The Piano

Um clearly Paquin won so we could have one of the most adorable Oscar moments ever. Note how excited Holly Hunter is for her. Even favorite Emma Thompson's all "you go girl." Also that hat is awesome.

But yeah, fantastic film. I mentioned in another thread that Piano is one of those films that just speaks to me so I'll try to keep it brief.

The Piano strikes me as one of the most feminine films ever made. The way it is shot, the pacing and even that that music (one of the only major components of the film done by a man) just seems to scream femininity to me. I remember watching it as an adult and thinking "oh this film understands the mind of a woman." And I'm not even sure why it strikes me that way.

The casting is also so wonderfully extreme. Sam Neill and Harvey Keitel are fucking MANLY in this movie. They're big and burly and they dwarf the women. Anna Paquin is very very good and when you look at who she was up against that year her Oscar makes sense. She's a clever girl and manipulative. I love that about the character.

Holly Hunter brings that inherent Holly Hunter strength to the role. There are a couple of scenes where she just acts through, like, her HANDS and it's fascinating to watch. But that Scottish Southern accent of her's cracks me up. Part of me feels that this isn't even her best performance (I really really love her work in Copycat), but she still manages to make the character electrifying and interesting.

And a shout out to Jane Campion. It's a shame her films since have been so underwhelming. The Piano is one of those films where you can use the word "haunting" and not feel like a jackass. She takes a Victorian romance novel plot and elevates it to something wonderful and engrossing.

Yeah, I need to see it again. The story, as has been said, isn't the strong point; it's Campion's whack at a Harlequin plot, with a lot of stuff she'd always wanted to visualize thrown in.

I maintain a respect for Campion as a true filmmaker, even despite the bummers (her Portrait of a Lady is her worst, I think). For me her best is An Angel at My Table. I'd seen that and Sweetie before The Piano, so I wasn't quite as overwhelmed by The Piano as those perhaps having their first exposure to Campion. But yeah, the acting and the images are top-shelf.

I also have a stubborn respect for In the Cut and Holy Smoke. In the Cut especially hit people the wrong way; they were expecting a dirty Meg Ryan thriller and they got, well, a Jane Campion film. Holy Smoke is more difficult, and doesn't really come off in a lot of ways, aside from essentially being The Piano 2 with Keitel in the Sam Neill role. But there's stuff in it you won't find anywhere else, and I'm not even talking about Winslet peeing herself or Keitel in a dress. That bit where Keitel swaggers into the airport and dislodges a luggage cart to the tune of Neil Diamond's "I Am, I Said" cracked my shit up. The movie is about as close as Campion is going to come to a comedy.

If you haven't seen Bright Star, do. Everything -writing, acting, editing, cinematography- are all perfectly in service of its romance without wasting a note or seeming like a Harlequin.

Yeah - so evocative of how daily life must have been at that time, so gorgeous and austere at the same time.