1988 came with a lot of films I had seen before the revisit and a lot of even greater films I was just seeing for the very first time. The year in relation to the academy awards seemed to focus on a small list of films and just about nominate those films in every category it was eligible for. In the end the academy ended up choosing Barry Levinson's Rain Man. The film I'd seen before this revisit and even seeing it again left me quite negative on the film because it is just so typical and unsurprising that it being the academy's choice is band in retrospective. The picture lineup wasn't much better then Rain Man as the other nominees were The Accidental Tourist, Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning and Working Girl. The list outside of Liaisons is quite an awful lineup. Accidental Tourist I just don't get the love for because it's so flat and run of the mill. As I said Liaisons is brilliant and easily makes me own top 5. Mississippi Burning is so uninspired considering the subject matter of race relations which has just been done before and after in more thrilling ways. Working Girl while not on the level of Dangerous is my second favourite nominee and a film that is of it's time and vertually unmakeable in today's cinematic climate. Really the lineup outside of one stellar choice is rather dated and doesn't stand as strong as it probably did during the year as they seemed to embrace more commercially successful films.
The 61st academy awards was quite the awful affair with nothing in any major category inspiring anything merit from me which is why I was more pulled over by the critical success' of the year as there were plenty of them and many of them were great. My choice for the best film of the year is Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The film itself has a lot to say that comes directly from the novel but Kaufman and his three beautiful leads made for some greatly underrated film making that while I've seen the film the one time is a film I know I will continue to appreciate when I eventually watch it again. Dangerous Liaisons like I said is marvelous and in my opinion the peak of Stephen Frears career. Glenn Close and John Malkovich in the dueling leading roles are at the height of their powers and so great that while Close got the nom (should've won) the snub of Malkovich is quite pointed as without him Close wouldn't be able to push it as far as she does. Dead Ringers has become my favourite David Cronenberg film mixing both his style for the weirdness in life and his story telling that can be quite compelling even if his direction style is so over powering. Jeremy Irons is most beloved for his oscar winning turn but if people want to witness him be so impactful see his duel performance as the twins this film follows and you'll wonder less why people are so blown away by his screen presence because through Cronenberg's camera we see Irons so expertly make these twins so different that you start to believe two actors are playing these roles. The main theme of my top 3 films is they are all rather depressing but when it comes to what's in my number 4 position it is Pedro Almodóvar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. The film is a massive achievement in spanish cinema. Both a traditional comedy and dark black comedy it's Almodóvar better than he has ever been. He has an eye for the female experience like no director and juggling all the women in these film and just about everything this film has to say is a feet and Pedro at this age was fully campable of achieving greatness and he did with Women on the Verge.... The final film to make my picture lineup is Bull Duram again another fun film. It's a rich comedy that actually earns it's laughs but like no american film in 1988 did it perfectly capture the lives of americans but also how baseball is such a part of the experience. Sarandon in one of her rare oscar snubs is so great and makes the role of Annie Savoy iconic. As you see this was an impressive year for films that featured complex female characters in a decade that stayed clear of these types of female roles but films like these showed how not all female characters have to just defined by a man or rather relationship of sorts.
37 is the amount of films I was able to see released in this year. The films from all countries all over the world go to show for the most part the greatness of the films from the decade and due to my overpowering love for just about every film in my top 10 I consider this a supremely strong year for cinema. Below is my list of nominees and winners which up to this point is probably the most I've disagreed with the academies choices which is reflected in the acting lineups which match 4 nominees out of a possible 20.
OUTSTANDING PICTURE:
1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Produced by Saul Zaentz)
2. Dangerous Liaisons (Produced by Norma Heyman & Hank Moonjean)
3. Dead Ringers (Produced by Marc Boyman & David Cronenberg)
4. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Produced by Pedro Almodóvar)
5. Bull Durham (Produced by Thom Mount & Mark Burg)
6. Another Woman
7. Big
8. A Fish Called Wanda
9. The Last Temptation of Christ
10. Salaam Bombay
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR:
Pedro Almodóvar for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
David Cronenberg for Dead Ringers
Stephen Frears for Dangerous Liaisons
Philip Kaufman for The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Ron Shelton for Bull Durham
OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTOR:
Kevin Costner as "Crash" Davis in "BULL DURHAM"
Daniel Day-Lewis as Tomas in "THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING"
Tom Hanks as Josh Baskin in "BIG"
Jeremy Irons as Beverly Mantle / Elliot Mantle in "DEAD RINGERS"
John Malkovich as Vicomte de Valmont in "DANGEROUS LIAISONS"
OUTSTANDING LEADING ACTRESS:
Glenn Close as Marquise de Merteuil in "DANGEROUS LIAISONS"
Carmen Maura as Pepa Marcos in "WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN"
Michelle Pfeiffer as Angela de Marco in "MARRIED TO THE MOB"
Gena Rowlands as Marion in "ANOTHER WOMAN"
Susan Sarandon as Annie Savoy in "BULL DURHAM"
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Kevin Kline as Otto West in "A FISH CALLED WANDA"
Michael Palin as Ken Pile in "A FISH CALLED WANDA"
Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in "DIE HARD"
Harry Dean Stanton as Saul / Paul in "THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST"
Dean Stockwell as Anthony "Tony the Tiger" Russo in "MARRIED TO THE MOB"
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Genevieve Bujold as Claire Niveau in "DEAD RINGERS"
Sandy Dennis as Claire in "ANOTHER WOMAN"
Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene in "THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST"
Lena Olin as Sabina in "THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING"
Mercedes Ruehl as Connie Russo in "MARRIED TO THE MOB"
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Woody Allen for Another Woman
Ron Shelton for Bull Durham
John Cleese & Charles Crichton for A Fish Called Wanda
Barry Strugatz & Mark R. Burns for Married to the Mob
Pedro Almodóvar for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
OUTSTANDING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Screenplay by Gabriel Axel; Based on a story by Karen Blixen, Babette's Feast
Screenplay by Christopher Hampton; Based on Les liaisons dangereuses by Christopher Hampton & Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Dangerous Liaisons
Screenplay by David Cronenberg & Norman Snider; Based on Twins by Bari Wood & Jack Geasland, Dead Ringers
Screenplay by Anna Hamilton Phelan & Tab Murphy; Based on the book by Dian Fossey and the article by Harold T.P. Hayes, Gorillas in the Mist
Screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière & Philip Kaufman; Based on The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
OUTSTANDING ART DIRECTION:
Production Design by Stuart Craig; Set Design by Gérard James for Dangerous Liaisons
Production Design by Carol Spier; Set Decoration by Elinor Rose Galbraith, Dead Ringers
Production Design by Anna Asp for Pelle the Conqueror
Production Design by Roger Cain & Elliot Scott for Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Set Design by Emilio Cañuelo & Félix Murcia for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
OUTSTANDING BREAKTHROUGH/DEBUT:
Annabeth Gish (Mystic Pizza)
Alan Rickman (Die Hard)
Julia Roberts (Mystic Pizza)
Winona Ryder (Beetlejuice)
Lili Taylor (Mystic Pizza)
OUTSTANDING CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Phillippe Rousselot for Dangerous Liaisons
Peter Suschitzky for Dead Ringers
Michael Ballhaus for The Last Temptation of Christ
Sven Nykbist for The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Henri Alekan for Wings of Desire
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN:
James Acheson for Dangerous Liaisons
Joyce Carter, Danielle Garderes, Claude Gastine, Judith Loom, Sally Neale, Jackie Smith & Barbara Sonnex for Little Dorrit
Colleen Atwood for Married to the Mob
Joanna Johnson for Who Framed Roger Rabbit
José Mª. de Cossío for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY:
The Thin Blue Line (Directed by Errol Morris)
OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR:
Another Woman (Gena Rowlands, Ian Holm, Mia Farrow, Blythe Danner, Betty Buckley, John Houseman, Sandy Dennis, Frances Conroy, Philip Bosco, Martha Plimpton, Harris Yulin, Gene Hackman, David Ogden Stiers)
Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones, Annie McEnroe, Glenn Shadix, Sylvia Sidney, Robert Goulet, Maree Cheatham, Dick Cavett, Susan Kellermann, Adelle Lutz, Simmy Bow, Carmen Filpi, Patrice Martinez, Tony Cox)
Dangerous Liaisons (Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman, Swoosie Kurtz, Keanu Reeves, Mildred Natwick, Peter Capaldi, Valerie Gogan, Laura Benson, Joe Sheridan, Joanna Pavlis, Harry Jones, François Montagut)
A Fish Called Wanda (John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin, Maria Aitken, Tom Georgeson, Patricia Hayes, Cynthia Cleese, Geoffrey Palmer, Roger Brierley, Llewellyn Rees, Stephen Fry)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano, Rossy de Palma, María Barranco, Fernando Guillén, Kiti Manver, Ana Leza, Chus Lampreave)
OUTSTANDING FILM EDITING:
Robert Leighton & Adam Weiss for Bull Durham
Mick Audsley for Dangerous Liaisons
Ronald Sanders for Dead Ringers
Thelma Schoonmaker for The Last Temptation of Christ
José Salcedo for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
OUTSTANDING FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
My Neighbor Totoro (Directed by Hayao Miyazaki)
Pelle the Conqueror (Directed by Bille August)
Salaam Bombay (Directed by Mira Nair)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Directed by Pedro Almodóvar)
Wings of Desire (Directed by Wim Wenders)
OUTSTANDING MAKEUP:
Ve Neill, Steve LaPorte & Robert Short for Beetlejuice
Jean-Luc Russier for Dangerous Liaisons
Eva Coudouloux & Shonagh Jabour for Dead Ringers
Nancy Broadfoot, Chuckie Dennis & Van Smith for Hairspray
Manlio Rocchetti for The Last Temptation of Christ
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SCORE:
Howard Shore for Big
George Fenton for Dangerous Liaisons
Howard Shore for Dead Ringers
Maurice Jarre for Gorillas in the Mist
Mark Adler for The Unbearable Lightness of Being
OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL SONG:
Bull Durham, "When a Man Loves a Women" (Music and Lyrics by Bernard Hanighen, Gordon Jenkins and Johnny Mercer)
Buster, "Two Hearts" (Music by Lamont Dozier; Lyric by Phil Collins)
Oliver & Company, "Why Should I Worry?" (Music and Lyrics by Dan Hartman and Charlie Midnight)
Working Girl, "Let the River Run" (Music and Lyrics by Carly Simon)
OUTSTANDING PERFORMER OF THE YEAR:
Alec Baldwin (Beetlejuice, Married to the Mob, Talk Radio, Working Girl)
Joan Cusack (Married to the Mob, Stars and Bars, Working Girl)
Barbara Hershey (Beaches, The Last Temptation of Christ, Shy People, A World Apart)
Martha Plimpton (Another Woman, Running on Empty, Shy People, Stars and Bars)
Sigourney Weaver (Gorillas in the Mist, Working Girl)
OUTSTANDING SOUND EDITING:
Stephen Hunter Flick & Richard Shorr for Die Hard
Don Sharpe for Gorillas in the Mist
Laura Civiello, Bitty O'Sullivan Smith, Dan Sable for Married to the Mob
David Franklin Bergad, Luis Colina, Richard Hymns & Pat Jackson for The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Charles L. Campbell & Louis L. Edemann for Who Framed Roger Rabbit
OUTSTANDING SOUND MIXING:
Les Fresholtz, Dick Alexander, Vern Poore & Willie D. Burton for Bird
Don J. Bassman, Kevin F. Cleary, Richard Overton & Al Overton Jr. for Die Hard
Andy Nelson, Brian Saunders & Peter Handford for Gorillas in the Mist
Amelio Verona for The Last Temptation of Christ
Robert Knudson, John Boyd, Don Digirolamo & Tony Dawe for Who Framed Roger Rabbit
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS:
Peter Kuran, Alan Munro, Robert Short & Ted Rae for Beetlejuice
Richard Edlund, Al Di Sarro, Brent Boates & Thaine Morris for Die Hard
Ken Ralston, Richard Williams, Ed Jones & George Gibbs for Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Next year I'm going to is 1971 the year in which William Friedkin directed an oscar winning film. The films of his that followed would make you question why he won but the academy in the 70's ended up going for his film The French Connection. Come back and see if they made the right choice.
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