reviewsFIRSTOSCARWAVE


		Our First Oscar Wave
By Anthony Kusich				Main Page





		*Before Sunset* Director: Richard Linklater It's refreshing to see such a good director make such varied choices and hit the mark almost every time out. From "Tape" to "Waking Life" to "School of Rock" and now "Before Sunset," Richard Linklater is on a roll unlike almost any other auteur making films today. While he's never aroused even the slightest bit of Oscar love, he definitely deserves it for this Paris-set romance about a couple in their thirties (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) who reunite after meeting for just one night (and one movie, "Before Sunrise") in 1995. The performances are stellar, the couple's love for each other is so palpable, and Linklater's direction is so fluid and involving that you really feel as if you're watching an unscripted conversation unfold right in front of your eyes. The pic's last scene is far and away the most touching coda that will be in an American movie this year. Don't miss a minute of it. My grade: A- Screened: July 14

			*The Manchurian Candidate* Director: Jonathan Demme I haven't seen the original film yet -- I wanted to go into this version knowing as little as possible -- but what I can say is that Mr. Demme has made a suspenseful, timely, and engrossing film. With first-rate performances by nearly the entire cast (especially by Liev Schreiber, who comes out of nowhere with a turn both perversely obsequient and frighteningly repressed), this "Manchurian" upps the Cold War ante of the original by taking place in a Halliburton context that's extremely relevant and perhaps even more realistic. The ever-present paranoia keeps the film at a taut breaking point that doesn't let up until the credits roll, and while the work doesn't exactly achieve universal greatness, this is as good as it's going to get for a big-budget summer studio picture. My grade: B+ Screened: July 30



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Short Reviews as of September 7th, 2004

De-Lovely
Director: Irwin Winkler
The problem with biographical films is that they have trouble coming up with narrative
follow-throughs. Instead of complications A-B-C, a climax, and a resolution, audiences are often
bombarded with a series of events (oftentimes many, many events) that don't carry any significant
thematic weight over the others; since each scene happened in real life, everything must be included,
most filmmakers suppose, in order to give the fullest view of the subject's life. This tends to
engender movies that go on and on without giving any indication of when they'll end, which makes
them seem more boring than they actually are. So amid fine performances by Kevin Kline and
Ashley Judd as Cole and Linda Porter, we viewers get stuck in the biopic rut -- which isn't aided
any by an odd framing device that finds the main character watching the events of his life on a
stage.
  My grade: B-
  Screened: July 26

Vanity Fair
Director: Mira Nair
Good new first: Reese Witherspoon can indeed do period pieces, as her engaging work here shows.
Bad news: "Vanity Fair" is no Oscar contender. Similar to my complaint above with regard to
biographical films, the filmmakers here have too much trouble cramming a 900-page book into a
well-flowing movie. Thus the film comes off as too episodic and clunky instead of literate and
involving. Characters come and go for long stretches of time, storylines pick up and drop off
unannounced, and each new turn of events keeps you guessing (not in the best way) as to where
we're headed -- lessening the importance of certain sequences that seem like placeholders in
retrospect. "Vanity Fair" looks and acts nice, but it just doesn't gel well.
  My grade: C+
  Screened: September 1