OVP: Best Picture (2001)
The Nominees Were...
Brian Grazer & Ron Howard, A Beautiful Mind
Robert Altman, Bob Balaban, & David Levy, Gosford Park
Graham Leader, Ross Katz, & Todd Field, In the Bedroom
Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, & Barrie M. Osborne, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Martin Brown, Baz Luhrmann, & Fred Baron, Moulin Rouge
My Thoughts: And we have come to the end of our 22nd season of the Oscar Viewing Project. We will have our My Ballot (where I pick my personal choices for all categories, regardless of Oscar nominations) tomorrow, but we are done today with Oscar's choices. I initially wanted to start going out-of-order (we will be doing that relatively soon), but some things got in the way of doing that next, and so we will be starting 2000 (and finishing up all of the 2000's in the process) next week. But for now, we have one last round with the five films we've been discussing for the past couple of months (links at the bottom of the page), so sit back, relax, and let's start the show!
Much of these write-ups, I've been ending with The Fellowship of the Ring, so we're going to switch it up and start with that. Peter Jackson's beautiful beginning to JRR Tolkien's story technically has some issues if you want to judge it by inches. It is an incomplete story, with maybe the least emotionally impactful of the endings of the original trilogy. But that's splitting hairs. The movie is iconic in every single second, rarely with any spare time (everything feels needed), and gives us a dozen characters we believe in & fall in love with. It was made at the exact right time, and is one of my favorites-I can't pretend otherwise.
Moulin Rouge! I distinctly remember watching at a sleepover for the first time. I was 17, and everyone else there had seen it (I had been told I couldn't, though I just looked and it's PG-13 so I'm not entirely sure what my parents were forbidding on this one). I was smitten. The film is gaudy, romantic, and beautifully-acted with a career-best performance from Ewan McGregor, and a lightning-in-a-bottle turn from Nicole Kidman. Throw in the rare (only?) jukebox musical score that feels authentic to the songs and not just like a greatest hits album, and you've got the best musical of the 21st Century.
A Beautiful Mind is, in my opinion, one of those Best Picture winners that gets a bad rap. It's a good movie-the way it plays, with thriller elements and a strong performance from Russell Crowe in the lead, it's really enjoyable & I like the film. But the problem is that it's not good enough for a Best Picture winner. If you're going to strive for that title, especially against four excellent films, you need to be distinctive, you need to bring new chapters, & you need to go beyond what Ron Howard is doing here. Good is fine for a Thursday night movie, but if you're giving out an Oscar...you gotta stand out more than this.
Gosford Park definitely has that distinction. Robert Altman doesn't naturally seem like someone who could feel at-home in an English manor (the man most famous for his insights into country music & the film industry). But he brings that sensibility, that vision of seeing through just existing to Gosford Park. The mystery, difficult-to-solve but all of the clues are there, stands apart, as do the performers. Like all Altman films, you gravitate toward a different performance each time, but with strong work from Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, & Emily Watson (among others), this is an embarrassment of riches.
In the Bedroom was one of the best "what's hiding in the suburbs?" movies that came out at the turn of the century, and what keeps it strong is the central performances. I love the ways that Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, & Marisa Tomei all have secret agendas behind each scene. Watching the film again, I was struck by how those are there fro the beginning, clearly, when you know how it's going to end (Spacek's adjusting mother, Wilkinson's nostalgic father, Tomei's aware girlfriend), but Field's films always leave you with more questions than answers, and this is no exception. But it still leaves you fulfilled, wanting more rather than filling short-changed.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes separate their categories into Drama and Musical/Comedy so we have ten films to discuss, while Oscar was still only nominating five. For Drama A Beautiful Mind beat In the Bedroom, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Man Who Wasn't There, & Mulholland Drive, while Comedy/Musical went to Moulin Rouge! atop Bridget Jones's Diary, Gosford Park, Legally Blonde, & Shrek (this was before the Globes had a separate category for animation). BAFTA favored The Fellowship of the Ring against Amelie, A Beautiful Mind, Moulin Rouge!, & Shrek while the PGA went with Moulin Rouge! as the victor against A Beautiful Mind, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, The Fellowship of the Ring, & Shrek. In sixth place, I think it's anyone's guess. Black Hawk Down & Mulholland Drive got Best Director citations, Shrek & Harry Potter were populist hits with a lot of heat at the time, and even something like Memento, Iris, or Ali was probably closer than the precursors might indicate. I'll let you debate in the comments if you want over sixth place.
Films I Would Have Nominated: You'll find out tomorrow!
Oscar’s Choice: A Beautiful Mind is one of those films that's so up Oscar's alley, and against flashy musicals and fantasy epics...there was no beating it. It won by more than the precursors suggest.
My Choice: For sure The Fellowship of the Ring. I love Moulin Rouge! (silver), but of the three Peter Jackson OVP Best Picture wins, this is the the one that gets the easiest victory (even if The Two Towers is my favorite). It's just so distinctive, and such a titanic achievement. Behind them will be Gosford Park, In the Bedroom, and then A Beautiful Mind.
And there you have it-another OVP in the books. Do you want to solve math problems with John Nash & Oscar or cast spells with Gandalf & I? With a lot of options, who do you think was the just miss for this lineup? And overall-what is your favorite movie of 2001? Share your comments below!
Also in 2001: Director, Actress, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Score, Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2001
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