Nominees: Perfect Blue, The Last Days of Disco, Elizabeth, The Truman Show, Rushmore, Central Station, The Thin Red Line, Eternity and a Day, Saving Private Ryan, The Celebration, The Silence, The Pear Tree
Oscars pick: Shakespeare in Love
Nominees: Elizabeth, Life is Beautiful, Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line
The 90s gave us one of the great westerns (Unforgiven), and now it gifts us one of the finest in science fiction. Dark City is so brilliantly conceived that it does what Leone's Once Upon A Time In the West did -- it fills me with awe and leaves me breathless.
City is set in a landscape that is pure 40s noir. And as with the genre it has its murder mystery and its femme fatale -- but it takes these tropes and blends in these otherworldly beings who emerge from the darkness and control the very fabric of time and space... and mind!
There are certain denizens of this city who sense a wrongness, they are driven mad over the niggling idea that they have been cast in a heterocosm, and that everything that is, everything they are, is a lie. No, not truly a lie, the memories are real, but they belong to others. The people here then have become the psychological equivalent of Frankenstein's monster.
The film (primarily the director's cut) adds to this unsettling idea in large and small ways. As when we hear a nightclub singer (Jennifer Connolly) and realize that she doesn't have a strong voice as the one dubbed into the theatrical version -- something in the back of our minds tells us, "This isn’t who she is." The movie is so effective in creating an air of disassociation that it prevents some viewers from getting attached to the characters and their plight. Not so for me, I have empathy for them, and I can relate to the thought of feeling ‘out of place’ with the world.
One man awakens and resists these alien builders of reality. It's his task to solve this puzzle. He is our guide through this city. He feels he'll find the answers at a place from his childhood called Shell Beach. And I, in turn, experienced his urgency, "Get to Shell Beach", I thought, "Find the answer." But what he discovers shocked the ever-loving hell out of me.
Unique, imaginative and thought-provoking, Dark City ultimately has its power struggle, and for a moment I wondered if the man would be the hero or give in to the dark force he has acquired and become something worse than those he opposes. I expected the worse – the worse would have been the predictable and easy path. What was refreshing was that this dark city took a hopeful and positive left turn. It gave us light.
The film is a structural achievement - a visionary tour de force. I am mesmerized over the way Proyas weaves dialog, music, performance, camera, and design… and forms these pieces into a magnificent whole. It impresses me in the way Hitchcock’s eye for detail impresses me. Or Kieslowski with his visual rhymes and ‘score as storytelling device’, or Dreyer in the way he utilizes movement and vocal inflection to create a particular rhythm and tone. As with the films of these geniuses, everything works in concert - everything is essential. Even the use of quick edits. Though I prefer the old school, slow framing style, I think the frequent shock-cuts add to the fractured nature of the piece. Proyas tapped into this creative wellspring only once in his career. While he made and has made very good movies – he has never, before or since- created one as elevated as Dark City.
While I often read and quote Roger Ebert, I don't always agree with him -- but I agreed with him when he named Dark City as his #1 movie of the year. Ebert also recorded 2 outstanding commentary tracks for the film.
Phew – after that draining outpouring of admiration, I almost don't have the energy to address the other contenders: Though they are wonderful as well.
I dug Shakespeare in Love a lot when it was released. But watching it again, it comes off a rather soft and spongy told tale and doesn't really get into gear until its final half. I still like the movie, it's a lovely bittersweet romance, but after all these years I've cooled to it, and today I would have been rooting for Elizabeth.
Not that I would have complained if The Thin Red Line won. It was an incredible introspective film from Terrence Malick. While I liked Saving Private Ryan (its opening scene is striking) it wasn't my favorite Oscar nom as it seemed to be for others this year -- and I felt the Thin Red Line was the better war movie of the two.
Looking over my nominees –from Wes Anderson's Rushmore to Peter Weir's Truman Show - or even those that didn't make the final cut (The Apple, Dil Se..) and this was a good year for me; I grew attached to these productions and most have found their way into my Blu-Ray collection. I enjoyed revisiting them.
Honorable Mentions:
Ian McKellen, Gods and Monsters * Peter Mullen, My Name Is Joe * Brendan Gleeson, The General * Bruno Ganz, Eternity and a Day * Clive Owen, Croupier * Tom Hanks, Saving Private Ryan * Edward Norton, American History X * Nick Nolte, Affliction
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Honorable Mentions:
Fernanda Montenegro, Central Station * Ana Moreira, Os Mutantes * Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love * Jane Horrocks, Little Voice * Christina Ricci, Buffalo '66 * Alfre Woodard, Down in the Delta * Kimberly Elise, Beloved * Katrin Cartlidge, Claire Dolan
