by Allan Fish
Best Picture Mulholland Dr., US (13 votes)
Best Director David Lynch, Mulholland Dr. (14 votes)
Best Actor Gene Hackman, The Royal Tenenbaums (7 votes)
Best Actress Naomi Watts, Mulholland Dr. (11 votes), by one from Huppert
Best Supp Actor Steve Buscemi, Ghost World (9 votes)
Best Supp Actress Helen Mirren, Gosford Park (8 votes)
Best Cinematography Roger Deakins, The Man Who Wasn’t There (8 votes)
Best Score Angelo Badalamenti, Mulholland Dr. (9 votes)
Best Short Chosen, US, Ang Lee (2 votes)
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2002
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Best Picture/Director
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Abouna (Chad…Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
About Schmidt (US…Alexander Payne)
Adaptation (US…Spike Jonze)
All or Nothing (UK…Mike Leigh)
Big Girls Don’t Cry (Germany…Maria von Heland)
Blissfully Yours (Thailand…Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Bloody Sunday (UK/Ireland…Paul Greengrass)
Bowling for Columbine (US…Michael Moore)
Bus 174 (Brazil…Jose Padilha)
Carnages (France…Delphine Gleize)
The Cat Returns (Japan…Horoyuki Morita)
Catch Me If You Can (US…Steven Spielberg)
The Century of the Self (UK…Adam Curtis)
Chicago (US…Rob Marshall)
Chihwaseon (South Korea…Im Kwon-taek)
Choses Secrètes (France…Jean-Claude Brisseau)
City of God (Brazil…Fernando Meirelles)
The Clay Bird (Bangladesh…Tareque Masud)
Cremaster 2 (US…Matthew Barney)
The Cuckoo (Russia…Aleksandr Rogozhkin)
Daniel Deronda (UK…Tom Hooper)
Dark Water (Japan…Hideo Nakata)
Demonlover (France…Olivier Assayas)
The Deserted Station (Iran…Ali Reza Raisian)
Dirty Pretty Things (UK…Stephen Frears)
Divine Intervention (France…Elia Suleiman)
Dolls (Japan…Takeshi Kitano)
8 Women (France…Francois Ozon)
Etre et Avoir (France…Nicolas Philibert)
Far from Heaven (US…Todd Haynes)
Femme Fatale (US…Brian de Palma)
Le Fils (France…Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne)
Frida (US…Julie Taymor)
Funny Ha Ha (US…Andrew Bujalski)
Gangs of New York (US…Martin Scorsese)
The Gathering Storm (UK…Richard Loncraine)
The Good Girl (US…Miguel Arteta)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (US/UK…Chris Columbus)
Hero: Special Edition (China…Zhang Yimou)
The Hours (US/UK…Stephen Daldry)
House of Fools (Russia…Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky)
Hukkle (Hungary…Gyorgy Palfi)
In America (US…Jim Sheridan)
In My Skin (France…Marina de Van)
In This World (UK…Michael Winterbottom)
Insomnia (US…Christopher Nolan)
Irreversible (France…Gaspar Noé)
Kannathil Muthamittal (India…Mani Ratnam)
Ken Park (US…Larry Clark, Ed Lachman)
Lilya 4-Ever (Sweden/Russia…Lukas Moodysson)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Version) (US/New Zealand…Peter Jackson)
The Magdalene Sisters (Ireland…Peter Mullan)
The Man Without a Past (Finland…Aki Kaurismäki)
Minority Report (US…Steven Spielberg)
Mondays in the Sun (Spain…Fernando Léon de Aranoa)
Morvern Callar (UK…Lynne Ramsay)
Open Hearts (Denmark…Susanne Bier)
Out of Control (UK…Dominic Savage)
The Pianist (France/Poland/Germany/UK…Roman Polanski)
Process (France…C.S. Leigh)
Punch-Drunk Love (US…Paul Thomas Anderson)
The Quiet American (US…Philip Noyce)
Rabbit Proof Fence (Australia…Philip Noyce)
Respiro (Italy…Emanuele Crialese)
Road to Perdition (US…Sam Mendes)
Russian Ark (Russia/Germany…Alexander Sokurov)
Secretary (US…Steven Shainberg)
A Snake of June (Japan…Shinya Tsukamoto)
Solaris (US…Steven Soderbergh)
Southeast Passage (Germany…Ulrike Ottinger)
Space Station (US…Toni Myers)
Spellbound (US…Jeffrey Blitz)
Spider (Canada/UK…David Cronenberg)
Spider-Man (US…Sam Raimi)
Sunshine State (US…John Sayles)
Sweet Sixteen (UK…Ken Loach)
Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (South Korea…Park Chan-wook)
Talk to Her (Spain…Pedro Almodóvar)
10 (Iran…Abbas Kiarostami)
Tipping the Velvet (UK…Geoffrey Sax)
Trilogy: On the Run, An Amazing Couple, After Life (France…Lucas Belvaux)
Turning Gate (South Korea…Hong Sang-soo)
28 Days Later (UK…Danny Boyle)
25th Hour (US…Spike Lee)
24-Hour Party People (UK…Michael Winterbottom)
Twilight Samurai (Japan…Yoji Yamada)
Unknown Pleasures (China/Japan/South Korea…Zhang-Ke Jia)
Uzak (Turkey…Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Vendredi Soir (France…Claire Denis)
La Vie Nouvelle (France…Philippe Grandrieux)
Whale Rider (New Zealand…Niki Caro)
Zhou Yu’s Train (China…Zhou Sun)
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Best Actor
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Javier Bardem The Dancer Upstairs
Adrian Brody The Pianist
Nicolas Cage Adaptation
Michael Caine The Quiet American
Javier Camara Talk to Her
Bruce Campbell Bubba Ho-tep
Paddy Considine In America
Kieran Culkin Igby Goes Down
John Cusack Max
Daniel Day-Lewis Gangs of New York
Leonardo DiCaprio Catch Me If You Can
Colin Farrell Phone Booth
Ralph Fiennes Spider
Albert Finney The Gathering Storm TV
Richard Gere Chicago
Johnny Hallyday L’Homme du Train
Tom Hanks Road to Perdition
Philip Seymour Hoffman Love Liza
Vincent Lindon Vendredi Soir
Ray Liotta Narc
James Nesbitt Bloody Sunday
Jack Nicholson About Schmidt
Nick Nolte The Good Thief
Edward Norton 25th Hour
Al Pacino Insomnia
Jean Rochefort L’Homme du Train
Sam Rockwell Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Adam Sandler Punch-Drunk Love
Campbell Scott Roger Dodger
Timothy Spall All Or Nothing
Ulrich Tukur Amen
Robin Williams One Hour Photo
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Best Actress
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Oksana Akinshina Lilya 4-Ever
Jennifer Aniston The Good Girl
Monica Bellucci Irreversible
Keisha Castle Hughes Whale Rider
Marina de Van In My Skin
Emilie Dequenne Une Femme de Menage
Romola Garai Daniel Deronda TV
Maggie Gyllenhaal Secretary
Salma Hayek Frida
Nicole Kidman The Hours
Asuka Kurosawa A Snake of June
Diane Lane Unfaithful
Valerie Lemercier Vendredi Soir
Lesley Manville All Or Nothing
Julianne Moore Far From Heaven
Samantha Morton In America
Samantha Morton Morvern Callar
Sonja Richter Open Hearts
Sarah Smart Sparkhouse TV
Paprika Steen Okay
Rachael Stirling Tipping the Velvet TV
Renée Zellweger Chicago
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Best Supporting Actor
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Hugh Bonneville Daniel Deronda TV
Gabriel Byrne Spider
Chris Cooper Adaptation
Ossie Davis Bubba Ho-tep
Harry Eden Pure
Ole Ernst Okay
Ed Harris The Hours
Sean Harris 24 Hour Party People
Dennis Haysbert Far from Heaven
Djimon Honsou In America
Christopher Lee The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Ian McKellen The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Alfred Molina Frida
Ulrich Mühe Amen
John Neville Spider
Paul Newman Road to Perdition
Berry Pepper 25th Hour
Christopher Plummer Nicholas Nickleby
Dennis Quaid Far From Heaven
John C. Reilly Chicago
John C. Reilly The Good Girl
Andy Serkis The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Noah Taylor Max
Christopher Walken Catch Me if You Can
Robin Williams Insomnia
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Best Supporting Actress
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Amy Adams Catch Me If You Can
Fanny Ardant 8 Women
Kathy Bates About Schmidt
Sara Bolger In America
Maggie Cheung Hero
Patricia Clarkson Far From Heaven
Claire Danes Igby Goes Down
Zooey Deschanel The Good Girl
Altagrazia Guzman Raising Victor Vargas
Keeley Hawes Tipping the Velvet TV
Isabelle Huppert 8 Women
Catherine Zeta Jones Chicago
Keira Knightley Pure
Julianne Moore The Hours
Laura Morante The Dancer Upstairs
Emily Mortimer Young Adam
Busy Phillips Home Room
Queen Latifah Chicago
Vanessa Redgrave The Gathering Storm TV
Miranda Richardson Spider
Julia Roberts Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Ludivine Sagnier 8 Women
Ruth Sheen All or Nothing
Paprika Steen Open Hearts
Meryl Streep Adaptation
Eileen Walsh The Magdalene Sisters
Emily Watson Punch-Drunk Love
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Best Cinematography
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Michael Ballhaus Gangs of New York
Dion Beebe Chicago
Tilman Buttner Russian Ark
Ceasar Charlone City of God
Christopher Doyle, Tong Hou Hero
Robert Elswit Punch-Drunk Love
Conrad L. Hall Road to Perdition
Janusz Kaminski Catch Me If You Can
Janusz Kaminski Minority Report
Alwin Kuchler Morvern Callar
Ed Lachman Far from Heaven
Jeanne Lepoirie 8 Women
Andrew Lesnie The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Seamus McGarvey The Hours
Rodrigo Prieto Frida
Peter Suschitzky Spider
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Best Score
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Elmer Bernstein Far from Heaven
Terrence Blanchard 25th Hour
Tan Dun Hero
Danny Elfman Chicago
Gavin Friday In America
Philip Glass The Hours
Eliot Goldenthal Frida
James Newton Howard Signs
Alberto Iglesias Talk to Her
Thomas Newman Road to Perdition
Howard Shore The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Howard Shore Spider
John Williams Catch Me If You Can
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Best Short
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Beat the Devil (US…Tony Scott)
Come into My World (France…Michel Gondry)
Darkened Room (US…David Lynch)
Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground (France…Michel Gondry)
Dream Work (Austria…Peter Tscherkassky)
Fell in Love with a Girl (France…Michel Gondry)
The Hire (US…Joe Carnahan)
Hostage (US…John Woo)
Hurt (US…Mark Romanek)
I’ll Wait for the Next One… (France…Philippe Orreindy)
Mei and the Kittenbus (Japan…Hayao Miyazaki)
Mike’s New Car (US…Pete Gould, Roger Gould)
Momento (Portugal…Manoel de Olveira) – no video available
Mount Head (Japan…Koji Yamamura)
Wilfred (Australia…Tony Rogers)
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Best Picture: Far From Heaven
Best Director: Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven)
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York)
Best Actress: Julianne Moore (Far From Heaven)
Best Supporting Actor: Dennis Haysbert (Far From Heaven)
Best Supporting Actress: Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago)
Best Cinematography: Ed Lachman (Far From Heaven)
Best Score: Elmer Bernstein (Far From Heaven)
The 2002 Hall of Fame: Far From Heaven; Talk To Her; Chicago; The Pianist; The Hours; The Son; The Magdalene Sisters; The Quiet American; Gangs of New York; Hero; Spider; 8 Women; Spellbound; City of God; Daniel Deronda; Road to Perdition; Whale Rider; In My Skin; Nicholas Nickleby; LOTR: The Two Towers
Note: FAR FROM HEAVEN is my #1 film of the entire decade. In any other years Almodovar’s TALK TO HER, the musical CHICAGO, the Holocaust film THE PIANIST and the drama THE HOURS would be topping any given year.
I’d like to know which year Chicago, The Pianist and The Hours would be topping. None in my lifetime.
Yes, but the point of my making that assertion was within the sphere of MY lifetime, not yours.
Best Short: Darkened Room
Sam has spoken, and I am shocked, shocked by his top pick. I had no idea he cared for that film. 😉
2002 was a year I liked very much at the time. It was the last time I felt this way about a year in American cinema (although 2007 was very strong, its great films seemed more like outliers in an increasingly alienating film industry landscape). Still, I mentioned that 2001 will probably the last time an American film would appear in my top spot, and ’02 doesn’t disprove that.
That said, a quick shout-out to 25th Hour, Lee’s flawed but brilliant statement on post-9/11 America, a lone wolf in a decade that mostly ignored one of the most significant incidents in U.S. history and tended to stumble when it did address the attack and subsequent events head-on. By making the defining event of America’s 21st century both central to its theme and oblique in its story, the film brilliantly captured a mood and a moment and will always mean a great deal to me. It’s excellent for other reasons too, but that alone makes it among the most important American films of the decade, however underrated.
Feature: Bus 174
2. 25th Hour
3. City of God
4. Funny Ha Ha (missing from the list)
5. The Weather Underground (missing from the list)
Director: Alexander Sokurov, Russian Ark
Actor: Nicolas Cage, Adaptation (very competitive category this year)
Actress: Marina de Van, In My Skin
Supp. Actor: Barry Pepper, 25th Hour
Supp. Actress: Meryl Streep, Adaptation
Cinematography: Conrad L. Hall, Road to Perdition
Score: Terry Blanchard, 25th Hour
Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman, Adaptation
Editing: Daniel Rezende, City of God
Use of Music: The Weather Underground
Ensemble: 25th Hour
Line: “This life came so close to never happening.”, 25th Hour
Scene: “Fuck you”:
It’s clear you love 25th HOUR. Yet BUS 174 tops your list. Why? (and I that BUS 174 is incredible).
Among other things, I think it’s a better film. 25th Hour gets as high as it does on the basis of several incredibly powerful scenes, its importance and resonance in addressing a national mood that was being ignored elsewhere, and my personal connection to it. That said, there is a fair amount of stylistic bombast (too much cutting, for one thing) and some strained passages; looked at coolly as a composed work, it’s not really as strong as, say, Do the Right Thing. Perfection and rigor aren’t everything, though, and on another day I might feel willing to shoot this personal favorite to #1. On this day, however, my gut told me to go with something else. Bus 174, which is also extremely visceral and powerful, strikes me as a stronger piece of work, more cohesive and also more formally startling in its mixture of news footage, participant recollections, and old footage.
Short: Darkened Room
PICTURE: FAR FROM HEAVEN, Russian Ark, All or Nothing, City of God, Catch Me If You Can, The Pianist, Punch-Drunk Love, In America, Max, 25th Hour, Adaptation, To Be and To Have, Femme Fatale, Chicago, Signs, 8 Women, Spider, Cremaster 2, Bus 174, Talk To Her, The Hours, The Son, The Good Girl, Minority Report, Dirty Pretty Things, Morvern Callar, Spellbound, The Man Without A Past, The Magdelene Sisters, Bloody Sunday, Road to Perdition, Phone Booth, Stevie, The Weather Underground, Unfaithful, Changing Lanes, Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election, About Schmidt, Good Humor: The Movie, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Hukkle, Frailty, Secretary, The Kid Stays in the Picture, About a Boy, 28 Days Later, Solaris, Champion Blues, Bowling for Columbine, Lilo and Stitch, One Hour Photo, Lost in La Mancha, Igby Goes Down, Bubba Ho-tep, Narc, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
DIRECTOR: Todd Haynes, FAR FROM HEAVEN (2nd: Alexander Sokurov, Russian Ark, followed by: Fernando Meirelles, City of God; Steven Spielberg, Catch Me If You Can; Mike Leigh, All or Nothing; Roman Polanski, The Pianist; Paul Thomas Anderson, Punch-Drunk Love)
ACTOR: Ralph Finnes, SPIDER (2nd: Nicolas Cage, Adaptation, followed by: Timothy Spall, All or Nothing; Jack Nicholson, About Schmidt; Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York; Adrian Brody, The Pianist; Leonardo DiCaprio, Catch Me If You Can; Colin Farrell, Phone Booth)
ACTRESS: Julianne Moore, FAR FROM HEAVEN (2nd: Leslie Manville, All or Nothing, followed by: Jennifer Aniston, The Good Girl; Diane Lane, Unfaithful; Samantha Morton, Morvern Callar; Nicole Kidman, The Hours; Renee Zellweger, Chicago; Maggie Gyllenhaal, Secretary)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Noah Taylor, MAX (2nd: Chris Cooper, Adaptation, followed by: Christopher Walken, Catch Me If You Can; Dennis Haysbert, Far From Heaven; Dennis Quaid, Far From Heaven; John C. Reilly, Chicago; Djimon Honsou, In America; Paul Newman, Road to Perdition; Ed Harris, The Hours)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Catherine Zeta Jones, CHICAGO (2nd: Sara Bolger, In America, followed by: Julianne Moore, The Hours; Meryl Streep, Adaptation; Amy Adams, Catch Me If You Can; Zooey Deschanel, The Good Girl; Kathy Bates, About Schmidt)
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Ed Lachman, FAR FROM HEAVEN (2nd: Tilman Butler, Russian Ark, followed by: Conrad Hall, Road to Perdition; Ceasar Charlone, City of God; Dion Beebe, Chicago; Robert Elswit, Punch-Drunk Love)
ORIGINAL SCORE: John Williams, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (2nd: Philip Glass, The Hours, followed by Elmer Bernstein, Far From Heaven, Terrence Blanchard, 25th Hour; James Newton Howard, Signs; Gavin Friday, In America)
SHORT FILM: BORN IN BEIRUT (Liliane Matta) (2nd: Fater (Danny Meltzer), followed by: Ablution (Eric Patrick); Friction (Robert Ellmann); That Fateful Day (Eric Forrest); All Power to Imagination (Mehdi Zizi))
FURTHER:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan, and Kirsten Sheridan, IN AMERICA (2nd: Mike Leigh, All or Nothing; Pedro Almodovar, Talk to Her; Todd Haynes, Far From Heaven; Steven Knight, Dirty Pretty Things; Paul Thomas Anderson, Punch-Drunk Love)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Charlie (and Donald?) Kaufman, ADAPTATION (2nd: Ronald Harwood, The Pianist, followed by: Jeff Nathanson, Catch Me If You Can; Braulio Mantovani, City of God; David Benioff, 25th Hour; David Hare, The Hours)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: TO BE AND TO HAVE (Nicholas Philibert) (2nd: Bus 174 (Felipe Lacerda, Jose Padilha), followed by: Spellbound (Jeffery Blitz); Stevie (Steve James); Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (Richard R. Perez and Joan Sekler); The Weather Underground (Sam Green and Bill Siegel); The Kid Stays in the Picture (Nanette Burstein and Bret Morgan); Champion Blues (Alethea Rodgers))
NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: RUSSIAN ARK (Russia, Alexander Sokurov) (2nd: City of God (Brazil, Fernando Meireilles), followed by: Talk to Her (Spain, Pedro Almodovar); 8 Women (France, Francois Ozon); The Son (Belgium, Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne); Hukkle (Hungary, Gyorgy Palfi))
ART DIRECTION: GANGS OF NEW YORK, Far From Heaven, Chicago, Solaris, Minority Report, Road to Perdition
COSTUME DESIGN: FAR FROM HEAVEN, Russian Ark, Gangs of New York, Chicago, 8 Women, Frida, Chicago
FILM EDITING: CHICAGO, City of God, Catch Me If You Can, The Hours, The Pianist, Adaptation
SOUND: CHICAGO, Minority Report, Gangs of New York, Road to Perdition, Signs, The Pianist
ORIGINAL SONG: “Time Enough For Tears“ from IN AMERICA (music and lyrics by Bono, Gavin Friday, and Maurice Seezer) (2nd: “Lose Yourself” from 8 Mile (music by Eminem, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto, lyrics by Eminem), followed by: “Burn It Blue” from Frida (music by Elliott Goldenthal, lyrics by Julie Taymor); “Pour ne pas vivre seul“ from 8 Women (music and lyrics by Daniel Faure))
ADAPTATION SCORE/SCORING OF A MUSICAL: Danny Elfman, Doug Besterman and Steve Bartek, CHICAGO (2nd: Amelie de Chassey, 8 Women)
SPECIAL EFFECTS: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, Spiderman, Minority Report
MAKEUP: GANGS OF NEW YORK, One Hour Photo, Russian Ark
ANIMATED FEATURE: LILO AND STITCH (Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders)
After learning of Sam’s undying love for FAR FROM HEAVEN, I just had to give it another look. And, while I loved it in 2003, I loved it even more watching it again (for the first time since its release). In fact, I ADORED every single, perfectly calibrated second of it. I mean, every single perfectly-placed line, every single visually-breathtaking autumnal feel, every single gentle smile, and sign of bravery, and understandable breakdown…they all just…they just floored me this time around. So I have changed my vote, from RUSSIAN ARK (which I still think is remarkable, but which I frankly haven’t revisited since I first saw it, because, I can only now surmise, it has nothing else to give to me beyond the first viewing; it’s a brilliant but rather cold film). Given FAR FROM HEAVEN’s high craft all around the board (and I here had to change my cinematography vote to Mr. Lachmann, who clearly outdoes all of his competitors), and given the film’s wonderful playfulness as to its recalling another time (and another era of moviemaking), and also given the genre’s newly deep and significant revelations and emotions (which actually make it more of a film of THIS time rather than of the 50s, so it’s not simply a nostalgia piece, because no movie of this wealth could have been made in a 1950s setting), I have been convinced. Utterly convinced. FAR FROM HEAVEN is, indeed, the best film of this year. It is endlessly fascinating. All of you…watch it again. And I know I will again return to it, not only for its unique cinematic vision but for its love of PEOPLE. Thank you, Sam, for alerting me to this. This is the reason this fantastic website exists (and I say this in salute to Allan Fish as well, who stands as one person who’s really educated me to the nth degree; thank you, Allan). And I must say: my head is spinning at this change of mind, and I am loving it.
Oh how thrilled I am to read of this change Dean! Wow! I salute you my friend!
Utterly fantastic!!!
Creep + 2.
I don’t really have a horse in the 2002 race. Many good films, but none I consider among my favorites like the four or five I had in 2001.
Best Picture: Russian Ark
Runner ups: Uzak, Road To Perdition, Talk To Her, Solaris.
Picture – La Vie nouvelle
Director – De Palma (Femme Fatale) (incidentally, how f’in amazing is PASSION?)
Actor – Ralph Fiennes (Spider)
Actress – Connie Nielsen (Demonlover)
Supporting Actor – n/a
Supporting Actress – Chloe Sevigny (Demonlover)
Cinematography – Agnes Godard (Vendredi Soir)
PASSION is already looking like an underrated 2013 movie, for sure. But I think it means most to De Palma fans.
Best Picture: Bowling for Columbine
Best Director: Spike Jonze – Adaptation.
Best Actor: Nicolas Cage – Adaptation.
Best Actress: Salma Hayek – Frida
Best Supporting Actor: Andy Serkis – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Best Supporting Actress: Meryl Streep – Adaptation.
Best Cinematography: Hero
Best Score: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Best Short: Whistle – Duncan Jones
Top 5 of 2002:
1. Bowling for Columbine
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
3. Adaptation.
4. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
5. Le fils
Ugh. BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE is now unwatchable–as are many of Moore’s movies. And, politically, I’m on his side. Yeah, I get it. But, cinematically, and morally, though, Moore has some issues. To be clear: I don’t like his bombing approach, and I don’t like how he makes unsuspecting people–even Charlton Heston–appear as idiots, just because he surprises them. Moreover, I don’t like how he portrays working people as pawns for the people they are getting a paycheck from (that is, security guards and such). I feel that this sort of manipulation works against his own views of these people’s values, and I feel that he gave very little concern as to the working people’s responsibilities, and thus I’m left to wonder what his real motives are. And, let me say again, I’m in collusion with his general thoughts. In the end, I’m forced to say that his movies are egoistic, personal essays, and are not strict documentaries. And, as films, they are not strictly valuable.
‘Bowling for Columbine’ — revoltingly smug; ‘Russian Ark’ — beautifully vacuous; ‘The Gangs of New York’ — Scorsese in decline; ‘Far from Heaven’ –makes no sociopolitical sense to redo Sirk, not in 2002, well past the mid-century American stasis; ‘The Pianist’ — what’s left to say about the Holocaust esp. after ‘The Sorrow and the Pity’ and ‘Shoah?”
My favorites:
Film: ‘About Schmidt’
Director: Alexander Payne
Actor: Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt)
Actress: Diane Lane (Unfaithful) & Susan Sarandon (Igby Goes Down)
S. Actor: Ed Harris (The Hours)
S. Actress: Amanda Peet’s Edie Sedgwick lookalike in ‘Igby Goes Down’
Photography: Conrad Hall (Road to Perdition)
Well Mark, here’s my response to you on FAR FROM HEAVEN. It made every bit of sense to re-do Sirk, and the results (and craftsmanship) were extraordinarily moving:
As far as ABOUT SCHMIDT as best film of this year, well as much as I always appreciate and respect your opinion greatly, I won’t even go there. Payne did hit the bulls-eye with ELECTION and SIDEWAYS though. As far as the matter with the Holocaust, those two documentaries were hardly the final word, and to believe so would be to set aside narrative dramatic license. A little FATELESS or SCHINDLER’S LIST anyone? THE PIANIST is exceptional. The subject is far too important in the scheme of things, and treatment inexhaustible.
Will agree with you though that RUSSIAN ARK is beautifully vacuous, though I am generally a huge fan of Sokurov, with the exception of this overrated film. And BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE is indeed smug and mean-spirited.
Surprised you make no mention of Almodovar’s greatest film TALK TO HER or of THE HOURS, CITY OF GOD and CHICAGO.
GANGS OF NEW YORK? Gets better with every viewing, methinks.
As a huge Polanski fan, I never saw what the big deal was with The Pianist. I kind-of agree with Mark, that by the time Roman made it, the holocaust felt like an exhausted subject (and R.P. didn’t really bring anything stupendous to the table). I also agree that Gangs Of New York is mostly minor Scorsese (though it has some inspired bits here and there) and had lost the edge Marty had shown in his best earlier work. It just felt so standard/formulaic “Hollywood” and shameless Oscar bait (which also befalls The Aviator and The Departed). Far From Heaven is merely okay. Of course I don’t agree with either of you on Russian Ark and think Sam hit the nail on the head when it comes to Payne.
Jonathan Rosenbaum on FAR FROM HEAVEN:
Todd Haynes’s best feature to date–a provocative companion piece to his underrated Safe (1995), which also starred Julianne Moore as a lost suburban housewife but is otherwise quite different. This brilliantly and comprehensively captures the look, feel, and sound of glamorous 50s tearjerkers like All That Heaven Allows, not to mock or feel superior to them but to say new things with their vocabulary. The story, set in 1957 and accompanied by a classic Elmer Bernstein score, concerns a traditional if well-to-do “homemaker” who falls in love with her black gardener (a superb performance by Dennis Haysbert) around the time that she discovers her husband (Dennis Quaid) is a closeted homosexual. Frankly, I find this movie more emotionally powerful, more truthful about the 50s, and more meaningful than any of the Technicolor Douglas Sirk pictures it evokes, even though it trades in obvious artifice in a way that the originals never did. Though technically an independent feature, this is in fact the best Hollywood movie around, telling the kind of story that might have been told half a century ago if a contemporary filmmaker had been transported back to the studio system and given a free hand. Don’t miss it. 107 min.
I agree that The Pianist is valuable and I think at the time (at least until I saw 25th Hour sometime around the Oscar ceremony in ’03, maybe a little after) it was my personal pick for Best Picture.
It’s not necessarily important so much as a new statement on the Holocaust (though one could make a case that Polanski, as a personal survivor, had an important perspective to offer that hadn’t been seen so much yet); however, its value is more auteurist I think. It applies a typical Polanski approach – an intensely subjective partial view – to an important historical event: the way our protagonist perceives the onslaught of the Nazis is not terribly different from how Rosemary perceives the mechinations of a satanic cult, or Gittes dimly traces the outlines of a huge metropolitan conspiracy. In that sense, it personalizes this vast, difficult-to-comprehend event, reminding us of the human scale of the suffering which is, of course, the level on which all its victims and survivors experienced it.
Kind of an odd year – solid films, lots of very interesting not quite great films, the likes of Zatoichi and Dolls and Secretary and the like, and somewhat muted at the top. Though I suppose not too muted – the top three – Mr. Vengeance, The Son, and the Pianist are very good…
PICTURE: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
DIRECTOR: Park Chanwook, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
LEAD ACTOR: Adrien Brody, The Pianist
LEAD ACTRESS: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Secretary
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Song Kang-ho, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Bae Doona, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
SHORT: The Skywalk is Gone, Tsai Ming-liang
SCORE: Elmer Bernstein, Far from Heaven
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Mark Li, Springtime in a Small Town
Plus bonus picks:
Script: The Son
Music/Sound: Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary
Hmmm…until I just started pondering my list, I had forgotten 2002 was actually a pretty good year for film (solid entertainments from Nolan and Spielberg and Scorsese and one grand entertainment from Mendes, a rare homerun from Spike Lee, a rare good film from Boyle, a musical I actually enjoyed (Chicago!) Polanski achieving a late career peak, Sam’s favorite movie, nice entries from Leigh, Noyce, Payne, Bier and Sayles, and some overrated but still interesting…stuff…like Talk to Her, Adaptation, The Hours, Adaptation and Punch Drunk Love)…..even the original Lord of the Rings was a great spectacle at the time (though it doesn’t hold up very well) …. hmmmmm….not bad at all….oh and holy shit, City of God!
PICTURE: The Pianist
DIRECTOR: Roman Polanski – The Pianist
LEAD ACTOR: Adrien Brody – The Pianist
LEAD ACTRESS: Julianne Moore – Far From Heaven
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Robin Williams – Insomnia
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Paprika Steen – Open Hearts
SCORE: Thomas Newman – Road to Perdition
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Conrad Hall – Road to Perdition
Opppps correction, this was the year of LotR: The Two Towers, not the first entry…woops, my statement still stands – The Two Towers was also a great spectacle and doesn’t hold up very well.
Best Picture: Uzak
Best Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Best Actor: Ralph Fiennes, Spider
Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven
Best Supporting Actor: Dennis Quaid, Far From Heaven
Best Supporting Actress: Catherine Zeta Jones, Chicago
Best Cinematography: Christopher Doyle, Tong Hou, Hero
Best Picture: City of God
2. Talk To Her
3. Irreversible
4. 10
5. The Pianist
Best Director: Pedro Almodovar (Talk To Her)
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York)
Best Actress: Julianne Moore (Far From Heaven)
Best Supporting Actor: Ed Harris (The Hours)
Best Supporting Actress: Julianne Moore (The Hours)
Best Cinematography: Tilman Buttner (Russian Ark)
Best Score: Philip Glass (The Hours)
Best Picture: Uzak
Best Director: Park Chan-Wook (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance)
Best Actor: Ralph Fiennes (Spider)
Best Actress: Samantha Morton (Movern Callar)
Best Supporting Actor: Song Kang-ho (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance)
Best Supporting Actress: Miranda Richardson (Spider)
Best Cinematography: Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Uzak) & Christopher Doyle (Hero)
Best Score: Alberto Iglesias (Talk to Her)
Top 10:
1. Uzak
2. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
3. Minority Report
4. Spider
5. Hero
6. Talk to Her
7. Movern Callar
8. City of God
9. 28 Days Later
10. Punch Drunk Love
Just Missed: The Son (Le Fils), Bloody Sunday, Confessions of A Dangerous Mind
Best Film: Adaptation. Best Director: Fernando Meirelles. (City Of God). Best Actor: Nicolas Cage. (Adaptation). Best Actress: Julianne Moore. (Far From Heaven). Best Supporting Actor: Alfred Molina. (Frida). Best Supporting Actress: Fanny Ardant. (8 Woman).
Pic – City of God (Brazil…Fernando Meirelles)
Director – City of God (Brazil…Fernando Meirelles)
Actor – Javier Camara Talk to Her
Actress – Monica Bellucci Irreversible
Supp Actor – Chris Cooper Adaptation
Supp Actress – Meryl Streep Adaptation
Score – John Williams Catch Me If You Can
Picture: Adaptation (Runners up: The Magdalene Sisters, 28 Days Later)
Director: Spike Jonze
Actor: Nicolas Cage – Adaptation
Actress: Samantha Morton – Morvern Callar
Supporting Actor: Chris Cooper – Adaptation
Supporting Actress: Catherine Zeta-Jones – Chicago (Runners up: Meryl Streep – Adaptation, Nora-Jane Noone – The Magdalene Sisters, Geraldine McEwan – The Magdalene Sisters)
Screenplay: Adaptation – Charlie Kaufman
Cinematography – Punch Drunk Love
Best Film: Far From Heaven
Best Director: Almodovar (Talk To Her)
Best Actor: Michael caine (The Quiet American)
Best Actress: Julianne Moore (Far From Heaven)
Best Supporting Actor: Ed Harris (The Hours)
Best Supporting Actress: Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago)
Best Cinematography: Dion Beebe (Chicago)
Best Score: Elmer Bernstein (Far From Heaven)
Best Short: Darkened Room
2002 Ballot
An amazing yea in very way, shape and form…
Just when Sam and I thought the year was over, yet another great film was released. This year harbored what I personally believe was the number 2 film of the decade (it’s my top choice for 2002) and the acting categories were overflowing with great performances.
I will comment where I think explaining is needed…
PICTURE: TALK TO HER (d. Pedro Almodovar)
Top 5: 1. Talk to Her (d. Pedro Almodovar) 2. City of God (d. Fernando Mereilles) 3. Adaptation (d. Spike Jonze) 4. The Hours (d. Stephen Daldry) 4. Road to Perdition (d. Sam Mendes)
DIRECTOR: Pedro ALMODOVAR (Talk to Her)
Runner Up’s: Fernando Mereilles (City of God), Spike Jonze (Adaptation), Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition), Steven Spielberg (Minority Report)
LEAD ACTOR: Daniel DAY-LEWIS (Gangs of New York)
Runner Up’s: Ralph Fiennes (Spider), Nicholas Cage (Adaptation), Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt), Campbell Scott (Roger Dodger)
I’m sorry, but for those that didn’t have Day-Lewis as their top choice in this category I beg to ask: DID YOU SEE GANGS OF NEW YORK?????
In my mind, the critics had this one so right.
LEAD ACTRESS: Julianne MOORE (Far from Heaven)
Runner Up’s: Nicole Kidman (The Hours), Meryl Streep (The Hours), Salma Hayek (Frida), Renee Zelwegger (Chicago)
SUPP. ACTOR: Ed HARRIS (The Hours)
Runner Up’s: Paul Newman (Road to Perdition), Alfred Molina (Frida), Dennis Haysbert (Far from Heaven), Chris Cooper (Adaptation)
SUPP. ACTRESS: Sara BOLGER (In America)
Runner Up’s: Samantha Morton (Minority Report), Zooey Deschanel (The God Girl), Emily Watson (Punch Drunk Love), Vanessa Redgrave (The Gathering Storm)
PHOTO: Conrad HALL (Road to Perdition)
Runner Up’s: Ed Lachman (Far from Heaven), Janusz Kaminsky (Minority Report), Caesar Charlone (City of God), Andrew Lesnie (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers)
MUSIC: Phillip GLASS (The Hours)
Runner Up’s: Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers), Thomas Newman (Road to Perdition), Terrence Blanchard (The 25th Hour), Gavin Friday (In America)
Day-Lewis is terrific in GANGS, but the movie is flat as flat can be. He elevates it, for sure, but it’s also a kind of one-note performance, full of believable menace, but not filled with nuance. Though Sam has changed his pick to Lewis, I am continuing my vote for Fiennes, who delivers a career performance as someone who is totally out of this world.
Dean, I did indeed change to Lewis, but I was so torn and continue to be. One day I say Lewis, next day Fiennes, and back and forth. I may just call it a day and declare a tie!!! Maybe I’ll do that!
DONT do a tie! Choose between the two and live with it. YOU KNOW which one deserves the medal!
No, no, NO! DEAN…
In my humble opinion, you need to re-watch GANGS just for Day-Lewis’s performance. Upon my first viewing of the film I was like you, I thought the performance was a one-noted turn in menace and psychopathy brought on by a “might makes right” attitude. But, as Sam will tell, the almost CLOCKWORK ORANGE fun of the film kept pulling me and the big guy back to it for repeat viewings (in total, Sam and I sat through it, in it’s initial theatrical run, 4 times). And, while we both agreed that the FILM was a seriously flawed work by one of the best of contemporary American film directors alive, we BOTH agreed that Day-Lewis’ turn was the one indisputable element that deserved a standing ovation.
The reason, simply put, were the moments of near regret that Day-Lewis imbues Bill with. The scene in the bedroom, him ironically draped in an American flag, talking about the “greatest man he ever killed” and how he “never had a son” and all the things he would have liked to have in life but put to the side in lieu of fighting for what he thought this country was all about define this character as a man falling to the foot-falls of progression. In my estimation, Day-Lewis’ turn is a perfectly balanced characterization of a man who knows that what he is fighting for has changed and, as he realizes this, he reluctantly begins to recognize that his time has come and that the world is moving, evolving around him. Signs of this relinquishing of his grip to the next progressive generation can be seen in the council meeting sequence (“Pistols? Knives?”) when Bill clearly sees and admires the spark and determination of young Vallon (DiCaprio) and recognizes himself, from long ago, in that spirit. It’s a performance of rite of passage as the old hand off the baton to the young, when wisdom (of a kind) folds to the newer, more progressive thinking of an evolving community.
Basically, and Day-Lewis is so touching in these scenes (a perfect balance for the big, explosive, animated moments of Bills menacing violence and intimidation), Bill is a Dinosaur preparing for the meteor to hit and wipe him out for the betterment of an ever growing world. The balance of explosion and tenderness, of brutal force sparked off by fear of extinction is not only brilliantly exuded by every choice that Day-Lewis makes with his performance but, I think, the underlying theme of the ENTIRE film…
I loved Ralph Fiennes, he was my second choice (although I don’t think he’ll ever beat his own monumentally frightening turn as the odious Nazi commandant in SCHINDLER’S LIST-one of the staggeringly brilliant performances of the past 40 years-as his personal best), but I thought Day-Lewis, as always, just understood and, finally, BECAME this man that is frightened to violence by his impending extinction…
Although it’s all about personal taste, Day-Lewis did take the lions-share of awards (the most for ANY actor in the lead category in 2002), and most of them were CRITICS prizes. Fiennes turn was largely forgotten (pity) and I think a lot of this had to do with everyone being so overwhelmed and entranced by Day-Lewis (the real film fans saw BOTH films).
I may give it a rewatch one day, but honestly twice is enough for me. I do admire the performance, and really, at this level, any complaints are nitpicking. Day-Lewis is fantastic in the film. I just wish the movie around him was better (plus I know Day-Lewis is going to sweep up a couple more Best Actor citations in a the next few weeks). An impassioned plea for the performance, though.
I love that you went with Sara Bolger as Supporting Actress. Her’s is a superb filmic moment.
Considering the actresses that placed in my top five for this category it really was a no brainer as to who I felt the most connected to. This was a year where all the obvious actresses were trumped by the less than obvious ones. That being said, Bolger was the eyes and voice of IN AMERICA and it’s through her touchingly innocent turn as a child in the throws of immigration and discovering the beauty of NYC as a wide eyed soul that DEFINED the immigration experience. As a New Yorker myself, I have always known of the majesty and grandeur of this place. I am floored by New York City but in a familiar way. Bolger gives us New York City in a way that only a person that has ever heard tales of it before seeing it would.
Also, her moments with her sister (played by her real live sister) and Dimon Hounsou as the mysterious yet, ultimately, inspiring Matteo are repleat with a kind of raw discovery that only those new to the wiles of NYC, or those knowing they will never see it again , would experience. There moments together are transporting and I felt almost like I was being privileged to eavesdrop on someone’s personal experiences at that tender young age.
Sara Bolger delivered the best supporting performance in this category. Since then, I have not seen her in much, but I did discover her once again as Mary (the soon to be “Bloody Mary”), eldest daughter and rightful heir to the thrown, opposite Johnathan Ryse Myers Henry VIII, on the SHOWTIME series THE TUDORS. Isn’t hard to believe that she was the very best thing on that kind of long-in-the-tooth show…
Best Picture: The Hours
Best Director: Roman Polanski (The Pianist)
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York)
Best Actress: Julianne Moore (Far From Heaven)
Best Supporting Actor: Dennis Haysbert (Far From Heaven)
Best Supporting Actress: Julianne Moore (The Hours) two times for Julie!
Best Cinematography: Conrad Hall (Road to Perdition)
Best Score: Elmer Bernstein (Far From Heaven)
Best Short: Mike’s New Car (Pete Gould, Roger Gould)
Bravo on naming Julie twice Frank! Ha!
He wasn’t the first to do so…
I need to check Spider out, Ive never really heard people mention this as one of Fiennes’s best performances, usually its Schindler’s List or The Constant Gardener. Excited to see it.
Ralph Fiennes’ performance in Cronenberg’s SPIDER stands still as one of the most committed performances of any character absolutely out of their mind, in any film, ever.
On this I agree with you., Day-Lewis is superb, but he’s still filling de Niro’s boots, it’s technical virtuosity but he has been better several times. Fiennes’ performances is a spider’s web of ticks, nervous mannerisms and psychosis.
By the way, there are MANY thing left to be said about the Holocaust, and about many other racial cleansings around the world. Since genocide is rarely committed (even if one half of a genocide seems like one too many), it’s a subject that cannot be exhausted, especially by the one great director out there who actually lived through the Holocaust as we know it. So THE PIANIST stands as a fine, and different, and very personal film about the subject.
Polanski had a right to make a film about the Holocaust, even Spielberg only made SL because Polanski turned it down because he said he wasn’t ready to face it yet. (Remember not only did he live through it, but his close friend Andrzej Munk was killed in a car crash while making his own Holocaust film Passenger in 1961, so you can understand him not wanting to return to it.) It’s still inferior to SL and any dramatic film will pale besides the power of Shoah, Nuit et Brouillard and Laurence Rees’ recent series Auschwitz. There’s even something a little morbid about American films about the Holocaust, all drowned in music to take the sting away, like you can take it better and feels more authentic when made in Poland, Czechoslovakia (Czech Rep), Hungary and the like where it had biggest impact. The immediacy of films like Jakubowska’s The Last Stage – shot at Auschwitz with actual prisoners as extras in 1947 – and the Czech The Long Journey seems more powerful.
Pic – Talk to Her
Dir – Almodovar
Actor – Norton – 25th Hour
Actress – Moore – Far From Heaven
Supp. Actor – Quaid – Far From Heaven
Supp. Actress – Zeta Jones – Chicago
Cinematography – Lachman – Far From Heaven
Score – Bernstein – Far From Heaven
No film clearly leads the pack in my mind, but I’m going to reward Sokurov’s technical accomplishment.
Best Picture: Russian Ark
(runners-up: Ten, Irreversible, Bloody Sunday)
Best Director: Sokurov
Best Actor: Day-Lewis, Gangs
Best Actress: Gyllenhaal, Secretary
Supporting Actor: Molina, Frida
Supporting Actress: Moore, The Hours
Cinematography: Ballhaus, Gangs
Score: Glass, The Hours
Best Picture: ETRE ET AVOIR
Best Director: Pedro Almodovar for TALK TO HER
Best Actor: Adam Sandler for PUNCH DRUNK LOVE
Best Actress: Julianne Moore for FAR FROM HEAVEN
Best Supporting Actor; Ed Harris for THE HOURS
Best Supporting Actress: Meryl Streep for ADAPTATION
Best Cinematography: Ed Lachman for FAR FROM HEAVEN
Best Score: Elmer Bernstein for FAR FROM HEAVEN and Philip Glass for THE HOURS (TIE)
Best Short; none.
My top ten for 2002:
1. Adaptation – Spike Jonze
2. Talk to Her – Pedro Almodovar
3. Vendredi soir – Claire Denis
4. All or Nothing – Mike Leigh
5. The Hours – Stephen Daldry
6. Far from Heaven – Todd Haynes
7. Morvern Callar – Lynne Ramsay
8. The Heart of Me – Thaddeus O’Sullivan
9. Femme Fatale – Brian De Palma
10. Punch-Drunk Love – Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Picture: Adaptation
Best Director: Pedro Almodovar (Talk to Her)
Best Actor: Nicholas Cage (Adaptation)
Best Actress: Samantha Morton (Morvern Callar)
Best supporting actor: Chris Cooper (Adaptation)
Best supporting actress: Meryl Streep (Adaptation)
Best Cinematography: Gyula Pados (The Heart of Me)
Best Score: Alberto Iglesias (Talk to Her)
Best Picture: Far From Heaven
Best Director: Todd Haynes
Best Actor: Adrien Brody (The Pianist)
Best Actress: Julianne Moore (Far From Heaven)
Best Supporting Actor: Ed Harris (The Hours)
Best Supporting Actress: Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago)
Best Cinematography: Conrad Hall (Road to Perdition)
Best Score: Elmer Bernstein (Far From Heaven)
Best Short: Hostage