1993--The Year in Review

Steven Spielberg waited a long time for his Oscar recognition. He wasn't even nominated for his breakthrough film, Jaws, and had to suffer losses over much-loved hits like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. The Extraterrestrial, The Color Purple (nominated for 11 Oscars but NOT for Best Director), and Empire of the Sun (ignored in almost all categories). But with his adaptation of Thomas Keneally's account of German WWII profiteer Oskar Schindler's hesitantly heroic endeavor to rescue his Jewish workforce from the Nazi ovens, Spielberg was all but guaranteed 1993's highest acclaim. The piece is flawed in its final, overbearing moments, yet it's obviously the year's bravest, most intensely stunning film. The director worked here without storyboards for the first time (and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski's striking black-and-white photography marked the beginning of their ongoing collaboration); these new elements notably enlivened his already accomplished but sometimes too schematic filmmaking. Though this was a remarkable cinematic year that included superlative efforts by directors James Ivory, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Martin Scorsese, Mike Leigh, Ross McElwee, Robert Altman, Richard Linklater, Peter Weir, Steven Soderburgh, and Jane Campion, there was no way that any other than Schindler's List was going to come out on top. However, I do think the Academy was slightly too generous to the film, and so I've spread the love out a bit to include other supreme work, including a second top spot for Anthony Hopkins for his magnificent portrayal of an emotionally clueless butler in James Ivory's The Remains of the Day. But I'm thrilled to give then-newcomer Ralph Fiennes the recognition he deserved for his portrayal of the venal Nazi commandant Amon Goetz, righting one of the few awards that Spielberg's masterpiece did not finally capture. Still, this marks the second year in a row that I agree with the Academy's choices (this year, in 12 out of 24 instances). NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are only occasionally reflective of the selections made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka The Oscars). When available, the nominee that actually won the Oscar will be highlighted in bold. 

PICTURE: SCHINDLER'S LIST (US, Steven Spielberg)
(2nd: Time Indefinite (US, Ross McElwee)
followed by: The Remains of the Day (UK, James Ivory)
Three Colors: Blue (Poland/France, Krzysztof Kieslowski)
The Age of Innocence (US, Martin Scorsese)
Naked (UK, Mike Leigh)
Short Cuts (US, Robert Altman)
Dazed and Confused (US, Richard Linklater)
Groundhog Day (US, Harold Ramis)
Fearless (US, Peter Weir)
Silverlake Life: The View From Here (US, Peter Friedman and Tom Joslin)
King of the Hill (US, Steven Soderburgh)
Menace II Society (US, Allen Hughes and Albert Hughes)
Clean, Shaven (US, Lodge Kerrigan)
Falling Down (US, Joel Schumacher)
The Piano (New Zealand, Jane Campion)
Ruby in Paradise (US, Victor Nunez)
The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (France/Germany/UK/Belgium, Ray Muller)
Latcho Drom (France, Tony Gatlif)
Stalingrad (Germany, Josef Vilsmaier)
Farewell My Concubine (China, Chen Kaige)
Sonatine (Japan, Takeshi Kitano)
True Romance (US, Tony Scott)
The Fugitive (US, Andrew Davis)
A Perfect World (US, Clint Eastwood)
Barbarians at the Gate (US, Glenn Jordan)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (US, Woody Allen)
The War Room (US, D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus)
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (US, Lasse Hallstrom)
The Cement Garden (UK, Andrew Birkin)
Little Buddha (Italy/France/UK, Bernardo Bertolucci)
Caro Diario (Italy, Nanni Moretti)
The Scent of Green Papaya (France/Vietnam, Tran Ahn Hung)
Cronos (Mexico, Guillermo Del Toro)
Three Colors: White (Poland/France, Krzysztof Kieslowski)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (US, Henry Selick)
In The Line of Fire (US, Wolfgang Petersen)
Carlito's Way (US, Brian De Palma)
Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (Canada, Francois Girard)
Matinee (US, Joe Dante)
Much Ado About Nothing (UK/US, Kenneth Branaugh)
And The Band Played On (US, Roger Spottiswoode)
Gettysburg (US, Ronald Maxwell)
The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (UK, Dave Borthwick)
The Wedding Banquet (Taiwan/US, Ang Lee)
The Firm (US, Sydney Pollack)
A Dangerous Woman (US, Stephen Gyllenhaal)
Kalifornia (US, Dominic Sena)
The Positively True Story of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (US, Michael Richie)
This Boy's Life (US, Michael Caton-Jones)
Shadowlands (UK, Richard Attenbourough)
Germinal (France, Claude Berri)
Six Degrees of Separation (US, Fred Schepisi)
The Ballad of Little Jo (US, Maggie Greenwald)
Philadelphia (US, Jonathan Demme)
Dave (US, Gary Ross)
Sankofa (UK/Germany/Burkina Faso/Ghana, Haile Germina)
Searching for Bobby Fisher (US, Steve Zaillian)
What's Love Got to Do With It? (US, Brian Gibson)
The Secret Garden (US, Agnieszka Holland)
Tombstone (US, George Pan Cosmotos)
Red Rock West (US, John Dahl)
A Bronx Tale (US, Robert De Niro)
Rudy (US, David Anspaugh)
Jurassic Park (US, Steven Spielberg)
Fire in the Sky (US, Robert Lieberman)
In The Name of the Father (Ireland/UK/US, Jim Sheridan)
Sleepless in Seattle (US, Nora Ephron)
Faraway, So Close (Germany, Wim Wenders)
Fear of a Black Hat (US, Rusty Cundieff)
Romeo is Bleeding (UK, Peter Medak)
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (US, Gus Van Sant)
Blue (UK, Derek Jarman)) 



ACTOR: Anthony Hopkins, THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (2nd: David Thewlis, Naked, followed by: Jeff Bridges, Fearless; Michael Douglas, Falling Down; Liam Neeson, Schindler’s List; Bill Murray, Groundhog Day; Tom Hanks, Philadelphia; Clint Eastwood, In The Line of Fire; Kevin Costner, A Perfect World)

ACTRESS: Juliette Binoche, THREE COLORS: BLUE (2nd: Holly Hunter, The Piano, followed by: Emma Thompson, The Remains of the Day; Patricia Arquette, True Romance; Ashley Judd, Ruby in Paradise; Debra Winger, Shadowlands; Stockard Channing, Six Degrees of Separation; Angela Bassett, What’s Love Got to Do With It?; Holly Hunter, The Positively True Story of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom)



SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ralph Fiennes, SCHINDLER‘S LIST (2nd: Leonardo DiCaprio, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, followed by: Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive; John Malkovich, In The Line of Fire; Sean Penn, Carlito's Way; Matthew McConaughey, Dazed and Confused; Jeff Daniels, Gettysburg; Tim Robbins, Short Cuts; John Goodman, Matinee)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anna Paquin, THE PIANO (2nd: Annie Ross, Short Cuts, followed by: Rosie Perez, Fearless; Winona Ryder, The Age of Innocence; Julianne Moore, Short Cuts; Embeth Davidz, Schindler’s List; Katrin Cartlidge, Naked; Miriam Margoyles, The Age of Innocence; Darlene Cates, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?) 



DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg, SCHINDLER’S LIST (2nd: Krzysztof Kieslowski, Three Colors: Blue, followed by: Ross McElwee, Time Indefinite; Mike Leigh, Naked; James Ivory, The Remains of the Day; Robert Altman, Short Cuts; Martin Scorsese, The Age of Innocence; Richard Linklater, Dazed and Confused; Peter Weir, Fearless; Steven Soderburgh, King of the Hill) 



NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: THREE COLORS: BLUE (Poland/France, Krzysztof Kieslowski) (2nd: Stalingrad (Germany, Josef Vilsmaier); Farewell My Concubine (China, Chen Kaige); Sonatine (Japan, Takeshi Kitano); Caro Diario (Italy, Nanni Moretti); The Scent of Green Papaya (France/Vietnam, Tran Ahn Hung); Cronos (Mexico, Guillermo Del Toro); Three Colors: White (Poland/France, Krzysztof Kieslowski); The Wedding Banquet (Taiwan/US, Ang Lee); Germinal (France, Claude Berri); Sankofa (UK/Germany/Burkina Faso/Ghana, Haile Germina)) 

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: TIME INDEFINITE (US, Ross McElwee) (2nd: Silverlake Life: The View From Here (US, Peter Friedman and Tom Joslin), followed by: The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (France/Germany/UK/Belgium, Ray Muller); Latcho Drom (France, Tony Gatlif); The War Room (US, Chris Hedgedus and D.A. Pennebaker)) 

ANIMATED FEATURE: THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (US, Henry Selick) (2nd: The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (UK, Dave Borthwick)) 



ANIMATED SHORT: THE WRONG TROUSERS (UK, Nick Park) (2nd: The Mighty River (Canada, Frederic Back), followed by: Anamorphosis, or: De Artificiali Perspectiva (UK, Stephen Quay and Timothy Quay); Blindscape (US, Stephen Palmer); Human Behavior (France, Michel Gondry)


  
LIVE ACTION SHORT: BLOOD TIES: THE LIFE AND WORK OF SALLY MANN (US, Steven Cantor) (2nd: Le Batteur du Bolero (France, Patrick Leconte), followed by: Black Rider (Germany, Pepe Danquart); Jeremy (US, Chris Cuffaro); Cigarettes & Coffee (US, Paul Thomas Anderson))



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin, GROUNDHOG DAY (2nd: Mike Leigh, Naked, followed by: Krzysztof Kieslowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Three Colors: Blue; Jane Campion, The Piano; Quentin Tarantino, True Romance) 



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (2nd: Robert Altman and Frank Barhydt, Short Cuts, followed by: Martin Scorsese and Jay Cocks, The Age of Innocence; Steven Zallian, Schindler’s List; Steven Soderburgh, King of the Hill) 

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Janusz Kaminski, SCHINDLER’S LIST (2nd: Michael Ballhaus, The Age of Innocence, followed by: Slawomir Idziak, Three Colors: Blue; Tony Pierce-Roberts, The Remains of the Day; Conrad Hall, Searching for Bobby Fischer) 

ART DIRECTION: THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, Schindler’s List, The Remains of the Day, Little Buddha, King of the Hill 

COSTUME DESIGN: THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, Schindler’s List, The Piano, The Remains of the Day, King of the Hill 



FILM EDITING: SCHINDLER'S LIST, Short Cuts, The Fugitive, Groundhog Day, Falling Down 



SOUND: JURASSIC PARK, Schindler’s List, The Fugitive, Three Colors: Blue, Stalingrad 

SOUND EFFECTS: JURASSIC PARK, The Fugitive, Cliffhanger 



ORIGINAL SCORE: Zbigniew Preisner, THREE COLORS: BLUE (2nd: Elmer Bernstein, The Age of Innocence, followed by: John Williams, Schindler’s List; Richard Robbins, The Remains of the Day; Dave Grusin, The Firm) 



ADAPTED SCORE OR SCORE FOR A MUSICAL: Danny Elfman, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (2nd: Marc Isham, Short Cuts) 



ORIGINAL SONG: “Streets of Philadelphia” from PHILADELPHIA (Music and lyrics by Bruce Springsteen) (2nd: “Philadelphia” from Philadelphia (Music and lyrics by Neil Young), followed by: “Stay” from Faraway, So Close (Music and lyrics by Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen); "Jack‘s Lament“ from The Nightmare Before Christmas (Music and lyrics by Danny Elfman); “Faraway, So Close” from Faraway, So Close (Music and lyrics by Nick Cave); “Oogie Boogie’s Song” from The Nightmare Before Christmas (Music and lyrics by Danny Elfman)) 

SPECIAL EFFECTS: JURASSIC PARK, Cliffhanger, The Fugitive

MAKEUP: MRS. DOUBTFIRE, The Age of Innocence, Schindler's List

1988--The Year in Review

Krzysztof Kieslowski's ten-film series Dekalog is often cited as among the finest film achievements of 1988, but I have to confess, I still haven't seen all of it, so I conspicuously left it out of the running (though I have to say, the three installments I have seen are impeccable). In its stead, I've awarded Best Picture to another Eastern European-flavored tale of morality, Philip Kaufman's heartrending adaptation of Milan Kundera's classic novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, with Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin each excelling as two radically different muses to Daniel Day Lewis' philandering brain surgeon, all against the backdrop of the 1968 Prague Spring revolution in Czechlosovakia (the only way the movie could have been any better is if one of the many great Czech filmmakers who actually lived through the event had directed it). Still, with Sven Nykvist's superb photography, Walter Murch's inventive editing, and Kaufman's terrific script (penned with the legendary Jean-Claude Carriere), it nonetheless hits the requisite heights. But for Best Director, I had to go another way: given how effectively its low budget was used, and how highly wrought the needless controversy was surrounding The Last Temptation of Christ (especially given its ultimate spiritual power), I just had to find for Martin Scorsese once again (his third win in the category thus far). It was a great year for world cinema--maybe the best of the 1980s--with Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso walking away with the prize (and it was a superb period for Japanese animation with three of the genre's finest offerings ever). I was going to go with Philippe Noiret for Supporting Actor for his moving work in Cinema Paradiso, but at the last minute, I came to the realization that Alan Rickman's slithery villain in Die Hard was the supporting performance that really captured the audience's fascination. As for the Academy's choices, they largely fell on the side of Barry Levinson's Rain Man, an entertaining movie to which I rarely return (I still think Tom Cruise is better in the film than Dustin Hoffman, even if Hoffman won the Best Actor Oscar that year). Hoffman doesn't even come into play in my final Best Actor race, which is commanded by Jeremy Irons' creepily devastating twin-lead performance in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers. With the impressive documentary category, Errol Morris easily triumphs with his true breakthrough effort The Thin Blue Line (which ended up freeing its downtrodden subject, Randall Adams, from prison). In the short film category, the UK's emerging auteur Mike Leigh wins for one of his excellent short films made for the BBC, while Canadian animator Richard Condie comes out on top with his adaptation of a traditional folk tune about a pesky cat. All in all, a strange but rewarding year of cinema. NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are only occasionally reflective of the selections made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka The Oscars). When available, the nominee that actually won the Oscar will be highlighted in bold.
 
PICTURE: THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING (US, Philip Kaufman)
(2nd: The Last Temptation of Christ (US, Martin Scorsese)
followed by: Cinema Paradiso (Italy, Giuseppe Tornatore)
The Thin Blue Line (US, Errol Morris)
Distant Voices, Still Lives (UK, Terence Davies)
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (US, Francis Ford Coppola)
Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (France, Marcel Ophuls)
The Vanishing (Netherlands/France, George Sluizer)
Die Hard (US, John McTiernan)
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (US/UK, Terry Gilliam)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (US, Robert Zemeckis)
Dead Ringers (Canada, David Cronenberg)
High Hopes (UK, Mike Leigh)
Hairspray (US, John Waters)
Dangerous Liaisons (US, Stephen Frears)
They Live (US, John Carpenter)
A Fish Called Wanda (UK, Charles Crichton)
Things Change (US, David Mamet)
Clean and Sober (US, Glenn Gordon Caron)
Rain Man (US, Barry Levinson)
Let’s Get Lost (US, Bruce Weber)
Salaam Bombay! (India, Mira Nair)
Drowning by Numbers (UK, Peter Greenaway)
Another Woman (US, Woody Allen)
A World Apart (UK, Chris Menges)
Story of Women (France, Claude Chabrol)
Grave of the Fireflies (Japan, Isao Takahata)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Spain, Pedro Almodóvar)
Bird (US, Clint Eastwood)
Alice (UK/Czechoslovakia, Jan Svankmajer)
Akira (Japan, Katsuhiro Otomo)
Bull Durham (US, Ron Shelton)
Beetlejuice (US, Tim Burton)
Paperhouse (UK, Bernard Rose)
My Neighbour Totoro (Japan, Hayao Miyazaki)
Little Dorrit (UK, Christine Edzard)
Landscape in the Mist (Greece, Theo Angelopoulos)
Frantic (US, Roman Polanski)
The Navigator (New Zealand, Vincent Ward)
The Beast (US, Kevin Reynolds)
Miracle Mile (US, Steve De Jarrnatt)
Running on Empty (US, Sidney Lumet)
In the Line of Duty: The FBI Murders (US, Dick Lowry)
Candy Mountain (US, Robert Frank and Rudy Wurlitzer)
The Accidental Tourist (US, Lawrence Kasdan)
The Accused (US, Jonathan Kaplan)
Crossing Delancey (US, Joan Micklin Silver)
The Bear (France/US, Jean-Jacques Annaud)
Midnight Run (US, Martin Brest)
School Daze (US, Spike Lee)
Tales of the Gimli Hospital (Canada, Guy Maddin)
Camille Claudel (France, Bruno Nuytten)
Leningrad Cowboys Go America (Finland, Aki Kaurismaki)
Dominick and Eugene (US, Robert M. Young)
Eight Men Out (US, John Sayles)
Vampire’s Kiss (US, Robert Bierman)
Talk Radio (US, Oliver Stone)
Mystic Pizza (US, Donald Petrie)
Working Girl (US, Mike Nichols)
Stand and Deliver (US, Ramon Menendez)
The Chocolate War (US, Keith Gordon)
Little Vera (USSR, Vasili Pichul)
Lady in White (US, Frank LaLoggia)
Colors (US, Dennis Hopper)
The Good Mother (US, Leonard Nimoy)
The Decline of Western Civilization, Part II (US, Penelope Spheeris)
The Time of the Gypsies (Yugoslavia, Emir Kusturica)
Coming to America (US, John Landis)
Married to the Mob (US, Jonathan Demme)
Mississippi Burning (US, Alan Parker)
Big (US, Penny Marshall)
Biloxi Blues (US, Mike Nichols)
A Cry in the Dark (Australia, Fred Schepisi)
The Milagro Beanfield War (US, Robert Redford)
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (US, David Zucker)
The Moderns (US, Alan Rudolph)
The Passion of Beatrice (France, Bertrand Tavernier))



ACTOR: Jeremy Irons, DEAD RINGERS (2nd: Michael Keaton, Clean and Sober, followed by: Forrest Whitaker, Bird; Tom Hanks, Big; Tom Hulce, Dominick and Eugene; Don Ameche, Things Change; Bob Hoskins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?; Edward James Olmos, Stand and Deliver)

ACTRESS: Juliette Binoche, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING (2nd: Glenn Close, Dangerous Liasons, followed by: Jodie Foster, The Accused; Carmen Maura, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown; Isabelle Adjani, Camille Claudel; Gena Rowlands, Another Woman; Ruth Sheen, High Hopes; Meryl Streep, A Cry in the Dark)

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Alan Rickman, DIE HARD (2nd: Philippe Noiret, Cinema Paradiso, followed by: Martin Landau, Tucker: The Man and His Dream; Michael Keaton, Beetlejuice; River Phoenix, Running on Empty; Kevin Kline, A Fish Called Wanda; Charles Grodin, Midnight Run; Dean Stockwell, Married to the Mob)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Lena Olin, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING (2nd: Johanna Ter Steege, The Vanishing, followed by: Diane Venora, Bird; Edna Dore, High Hopes; Kathy Baker, Clean and Sober; Michelle Pfieffer, Dangerous Liasons; Leslie Manville, High Hopes; Geena Davis, The Accidental Tourist)



DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (2nd: Philip Kaufman, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, followed by: Giuseppe Tornatore, Cinema Paradiso; Errol Morris, The Thin Blue Line; Terrence Davies, Distant Voices, Still Lives; Francis Ford Coppola, Tucker: The Man and His Dream; John McTiernan, Die Hard; George Sluzier, The Vanishing)



NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: CINEMA PARADISO (Italy, Giuseppe Tornatore) (won in 1989) (2nd:  Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (France, Marcel Ophuls), followed by: The Vanishing (Netherlands/France, George Sluizer); Salaam Bombay! (India, Mira Nair); Story of Women (France, Claude Chabrol); Grave of the Fireflies (Japan, Isao Takahata); Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Spain, Pedro Almodóvar); Alice (UK/Czechoslovakia, Jan Svankmajer); Akira (Japan, Katsuhiro Otomo); My Neighbour Totoro (Japan, Hayao Miyazaki); Landscape in the Mist (Greece, Theo Angelopoulos); Camille Claudel (France, Bruno Nuytten); Leningrad Cowboys Go America (Finland, Aki Kaurismaki); Little Vera (USSR, Vasili Pichul); The Time of the Gypsies (Yugoslavia, Emir Kusturica))



DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: THE THIN BLUE LINE (US, Errol Morris) (2nd: Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (France, Marcel Ophuls), followed by: Let’s Get Lost (US, Bruce Weber); The Decline of Western Civilization, Part II (US, Penelope Spheeris))



ANIMATED FEATURE: GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES (Japan, Isao Takahata) (2nd: Akira (Japan, Katsuhiro Otoma), followed by: My Neighbor Totoro (Japan, Hayao Miyazaki); Alice (UK/Czechosovakia, Jan Svenkmeyer))



ANIMATED SHORT: THE CAT CAME BACK (Canada, Cordell Barker) (2nd: Feelings of Mountains and Waters (China, Wei Te); Family Portrait: The Simpsons (US, Matt Groening); The Public Voice (Denmark, Lejf Marcussen); Another Kind of Love (Czechoslovakia, Jan Svankmajer))



LIVE ACTION SHORT: THE SHORT AND CURLIES (UK, Mike Leigh) (2nd: The Appointments of Dennis Jennings (US, Dean Parisot and Steven Wright, US), followed by: The Last Theft (Czechoslovakia, Jiri Barta); Gullah Tales (US, Gary Moss and George De Golian); I…Dreaming (US, Stan Brakhage))

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Giuseppe Tornatore, CINEMA PARADISO (2nd: John Cleese and Charles Crichton, A Fish Called Wanda, followed by: Mike Leigh, High Hopes; Ron Shelton, Bull Durham; Terrence Davies, Distant Voices, Still Lives)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Philip Kaufman and Jean-Claude Carriere, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING (2nd: Christopher Hampton, Dangerous Liasons, followed by: George Sluzier and Tim Crabbe, The Vanishing; Paul Schrader, The Last Temptation of Christ; John Carpenter, They Live)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Sven Nykvist, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING (2nd: Vittorio Storaro; Tucker: The Man and His Dream, followed by: Giuseppe Rotunno, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen; Jan De Bont, Die Hard; Phillippe Rousselot, The Bear)

ART DIRECTION: THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Dangerous Liasons, Beetlejuice, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

COSTUME DESIGN: THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, Dangerous Liasons, The Last Temptation of Christ, Coming to America, Beetlejuice



FILM EDITING: DIE HARD, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Last Temptation of Christ; The Thin Blue Line, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 

SOUND: DIE HARD, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Bird, Beetlejuice, The Bear

SOUND EFFECTS: DIE HARD, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Bear  



ORIGINAL SCORE: Peter Gabriel, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (2nd: Ennio Morricone, Cinema Paradiso, followed by: Alan Silvestri, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?; Philip Glass, The Thin Blue Line; Dave Grusin, The Milagro Beanfield War)



ADAPTATION SCORE/SCORING OF A MUSICAL: Lennie Niehaus, BIRD (2nd: Bill Lee, School Daze)



ORIGINAL SONG: “Hairspray“ from HAIRSPRAY (Music and lyrics by Rachel Sweet, Willa Bassen and Anthony Battaglia) (2nd: “Let The Rivers Run” from Working Girl (Music and lyrics by Carly Simon), followed by: “Da Butt” from School Daze (Music and lyrics by Marcus Miller and Mark Stevens); “Colors” from Colors (Music and lyrics by Ice-T and Afrika Islam); “Straight and Nappy“ from School Daze (Music and lyrics by Bill Lee); "Two Hearts" from Buster (Music by Lamont Dozier, lyrics by Phil Collins))

VISUAL EFFECTS: WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?, Die Hard, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Dead Ringers, Beetlejuice

MAKEUP: BEETLEJUICE, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Dangerous Liasons, Coming to America, They Live

Film #164: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera’s novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being arrived in 1984 when the author, then and now based in France, was approaching his 10-year anniversary in exile from his homeland Czechoslovakia. In Eastern Europe, his books–often baldly critical of the Communist regime that had taken over his country in 1968–had routinely been banned from publication, and Kundera was stripped of his Czech citizenship in 1979 (he has since insisted on being considered a novelist of French origin). The Unbearable Lightness of Being, the last of his works to have an overtly political bent, was a fin de siècle which followed in a non-linear fashion the lives of five European citizens: Tomas, a 50-ish brain surgeon and womanizer; Sabina, the strong-willed artist with whom he has a iron-clad erotic connection; Tereza, the meek yet floridly emotional photographer who captures his heart (even perhaps against his will); Franz, the Swiss professor who naively falls for Sabina upon her escape to Geneva following the Prague Spring of 1968; and Simon, Tomas’ estranged son from a previous marriage.

When producer Saul Zaentz–who had won two Oscars producing films by Czech émigré Milos Forman–settled upon Kundera’s novel as his follow-up to the immensely successful Amadeus, he opted not with Forman’s services at the helm, but instead with those of the esteemed Philip Kaufman, who was still reeling from the unfortunate box-office drubbing that greeted his superb adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff. One might wonder why Zaentz settled on Kaufman rather than Forman, who certainly was able to lend more Eastern European authenticity to this adaptation. However, given that Kaufman had already successfully transferred Wolfe’s “unfilmable” book to screen and that Kundera’s work was similarly afflicted with such a label, Zaentz’s decision made sense. Furthermore, the hiring of master screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière as Kaufman’s co-scribe was another encouraging stroke. Carrière (who would later be chosen as an Honorary Oscar winner in 2014) had already built an unparalleled career working with some of the world’s finest directors--Luis Bunuel, chief among them--on pieces focusing in on the delicate, often dark romantic dance between men and women. He was perfect for this assignment. The screenwriters first jettisoned the novel’s non-linear structure in order to center in on the real story at its core: the love triangle between Tomas, Sabina and Tereza. They made Tomas a much younger character and, in doing so, eliminated the need for Simon, Tomas’ son. And, most wisely, they reduced the amount of political commentary, except as it related to the physical and emotional actions of the three lovers.

As a result, the 1989 film version of The Unbearable Lightness of Being was not entirely satisfactory to the author, who gave a general stamp of approval to Kaufman’s final work but later admitted it was nowhere near to the spirit of his novel (in fact, he’s stated he will never again give permission for one of his books to be screen adapted). Even so, the movie was a resounding art house success and still remains one of the most affecting screen ruminations on the philosophical underpinnings of love and sexual pleasure ever produced. Deeply moving on many fronts, it’s a film like no other and though it’s lost some of its luster over the years (I do wish, now, that it had been directed by a Czech or at least a European director, and done in the Czech language), I do still respond heartily to the beauty of its look and constuction, its ideas, and its actors.



With an elegant title card, Kaufman’s film begins (presumably) outside of either Tomas’ or Sabina’s apartment, where we can hear sexually-charged feminine laughter quietly ringing through the closed door. We then begin to hear Leos Janacek’s delicate music (Kundera’s father was one of Janacek’s students) and we then first see Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis) exiting a surgical situation with great flourishes. Very quickly, he gets some intimate attention from a nurse with whom he agreeably dallies, to the pleasure of a voyeuristic pair of doctors and one quickly revived patient (in a wild gag that feels like something out of Kaufman’s The Right Stuff). Day-Lewis invests his Tomas with a brash, predatory confidence–he looks like the ultimate 1960s player, with his wolfish eyes hiding behind ultra-cool black sunglasses. We can see that this confidence is shaken, though, in very different ways by the two women destined to be in his life. His afternoons with Sabina (Lena Olin in a brilliant showing) are bold dips into pure erotic play with no consequences, yet they have exposed Tomas in a very sly manner, so much so that Sabina is the one person who understands him better than he does himself.

SABINA (while wearing her great-great grandfather’s bowler hat): You are the complete opposite of kitsch. In the kingdom of kitsch, you would be a monster. Are you only searching for pleasure, or is every woman a new land whose secrets you’re waiting to discover?

It’s these sort of remarks that make Tomas just a tiny bit less sure of himself when he’s ensconced in Sabina’s mirror-laden boudoir.

His world, though, is truly jolted by the arrival of Tereza. Fresh faced and wide-eyed, she is this Superman’s Kryptonite. As played by the magnificent Juliette Binoche, Tereza would certainly capture any man’s heart; she’s dressed down, awkward, well-read and oh so sweet. Their first meeting, in a rural bar where she is a waitress and where Tomas, instantly captivated after seeing her glide under the water in a spa pool, has followed her. Tereza is girlish, but she’s not so innocent; she’s immediately up for sex with Tomas (“What a coincidence…your room number is 6 and my shift ends at six,” she says at first glance). But Tomas senses a danger to his “lightness of being”–the last thing he wants is to fall in love and he sees he could easily do so with this skipping, joyful, doe-eyed woman. And so he retreats back to Prague and to the less demanding Sabina. However, it isn’t long before Tereza makes her way to his flat and, in a fiercely humorous and unforgettably sexy scene, she undergoes an undisguised doctorial physical examination before boldly attacking Tomas with a barrage of kisses, causing them to both tumble about the room and onto the bed, where their first sexual encounter commences with Tereza’s joyous screams. There is simply no love scene in the history of cinema that has this quality of utter abandon and enervated passion. It’s an extraordinary moment.

Tomas wakes up the next morning with his hand clasped tightly in Tereza’s. This is, of course, new for him, since he routinely leaves a bed early or sends his conquest packing before time comes to actually sleep. In a bit of foreshadowing, Tomas pries her hand away and replaces his own with a copy of Sophocles’ Oedipus, kissing each of her fingers tenderly before leaving. Still, this is not a one-night stand. Tereza, with no intention of leaving her lover, takes up residence in his place. This starts to get Tomas rather nervous, as we see in another brilliant bit of dialogue between he and Sabina, who toys with him by hiding his sock and offering him one of her stockings as replacement.

TOMAS: You think I’m doing something silly. (Sabina feigns confusion) If I had two lives, in one life I could invite her to stay at my place. In the second life, I would kick her out. Then I could compare and see which had been the best thing to do. But we only live once. Life is so light, like an outline we can’t ever fill in or correct or make any better. It’s frightening.

It’s inevitable that Tereza and Sabina meet and, hoping that Sabina can give this callow woman some tips on how to break through as a photographer (and possibly get her off Tomas' back), Tomas makes this happen. But Tereza can sense the sexual tension in the air, and later, in another of the film’s great scenes, she awakes furiously from a nightmare in which Tomas is making love to other women. Literally beating herself up, she turns to Tomas, her face streaked with tears, and asks him why he would do this to her. “It was a dream,” he assures her, but in her heart she knows this is not so. Still, Tomas urges her back to slumber with a dainty poem. This piece of dialogue–the most memorable in the movie–turns out to be a bit written by Kundera directly for the film:

TOMAS: You can sleep. Sleep in my arms. Like a baby bird. Like a broom among brooms in a broom closet. Like a tiny parrot. Like a whistle. Like a little song. A song sung by a forest within a forest, a thousand years ago.

The moment gives you chills, it’s so perfect.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being feels less urgent when its dealing with the political aspects of its story. Its makers somehow seem disengaged, as if they view these bits as being largely expositional and beside the point, which they really are (at least in the context of the film). These moments, while necessary, often stop the movie rather cold and impede our interest in its true raison d’etre. Yes, part of the gist of Kundera’s story is that sexual freedom leads to political freedom, and vice versa. But the political scenes are just dully drawn, without much nuance (they feel like something out of a drab John le Carre adaptation). There are a couple of major scenes, though, in which the political observations work. One is the party scene where the house band, tearing through Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be The Day” for the sock-hopping crowd, is urged to play a Communist-approved dirge for the gang of party loyalists, who are toasting each other at a nearby table. The dance floor thins out as Tomas looks at the self-satisfied Communists and wonders if scoundrels know if they are scoundrels. The house band soon transforms the Communist ditty into a rock song, though, and Tereza joins one of Tomas’ male friends on dance floor. The sequence is expertly edited by the great Walter Murch, who manages to keep its many layers in supreme check. Later that night (in the final scene of the first act), Tomas ruminates on seeing Tereza dance with another man. Tereza begins to smile and dance so cutely around him. “You’re jealous, you’re jealous!” And Tomas protests. “I’m not.” He tries to get up and she pushes him back down–repeatedly. She grabs his feet and pulls him across the room (Day-Lewis does an athletic move here) and they are reduced to a mound together, her tickling him and insisting that they get married, and him resisting all the way. Another sublime scene of immense energy!

Enter here the film's other great character, that of Karenin, the dog that Tomas and Tereza adopt on their wedding day (tellingly, they name it after Anna Karenina, a devoted lover who meets an early death). A mutt if there ever was one, Karenin serves as a symbol of selfless love, of giving and caring. The dog thrives, but it’s strangely clear that, despite the certainty of all this shared love, Tomas is not going to give up his womanizing ways so easily. While having an argument over his infidelities, Tereza runs out of the flat and smack into a Russian tank roaring down the Prague streets (Kaufman actually shot the film in France, which production designer Pierre Guffroy cleverly redressed to look like 1968 Czechoslovakia). Here, through the magic of Murch’s wonderful editing and cinematographer Sven Nykvist’s equally masterful work, we get another of the film’s finest sequences: the Prague Spring, in which Tomas and Tereza’s actions on the streets are matched perfectly with well-chosen shots of actual documentary footage shot during the ’68 riots. In perfectly weathered color and B&W 16mm footage, we see Binoche–snapping pictures furiously–and Day-Lewis consorting with actual protesters, through the mixture of Kaufman’s footage and that of countless other filmmakers whose personal footage of the Communist atrocities had been far flung throughout the world (Murch says that he would find one piece of film in Rome and then find the reverse angle of that same shot in Oslo). One note: Czech filmmaker Jan Nemec is listed as a consultant for the film, and in fact much of his footage is used in this sequence, so much so that Nemec even gets a cameo as a man with a camera on a Prague balcony.

The second act of the film sees Tomas and Tereza following Sabina to Geneva, where she escapes to practice her art and ends up falling for a dowdy, naïve Swiss professor, Franz (Derek De Lint). This section of the film, too, feels lightly drawn, but it does allow Nykvist to change up his color palette a bit from the yellowed and burnished look of Prague to a more vibrant set of tones (Nykvist was nominated for an Oscar for his work, along with Kaufman and Carrière’s screenplay). It also give us another great scene in which Olin’s Sabina, dining at a kitschy restaurant with Franz, expounds on that feeling we all often have as we’re get older–that feeling that everything is getting worse:

SABINA: Everywhere, music is turning into noise. Look at these plastic flowers. They even put them in water. And look out there–those buildings…the uglification of the world. The only place we can find beauty is if its persecutors have overlooked it. It’s a planetary process…and I can’t stand it.

The Geneva sequence also offers us an opportunity to see Sabina and Tereza make a true connection with each other, with Tereza wanting to practice taking nude shots and Sabina agreeing to be her model. In an extraordinary scene, where we get to see these two expert actresses saying it all mostly with their expressive faces (Binoche’s often being obscured by a Praktica camera), we finally understand that Sabina strength is in her body, which she isn’t afraid to bare, and Tereza’s strength lies in her face (she’s terrified of being naked, as we shall see).

The third act of Kaufman and Carriere's brilliant adaptation–which I will keep largely under wraps–returns us to a dirtier, more depressing Prague (in which we are treated to cameos by a very young Stellan Skarsgard and a very old Erland Josephson, both rather underused). These scenes underline the dangers inherent in love and see Tomas making sacrifices one would have never have thought the wolf at the beginning of the film would have deigned make for anyone. I stay away here, also, from Tereza's most stunning words, as I save them for your discovery (I love that Tereza remains the most mysterious soul in this trifecta). By the film’s idyllic final thirty minutes, which is filled nonetheless with heartbreaking loss, we are convinced we have seen one of the most wonderful yet most nakedly honest screen romances cinema has to offer. It may be slightly flawed but Philip Kaufman’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being remains captivating throughout. It's difficult to find a single movie quite like it.

NOTE: This piece first posted as a part of WONDERS IN THE DARK's overview of the best romantic movies ever made. Take a look at the complete collection here.