Category: Nominees – 2000s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gosford Park – 2001

This is a movie with several faces.  It is a stuffy British Drama, but a good one.  It is an examination of the British class system, set in the 1930s.  It is an Agatha Christie style who-done-it.  And it is an ensemble period piece that is very character-driven, heavily dependent on the various relationships between them.  And it is also a perfect portrayal of a British country house, showing the often fascinating roles of wealthy masters and their highly respected servants.

The movie had too many characters, played by well-known actors to spend much time on them all, so I’ll give a quick list of recognizable names who played their parts with skill and depth.  Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Stephen Fry, Richard E. Grant, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Clive Owen, Ryan Phillippe, Maggi Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Emily Watson.  And those are just the ones who I have heard of before.

Following in the footsteps of the 1932-1933 Best Picture winner, Cavalcade, and the 1970s TV show Upstairs, Downstairs, we get to follow, with equal focus, both the upper class lords and ladies, and the lower class men and women who served them.  On the surface, it is the upper class who are supposed to be respectable and important.  It is they who we are supposed to emulate.  It is they who make the big decisions and decide the fates of others.  And they do.  But it is also a fact that they are completely dependent on the serving class.  Without the servants, the upper class would be ridiculously inept at everything.  They can’t cook, they can’t sew, and they can’t clean.  They can’t even seem to dress themselves without the help of their personal valets or chamber maids.

A number of lords and ladies are invited to Gosford Park, owned by Sir William McCordle, played by Gambon, for a shooting party.  His wife, Lady Sylvia, played by Thomas, knew of his many affairs with various women of the serving staff, and had regular rendezvous with some of the men.  The lords would hunt for pheasant while the ladies would play cards and have tea.  Each attending guest would bring along their valets and maids.  And then there was the oddball Hollywood producer, Mr. Weissman, played by Balaban, and his valet, played by Phillippe.

Add these people to Sir William’s own resident staff, and you have a wonderful array of characters.  Helen Mirren played Mrs. Wilson, the housekeeper, opposite Alan Bates, who played the head butler.  Atkins played Mrs. Croft, the head cook.  Lady Trentham, played by Smith, brought her new maid, Mary, played by Macdonald.  And Lord Stockbridge, played by Charles Dance, brought along his new valet, Robert Parks, played by Clive Owen.  Those seemed to be the major players in the main plot.  The first half of the movie was spent getting to know them all.  The second was all about Sir William’s murder, who killed him, and why.

The film’s director, Robert Altman, and the script writer, Julian Fellows, did a fantastic job of giving each character a distinct personality.  Even many of the minor characters had wonderfully written parts that were unique and realistic, giving the film a rich and fully fleshed-out feel.  The sets and costumes were perfect and very period appropriate.  And the beautiful music by Patrick Doyle gave the movie an almost nostalgic feel.

And as for the mystery of who killed the lord of the manor, I found it to be an intriguing plot.  Nobody particularly liked him, but there were several people who benefited from his untimely demise.  One Lt. Commander Anthony Meredith, played by Tom Hollander, had a business deal with Sir William which he was about to end, leaving Meredith in financial ruin.  Sir William was also about to end the allowance he gave to his Aunt, Lady Trentham, leaving her destitute.  Sir William’s murder left both Meredith and Lady Trentham financially secure.  It also ended the loveless marriage he shared with Lady Sylvia.

The identity of the killer, like many Agatha Christie murder mysteries, came from out of left field.  There was no way to predict who it was until the very end, when vital information was revealed, without which the case could not be solved.  It was Mrs. Wilson.  Apparently 30 years in the past, both she and her sister, the cook, Mrs. Croft, had been impregnated by Sir William during his many adulterous dalliances.  Mrs. Croft’s baby had died, but Mrs. Wilson had given her baby to an orphanage, the same as all of Sir William’s other illegitimate children.  And Mr. Parks, though he didn’t know it, was her son.  He had come to Gosford Park with the intention of murdering his cruel father.  So, to protect her son, Mrs. Wilson murdered the man first.

The movie was very enjoyable to watch and the great cast of actors gave some very skilled and memorable performances.  I especially liked Helen Mirren, Emily Watson as the head maid who was having an affair with Sir William, Clive Owen, and Kristin Scott Thomas.  They all did a great job and produced a very well-made film.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Traffic – 2000

This was actually a better movie than I remember it being.  I saw it when it originally came out and was honestly not impressed.  I remember it being mostly boring because I had little interest in the subject matter.  But I am seventeen years older now, and have a greater appreciation for the dangers that the drug trafficking trade can entail.  This film is quite informative about the industry, looking at it from several different angles, all the while, creating an entertaining story.

Actually the movie tells three stories.  The first takes place in Tijuana, Mexico, where police officer Javier Rodriguez, expertly played by Benicio del Toro, and his partner Manolo, played by Jacob Vargas, make a drug bust which brings them to the attention of General Salazar, played by Thomas Milian.  The two officers get caught up in the rivalries between the Tijuana Cartel and the Obregon Cartel.

The second story takes place in America and follows Judge Wakefield, played by Michael Douglas.  He is the President’s top pick to be the next Drug Czar and lead the country’s war on drugs.  Unfortunately, his over-privileged teenage daughter, Caroline, played by Erika Christensen, gets involved with Seth, played by Topher Grace, another rich kid who introduces her to crack.  She becomes a major addict and loses control, becoming a crack whore and living on the streets.

The third story takes place in San Diego. DEA agents Montel Gordon and Ray Castro, played by Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman, make a drug bust.  They arrest Eduardo Ruiz, played by Miguel Ferrer, who agrees to become a witness against his boss, Carlos Ayala, played by Stephen Bauer.  Carlos’ wife, Helena, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, is horrified to learn of her husband’s true business as a major drug dealer, but she has no idea how to survive without him and the money he brings in.  On top of that, she is threatened by her husband’s unpaid business associates, and has no choice but to try to run his business during his absence.  In order to have his case dismissed, Helena finds people to assassinate Ruiz.

All three of these stories are told at the same time, the narratives cutting back and forth from one plot lint to another in quick succession.  There are a lot of characters to remember and keep track of.  There were a few times when the stories overlapped and characters from three narratives would show up in other plot lines, but for the most part, they were all kept separate.  This had the effect of creating a large tapestry that was held together by invisible threads.

To keep the stories separate and make them easier to follow, director Steven Soderbergh came up with an ingenious solution.  He used different film processes which gave each of the stories their own distinct looks.  For the Mexican plot line, he used tobacco filters and a 45-degree shutter angle, producing a somewhat washed-out yellow image.  For the Judge’s story, Soderberg used tungsten film with no filter, giving the picture a blue monochrome look.  And for the San Diego story, he used diffusion filters and overexposed the film for a warmer image.

The acting was good, but I have to give special notice to Benicio del Toro’s performance.  There was a quiet gravitas to his character that was very appealing.  To add to the film’s gritty realism, all the scenes in which Spanish would have been spoken were actually spoken in Spanish with English subtitles.  This meant the nearly all of del Toro’s dialogue was in a foreign language.  He did a great job, even going so far as to learn the correct accent and dialect for the Tijuana region, though I suppose only a native of the area would be able to pick it up.

I enjoyed the movie well enough, but I was a little disappointed with one small thing.  I’m talking about Caroline Wakefield’s subplot, which I’m guessing was a bit too soft.  I mean she became a prostitute who spent most of her time high on crack.  Her story had a happy ending as the Judge tracks her down and finds her naked in a crack den, high as a kite.  She still looked pretty and didn’t have a scratch on her.  How realistic was that?  Maybe I can forgive it because she had really only been missing for a few days, maybe a week.  But how much more serious would the drama have been if he had found her dead of a drug overdose, or worse if he had never found her at all.

But I think that all the plot lines were supposed to end on a hopeful note.  Javier made a deal with the DEA.  He would give them Salazar, who was setting himself up as a drug lord, in exchange for electricity for his community so that children would have a safe alternative to gangs and drugs in the form of a well-lit baseball field.  Wakefield turned down his position as the Drug Czar in order to pay more attention to his daughter, attending rehab meetings with her, and thus healing his family.  And even though Carlos Ayala was not put in prison for being a drug dealer, Officer Gordon was able to plant a bug in his house, implying that he and his wife would soon be caught.  Even though a few characters got killed off, like Manolo, and Officer Castro, there seems to be hope for the future.  I guess the point is that the drug war, while dangerous, is ultimately not a futile effort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erin Brockovich – 2000

This was a film that was based on true events.  Erin Brockovich is a Legal Clerk and environmental activist living in southern California.  Despite having no formal education in law, she was instrumental in investigating, building a case against, and successfully suing Pacific Gas and Electric Company, PG&E, in the largest direct-action law suit in U.S. history.  This film is a dramatization of those events.

Julia Roberts starred as the title character in what some have called one of the best performances of her career.  She took home the Best Actress Oscar for her realistic portrayal.  And she certainly did a great job.  The character was brash, bold, and foul mouthed, but at the same time, deeply passionate about what she believed in.  The character, and the way Roberts played it, almost seemed over-the-top and bordered on comedic at times.  But there was also a seriousness about her that made the performance real.

Erin was a single mother of three children who was out of work and desperate for a job.  She was injured in a car accident and went to a lawyer to seek legal compensation.  She lost her law suit, and became so angry that she bullied her lawyer, Mr. Edward Masry, played by Albert Finney, into giving her a job.  While there, she began to investigate some real estate cases in which she found that medical records had been included with the paperwork.  Not understanding why property cases required medical records, she went to the people in the town of Hinkley California and conducted interviews.

She learned that PG&E had been using a highly toxic chemical called hexavalent chromium which had been carelessly been allowed to sink into Hinkley’s ground water.  The contaminated water had been causing severe health problems in the town’s residents.  People had been experiencing various forms of cancer, among other serious health problems.  Her investigation uncovered the fact that PG&E knew of the water contamination, but that a massive cover-up and misinformation campaign had been perpetrated against the victims.

Erin and Masry’s legal investigation was the main focus of the plot.  But it was Erin’s personal life that provided the film’s drama.  The character of Erin Brockovich was portrayed as somewhat trashy, based mostly on her hooker-like wardrobe, but moderately intelligent and incredibly hard-working.  Unfortunately, she didn’t know when to keep her mouth shut or her tongue civil.  Sometimes it worked to her advantage, but just as often, it got her into trouble.  Erin’s struggle to excel in her demanding job while trying to take care of her children was inspirational.

On top of all that, she started a relationship with her Harley Davidson biker neighbor, George, wonderfully played by Aaron Eckhart.  Sure, it was great to see Erin blossom into a hard-working legal clerk for the sake of her kids, but I really sympathized with her neglected children, and felt especially bad about her strained, one-sided relationship with George.  He was such a nice guy.  He selflessly offered to take care of her children while she spent endless hours on her holy crusade.  She constantly ignored her children and thoughtlessly took advantage of his kindness.  When he eventually had enough and left her, I was on his side.

Now, granted, it all worked out for her in the end.  She ended up winning the law suit and became a millionaire, able to take care of her children.  But let’s face it.  She got lucky.  There were a hundred ways in which she could have lost the case and gotten nothing.  I understand, she worked hard, which counted for something.  But hard-work only got her so far.  A single judge’s ruling could have easily derailed her entire investigation.  It is hard to feel too confident in a main character who simply won by getting lucky.

The rest of the cast did just fine.  Marg Helgenberger played Donna Jensen, the plaintiff who served as the main focus of the investigation, though there were others.  Tracey Walter played Charles Embry, the deus ex machina of the investigation.  At first he seemed like a scuzzy sleaze who wanted to hit on Erin.  But as it turned out, he provided the final piece of evidence which, at the last minute, provided the needed evidence that assured the law suit’s successful outcome.  I also liked the lawyers Mr. Masry partnered with, Kurt Potter, played by Peter Coyote and Theresa Dallavale, played by Veanne Cox.  They habitually dismissed the uneducated Erin, but were properly surprised when she provided everything needed to win the case.

The movie was a pretty good movie, though the subject matter was a little slow.  I have found that the film was pretty accurate to real events.  The movie’s real saving grace was Roberts and her fantastic performance.  But, of course, this had just as much to do with the strong script by Susannah Grant as with the Robert’s spot-on performance.  It really was, in the end, an engaging and inspirational story.  But I have to admit that there were times I just didn’t like the main character, despite how well Roberts played her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – 2000

This was an incredible movie.  On the surface you might think it is just a martial arts action film, and it certainly has that element.  But it also has drama, romance, and a really cool plot.  It had a great cast of actors, some pretty phenomenal special effects, and spectacular cinematography.    I’ve seen the film a few times previously and am enthralled with it every time I watch it.

The film was an epic, which I love.  Chou Yun-fat played Master Li Mu Bai, a monk who has attained the rank of Master of the Wudang fighting discipline.  It is a mystical art that relies heavily on spiritual enlightenment and calmness of soul.  It gives those who master its secrets supernatural powers like heightened speed, lightning reflexes, and a kind of flight.  Li Mu Bai has in his possession a 400 year old sword called the Green Destiny.  The sword seems almost magical in its strength and sharpness.

Li Mu Bai is getting on in years and is tired of being a warrior.  He wants to retire, even going so far as giving up his vendetta of revenge against a woman known as the Jade Fox who killed his former teacher.  His close friend, Yu Shu Lien, played by Michelle Yeoh, is also an accomplished practitioner of the Wudang fighting style.  The two have a history that is hinted at, but never fully explained.  They are in love with each other, but because of social and career oriented ties and obligations, they have never been able to openly declare their love.

Li Mu Bai asks Yu Shu Lien to give the Green Destiny to a friend in Beijing as a gift.  While there Yu Shu Lien meets Jen Yu, played by Zhang Zi Yi, and her governess, played by Cheng Pei-pei.  Jen Yu is the beautiful young daughter of a governor who is to be married to a man she does not love.  She longs for freedom and feels trapped in a life she does not want.  Soon after the two women meet, the Green Destiny is stolen by a masked thief, and the exciting martial arts fighting begins.

It was like nothing I have ever seen.  It was almost as if the combatants had Jedi powers, flying up walls, floating over rooftops, leaping across courtyards, and walking on water.  The battles were like those in the Matrix, but faster and more intricate.  There were no slow motion cuts, no 360 degrees camera shots.  Just fast and exciting martial arts fighting with both hand-to-hand combat, and a wide array of cool weapons.

We soon learn that it was Jen Yu who stole the sword, and her governess is none other than the Jade Fox, her teacher in the Wudang fighting style.  With the object of his revenge so close, Li Mu Bai resumes his hunt for her, but soon learns that Jen Yu is something of a child prodigy in the art of Wudan fighting, surpassing her teacher.  Li Mu Bai knows she has the potential to be the best fighter ever, given proper training.

The last player in the drama is Lo “Dark Cloud”, played by Chang Chen.  He is the prince of thieves who rules the desert.  A flashback sequence reveals how he had once raided a caravan and stole Jen Yu’s comb.  She chases him into the wild desert to get it back, and the two end up falling hopelessly in love.  Now he has returned to claim Jen Yu before she marries.

The film’s drama was wonderfully done.  It transcended the film’s action sequences and really made the movie something special.  The two romances, Lo and Jen Yu’s and Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien’s are each unique and were beautifully played.  The film’s most powerful moment was its climax when Li Mu Bai finally kills the Jade Fox, but is stuck with a poisoned dart in the process.  It is revealed that the Jade Fox’s target was actually Jen Yu, so he has the satisfaction of knowing that he had saved her life, but before an antidote can be created, he dies in Yu Shu Lien’s arms.   It was a sad and intense moment.

And as I mentioned, the cinematography was incredible.  The beautiful and exotic scenery, the fighting locations, and the exquisite costumes were perfect.  I especially liked the fight in bamboo forest.  And it was clear that the actors really understood their characters giving them depth and dimension.  I especially loved Li Mu Bai.  Chou Yun-fat was wonderful as the deeply spiritual monk whose masterful fighting always displayed a calm exterior and a centered interior.  He was so perfect for the part.

The movie really had no weaknesses.  It was a work of art from beginning to end.  Director Ang Lee really knew what he was doing.  He brought sophistication and spiritualism to a film style that is largely unknown in the United States.  Martial arts films, at least in my own limited sphere of experience, have always been amusing kitch.  They were vaguely interesting, somewhat campy, bordering on goofy at times, but largely forgettable.  But Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was done right, and it turned it into something very cool.  This was a great, great movie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolat – 2000

This was a fun, light-hearted, comedy.  The humor was subtle and sometimes hard to find, but it was certainly there.  I had seen it many years ago when it had first been released in theatres, and I remember that I was rather ambivalent about it.  It was good but not great, cute but not deep, romantic but not passionate.  Upon this, my second viewing, I am going to have to revise my opinion.  It was a very cleverly written script with some pretty spot-on casting and acting.

Chocolat was a French film, though the dialogue was in English.  It stars Juliette Binoche as Vianne Rocher.  She is the mother of a six year-old girl named Anouk, played by Victoire Thivisol.  The two of them are shown to be wanderers.  They have a history of traveling from place to place, town to town, country to country in search of a home in which to stay.  The film begins as they arrive in the secluded little French village called Lansquenet-sous-Tannes.

The village is the kind of place where everybody knows everybody’s business and secrets are hard to keep.  Alfred Molina plays the town’s mayor, Comte de Reynaud.  He is a man who believes in righteousness through self-denial.  He is strict with the people of the town, but is even stricter with himself.  So when Vianne and Anouk arrive and open up a chocolate shop at the beginning of the Lenten season, he immediately sees her as an enemy of his way of life.  Vianne is such a master of chocolate confections that she begins to seduce the townsfolk into sins of indulgence.

There’s the set up.  But what made the film utterly charming is the way it was portrayed as a kind of fairy tale.  There is a woman narrating throughout the movie, speaking as if she is reading from a story book.  To further enhance the fairy tale feel of the narrative, a plot device is introduced which explains Vianne and Anouk’s constant roving.  As the tale goes, the two have always been compelled to follow the north wind.  It was the wind which directed them to the town, and when it turned, they would know it was time to move on.  And it was taken even deeper, developing its own history and mythology, explaining why they were fated to follow the wind and in the end, it was also explained how the cycle was broken so they could end their nomadic existence.

But the film was so much more than that.  There were serious issues that were addressed, though in a simple and light-hearted way.  The town, under Comte de Reynaud’s unbending leadership and strict moral code, was repressed.  There was no joy and little happiness, though it seemed that the people were longing for release.  So really, the movie was about how Vienne, through her non-conformist ways and her exotic chocolate creations, brought life and love to the villagers.

There were two women who she befriended.  The first was Armande Voizin, played by Judi Dench.  She was the estranged mother of the mayor’s secretary, Caroline, played by Carrie-Anne Moss.  The second was Josephine, played by Lena Olin, the abused wife of Serge, played by Peter Stormare, a violent drunkard.  Vianne’s chocolate seems to take on a magical quality.  It heals hearts, restores relationships, awakens old passions, and encourages new ones.  And behind it all is Vianne’s beautiful, easy smile.

The final player in the little fairy tale is the wandering river rat, Roux, played by Johnny Depp.  He is an Irishman who takes a liking to Vianne and Anouk.  He roams the land like a gypsy, and he and his folk are treated with utter distain by the uptight and repressed townsfolk.  Of course, Vianne falls to his heavy handed charms, but their romance was almost extraneous to the plot.

The movie was delightful and had a feel-good ending.  The bad people were either driven away or became good.  Even the Mayor relents after he loses control and gorges himself on a chocolate window display.  The good people became happy.  And the North Wind finally lost its hold on Vianne and her daughter, allowing them to put down roots in the little village.  And like all fairy tales, there was a moral lesson to be learned, and it was clearly stated by the village priest during his Easter sermon, and I think part of it is worth repeating here.  “Listen, here’s what I think.  I think we can’t go around measuring our goodness by what we don’t do.  By what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude.  I think we’ve got to measure our goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include.”  It is a message that is both good and true.

I have always though Juliette Binoche was an absolutely gorgeous woman.  Her flawless features have a very European quality.  Her acting was wonderfully gentle, and I liked the on-screen chemistry between her and Anouk.  But Judi Dench was also incredible, as always.  I should also mention the spectacular production design, which, to my surprise, was not even among its five Academy Award nominations.  Unfortunately, it didn’t take home any Oscars.