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. 

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.