Oscar Recap: 2001

More so than any other year in the last decade, I strongly feel that 2001 has the most special attachment to me. In a weird, absurd way I feel that a vast majority of the films that came out were made for me, and no one else. That's a ridiculous notion, since my taste has always been a bit left of mainstream, but 2001, with it's Kubrickian significance (Speiberg himself was inspired to take on the Kubrick project A.I. Artificial Intelligence to great affect; at least I thought so) was a terrific year for the director, the auteur. Consider the artistic offerings of 2001:

• In the Mood for Love- Wong Kar Wei's most dreamy film to date, and while Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung are the stars, it's Wong's creation and achievement through and through. The film opened early in 2001 (I believe in February), and set the template for an exciting and visionary year of transcendent filmmaking.

• In the Bedroom- After making it debut at 2001's Sundance Film Festival, the buzz and acclaim carried the Sissy Spacek\Tom Wilkinson melodrama-noir hybrid all the way to it's November opening through the gauntlet of award seasons. Director Todd Field (Little Children) made his directorial debut here, and the slowly unraveling pace here still gets to me. It's partially a small, yet well calibrated chamber piece, but there's a stunning full score orchestra waiting the wings. In the Bedroom builds it's tension with a surprising suspense, mixed with the sharp naturalism of ordinary characters brought into extraordinary situations. Perhaps the best technically acted film of 2001 in my opinion.

• Memento- The biggest game-changer of 2001 as far as I'm concerned; for it introduced Christopher Nolan to regular movie folks (doubt too many people, including myself had heard of his 1998 debut Following before), and showcased a brilliant backwards narrative. It's not the first film to do so, but it's surely one of the finest. While Guy Pearce is fantastic as the unreliable lead; this is fully Nolan's achievement. One of the ballsiest of the last ten years, indeed!

• Hedwig & the Angry Inch- Take an oddball premise of a rock star with a botched sex change operation, add some catchy, unimaginably popy tunes, a star-crossed transgendered fractured love story, and come away with one of the most endearing, and joyful movie experiences of the year. Credit director\writer\actor extraordinaire John Cameron Mitchell (and his angry inch) for so lovingly adapting his own off-Broadway charmer. For proof he's not a one-act wonder; check out 2006's Shortbus.

• Mulholland Drive- David Lynch's poetic and utterly beguiling 2001 triumph succeeded brilliantly by sort of being a mash-up of all his greatest successes in the past. There's a little Twin Peaks, perhaps a pinch of Blue Velvet and a whole lot of metaphorical, dreamlike poetry. It's perhaps my favorite film from him, and the star-making feature of Naomi Watts, who handled all the infamous Lynchisms like a pro.

• The Royal Tenenbaums- This is the Wes Anderson film that I doubt I ever quite shake. I remember the first time I saw it, I was impressed, but not in love. Then I gave the film some distance, and returned to it perhaps six or seven months later, and fell hard. The graceful structuring, the awkward line readings, the NYC location that wasn't quite NYC, Gwyneth Paltrow secret smoking addiction, the somber "Hey Jude" orchestration at the beginning. I fell hard for this one, harder than any other Anderson film since (although Fantastic Mr. Fox comes awful close.) Never has his vision so astutely been realized (and while the critics will point and yell that his style is overrated, twee, and pretentious), one must embrace that he actually has a distinctive style all his own. Tenenbaums at first glance seems like flawed work of genius...nine years later I think it's just genius, period.

• Waking Life- Richard Linklater's stunning and witty meditation of dreams is one of the most surprising and beautiful pieces of art I think I've ever seen. Forever remembered I'm sure as stoner classic, the beauty of the work is in it's uncanny dialogue. Smart, if admittedly a bit pretentious, it's a film of terrific questions, wonderfully unanswered. On top of that is the trippiest and inventive animation that feels completely appropriate for Linklater's waking dream. Plus it reunites Celine and Jesse from the Before Sunrise\Sunset, swoon!

My favorite film in 2001 at the time was Ghost World, directed by Terry Zwigoff, based on the comic by Daniel Clowes. In the nine years that have passed my reaction has cooled significantly-- it feels more like a time capsule of my 16-year-old self, than perhaps a great, lasting movie. Not to discount the film at all, I still think of it highly, but I was completely obsessed when the film initially come out. It was one of those strange happenstance occurrence where I felt a movie was almost about me; that I was completely apart of this movie world, in mind, body and spirit at the time. Detached and sarcastic, I felt I was apart of it. No question it would remain in my top ten to this day, and the affection I have for the film will last a lifetime, but I don't feel quite as involved as I did. I've never particularly been a collector of anything really, but with my obsession to Ghost World, I felt compelled to have it all-- the poster, a t-shirt, the soundtrack, the comic book, a copy of the screenplay, two copies of the DVD at one time, I even had a film stock of the trailer (courtesy of work at a theater; don't tell anyone.) Even the poster tagline ("Accentuate the negative") felt personal to me-- it was a rare film that I seemed to have possession over, it was mine and nobody elses. It will stay with me, but only as a reminder of my 16-year-old self. It's funny sometimes how a film grows and regresses with age.


Anyhow back to the Oscar facts:




The Academy always has a way of letting you down slightly, even in a mighty terrific year like 2001. Not at all discounting at least four of the five films-- I'm sure you might be able to guess the one I'm gripping at. Gosford Park is Altman-lite, I think, but it's still pretty grand, and film that definitely appreciates on multiple viewings. Honestly the first time, I could barely get into it at all. Being young, I wasn't as familiar as I am know with Altman, now I'm a major fan, and happily embrace that Gosford was the film that truly introduced me. The film come courtesy of USA Films (now Focus Features) and continued the roadwork the company laid out with Traffic the year before, triumphing with seven nominations, and winning original screenplay for Julian Fellowes (a worthy win, even if my vote would have went to fellow nominee Wes Anderson.) In the Bedroom, continued the streak with Miramax Films (the brothers Weinstein wisely purchased the film at that years Sundance Film Festival), and as noted earlier was one of my favorites, highlighted by a sublime Sissy Spacek. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring started one of the best trilogies in film history, and would totally be the populist winner; the Academy wasn't a sure thing, for it's:

1. a genre film, specifically fantasy; that's beneath them
2. a starter film, and there for no middle or end
3. Peter Jackson, who's he

It would take three years of AMPAS guilt to fully honor the saga.

Moulin Rouge!, I must be frank here, would have been my choice for the best picture win. Baz Luhrmann's kaleidoscopic whirligig of a musical is likely the most divisive best picture nomination of the decade, and yet it's unmistakeably and uniquely a celebration of what movies can be, and perhaps what they should aspire to be. The tonal schizophrenia is intentional and music sublime. It promises Spectacular! Spectacular! and delivers just that. It's legacy will perhaps always be closely associated with it's love it\hate it reaction, but it will be long lasting. And it fits a wonderful theme of 2001, which was the re-invention of the musical-- here Luhrmann made a musical that a music video, bridging a cap between the generation divide of our parents and grandparents who admired the old-school traditionally cut musicals of yore; John Cameron Mitchell did something with Hedwig & the Angry Inch, infusing an edgy story amidst ballads.

So of course the Oscar went to A Beautiful Mind, quite possibly one of the most overrated best picture winners of all-time, and that reputation seem to hit about the same time it won, perhaps even a few steps before. Yes, it's classy and prestige packed, like a pleasant gift on Christmas morning. All the ingredients were there: period piece, mental illness, genius overcoming obstacles, the long suffering wife, Hollywood veteran who payed his dues making good (Ron Howard), Russell Crowe obsession.... But out of the great many flicks of 2001 that achieved that rare alchemy of a truly passionate response, why settle for something merely okay. I didn't hate A Beautiful Mind when I first saw it, yet I slowly started to resent it as the typical awards hoopla was underway.


THE GOLDEN GLOBES:
PICTURE (Drama)

• A Beautiful Mind
• In the Bedroom
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• The Man Who Wasn't There
• Mulholland Drive

PICTURE (Musical or Comedy)

• Bridget Jones's Diary
• Gosford Park
• Legally Blonde
• Moulin Rouge!
• Shrek

SAG Awards:

• A Beautiful Mind
• Gosford Park
• In the Bedroom
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
• Moulin Rouge!

Following a typical template of the biggest cast must equal the best-- in this instance it's a grand choice, but it's gotten in trouble in the past (or well it should have), ahem, Crash.

Sundance Film Festival: The Believer- Ryan Gosling's breakthrough which didn't get a theatrical bow until 2002.
Cannes Film Festival: The Son's Room- not released until 2002; but the director prize was shared by David Lynch (for Mulholland Drive) and the Coen Brothers (for The Man Who Wasn't There; holy auteurial madness!)
Venice Film Festival: Monsoon Wedding- Mira Nair's pleasure was released in 2002.
Toronto Film Festival: Amelie- currently ranked as the 5th highest grossing foreign film in domestic box office receipts; and love by yours truly.

2001 is landmark for the inclusion of the best animated feature category, even though it ignored the marvelous triumph of Waking Life, for the less then triumphant Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. Either way Shrek won the inaugural award, besting the Pixar release Monsters, Inc. in what is the first of only two times, the illustrious wizards have lost the award-- the other being in 2006 when Happy Feet won over Cars. I often think is the inclusion of this award just a further ghettoization of an art that the fussy members of Academy refuse have never seemed to appreciate. Never particularly been fond of the equal but different mentality.

The real aspect of the 2001 award season was the lunacy of the acting nominations, especially in a year of such rich films.

BEST ACTOR
Russell Crowe, A Beautiful Mind
Sean Penn, I Am Sam
Will Smith, Ali
Denzel Washington, Training Day
Tom Wilkinson, In the Bedroom

BEST ACTRESS
Halle Berry, Monster's Ball
Judi Dench, Iris
Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge!
Sissy Spacek, In the Bedroom
Renee Zellweger, Bridget Jones's Diary

I don't intend to trash any of them individually since I don't personally hate any of them (Penn the exception; that's one of the laziest nominations in Oscar history), I'm actually quite fond of a lot of them. However, my point is, when there is such a grand array of acting at it's primal best display in one, why stick to the standard award formula especially thinking of the career rejuvenating, or career igniting work performed by the likes of:

• Gene Hackman, The Royal Tenebaums
• Tony Leung, In the Mood for Love
  
• Ewan McGregor, Moulin Rouge!
• Guy Pearce, Memento
• Billy Bob Thornton, The Man Who Wasn't There

• Thora Birch, Ghost World
  
• Nicole Kidman, The Others
• Charlotte Rampling, Under the Sand
• Audrey Tautou, Amelie
• Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive

Just think of the possibilities, for a year that I felt completely involved in, I'm still incensed, angered, beleaguered, all hot and bothered by some of the outcomes. But then again that's why I love them too.

What was your favorite from my favorite year of the past decade?