1985
the Color Purple The mere fact that this is any good at all is some kind of miracle, as the idea of Steven Spielberg telling a story of the black experience brings to mind lots of tedious prestige trappings, only some of which are present here. There is plenty to praise in the film-- the performances are all well-executed, particularly those of a subdued Whoopi Goldberg and a scene-stealing Oprah Winfrey, and there are great set pieces, particularly the wonderful showdown/hoedown between a juke joint crowd and the Sunday congregation-- but ultimately I struggled with why this film needed to be made. It is a study in abject cruelty and degradation, observed well but mercilessly and for great length. After a while I realized that the film was piling on the outrages not to address the nastiness but merely to pay-off last minute emotional "wins," and thus the cynical nature of the big finish prevented the delivery of any catharsis it might have otherwise provided.
Kiss of the Spider Woman One of the little independent films that could. William Hurt won an Oscar for playing an effeminate homosexual sharing a Brazilian cell with macho Raoul Julia's political prisoner. To pass the time, Hurt recalls in detail a German propaganda film his mother'd seen, the plot of which mirrors the plot of the film… which is all well and good, but there's not a lot here that
I'd fondly recall. I could never decide if Hurt, who I generally like, was helping or hurting with his nancying performance, and the switch Julia makes near the end is unconvincing. The whole thing peters out into a mess and while I'm sure that's the political intent of the filmmakers, it doesn't make for a good pic.
Out of Africa One of the most tedious and least engaging Best Picture winners of all time-- up there with
Cavalcade and
Around the World in 80 Days on that score. Yes, this bland muck about Meryl Streep and Robert Redford looking at each other in Africa for almost three hours really is that bad in the most disengaged and lifeless way possible. I try not to use the word "boring," but if I take that away what else is there left to say about this one?
At least it has that great titular line going for it.
Prizzi's Honor An odd film and an odd fit for this category in any year, this is John Huston playing with old hat studio conventions and techniques while still being dicey enough to keep all the assorted mafia backstabbings and bloodletting and other products of then-modern filmmaking. Sometimes it works-- there's a daffy energy to the second act's series of double-crossings, and Angelica Huston is a lot of fun in her Oscar-winning role-- but the film is sloppy, frequently ugly to look at, and the ending doesn't work at all. John Huston is a director I still don't have the fullest grip on even as I turn the corner on his entire filmography, and this film unhelpfully contains prime examples of both arguments for and against him!
Witness This is the last nominated film I watched for 1985's round-up and I went in sweating a bit, as I didn't care enough for any of the other nominees to willingly cast my vote in their direction. Luckily
Witness more than makes up the difference. Responsible for much of the public's knowledge and impression of the Amish for decades afterwards, the film offers a peek at another world that is neither disrespectful nor overly fawning-- it isn't even particularly curious, with the narrative content to release details slowly and as needed. That lackadaisical methodology might damn a lesser film, but it works here due to the story being less an exploitation vehicle ("Let's gawk at a different culture!") and more a classic star-crossed affair, with subtle but strong central performances by Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis as the pair who know it could never work out but lie to themselves for as long as possible. There's a respect at play for both the scenario and the audience with this relationship, and in a year where I was left shaking my head at so many of the creative choices in the other films nominated, this is one where I was nodding along!
My Vote Witness
1988
the Accidental Tourist I originally watched this miserable flick for the last incarnation of the 80s List and described the film as a "drab dollhouse of sleepy actors," which is one of my better lines. William Hurt is a good actor and the Academy loved him in the mid 80s, but nothing about this mopey and illogical star vehicle works, especially not Geena Davis' saintly single mother who of course somehow walked away with an Oscar. Most lousy films that nevertheless receive widespread lavish praise or awards attention still make some sense for me in terms of intended or imagined appeal, but this is an exception. I do not understand what anyone got/gets/will get out of this movie.
Dangerous Liaisons I have to confess to being the philistine 90s Kid who saw this story the first time around as
Cruel Intentions. What we have here is all right, I suppose, but all a bit of flutter about nothing. If the material was half as wicked as it thinks it is, this would be a ribald good time. As is, it's a pleasant-enough diversion but hardly Best Picture material. The only real point of interest is that the film casts two ugly actors as the leads, who are by title and place in society given an innate appeal that apparently is sexually irresistible. It could be clever class commentary if I thought for even a second it was intentional.
Mississippi Burning Protestations of historical inaccuracy (which of course only seem to pop up when being against the depiction serves a larger political function, huh) miss the spirit of the film's gist, one I found convincing and powerful. I have no investment in the facts of the inspiration, only the evidence of the film in front of me, and on a narrative level this crime film succeeds. Alan Parker's brutal tendencies, put to poor use in
Midnight Express, here thrive with urgency and just moral outrage. Gene Hackman gives one of his best performances as a former good ol' boy FBI man who John Waynes his way through one stonewall after another, alternating between beleaguered exasperation and sheer bravado. This is a powerful film, one reliant on emotional, instinctual responses over intellectual adherence to rigid perimeters. The film not only endorses Hackman over Willem Dafoe in a practical sense, it embodies the difference in its filmic approach. I'm sure there is a nuanced take on all this material yet to be told. I'm also sure a story and especially a setting like this is better suited to this approach!
Rain Man A truly offensive film if you think about its function. Here is a "feel good" movie that won all the major awards it was nominated for, made a ton of money, and gave birth to 25 years and counting of bad impressions, and yet the central purpose of the film is the equivalent of a geek show. Come see Hoffman's wacky autistic savant! Isn't he quirky?! Isn't he cute?! Isn't it sweet how he doesn't understand what's going on?! But that's the problem: all the emotional beats are projected onto him by Tom Cruise within the film and by the loving audience outside of it. Hoffman's Raymond only exists to pleasure the mentally superior audiences who are delighting in his crippling mental and personality issues as though they were adorable quirks. His character has no concept of what's actually going on. Thus the film is merely feel good masturbation, performed by and for those attuned to the level it pitches, and endured by all others with the same amount of enthusiasm anyone would feel for being forced to watch someone else jerk-off for two-plus hours.
Working Girl Tremendous female-driven romantic comedy that encapsulates such a universal desire of achievement and recognition of one's own merits while serving as both a clever commentary on the politics and economics of the 80s
and presenting a distinctly feminist film with obvious and clever appeal to a female audience. This movie is, in its fashion, a masterpiece, a descendant of
Kitty Foyle in this category 48 years prior but with true agency to accompany the warmth and humanistic approach-- A Woman's Picture in the best sense of the term, in the spirit of
the Women and not, uh, the remake of
the Women. I always wondered in the back of my head what this was doing here but now the answer is obvious: this is the ultimate zeitgeist film of the period, and I loved every minute of it. Bonus points awarded to Harrison Ford, who is given a somewhat thankless role in the narrative of Melanie Griffith's doofy hunk of a boyfriend and just jumps right into his comic perf with real and charming fearlessness.
My Vote Working Girl
