1998--The Year in Review

Though my top 15 or so are all superb films, the drop-off is quite drastic in 1998. It's a period filled with likable works, though few are earth-shaking. The headline of the year was, of course, Terrence Malick's return to directing movies after a two-decade absence. His adaptation of James Jones' highly personal novel The Thin Red Line (which had been previously filmed more traditionally in 1964) elegantly captured the chaotic and exquisite vistas of the battle for Guadalcanal during the final Pacific-centered stages of World War II. Photographed with unparalleled verve by John Toll, the film found itself up against another lauded World War II epic, Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, a film that impressed everyone with its sensational 45-minute opening sequence dramatizing the beachhead invasion of Normandy. Even so, this solid work became more by-the-numbers as it moved on, hitting a clutch of war-movie cliches even as it entertained perfectly. Malick's thoughtful film, in contrast, is easily one for the ages, as it confronts not only the violent field of war, but the fulsome reflections of those who fought and died in it. It is the year's most graceful film, instantly reminding us of what we desperately missed about Malick's unique voice.

For me, the closest thing to The Thin Red Line's grand emotional cachet was the first entry into the controversial cinematic movement masterminded by a cabal of Danish directors. Dogme '95 was an attempt by these artists to strip away all technical frills and story cliches from their cinema. It first resulted in The Celebration, Thomas Vinterberg's stunning, extremely unpredictable tale of family schisms shot in a radical, digitally-pixellated style by Anthony Dod Mantle (the Dogme movement would never hit such a height again). As for the acting awards, it's impossible, now, to deny Jeff Bridges and John Goodman their deserved awards for the Coen Brothers' cult hit The Big Lebowski (for which they weren't even nominated, amazingly). Honestly, what was the Academy thinking here? I mean, I know the film was not a big hit when released but, still, how could they have missed out on recognizing the quality of these two iconic performances? I still think Bridges' later Best Actor win for Crazy Heart is a make-up for ignoring his unforgettable turn as Jeff Lebowski, while John Goodman is still awaiting his first nomination. Then again, this is a year in which I part with the Academy on many issues (for instance, if Kathy Bates had not won her Oscar for Misery, she would've won for her more moving performance in Mike Nichols' Primary Colors). 1998 was a strange year for movies--who could've predicted its final winner, the sweet but ultimately inconsequential Shakespeare in Love? But the following year would be one that changed the art form forever. 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 THIN RED LINE (US, Terrence Malick)
(2nd: The Celebration aka Festen (Denmark, Thomas Vinterberg)
followed by: The Big Lebowski (US, Joel Coen)
A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (UK/France, James Ivory)
Saving Private Ryan (US, Steven Spielberg)
Rushmore (US, Wes Anderson)
A Simple Plan (US, Sam Raimi)
Primary Colors (US, Mike Nichols)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (US, Terry Gilliam)
Out of Sight (US, Steven Soderbergh)
42 Up (UK, Michael Apted)
Dark City (US/Australia, Alex Proyas)
Frank Lloyd Wright (US, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick)
The Truman Show (US, Peter Weir)
After Life (Japan, Hirokazu Kore-Eda)
Shakespeare in Love (US/UK, John Madden)
Affliction (US, Paul Schrader)
There’s Something About Mary (US, Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly)
Central Station (Brazil, Walter Salles)
The Idiots (Denmark, Lars Von Trier)
The Dreamlife of Angels (France, Erick Zonca)
Brakhage (US, Jim Shedden)
Eternity and a Day (Greece, Theo Angelopoulos)
Run Lola Run (Germany, Tom Tykwer)
The Opposite of Sex (US, Don Roos)
The Red Violin (Canada/Italy/US/UK/Austria, Francois Girard)
Buffalo '66 (US, Vincent Gallo)
Pleasantville (US, Gary Ross)
Hillary and Jackie (UK, Anand Tucker)
Regret to Inform (US, Barbara Sonneborn)
Ringu (Japan, Hideo Nakata)
Bulworth (US, Warren Beatty)
Gods and Monsters (US, Bill Condon)
My Name is Joe (UK, Ken Loach)
The Cruise (US, Bennett Miller)
Zero Effect (US, Jake Kasdan)
Twilight (US, Robert Benton)
What Dreams May Come (US, Vincent Ward)
Little Voice (UK, Mark Herman)
Half Baked (US, Tamra Davis)
Babe: Pig in the City (Australia, George Miller)
Great Expectations (US, Alfonso Cuaron)
The Farm: Angola USA (US, Liz Garbus and Jonathan Stack)
A Bug’s Life (US, John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton)
Permanent Midnight (US, David Veloz)
The General (Ireland, John Boorman)
The Wedding Singer (US, Frank Coraci)
Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (UK, Guy Ritchie)
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (US, Aviva Kempner)
The Last Days of Disco (US, Whit Stillman)
Pi (US, Darren Aronofsky)
SLC Punk (US, James Merendino)
High Art (US, Lisa Cholodenko)
The Prince of Egypt (US, Brenda Chapman, Simon Wells, and Steve Hickner)
Love is the Devil (UK, John Maybury)
American History X (US, Tony Kaye)
Velvet Goldmine (US/UK, Todd Haynes)
Happiness (US, Todd Solondz)
Elizabeth (UK, Shekhar Kapur)
The Mask of Zorro (US, Martin Campbell)
I Stand Alone (France, Gaspar Noé)
Armageddon (US, Michael Bay))



ACTOR: Jeff Bridges, THE BIG LEBOWSKI (2nd: Ulrich Thomsen, The Celebration, followed by: Ian McKellen, Gods and Monsters; Nick Nolte, Affliction; Peter Mullan, My Name is Joe; Bill Paxton, A Simple Plan; Edward Norton, American History X; Tom Hanks, Saving Private Ryan)

ACTRESS: Fernanda Montenegro, CENTRAL STATION (2nd: Jane Horrocks, Little Voice, followed by: Christina Ricci, The Opposite of Sex; Emily Watson, Hillary and Jackie; Gwenyth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love; Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth; Elodie Bouchez, The Dreamlife of Angels; Barbara Hershey, A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries)



SUPPORTING ACTOR: John Goodman, THE BIG LEBOWSKI (2nd: Billy Bob Thornton, A Simple Plan, followed by: Bill Murray, Rushmore; Benecio Del Toro, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; Larry Hagman, Primary Colors; Kris Kristofferson, A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries; Anthony Roth Costanzo, A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries; Dylan Baker, Happiness)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Kathy Bates, PRIMARY COLORS (2nd: Bridget Fonda, A Simple Plan, followed by: Paprika Steen, The Celebration; Patricia Clarkson, High Art; Lynn Redgrave, Gods and Monsters; Brenda Blethyn, Little Voice; Leelee Sobieski, A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries; Rachel Griffiths, Hillary and Jackie)

DIRECTOR: Terrence Malick, THE THIN RED LINE (2nd: Joel Coen, The Big Lebowski, followed by: Thomas Vinterberg, The Celebration; Steven Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan; James Ivory, A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries; Wes Anderson, Rushmore; Sam Raimi, A Simple Plan; Terry Gilliam, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)

NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: THE CELEBRATION (Denmark/Sweden, Thomas Vinterberg) (2nd: After Life (Japan, Hirokazu Koreeda), followed by: Central Station (Brazil, Walter Salles); The Idiots (Denmark, Lars Von Trier); The Dreamlife of Angels (France, Erick Zonca); Run Lola Run (Germany, Tom Tykwer); Eternity and a Day (Greece, Theo Angeopoulos); Ringu (Japan, Hideo Nakata))

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: 42 UP (UK, Michael Apted) (2nd: Frank Lloyd Wright (US, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick), followed by: Brakhage (US, Jim Shedden); Regret to Inform (US, Barbara Sonneborn); The Cruise (US, Bennett Miller); The Farm: Angola USA (US, Liz Garbus and Jonathan Stack); The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (US, Aviva Kempner))

ANIMATED FEATURE: A BUG’S LIFE (US, John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton) (2nd: The Prince of Egypt (US, Brenda Chapman, Simon Wells, and Steve Hickner))



ANIMATED SHORT: MORE (US, Mark Osborne) (2nd: Billy's Balloon (US, Don Hertzfeld), followed by: Bunny (US, Chris Wedge))



LIVE ACTION SHORT: PRAISE YOU (US, Spike Jonze) (2nd: Ray of Light (US, Jonas Ackerlund); Election Night (Denmark, Anders Thomas Jensen); Gasman (Scotland, Lynne Ramsay))



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Thomas Vinterberg and Mogens Rutov, THE CELEBRATION (2nd: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, The Big Lebowski, followed by: Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson, Rushmore; Andrew Niccol, The Truman Show; Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, Shakespeare in Love)



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Scott B. Smith, A SIMPLE PLAN (2nd: Scott Frank, Out of Sight, followed by: James Ivory and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries; Terrence Malick, The Thin Red Line; Elaine May, Primary Colors)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: John Toll, THE THIN RED LINE (2nd: Anthony Dod Mantle, The Celebration, followed by: Janusz Kaminski, Saving Private Ryan; Robert Yeoman, Rushmore; Eduardo Serra, What Dreams May Come)

ART DIRECTION: DARK CITY, Shakespeare in Love, Rushmore, Pleasantville, What Dreams May Come

COSTUME DESIGN: VELVET GOLDMINE, Elizabeth, Shakespeare in Love, Pleasantville, Dark City



FILM EDITING: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, The Celebration, The Thin Red Line, Out of Sight, Run Lola Run

SOUND: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, The Thin Red Line, The Mask of Zorro, Armageddon, Dark City

SOUND EFFECTS: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, The Thin Red Line, The Mask of Zorro



ORIGINAL SCORE: John Corigliano, THE RED VIOLIN (won in 1999) (2nd: Mark Mothersbaugh, Rushmore, followed by: Danny Elfman, A Simple Plan; John Williams, Saving Private Ryan; Hans Zimmer, The Thin Red Line)



ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: Stephen Schwartz and Hans Zimmer, THE PRINCE OF EGYPT (2nd: Mattthew Wilder, David Zippel and Jerry Goldsmith, Mulan)



ORIGINAL SONG: “There’s Something About Mary” from THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (Music and lyrics by Jonathan Richman) (2nd: “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” from Armageddon (Music and lyrics by Diane Warren), followed by: “That’ll Do” from Babe: Pig in the City (Music and lyrics by Randy Newman); "A Soft Place to Fall" from The Horse Whisperer (Music and lyrics by Alison Moorer and Gwil Owen); "When You Believe" from The Prince of Egypt (Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz))



SPECIAL EFFECTS: WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, Dark City, Mighty Joe Young

MAKEUP: ELIZABETH, Saving Private Ryan, Dark City

In Memorium: Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967-2014)

Blue-eyed and blonde-haired, yet often rumpled and unshaven, with a big body and a gentle soul, Philip Seymour Hoffman was committed to every role he assayed, regardless of its effect on his image. Adamantly devout to characters that were flawed, enraged or, indeed, near nervous collapse, Hoffman's death, on February 2nd, 2014 of a heroin overdose, has left a massive hole in the art world--one that can never be filled in quite the same way again.

A New York University alumni, in the early 90s Hoffman made the transition from an acclaimed stage star to tiny but impactful supporting roles in films like My New Gun, Leap of Faith, Scent of a Woman, Nobody's Fool, Hard Eight (the start of his career-long collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson), When A Man Loves a Woman, and as a notably bright spot in the terrible box office hit Twister. But it was his portrayal of a sexually recalcitrant sound man in Anderson's Boogie Nights that brought him to our first and clearest attention. He was impossible to ignore after this: 



His showing as Brandt, the toadying assistant in The Big Lebowski, cemented him in my mind as an actor to watch. For many, he provided some of the most subtle laughs in this gigantic cult film. Here, I love his ridiculous stiffness, his phony cackle, his mastery of the Coens' rubbery language ("They're the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers--inner-city children of promise but without the necessary means for a necessary means for a higher education"), how the breath leaves him after The Dude almost refers to Lebowski as "a cripple." And that moment where his whole body tenses up after asking Jeff Lebowski not to touch Mr. Lebowski's award? Golden: 



Of course, over a tremendous career path, he kept on knocking it out of the park, as in Todd Solondz's 1998 film Happiness playing a lonely man suffering from a crippling depression. Now, given how he has passed, I wonder how much inspiration for this role was perhaps taken from his own life...



In P.T. Anderson's Magnolia--one of my favorite of his performances--he gets to be a hero for one of the few times in his career. His portrayal of Phil Parma, the hospice care worker devoted to a dying TV producer (Jason Robards) is a miracle of you-are-there acting. Though Anderson's film is filled with tremendous performances, it's Hoffman's appearance that really stays with you, because his character is only one in this mammoth movie who's completely giving. For this, he won the 1999 Supporting Actor award from the National Board of Review (they twinned it with his nasty supporting turn in Anthony Mingella's The Talented Mr. Ripley): 



In Cameron Crowe's 2000 film Almost Famous, he undertook the role of famed music critic Lester Bangs, and became the truth-telling conscience of Crowe's largely autobiographical work. Is there any greater line than this: "The only true currency you carry in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." With his often growly voice, Hoffman delivers the line with the assurance of someone who knows what he's talking about:  



In Spike Lee's 25th Hour, Hoffman was terrific as a school teacher devoted to a pal (Edward Norton) destined for prison. In Todd Louiso's little seen Love Liza, he was devastating as a lover dealing with an ex's suicide: 



And in Anderson's Punch Drunk Love, he was both doubtful and terrifying as a small-time con-man out to take advantage of an enraged Adam Sandler's loneliness (the concept of loneliness seems to be a through-line in Hoffman's career, and I don't think that's just hindsight talking here):  



In the 2003 film Owning Mahoney, Hoffman is again superb as a gambling addict who doesn't know when to stop playing:  



After more fine work in the HBO movie Empire Falls and in Mingella's Cold Mountain, then came Bennett Miller's 2005 biopic Capote. Though some said he was miscast in the role, being much taller and bigger than the diminutive author, Hoffman latched onto and owned the role. With his impeccable style and vocal gymnastics, it's clear no one had any problem (at the time, at least) with this magnificent performance. In one of the finest scenes in this underrated movie, Hoffman's Capote talks with a source for his book In Cold Blood, and reveals to her his most inner hurts:

  For Capote, Hoffman won his only Academy Award, for Best Actor:



The award, and the following years, brought a hurricane of great acting from Hoffman to the fore. In Brad Bird's Mission Impossible III, he finally brought gravitas to a misbegotten series with his steely, superbly villainous support to his former Magnolia co-star Tom Cruise: 

 
In Tamera Jenkins' underseen 2007 film The Savages, he paired with Laura Linney as the siblings trying to take care of an aging, unloved dad (Philip Bosco). And in Sidney Lumet's final film, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, he played the desperate, drug-addicted son of a jewelry store owner to an ultimate degree. Opposite a withering Ethan Hawke, this is one of his bravest performances; it's impossible not to feel, to your toes, Hoffman's utter allegiance to this role: 



In Mike Nichols' complex 2007 film Charlie Wilson's War, Hoffman brought a stern yet strange tenderness to his role as a wild CIA operative who becomes a guide through the machinations of modern foreign relations for Tom Hanks' distracted senator. Hoffman won his second Oscar nomination here, opposite Mad Men's John Slattery, for Best Supporting Actor: 



Perhaps my favorite of his lead roles was for Charlie Kaufman's 2008 directorial debut in Synecdoche New York. Hoffman here makes you feel every moment of an unrecognized artist's life that's passing before our eyes. It's an incredibly difficult movie, but Hoffman--the biggest diamond in a jewel-studded cast--makes it work despite any misgivings the viewer might have. This would be my choice as the Hoffman performance I wish more people would see and appreciate: 



With John Patrick Shanley's adaption of his play, Hoffman again deservedly landed a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination as priest battling the derision of a snarling Mother Superior (Meryl Streep) in 2008's Doubt: 



I loved his nearly unrecognizable foray into animation voicing, as the cloistered pen-pal of a little girl in Adam Elliot's brilliant stop-motion film Mary and Max:  



And, again, I loved his quiet supporting portrayal of a baseball team manager who feels he's being undercut by a new way of crafting a team's roster in Bennett Miller's incredible Moneyball, from 2011: 



Hoffman contributed his sole film directorial effort with 2010's mournful Jack Goes Boating. He continued to make deep impressions with movies like A Late Quartet (a beautiful film, that)...



...and in George Clooney's The Ides of March, and the immensely popular The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (he was filming its sequel, Mockingjay, at the time of his death, and it's not known at press time whether he completed the role). But it was with P.T. Anderson's 2012 film The Master that he gave arguably his greatest performance as the megalomanical cult leader Lancaster Dodd, opposite Joachin Phoenix as his obsession-worthy friend Freddie Quell and Amy Adams as Dodd's controlling wife. A co-lead with Phoenix, Hoffman was wrongfully placed in the supporting role when it came time for the awards to be handed out, and so he easily earned his final Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. But, man, just LOOK at this scene, where Dodd uses his method of breaking down a person's most secret wounds on Quell. This is astounding work, on an equal par with Phoenix's magnificence:  

 
With all this, plus all of his landmark stage work as an actor, writer and director--in Sam Shepard's True West (switching roles on alternate nights with John C. Reilly), in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, and as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Saleman in particular--well, anyone would have to conclude that all actors would have given their very guts for a career like this. 

A month or more ago, I had read about Hoffman's incomprehensible heroin problem, and understood he'd checked himself into a treatment facility. Not being one to pay extra attention to actors' personal lives, I'd hoped this was a mere dalliance with the drug and that he was getting it taken care of. But I do have to admit, this past week, seeing Victoria Will's photo taken for Esquire at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, I instantly became extremely worried for him; his look is of a man spent, and though the picture is intentionally antiquated, with its ghostly impressions, it seems to intuitively illustrate the bottom of this man's downward spiral. And only now I learn this was an ongoing battle for him.

I'm torn up and crying over this--Hoffman was a highly unusual and courageous actor, unafraid of going to the darkest places and yet always we were there with him, simply because there was just something so intrinsically lovable about him. I wonder if he knew we all felt this way. Somehow, given how it all turned out for him, I think not. And, more than I once did, I'm forced into noticing  his own personal hurt buried in his portrayals of the damaged. I also have to wonder if he gave perhaps too much of himself to his roles; their complexity and nakedness perhaps depleted him (acting, contrary to many opinions, is not the easiest art to tackle). But I'll finally say: I loved him, and he was always someone I looked forward to seeing again, and now we're left with his tremendous output, snipped tragically short. I just can't even process the magnitude of this loss we're suffering. This final scene, from The Master, slayed me the moment I first witnessed it. But it does so even more now--it feels like a lush epitaph to a consistently revelatory career. 

RIP to Philip Seymour Hoffman, an artist of the highest order.

Free winds and no tyranny for you. Freddie. Sailor of the seas. You pay no rent. Free to go where you please. Then go. Go to that landless latitude, and good luck. If you figure a way to live without serving a master--any master--then let the rest of us know, will you? For you’d be the first person in the history of the world...