MARCH 1996
A year that saw the triumph of technique over soul (Seven, The Usual Suspects, Casino) also unearthed some movie treasures--and a host of standout supporting performances.
ELLA'S WISHFUL PICKS
Best Picture: Carl Franklin's Devil in a Blue Dress combined a ravishing period piece about 1940s black L.A. with a witty genre picture.
Runners-up: Spike Lee's Clockers, a howl of anguish about the inner-city drug culture; Todd Haynes's Safe, an eerie comic horror about environmental illness; Terry Zwigoff's disturbing Crumb, a study of artist Robert Crumb; Steven M. Martin's Theremin--An Electronic Odyssey, a soulful, witty account of the birth of electronic music; Richard Loncraine's waggish Richard III, set in 1930s England.Best Fresh Talent: Two enchanting children's movies--Alfonso Cuaron's neglected A Little Princess and Chris Noonan's mega-hit, Babe.
Runners-up: Noah Baumbach's literate coming-of-age gabfest, Kicking and Screaming; Mark Malone's sharp neo-noir send-up, Bulletproof Heart.Best Foreign-Language Film: Martine Dugowson's Mina Tannenbaum, a tough and tender tale of the friendship of two Jewish Parisiennes.
Runner-up: Michael Radford's Il Postino, a lyrical fantasy about Pablo Neruda and his poetic postman.Best Actress: Julie Delpy, for her subtle, luminous performance as Ethan Hawke's chatty overnight pickup in Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise.
Runners-up: Nicole Kidman, for her careerist weather lady in To Die For, a coming-out party for her comic gifts; Kathy Bates, for her matter-of-fact authenticity in Dolores Claiborne; Jennifer Jason Leigh, for taking it to the limit as the caterwauling sister in Georgia; Rena Owen, for her fierce performance as the abused wife in Once Were Warriors; Amanda Root, for her quiet authority as the lead in Persuasion; Minnie Driver, for her straightforward charm in Circle of Friends.Best Supporting Actress: Joan Allen, for a slow-burn performance of smoldering power as Pat Nixon in Oliver Stone's Nixon.
Runners-up: Eleanor Bron, at once scary and piteous as the severe headmistress in A Little Princess; Mira Sorvino, pure joy as the good-hearted tart inMighty Aphrodite; Olivia D'Abo, smart and funny as the girlfriend in Kicking and Screaming; Sophie Thompson, for disappearing into a difficult role as the youngest sister in Persuasion; Dana Ivey, uproarious as Harrison Ford's unflappable secretary in Sabrina.
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, for his generous, complex rendition of Wild Bill Hickok's scruffier side in Walter Hill's underrated Wild Bill.
Runners-up: Jonathan Pryce, for balancing camp and dignity as Lytton Strachey in Carrington; Harrison Ford, beautifully understated as the unwilling lover in Sabrina; John Travolta, as the warmhearted thug in Get Shorty; Massimo Troisi, for his painfully shy postman in Il Postino; Sean Penn, for his truculent convict in Dead Man Walking; Denzel Washington, for his hunky intelligence as the reluctant gumshoe in Devil in a Blue Dress.Best Supporting Actor: Don Cheadle, for his hilariously deadpan turn as Mouse, the loose-cannon hit man in Devil in a Blue Dress.
Runners-up: Delroy Lindo, for his charismatic drug lord in Clockers; Tim Roth, evil incarnate as the fencing villain in Rob Roy; Patrick Swayze, as the queenly queen in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar; and just about everybody in the Nixon ensemble.Top: Denzel Washington as a gumshoe in Devil
Photo: Bruce W. TalamonBottom: A new look for Jeff Bridges
Photo: Sam Emerson
ELLA'S CREATIVE THINKING
The Hit Lit Award goes jointly to screenwriters Nick Dear, for Persuasion, Emma Thompson, for Sense and Sensibility, and Amy Heckerling, for Clueless--three radically different but equally sharp adaptations of Jane Austen novels. We await an Austen theme park at Euro-Disney.
The Lit Crit Award goes jointly to Roland Joffé, for mutating Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter into a hot little steamfest, and to Demi Moore, for her inspired rendition of Hester Prynne as Moll Flanders with implants.
The Iron John Award goes to Mel Gibson (Braveheart) and Liam Neeson (Rob Roy),
for the courage to be all that they can be--warriors in skirts.
The Sensitive Male Award goes to screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (Jade, Showgirls), for his uncanny understanding of what women really want--rape, abuse, violence, humiliation.
Runners-up: Clint Eastwood, for showing Meryl Streep how to love in The Bridges of Madison County; Woody Allen, for Mighty Aphrodite, a film about a woman who adopts a child because she has no time to be pregnant. However did you think that one up, Woody?The Four Legs Good Award goes to the army of valiant young porkers who served as the lead in Babe.(Each pig thespian outgrew the role in turn.)
The Web Site Award goes jointly to Kevin Costner's fetching ears in Waterworld and to the talented duck in Babe.
The Bat Out of Hell Award goes to the aptly named Batman Forever. Enough's enough, Robin.
Top: Pulp Fiction?
Photo: Albert WatsonBottom: Dressed for success
Photo: David James
Visit the Official Interactive Guide to the Academy Awards.
Ella Taylor is a film critic for LA Weekly.
