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PICKING THE 2004 OSCAR WINNERS
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Tough choices in every
category this time around
By RON MILLER
of TheColumnists.com
For starters, let's agree this wasn't a great year for the movies. There aren't very many towering future screen classics vying for Oscars this year. I mean, those big suckers that everybody went to see and everybody came out of the theater loving.
In fact, none of the year's blockbuster hits are in the running for Best Picture. It turned out that most of the nominated films are either very modest successes or are still trying to hit the break-even point in box office returns. Once again, it suggests the films the public loves are just bloated "entertainments" for the youth market. Those same filmgoers don't seem to go see the films vying for honors.
That said, I'll confess I haven't seen all the films in which actors earned Oscar nominations this year. There are two reasons for that: 1. I no longer live in a major urban setting where all movies arrive in a timely fashion and stay around long enough for you to catch them. 2. Each year, more "little" films are generating Oscar nominations and sometimes those films stay for a week or less in most theaters. I'm stuck waiting for them to come out on home video.
Despite the disadvantage to me, I'd say that's a positive trend. The more "little" pictures that win awards, the more likely people will get a second chance to see them. And it's often the "little" pictures that are doing the challenging things that don't involve digital special effects.
But I did see all the nominated films vying for Best Picture at the 77th Annual Academy Awards ceremony Sunday night. They're all good and worthy films, but I'm chagrined that the film I liked best this year--"Hotel Rwanda"--didn't make the final five.
One caveat needs to go here: I'm not predicting the winners, I'm saying which of the nominees I want to win. Don't place any bets based on what you see below.
Here are the Best Picture
nominees: "The Aviator," "Finding Neverland,"
"Million Dollar Baby," "Ray" and "Sideways."
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'Million Dollar Baby" |
"Sideways" |
Though I greatly admire director Martin Scorsese and most of his body of work, I don't think he shines best with "big" subjects. I hated last year's "Gangs of New York" and was prepared to dislike "The Aviator," which re-tells the story of Howard Hughes. But the film is very capably made and Scorsese did a great job of evoking the period of Hughes' rise to power in the aviation industry. Still, I think it's the most flawed of the five nominees.
I loved "Finding Neverland," the story of James M. Barrie and the creation of his "Peter Pan," but I find it hasn't lingered in my mind like the remaining three nominees. It's a wistful and poignant film with a very special feel to it, but I don't think it carries enough weight for me to single it out as the pick of the litter.
I also greatly admire "Ray," which I found to be a totally entertaining biographical drama that literally jumped with the rhythms of the great Ray Charles, masterfully played by Jamie Foxx.
I found the hilarious "Sideways" to be the most original film of the bunch, though I felt I wanted it to go on and finish telling us all about what happens to those two screwed-up guys who go off for a week together in what passes for "wine country" in Southern California just before one of them gets married. This is that rarest of comedies--a film that can get outrageously funny while basically recounting the poignant story of several examples of life's losers who somehow wind up in each other's path.
And I remain in awe at what Clint Eastwood is achieving in his 70s as a director with films like "Mystic River" and this year's "Million Dollar Baby." This film is a work of much artfulness and it transcends its subject matter--the struggle of a young female prizefighter to win a championship--by digging down to the visceral meat of the story. "Baby" is really about three lost souls--the boxer, the manager and the trainer, all looking for dignity, respect and the chance to be somebody. Along the way, they also learn to love someone else more than they love themselves. It's a beautifully written film that dares to twist a conventional genre story in order to make some very insightful comments on the human condition.
I would be happy if either "Sideways" or "Million Dollar Baby" wins the Oscar and not devastated if "Ray" gets it either. But, again, I think "Hotel Rwanda" outdoes them all and remains my favorite picture of 2004.
In the Best Performance by an Actor category, the nominees are: Don Cheadle for "Hotel Rwanda," Johnny Depp for "Finding Neverland," Leonardo Di Caprio for "The Aviator," Clint Eastwood for "Million Dollar Baby" and Jamie Foxx for "Ray."
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I'm not a big fan of Di Caprio, but I thought he did admirable work as Howard Hughes in "The Aviator," especially conveying the germ-paranoid aspects of the tycoon's persona. But I don't think he captured the romantic flavor of Hughes and I felt no chemistry between him and his various leading ladies.
Depp is the guy who gets no respect, as the late Rodney Dangerfield would say, despite a long string of flawless performances on film. I began rooting for him after "Ed Wood" and have loved everything he's done since then, except for his over-the-top pirate in "Pirates of the Caribbean," which I know puts me in a minority. I thought his work as the imaginative author of "Peter Pan" in "Finding Neverland" was superb, but maybe it just lacks the punch of the remaining three contenders.
Jamie Foxx has been cleaning up on most of the awards leading up to the Oscars for his amazing performance as singer Ray Charles in "Ray." This is no fluke. This is a career-making performance and should point the talented comic in a whole new direction as an actor. I would be pleased if he won.
And, though I never thought I'd see the day Clint Eastwood was being taken seriously as an actor, the truth is he's been doing Oscar-worthy work for more than 20 years, especially in "Unforgiven" and this year's "Million Dollar Baby." As Frankie, the taciturn, but haunted fight manager in "Baby," Eastwood gives a textured, sensitive performance as a man who's struggling with his own feelings of failure as a real-life father while becoming a profoundly caring, loving surrogate dad to Maggie Fitzgerald, the young woman he's guiding toward a world boxing crown. Eastwood has worked as the director of so many fine actors that he has finally mastered the ability to draw from his own inner feelings and give performances equal to some of the great ones he's been coaxing from so many others.
So, I will happily salute Eastwood if he earns his first acting Oscar, but my personal favorite is Don Cheadle as the real-life hotel manager of "Hotel Rwanda." You experience this harrowing story through Cheadle's character, so he must immediately draw you into believing he's the real person. Mastering an African accent, Cheadle bit by bit shows us how this efficient fellow transforms himself from being just a natural deal-maker into a heroic figure of near-mythic proportions by finding hundreds of ways to save the refugees who have flooded into his hotel in the midst of a barbaric tribal war.
Cheadle has been doing impressive work for years, but just before seeing him in "Hotel Rwanda" I re-ran his earlier performance as "Mouse," the happy-go-lucky killer from Houston in that marvelous period mystery "Devil in A Blue Dress." Watching those two performances back to back vividly demonstrated the amazing range of Cheadle's work, putting him in that special category where Depp, Dustin Hoffman and only a few other actors seem to flourish.
In the Best Actress category, the nominees are Annette Bening for "Being Julia," Catalina Sandino Moreno for "Maria Full of Grace," Imelda Staunton for "Vera Drake," Hilary Swank for "Million Dollar Baby" and Kate Winslett for "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."
I've only seen two of the five performances--Bening's and Swank's--so I hope the others aren't as dazzling as those two or I may embarrass myself mightily here. I thought Bening's work as Julia, the fading stage diva, was absolutely top rank in a really great film that also deserved a Best Picture nomination. And yet Swank's energized work as the working class heroine of "Baby" demonstrates once more what a resourceful actress she is, especially in a physically-demanding role like Maggie Fitzgerald.
Ironically, Swank and Bening came head to head some years back when Bening was up for her best-ever performance as the hustling realtor wife in "American Beauty," but was outpointed by Swank as the tragic girl pretending to be a boy in "Boys Don't Cry." It would be poetic justice for Bening to sneak this one away from Swank, although I'll be happy with either one winning the Oscar.
My personal choice, though, is Bening, who has deserved an Oscar ever since she set foot on a Hollywood set. Has there ever been a more beguiling and versatile performer than this handsome woman? I doubt it. Her Julia is a delicious confection on the surface, but Bening shows us the hurting underneath. And let's not forget that Bening makes us believe she's a British stage queen of the 1930s so effortlessly that you hardly give her credit for it.
In the Supporting Actor
category, the nominees are: Alan Alda for "The Aviator,"
Thomas Haden Church for "Sideways," Jamie Foxx for
"Collateral," Morgan Freeman for "Million Dollar
Baby" and Clive Owen for "Closer."
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I didn't see either "Closer" or "Collateral." Alda's turn as a corrupt senator was very good, but it would be hard to beat either Church with his surprisingly rich comic turn as the high-living ex-soap opera star in "Sideways" or the impeccable Freeman, whose savvy work as the battered former title contender in "Million Dollar Baby" was one of his all-time best performances. Freeman has lost out on Oscars before, so there will be lots of sentiment running for him to finally get one for all the amazing work he's done so far. I'll be happy if either man wins.
In the supporting actress contest, the nominees are: Cate Blanchett in "The Aviator," Laura Linney in "Kinsey," Virgina Madsen in "Sideways," Sophie Okonedo in "Hotel Rwanda" and Natalie Portman in "Closer."
Linney and Portman are two of my favorite actresses, but I haven't seen those pictures yet. Blanchett's re-creation of Katharine Hepburn was very good, but I'd feel uncomfortable with the Oscar going to what amounts to an impersonation rather than a nuanced performance. Madsen, who has played so many sleazy women in her career, was really winning as the well-travelled waitress in "Sideways" and probably has a good shot at taking home the Oscar. Personally, I was knocked out by Okonedo's turn as the desperately courageous wife of the hotel manager in "Hotel Rwanda," but I feel she's a long shot. I'd be happy if either Madsen or Okonedo won.
For Best Director, the nominees are Clint Eastwood for "Million Dollar Baby," Taylor Hackford for "Ray," Mike Leigh for "Vera Drake," Alexander Payne for "Sideways" and Martin Scorsese for "The Aviator."
Scorsese is overdue after being passed over for so many classic films, so this may be the year he gets his Oscar. I'd cheer his win, but for his career, not this film. I haven't seen "Vera Drake," but I'll be pulling for another old pro who's overdue: Taylor Hackford, who deserves enormous praise for his work in recreating the world and times of Ray Charles and getting such a powerful performance from Jamie Foxx. A victory for Eastwood wouldn't break my heart either and Payne's achievement with "Sideways" also was tremendous, but Hackford's my man for 2004.
Many are predicting this year's Oscar show may be a ratings disappointment because there's no mighty film like "Titanic" or "Lord of the Rings" to stir up the audience. They've also turned to blue comic Chris Rock in hopes he'll attract lots of young viewers who like him, but maybe don't care about who wins Oscars. I fear Rock could be a foreign object that will irritate long-time Oscar nuts like me, but let's wait and see, shall we?
©2005 by Ron Miller. The Oscar symbol and the term "Academy Award" are the exclusive trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. The photos are from the official Academy Awards website. This column first posted Feb. 21, 2005.
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