Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 394: Horsing About

The one thing about a lot of these Oscar films is that they are often tailored towards a purely adult audience. Even the fantasy-strewn Lord of the Rings was given a 12 Certificate due its strong level of violence as well as the fact that Gollum was probably quite scary for young children. However, after twenty-five films filled with bad language, nudity and violence I was ready to settle down for something a little more sedate. Thankfully that was provided for me in the form of Seabiscuit; a charming PG-rated film about the little racehorse that could. In fact the closest that Seabisucit got to violence was during the races themselves when the jockeys tried to push each other off of their respective horses.

Despite being the title character, Seabiscuit doesn't feature in the first part of the film which instead focuses on us getting to know the other members of the team. The stories of both Seabiscuit's eventual jockey Red Pollard and owner Charles S Howard are fairly sombre in tone and anchor the film's first third. Although born to a wealthy family, Red soon found himself out on the streets following the Wall Street Crash. Taken in as a stable boy, Red later began racing himself however was subsequently blinded in one eye following an illegal boxing match. Meanwhile Charles made his money in the motor industry but went on a downward spiral after his son died in a car accident. Both men were rehabilitated when they came into contact with the rambunctious Seabiscuit who was initially thought as being too wild to tame. The horse is originally brought to Howard by the wily Tom Smith; an outcast horse trainer who eventually forms a surrogate family with Red and Charles. From there the film resembles more of a classic sports movie with Seabiscuit gaining popularity due to Red's fine relationship with his new horse. Howard eventually targets wealthy tycoon Samuel Riddle and challenges him to a race against his famous horse War Stallion. Meanwhile tragedy befalls Red as he learns he may not be able to ride again following a tragic fall. However, as is often the case with these sorts of films, everybody finds a redemption of sorts and the last line of Gary Ross' film is so sickly sweet that it did make me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

As well as being the little horse that could, Seabiscuit was the little film that could; securing a surprise place in that year's Best Picture category. At the time many were suspecting the spot that Seabiscuit ultimately got to go to Anthony Mingella's epic civil war drama Cold Mountain. That film certainly feels like much more of an Oscar-film than this cute but slightly unremarkable family drama. What I liked about Seabiscuit were the way the race sequences were shot and John Schwartzman's cinematography made me experience what being part of those races would've been like. There were also a trio of incredibly likeable turns from Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper all of whom brought out the complexities in their characters. Maguire was perfectly cast as weedy jockey Red and allowed his naturally emotive face to relay the various heartbreaks that his character experienced across the years. Bridges brilliantly balanced Howard's effervescent personality with his personal tragedy to present a realistic persona. Meanwhile Cooper's turn as the rough and ready trainer added an extra dimension to the trio's makeshift family. Additionally enjoyable was William H Macy's few appearances as quirky racing journalist Tick Tock McLaughlin. The problem I had with Seabiscuit was in its storytelling as it started incredibly slow and took too long for the three main characters to meet. I also felt the tale started to meander towards the movie's ending whilst some of the dialogue was rather trite. Overall I feel that Gary Ross' film will appeal to families looking for a fulfilling real-life tale and to it's credit it does deliver that. But nothing about Seabiscuit is particularly memorable and it definitely never felt like a film that deserved its spot in the Best Picture category.

After all these lovely horse-racing adventures we're back to reality with a triple bill of Martin Scorsese movies.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 350: The Minnesota Murders

A few posts ago I reviewed Pulp Fiction and mentioned how Quentin Tarantino's success propelled so-called independent film-makers into the mainstream. Another couple of film-makers who achieved the same level of success during the 1990s were Joel and Ethan Coen. Throughout the 1980s the Coens made a number of cult movies such as Blood Simple and Miller's Crossing, which were met with critical acclaim but were never commercially successful. The first hint of success for the Coens was with 1991's Barton Fink which was nominated for three Oscars however it was a film released five years later that really put them on the map. 

Nominated for seven Oscars, Fargo was a darkly comic piece which combined the brothers' brilliant ear for dialogue with a story that wouldn't be out of place in a 1940s Film Noir. Although the opening title credits claim that Fargo was based on a true story it was more that the film's central plot was constructed from a number of grizzly murder cases. Set in the 1980s, the film follows useless second hand car salesman Jerry Lundegaard as he attempts to get himself out of bankruptcy by having his own wife kidnapped. Jerry's belief is that his wealthy father-in-law will pay the ransom set by the kidnappers and he will then in turn be able to clear the debt that he's found himself in. But the plan is beset with a number of problems namely that the recommended criminal Carl as brought along the stoic, almost mute Gaear along with him. It's made clear that Gaear has a short fuse and soon after the kidnapping he kills three people all of whom witness the woman's body in the back of their car. As the murders happened outside Brainerd, Minnesota the town's local police chief Marge Gunderson is called in to investigate the crime. Marge isn't your usual pioneering cooper as she's heavily pregnant and also seems more like a housewife than she does detective. Marge's kindly approach does get results though as she is able to chase the criminals' car back to Jerry's lot. But her willingness to believe everything she's told means that Jerry gets away Scott free and her opinion only changes after a run-in with an old school friend. Fargo's final fifteen minutes are especially violence with one character being shot in the cheek and then finished over in a very unusual way. Let's just say I'll never look at a woodchipper in the same way again. 

Fargo is unlike anything I've ever seen before on this blog and that's one of the things that made it stand out to Academy voters. The film was nominated for seven awards include Best Director and Best Picture and actually triumphed in two categories. The first of these was Best Actress, with Joel Coen's wife Frances McDormand picking up the prize for her brilliant portrayal of Marge. Though I'd seen Fargo several times before I didn't realise that it was thirty minutes into the film before Marge arrives on screen. Having watched a fair few Oscar winning turns over the course of the challenge, I was surprised to see how subtle McDormand's performance in this film was when compared against previous victors. McDormand never appears to be acting and this naturalistic turn as the kindly police chief meant that the actress' honour was more than deserved. The Coens won a further award for their witty and well-constructed screenplay which was perfectly paced and featured a gripping murder mystery. The frozen landscape of the film is perfectly captured by legendary cinematographer, and long-time Coen collaborator, Roger Deakins. Despite eleven Oscar nominations, Deakins has never won which I feel is one of the biggest errors the Academy has ever made. Another nominee, William H Macy, gave an incredibly frantic turn as the sad-sack car salesman Jerry who is in over his head from the very beginning. Steve Buscemi and Peter Stomare also make for an excellent pairing as Carl and Gaear with the former doing all the talking and the latter just looking menacing. There's no denying that Fargo is an excellent film which rightfully propelled the Coen Brothers into the mainstream where they belonged. Their next picture, The Big Lebowski, was another cult hit but it would be another eleven years before the brothers had another film nominated for the big prize at The Oscars. 

Next time a look at another actor who became a force to be reckoned with during the 1990s.