2000

Winner:

The turn of the century was a great time for films with epic battles. Besides this year’s winner, Gladiator, Braveheart and the Lord of the Rings trilogy dominated the theaters. Many critics don’t feel the best film won this year, but I fully agree with the verdict. Then again, Gladiator is precisely the type of movie I enjoy the best, a sweeping epic with both action and drama, and one with superbly developed characters. If critics were more reserved in their praise, audiences gave it an A. It makes you stand up and cheer. It’s full of quotable lines. “At my signal, unleash hell!” Some scenes even get played on Jumbotrons still today. Sure, it has huge problems, if you’re concerned with historical accuracy or a story that’s full plausible. It doesn’t even try to be anything but vaguely historical. Some of the characters existed, and the film looks like it generally captures the look of the era, but that’s about it for accuracy. “There once was a dream called Rome,” and the accuracy can best be described as a dream. Still, the script was well-written from an entertainment point of view. Sure, it’s a little fantastical or hokey, and you need to suspend your sense of reality a bit when you watch it, but it’s highly entertaining and inspiring. It was nominated for the screenplay but did not win. That’s about where it belongs. The production was beautiful. It would be hard to pinpoint one masterpiece for director Ridley Scott, but you could make a strong case for this one. He was nominated for directing but did not win. The film did win for visual effects, sound, and costume design, and was nominated for cinematography, art direction, editing, and score. Technically it’s a masterpiece. The lighting and filters were perfect. The cinematography was superb and, for its time, the action was well-done. It also features some of the best music in film history. Hans Zimmer created a masterpiece of music. It’s ominous yet hopeful. Lisa Gerrard is perfect, as is Djivan Gasparyan, who plays the duduk to haunting perfection and is easily the best ever at that Armenian instrument. I saw in the bonus commentary that he has his own line of alcohol in Armenia. I would have chosen it for the soundtrack Oscar over Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The acting was overall stellar, for what the actors and actresses were asked to do. Some people say Russell Crowe should not have won this year but they only gave it to him because he was snubbed for The Insider the prior year. And those same people say he was consequently snubbed the next year for A Beautiful Mind because of this. Perhaps he should have more than one Oscar. I certainly feel he was the best actor out of the nominees this year, and he was the right actor for this film, with the proper quiet charisma. Joaquin Phoenix was nominated for his supporting role and to this day, he remains part of the only two brothers to be nominated (River Phoenix was nominated in 1989 for Running on Empty). Even the smaller roles and extras give solid performances. Ridley Scott got the most out of everyone involved and that’s the mark of a talented director. Perhaps the best part of the film is that it’s full of memorable scenes and characters and in the end, it sticks with you. I am not sure if I can quantify what I like about it, but it made me stand up and cheer. It inspired me. It is my type of movie but I can see why some people might not agree with the pick. But, if they disagree with the pick, which one should have won instead? I would argue it was the strongest of a strong group of nominees and would still be the strongest nominee in most given years. In fact, in more average years, it would not have been so contested. And in the end, well, “are you not entertained?”

Nominees:

Chocolat stood tall against the rest of the nominees, though I would say technically Gladiator, Traffic, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were better movies. Chocolat was a touching story, about a woman who opens a chocolate shop in a small French town, and ends up slowly transforming the town into something just a little more beautiful. The story doesn’t sound like much, and it is a little lightweight, but it just works. More than that, it had a unique voice or feel that was beautiful and so rare in film, or even literature where you should find it more often. It was based on a novel and was nominated for the adapted screenplay. The acting was superb and Juliette Binoche carried the film. She was nominated for her lead performance and Judi Dench was nominated for her supporting role. The film was well produced at every level, even if the only technical nomination was for the score. It felt both beautiful and erotic at times, and always felt a little magical. Watching it feels as indulgent as the sweets made in the film, from a production standpoint. It’s finely crafted at all levels. It was directed by Lasse Hallstrom, a Swedish director who had a long career and had another Best Picture nominee the year before with The Cider House Rules. There are many technical reasons to love the film, and then some films just find their way into your heart for no reason you can pinpoint. Chocolat became one of my favorite films of the year and it’s too bad it’s not standing the test of time as well as it should. The era saw a lot of independent type films find an audience that loved them, and rode the momentum all the way to the Oscars. Some of them will stand the test of time and some won’t. This one should.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a martial arts story, though so much more, somewhat traditional or even classical in the story it tells. It was based on a twentieth century Chinese novel about eighteenth century China, and was nominated for the adapted screenplay. It feels as if it’s retelling a tale from Eastern mythology, and it feels like it’s turning a story into a work of art. It ushered in a series of similar foreign language martial arts films that were popular in America, though this was arguably the best of the lot (unless you wanted to argue for 2002’s Hero). At the time it was the highest grossing foreign produced film in American film history. It was a beautiful movie, hypnotic in its production. In fact, the production and cinematography carry the movie into the territory of brilliance. Perhaps The Matrix changed the way action films could look, but this film took it a step farther. It was directed by Ang Lee, and a case could be made it’s his masterpiece, though other films could be strong contenders too. It’s not like his typical work. He started out doing sweet(ish) foreign language comedies about human relations, and many are well worth seeing. When he began making films in America, many were similarly themed, though less on the comedic side. Besides Hulk (which is nothing like the rest of his work, this was his only action(ish) film, and you wonder what he might have done had he pursued that type of film instead. We would have missed out on Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi though. Ang Lee was nominated for Best Director and the film won for cinematography, art direction, and the score, and was also nominated for costume design and original song. No acting performance was nominated for an Academy Award, though the performances were brilliant. I imagine the lack of nominations was because the film was not in English. I can say nothing negative about the film and, if it had been named Best Picture in any given year, it would not be a travesty. If I find a minor weakness in the film, it is the story. It takes a few minutes to pull you in, and the process is gradual. Eventually, the intensity is breathtaking and you realize you are watching something amazing unfold, but it does not happen immediately. I found the ending a bit unsatisfying as well. Still, it very much deserved its win for Best Foreign Language Film, and you could make a strong case it was the best film of the year, though I would have voted for Gladiator, which pulled me into its world just a little better and enthralled me just a little more.

Erin Brockovich was my least favorite of the nominees. Do not mistake that for me not liking the movie. The story of criminal wrongdoings on the part of big corporations needs to be exposed, and this story of malfeasance is particularly compelling, arguably worth the screenplay nomination it received. It was an important story (about a power company responsible for ground contamination and illnesses that resulted and the legal struggle to hold them accountable) and it was relatively well-told, though the film was much more about Erin Brockovich than the malfeasance she uncovered. On one hand, her personal struggles are not as interesting as the rest of the story, which hardly factors in until the second half. On the other hand, it allowed Julia Roberts to shine and completely inhabit a character and carry the movie into greater heights. She won Best Actress for her stellar performance. Albert Finney is excellent as well in his supporting role and was also nominated for an Oscar. Nothing particularly stands out about the technical aspects of the films and it was not nominated in any of those categories. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh, who had two nominations for Best Director this year. He would win for Traffic, and I’d say deservedly, but I don’t see how this directing performance was worth a nomination. Nothing stands out about it one way or another. But it didn’t matter because the entire film was going to hinge on the importance of the story and how the characters were brought to life. As important as the film might be, and as excellent as Julia Roberts was, it was just a little slow. If a movie cannot fully keep your attention, no matter how important the story may be, it is not a Best Picture, though this is a rightful nominee. It seems the Academy Awards have always given important films the benefit of the doubt when it comes to wins and nominations, and while it’s worth debating whether or not this is a fair practice, this film is the quintessential example of a film that did better than it otherwise would have at Oscar time because it’s exactly the type of themes and messages the Academy loves.

Traffic was a captivating story, so much so that when I watched it again, I didn’t realize it was such a long film. The complexities and insanities of drug policy are shown in a mesmerizing way, in a very intense f**k you to those responsible for the war on drugs. The drug trade and the efforts to stop it are, at best, a morally gray area and the film captures this expertly, avoiding all cliches which seem to plague most crime films. It was directed by Steven Soderbergh, who won Best Director for the film and was also nominated in the same category for Erin Brockovich. It’s a solid choice for the win, but you could also make a case for Ridley Scott this year. The production was excellent, the cinematography truly a visually stunning work of art. Showing the different storylines in different color tones is a nice touch. It’s a bit of a surprise the film was not nominated in many technical categories, but it did win for editing. The acting was stellar across the board. Benicio Del Toro is a gift to cinema, and excellent as something of a moral center in the film, or at least as close to a moral center as there can be in the war on drugs, which is to say the least hypocritical character. No one is completely innocent and all morality is gray. His nuanced performance rightfully won an Oscar for supporting acting. I’m surprised out of all the sprawling ensemble cast that no one else was even nominated. The script? It won the Academy Award for adapted screenplay, based on a British televise series called Traffik, but it’s not the obvious choice. I’m torn about the film continually skipping between different stories, though it mostly worked. Other ensembles of stories (hyperlink cinema is the technical term) are more seamless and if they had not skipped around quite as much it would be better. In these years, there was a glut of patchwork story films, and this one did not work the best from a storytelling point of view. But it is ambitious and I love ambitious films. I understand that the intent was to make an understated movie, and that can be a very good thing when dealing with a subject like the drug trade when morals are ambiguous on all sides. But it is possible to make a movie that is too understated and this one feels slightly incomplete in the end. Still, it’s not only one of my favorite movies of the year, but also the decade. The watchability holds up again and again and in weaker years, might have even been the best film.

Other notable films - In the Mood for Love was a Hong Kong film subtly and tragically beautiful. Beautifully conceived and constructed, it is both hauntingly tender and heartbreaking. I fail to see how it was not at least nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. / O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a Coen Brothers film that audiences liked more than the critics, and I stand with the audience here. / The Patriot is unashamed celebratory history but it was beautifully constructed and told a captivating story. / Remember the Titans was one of the best Disney sports films in an era when they produced several. / Suzhou River is a visually gorgeous and luscious film emotionally that absolutely captures your imagination and sustains the intrigue. It’s an amazingly tender story that pulls you in and even if it’s a little letdown in the end, it’s absolutely mesmerizing. It’s a fairy tale with shady camera angles and it couldn’t be more of a perfect indie film from China. It’s one of the best films of the decade. / Thirteen Days is the chronicle of the Cuban Missile Crisis as told from the perspective of the Kennedy administration. It’s a tight political thriller which manages to capture a sense of dread and urgency, and with solid acting and production manages to be a lengthy film that’s somehow gripping. It’s easily the equal of many of the nominees, and I would argue better than some.

Top Five: Gladiator, Traffic, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Suzhou River, In the Mood for Love