OVP: Best Director (2004)
The Nominees Were...
Martin Scorsese, The Aviator
Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby
Taylor Hackford, Ray
Alexander Payne, Sideways
Mike Leigh, Vera Drake
My Thoughts: We are starting the final week of the 2004 Oscar Viewing Project. We will be hitting three articles this week (I cannot promise the days that these will land as I have a very busy "real life" week ahead, but they will happen at some point between now & Saturday)-Best Director, Picture, and My Oscar Ballot, as well as kicking off our 14th season on Sunday. You've been with us a while (and if you haven't, there's links to a bunch of our past contests below to catch you up), so let's get started with, I don't know...Clint Eastwood (movie stars tend to get first billing in Hollywood, so commencing with him feels the most natural).
Clint Eastwood's films of the past decade have been marked by political appraisals of his offscreen behavior, most notably viewing his pictures through the lens of his 2012 appearance at the Republican National Convention, but while his movies have always had an anti-establishment vibe, it does feel like they have taken on a more noted libertarian tone in the past 10 years (though, not to give away the ending of Million Dollar Baby, but this one does as well even if that's not its most marked characteristic). Eastwood does imbue a sense of anguish as his camera moves through the story of Maggie's eventual tragedy, but it also doesn't add a lot. Blue-tinted cinematography & thoughtful whispering next to a routine story might make for solid popcorn fare, but it never feels all that elevated, and while that's fine, if you're going to give someone an Oscar, they should be elevating the actual picture beyond what is on the page.
That's what Martin Scorsese brings to The Aviator. Scorsese was very much in the throes of his "please give me an Oscar" phase in 2004 (he'd get more experimental in the years after The Departed), but just because you're making Academy-friendly movies doesn't mean they can't be great. The Aviator knows that you can't have Howard Hughes without also bringing in the true glamour of this figure, and trying to show modern audiences why his final chapter was so unusual to the public-at-large. Scorsese does that, exhibiting a rapid descent for Hughes, but also giving us a truly fully-fleshed out movie, with long insightful chapters into the figure (and side characters who escaped his gravitational orbit like Katharine Hepburn & Ava Gardner). It's a biopic with perspective.
That's not the case with Ray. Taylor Hackford's look at singer Ray Charles came along at a time when musical biopics were all the rage (we're in another run of that right now thanks to the recent blockbuster success of Bohemian Rhapsody), but the problem with them was that they were so cookie cutter, and while Ray was one of the most successful examples of this, it was hardly the first (most of the musical biopics of this era were clearly stealing from the very successful Temptations miniseries that aired in the late 1990's). Hackford doesn't help Foxx bring out enough of Ray Charles, who always feels just-out-of-reach to the audience, which is a problem when the biopic is focused directly on him. As a result, you leave the film humming a lot of great music, but not feeling like you've understood the man behind the songs in a way you don't understand all musicians.
Alexander Payne brings a better understanding to his characters in Sideways, which doesn't have the handicap of being based on a real person, and therefore can expand a bit what we're trying to understand about these figures. Payne's approach is to let everything sit, much like a fine glass of wine allowed to breathe, and have the audience first get to know the main quartet of players before letting our opinions of them change too much. This hands-off approach gives the film a relaxed feel, which some don't love, but I quite enjoyed because as things happen it feels more meaningful. Conversation is an underrated way to get across key life events in a film (when we're trained to focus more on events), and Payne does this beautifully (it helps that he's also a writer), having the most pivotal perspective shifts happen simply through a conversation with someone you don't realize is changing your life.
Our final nominee is Mike Leigh, the only person we won't be returning to later this week for Best Picture. Leigh's movies are always thoughtful & no one quite knows the power of shifting perspective like Mike Leigh. This is true of Vera Drake, where Leigh puts the early focus on our main character, someone we're meant to think we can understand just by looking at her, and then watch as we learn things about her that we otherwise couldn't have realized. This is a challenge that Leigh undertakes knowing the risks-if we feel like we're not alongside Vera's family, gaining additional understanding of the title character, it will feel rather conventional, but Leigh utilizes his leading lady's excellent performance to full effect to make Vera Drake feel like it's filled with surprises as we move to its conclusion.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes have always favored a movie star for this category, so Clint Eastwood began his eventual date with Oscar as the victor for the HFPA, beating out Scorsese, Payne, Mike Nichols (Closer), & Marc Forster (Finding Neverland). BAFTA didn't go for Million Dollar Baby anywhere, so they gave their trophy to Mike Leigh, here over Forster, Scorsese, Michael Mann (Collateral), & Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). The DGA also went with Clint Eastwood, here over Forster, Hackford, Payne, & Scorsese. I have to assume, considering he hit all three precursors (and was nominated for Best Picture) that Marc Forster was just out-of-reach of Oscar (honestly-how many people can claim an Oscar Best Picture nomination, as well as a Globe/BAFTA/DGA nod and still not be a nominee?).
Directors I Would Have Nominated: We'll get into the "My Ballot" later this week so I won't talk too much here about it to save spoilers for later, but I do wonder why the Academy didn't go for Zhang Yimou for a nomination. House of Flying Daggers was a directorial achievement of the highest-order, and there was conversation leading into the Academy Awards that he might be the surprise (instead they went with Mike Leigh)...it's a pity considering he has yet to be nominated in the years since that they didn't take this opportunity.
Oscar's Choice: It was relatively close at the time, but Eastwood prevailed once again, keeping Marty in the Oscar wilderness for a few years longer.
Oscar's Choice: It was relatively close at the time, but Eastwood prevailed once again, keeping Marty in the Oscar wilderness for a few years longer.
My Choice: Scorsese, and it's not particularly close-this is the only film that feels like you watch and think not only that it's excellent, but that it's being driven by great direction. Behind him (in order) is Alexander Payne, Mike Leigh, Clint Eastwood, & Taylor Hackford.
Those were my thoughts-how about yours? Are you over on Team Clint or would you like to relax with me on Team Marty? Do we think Mike Leigh, who was at one point pretty fashionable with the Academy, will ever win an Honorary Oscar or is his moment past? And how did Marc Forster dominate the precursors but strike out here? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Also in 2004: Actress, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2004
No comments:
Post a Comment