RICK'S PICKS FOR 2004

RICK’S PICKS FOR 2004

The Golden Globes have been handed out and the Oscar nominations announced -- now it’s time for Rick to weigh in with his personal picks for 2004.

A lengthy comment to begin: Martin Scorcese’s “The Aviator”, which scored 11 Academy Award nominations, is nowhere to be found among my own selections. More show than substance, this film is a glaring example of the popularity contest the Oscars have become. Scorcese, who has built a directorial career around films that glorify brutality and gang violence (notable exception: “The Age of Innocence”), has attained legendary status, but has no Oscar statue to show for his work. He will get one on February 27, not because “The Aviator” is his finest achievement, rather because Academy voters will decide that it’s high time. Now don’t get me entirely wrong -- “The Aviator” has its share of entertaining moments and a couple of interesting characterizations, notably those of Cate Blanchett and Alan Alda. But the star of the piece, Leonardo di Caprio, who’s done good work in films for which his boyish face, voice, and stature are suited (“Gilbert Grape”, “Catch Me If You Can”), can’t measure up to the imposing likes of Howard Hughes. It would be like casting Reese Witherspoon in the role of Eleanor Roosevelt.

All this said, di Caprio throws himself into the role earnestly and he gets Hughes’s “throw caution to the winds” antics and obsessive-compulsive angst down pat. But I couldn’t get past his brattish boy voice and and slight frame in my efforts to suspend belief. Not that Leo is alone among American actors in this respect. He’s in excellent company among a curious breed of Yankee film actors (Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt) who have reached 30 years of age and beyond, but whose voices remain in the pitch and range of high-school jocks. Part of this is due to a lack of vocal training and stage experience. It’s no mystery why so many British and Australian actors (Russell Crowe, Jude Law, Clive Owen, Hugh Jackman, Guy Pearce, Christian Bale, Daniel Craig, etc.) populate so many American films, particularly in roles that are heroic or larger than life, or simply call for broad shoulders and voices to match that image.

MY DAZZLING DOZEN FOR 2004

1. Sideways/Before Sunset -- Just didn’t have the heart to rank either of these superb, intensely humanistic films number 2. I loved every moment of both. Those who are impatient with character development or uncomfortable with the vulnerable, often quirky honesty of the conversation among those characters -- legions of moviegoers who’ve grown up on soundbytes and the breakneck pace of action films and TV sitcoms whine about films that are too “slow” or too “talky” -- may find one or both of these tedious. Or maybe too close to home to be palatable. You need to be self-aware, but not self-absorbed, interested in what others are thinking and feeling, to enjoy films like these. They’re all about missed connections, misplaced trust, deceipt, delusion, elusive goals, shattered dreams, reassessed and reordered values, and redemption. In my estimation, there isn’t a flaw in either film. The last scene in “Before Sunset” is pure magic --I let out an audible gasp in the theater, then looked around and realized I was the only one who had. You won’t believe you’re watching two actors (Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy) -- it’s as if you’re the proverbial fly on the wall but you really shouldn’t be eavesdropping. If you rent “Before Sunset”, do yourselves a favor and rent “Before Sunrise” (from 1995) and watch it first, of course.

2. A Home at the End of the World -- a film based on Michael Cunningham’s (“The Hours”) novel that contends that “family can be whatever you want it to be” would have been the bane of Christian conservatives and the Religous Right if any among them had seen it. But it opened in limited markets and tanked almost immediately. Too risky a project and too deviant a premise in neo-1950s America. It’s all about love and freedom of spirit and features a kiss between Colin Farrell and Dallas Roberts that was excised before the film was released, then reinstated because it artistically belonged. No explosions, decapitations, or gratuitious computer graphics -- just Sissy Spacek’s character sharing a joint with her son and his pal -- a variation on the theme of humanity and lovingly showcased.

3. Million Dollar Baby -- wow, wow, wow, what a film! I hate boxing, going back to when I was I kid and my father insisted on listening to radio broadcasts of the Friday night fights from Madison Square Garden or the St. Nicholas Arena every week against my protests. So I had grave doubts about “Million Dollar Baby” when I entered a packed auditorium at the River Cinemas in Rancho Mirage, CA one Sunday afternoon in mid-January. And those doubts weren’t dispelled in the opening moments of the film as Morgan Freeman launched into one of the those world-wise and weary, sanctimonious narrations screenplay writers seem wont to fashion for him. And then that screenplay, devoid of any other cliches, took off in directions I hadn’t envisioned and a richly-layered and wrenching story emerged of disparate lives of desperation coming together to forge an unlikely and reluctant alliance, buoyed by heightened hopes, exhilarated by extraordinary feats, then dashed by heartbreaking tragedy. As wonderful as Hilary Swank’s performance is, it is Clint Eastwood who continues to amaze me, both as director (“Mystic River”) and actor (“Bridges of Madison County”). Man, is this a far cry from “A Fistful of Dollars“, “Dirty Harry”, or even “Play Misty for Me”. Eastwood so completely inhabits his character and evolves it with such instinctual subtlety that it could/should serve as a study piece for aspiring actors or even working actors aspiring to be better. Yes, this really is a knockout film.

4. The Sea Inside -- In the hands of a director other than Alejandro Amenabar and an actor other than Javier Bardem, this tale of a quadriplegic going to determined lengths to achieve the right to have his life terminated might have been either maudlin or comedic. But skill, insight, and talent win mightily here, and quality of life and right to die issues are explored deftly and unsentimentally against a backdrop of archaic government statutes and anguished family ambivalence. Bardem (“Before Night Falls”, “Live Flesh”, “The Dancer Upstairs”) gives a restrained, exquisite performance -- the guy can say so much with a blink of his eyes or a curl of a lip. And he is aided by an excellent supporting cast.

5. Monsieur Ibrahim -- Maybe Europeans are better at coming-of-age films or maybe coming of age in Europe is a different bag of beans from what it is in the US of A. This French release begins as a deliciously disarming, matter-of-fact account of teen sexual awakening in a tawdry Paris neighborhood, then slowly builds into an uncommonly edifying story of intergenerational male bonding that ultimately takes to the road and a bittersweet ending. Omar Sharif’s career resurrection is a coming-of-age story in itself. At 72 (and looking 10 years older), Sharif gives the performance of his motion picture life, molding a benevolent character infused with wisdom, humor, and compassion.

6. My Architect -- Nathaniel Kahn’s haunting and emotionally conflicted documentary about the father he scarcely knew -- the enigmatic, nearly-renowned architect Louis Kahn, a disfigured man of mysterious charm who fathered three children by three different women, only one of whom he actually married. The younger Kahn’s journey to discover and understand his father 30 years after the elder man’s death was throughout a lump-in-the-throat and heavy heart experience for me, and, oh yes, enlightening as well.

7. The Machinist -- oh my, this one was painful to sit through, but utterly riveting and an acting tour de force. Christian Bale (“American Psycho”, “Laurel Canyon”) -- bravely lost 80 pounds to play an emaciated insomniac who works as a machinist in a factory from hell, and plays him with consummate craft. This film hardly qualifies as “entertainment”, at least in the literal sense, revealing as it does a confused, tortured, borderline demented soul living under a cloud of doom and gloom. But as a piece of filmmaking in every detail, it’s brilliant. Scout out a bar near the theater in advance of the showing.

8. The Phantom of the Opera -- one of the most critically dismissed films of the year and mysteriously so. An absolutely sumptuous cinematic feast for the eyes and ears. The computer-generated daguerreotype flash forwards are alone worth the price of admission. Romance, humor, horror, pathos, song, dance, costumes, spectacle, pretty people, ugly people -- an entertainment smorgasbord! My only compaint -- the long-haired wig Patrick Wilson was forced to wear much of the time. Do not wait to rent the DVD -- see this film in a theater with stadium seating, the widest screen available, and digital surround sound (dts).

9. Bad Education -- Pedro’s back and better than ever -- no not Martinez, silly -- Almadovar. And he’s got Gael Garcia Bernal, the hottest twenty-something actor on the planet, with him. You’ve got to pay close attention to this one -- the plot line twists and turns on a dime -- it’s quite a ride, and it’ll leave you in the dust if you don’t stay focused. Oh, and stay away if you’re queasy about transvestites or sex abuses involving Catholic priests. Garcia Bernal, barely out of the starting gate, already has three notches in his acting belt (“Y Tu Mama Tambien”, “The Motorcycle Diaries”, and “Bad Education”). Pardon the mixed metaphors.

10. Alfie -- yes, that’s right, “Alfie”, as in “what’s it all about?” The critics, those who review for a living, were unanimous in their disdain for this remake of the mid-60s original starring, then relatively unknown to American audiences, Michael Caine. Some sniffed that the story was no longer timely, intimating that the intervening era of Women’s Lib had all but abolished female subservience and made caddishness a felony, thereby putting womanizers in the same category with sex offenders. Tell that to the battered women of America. Whereas Michael Caine’s Alfie was humorless, charmless, and mean-spirited, accentuated by Caine’s bulging orbs and cockney accent, Jude Law’s Alfie isn’t at all harsh (not edgy enough for today’s film critics); he offends more inadvertently; his philosophy is more in line with Auntie Mame’s regarding life as a banquet -- why be a poor slob and starve? Especially since you’re an enormously attractive male and can partake so bountifully. Ultimately, because malice has been the furthest thing from his mind, his comeuppance is more bewildering to him and his remorse palpable and believable. When he intones the “what’s it all about?” query at the end -- the “it” being human relationships -- I couldn’t help but wonder out loud with him. Oddly enough, Jude Law’s character in “Closer”, which finished just out of the running for “The Dazzling Dozen”, comes very close to Michael Caine’s take on Alfie.

11. Finding Neverland -- Though the filmmakers played fast and loose with the true story of Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie’s relationship with an ailing widow and her four (five in actuality) sons, choosing to omit suspected darker elements, the result nonetheless is an enchanting family film that Johnny Depp infuses with his signature brew of whimsy and eccentricity, resorting to reality only when pushed by events to do so. Part fantasy, part tear-jerker, it looks and feels like an old-fashioned movie, and that’s not a negative for someone like me who fondly remembers films of the 40s and 50s, most of which trumpeted the triumph of good over evil and/or painted over life with gloss and glitter. “Finding Neverland” is the antithesis of “The Machinist”, and I like that balance in my moviegoing menu.

12. Strayed -- Never heard of it, you say. More’s the pity, I say. My favorite French director Andre Techine (“Wild Reeds”, “Alice et Martin”, “My Favorite Season”) has fashioned yet another offbeat love story. Odile (Emmanuelle Beart), recently widowed, and her two children (Philippe 13, Cathy 7) are among the hordes fleeing Paris as Nazi bombs rain down upon them. Just as the blitz reaches its fiercest and it appears the family is doomed, they encounter a youth named Yvan in his late teens who leads them to safety in an abandoned farmhouse. Feral, but gutsy and resourceful, Yvan almost immediately wins the admiration of Philippe and Cathy (in Philippe’s case, it appears somewhat more than admiration). But Odile, regarding him with suspicion and mistrust, is much slower to “come around”. When she finally does...

Admirable also-rans: In Good Company, Maria Full of Grace, Friday Night Lights, Ray, Closer, The Mudge Boy, The Motorcycle Diaries, Stage Beauty, Fahrenheit 9/11, Being Julia, Kinsey, and Collateral.

Most overrated film of the year: Vera Drake

Best “pure fluff escapist” film of the year: Win a Date with Tad Hamilton


In recent years, the Motion Picture Academy has resorted to the questionable practice of assigning “supporting actor and actress” status to everyone in the cast besides the one or two obvious leads, regardless of the relative importance of their roles, their accumulated time on screen, or the number of lines they utter -- a practice that virtually guarantees that no nominee from the same film competes in the same category. Hence, we have a situation in “Sideways” where, according to the Academy, only Paul Giamatti had a leading role, and Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, and Sandra Oh were supporting characters. Similarly, in “Closer”, Julia Roberts and Jude Law were perceived as the leads; Clive Owen and Natalie Portman were supporting cast members (even though no one character was more pivotal than another).

What I’ve done here is to nominate 10 actors in both the Best Actor and Best Actress categories -- none, in my view, were “supporting” characters.

BEST ACTOR NOMINATIONS

Jamie Foxx/”Ray”/”Collateral
Javier Bardem/”The Sea Inside”
Kevin Bacon/”The Woodsman”
Omar Sharif/”Monsieur Ibrahim”
Christian Bale/”The Machinist”
Paul Giamatti/”Sideways”
Gael Garcia Bernal/”Bad Education”/”The Motorcycle Diaries”
Johnny Depp/”Finding Neverland”
Clint Eastwood/”Million Dollar Baby”
Ethan Hawke/”Before Sunset”

And the Rixter goes to Jamie Foxx

BEST ACTRESS NOMINATIONS

Annette Bening/”Being Julia”
Hilary Swank/”Million Dollar Baby”
Virginia Madsen/”Sideways”
Kate Winslet/”Eternal Sunshine...”/”Finding Neverland”
Nicole Kidman/”Birth”
Julie Delpy/”Before Sunset”
Laura Linney/”Kinsey”
Imelda Staunton/”Vera Drake”
Natalie Portman/”Closer”
Catalina Sandino Moreno/”Maria Full of Grace”

And the Rixter goes to Annette Bening