LET'S be blunt: "Shine" and "The English Patient" are just about two of the most overrated films I have seen in the past few years. Next time let me
choose the winnersAlthough the Hollywood Movie Machine planted its lips on its own heine by nominating films they considered "independent" (said with romantic breathiness by many an actor), it's apparent to me that these films are about as "independent" as Gregg Araki ("The Doom Generation") is "Hollywood mainstream." If anything, "Shine" and "The English Patient" only proved that Hollywood could make suffocating melodrama at a much lower price!
Insufferable layman, am I? Well, I'm not saying that these two films are in any way bad; it's just that they don't deserve to be considered as the first stepping stones to Hollywood revitalization. "The English Patient," with its glossy exterior and proper Brits (who, of course, make some hot monkey love) only seems to prove that us American folk still go crazy for them English accents. As for "Shine" star Geoffrey Rush, I couldn't help but think that he was just another actor fulfilling the academy's "Forrest Gump" fetish, except that this Gump seems to have sniffed some Ritalin and exchanged his ping-pong paddle for a piano. If you don't believe me, check out the hype on Billy Bob Thornton. Coincidence? I think not.
In any case, the Oscars have been shelled out. But imagine if you will: An ordinary person, say, a frequent Blockbuster customer with the social life of a mudskipper (namely myself) is suddenly asked which films he would pick to represent the true independent spirit (financially and creatively) of movie making, I would respond thus:
Best film: "Dead Man." Jim Jarmusch's revisionist Western is, in my opinion, the best American film of 1996. What we have here is a rare thing, a film that has the cajones to mess with a sacred genre and rob it of any sort of romanticism. "Dead Man" chooses to portray its cowboy outsiders as just what they were, invaders who could only react to their strange surroundings through violent aggression. In questioning the very idea of America, "Dead Man" is unlike any Western ever made.
Best director: John Sayles for "Lone Star." This maverick has been doing the Great American Film for almost 20 years. "Lone Star" is an amazing work. Sayles fluidly weaves together numerous threads to create a gorgeous tapestry of mystery, murder, romance, ethnic relations and a dozen or so characters.
Best actor: William H. Macy for "Fargo." Macy finds the perfect pitch between pathos and comedy in a way that hack Tom Cruise could never achieve.
Best supporting actor: Gary Farmer for "Dead Man." Up until this film, Native Americans have only been portrayed in two ways by Hollywood: as savages who stand in the way of progress, or as noble warriors full of mystical portent. Farmer's performance as a renegade named Nobody is absolutely amazing because he is a real person.
Best actress: Emily Watson for "Breaking the Waves." Her performance plumbs emotional depths few actresses can ever hope to scratch the surface of.
Best supporting actress: Marianne Jean-Baptiste for "Secrets and Lies." Much of Mike Leigh's improvisational effort rested in the hands of Jean-Baptiste, playing a woman whose restrained exterior does little to hide the emotional volcano within.
Best screenplay: Lisa Krueger for "Manny and Lo." A beautifully rendered story about two abandoned girls, one of them pregnant, who kidnap a woman to help them deliver the baby. An absolute original.
Extra awards:
Best first feature: Steve Buscemi, "Trees Lounge"
Best adapted screenplay: "Frisk" by Todd Verow, adapted from the Dennis Cooper novel
Best use of a public restroom: "Trainspotting."
Grant Tanaka is a student at the
University of Hawaii who is planning to enter
film school in the fall.Rant & Rave is a Tuesday Star-Bulletin feature
allowing those 12 to 22 to serve up fresh perspectives.
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