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And the winners are? 1:04 p.m., Feb. 26, 2004--Tom Leitch, professor of English, has been director of UDs film studies program since 1983. The program teaches critical film analysis, major trends in film history and influential theoretical and critical writing in film. He has written two books on film, Find the Director and Other Hitchcock Games and Crime Films and reviewed films for Coming Attractions which ran on several radio stations in Delaware and the region. Here, he answers some questions about this year's Academy Awards that will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 29. Q: Which of the five films nominated for best picture"Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," "Lost in Translation," "Master and Commander," "Mystic River" or "Seabiscuit"do you think has the best chance of taking the Oscar? And, why? A: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Seabiscuit are perfectly fine movies but past their depth in this competition. At first I was worried that Mystic River might win, but now I'm more confident that Lord of the Rings will go all the way, and I'm very pleased. It's about time Hollywood took a year off from awarding its biggest prize to some conventionally downbeat or uplifting movie about a man who's suffering from some sort of pitiable disability. Lord of the Rings marks a return to old-fashioned Hollywood virtues--big moments, big effects, an epic scale that doesn't preclude considerable moral complexity--and is moreover unlikely to provoke too many imprudent imitations. It would be a great choice. So for that matter would its opposite number, the tiny, intimate, virtually action-free Lost in Translation, but that's got to be a long-shot for this award. Q: Who are your picks in the acting categories? A: I'd love to see Bill Murray win best actor because his performance is such a wonderfully movie-star kind of feat; he does practically nothing he hasn't done many times before, but this time the richness of the story and our knowledge of all those previous roles make the character irresistible. Even so, I think he'll lose to Sean Penn, who gave two amazingly volcanic performances in Mystic River and 21 Grams this year, and who should pick up the sympathy vote for not winning eight years ago for Dead Man Walking. Everybody I've talked to agrees that Charlize Theron has a lock on the best actress award, and I have to agree. I'm sorry Diane Keaton will get passed over, because her subtle, winning performance made a very ordinary movie, Something's Gotta Give, something special. But underneath all the prosthetics and makeup, Theron is a revelation. I don't have such strong feelings about the supporting categories. Benicio Del Toro, like Keaton, was too accomplished for his character in 21 Grams, but I think Tim Robbins will win anyway for Mystic River, a film so full of fine performances it would be cheated if it took home only two Oscars. I'd like to see Shohreh Aghdashloo or Patricia Clarkson win best supporting actress, but it's hard to imagine Rene Zellweger not winning. Q: This year, Sofia Coppola was nominated as best director for "Lost in Translation." In the 76-year history of the Academy Awards, has an American woman been nominated as best director before this? Do you think she'll win? A: Coppola is the first American woman director to be nominated. In addition to the directors nomination being long overdue for an American womana fact that Barbra Streisand and her fans recognized over 10 years agothis nomination is particularly appropriate for Coppola, who is Francis Ford Coppolas daughter and well-connected in the industry, and who managed to make an extraordinary movie whose tonemeasured, wise, matureseems far beyond her years. I'd be rooting my heart out for Coppola if it weren't for Peter Jackson's nomination for Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, a movie that caps the most consistently achieved trilogy in Hollywood history, and one Jackson was born to make. In taking command of every aspect of a mind-bogglingly complicated series of filmmaking chores, he's proved himself a general without parallel in contemporary cinema and an obvious choice for best director. I solace myself with the hope that this will be only the first of many nominations for Coppola. I hope she won't have long to wait for her own statuette. Q: Are there any categories in which "the best of the year" wasn't nominated? A: The two categories everybody always complains about are best documentary feature and best foreign film. As for the foreign film nominees, its interesting to note that City of God, which captured three nominations that rarely go to foreign filmsbest cinematography, best adapted screenplay, and best directionstill didn't manage to get nominated as best foreign film. You have to wonder. As for best documentary, the standard insider response to fans who complain that their favorite documentaries were beaten out for nominations by unknown films is that the unknown films the fans haven't seen are better than the known films they have. This year, however, I managed, along with thousands of other lucky filmgoers, to see three of the five nomineesCapturing the Friedmans, The Fog of War, and My Architectand fine as they all are, one of last years nominees, Spellbound, which made more out of less, is even finer. Q: Were there any obvious omissions, snubs or missteps this year? A: We could go on till long after the lights had gone dark on the ceremony, which seems to get longer every year. Let me just mention Scarlett Johansson, who was quite wonderful in Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring but did not receive an Oscar nomination. I hope that, like Sofia Coppola, Johansson will be accepting an Oscar in due time. Article by Barbara Garrison To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |