistic who has lived in an institute since he was young after his parents were afraid that he'd hurt his younger brother. Due to this his brother Charlie never knew he existed until after the death of their father who left all of his money to Raymond. A product of the 1980s, Charlie is a used car salesman with a beautiful European girlfriend and a fast-talking mouth. Following the death of his mother, he and his father had an incredibly strained relationship and barely talked until his death. Furious that he's been swindled out of his inheritance, Charlie essentially kidnaps Raymond from his house and takes him back to L.A. in an attempt to get half of his money. To add insult to injury, Raymond doesn't even understand the concept of money so Charlie's even more mad that he's now in possession of three million dollars. As Raymond hates to fly, Charlie is forced to drive cross country and along the way starts to learn more about his brother. Initially Raymond's outbursts annoy Charlie but he soon learns to cope with them and is later astonished to discover that his brother was his imaginary friend 'Rain Man' that helped him cope during his childhood. The trip climaxes in a trip to Las Vegas in which Charlie uses Raymond's extraordinary abilities with numbers to swindle a casino out of thousands of dollars. Ultimately the film comes down to whether a bond can develop between family members or if Charlie's greed will mean he's willing to put a price on his new-found relationship with Raymond.
Having seen Rain Man before, I knew what to expect and perhaps the reason that I found a lot of it quite over-the-top. I found the screenplay to be incredibly deliberate and the character of Raymond in particular was fairly over-bearing at times. Though I'm sure writers Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass did their research before creating the character, Raymond's autism feels like a plot device at times rather than something that is particularly well-drawn. Thankfully, Hoffman brings the character to life and this is the first time that we've seen him play a particularly middle-aged character. In the six years between Tootsie and Rain Man he appears to have aged significantly and the disparity between his ageing features and Raymond's childlike nature make for a great balance. But for all the plaudits that Hoffman received for the film, including the Best Actor Oscar, I felt that Tom Cruise gave the better performance as Charlie. At the time Cruise was a big movie star with films like Top Gun and Cocktail putting him on the map. But it was in Rain Man that we first saw that he could really hold his own against an acting great like Hoffman. Cruise is forced to turn Charlie from an arrogant salesman into a loving brother and he portrays the transformation beautifully. The chemistry between Cruise and Hoffman builds throughout Rain Man and in my opinion is one of the reasons for its success. I found that both John Seale's cinematography and Hans Zimmer's score to be the film's other positive attributes with the former capturing the American highway during the brothers' journey. Though it may be forced at times, Rain Man is certainly a very good film that is made better by the performances of both Cruise and Hoffman. Oddly, after all of his success in the last two decades, Hoffman wouldn't appear in another Best Picture nominee again for another sixteen years. But I feel that the three films above all demonstrate his terrific range and show why he's regarded as one of the best actors of his generation.
Next time we head out to Cambodia and follow the journey of an American reporter.
Sunday 9 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 266-267: Do You Really Want to Hurt Me Part Two
All of the films we've seen William Hurt appear in up to this point have seem him portray fairly intelligent characters. But that all changed when he appeared as a man with little intelligence, Tom Grunick, in 1988 nominee Broadcast News. It also takes a long time for Tom to appear on screen as we firstly follow up-and-coming producer Jane Craig and her best friend, reporter Aaron Altman. Though incredibly intelligent, Aaron isn't particularly suited to anchoring the news as he lacks a certain charisma. Indeed, when one of Jane and Aaron's pieces garners maximum praise it's she who gets all of the credit from the network's famous anchor Bill Rorish. Aaron then takes an instant dislike to Tom based on the fact that he knows little about current affairs but he proves himself eager to learn from both Aaron and James. When a story breaks during the weekend of a party that the trio attends, it's Tom that's selected to present the news over Aaron. His story about Libya sees Jane executive produce the segment and both see their careers advance as a result. In addition to professional jealousy, Aaron hates the fact that Jane is attracted to Tom as he has had feelings for her for years. Aaron is later informed that he may be fired during the station's latest series of cutbacks and he implores his boss to let him anchor the news. Unfortunately, Aaron has to call on Tom for tips about connecting with the audience and looking his best on screen. As the film reaches its conclusion, and many of the station's staff are let go, we see the trio go their separate way for various reasons. Director and writer James L Brooks then decides to flash the action seven years into the future where we discover how far the characters' careers have come since we first met them.
Broadcast News was definitely one of the films I was anticipating the most when I started this decade as it appeared to have a lot in common with Network. On one hand it did have a lot to offer, Brooks had definitely done his research and the scenes at the station looked incredibly realistic. I enjoyed all of the scenes involving the reporting of the news and the intricate nature of each segment. In addition Brooks' key theme of charisma versus real news was well-explored and perfectly exemplified through the characters of Tom and Aaron. However, I personally feel as if the film lagged in portions and took a great deal of time to actually get going. I wasn't a fan of the personal lives of the trio and in particular the romantic triangle which didn't seem to get enough time devoted to it. In fact it appears as if Brooks himself wasn't a fan of the romantic angle but had to include as another hook to draw in a certain audience. Thankfully, in what is becoming something of a recurring theme, Broadcast News was improved by three impressive performances. Hurt again prove his versatility as an actor with his performance as a man who knows his limitations but tries to work with what he's got. He realises his charm and good looks will get him further than someone like Aaron even if he knows less than him. Holly Hunter was excellent as the powerful yet vulnerable woman who is prone to outbursts of tears for no apparent reason. Hunter proves herself to be an incredibly warm screen presence and makes Jane somebody you want to root for. Meanwhile, Albert Brooks makes Aaron the film's moral compass as he provides a combination of comic neurosis and charm. All three were nominated for well-deserved Oscar nominations and to me the combination of Hurt, Hunter and Brooks was the secret of the film's success. Aside from the trio, Broadcast News had a fantastic supporting cast including Joan Cusack as the ditzy assistant and Jack Nicholson as the network's famous anchor. Ultimately, Broadcast News had a lot to say and assembled a great cast to say it; I just feel it would've been a lot better had twenty minutes been cut from the overall running time.
Hurt added to his repertoire of characters in the last of the five films, The Accidental Tourist, as he played a fairly withdrawn character. Hurt's travel writer Macon Leary was an emotionless man who wrote the titular series of books aimed at businessmen who didn't particularly want to travel. When we meet him, he's recently suffered an emotional tragedy as his son has recently died when he was caught in the crossfire during a hold-up at a burger restaurant. Shortly after the event his wife Sarah moves out of their home and he's forced to live alone in their house with only his temperamental dog for company. It's due to his dog that he meets the incredibly lively Muriel Pritchett, who works at the local kennels and is an expert dog trainer. After learning that they're both divorcees Muriel tries to coax Macon into the world of the living and eventually convinces him to train his dog. At the same time Macon is forced to move back into the house he grew up and live with his quirky siblings, all of whom are in a permanent state of arrested development. Eventually Macon and Muriel start a relationship with Macon also bonding with her son Alexander, a sickly boy who is allergic to everything after being born prematurely. Muriel helps Macon come out of himself and gradually he learns to live a lot more than he ever has done. But events start to become complicated once again when he reunites with Sarah at his sister's wedding. He's then torn over whether to reconcile with Sarah or continue to stay with the woman who brings out the best in him.
The Accidental Tourist sees Hurt reunite with Lawrence Kasdan, who we previously saw direct him in The Big Chill. Unfortunately I found myself enjoying this a lot less than I did the college reunion comedy drama and I felt that Kasdan didn't employ the same amount of discipline that he did with The Big Chill. It may have something to do with the fact that The Accidental Tourist is an adaptation of the book by Anne Tyler, but I found it to have some large narrative flaws. For example I wasn't a fan of the way Muriel initially pursued Macon and instead felt that their relationship could've grown a lot more organically. Similarly I didn't like the fact that Sarah just presumed that Macon would return to her or that he ditched Muriel so quickly. The fact that both Macon and Sarah were primarily so withdrawn made it hard to warm to their characters and at times I found them both unlikeable. Equally I thought Muriel was a little overbearing and at times was too kooky for me to find her at all realistic. The parts of the film I enjoyed the most were those involving Macon's siblings and his sister Rose's romance with his publisher Julian. Of all the characters I thought the Leary siblings were the most endearing and Rose in particular was a joy to watch. In addition, I felt that the exerts from Macon's Accidental Tourist guide books were inventive and provided a little dry humour that was sorely needed. Despite not enjoying her character, I felt that Geena Davis delivered the best performance and I wasn't surprised to learn that she took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Hurt did what was required of him and I thought he did well to play a character with very little personality. Ultimately, The Accidental Tourist was a film I found off-putting due to its lack of realistic characters and I felt that Hurt's performance was the weakest of the five I've seen. Though I've enjoyed following his career throughout the 1980s I'm looking forward to watch a film that doesn't feature him in a lead role.
So next time we return to looking at stars of the past decade with a man who won two Best Actor Oscars in the 1980s both of which came from his performances in Best Picture winners.
Friday 7 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 263-265: Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? Part One
Although Woody Allen, Gene Hackman, Robert Redford and Paul Newman were all still making films in the 1980s, the decade also ushered in a raft of new faces. In fact, surprisingly, the actor who starred in the most Best Picture nominees was William Hurt a man who won his Best Actor Oscar in only his sixth film. In addition he starred in another four films that were Best Picture nominees and went on to be one of the most recognisable faces of the decade.
Hurt's first appearance in a Best Picture nominee saw him star alongside a group of actors who would also go on to become big names in the 1980s. In The Big Chill, Hurt starred as Nick, a Vietnam veteran who was reunited with a bunch of college friends at the funeral of another of their number. Also among the group are married couple Harold and Sarah, popular TV actor Sam, successful journalist Michael, unmarried businesswoman Meg and Karen, a mother trapped in an unhappy married. The group are reunited following friend Alex's suicide in the holiday home of Harold and Sarah where he was staying at the time alongside his much younger girlfriend Chloe. Following Alex's funeral, these eight decide to stay the weekend at the house in South Carolina where old romances are reignited and home truths are thrown around. During the course of the weekend a lot of the characters are given the opportunity to re-evaluate their lives with Meg voicing her need to be a mother and Nick trying to figure out his place in life. More importantly the film explores how life doesn't always pan out in the way you expect it to and how the dreams you once had for yourself in college are vastly different from the reality of things more than ten years later. At the end of the weekend, though there are a few monumental changes, most of the group go back to their normal lives however mundane they may be. The message of Lawrence Kasdan's film is simple, no matter how you want it to change, generally life goes on.
On one hand I really enjoyed The Big Chill and it was definitely one of the easiest films to get through so far on this list. Kasdan and Barbara Benedek's Oscar-nominated script was incredibly well-paced and gave us a mixture of pathos and humour. They created a group of characters who felt real and all of whom were trying to deal with Alex's suicide in a number of ways. However, at times, I felt everything was a little too choreographed and a little too scripted to the point that I started to question the realism of the film. Whilst it was no fault of the actors, The Big Chill felt too staged for my liking and this belief took some of my overall enjoyment away. That being said the performances, on the whole, were fantastic and really demonstrated why a number of The Big Chill's cast members would go on to have major success throughout the 1980s. Of all the central cast, it was Glenn Close as Sarah who would receive the sole Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Close had previously received a nod in the same category the previous year and did give a subtle turn as the woman who'd had an affair with Alex but whose marriage had survived nonetheless. However, I did feel that Hurt gave the best performance as the member of the group who had yet to figure out his life and could have easily have gone down the same road as Alex. As Sam, Tom Berenger gave some depth to the TV action hero who wanted to be seen as more than just his on-screen character. Kevin Kline and Jeff Goldblum were also on form, the latter adding some great comic timing as journalist Michael. Interestingly, Kevin Costner was cast as Alex but all of the flashback scenes involving his life were ultimately cut out, a decision that I agree with. At the same time, learning that Costner was cast in the film allowed me to put a face to Alex when the rest of the group were talking about him. One of The Big Chill's other major positives was the soundtrack, made up of songs that group would have listened to at college. These songs really punctuate the scenes and provide a backdrop to some of the film's most memorable set pieces. At the end of the day, The Big Chill was an enjoyable film with a talented cast and a great script, I just felt that the characters' movements weren't as natural as they possibly should have been.
Two years later Hurt would go on to win Best Actor in a role that was as far away from The Big Chill's Nick as you can get. In Kiss of The Spider Woman, Hurt plays gay window dresser Luis Molina who is currently serving a term in a Brazilian prison for having sex with an underage boy. Molina is sharing a cell with Valentin Arregui, a political prisoner who has been tortured due to his role in a radical left-wing group. The two men are definitely mismatched and Molina is being bribed with release by trying to get information from Valentin. But a bond develops between the two men over their time locked in together and the unlikely pair become incredibly close. What sets Kiss of the Spider Woman apart is that Molina often narrates part of his favourite film to Valentin to distract them both from the horrors outside of their cell. The fact that Molina's film is a Nazi propaganda movie doesn't seem to faze him primarily because he loves the love story. Life begins to imitate art when Molina is granted parole and has to decide whether to follow his head or his heart. The film's conclusion is fairly tragic in one respect, but in another it does provide closure for both Molina and Valentin.
Having watched a few prison films already for this blog I thought I knew what to expect, but Kiss of the Spider Woman was something completely different. For the most part it wasn't a film about a prison, but about two men drawn together due to similar circumstances. This odd couple dynamic is brilliant to watch and is well-played by both Hurt and Raul Julia. I personally feel that Hurt thoroughly deserved his Best Actor Oscar, as he played completely against type here. Hurt's portrayal of Molina was flawless as you felt every single emotion that he felt. His passion for narrating his film and for keeping himself near to Valentin for as long as possible was also brilliantly portrayed. Raul Julia, who will always be Gomez Addams to me, had the harder job as political prisoner Valentin. However, I thought he presented a balanced character who was incredibly angry but also had a caring side. Julia and Hurt together on screen were just gold and their scenes together really made the film what it was. That's why I struggled to enjoy the film as much when Molina left his cell and returned to the streets of Brazil. The final twenty or so minutes of Kiss of the Spider Woman felt incredibly generic and almost spoilt what had come before. Another great part of Hector Babenco's film was his incorporation of propaganda film 'Her Real Glory'. These scenes are highly stylised and Babenco really tries hard to capture the essence of what made these films so powerful. They are perfectly balanced with the scenes set in the harsh confines of the cell and really add another dimension to what could've been a bog standard prison movie. Ultimately, Kiss of the Spider Woman was at its best when it focused on a story about two men brought together by circumstance and the relationship that developed between them.
An unusual relationship was at the heart of William Hurt's third Oscar-nominated film - Children of a Lesser God. The film sees Hurt play a highly-regarded teacher who arrives at a school for the deaf and attempts to get his small class of pupils to speak. He does this by trying to connect with them be it getting them to swear or having them dance around and sing. But James' bigger challenge occurs when he tries to win over Sarah, a former pupil at the school who now works there as a cleaner. James' early attempts to get Sarah to speak are thwarted and he soon learns that her upbringing has had an effect on her views regarding her speech. Sarah's mother basically rejected her and she feels happier when she's signing, which initially creates a frosty relationship between the two. But later, and somewhat inevitably, the pair begin a romance which escalates quite quickly when Sarah moves in with him. Though they have several happy moments together, the issue about her not speaking is always in the background. Conflict quickly arises and eventually the two are arguing constantly, leading Sarah to return to her mother's house. Though I thought that the film could've done with an ambiguous ending Children of a Lesser God finished with the inevitable reconciliation between James and Sarah.
Of the three films in this post, I have to say that Children of a Lesser God was my least favourite. Though it does pose some interesting points about the nature of its key relationship, I found the romantic plot to be overblown and slightly trite. Similarly, James' attempts to engage his class felt incredibly clichéd and a little generic. In addition, this was the first film from the decade that felt very eighties, down to the fact that one of the final scenes sees the pupils dancing along to 'Jump' by The Pointer Sisters. Luckily, the film is bolstered by two fine central performers who try to make their characters rise above the fairly simple nature of the plot. Hurt tries to side step cliché in the 'inspirational teacher' role and actually makes James a flawed individual primarily because he doesn't understand anybody who doesn't want to speak. One of the scenes that best exemplifies Hurt's work is when James and Sarah attend a party where everybody is speaking in sign language. Hurt is able to convey how he's feeling just by a few looks and he allows the audience to feel his pain. Hurt also provides the connection between the sign language spoken on screen and the audience, almost acting as a translator at times. However, despite being incredibly powerful, Hurt is acted off the screen by the then 21-year-old Marlee Matlin. Matlin, who still holds the record for being the youngest ever Best Actress Winner, gives an incredibly expressive turn as the emotionally damaged Sarah. She more than holds her own opposite both Hurt and Piper Laurie, the latter of whom plays her mother in a handful of scenes. Matlin makes us really feel for Sarah and portrays as a fully-rounded character who has both strengths and weaknesses. I did feel that, in the hands of lesser actors, Children of a Lesser God would have been quite an ordinary film but thankfully it was an enjoyable due to the performances from Hurt and the Oscar-winning Matlin.
Next time we conclude the William Hurt retrospective with two more Oscar-nominated films.
Two years later Hurt would go on to win Best Actor in a role that was as far away from The Big Chill's Nick as you can get. In Kiss of The Spider Woman, Hurt plays gay window dresser Luis Molina who is currently serving a term in a Brazilian prison for having sex with an underage boy. Molina is sharing a cell with Valentin Arregui, a political prisoner who has been tortured due to his role in a radical left-wing group. The two men are definitely mismatched and Molina is being bribed with release by trying to get information from Valentin. But a bond develops between the two men over their time locked in together and the unlikely pair become incredibly close. What sets Kiss of the Spider Woman apart is that Molina often narrates part of his favourite film to Valentin to distract them both from the horrors outside of their cell. The fact that Molina's film is a Nazi propaganda movie doesn't seem to faze him primarily because he loves the love story. Life begins to imitate art when Molina is granted parole and has to decide whether to follow his head or his heart. The film's conclusion is fairly tragic in one respect, but in another it does provide closure for both Molina and Valentin.
Having watched a few prison films already for this blog I thought I knew what to expect, but Kiss of the Spider Woman was something completely different. For the most part it wasn't a film about a prison, but about two men drawn together due to similar circumstances. This odd couple dynamic is brilliant to watch and is well-played by both Hurt and Raul Julia. I personally feel that Hurt thoroughly deserved his Best Actor Oscar, as he played completely against type here. Hurt's portrayal of Molina was flawless as you felt every single emotion that he felt. His passion for narrating his film and for keeping himself near to Valentin for as long as possible was also brilliantly portrayed. Raul Julia, who will always be Gomez Addams to me, had the harder job as political prisoner Valentin. However, I thought he presented a balanced character who was incredibly angry but also had a caring side. Julia and Hurt together on screen were just gold and their scenes together really made the film what it was. That's why I struggled to enjoy the film as much when Molina left his cell and returned to the streets of Brazil. The final twenty or so minutes of Kiss of the Spider Woman felt incredibly generic and almost spoilt what had come before. Another great part of Hector Babenco's film was his incorporation of propaganda film 'Her Real Glory'. These scenes are highly stylised and Babenco really tries hard to capture the essence of what made these films so powerful. They are perfectly balanced with the scenes set in the harsh confines of the cell and really add another dimension to what could've been a bog standard prison movie. Ultimately, Kiss of the Spider Woman was at its best when it focused on a story about two men brought together by circumstance and the relationship that developed between them.
An unusual relationship was at the heart of William Hurt's third Oscar-nominated film - Children of a Lesser God. The film sees Hurt play a highly-regarded teacher who arrives at a school for the deaf and attempts to get his small class of pupils to speak. He does this by trying to connect with them be it getting them to swear or having them dance around and sing. But James' bigger challenge occurs when he tries to win over Sarah, a former pupil at the school who now works there as a cleaner. James' early attempts to get Sarah to speak are thwarted and he soon learns that her upbringing has had an effect on her views regarding her speech. Sarah's mother basically rejected her and she feels happier when she's signing, which initially creates a frosty relationship between the two. But later, and somewhat inevitably, the pair begin a romance which escalates quite quickly when Sarah moves in with him. Though they have several happy moments together, the issue about her not speaking is always in the background. Conflict quickly arises and eventually the two are arguing constantly, leading Sarah to return to her mother's house. Though I thought that the film could've done with an ambiguous ending Children of a Lesser God finished with the inevitable reconciliation between James and Sarah.
Of the three films in this post, I have to say that Children of a Lesser God was my least favourite. Though it does pose some interesting points about the nature of its key relationship, I found the romantic plot to be overblown and slightly trite. Similarly, James' attempts to engage his class felt incredibly clichéd and a little generic. In addition, this was the first film from the decade that felt very eighties, down to the fact that one of the final scenes sees the pupils dancing along to 'Jump' by The Pointer Sisters. Luckily, the film is bolstered by two fine central performers who try to make their characters rise above the fairly simple nature of the plot. Hurt tries to side step cliché in the 'inspirational teacher' role and actually makes James a flawed individual primarily because he doesn't understand anybody who doesn't want to speak. One of the scenes that best exemplifies Hurt's work is when James and Sarah attend a party where everybody is speaking in sign language. Hurt is able to convey how he's feeling just by a few looks and he allows the audience to feel his pain. Hurt also provides the connection between the sign language spoken on screen and the audience, almost acting as a translator at times. However, despite being incredibly powerful, Hurt is acted off the screen by the then 21-year-old Marlee Matlin. Matlin, who still holds the record for being the youngest ever Best Actress Winner, gives an incredibly expressive turn as the emotionally damaged Sarah. She more than holds her own opposite both Hurt and Piper Laurie, the latter of whom plays her mother in a handful of scenes. Matlin makes us really feel for Sarah and portrays as a fully-rounded character who has both strengths and weaknesses. I did feel that, in the hands of lesser actors, Children of a Lesser God would have been quite an ordinary film but thankfully it was an enjoyable due to the performances from Hurt and the Oscar-winning Matlin.
Next time we conclude the William Hurt retrospective with two more Oscar-nominated films.
Tuesday 4 March 2014
Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 262: Sibling Rivalry
Continuing our look at stars of the 1970s progression into the new decade, we come to the man who won Best Director at the 1978 ceremony. Nine years later he was nominated in the same category again whilst winning Best Original Screenplay as well as a further two awards going to his fellow cast members. The man in question is Woody Allen and the film is Hannah and her Sisters, which starred his then wife Mia Farrow in the titular role and Allen as her ex-husband. When the film begins, Hannah is seemingly in a happy marriage to second husband Elliot but he is secretly harbouring feelings for her younger sister Lee. The film plots the course of their lives over two years in which Elliot and Lee begin an affair before ending it when he can't seem to end his marriage. Hannah's other sister Holly is the most flighty of the trio; a former drug addict she can't seem to hold down any type of career. At times an actress, caterer and finally a writer, Holly's story is one of failed relationships and doomed business ventures. Allen's Mickey also has his own story in which he fears he may have a brain tumour after losing hearing in one hear. Mickey feels that he should have religion in his life but struggles to make sense of anything. Eventually he relents and tries to enjoy life, or as much as any character that Allen plays can. Oddly, for a Woody Allen film, everybody has a fairly happy ending with all three sisters finding love and marriage in some way or another.
Whilst Annie Hall was definitely Woody Allen's most-respected work I think that Hannah and Her Sisters is a lot more disciplined. I did find Annie Hall to work like a sketch show at times as it was a number of disjointed scenes thrown together with a loose narrative. Hannah and Her Sisters is much more solid and the stories involving the three sisters were incredibly compelling. The love triangle between Hannah, Elliot and Lee was very well-written and all of the twists and turns along the way made sense. Similarly, Holly's struggles to find something to occupy her time and her difficulty to find a man provided a different sort of story to the romantic complications of the main plot. The scenes between the three sisters, in particular one in which they all set down to dine at a restaurant, rang the most true for me as their feelings for each other finally came out. In fact the only part of the plot that I wasn't a fan of was the story involving Mickey, which for the most part acted completely outside of what was happening to Holly, Hannah and Lee. I did seem that Mickey's troubles were just an excuse for Allen to work in some of his material about religion and existence and it wasn't until the last twenty minutes that the character really became part of the plot. In fact, up to this point, I didn't feel the film particularly needed Mickey and would've worked a lot better without him.
The tradition of the academy awarding actors for starring in Woody Allen films is a long-standing tradition that still exists today, as we saw with Cate Blanchett's win at the weekend. In terms of Hannah and Her Sisters, Dianne Wiest won Best Supporting Actress for her dazzling turn as the ditzy and unhappy Holly. Similarly impressive was fellow Oscar winner Michael Caine as the depressed Elliot who realised that the grass wasn't greener on the other side. Mia Farrow and Barbara Hershey, as Hannah and Lee, added their own energy to proceedings and the chemistry between the three sisters was perfectly realised. Although I didn't think much of his performance, Allen's script for Hannah and Her Sisters was well-constructed and well-paced. I particularly enjoyed the fact that we heard the inner thoughts of the main players and this narrative structure meant that we learnt more about them than we would have done had their thoughts solely been expressed through dialogue. Allen's win for Best Screenplay would be his last for twenty-five years and Hannah and Her Sisters would be his last appearance in the Best Picture category for the same amount of time. But performers in his films would be more successful even though Allen himself often refused to appear at the ceremony preferring instead to play jazz music at a local bar.
Changing pace, the next two posts will focus on a newcomer who appeared in no less than five Best Picture nominees over the 1980s and garnered three Best Actor nods during that time.
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