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Friday, October 31, 2014

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Director 1990

The Contenders:
Kevin Costner: Dances with Wolves (winner)
Francis Ford Coppola: The Godfather Part III
Martin Scorsese: Goodfellas
Stephen Frears: The Grifters
Barbet Schroeder: Reversal of Fortune

What’s Missing

It seems that 1990 was an odd year for film. I don’t love all five of the nominated films, but there aren’t a lot of directorial performances I can come up with to replace the five nominees. I’d have liked seeing a nod to Paul Verhoeven for Total Recall despite the Academy’s general dislike of science fiction. Jerry Zucker’s work on Ghost might be worth a mention, too. The Coens’ work on Miller’s Crossing went unrewarded, and I’d put them in the running. On the scarier front, both Rob Reiner’s work in Misery and Adrian Lyne’s directorial work in Jacob’s Ladder were deserving of some love. On the foreign front, the strange nature of Abbas Kiarostami’s Close-Up may have prevented it from some nominations, but shouldn’t have prevented him from a deserved nomination. Still and all, almost all of these films I’ve mentioned are genres that don’t typically get a lot of Academy love.

Weeding through the Nominees

5: Dances with Wolves is one of those Best Picture winners that has suffered a massive backlash since winning. I see that, and even agree with a lot of it; it’s not nearly as good a movie as everyone seemed to think in 1990. A part of that comes from the direction. I’d like Dances with Wolves more than I do had Kevin Costner shown even a little restraint. The full version of this film runs nearly four hours (the theatrical cut still tops three hours) to tell a story that could have been told in under two. More is not always better.

4: It’s hard to argue against Francis Ford Coppola’s nomination for The Godfather Part III despite the third episode of that story being the weakest in many respects. Ultimately, what I have to say about Coppola here seems to be what I say about a lot of Best Director nominees—I get that he deserves some credit for keeping the whole massive story coherent, but other than that, what did he really do here? It’s a better movie than most people remember, but I don’t see his work as being exceptional here.

3: I’m not hugely familiar with Barbet Schroeder as a name, and yet when I look at his filmography, I see a number of films that I like. Reversal of Fortune had the difficult task of making an unpleasant main character the center of the film. We’re not supposed to like Claus von Bulow, but we are supposed to understand that even an insufferable asshole deserves real justice, and that being an asshole isn’t a convictable crime. The film works, even if it leaves us feeling oily at the end. It’s good work, and the nomination was deserved.

2: I seem to like The Grifters more than a lot of other people do. I think it’s a brilliant movie in a lot of respects. It proved that John Cusack could do more than just be a goofy teen romantic lead. It went full-bore into bringing noir sensibilities to a more modern era. It’s also a twisty plot that reveals just enough information to keep us engaged in the story and yet keep us guessing as to what will happen next. Much of this comes from the screenplay, of course, but a great deal of that comes from Stephen Frears. This is a film that doesn’t underestimate its audience, and that’s almost entirely due to Frears’s work behind the camera.

My Choice

1: In retrospect, is there really a choice other than Martin Scorsese and what he did with Goodfellas? Scorsese not winning in 1990 is an argument for the idea that Oscars really shouldn’t be handed out until films are five years old. Run this competition today, or 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, and Scorsese doesn’t have to wait until 2006 to win an Oscar that he deserved multiple times before. Scorsese was robbed. He knows it, you know it, and in his heart, Kevin Costner knows it, too.


Final Analysis

12 comments:

  1. Yup. With you on this one. Scorsese deserved this for Goodfellas.

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    1. I'm thinking this is another one that most people will agree with me on.

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  2. I quite like Dances with Wolves, but agree Goodfellas is just better. David Lynch's direction of Wild at Heart (1990) is amazing, probably more of a Cannes film. Although did get one oscar nom for supporting actress.
    Nikita (1990) also had some pretty stylish direction by Luc Besson

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    1. I'm not a huge fan of La Femme Nikita and I haven't seen Wild at Heart--it's one of the only Lynch movies I haven't seen yet.

      I don't mind Dances with Wolves. It's just too long and self-indulgent for its story.

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  3. I agree the Coens deserved a nomination, and I'd say probably even the win, for Miller's Crossing.

    Among the five nominees I'm not particuarly impressed by any of them in regards to direction. Goodfellas did nothing for me (I realize I am in the minority, but the genre is one I have no interest in). The Grifters is an interesting film, but I've had no desire to see it twice. I thought Reversal of Fortune was hugely overrated and I still maintain Irons won his Oscar not for this film, but rather a delayed Oscar for Dead Ringers. The Godfather Part III is just there - nothing special. And I didn't have problems with Dances With Wolves, but then I saw it long before all the backlash set in, so I didn't have that influencing me. I also saw the 3 hour theatrical version, not the 4 hour Director's Cut.

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    1. I really like The Grifters and I love the nomination. It's one of my favorite neo-noirs, close to the same level as L.A. Confidential. I wish it got more love.

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  4. Fully agree, this is one of Oscar's biggest errors. Dances with Wolves is just so bland and yes, far too long. I do love that The Grifters came in second here. I really enjoy that film.

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    1. You're one of the first people I've brought up that film to who seems to like it as much as I do. I think it's sadly forgotten.

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  5. I still can't believe Scorsese wasn't even nominated for Taxi Driver! I'd go with Scorsese for this too, though I still like Costner and Dances with Wolves getting a nomination here.

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    1. While I put Dances with Wolves last, I could probably be persuaded that it deserved to be on the list. I just can't condone it winning.

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  6. I agree with you here. I didn't even like Dances With Wolves, but even if they gave BP to Dances With Wolves, but gave Marty Best Director, I would've been like "Okay, you did something right". Costner's win here is as bad as Tom Hooper winning over David Fincher.

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    1. Honestly, this is exactly why I do this every Friday. Someone has to right the wrongs of the Academy, especially when they screw up this badly.

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