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).
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.
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
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
