MARCH 1996
A year that saw the triumph of technique over soul (Seven, The Usual Suspects, Casino) also unearthed some movie treasures--and a host of standout supporting performances.
ELLA'S WISHFUL PICKS
Best Picture: Carl Franklin's
Devil in a Blue Dress
combined a ravishing period piece about 1940s black L.A. with a witty genre
picture.
Runners-up: Spike Lee's Clockers, a howl of anguish about the inner-city drug
culture; Todd Haynes's Safe, an eerie comic horror about environmental
illness; Terry Zwigoff's disturbing Crumb, a
study of artist Robert Crumb; Steven M. Martin's Theremin--An Electronic
Odyssey, a soulful, witty account of the birth of electronic music;
Richard Loncraine's
waggish Richard III, set in 1930s England.
Best Fresh Talent: Two enchanting children's movies--Alfonso Cuaron's
neglected
A Little Princess and Chris Noonan's mega-hit, Babe.
Runners-up: Noah Baumbach's literate coming-of-age gabfest, Kicking and
Screaming; Mark Malone's sharp neo-noir send-up, Bulletproof Heart.
Best Foreign-Language Film: Martine Dugowson's Mina Tannenbaum,
a tough and
tender tale of the friendship of two Jewish Parisiennes.
Runner-up: Michael Radford's Il Postino, a lyrical fantasy
about Pablo Neruda
and his poetic postman.
Best Actress: Julie Delpy, for her subtle, luminous performance as Ethan
Hawke's chatty overnight pickup in Richard Linklater's Before
Sunrise.
Runners-up: Nicole Kidman, for her careerist weather lady in
To Die For, a
coming-out party for her comic gifts; Kathy Bates, for her matter-of-fact
authenticity in Dolores Claiborne; Jennifer Jason Leigh, for taking it to the
limit as the caterwauling sister in Georgia; Rena Owen, for her fierce
performance as the abused wife in Once Were Warriors; Amanda Root, for her
quiet authority as the lead in Persuasion; Minnie Driver, for her
straightforward charm in Circle of Friends.
Best Supporting Actress: Joan Allen, for a slow-burn performance of smoldering
power as Pat Nixon in Oliver Stone's Nixon.
Runners-up: Eleanor Bron, at once scary and piteous as the severe headmistress
in A Little Princess; Mira Sorvino, pure joy as the good-hearted tart in
Mighty
Aphrodite; Olivia D'Abo, smart and funny as the girlfriend in Kicking and
Screaming; Sophie Thompson, for disappearing into
a difficult role as the youngest sister in Persuasion; Dana Ivey,
uproarious as
Harrison Ford's unflappable secretary in Sabrina.
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, for his generous, complex rendition of Wild Bill
Hickok's scruffier side in Walter Hill's underrated Wild Bill.
Runners-up: Jonathan Pryce, for balancing camp and dignity as
Lytton Strachey
in Carrington; Harrison Ford, beautifully understated as the
unwilling lover in
Sabrina; John Travolta, as the warmhearted thug in Get Shorty;
Massimo Troisi,
for his painfully shy postman in Il Postino; Sean Penn, for his truculent
convict in Dead Man Walking; Denzel Washington, for his hunky intelligence
as
the reluctant gumshoe in Devil in a Blue Dress.
Best Supporting Actor: Don Cheadle, for his hilariously deadpan turn as
Mouse,
the loose-cannon hit man in Devil in a Blue Dress.
Runners-up: Delroy Lindo, for his charismatic drug lord in Clockers;
Tim Roth,
evil incarnate as the fencing villain in Rob Roy; Patrick Swayze, as the
queenly queen in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar; and just
about everybody in the Nixon ensemble.
Top: Denzel Washington as a gumshoe in Devil
Bottom: A new look for Jeff Bridges
Photo: Bruce W. Talamon
Photo: Sam Emerson
The Hit Lit Award goes jointly to screenwriters
Nick Dear, for Persuasion, Emma
Thompson, for Sense and Sensibility, and Amy Heckerling, for
Clueless--three
radically different but equally sharp adaptations of Jane Austen novels. We
await
an Austen theme park at Euro-Disney.The Lit Crit Award goes jointly to Roland Joffé, for mutating Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter into a hot little steamfest, and to Demi Moore, for her inspired rendition of Hester Prynne as Moll Flanders with implants.
The Iron John Award goes to Mel Gibson (Braveheart) and Liam Neeson
(Rob Roy),
for the courage to be all that they can be--warriors in skirts.
The Sensitive Male Award goes to screenwriter Joe Eszterhas
(Jade, Showgirls),
for his uncanny understanding of what women really want--rape, abuse, violence,
humiliation.
Runners-up: Clint
Eastwood, for showing Meryl Streep how to love in The Bridges of Madison
County; Woody Allen, for Mighty Aphrodite, a film about a woman who adopts
a
child because she has no time to be
pregnant. However did you think that one up, Woody?
The Four Legs Good Award goes to the army of valiant young porkers who served as the lead in Babe.(Each pig thespian outgrew the role in turn.)
The Web Site Award goes jointly to Kevin Costner's fetching ears in Waterworld and to the talented duck in Babe.
The Bat Out of Hell Award goes to the aptly named Batman Forever. Enough's enough, Robin.
Bottom: Dressed for success
Top: Pulp Fiction?
Photo: Albert Watson
Photo: David James
