Critics Jude Seymour and Matt Nania weigh in with their picks
By MATT NANIA
Scene Movie Editor
I begrudgingly admit that the Academy did a fairly competent job in its selection of this year's Oscar nominations. None of the Best Picture contenders are particularly inferior. "A Beautiful Mind:" Hollywood melodrama at its finest. "In the Bedroom:" A fierce but subtle character-study. "The Lord of the Rings:" An epic if there ever was one. "Moulin Rouge:" A revitalization of the movie musical. And "Gosford Park," which I haven't seen but am confident contains faultless performances and expert direction from the legendary Robert Altman.
Still, the Academy isn't perfect — not by a long shot. If it were, then surely Jude and I would've been consulted for our picks. Here are mine.
Best Picture:
"Mulholland Drive"
Despite the preceding complimentary interpretation of this year's Picture nominees, none come close to achieving the deranged beauty of "Mulholland Drive," David Lynch's opus of fantasies, nightmares and Hollywood. Far be it from me to say what qualities are needed in every film, but how can you possibly go wrong with mystery, a quirky sense of humor, dark satire, haunting music and gorgeous women? You can't. "Drive" is a bizarre but engrossing trip that stands as the high-point of not only Lynch's work, but of all films released this year.
Best Director:
Baz Luhrmann, "Moulin Rouge"
Luhrmann is ridiculously absent from this year's list of Director nominees, despite the fact that "Rouge" is up for a total of eight awards, including Picture. The supplementary features on the film's packed DVD show a man in creative control of his vision, empowering his actors, dancers and designers to execute elaborate musical numbers at a level simply not seen in modern cinema. Luhrmann's snub in this category is unforgivable, but I'll turn the other cheek. At least they nominated Lynch.
Best Actor:
Russell Crowe, "A Beautiful Mind"
For a star of his magnitude, Crowe sure knows how to disappear into character. His portrayal of mathematician John Nash in the historically inaccurate (not that it matters) "Mind" is a lesson to all leading men out there: You can't earn audience sympathy without first convincing us you're going to stay with the character all the way to the end. The fact that Crowe previously won an Oscar for showcasing his brawn should not stop the Academy from rewarding his intellect.
Best Actress:
Emma Thompson, "Wit"
Academy rules and regulations be damned: The best female performance of the year came from Thompson in HBO's "Wit." Originally meant for theatrical distribution, the film had difficulty finding a studio that was willing to risk releasing a product about a dying cancer victim. Much of the script is presented in monologue as Thompson's character talks directly to the camera. This sounds like it would be boring, but the actress is given such delicious and witty dialogue that the rather plain visual scheme benefits our understanding of what her character is going through. That aspect, as well as her heart-wrenching depiction of a woman dehumanized by medical treatment, together makes for a performance you can't take your eyes off of.
Best Supporting Actor:
Steve Buscemi, "Ghost World"
You've seen him in everything from "Fargo" to "Armageddon," always that odd-looking guy with the bug eyes and crooked teeth. In "World" he gets a fully fleshed-out supporting role that capitalizes on his weirdness as well as his casual humanity. Instead of nominating Buscemi in this category, the Academy chose "Training Day's" Ethan Hawke (Denzel Washington blew him off the screen) and "Ali's" Jon Voight (How many lines did he have? Eight?). But Buscemi doesn't seem to be an actor who cares much about award recognition. As his character says in "World," "I can't relate to 99 percent of humanity."
Best Supporting Actress:
Jennifer Connelly, "A Beautiful Mind"
Connelly's mistaken inclusion in the Lead Actress category of this year's Screen Actors Guild Awards infuriated her agents and publicists, but maybe it points to an important aspect of her performance in "Mind:" She holds her own — and then some — against Russell Crowe, the lead actor. Exhibiting both warmth and intelligence, Connelly finally garners the acclaim that has building since her strong turn in last year's "Requiem For a Dream." Both she and Crowe are the front-runners in their respective categories, so it seems that in this case the Academy is right on track.
Contact Matt Nania at mnania@nd.edu.
All Scene Stories for Thursday, February 14, 2002
