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.
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
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
Also liked Toshiyuki Nishida, Station to Heaven
Supporting Actress: Peggy Ashcroft, A Passage to India
Actress wishlist: Sayuri Yoshinaga, in Ohan
Actress wishlist: Sayuri Yoshinaga, in Ohan
