Continuing from yesterday's rewatches of March 2000, here are my first-timers from that same period. Among them is the first of the second of the year's releases to go on to Oscar glory.
That movie, of course, is Erin Brockovich, which opened before the Oscars for 1999 even aired and immediately had Julia Roberts as the Best Actress frontrunner for the next year's ceremony, momentum that never once slowed down. It was perfect, in a way: despite a Supporting Actress nomination for 1989's Steel Magnolias, her superstardom began with 1990's Pretty Woman, the 20th Century ending with her as our reigning rom-com box office queen, America's Sweetheart. It's only fitting that the 21st Century began with her being lauded not just as a genuine thespian, but as our Best Actress. (Sometimes I think, oh that all happened fast, but that's actually the typical timeline for breakthrough-to-Oscar for female movie stars - Emma Stone, Jennifer Lawrence, Grace Kelly...hell, Audrey Hepburn won for her debut!)
Here's where Erin Brockovich fell within the March 2000 landscape:
Mission to Mars
release: March 10
dir: Brian De Palma
pr: Tom Jacobson
scr: Jim Thomas & John Thomas and Graham Yost, story by Lowell Cannon and Jim Thomas & John Thomas
cin: Stephen H. Burum
When disaster strikes the first mission to colonize Mars, a resuce team is sent to find out what happened - and what happens next.
Apparently inspired by a Disney attraction? Not well-liked at the time, director Brian De Palma was even nominated for Worst Director by the Razzie Awards. If I take two steps back, I can objectively see that maybe not everything fits perfectly together, consistently. But why would I take two steps away from a beautiful experience? I fell in love! The horrific opening, with one shocking death that had me gasping in shock and fear! The organ-heavy Ennio Morricone score, eerie, epic, and yet with a certain religious fervor that adds to what's really on the movie's mind! The central Gary Sinise character, an unexpected widower now tasked with helping others fulfill his late wife's dreams, whose grief allows him an insight and understanding that opens the doors of possibility, of hope. Slight spoilers here: the Answers sought by all the characters are only really revealed to those suffering sudden loss, marking the experience of love, loss, rage, and disorientation as a truly universal one.
The Ninth Gate
release: March 10
dir/pr: Roman Polanski
scr: John Brownjohn & Enrique Urbizu and Roman Polanski, from the novel El Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
cin: Darius Khondji
A rare book dealer is tasked with finding the surviving copies of a book whose puzzle could unlock the gates of hell, I think.
As go-for-broke as Wojciech Kilar's score and Frank Langella's performance are, it is ultimately not a very good movie. The look is so flat, why is everything so bright and uninteresting to look at? Johnny Depp is sleepwalking! The editing is clunky, one fight on the steps of the Seine sits so leadenly, you wonder if they just turned in a first pass. Where's the director of Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown and The Tenant, he's certainly not behind the camera of this movie!
Erin Brockovich
release: March 17
wins: Best Actress (Julia Roberts)
nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Albert Finney), Best Original Screenplay
dir: Steven Soderbergh
pr: Danny DeVito / Michael Shamberg / Stacey Sher
scr: Susannah Grant
cin: Edward Lachman
Rough-around-the-edges single momma Erin Brockovich uses her chutzpah to get some filing work at a law firm and winds up pursuing a case against the state's biggest utility provider for poisoning a town's water supply.
I'll get into this more next month as I review the Oscar race, but suffice it to say, I did not envy the other Best Picture nominees having to be compared to what just might be perfection. Loved it. "That's all you got, lady: two wrong feet in ugly fucking shoes!" is a line for the ages.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
release: March 17, 2000
dir/scr: Jim Jarmusch
pr: Richard Guay / Jim Jarmusch
cin: Robby Müller
Zen hitman becomes a target for aging mobsters when he leaves a witness behind.
I saw this the same week I saw The Alto Knights, an unexpected double feature about the decline of the American Mafia, its iconography of danger and violence undercut by watching it exclusively upheld by wheezing, overweight retirees married to a routine that consists of them just sitting in dark restaurants reading newspapers for hours, occasionally relishing the opportunity to give phlegmatic marching orders. Jarmusch further pokes at the image by presenting much of the action in broad daylight, allowing them to sweat and squint into the sun as they stumble around killing the wrong people, consistently missing a target who you'd think, despite being an invisible "samurai", would be pretty hard to miss! Our titular Ghost Dog isn't even particularly inconspicuous, though he does keep to himself, interacting only with an ice cream vendor who speaks no English and a child who's interested in the book he's reading. Violent irrelevance vs. stoic purpose, and with a perfect score by RZA.
Romeo Must Die
release: March 22
dir: Andrzej Bartkowiak
pr: Joel Silver / Jim Van Wyck
scr: Eric Bernt and John Jarrell, story by Mitchell Kapner
cin: Glen MacPherson
Riff on Romeo & Juliet, I guess, sees a Chinese ex-cop come to the Bay Area to investigate his gangster brother's death, teaming up with the daughter of a rival gang leader who's trying to go legit.
Action star Jet Li paired with R&B singer Aaliyah sounds like a match made less for cinema artistry than moneymaking purposes, and maybe it is, but every time they're on screen together, there's a crackling energy that is undeniable. They trade quips, they trade looks, they fight together - one of the best scenes has them warding off attackers, both of them delivering kicks and flips, working in tandem, so synchronized in performance and physicality that I was reminded of the old Fred & Ginger movies. They should have gotten to kiss, they should have made more movies together. Besides that, it's a fun movie anchored by phenomenal character actor performances (Delroy Lindo! Isaiah Washington! Henry O!) that, refreshingly, sees no need to insert anyone else into a Black and Chinese story. Nothing but praise.
The Road to El Dorado
release: March 31
dir: Eric "Bibo" Bergeron / Don Paul
pr: Brooke Breton / Bonne Radford
scr: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio / Philip LaZebnik, additional dialogue by Karey Kirkpatrick
Two conmen sent as slave-prisoners to the New World under Cortes escape and find themselves stumbling on the mythical El Dorado, where they are mistaken for Gods.
If the title wasn't enough, the setup of two conmen and one exotic broad who both like but only one can get should be enough to tell you that this is a riff on the old Road movies with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. Its attempt to do that, winks and nudges fully intact, while still operating as a kid-friendly animated musical, is often awkward, not helped by some odd designs (the proportions of blond Miguel upset me) and story elements that seem undercooked. OK soundtrack.
Beau travail
release: March 31
dir: Claire Denis
pr: Patrick Grandperret
scr: Claire Denis / Jean-Pol Fargeau, from Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville
cin: Agnès Godard
Riff on Billy Budd transfers the action to a French Foreign Legion base in Djibouti, where the head of a section finds himself drawn to and repelled by a handsome young recruit.
I guess everyone was big on riffing this March! It is not a movie you watch to see the plot machinations, but one that you have to surrender to, let wash over you. Watch these beautiful young men, sweating and shirtless, doing their exercises, marching, "building a road" by moving this bit of rock and sand to that bit of rock and sand, occasionally frolic in the sea, but mostly look moody as they live out their youth in what appears to me to be a useless extension of a long-gone Empire, the smallness of their pursuits exacerbated by the vastness of the white sand and deep blue waters. Admittedly, I don't think I watched it in the right mindset or with the necessary focus, so I came away kind of, "Hm, OK," but I often think of it, which speaks to its effectiveness. I do love the idea of Billy Budd entirely from the POV of my favorite character, John Claggart, no complaints there.
Tomorrow, my rewatches of April 2000, including American Psycho and one movie that's very dear to my family...
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