There are very few Oscar years like 1993, when Schindler’s List won Best Picture. Inevitability took hold in the decades before, say, the 1970s frequently. But after the 1970s, when everything changed, surprise winners were more likely. Then, after Chariots of Fire all bets were off. But the Schindler’s Lists in Oscar history are few and far between. That is, a perfect storm of an overdue director, subject matter and execution. Very few films rise to the level of Schindler’s List, not in Spielberg’s career, not in Hollywood at all. But for this Academy, you might think of Schindler’s List as the ultimate Oscar Best Picture winner.
It’s funny how the (supposedlymostlyJewishAcademythoughwe’renotallowedtosaybecauseitsnotpoliticallycorrect) Academy and Hollywood had avoided stories of Jews. Even the New York Times buried stories of Jews being massacred in Germany before we entered the war. Anti-semitism was real and it permeated Hollywood and the Oscars. Gentleman’s Agreement revolved around a gentile posing as a Jew and even Schindler’s List was about a gentile. Annie Hall, Ben-Hur, Driving Miss Daisy and Chariots of Fire were among the few films that revolved around Jewish characters at all. Schindler’s List is the only film about the Holocaust to win. Compare it to the others and you can see what kind of impact that film made. Its win was about the subject matter, but it was also about Steven Spielberg embracing his heritage and paying respect to his people in a very public way.
And yes, 12 years a Slave has a Schindler’s List kind of impact, in case you were wondering.
There have been very winners since Schindler’s List that were as unequivocal. The only surprising thing about its win is that it didn’t win as many Oscars as it should have. It won only 7 out of 12. My Fair Lady, The English Patient and Slumdog Millionaire have more Oscars than Schindler’s List.
The real injustice that year was that Tommy Lee Jones should not have won for The Fugitive. Ralph Fiennes should have won in a walk. Jones should have won last year for Lincoln.
But 1993 had other films worth noting that we’ll be discussing, most notably its biggest competition, Jane Campion’s The Piano. The Remains of the Day was also one of the year’s standouts. Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence, Altman’s Short Cuts, Ephron’s Sleepless in Seattle, Sally Potter’s Orlando, Demme’s Philadelphia and many more gems from that year. But there was just no film that could beat Schindler’s List and it sits right at the top of the best ever winners, alongside The Godfather films. We will be discussing this subject over the weekend. If you’d like to call in and leave a question for us to answer we’ll try to play it on the podcast and answer it. Otherwise, you can leave them here. Our number – (323) 963-4160.
is
My nominees and winners for 1993:
Best Picture (10 nominees):
Groundhog Day – produced by Trevor Albert and Harold Ramis (7th)
In the Line of Fire – produced by Jeff Apple (9th)
In the Name of the Father – produced by Jim Sheridan (3rd)
Jurassic Park – produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R. Molen (6th)
Menace II Society – produced by Darin Scott (10th)
Much Ado About Nothing – produced by Kenneth Branagh, Stephen Evans, and David Parfitt (5th)
The Fugitive – produced by Arnold Kopelson (4th)
The Nightmare Before Christmas – produced by Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi (8th)
The Piano – produced by Jan Chapman (2nd, runner-up)
Schindler’s List – produced by Steven Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen and Branko Lustig (1st, winner)
Best Director:
Kenneth Branagh, Much Ado About Nothing
Jane Campion, The Piano (runner-up)
Andrew Davis, The Fugitive
Jim Sheridan, In the Name of the Father
Steven Spielberg, Schindler’s List (winner)
Best Actor:
Kenneth Branagh, Much Ado About Nothing
Daniel Day-Lewis, In the Name of the Father (runner-up)
Clint Eastwood, In the Line of Fire
Harvey Keitel, The Piano
Liam Neeson, Schindler’s List (winner)
Best Actress:
Angela Bassett, What’s Love Got to Do with It (runner-up)
Juliette Binoche, Three Colors: Blue
Holly Hunter, The Piano (winner)
Michelle Pfeiffer, The Age of Innocence
Emma Thompson, The Remains of the Day
Best Supporting Actor:
Ralph Fiennes, Schindler’s List (winner)
Ben Kingsley, Schindler’s List
Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive
Sam Neill, The Piano
Pete Postlethwaite, In the Name of the Father (runner-up)
Best Supporting Actress:
Embeth Davidtz, Schindler’s List
Gong Li, Farewell My Concubine
Anna Paquin, The Piano (winner)
Christina Ricci, Addams Family Values
Emma Thompson, In the Name of the Father (runner-up)
Best Adapted Screenplay:
In the Name of the Father – Terry George and Jim Sheridan (runner-up)
Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton and David Koepp
Much Ado About Nothing – Kenneth Branagh
The Age of Innocence – Jay Cocks and Martin Scorsese
Schindler’s List – Steven Zaillian (winner)
Best Original Screenplay:
Groundhog Day – Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin (runner-up)
In the Line of Fire – Jeff Maguire
Menace II Society – Tyger Williams
The Nightmare Before Christmas – Michael McDowell and Caroline Thompson
The Piano – Jane Campion (winner)
Schindler’s List is definitely one of those movies that I can go a very long time without re-watching. But I think that’s almost as telling as a movie you can watch over and over, if that makes sense? If I never see it again, that won’t discount it’s impact or the way it’s influenced my cinematic education.
My preferences:
Picture – Schindlers List
Director – Spielberg
Actor – Neeson
Actress – Hunter
S.actor – Fiennes
S.Actress – Paquin
That said, Remains of the Day is the shizz. I almost give it Best Picture and Best Actor.
Schindler’s List is a top class movie – no doubt about it. But the real shocking detail for me is the technical level of this film. It was far more superior than any other film in that era.
Schindler’s List, like Gandhi, is one of those movies that won more because the subject automatically resonates with people than because of quality- heck, it did with me in the first time I saw it, and only in rewatches I could analyze it better, so I don’t really blame the Academy.
And I’m not a Spielberg hater by any means, BTW (loved Lincoln and most of his movies), but Schindler’s List is just one of those movies that are too self-important to work, plus Spielberg’s usual ticks end up being preposterous here given the subject matter- like in that scene in which he tries to create (cheap) suspense on whether it will be gas or water to come out of the showers (I’m not alone in that- Michael Haneke criticized him for the same reason during the Oscar season).
The best picture of 1993 was Kieslowski’s Blue, and the best American one it’s Groundhog Day, IMO.
The Bride with White Hair (Hong Kong , released in summer of 1993 ,)
my favorite movie of that year – and 1993 was an excellent year for movies,
yes , totally agree of this .
time flies , almost 20 years .
Jurassic park ‘s impact and influence is still going on and until now ,
it lead hollywood focus more on visual effects other than anything (actually Jurassic park was not just a CG entertaining film without anything) , it lead hollywood dominate the world film market and made more and more money , it had changed a lot for the world film imdustry afterwards ,
Well, winning an Oscar is mostly due to perfect timing. Even a “crappy” “sobby” or whatever film/performance can win when his/her time has come.
So it was for TLJ in 1993, so it was for SaBu in 2009 (and maybe this year again??? Watch out, Blanchett…), so it was for Meryl 2011, so it was for Anne and J-Law.
I’m not saying all of these performances were bad. I quite like TLJ in The Fugitive and I like Meryl in TIL. They should both have won for better performances, that’s true, but unfortunately they didn’t. I don’t like SaBu’s win in 2009. She did not do anything special. But she had the right timing. Millions loved her and so did the Academy. They even could again. Like I’ve said, Blanchett should watch out…
I’m quite shocked Ralph Finnes was nominated for SUPPORTING actor??? How many times has it happens that the movie Title’s character name was nominated in Supporting? Except for Meryl’s Joanna Kramer obviously-people say she was actually leading, but with 15 minutes screentime, I doubt it. Though Anthony Hopkins only had 17 Minutes screentime in The Silence of the Lambs…. Things can be really confusing sometimes.
Wait, the actor who played the movie’s title character–Oskar Schindler–was nominated in lead actor: Liam Neeson. Ralph Fiennes played Nazi Amon Goeth and was nominated in supporting actor.
Yepp, that was my HUGE mistake.
I confound Liam Neeson with Ralph Fiennes… How embarrassing….
Nevertheless two great roles.
Oldboy gets a screening in London, is it the NYFF secret screening?
http://thescreenteen.blogspot.com/2013/09/is-oldboy-nyff-secret-screening.html?m=1
I have always thought Denzel deserved more recognition for Philadelphia. His character represented the majority of America’s ignorance on H.I.V./Aids as well as their undercurrent of homophobia. His transformation as the movie progressed was well-earned and his performance sold every minute of it. His character is one of my favorite fictional lawyers of all time.
I’ve always thought that anyone BUT Tommy Lee Jones would have been a better Best Supporting Actor…it seemed such a lifetime achievement award.
Speaking of the actual Oscars that feel like lifetime achievement awards – who is morally opposed to them 100% of the time? Or are you fine with them on occasion, depending on who the recipient is?
It will always be a shame that Ralph Fiennes didn’t win an oscar for his performance in Schindler’s List. My guess is, despite the Academy often citing villains in the supporting category (see Javier or M’onique), I think his performance was a little too real and therefore all the more unsettling. Also, I remember that year Tommy Lee Jones became the ‘overdue guy’ so it would not have mattered that at least three of the performances were better. Never been much of a Dicaprio fan, but his performace in Gilbert Grape is legendary IMO. Jones was clearly the overdue guy that year and thankfully it wasn’t a BAD performance.
It’s hard to believe that no performance in Schindler’s List won (it’s still surprising that Embeth Davidtz wasn’t nominated in supporting).
Looking back, 1993 was a great year – when the final five is as good as that, there’s little to complain about….The Fugitive was THAT good to make the cut. It still holds up well today.
1993 huh? I think if I had to chose, my favorite movie of 1993 is Dazed and Confused. Such a freaking classic. Followed by Jurassic Park, and then The Fugitive.
This may piss some people off, but… I think of Schindler’s List like I think of a painting. It’s a beautiful, well made film, but extremely hard to watch a 2nd time, and can only be seen like a painting, admired….
IDK….. I feel like this is one of those movies people are not going to like my comment.
I agree that 1993 was a great year, but I will always remember 1993 for 3 great movie experiences that have never left me:
1) The Piano and it’s unbelievable originality. I still remember sitting in my movie seat at the end of it and unable to get up.
2) Fearless – an incredible movie experience. Jeff Bridges’ “Max” still stands as one of my favourite characters of all time.
3) Remains of the Day – a beautiful, subtle film experience
Going by the IMDb listings for 1993 looks like my favorites were:
True Romance
Tombstone
Carlito’s Way
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Fearless
Fire in the Sky
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Fugitive
A Bronx Tale
The Bride with White Hair (? year ?)
Grave of the Fireflies (? year ?)
but Schindler’s List is “the best” obviously. I’m able to separate my favorites and what should win BP. I had a similar harrowing experience to Houstonrufus. I had such a headache leaving the theater. I had no more moisture left for my brain after it all fell out of my eyes. My vision was even impaired. I almost couldn’t find the bus stop.
TRUE ROMANCE!!!!!!
Well, I guess I will never understand why people think Schindler’s List is flawless. To me, the Little Girl In Red sequence is a huge flaw in an otherwise brilliant film.
Spielberg made many decisions on this film which kept him from indulging in his worst tendencies as a director. I think going with the black-and-white cinematography was a great choice, particularly because it made certain parts of the film look incredibly realistic. Sequences in the movie were eerily close to the actual military documentation of the horrors at the concentration camps. He worked so hard to make you feel like you were watching a documentary, and then he has to go and ruin it all with an adorable girl in blood red as John Williams strings swell on the soundtrack. In this one moment he abandoned his cold objectivity and instead went for the cheap, big emotions that ruined Amistad (remember “Give us free!”).
There are many great Holocaust movies out there, but the best one I have seen is The Pianist. That was a truly brutal look at the destruction of individuals, families, communities, and an entire race of people. Polanski never goes for sentimentality or trying to wring tears out of the audience. He just shows us everything with stark honesty. Roman Polanski may be scum as a person, but he is a brilliant director.
Maybe the difference in the two directors’ approach to making their respective films has to do with how they understand the Holocaust. Spielberg heard about the stories from survivors when he was just a little kid, and so I am sure his young mind needed some way to process the horrors he was hearing about. Perhaps the Little Girl In Red represents his loss of innocence as a young boy.
Polanski on the other hand survived the Holocaust himself. He does not need any cinematic flourishes to deal with the trauma of these atrocities. He is creating on screen what he experienced first hand, rather than what he was told by other people. Even though he was telling someone else’s survival story, he was expressing his own survival on to the screen. That is what a truly great artist does, channel their own pain, trauma, or demons into their art.
I think The Pianist losing Best Picture to Chicago is one of the greatest Oscar miscarriages, up there with Goodfellas losing to Dances With Wolves or Raging Bull losing to Ordinary People. Schindler’s List is a great movie, but the Little Girl In Red was a huge misstep by Spielberg.
In this one moment he abandoned his cold objectivity and instead went for the cheap, big emotions that ruined Amistad (remember “Give us free!”).
Give us, us free. Sorry but I love that stuff. I mean the swell of music as ET and his bicycle friends take off for the sky. That’s why movies are better than real life. That’s why I go to them.
The red dress stunt WAS true to the Thomas Keneally book though – that is, the narrative made a big deal about the way her dress stood out as a symbol etc.
unlikely hood, we all know Polanski and the goddamn phallic tokens aren’t innocent either.
The only 2002 travesty is MINORITY REPORT not being nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor -Collin Farrell or Max von Sydow- both deserved it more than the combination of Alec Baldwin, Djimon Hounsou, and Ken Watanabe. Also robbed was a nomination for Best Visual Effects.
Another travesty was FAR FROM HEAVEN not nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor -Denis Quaid, Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design.
Additionally, since you seem to die for control, restrain, and bleakness, I would advise you to check-out Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s THE SON -also from 2002- as it is a superior film to Roman Polanski’s THE PANIST. I’m of the opinion, like Antoinette, that evoking sadness or nostalgia, displaying tenderness, or inducing joy are not bottom-of the barrel resources or techniques, they are not easy to achieve either, they require the rare talent of a master. And they just happen to be the opposite of the stuff you seem to think is superior. What it translates to me is that people like you are only able to appreciate about 50% of what the cinema has to offer.
If you wanna know my opinion, I think you’re deeply misguided by focusing on the Red-dressed girl. If you try and think a little, the paramount sugar-coating in SCHINDLER’S LIST exists in the form of the character Amon Goeth. Now, me personally myself I don’t consider it a weakness of the film or a compromise of the intellect. It is what it is, he’s just one guy who happens to be the personification of evil. If you don’t understand, I can get into it, or someone smarter than me in this thread will.
Finally, you’re whole logic of Polanski being able to deliver a superior piece about an atrocity, just because he himself survived it, is a little slight, but if true then Steve McQueen is fucked.
I love The Pianist as well. It is the most intimate Holocaust film that I have seen. I do think, like Spielberg, Polanski actually had to get out of his own way to tell this story of one man’s survival. I find The Pianist to be the least like Polanski’s other films. He films Szpilman’s story quite straightforwardly without reliance on his usual flourishes such as shocking violence and paranoia.
I wasn’t even ten when Schindler’s List came out, but watched it with my family on video a year or so after it became available. My two memories of it, from that first viewing, were “my parents don’t usually let me see stuff this violent or with nudity but they keep saying it’s ‘important to see it'” and the little girl in red.
I get why it can seem like a cheesy device in the movie, but from the perspective of a young kid watching the film, it was what I could connect with instantly. I knew what the Holocaust was, and that kids died, but in the almost blur of black and white (what kid can really follow a black and white historical film anyway?) that red imagery stuck out and it remains one of my most memorable movie watching experiences.
Undoubtedly “Schindler’s List” is a great movie. The road had been paved, however, 15 years earlier by the mini-series “Holocaust,” which won a boatload of Emmys. 5 years after “SL,” “Life Is Beautiful” would break new ground on how to tell the story. As I wrote just the other day, my picks for 1993: “The Piano” and Jane Campion.
Ralph Fiennes should have won Best Supp. Actor.
The Joy Luck Club is easily my favorite film of the year, I cry non-stop when I watch that film. Heck, just the mention of peanut butter pie makes me well up.
But, if I were of the academic type, I’d readily list The Piano, Short Cuts and The Remains of the Day above it. They are truly great films.
Add on Searching for Bobby Fischer and Six Degrees of Separation and you got six films I still love to watch to this day. If I were a film diehard, I’m sure Fearless and a few others would be amongst my faves as well.
I go for Jarman’s Blue over Kieślowski’s. That particular masterpiece and Jurassic Park are my picks for best of ’93. Naked is a clear but distant third.
Also: in my opinion, the triumphs of 90’s screen acting don’t really begin making appearances until 1994.
-Watermelons
I am sure you mean Melanie Lynskey. 😉
Truly one of the most unforgettable and harrowing experiences I’ve ever had in a movie theater. I’ll never forget walking out of a crowded theater with the audience, none of speaking a word. We may not have even been breathing. Too stunned and full of sorrow.
Fiennes was unknown. Jones had been kicking around for years, and somehow it became known that he was Al Gore’s college roommate – catnip to voters still humming “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” from a year before. However, you guys make it sound like it was Ralph vs. Tommy; it wasn’t. Damien Bona called the Best Supporting Actor race of 1993 probably the best collection of five performances of ANY year, and he may well have been right. They all should have won.
We talk about 1993 (and 1999) all the time around here. I’ve brought up both of those years when other commenters act as though the best years have been, uh, Obama years.
What we don’t talk about is WHY. Why was 1993 so great? Coincidence? Global warming? More fluoride in LA tap water that year?
It’s tricky cause it’s not just one thing. But basically, the early 90s saw a surge in anti-repressive media, boosting films, TV shows, and music that actually dealt with the pain of modern life, instead of just putting an 80s gloss on same. Hip-hop, Nirvana, grunge, Roseanne, The Simpsons…all were to some degree about rejecting the artificiality of the Reagan 80s.
The importance of 1991 can’t be over-stated. For the first time in 60 years, the President asked Congress “can we go to war?” and it really seemed like a big deal. But then – weirdly – it wasn’t. So we were all pulled together as this big community, and then…what? What did we have to experience together? Suddenly: Rodney King. The breakup of the Soviet Union, including Gorbachev held hostage and Yeltsin standing on a tank. Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas (before that, how many Americans had heard the term “sexual harassment”?) Magic Johnson being HIV+. Whatever else this was, it wasn’t the 80s.
In terms of film, two Americans – David Lynch and Joel Coen – won two consecutive Palms D’Or at Cannes. Sorry fans, but The Piano would not have become Miramax’s 1993 darling if not for winning the Palme AND the fact that Americans suddenly knew what that was. But indie film had been surging for years, Lynch and the Coens only the most visible component – there was also Jarmusch, Soderbergh, Raimi, Michael Moore, Rick Linklater, John Sayles, Spike Lee, Mike Leigh, Ang Lee, some new kid named Tarantino. No one knew what “Sundance” was when Reagan was President. By 1993 everyone did. On some level, the golden age of indie film exerted a pressure on Hollywood to make better product. In other cases, it lifted people who had trailblazed for it – like Robert Altman, Woody Allen, Scorsese, maybe even Merchant/Ivory. 1991 had also proved that The Silence of the Lambs and Thelma and Louise were possible. Goddamn, if Hollywood could make those, they could make anything, right?
And I think indie’s golden age also made Spielberg trust that a black-and-white film for adults didn’t have to lose money.
I’m not gonna listen to Sasha’s podcast, because it’s not gonna even ask WHY? It’s just gonna talk about 1993 being cool, maybe genuflect to Clinton a little. But Clinton was an effect, not a cause, of tossing off years of 80s repression. The real credit belongs to the people who proved – through most of the works cited – that they would be interested in something meatier. Why 1993? Power to the people, baby.
Impeccable, informative. As always don’t agree with 100% of the opinions, but who does. thanks!
Woot!
+1
Great Oscars –
STEVEN finally wins
HANKS emotional acceptance speech
BRUUUUUUUUUCE !
Bummer of the night Jones winning over Fiennes
Schindler’s List and Jurassic Park in the same year.
When the history books are settled, there will be no question who is the greatest American filmmaker of all time.
Spielberg has a glaring weakness: he’s indifferent toward women and their stories and only includes them when necessary (Mary Todd Lincoln). He’s got the Color Purple under his belt and that seems to have satisfied his credentials over the years.
The one archetype he seemed to enjoy was the embattled mother (ET, Close Encounters) but he’s ditched that character a long time ago.
He’s great, but there were other great directors that weren’t afraid of women: Alfred Hitchcock, William Wyler, George Cuckor, and Woody Allen, and Billy Wilder, to name a few.
There is no denying that when Spielberg is at his best, his films can be masterpieces. However he is a hit or miss director as of later and tends to be too much of the sentimental/melodramatic side as of late. I find it hard to call him the greatest when films such as The Terminal, War Horse, Crystal Skull, War of the Worlds are in his filmography. There is no denying that he is one of the greatest but I still feel that he is still best when working in scifi or in historical epics.
This saddest thing about this year for me is that Gong Li who is perhaps one of the best actress of her generation (and still has 0 Oscar nominations btw) was snubbed for her performance in Farewell My Concubine which to me is the best supporting performance of that year although I do think Anna Paquin was quite worthy that year.
Li gave a distant third best performance from that film. If you want to award acting in Concubine, give it to Leslie Cheung who is absolutely stunning and mesmerizing in his portrait of a tortured soul.
1993?
1. Short Cuts
2. Three Colors: Blue
3. Naked
4. The Piano
5. Groundhog Day
6. Farewell My Concubine
7. The Wedding Banquet
Sue me, but my medals for 1993 were…
3. Bronze… Schindler’s List
2. Silver… The Wedding Banquet
1. Gold… The Piano
for closing a top 5, difficult, probably Groundhog Day and Three Colors: Blue.
I love this year. I stayed home from school in New Zealand to watch it live since The Piano’s nominations led it to being broadcast live for the first time there (we’re talking pre-cable here). I remember vividly Anna Paquin gasping and speechless at the podium and me gasping along with her!
For me, while Ralph Fiennes was unfairly passed over for the Oscar, the greatest injustice was Michael Nyman missing a nomination for The Piano’s haunting incredible score. A travesty!
I totally agree about the score for The Piano – one of the most memorable movie scores. up until maybe a year ago I though that that music was probably adopted because it wasn’t nominated. I was surprised to hear that it was actually original. big snub!
My choices for the 20 best films of 1993, in order of preference: SCHINDLER‘S LIST, Time Indefinite, The Remains of the Day, Three Colors: Blue, The Age of Innocence, Naked, Short Cuts, Dazed and Confused, Fearless, Silverlake Life: The View From Here, King of the Hill, Groundhog Day, Clean Shaven, Falling Down, The Piano, Ruby in Paradise, The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl, Latcho Drom, Menace II Society, Stalingrad
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg, SCHINDLER’S LIST (2nd: Krzysztof Kieslowski, Three Colors: Blue)
ACTOR: Anthony Hopkins, THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (2nd: David Thewlis, Naked)
ACTRESS: Juliette Binoche, THREE COLORS: BLUE (2nd: Holly Hunter, The Piano)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ralph Fiennes, SCHINDLER‘S LIST (2nd: Leonardo DiCaprio, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anna Paquin, THE PIANO (2nd: Annie Ross, Short Cuts)
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Janusz Kaminski, SCHINDLER’S LIST (2nd: Michael Ballhaus, The Age of Innocence)
ORIGINAL SCORE: Zbigniew Preisner, THREE COLORS: BLUE (2nd: Elmer Bernstein, The Age of Innocence)
SHORT FILM: THE WRONG TROUSERS (Nick Park) (2nd: Blood Ties: The Life and Work of Sally Mann (Steven Cantor)
FURTHER:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Mike Leigh, NAKED (2nd: Harold Ramis and Danny Rubin, Groundhog Day)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (2nd: Robert Altman and Frank Barhydt, Short Cuts)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: TIME INDEFINITE (Ross McElwee) (2nd: Silverlake Life: The View From Here)
NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: THREE COLORS: BLUE (France/Poland/Germany, Krzysztof Kieslowski) (2nd: Stalingrad (Germany, Joseph Vilsmaier))
ART DIRECTION: THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
COSTUME DESIGN: THE AGE OF INNNOCENCE
FILM EDITING: SCHINDLER‘S LIST
SOUND: JURASSIC PARK
ORIGINAL SONG: “Streets of Philadelphia” from PHILADELPHIA (music and lyrics by Bruce Springsteen) (2nd: “Philadelphia” from Philadelphia (music and lyrics by Neil Young))
ADAPTED SCORE/SCORE FOR A MUSICAL: Mark Isham, SHORT CUTS (2nd: Danny Elfman, The Nightmare Before Christmas)
SPECIAL EFFECTS: JURASSIC PARK
MAKEUP: MRS. DOUBTFIRE
ANIMATED FEATURE: THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Henry Selick) (2nd: The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (Dave Borthwick))
Three colors Blue and Age of innocence are my favorite films from 1993. However, Schinder’s List is a perfect Oscar film.
I love Schindler’s List. I first saw it in history class in the eighth grade. Is it wrong that I thought Ralph Fiennes was unbelievably sexy in that movie?
Just to add a different perspective to the chorus of disrespect. I myself would have voted for Ralph Fiennes. He deserved to win. This was far and way the best performance of his career. Having said that, I believe Tommy Lee Jones gave a great performance and is a worthy winner –from a great movie. I’m happy he won. I cannot conceive of a world with an OscarlessTommy Lee Jones; it would be absurd.
Ralph Fiennes on the other hand doesn’t have much more to show for himself. By this I mean that, considering his long career, SCHINDLER’S LIST is the only film for which I would have given him an Academy Award nomination. Maaybe for David Cronenberg’s SPIDER? But I’m not sure at the moment since I don’t even remember what year that was or what performances would I have to consider; point is he’s never impressed me again. He’s no Gary Oldman.
Quiz Show & English Patient, both worthy of Oscar noms. A case can also be made for the Constant Gardener.
if Tommy Lee Jones had not won for The Fugitive, he would have won for Lincoln, deservedly so. he wouldn’t be Oscarless anymore. now, Fiennes is the Oscarless one, and he deserved it 20 years ago.
Also Embeth Davidtz was ignored for Supporting Actress nomination in Schindler’s List…. she was a scene stealer
Tommy Lee Jones winning for that crappy performance is blasphemy…
I remember i was young when i watched Schindler’s List and it was my first ever experience watching Ralph Fiennes on screen, i never knew that actor before and after watching Schindler’s List it was very hard for me to see him in any positive heroic role he later did. That’s how impressive he was, his performance as Amon Goeth goes skin deep in me.
Whenever i watch Schindler’s List again i say go f**k yourself academy… It wasn’t fair at all but at least he won BAFTA.
And oh boy do i love The Piano, absolutely riveting movie experience, Campion’s masterpiece. That haunting performance by Holly Hunter, score and cinematography…
Actually, my favorite movie of that year – and 1993 was an excellent year for movies, I agree – was Peter Weir’s FEARLESS, not least of which because it walks through all kinds of melodramatic traps and gets through them completely unscathed. And while that was a good year for lead actor performances, Jeff Bridges should have been nominated.
Alright, once more, I will try to defend the Academy’s choice of Jones (I would have had him share the award with Fiennes). During the movie, we are predisposed to rooting for Harrison Ford’s character; he’s the hero, and he’s falsely accused of murder and is trying to clear his name. When Jones’ character first shows up, we are predisposed to root against him, because he’s out to catch Ford, regardless of whether he’s innocent or not. But by the end of the the film, you’re rooting for him as well; rooting for him to discover the truth and clear Ford as well as catch him. Jones manages to accomplish this even though he *never* – not once – plays for our sympathy, or really lets us know he’s changing his mind (the closest he gets is the look on his face when Julianne Moore’s character lets him know Ford saved a boy’s life). Instead, he does it through his doggedness and his intelligence (reflected by the people who work directly under him; none of them are idiots). If Fiennes represented pure evil, Jones represents good, but without resorting to any cliches to express that. Even when he hands out compliments to his crew, it’s done in a restrained way, and not obviously so. Plus, as Ford stays silent for most of the movie, Jones is the one who is basically running the story most of the time, and he never loses sight of the fact (if you wanted to argue he should be lead instead of supporting, that’s a valid point). All in all, I think there’s a lot more going on in his performance than “I don’t care!”
If Fiennes represented pure evil, Jones represents good, but without resorting to any cliches to express that. Even when he hands out compliments to his crew, it’s done in a restrained way, and not obviously so. Plus, as Ford stays silent for most of the movie, Jones is the one who is basically running the story most of the time, and he never loses sight of the fact (if you wanted to argue he should be lead instead of supporting, that’s a valid point). All in all, I think there’s a lot more going on in his performance than “I don’t care!”
Thank you. Much appreciated. I wish I could write like you.
I don’t know if you guys read our comments before doing the podcasts, because there have been really good questions and points about certain films that don’t get mentioned.
Anyway:
– The Piano won NY Film Critics. I bet there are some people out there that would say it’s a better directed film than Schindler’s List. And it for sure had its supporters in the Academy.
– Spielberg’s career: Finally the payoff of winning an Oscar. But just a few years earlier in an interview with Barbara Walters Spielberg said he wasn’t in it for the Oscars. He said he would never be as good a director as Oliver Stone. Very interesting. Can you guys address criticism of the film, by people like Michael Haneke and Terry Gilliam?
Continuing:
– So is the criticism unfounded, rooted in jealousy of Spielberg’s place in the industry (you know, what they always say: it’s the one happy story when 6 million people died), or does it make sense? Is the gas scene people cite a gimmick that takes us out of the reality of the film?
– Also, regarding The Piano (the Palm d’Or winner), Anna Paquin winning. Good win? Bad win? Must’ve sucked to be Winona Ryder…LOL Holly Hunter and Emma Thompson were totally out of it, as Hunter had Best Actress in the bag and Thompson won last year.
– Best Actor: Did Tom Hanks really give the best performance? Did the Academy miss their chance to award Liam Neeson? What about Hopkins?
– Don’t forget Jurassic Park! Spielberg films dominated the Oscars, winning 10 total Oscars. How important a film is Jurassic Park? Does it still hold up? Does it represent a perfect balancing of visual effects and realism? “Uh uh uh! Uh uh uh! You didn’t say the magic word!”
– Farewell, My Concubine (won Palm d’Or with The Piano), lost Foreign Film
“- Farewell, My Concubine (won Palm d’Or with The Piano), lost Foreign Film”
Thanks for pointing it out, KT.
Come to think about it there were 3 out of 5 Best Foreign Film nominees from (Fareast and Southeast) Asia that year — The Wedding Banquet ([Chinese] Taiwan), Farewell My Concubine ([Chinese] Hong Kong), as well as The Scent of Green Papaya (Vietnam). (Other two films were the nominees from Spain and UK.)
Hanks won because he played an AIDS victim, a sympathetic role. And also the two actors that gave superior performances had won just years ago.
I would like to see David Thewlis win for Naked but that probably would never happen with AMPAS.
+1 100%
Yeah, it’s a tough call between Neeson and Hanks for 1993. I don’t think Lewis or Hopkins deserved another Oscar for their respective movies. I’d probably choose Hanks, he really is amazing in both the movies he won for.
The Piano did not win BP from NYFCC. Schindler’s list swept the BP awards from the critics circle while Jane Campion won most of the BD awards.
Thanks! That’s what I meant….The Piano won the majority of the directing prizes, including NY Film Critics.
Just to be clear, Champion won Best Director from the NYFC and from LAFC, but Schindler’s List won BP from both of these. Schindler’s also won BP from NBR, but Scorcese won director. NSFC went Schindler’s in both BP and Best Director.
Like Paddy, if forced to make a choice, I would choose The Piano over Schindler’s List, but it’s hard to argue against Schindler’s List as the BP winner.
Please tell me that doesn’t read Champion instead of Campion. *dies* But Campion is a champion, so I’m kind of half right?
the Unequivocal Best Picture winner
There you have it.
1. SCHINDLER’S LIST
2. THREE COLORS: BLUE
3. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
4. DAZED AND CONFUSED
5. SHORT CUTS
6. JURASSIC PARK
7. GROUNDHOG DAY
8. THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
9. NAKED
10. KING OF THE HILL
11. SONATINE
12. EVIL DEAD 3: ARMY OF DARKNESS
13. IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER
14. PATLABOR 2: THE MOVIE
15. SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
16. THE FUGITIVE
17. THE REMAINS OF THE DAY
18. TOMBSTONE
19. KALIFORNIA
20. FALLING DOWN
21. THE PIANO
22. MENACE II SOCIETY (Is this a good movie? Is this a good movie? I believe so. Some reassurance needed.)
23. BATMAN MASK OF THE PHANTASM
24. BODY SNATCHERS
25. TRUE ROMANCE
26. WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE
27. CRONOS
28. CARLITO’S WAY
29. THE SANDLOT
30. RUDY
31. FEARLESS
32. DEMOLITION MAN
33. SUPER MARIO BROS.
Worst Movie of the Year: STALINGRAD
Guilty Pleasure: SWING KIDS
(supposedlymostlyJewishAcademythoughwe’renotallowedtosaybecauseitsnotpoliticallycorrect)
Ha! Freakin hilarious. 😀
I consider 1993 a mostly uninteresting year for film. I loved The Age of Innocence — I once read somewhere that Scorcese considers it his best film. Anthony Hopkins’ performance in The Remains of the Day was amazing. Probably his best performance ever. Other than those two films, I didn’t really care for this year.
Another good read, Sasha. Merci!
Would love to hear your thoughts on the American Beauty year as well for it be one of the best modern-day Oscar years in my book, please, Mrs. Robinson…. xD
—
[Sasha also citing some titles including The Remains of the Day, etc.]
I like The Remains of the Day very much. Subtle yet beautiful. The novel, written by the Japanese British author Kazuo ISHIGURO, is a real beauty as well. It’s a shame the film went home empty-handed. (That said, I though had had this strange feeling watching the show live that it would turn out that way….) (But that’s life. And it did happen from time to time.)
As for Tommy Lee Jones’ win for his Best Supporting Actor role in The Fugitive (B or B+), I kind of saw it coming; his character was showy and in-your-face — both in a good way — and hugely contributed to the film’s goodness as much as the good editing and story-telling; so, while it is an action film, it remains solid throughout. If one is not too specific (reading: snobbish) about genre films, one should find it worth one’s while watching this breathtaking action piece. It would probably have never been the same save TLJ in it…. [Self-edited: Originally discussing the other four nominees – Fiennes, DiCaprio, Malkovich, as well as the late Pete Postlethwaite]
Also, don’t forget IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER.
The great thing about 1993 was that 4 of the Best Picture nominees would have won in other years.
I think we only feel it was inevitable now because we know the film Spielberg delivered. But let’s just pretend for a second that it had not been good. In any way. And there are many ways it could have gone very wrong. The weight of expectation on the film was huge. Remember, when Spielberg announced he was going to do it, he had come off a run of Always and Hook. Two weak pictures. His career, while not on the skids, was nowhere near what he wanted it to be or where it should have been. So he announces Schindler’s List and the media start sharpening their knives. Jurassic Park was hit by a hurricane out in Hawaii and the press licked their lips.
Then Jurassic was a smash and, well happily the rest played out the way optimistic people wanted it to play out. By which I mean, Schindler’s was a great picture.
I remember watching it in a tiny industry screening about a week before it was released and at times I felt as if I had been hit in the chest with a barge-pole. There are some serious lapses in taste but it’s still a vaulting piece of work.
I agree, Feinnes was robbed of an Oscar. Don’t know how, don’t know why the Academy went with “I DON’T CARE!”
Oh gosh lol rly, Slumdog Millionaire, I mean plz…
An outrage that Ralph Fiennes lost to Tommy Lee Jones, wtf were they thinking?
Another great film from 1993 (although not released until 1994 in the US) is Mike Leigh’s Naked. One of his best films. Exceptional performances in that, too. The film that made Ewen Bremner’s career.
The Piano’s actually my favourite film from 1993, more than Schindler’s List. Holly Hunter in that performance! Michael Nyman’s score! Jane fucking Campion, bitches!
No movie makes me bawl like this one. Perfect film.
Probably the best year in the 90s. So many under-the-radar gems like Searching for Bobby Fischer, Naked, Kalifornia, Much Ado About Nothing, Three Colours: Blue, In the Name of the Father.
Plus – that was the year dinosaurs came alive, again!
I was gonna consider WHITE too for my list. I’m not sure…These European release dates fuck me over
You guys are forgetting maybe my favorite non-Schindler’s List movie of 1993: GROUNDHOG DAY!
God bless Bill Murray may he outlive us all
The Best of year the 90’s was 1999.. For sure
Agree.
The Insider
Rushmore
The Thin Red Line (although I didn’t like it)
October Sky
Office Space
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
The Matrix
Go!
Election
Ghost Dog
South Park
Eyes Wide Shut
Dick
The Sixth Sense
American Beauty
Boys Don’t Cry
Three Kings
Fight Club
Dogma
Sleepy Hollow
Toy Story 2
Cider House Rules
Green Mile
Any Given Sunday
Magnolia
Talented Mr. Ripley
The Hurricane
The Thin Red Line is from 1998 not 1999
Truth! My mistake
After seeing your list I got enticed, Josh. It looked so freaking packed. A bit of a technical nitpick with Ritchie’s film, but yeah we can consider it a 99 titles which makes things the more insane to come up with a top 10.
Behold 1999
1. THE MATRIX
2. MAGNOLIA
3. EYES WIDE SHUT (Glad to see slowly but steadily more and more people coming to their senses regarding the master’s swan song)
4. FIGHT CLUB
5. ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER
6. BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
7. THREE KINGS
8. AMERICAN BEAUTY
9. THE IRON GIANT
10. AUTUMN TALE
11. THE INSIDER
12. LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS
13. BRINGING OUT THE DEAD (In this year, not wonder this great film by Martin Scorsese got lost)
14. OCTOBER SKY
15. THE STRAIGHT STORY
16. MOLOCH
17. RUSHMORE
18. ROSETTA
19. GALAXY QUEST (A perfect film, the SHAUN OF THE DEAD of the 90’s –if anyone didn’t already know)
20. THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY
21. THE WIND WILL CARRY US
22. HUMAN RESOURCES (The year of THE ARTIST this would have been top 10. What is going on here?)
23. DOGMA
24. PEPPERMINT CANDY
25. JOURNEY TO THE SUN
26. SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER & UNCUT
27. AUDITION
28. GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI
29. CRUEL INTENTIONS
30. MIFUNE’S LAST SONG
31. WATER DROPS ON BURNING ROCKS
32. TWO HANDS
33. ELECTION (The Only Alexander Payne film I like)
34. THE WAR ZONE
35. EXISTENZ
36. ANY GIVEN SUNDAY
37. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
38. RATCATCHER
39. 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (I was even able to tolerate Julia Stiles so that should tell you how good this is)
40. BOYS DON’T CRY
41. THE VIRGIN SUICIDES (The only Sofia Coppola film I like)
42. THE SIXTH SENSE
It might not contain the best film of the 1990’s, which is PULP FICTION, but this is just crazey.
Most Overrated Film: TOY STORY 2 and BEAU TRAVAIL
Worst Film of the Year: MAN ON THE MOON
Guilty Pleasure: TEA WITH MUSSOLINI + VARSITY BLUES
By the way it’s worth clarifying that I never take into account documentaries, I gotta maintain a level of sanity.
Thank GOD! You have The Matrix #1.
+1 to you Bryce!!
Wow. I didn’t realize Spielberg did Schindler’s List and Jurassic Park in the same year. That man is truly one of the greats.