As we continue our journey through the glorious cinematic mecca that was the 1990s, I want to take a moment to talk about one film: The English Patient.
The response to this film, complete with it winning 9 Oscars and managing to gross a rather impressive $230+ million worldwide against a $30-40 million budget was a major success story. However, that success also came with immense backlash.
To me, The English Patient is the prime example of the kind of "Oscar bait/prestige" film that gives the whole idea of that awards show a bad reputation. It's overlong and plodding, but also gets buoyed up by good performances and gorgeous visuals. This negative reaction was so prominent that even Seinfeld had an episode devoted to Elaine Benes getting shafted by friends/colleagues and even getting temporarily fired from her job because she said that the film "really SUCKED".
It must be noted that The English Patient was a Miramax film, so you may have guessed it already: the campaign for this film was led by Harvey Weinstein...just to rub salt into that wound.
These days, I wouldn't say The English Patient is among the absolute worst winners. I believe I ranked it in the 70s out of nearly 100 Best Picture winners, but the simple truth is that the film beat out two films that I really loved...and will be so happy to talk about today.
1996 was a year I used to consider to be pretty weak, but I think a lot of its power is similar to that of 1993. When I made that list, I only singled out 10 films but felt that it was a pretty mighty list of 10.
I will be listing 10 films here as well, but also including 5 Honorable Mentions. Much like 1991, I am kind of surprised at how much I really do like or love all of these. Let's go ahead and get started!
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Kolya
Directed by Jan Sverak
Written by Zedenek Sverak
As the winner of that year's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, Kolya came into my life strangely due to a girl I was sort of seeing in high school. To be fair, she lacked a lot of culture looking back on it but for whatever reason, she had been shown this movie, loved it dearly, and pushed people to watch it.
Strangely I had not seen the film at that point even though I was pretty deep into watching foreign films, and yes, I did enjoy the film. Directed by his son Jan and with a script written by himself, Zedenek Sverak stars as a Czech man who ends up having to care for the son of a Russian immigrant who was posing as his wife and grows to develop a relationship with him.
It is very well done for what it is, but I mostly chose this as a 15th film to round out the list.
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That Thing You Do
Written & Directed by Tom Hanks
While I will acknowledge that there were certain aspects to the script that perhaps didn't truly mesh well with how the story evolved (namely Hanks using Tom Everett Scott's character as a voice for the band even though he wasn't even a founding member), I can't help but say how much I do enjoy this film and a lot of the wit and assuredness Hanks had for his first writing/directing outing.
I love the score written for this, not just the title song, but the variety of all the music styles that blended and collided with each other throughout the 60s.
Plus - some great one-liners, and while it won't make sense out of context, I will always love the moment Steve Zahn comments on Jonathan Schaech's exit in one scene saying: "There he goes, off to write his song 'Alone in my Principles'".
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Scream
Directed by Wes Craven
Written by Kevin Williamson
The first scene with Drew Barrymore, kind of serving as her true return to the spotlight after spending the first half of the 90s battling her addiction and bad girl image, is iconic. It has got to be one of the best introductions in a horror film ever...and I do think there was a world where Barrymore and Williamson for Original Screenplay, should've been in the Oscar nomination conversation.
It's just a shame that less than a decade later, the promise of Scream would only lead to the dire subgenre of horror "torture porn".
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Lone Star
Written & Directed by John Sayles
John Sayles is one of those indie filmmakers who never quite got the intense amount of mainstream success that some of his contemporaries managed to achieve, but he did manage his sole Oscar nomination for writing Lone Star, a neo-noir western in which a local sheriff (Christ Cooper) is trying to solve the cold case of his predecessor's murder (Kris Kristofferson).
It's a great example of how a lot of these small southern communities are still deeply rattled by the racial tensions that had occurred in decades prior...and haven't truly left.
Oh and shout out to the late great Elizabeth Pena, who was such an underrated and wonderful character actress.
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Matilda
Directed by Danny DeVito
Written by Robin Swicord & Nicholas Kazan
There are certain films that speak strongly to the joy and nostalgia of millennials like myself. I think a very prime example of this was Matilda, an absolutely whimsical gem that Danny DeVito brought to life with such a quirky vision that I still wish he would try returning to the director's chair.
Also - as a young kid, it was hard to not be enamored with Mara Wilson. She was basically THE child star of that era, and she had such a natural and effortless screen presence.
Oh and Pam Ferris as Miss Trunchull? Talk about PERFECT casting. If you see this actress in interviews, you will be blown away by what she achieved with this performance.
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THE TOP 10:
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#10 - PONETTE
Written & Directed by Jacques Doillon
The main reason this film is making my top 10 is due to the performance of 5 year old Victorie Thivsol. The film itself is very effective, but a lot of it is due to her astonishing work which could very well be the best performance by a child ever captured on film. Her work was so highly regarded that she won the prestigious Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival.
The main premise is that she survives a car crash in which her mother perishes. In order to better assist with raising her, her grieving father leaves her with a caring aunt and her children.
I do find it fascinating how this film does tap into the issues with how some religions view death. For example, as a kid, I was not the least bit comforted by death. Everything about it made it seem like a terrifying process where I might never see my loved ones again...and what Doillon is able to achieve with that here is spot on.
While not the easiest watch compared to my honorable mentions, Thivsol's work alone was what made it reach this list.
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#9 - A MOMENT OF INNOCENCE
Written & Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Taking a page from fellow Iranian Abbas Kiarostami, we see Mohsen Makhmalbaf taking a real life incident that happened to him and finding a way to create a film around it.
When he was 17, he had been arrested at a protest after having stabbed a police officer. His goal with A Moment of Innocence was to have a director trying to find this officer and make amends for his actions.
I don't even know how to truly describe A Moment of Innocence. It almost has this dreamlike quality that feels as though it is from another world. I could understand if someone might find the film as bordering on some kind of indulgent territory, but I have always viewed it as a film that speaks a lot to how people treat each other in society. A lot of its themes sadly feel just as urgent, if not more so, in today's political climate.
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#8 - WAITING FOR GUFFMAN
Written & Directed by Christopher Guest
Co-written by Eugene Levy
Christopher Guest always loved the idea of improvised mockumentaries dating back to his work on This is Spinal Tap or how his one season on SNL gave birth to some truly iconic pre-tapes where his normally dry and stoic demeanor would come alive with such a bizarre group of characters.
While I do admittedly prefer Best in Show, which got singled out on the 2000 list, I obviously hold a great love for Waiting for Guffman.
As one of those infamous theatre kids growing up, I could relate to this story of a bunch of quirky small town locals putting on a show. They are led by Guest's Corky St. Clair, a very eccentric director who wants no more than to express his art. Due to his "off-off-off-off Broadway" connections, he tells his rag-tag group of actors (containing the usual players of Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, and Michael McKean) that he will be able to bring in Mort Guffman, a Broadway producer to review their production of Red, White, & Blaine, a musical about the 150th anniversary of their town Blaine, Missouri.
Considering the play on Waiting for Godot, you can probably already assume the direction the film is heading in.
Not a big success at the time, Waiting for Guffman has gone on to endure in the decades since...and rightfully so. While not as consistently strong as Best in Show, it does have a rawness to it that feels far more grounded in reality...if you can imagine that.
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#7 - BIG NIGHT
Directed by Campbell Scott & Stanley Tucci
Written by Stanley Tucci & Joseph Tropiano
Is it any wonder that Stanley Tucci has made a new career for himself traveling about eating lots of Italian food?
Co-directed, written, and starring him, Tucci plays one of two immigrant brothers, the other played by Tony Shalhoub, who run an Italian restaurant on the Jersey Shore in the 1950s.
They are choosing to open their restaurant one night promising free meals as a means for their restaurant to gain better exposure and, hopefully, a stronger reputation.
A lot has been said about how this is one of the great "food" films of all time, and I would wholeheartedly agree with that; especially as someone who absolutely adores Italian food. However, this film is a lot more than just being a great advertisement for far better Italian food than you'd ever get at an Olive Garden.
This is such an endearing film and while it does have an aura of tension and melancholy surrounding the idea of a family business potentially failing, you can't help but fall for these two brothers and their family around them.
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#6 - A SUMMER'S TALE
Written & Directed by Eric Rohmer
Of all the filmmakers to come out of the French New Wave, Eric Rohmer seemed to be one with the most longevity in terms of his vitality. He also got a slightly later start than some of his contemporaries like Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, but only because he was busy as the editorial of the highly influential film publication Cahiers du Cinema from 1957 to 1963.
Rohmer films often have a warmer aesthetic, with the main characters spending time at the beach or at some kind of resort setting. Even more remarkable is that as Rohmer aged, he still often wrote about people far younger than him and it never felt forced or unnatural.
A Summer's Tale might not be his absolute best overall, but it is a prime example of his style and how well he adapted to the changing times while still talking about areas very personal to him.
A lot of A Summer's Tale is based on encounters he had while he was in film school in the 40s, which is what also makes the film a bit different as he tends to love using female protagonists rather than male ones.
As part of his "Tales of the Four Seasons" series, I do think this was the best of the foursome.
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#5 - THE WATERMELON WOMAN
Written & Directed by Cheryl Dunye
The fact that Cheryl Dunye, a black Lesbian filmmaker, was not able to given enough support to continue a successful filmmaking career should come as no shock to anyone. Dunye is a fascinating figure, and her voice should've been put forth a lot more after what she gave us with The Watermelon Woman.
Starring as a version of herself, Cheryl is an aspiring black lesbian filmmaker who works at a video rental store in Philadelphia. After watching an old film from the 30s called Plantation Memories, she sees that the black actress in the film playing the stereotypical Mammy role is credited as "The Watermelon Woman". She becomes inspired to track the woman down who played her and address the rather heinous architype of the "Mammy" that these days is mostly remembered via Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen's characters from Gone with the Wind.
A film like The Watermelon Woman is a true test of a great filmmaker because Cheryl Dunye clearly tells it like it is, but finds ways to do it that don't feel preachy or self-indulgent. The final results make for a truly entertaining film that also shines a spotlight on a very racist and once beloved film trope in Hollywood.
Much like Wendell Harris Jr several years before with Chameleon Street, it is another prime example of a black filmmaker who shows great promise and then was instantly marginalized.
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#4 - CRASH
Written & Directed by David Cronenberg
No, not THAT Crash.
Prior to the infamous Paul Haggis film Crash which would win the Best Picture Oscar nearly a decade later, there was David Cronenberg's Crash. No relation to the future film as this was based on a 1973 novel of the same name by J.G. Ballard.
The subject matter is certainly the kind of thing you'd expect Cronenberg to be drawn to: a film producer named James Ballard (James Spader) is an open marriage with his wife Catherine (Deborah Unger) and they have many extramarital trysts. One night, James is in a head-on collision that he manages to survive but he comes out of the accident developing symphorophilia, a person who is aroused by car crashes.
As one might suspect, Crash was met with a lot of harsh critiques at the time for its disturbing subject matter and the amount of graphic violence depicted; so much so that it got the very rare NC-17 rating from the MPAA.
When it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, it got booed and had several walkouts but many people on the Grand Jury loved it and banded together to give it a Special Jury Prize mostly to acknowledge it as the president of that year's committee, the legendary filmmaker Frances Ford Coppola, loathed the film with a passion. He hated the film so much that when this jury prize was announced, Coppola refused to be the one to present it to Cronenberg.
Truthfully, I won't mock Coppola for that. This film is abrasive and highly uncomfortable...but dear fucking god, it is simply one of the most fascinating and disturbing pieces of work I think you could ever come across.
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#3 - BREAKING THE WAVES
Written & Directed by Lars von Trier
Leading the charge of Dogme '95 along with fellow Dane filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg, one can't help but tense up when thinking about the films made by Lars von Trier.
Aside from many stories revealing the man to be an abusive individual, his films usually tap into very dark and uncomfortable territory. Breaking the Waves was the film that put him on the map with English language audiences when then young unknown British actress Emily Watson got such rapturous notices for her performance as Bess that a lot of critics and film fanatics said she should've been the rightful winner of the Oscar that year.
Bess is a young Scottish woman who suffers from a lot of mental anguish after the death of her brother. When her older husband Jan (Stellan Skarsgard) is at first presumed dead, she prays for his return and once he is found alive, he has been paralyzed from an oil rig accident. Bess is challenged by this not because of feeling put off by Jan, but rather he is adamant that she start sleeping with other men for her satisfaction...which descends into a darker arena that one likely wouldn't even be expecting if they didn't know they were watching a Lars von Trier film.
Watson in this film is ASTOUNDING. It was a great breakthrough performance and she completely throws herself into it which such abandon that it was one of the first performances I can remember thinking took the artform to a whole other level.
I will admit that films of dark and depressing subject matter don't bother me as much. I am not saying I want to put them on all the time, but I love when a film can challenge me emotionally and make me feel uncomfortable. While Lars von Trier would eventually make a couple of films that would be a little better, I do think Breaking the Waves is one of his most successful from a purely emotional level.
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#2 - SECRETS & LIES
Written & Directed by Mike Leigh
My late Nan had been a pretty avid movie watcher for most of my childhood, but she sort of dropped off that habit as the 90s came to a close.
However, one of the last films I can remember her talking about with a lot of love was Secrets & Lies, which I still consider to be the best outing to date from British filmmaker Mike Leigh.
People have called Mike Leigh "the British Woody Allen" and when I was younger, I thought that was a very astute observation, but I don't agree with it now. I think it sells him short on what he often tries to tackle with his work. A lot of Woody Allen's films had a filter over them of showing people who had a certain amount of comfort in their lives...at least financially; OR - they had a level of fantasy and whimsy a la The Purple Rose of Cairo.
Mike Leigh was a filmmaker who always seemed eager to show people in a working class setting, or at least people who seemed very grounded in some kind of reality. It also helps that a lot of his films were stemmed from extensive rehearsals where a lot of the dialogue was born out of improvisation which makes them feel very engaging but naturalistic.
Secrets & Lies begins with Hortense (the divine Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a black optometrist in London who is mourning the death of her adoptive mother. She decides it might give her some sense of comfort just to see if she could find her biological mother, which turns out to be Cynthia (the delightful Brenda Blethyn), a white working class woman who lives in East London.
As one might expect, Cynthia and Hortense both feel a sense of shock over the ordeal. While not explicitly stated, Cynthia's reaction as she comes to term with the parentage implies she was likely raped as a teenager and gave Hortense up for adoption.
As is the case with Mike Leigh films, he does have some further world building as we also get to meet Cynthia's daughter Roxanne, with whom her relationship is strained. We also meet Cynthia's brother Maurice and his wife Monica, who are going through a bit of a rough patch due to their inability to conceive a child.
I once had a coworker at an old job who claimed that the Brits can't make good films. At first glance, I got what he meant, but by golly, he couldn't be more wrong. I especially love when a British film tackles stories about class, because in England, class is FAR more snobbish a topic than it is here. I think that the kind of work Leigh does is rather effective, and it usually leads to glorious final results for his actors.
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#1 - FARGO
Written & Directed by The Coen Brothers
Talking about Fargo is nothing new for this blog. If anyone reading this has been following my posts rather intently, this selection shouldn't be surprising at all.
In fact, when I did my post about Best Films of the 90s a few years ago, Fargo topped that list. I have also been very effusive in my praise of William H. Macy's performance as Jerry, one of the best examples of a villain you somehow pity and laugh at.
On paper, Fargo sounds like a pretty solid story. Famously, The Coen Brothers started the film with a statement saying the incidents in the film occurred in 1987 when in reality, it was mainly a work of fiction. A pathetic, mousy car salesman named Jerry hires two goons named Carl and Gaere (Steve Buscemi & Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife in order for her father (his boss) to pay a ransom that would then be split up amongst the three of them so he can pay down debts. It would net the goons upwards of $40k while Jerry will supply them with a new 1988 Oldsmobile.
However, what is hoped to be the perfect crime begins to unravel when Carl & Gaere get involved in an incident with a cop and two innocent civilians that leads to a local pregnant sheriff named Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand, in her first Oscar winning performance) to begin investigating what occurred on that desolate snowy road and why did it happen?
I am not going to claim that any film can be perfect, but if there was a small list of films that I could claim come as close to perfection as one could get, Fargo would undoubtedly be on that list.
This was a small film made for only $7 million and also, to really drive the point home, is just under an hour and 40 minutes long. The Coens told a story with such a tight, swiftly paced narrative that never lets up and contains such glorious dialogue to be matched by the iconic "Minnesota Nice" accent.
Fargo may be a dark comedy at heart, but its also a truly tragic story at the same time. I think this is really driven home by McDormand with her scene in the car with Stormare near the end of the film. I do have to say that McDormand winning for this film is such an inspired choice and I want to love that she did, but I would've been inclined to vote for the two ladies that headlined my two previous selections: Brenda Blethyn in Secrets & Lies or Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves. Nevertheless, McDormand does wonderful work here as does the entire cast, with Macy giving one of my favorite performances ever.
Fargo is sublime and truly a magnificent piece of work. It goes to show that you don't need a flashy big budget to get a great story across nor does your film have to be a 3+ hour epic in order to be worthy enough to win awards.
Granted it lost Best Picture and Director to The English Patient, but I firmly feel that if Fargo came out today, it would likely win the top awards. In some ways, it felt ahead of its time if only for how Hollywood embrace films like these. Keep in mind, the Academy just recently gave 5 Oscars to Anora, a film that was made for even less money than Fargo.
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FINAL THOUGHTS:
At the 69th Annual Academy Awards, host Billy Crystal joked that it should've been called "Sundance By the Sea" as it seemed as though every major film studio flopped with getting their films nominated for Best Picture.
Of the five nominees, only Jerry Maguire came out under one of the major banners (TriStar).
A year like 1996 was further proof the 1990s were a true renaissance for independent filmmaking soaring to heights it truly hadn't since the 70s. I don't want to be too hopeful or quick to jump the gun...and it is something I have addressed in another post fairly recently...but I sort of see signs that we could slowly be creeping back into more of a wider embrace of indie filmmaking. Maybe they won't make huge money, but they could get more exposure a la Anora.
1996 is a year that was a pleasant surprise, and I am happy to say that a lot of that energy/vibe will continue into 1997 as well.
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