1991

Raise the Red Lantern (Director: Zhang Yimou)
Nominees: The Double Life of Veronique, Flirting, Let Him Have It, Only Yesterday, The Silence of the Lambs, The Rapture, Diksha, Center Stage

Oscars pick: The Silence of the Lambs
Nominees: Beauty and the Beast, Bugsy, JFK, Prince of Tides

It's disconcerting how many of my favorite movies from 91 have not aged well. Watching them again, they were too sappy or obvious or corny or preachy or simplistic or clichéd... titles such as The Doctor, Fried Green Tomatoes, Boyz n the Hood and Dogfight were still good, but not great. (Because Kafka isn't on DVD, I wasn't afforded the opportunity to ruin my memory of that one)

Even big guns like Oliver Stone's gripping if factually manipulative JFK showed some wear. It still earns a lot of style points and is a cleverly constructed piece. But it is overwrought and heavy-handed. When Costner gives his final summation and his voice cracks and he looks right into the camera as he delivers his final line, I had to roll my eyes. I felt like I was being browbeaten and scolded. Gee-wiz Oliver, why not have Costner wag his finger and go "Tsk, tsk, tsk" while you're at it.

What about Beauty and the Beast? While Belle is a well-rounded, strong female character -- the story felt rushed, and curiously, I wasn't mad for the music. Overall, it doesn't charm me as the Little Mermaid did. As for the other Oscar contenders - Bugsy was good, Prince of Tides was bad, and nothing was right for my Best Picture award.

I thought it was neat that Silence of the Lambs won Best Picture. It was a bold move for Oscar going for something so dark and nasty. Regardless, it was a film I enjoyed more for the performances and the character of Hannibal Lecter than anything. It's a solid nominee, but I feel it falters in its final reel, where it stretches credibility and the narrative voice got fuzzy.

I was cool towards La Belle Noiseuse, Thelma and Louise, Delicatessen and Cape Fear. I was warm about Impromptu (With Judy Davis' fun, broad performance as George Sand) The Man in the Moon (with a young Reese Witherspoon) and Albert Brooks' Defending Your Life -- but not as my best pictures.

I did manage to find a group of worthy nominees (I'm especially fond of the Australian coming of age romance, Flirting, Peter Medek's look at the life of Derek Bentley in Let Him Have It and Kieslowski's delicate metaphysical poem, The Double Life of Veronique), but as for the Felix, I guess I'll go with Zhang Yimou's Raise the Red Lantern, which is a sumptuous looking piece about 4 wives who vie for their master’s attention. Paul Brenner called it, "a moving exploration of power in a suffocating world of ossified tradition." While Roger Ebert noted... "RtRL is told so directly and beautifully, with such confidence, with so little evidence of compromise. It is the product of a time when the new Chinese film industry could support such work, but had not yet learned to meddle with it."

The film is cold and reserved and the camera doesn't move very much -- the blocking and composition almost seem like a cage, and David Parkinson from Empire suggests that "The consistent use of delimiting framing devices reinforced the overall sense of repression."

Best Actor: John Turturro, Barton Fink
Honorable Mentions:
Anthony Hopkins, The Silence of the Lambs * Val Kilmer, The Doors * Viggo Mortensen & David Morse, The Indian Runner * Christopher Eccleston, Let Him Have It * Nana Patekar, Diksha * Albert Brooks, Defending Your Life * Stellan Skarsgård, The Ox * Graham Greene, Clearcut * Utpal Dutt, Agantuk (The Stranger) 

Best Actress: Mimi Rogers, The Rapture
Honorable Mentions:
Gong Li, Raise the Red Lantern * Irène Jacob, The Double Life of Veronique * Jodie Foster, The Silence of the Lambs * Judy Davis, Impromptu * Reese Witherspoon, The Man in the Moon * Maggie Cheung, Center Stage * Victoria Abril, High Heels * Juliette Binoche, The Lovers on the Bridge

Supporting Actor: John Goodman, Barton Fink

Supporting Actress: Judy Davis, Barton Fink & Naked Lunch







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1989

Revenge (Director: Yermek Shinarbayev)
Nominees: Crimes and Misdemeanors, Do the Right Thing, When Harry Met Sally, sex, lies and videotape, The Little Mermaid, Monsieur Hire, High Hopes, Marriage of the Blessed, Suddenly, One Day

Oscars pick: Driving Miss Daisy
Nominees: Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot

From time to time I'll read reviews where the writer expresses frustration over the fact that (such-and-such) a movie is so little known and so little seen. To them, I say, "It's not that I'm unwilling to catch these films, but rather that I am unable." Take the productions from the Kazakh New Wave, for example - the majority of which (at this writing) aren't available via streaming or DVD. I'd gladly watch them... but how?

Thankfully, Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project came through and provided access to one of these pictures. An arcane, ethereal, poetic, historical drama that spans 300 years and tells the story of a boy who is born into this world solely to avenge a murder.

There are traces of Tarkovsky and Angelopoulos here, especially in how time is malleable - and that there is significant cultural and political subtext at play. While revenge propels the story, in essence, this is about a displaced people and the journey that casts them to and fro.

There's some good reading material for this picture. Kent Jones Criterion essay is essential.

I also liked Kelley Dong's perceptive piece at Fandor.

As Kelley says, quoting Jones, "Revenge is tough, requiring some background context and an eye for subtle symbolism." Fortunately, both critics provided that background context, which helped a great deal. All told, I found the picture profound and haunting. A bona fide masterpiece.

As to other the contenders for the prize? There's a reason I keep coming back to highly rated films that originally failed to impress... Because sometimes you get something out of it that you didn't get before. You finally see what the hype was about. Though the final act is difficult (where few do the right thing), I found myself enjoying Do the Right Thing on a recent re-watch. While still not my #1 for the year, it's head and shoulders above the Academy's choices. I liked the energy and day in the life aspects of the picture, as well as meeting the various people of all colors and temperaments and histories that populate this neighborhood. I admire how it doesn't paint everyone with broad, black and white brushstrokes. Everyone is an individual, with their own thoughts and opinions.

Driving Miss Daisy? It was a safe, Oscary pick, and far from the overall best, however, it does feature some top-notch performances. I can't hate on it as some do. The other nominees were fine, I liked them all to differing degrees. Though I prefer my picks to theirs.

And in addition to the titans mentioned above, I also enjoyed, My Twentieth Century, Drugstore Cowboy, Glory, Mystery Train, Casualties of War, Valmont, Jesus of Montreal, Kiki's Delivery Service, Say Anything and Parenthood.

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, My Left Foot
Honorable Mentions:
Matt Dillon, Drugstore Cowboy * Martin Landau, Crimes and Misdemeanors * Michael J. Fox, Casualties of War * Morgan Freeman, Driving Miss Daisy, Lean on Me * Michel Blanc, Monsieur Hire * Lothaire Bluteau, Jesus of Montreal

Best Actress: Krystyna Janda, Interrogation
Honorable Mentions:
Jessica Tandy, Driving Miss Daisy
Jessica Lange, Music Box
Michelle Pfeiffer, The Fabulous Baker Boys
Meg Ryan, When Harry Met Sally...
Shabana Azmi & Uttara Baokar, Suddenly, One Day

Supporting Actress: Laura San Giacomo, Sex Lies and Videotape

Supporting Actor: Denzel Washington, Glory

* My Best Actress was a difficult one. The film was banned in '82 before it could get a release in theaters. Bootleg copies made the rounds over the years until it finally got an official release in '89.

Supporting Actor was loaded with talent, from James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams to Ray McAnally in My Left Foot and Brando in A Dry White Season. Glory was lifted by 3 incredibly moving performances from Freeman, Washington, and Braugher. Danny Aiello and Ossie Davis were standouts in Do the Right Thing, Landau in support was category fraud IMHO, he's a co-lead with Allen.

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1990

The Nasty Girl (Director: Michael Verhoeven)
Nominees: Ju Dou, My Fathers Glory/My Mother's Castle, Miller’s Crossing, La Femme Nikita, The Match Factory Girl

Oscars pick: Dances with Wolves
Nominees: Goodfellas, Godfather III, Ghost, Awakenings

1990 was lean for the U S of A. Dances with Wolves won it all and it was a good movie, though marred by bloat & egocentricities (Costner sure loves Costner). Goodfellas was the critics' choice, but I felt the film got tedious at its middle and fell apart by the final reel - plus, the awful and shrill Lorraine Bracco ruins every scene she's in. The Coen's impeccably directed Miller's Crossing is certainly a worthy contender... it has an old-school vibe that I prefer in my gangster films, and the acting is amazing from top to bottom.

My range of choices improved when I turned my eyes toward foreign lands, in France, I found Cyrano de Bergerac with Gerard Depardieu, the twin feature, My Fathers Glory/My Mother’s Castle, which is a warm family biography, and Luc Besson's story of an assassin, La Femme Nikita.

Nikita takes aim! The French action film would go on to inspire a popular TV series.

In China, director Zhang Yimou offered the tragic tale of a beautiful young woman who has been sold as a wife to an older man who works as a cloth dyer. Ju Dou is a gorgeous looking feature, and better than anything released in the States.

From Argentina came, I, The Worst of All, Finland, The Match Factory Girl, Iran, Close-Up, Hong Kong, Days of Being Wild, Japan, Takeshi: Childhood Days. Russia gave us Freeze Die Come to Life! along with The Second Circle. And a trip to Germany revealed two gems based on true stories: Europa Europa tells of a Polish Jew who pretends to be German in order to survive. The Nasty Girl ("Das Schreckliche Mädchen" - the title in German loosely translates as "The Terrible Girl") is an art-house piece about a young Bavarian woman who decides to write a paper on how the local Church resisted the Nazis. She instead uncovers dark secrets these “respectable” townsfolk don’t want uncovered. The picture successfully blends humor and stylish directorial flourishes into its troubling tale, all of which kept me riveted to my seat. Actress Lena Stolze is likable and determined in the lead role. It's fascinating to watch her wide-eyed curiosity turn to bemusement and later, cynicism.

Considering the Academy: Even though I don't think it was the “best” picture on the year, I can’t complain too much over Wolves winning the Oscar as it was pretty hot stuff at the time. But Oscar voters did a strange thing when it picked Journey of Hope as its best foreign language film. Ju Dou and Cyrano were locked in as heavy favorites to win it, followed by Nasty Girl and the controversial Open Doors. Journey of Hope was by far and away the lesser nominee. I don't know if the other films split voters, or if people simply genuinely preferred the winner, but it was a baffling choice.

Anyway, aside from Miller's and Whit Stillman's Metropolitan (and arguably Goodfellas) the U.S. productions were not as strong as what was offered in the foreign market, so the foreign market is where I'm placing my award for Best Picture. And the picture's that stood out were Ju Dou, and slightly above it, the Nasty Girl. Which admittedly isn't everyone's cup of tea and probably comes out of left field for some. I thought it was marvelous -- thought-provoking, striking and original. It is stylized, but not at the expense of my emotional involvement with the story.

Oh, and Godfather III? This was seriously - laughably bad. I wanted to turn it off several times, but I was like a rubber-necker at a car wreck and couldn’t stop staring. Brand recognition might be the reason for the nomination – coupled with the relatively weak field, which also allowed the wispy Ghost to slip in. Oscar should have kick both to the curb and gone with the Coen’s and (since they’d nominated most of my others for the foreign award), how about something outside the Academy's box, a selection that would have made them look a little more progressive, like To Sleep with Anger, which featured (IMHO) a career best performance from Danny Glover?

Best Actor: Danny Glover, To Sleep with Anger
Honorable Mentions:
Johnny Depp, Edward Scissorhands * Jeremy Irons, Reversal of Fortune * Ray Liotta, Goodfellas * Gabriel Byrne, Miller's Crossing * Paul Newman, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge * Gérard Depardieu, Cyrano de Bergerac * Richard Harris, The Field * Maynard Eziashi, Mr Johnson

Supporting Actor: Albert Finney, Miller's Crossing

Best Actress: Anne Parillaud, La Femme Nikita (pictured middle)
Honorable Mentions:
Kati Outinen, The Match Factory Girl * Kathy Bates, Misery * Lena Stolze, The Nasty Girl * Joanne Woodward, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge * Kerry Fox, An Angel at My Table * Anjelica Huston, The Grifters * Gong Li, Ju Dou * Carmen Maura, ¡Ay Carmela!

Supporting Actress: Annette Bening, The Grifters (pictured left)



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1987

Wings of Desire (Director: Wim Wenders)
Nominees: RoboCop, The Last Emperor, Hope and Glory, Radio Days, Matewan, Where is the Friends House? Pelle the Conqueror, Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle, Dark Eyes

Oscars pick: The Last Emperor
Nominees: Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction, Hope and Glory, Moonstruck

Wings of Desire is exquisitely rendered work of avant-garde German existentialism from Wim Wenders. It concerns the comings and goings of Angels who watch over us. They can't see color, experience taste or smells. And while they can comfort us, they can't interfere with our free will. All they can do is watch and listen to our thoughts as we go around our mundane lives.

Angel's congregate at the library, where hundreds of inner thoughts and ideas flood the air. It is here that we are given a scene of pure elevation: A rousing choir swells - a crash of dialog is heard, and an Angel closes his eyes and lifts his head as if in rapture. 

Later, one Heavenly being (Bruno Ganz), becomes so fascinated with a trapeze artist that he decides to give up his wings to be with her and experience all the sweetness and the sorrows that being human can offer.

The movie is long, and it belabors its point - but I gather that was the point. Appreciate life, all aspects of life. The pain you feel, the love, even the boring parts of it. Brad Silberling, who directed the so/so American adaptation, called the original "A human epic of intimate proportions", and that sums it up nicely.

I should also point out the striking cinematography from Henri Alekan, Critic Roger Ebert noted... “His camera seems liberated from gravity; it floats over the city, or glides down the aisle of an airplane. It does not intrude; it observes. When the angel follows the trapeze artist into a rock club, it doesn't fall into faster cutting rhythms; it remains detached. The critic Bryant Frazer observes that Cassiel, the other angel, "leans against the wall and closes his eyes, and the stage lights cast three different shadows off his body, alternating and shifting position and color as though we're watching Cassiel's very essence fragmenting before our eyes."

Beyond the nominees, I also liked... Babette’s Feast, Red Sorghum, Raising Arizona, Yeelen, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Living Daylights, La Bamba, Au Revoir les Enfants, A Chinese Ghost Story, Strawman, Comrades

Actors? There were a lot of quality performances to choose from, but Von Sydow's (who received his first Oscar nomination for the role) was, to quote Vincent Canby, "in a category by itself." Canby would go on to write, "Mr. von Sydow is something splendid to see as the boozy, weak-willed, loving Lasse. Though it is a rich performance, full of wit and humor, it is never broad or self-serving."  All true, and it's a great honor to finally award this brilliant actor.

Best Actor: Max Von Sydow, Pelle the Conqueror
Honorable Mentions:
Bruno Ganz, Wings of Desire * Jack Nicholson, Ironweed * John Lone, The Last Emperor * Michael Douglas, Wall Street * Marcello Mastroianni, Dark Eyes * Victor Rebengiuc, The Moromete Family * Joe Mantegna, House of Games * Mickey Rourke, Angel Heart * Dan Aykroyd, Dragnet

Best Actress: Judy Davis, High Tide
Honorable Mentions:
Stéphane Audran, Babette’s Feast * Emily Lloyd, Wish You Were Here * Meryl Streep, Ironweed * Cher, Moonstruck * Maggie Smith, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne * Nobuko Miyamoto, A Taxing Woman * Anjelica Huston, The Dead * Yelena Safonova, Dark Eyes

Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman. Street Smart

Supporting Actress: Olympia Dukakis, Moonstruck







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1988

Grave of the Fireflies (Director: Isao Takahata)
Nominees: Dangerous Liaisons, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, My Neighbor Totoro, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Trishagni, Landscape in the Mist, Yesterday (Vchera), The Last Temptation of Christ

Oscars pick: Rain Man
Nominees: The Accidental Tourist, Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning, Working Girl

Listing and ‘best of…’ threads are like building puzzles or playing word games. It's a fun little exercise, not to be taken too seriously, done for the challenge it poses -- and 88 was a challenge. When I sat down with the seductive/tragic/wicked Dangerous Liaisons, it was my favorite picture of the year. Then when I watched Pedro Almovodar's madcap Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, it became the best. The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- same deal. What a pickle!
 
I thought Oscar's choices were all excellent -- and while I won't be picking Rain Man I felt it was a nice journey of character, marked by terrific performances from Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. The movie was one of my father's favorites.

What broke my logjam were two masterpieces from Japan...

A year before Disney's animation rebirth, Studio Ghibli released two of their finest: Hayao Miyazaki's magical tale of 2 sisters who stumble onto a group of fantastic creatures in My Neighbor Totoro. And Isao Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies, which is the story of two war orphans trying to survive on their own. Fireflies is undeniably one of the saddest films I've ever seen. Made more painfully real for the vivid, fully realized characters, as well as the crushing situations and imagery that doesn't pull its punches. Its uncompromising portrayal of the horrors of war and the loss of innocence is about as far removed from the whimsy of Totoro as you can get, and it's strange that the studio released them as a double feature (which resulted in this odd couple’s failure at the box office).

Graves is one of those movies that takes on a life of its own, and defies the intentions of its creator, who didn't see it as an anti-war film as others do, but as, "the brother and sister living a failed life due to isolation from society." While I can see this facet, it seems a harsh and unfair burden to lay on a couple of children. (maybe that's just my western mindset speaking?) I see it more as a failure of society than the children.

However its viewed, Graves is the season finest.

Other movies I enjoyed include The Vanishing, The Accidental Tourist, Rain Man, Salaam Bombay! Die Hard, Big, Eight Men Out, Mississippi Burning, The Naked Gun, Running on Empty, Beetlejuice

Best Actor: Jeremy Irons, Dead Ringers
Honorable Mentions: 

Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man * Bob Hoskins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit * Eric Bogosian, Talk Radio * John Malkovich, Dangerous Liaisons * Gene Hackman, Mississippi Burning * Klaus Maria Brandauer, Hanussen * John Neville, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen * Willem Dafoe, The Last Temptation of Christ

Best Actress: Glenn Close, Dangerous Liaisons
Honorable Mentions:
Meryl Streep, A Cry in the Dark * Carmen Maura, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown * Jodie Foster, The Accused * Sigourney Weaver, Gorillas in the Mist * Geneviève Bujold, Dead Ringers * Imogen Stubbs, A Summer Story

Supporting Actress: Lena Olin, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Supporting Actor: Philippe Noiret, Cinema Paradiso

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1986

Mona Lisa (Director: Neil Jordan)
Nominees: The Green Ray, Hannah and Her Sisters, Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring, Blue Velvet, Platoon, Castle in the Sky, The Fly

Oscars pick: Platoon
Nominees Children of a Lesser God, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Mission, A Room with a View

What to choose, what to choose? I had a difficult time finding that “certain something” I needed for my best picture. Looking around I saw that other alt Oscar writers were split in half between Hannah and Her Sisters and Platoon. I even checked out Siskel and Ebert: Gene took Hannah, while Roger took Platoon. Funny, no one selected Blue Velvet.

I talk about Platoon and Velvet on another page (links up top). As for Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, it's near flawless -- and yet for some reason, it doesn't completely beguile me the way "Annie Hall" or "Midnight in Paris" does, and I couldn't wrap my mind around it as my best picture.

The same went for others I considered:

Rural tragedy and heartbreaking plot twists are had in Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring. There was deadpan romance in Shadows in Paradise from Finland's Aki Kaurismäki.  I could have gone with Cronenberg, the Fly is creepy, with a strong human story. And A Room with a View was top drawer Merchant/Ivory. The Terrorizers, The Horse Thief, Round Midnight, Ferris Bueller, When the Wind Blows, Sacrificed Youth, Aliens, Lucas...

In the end, my mind and heart found itself inexorably pulled in another direction. While Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa treads on familiar ground and the ending is a bit too pat (what happened between what occurred in that room, to George’s happy state at the end?) Overall, "the great" overshadows any nitpicks. And I'm not alone in my affection for it, author Dennis Lehane called it his favorite movie of the eighties, and comedian Bill Hader included it in his Criterion Top 10, as did filmmaker Jeremiah Zagar. So, good company there.

Particularly great is Bob Hoskins, who gives a touching performance, arguably his best ever (one that is rather Marty-like, but with an edge.)

Hoskins plays a low-level criminal named George, fresh out of prison, who is given a job chauffeuring for a call girl. At first, they are like oil and water, but soon George starts to care about this woman, and aids her when she asks for his help in locating an underage hooker that she fears is in danger.

While there is crime, and Jordan gives a sense of a city's tragic seedy underbelly (as well defined as the one Scorsese drew in Taxi Driver). The strength of the picture is its character study, and that it takes its time and allows us to get to know these people. George is a guy who is discovering that the game has changed. He's out of his element, slow on the upswing, not sophisticated in the least. But he's got the heart of a white knight. He feels concern and stands up for the women he encounters – whether for the daughter he's trying to get reacquainted with, or the streetwalker he rescues, or the hooker he falls for. 

It's sad seeing this poor lug convince himself that the tramp is a lady (and Bob's acting near the end when he finally ‘gets it’, was heartbreaking). Not that she's a terrible human being – there seems to be some genuine affection there, but she wants something from George, and she'll do whatever it takes to get it.

Hoskins isn't the only acting ace. Michael Caine plays George's snake in the grass boss, the great Robby Coltrane is his crime novel loving best friend -- and Cathy Tyson is so good in her début, playing the elegant prostitute Simone, that I'm stunned that she hasn't done more feature film work.

While there are great moments throughout - the character interaction and acting, direction and script come together in one scene that for me was the deciding factor in tipping the "Felix" scales. It's in the final act, when Simone -looking for understanding- asks an upset George, "You ever need someone?" and he responds with a tiny crack in his voice, "All the time." Man, that stole the breath from my lungs. And the movie is sprinkled with small, beautiful touches like that one.

Best Actress: Marie Rivière, Le Rayon vert (The Green Ray)
Honorable Mentions:
Martha Henry, Dancing in the Dark * Kathleen Turner, Peggy Sue Got Married * Melanie Griffith, Something Wild * Sissy Spacek, Crimes of the Heart * Sigourney Weaver, Aliens * Marie Tifo, Blind Trust * Jane Fonda, The Morning After * Juliette Binoche, Mauvais Sang

Supporting Actress: Cathy Tyson, Mona Lisa (pictured top)

Best Actor: Bob Hoskins, Mona Lisa (pictured top)
Honorable Mentions:
Jeff Goldblum, The Fly * James Woods, Salvador * Gary Oldman, Sid and Nancy * Gérard Depardieu, Jean de Florette * Jeremy Irons, The Mission * Christopher Walken, At Close Range * Eiji Okuda, The Sea and Poison * Gordon Pinsent, John and the Missus

Supporting Actor: Dennis Hopper, Blue Velvet (pictured left)

* While some say it's an '87 release, Wiki shows John and the Missus with a Canadian release date of Dec 10, 1986, it was also included in the Genie Awards for '86 releases.

* Blind Trust also goes by the name Pouvoir intime (Intimate Power).


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1985

Brazil (Director: Terry Gilliam)
Nominees: Ran, Blood Simple, Purple Rose of Cairo, Mishima: A Life in 4 Chapters, My Life as a Dog, Shoah, Come and See, Vagabond, Angel's Egg

Oscars pick: Out of Africa
Nominees: The Color Purple, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Prizzi’s Honor, Witness

This was tough, there are so many great films in '85: After much hair pulling, I decided to go with Brazil, Terry Gilliam's inventive spin on Orwellian themes. Jonathan Pryce stars as Sam Lowrey, a daydreaming civil servant whose only goal life is to not get noticed... which changes when he meets the girl of his dreams. The director described the story as "Walter Mitty meets Kafka" and it's an incredibly detailed, surreal looking piece. What I found interesting is that much of the weirdness was actually real – drawn from things Gilliam had seen (a shoe hat from the 40s) or read about (paying for your torture).

Terry's a complainer in real life; every little silly, insignificant thing seems to bug him –especially American things (Gilliam actually spends time in his commentary whining about something as trivial as baseball caps?) But he uses this to the advantage of the movie. The frustrating, idiosyncratic absurdity of it all packs a punch. While Brazil has its humor, ultimately it is a downer. Even though it's unreal it's very real. Broken bureaucracy and power wins out and the little guy is ground under its heel. Thankfully Gilliam at least offers a kind of escape.

Among my nominees: Paul Schrader offered up one of the most unique biographies I've ever seen, Mishima: A Life in 4 Chapters (which includes an arresting Philip Glass score). Blood Simple (which played in a few festivals in '84 but didn't go wide until '85) is the delightfully cunning, pitch-black début from the Coen Brothers. The duo weaves a clever web -- where the character's actions are motivated by what they think they know, rather than what is true.  While it's steeped in classic noir, it plays with our expectations and then twists the knife so that what seems straight forward, is anything but. It has an icy heart, but it draws me in so deeply into its deceits that I get a real charge out of it.

I also admired the 9 ½ hour Holocaust documentary Shoah and the harrowing Come and See, which was one hell of a brutal and nightmarish war film.  (Stephen Spielberg cited it as an influence on Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan).

Last but not least was Ran, Akira Kurosawa's bitter take on King Lear. While loaded with memorable moments, the battle at the third castle, in particular, was one of the director's greatest achievements. It's a violent, brilliantly choreographed sequence that's aided by Toru Takemitsu's fully orchestrated score. At one point we hear no battle sounds, just this haunting, powerful music. It's absolutely numbing, awe-inspiring - a moment that transcends everything else in film in 1985.

Oscar-wise: Despite its pretty cinematography, I liked the glacially paced Out of Africa about as much as I liked the glacially paced Manos, sans riffing. Of the nominated pictures, Peter Weir's Witness or John Huston's Prizzi’s Honor would have been better as the Academy's top dog. Many critics favored the Color Purple, and while it was good, I wouldn't number it among my top 10.

Note: It’s interesting how Brazil, Back to the Future and Pee Wee's Big Adventure all had similar, elaborate breakfast scenes. Gilliam says his was first and Zemeckis stole the idea from him. Pee Wee, well, I love it, but it stole from everyone.

Best Actor: Aleksei Kravchenko, Come and See
Honorable Mentions:
Tatsuya Nakadai, Ran * Ken Ogata, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters * Jonathan Pryce, Brazil * Jack Nicholson, Prizzi’s Honor * William Hurt and Raul Julia, Kiss of the Spider Woman * Eric Stoltz, Mask * Klaus-Maria Brandauer, Colonel Redl 

Best Actress: Sandrine Bonnaire, Vagabond
Honorable Mentions:
Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful * Laura Dern, Smooth Talk * Grażyna Szapołowska, No End * Mia Farrow, Purple Rose of Cairo * Frances McDormand, Blood Simple * Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple * Charlotte Rampling, He Died with His Eyes Open * Cher, Mask * Norma Aleandro, The Official Story

Supporting Actor: M. Emmet Walsh, Blood Simple

Supporting Actress: Mieko Harada, Ran







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1984

Amadeus - Directors Cut (Director: Miloš Forman)
Nominees: Paris Texas, Once Upon a Time in America, Diary for My Children, This is Spinal Tap, Twenty Years Later, Love Unto Death, 1984, Ghostbusters, Terminator

Oscars pick: Amadeus
Nominees: The Killing Fields, Passage to India, Places in the Heart, A Soldier's Story

This film blog is a fluid, ever-changing journey. It’s difficult to nail down an exact and unmovable ‘best of’, because as I age, I make new discoveries, or my tastes expand and transform (or there's simply a shift with my mood.) Sometimes what I found slow and dry in my 20s becomes profound and perfect in my mid-50s. Such is the case with Wim Wenders Paris, Texas, a sad, lingering road picture, about loss and regret over bad decisions.

There are also years where I have a logjam at the top. So that any pick I make will be both the right choice, and the wrong choice. In 1984 there are 3 equal gems. The aforementioned Paris, Texas and two that were chopped up theatrically and later restored and made better. The first is Sergio Leone's final film, Once Upon A Time in America - an epic crime story that spans generations and chronicles the lives of a group of friends. It's an ambitious tale -- violent, sexist and stocked with unlikable characters one and all (though well-acted by De Niro and James Woods. Also, 12-year-old Jennifer Connelly made her feature film début). Despite the unpleasantness -and the overall sense that maybe, none of it is real- it is, as RT calls it, "visually stunning, stylistically bold, and emotionally haunting."

And finally, Amadeus. In it, Mozart is a laughing man-child genius whose story is recounted through his jealous rival, Salieri (Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham). Directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer, it's joyous, funny, harrowing and of course, features brilliant music and performances. I was happy as a lark when it won the Oscar. What I didn't know was that there was an even stronger version awaiting me - a director's cut that adds 20 minutes of footage. Most of that footage is seen in the first half of the film, but it speaks to and clarifies what happens in the second half. Salieri's motivations, his relationship with God, are all in sharper focus. He's pettier and even cruel... as in his humiliation of Constanze - which explains her reaction to Salieri at the end of the theatrical version.

Along with that, 1984 offered up some choice features. From action, like James Cameron's Terminator - to comedies, like Ghostbusters - to heartfelt dramas, such as the Killing Fields to small budget independent gems like John Sayles' quirky The Brother from Another Planet.

Last but not least, the great mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap. Even slotted against prestigious masterpieces like Paris, Texas, Amadeus and Once Upon a Time in America, its wonderfulness is never diminished.

So what to choose, what to choose? My 3 favorites all deserve it, but since I gave Leone the award in '68 and Wender's Felix is soon to come. I'll go with the Forman film.

Best Actor: F. Murray Abraham, Amadeus
Honorable Mentions:
Avtandil Makharadze, Repentance * Harry Dean Stanton, Paris, Texas * Haing S. Ngor, The Killing Fields * Hurt, Stamp & Roth, The Hit * Philip Baker Hall, Secret Honor * John Hurt, 1984 * Naseeruddin Shah, Paar * Albert Finney, Under the Volcano * Tsutomu Yamazaki, The Funeral * Joe Morton, The Brother from Another Planet

Best Actress: Carmen Maura, What Have I Done to Deserve This?
Honorable Mentions
Judy Davis, A Passage to India * Helen Mirren, Cal * Shabana Azmi, Khandhar & Paar * Sissy Spacek, The River * Sally Field, Places in the Heart * Vanessa Redgrave, The Bostonians * Pascale Ogier, Full Moon in Paris * Nobuko Miyamoto, The Funeral * Sayuri Yoshinaga, Station to Heaven * Julia Migenes, Carmen

Supporting Actor: James Woods, Once Upon a Time in America
Also liked Toshiyuki Nishida, Station to Heaven

Supporting Actress: Peggy Ashcroft, A Passage to India







Actress wishlist: Sayuri Yoshinaga, in Ohan

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1983

Sans Soleil (Director: Chris Marker)
Nominees: Nostalghia, Videodrome, The King of Comedy, Sugar Cane Alley, And the Ship Sails On, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Vassa, The 4th Man

Oscars pick: Terms of Endearment
Nominees: The Big Chill, The Dresser, The Right Stuff, Tender Mercies

A year loaded with over-rated twaddle like Terms of Endearment, which would have better served as a Lifetime movie of the week. Robert Bresson's final film L'argent has its message diluted by tedium and mechanical composition and performance (I've seen mannequins with more life than these characters. And yeah, I know that's his 'style', but it still doesn't work for me here). And while The Big Chill was one of my girlfriend's favorite movies, I came away feeling, "Me’h".

Many chose The Right Stuff, but I can't see it. I feel it stumbles on several fundamental film making levels. Though based on fact, it mines every cliché in the book, its emotion and characterizations are superficial, and the broad humor is insipid. It’s filled -not with full-blooded individuals- but broad caricatures, like the uptight nurse with the faint mustache. The conflicts between the astronauts, the relationships with their wives, are affected and stagy. They are types, cardboard effigies doing a poor impression of the real deal. I know it has avid fans, but I just can't get into this formulaic film.

So yeah, I didn’t love a lot of movies in 1983, but damn, did I love Sans Soleil, Chris Marker's thoughtful reflection on memory, and how it colors our perceptions of time and history. I found it evocative, endlessly fascinating and beautifully scripted (I was as captivated by the language of these faux letters, as I am the lyrics of a Bob Dylan song). Alexandra Stewart's voice (she's the narrator in English language version) adds so much character to the piece, I could listen to her speak all day. As a bonus, it includes some interesting observations on Hitchcock’s Vertigo.

Tyler Brassard called it, "a poem masquerading as a fiction while wearing the clothes of a travelogue, in which the traveler is never the one speaking."

Soleil ranked 3rd in BFI's Sight & Sound critics poll of the greatest documentaries of all time (behind Man With a Movie Camera and Shoah). In his write-up, Adam Nayman accurately noted, "It’s a cliché to say that about a movie – that its true shape or texture is in the eye of the beholder – but it’s true of Sans soleil, which not only withstands multiple viewings, but never seems to be the same film twice."

Its strongest competition for the Felix includes Tarkovsky's Nostalghia and Martin Scorsese's King of Comedy, which is a perceptive look at the cult of celebrity. Robert De Niro plays a guy out of touch with reality, who dreams of doing his comedy act on a Carson style show. Meeting resistance and at the end of his rope, he kidnaps the host (Jerry Lewis) and demands a slot on the show. While expertly realized, King sometimes made me squirm in my seat.

Speaking of seat squirming... David Cronenberg made two movies – One was one of his familiar strange, fleshy mind-f---, the other was the first step towards another direction for the filmmaker, one that proved he could bring humanity to the screen, along with the creepiness. You can read about those, here.

Best Actor: Robert Duvall, Tender Mercies
Honorable Mentions:
Om Puri, Ardh Satya * Robert De Niro, The King of Comedy * Tom Courtenay & Albert Finney, The Dresser * Christopher Walken, The Dead Zone * James Woods, Videodrome * Jeroen Krabbé, The 4th Man * Gérard Depardieu, Danton * Naseeruddin Shah, Masoom

Best Actress: Meryl Streep, Silkwood
Honorable Mentions:
Inna Churikova, Vassa * Isabelle Huppert & Miou-Miou, Entre Nous * Julie Walters, Educating Rita * Sandrine Bonnaire, À nos amours * Jane Alexander, Testament * Fanny Ardant, Confidentially Yours * Irene Papas, Eréndira 

Supporting Actor: Jerry Lewis, The King of Comedy

Supporting Actress: Sandra Bernhard, The King of Comedy

Note: For years King of Comedy was considered a 1983 release. Then all of a sudden a Dec '82 showing in Iceland pops up in places like IMDB. I don't know what that was about... a test screening, an exhibition, etc. But to hell with it. I'm not changing my blog now. It was shown worldwide in '83 and it's staying an '83 release here.


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1982

Fitzcarraldo (Director: Werner Herzog)
Nominees: Veronika Voss, The Marathon Family, The Return of Martin Guerre, The Flight of the Eagle, An Egyptian Story, Boat People, Fanny and Alexander, Gandhi

Oscars pick: Gandhi
Nominees: E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Missing, Tootsie, The Verdict

I've not always been in tune with the masses in this decade. Case in point... I thought E.T. was transparently manipulative (the mean Government guys march over the hill, while poor E.T. looks pale and sickly… Ohh, doesn’t just turn your heart to goo? No, actually.) The sentimentality made me cringe and the noisy, busy kids gave me an earache. It was painfully cloying, like when the spaceship takes off it leaves a rainbow in the sky, Gah! Gag me with Reese’s Pieces! By its final act, it was like I was under sappy emotional bombardment -- and as things got weepier, I become more detached. As I stated a few decades back, I don't do schmaltz.

I liked Gandhi far better. It was an impressive, expansive biopic - if a bit one-sided (few of Gandhi's faults or controversial politics were extensively explored). I thought it was a superb movie and Ben Kingsly gave an inspiring, Oscar-winning performance. I too gave it a nomination, though not the top prize.

Looking over some of the more popular flicks of '82. Tootsie was hilarious… at first, then it got on its soapbox and faded. Blade Runner was good -- a little cold and dry at the start, but springing to life when Rutger Hauer pops on the screen and things got philosophical. There were a couple of classic scares with John Carpenter's The Thing and Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist, I liked both of them.

My Top 3 on the year? Slobodan Šijan's The Marathon Family, Fassbinder's brilliant Veronika Voss. And...

Werner Herzog's sprawling, yet intimate 3-hour tale of obsession, Fitzcarraldo. In it, Klaus Kinski plays a dreamer with a list of humiliating screw-ups to his name. His one big goal is to open an Opera House in the jungles of Peru and have his beloved Caruso play on its opening night. To raise the money for this, he plans to enter into the rubber business -- and to get to his rubber trees he endeavors to haul a boat over a hill to reach an important and isolated part of the river. It's a crazy scheme, one even the real-life Fitzcarraldo didn't attempt (he at least broke his boat down into sections).

Kinski is astonishing in the lead role. Dressed in white, he is a striking contrast in this muddy land, and he at first seems affluent and confident, but we soon discover that he's a raggedy man - a career failure - though not a despairing one. He never gives up on his dream and while he might seem mad, his plans are born of a deep love of this music. Kinski's eyes are wild, but there's also something childlike in them.  When he tries to share his dream and his music to potential investors, his face alights with joy... only it's like throwing pearls to swine. They have no appreciation for the beauty he is offering them.

There is one person who believes in him, a woman (wife?) played by Claudia Cardinale, who has a giddy, unshaken faith in Fitz. She is childlike in her own way and effervescently positive. And that's a nice side to the film - while it addresses obsession and has its dark, tense edges, there's a sense of optimism that remains to the end.

The second half of Herzog's ambitious picture covers the hauling of the boat over the hill. Which requires the help of a tribe of dangerous and unpredictable natives with a dream of their own. The director actually pulled that boat up that rise, an idea explored in a companion piece documentary about the making of the film, titled Burden of Dreams. First shown on TV, it too is essential viewing. Roger Ebert, who placed both pictures 4th in his top 10 for the year, wrote of the feature... "As a document of a quest and a dream, and as the record of man's audacity and foolish, visionary heroism, there has never been another movie like it."

🎭 For Best Actress, I first had to address the question of where to place Krystyna Janda's Interrogation? The picture was ready for release in 1982 but was banned until 1989. After some debate, I went with '89. 

With that settled, who to choose? Streep (Oscar and many a bloggers choice) was solid, but a little too practiced, too self-conscious in her performance for my blood. She's a talented impressionist, but sometimes I think she gets so wrapped up in that, that she forgets to inhabit a character. And for me this was the case with Sophie, primarily in those sequences in the present - where I got a real "Look at me, I'm doing a voice, isn't it great!" vibe. She and the film are stronger in scenes set in the past.

Lang, however, is Frances Farmer, in mind, body, and soul. There's nothing self-conscious or overly practiced in her work. Yeah, the screaming bits did make me wince, they're a bit too over the top, but that's a minor flaw in an otherwise flawless piece of acting.

Best Actress: Jessica Lange, Frances
Honorable Mentions:
Meryl Streep, Sophie's Choice * Rosel Zech, Veronika Voss * Sissy Spacek, Missing * Eleonora Giorgi, Borotalco * Nathalie Baye, The Return of Martin Guerre & La Balance * Renée Soutendijk, The Cool Lakes of Death * Season Ma, Boat People

Supporting Actress: Linda Hunt, The Year of Living Dangerously

Best Actor: Klaus Kinski, Fitzcarraldo (pictured up top)
Honorable Mentions:
Gérard Depardieu, The Return of Martin Guerre * Max von Sydow, The Flight of the Eagle * Paul Newman, The Verdict * Richard Farnsworth. The Grey Fox * Ben Kingsley, Gandhi * Nour El-Sherif, An Egyptian Story

Supporting Actor: Rutger Hauer, Blade Runner (pictured left)



Note on Fanny & Alexander: Wiki reports several release dates and lengths and a turn as a TV miniseries in '84. I'm putting it here, a catch-all for all versions, though I prefer the longer one.


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1981

Das Boot (Director: Wolfgang Petersen)
Nominees: Pixote, Road Warrior, Diva, Lola, Deprisa Desprisa, In Search of Famine, Man of Iron, Mephisto, The Aviator's Wife

Oscars pick: Chariots of Fire
Nominees: Atlantic City, On Golden Pond, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Reds

Not much from Oscar thrilled me. I thought Chariots was Masterpiece Theater dry, and even the supposedly emotional running scenes left me yawning. I didn't care for Warren Beatty's poorly edited Reds, which is populated with clumsily acted (Keaton & Beatty), broad comic strip-like characters. And I remember looking forward to Raiders after hearing everyone gush over it, and afterward thinking, "That’s it, that silly nonsense was an Oscar contender?"

And besides, if you're going to nominate silly nonsense, at least nominate something with real blood and guts and brain and brawn and some true cool, like the Road Warrior. For me, Mad Max kicks Indy’s sorry ass!

I thought Atlantic City was great, but it played in France and Canada (among other places) in 1980 and that's the year I nominated it. On Golden Pond was enjoyable for the actors alone.

Ultimately the motion picture that bubbled to the top was the epic, yet intimate, Das Boot. Though shown in an extended version on TV, it originally played in theaters and therefore is eligible.

When describing Das Boot critics throw out words like "authentic" and "gripping". They speak of the execution and the craftsmanship.  They write of how riveting, intense and claustrophobic it all is... and it is indeed all of those things. The temptations and struggles I have in writing about the movie are that I could sit here tossing out superlatives till the cows come home. It's the kind of film that inspires that type of gushing.

It is one of the greatest anti-war movies ever made. Set in a German U-Boat manned by a young and inexperienced crew, we follow along on their mission, which is documented by a photojournalist. There's not much of a story: We get acquainted with life in these cramped quarters, which are grimy and uncomfortable. While viewing I could almost feel the dirty sweat on my own brow and would gulp for the freshness of clean air whenever the crew was above the sea. Most of the time -we discover- a submarine is a boring place to be... but when it's not, it is absolutely terrifying. The creaks and groans of the U-boat as it dives ever deeper, the explosions of depth charges that rattle you to your bones. Having your eyesight practically stolen from you, you have to rely on your ears to be your guide. Das Boot isn't simply a movie you watch, it's a full-blooded experience.

The acting is strong, in particular, Jürgen Prochnow as the Captain, he is no Nazi spokesman, in fact, he's a bitter critic. And he exudes a quite commanding presence that anchors the entire production.  The ending is a heartbreaker, which left me shaken and sad.

UPDATE! Years after posting this I was able to find and view the odd and entertaining thriller Diva, the third in Fassbinder's BRD trilogy Lola, Saura's Deprisa Desprisa and the brutal Pixote. I've added each to my list of nominees.

The Long Good Friday played in exhibitions, Out of the Blue at Cannes in 1980 but they didn't get a general theatrical until '81

Best Actor: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Mephisto
Honorable Mentions:
Bob Hoskins. The Long Good Friday * Henry Fonda, On Golden Pond * Philippe Noiret, Coup de Torchon * Jürgen Prochnow, Das Boot * Mel Gibson, Gallipoli * Armin Mueller-Stahl, Lola * Slavko Štimac, Do You Remember Dolly Bell? * Lino Ventura & Michel Serrault, Garde à Vue * Michel Piccoli, Une étrange affaire

Best Actress: Barbara Sukowa, Lola (also Marianne and Juliane)
Honorable Mentions:
Fanny Ardant, The Woman Next Door * Katharine Hepburn, On Golden Pond * Kathleen Turner, Body Heat * Sissy Spacek, Raggedy Man * Jutta Lampe, Marianne and Juliane * Isabelle Huppert, Coup de Torchon * Catherine Deneuve, Hotel America * Linda Manz, Out of the Blue

Supporting Actress: Marilia Pera, Pixote

I also like Chieko Baisho, Station

Supporting Actor: Mario Adorf, Lola








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1980

Ordinary People (Director: Robert Redford)
Nominees: Mon Oncle d’Amérique, Atlantic City, Aakrosh, Confidence, Airplane, Coal Miner's Daughter, The Elephant Man, Kagemusha, Raging Bull, The Shining

Oscars pick: Ordinary People
Nominees: Coal Miner's Daughter, The Elephant Man, Raging Bull, Tess

I think Oscar did a great job; they selected 5 outstanding features and bestowed the top honor to the best film of 1980. Oscar got it right, damn it! (well, IMHO)

This year gets under my skin, primarily due to an alternate Oscar blog and in particular, Danny Peary's book, which lavished praise on Ordinary People and then manufactured all manner of lame excuse for why it wouldn’t be selected, mostly due to popular opinion. Ordinary People is no longer the trendy choice, so the writers buckled under critical pressure and took Raging Bull instead. Which begs the question, what happens if the next generation of film viewers adopts Airplane, Atlantic City, or Coal Miner's Daughter as the years best? Do you switch allegiances? Change your blogs and rewrite your books? Personally, I'm not into mob rule. If you genuinely prefer Ordinary People, and you spend time articulating its strengths over any other film, then at least have the grape nuts to stick to your guns.

Yes, Ordinary People was particular to 1980. Film-goers and critics embraced it warmly (along with Melvin and Howard, which bested Raging in the NY Film Critics Circle and National Society of Film Critics awards). And yes, since then it has been bowled over by the juggernaut Raging Bull - which has replaced it as the consensus favorite. But I'm not writing this piece to appease the masses (or even the huddled few here). And neither should anyone else who undertakes this endeavor.

Both movies are dark and painful examinations of a human soul in turmoil. Jake LaMotta in Bull is violence personified – violence is all he knows, it’s the only way he deals with situations. Conrad Jared in OP is a person shattered by a tragic event for which he can't forgive himself, and worse, can't find forgiveness from his own mother.

I remember this year and what it was like to view Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull. It was a raw, blood and guts story, and the scenes in the ring were some of the best boxing footage ever filmed. But I rarely felt like I got into the mind of the character, even when he was used up and old at the end - and the only time he became fully human and engaged me was the scene when he breaks down in tears after throwing a fight.

Ordinary People was difficult as well, but I'm more in tune with its sensitive, damaged protagonist (Timothy Hutton) than I am with an emotionally stunted bully. I got to know these people and was fascinated by the thorny family dynamic, Mary Tyler Moore was a revelation, branching beyond her usually likable, bubbly personality and delivering the dramatic goods like I never expected. The uncomfortable and awkward conversations between mother and son were beautifully acted and painful to watch. This was Robert Redford's directorial début and aside from the voiceover flashbacks being cheesy (especially during the jogging scene, where Donald Sutherland's expression says all that needed saying) the fair-haired actor helped create a picture that Roger Ebert described as "Intelligent, perceptive and deeply moving."

Raging Bull I respect on its technical filmmaking merits (rather than on story or characterization) and on those merits I nominated it. If I was handing out director awards (and I don't because, for the most part, my Best Picture's and Director's would be the same), I'd likely select Martin Scorsese or Stanley Kubrick (Shining) as Best Director. I think Scorsese is not only a genius but a genuinely likable person, with a deep love and respect for film history that I admire. But I'd rather sit through Louis Malle's smartly written and acted Atlantic City, or Alain Resnais ingenious, Mon Oncle d’Amérique, or István Szabó's absorbing WWII drama, Confidence, and most especially the emotionally resonant Ordinary People. If that makes me an idiot in some people's eyes so be it. But at least what your getting here is my honest opinion and not one filtered through the Rotten Tomatoes aggregate scoring system.

In addition, I love my actors, their work is rich and full - Spacek is incredible, so convincing and real as she grows from sheltered young teen to superstar - and Shah's character arc in Aakrosh is equally as strong, playing an idealistic lawyer who becomes increasingly paranoid and disillusioned by the system (and he's lent great support by Om Puri, Smita Patil & Amrish Puri) - he was also good in Sparsh (Touch) in this same season.

Best Actor: Naseeruddin Shah, Aakrosh (also, Sparsh)
Honorable Mentions:
Burt Lancaster, Atlantic City * Edward Woodward, Breaker Morant * Jack Nicholson, The Shining * Tatsuya Nakadai, Kagemusha * John Hurt & Anthony Hopkins, The Elephant Man * Robert De Niro. Raging Bull * Timothy Hutton & Donald Sutherland, Ordinary People

Best Actress: Sissy Spacek, Coal Miner’s Daughter
Honorable Mentions:
Chieko Baisho, A Distant Cry from Spring * Nathalie Baye, A Weeks Vacation * Susan Sarandon, Atlantic City  * Louise Portal, Cordélia * Ellen Burstyn, Resurrection * Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People * Gena Rowlands, Gloria * Marie Tifo, Good Riddance * Anda Onesa, Gently Was Anastasia Passing

Supporting Actor: Joe Pesci, Raging Bull

Supporting Actress: Eva Le Gallienne, Resurrection







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1979

The Marriage of Maria Braun (Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Nominees: Alien, Stalker, Ek Din Pratidin, The Barrier, Orchestral Rehearsal, My Brilliant Career, All That Jazz

Oscars pick:  Kramer vs. Kramer
Nominees: All That Jazz, Apocalypse Now, Breaking Away, Norma Rae

I had a love/dislike thing going on with a lot of films in 1979. Manhattan, Woody Allen's love letter to his city annoys in spots, almost as much as it delights. Coppola's Apocalypse Now ebbs and flows, there are some amazing scenes but it also rambles, especially in the wispy final reel (and Brando's best work was seen in the documentary Hearts of Darkness). Oscar-winner Kramer vs. Kramer was overall just okay. I guess I wasn't as moved by it as I was supposed to be.

Knowing I wouldn't be going the same route as other writers or critics or Oscar, I searched alternate paths. And found several treasures: Tarkovsky's Stalker, Mrinal Sen's Ek Din Pratidin, and my winner, Ranier Werner Fassbinder's Marriage of Maria Braun.

Thematically, Braun is an economics study of postwar Germany and tells of a woman’s climb from rags to riches. “The Mata Hari of the Economic Miracle.” is how Maria describes herself at one point. And she is indeed sensual; a free-spirited, free thinker who’ll use men in order to get to the point in her life where she and her husband can have the life they (she?) wants.

A nuanced virtuoso performance from Hanna Schygulla helps to make The Marriage of Maria Braun a compelling human drama. It also helps that the script is sharp as a tack. While it was Märthesheimer and Fröhlich's first screenplay, they pen some lines of dialog that are among the best I’ve heard this side of Wilder, Allen or Towne.

Braun marks the final collaboration between Fassbinder and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, and they go out on a high – Impressing, not only with the flashier moments but in those smaller and retrained - like when Maria learns, rather bluntly, that her husband has been killed. Instead of zeroing in on her face, the camera slowly settles on a close up of her hand, dripping with water.

And there’s the audacious ending (sparking much debate), which leads to the sound of a sports announcer proclaiming Germany’s supremacy, while the photo-negative faces of Chancellors (they of the empty promises) flash across the screen… save for Willy Brandt (the only one Fassbinder thought was worth a damn).

For me, it’s quintessential Fassbinder, in its ideas and presentation, in its complexities and irony, and in its portrayal of power - the nature of it, the struggle for it, and the inevitable loss of it.

Best Actor: Ken Ogata, Vengeance is Mine
Honorable Mentions:
Klaus Kinski, Nosferatu the Vampyre * George C. Scott, Hardcore * Peter Sellers, Being There * Robert Duvall, The Great Santini * Jerzy Stuhr, Camera Buff * James Woods, The Onion Field * Roy Scheider, All that Jazz

Supporting Actor: Ian Holm, Alien


Best Actress: Hanna Schygulla, The Marriage of Maria Braun (pictured top)
Honorable Mentions:
Judy Davis, My Brilliant Career * Nastassja Kinski, Tess * Sigourney Weaver, Alien * Sreela Majumdar, Parashuram (The Man with the Axe) * Vania Tzvetkova, The Barrier * Sally Field, Norma Rae

Supporting Actress: Eva Mattes, Woyzeck (pictured left)




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