The Piano (1993)

A Reader Request (long time in coming --my apologies Scott!)
#9 Personal Canon: The Movies I Think About When I Think About the Movies

The menu on the 1999 DVD edition of The Piano is a hideously misleading photoshop tragedy. It’s garish, poorly composed and off putting. I won't even reprint it here to illustrate my point. It's too horrifying. I dare say I’ve never seen a poorer match between a menu and the film that follows. It’s the last less than exquisite image one will see once “play movie” is selected. If you’ve never seen the film before and you (like me) have been burdened with the unwitting purchase or rental of this particular edition, press the buttons quickly.

On to the beauty! There's so much of it...

Like mother, like daughter (Anna Paquin & Holly Hunter in The Piano)

I saw The Piano in Salt Lake City in November 1993 and I’ve never forgotten the experience. The movie held me in rapt attention from its first stirring images and Holly Hunter's high pitched but quiet delivery of one of the greatest opening monologues I'd ever heard

The voice you're hearing is not my speaking voice but my mind's voice...

I remember my best girlfriend’s hand gripping my arm during the most brutal sequence late in the movie. She was so upset she nearly bolted from her seat. I vividly remember exiting the theater after the credits rolled, both of us in a daze. We knew we’d seen something great but what exactly had we seen? Watching The Piano for the first time can feel like confronting a gorgeous but alien presence. It’s utterly transporting but also unfamiliar. Your rational mind will tell you that this shouldn’t be the case. But deeply sensual films are uncommon. What’s more, films shot through with feminine mystique, energies and point of view are arguably the rarest forms of cinema. The Piano stood womanly and defiant and far removed from other films that came before it and sadly, perhaps, has remained a foreign thing. It's still a rarity.

Jane Campion’s masterpiece, with its eerily beautiful New Zealand landscapes (before Lord of the Rings popularized the place for Hollywood) and bold femininity, felt otherworldly in 1993 but like all truly great art, it proved unusually accessible despite the challenging gauntlet it threw down. It was a major arthouse and critical success, loved by both the intelligentsia and the more middlebrow Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Before it closed its run it had won eight Oscar nominations, three statues, a sizeable box office gross for the time and a passionate enduring following.

The film begins with a curiously fuzzy image. The next cut reveals it as a POV shot: we’re looking through the fingers of Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter) who is partially covering her eyes... from what we’re not sure. The camera doesn't stay subservient to Ada's point of view but rather begins to study her, this curious mute creature. Hunter's fascinating performance, incongruously both stony and expressive, demands it...

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TTT: Tarantino-Directed Performances

tuesday top ten: a weekly series for the list lover in you and the list maker in me


When Quentin Tarantino is away from the spotlight I forget how annoying he can be as a celebrity and I remember how much I love his work as a filmmaker. Recently he's popping up in TV spots bragging about Grindhouse and how he could keep making these films forever (yeah, right. Like you're prolific QT) so I thought I should honor his 44th birthday before I'm annoyed with him again. Let's celebrate something he does better than most but doesn't get enough credit for: directing actors.

The Ten Best Performances in Tarantino Films

10 I'm saving this one for someone in Grindhouse ... just in case. If there are no true keepers we'll give it to Jackie Brown

09 Bridget Fonda as "Melanie" in Jackie Brown (1997)
I could just as easily have said Pam Grier or Robert Forster but I must admit that it's the QT film that's fuzziest in my memory and my most vivid recall is of Fonda's lazy taunting blonde --so the spot goes to her. This film was the only time outside of Scandal (1988) when I had enormous faith in her potential as an actor. But doesn't it seem like Tarantino often finds what's best in any actor --no matter what rung they occupy on Hollywood's ladder?

08 David Carradine as "Bill" in Kill Bill, Vol 2 (2004)
I know that my beloved Warren Beatty is supposed to be a very intelligent man but turning down this role was sheer stupidity, wasn't it?

07 Tim Roth as "Mr. Orange" and...
06 Harvey Keitel as "Mr. White" in Reservoir Dogs (1992)
QT's debut caused an arthouse stir for it's simple visual punch (those suits), that scene (the ear), and its oft-imitated but never duplicated flair for supercharged popculture riffing dialogue. What's less remembered or commented on is that it was clear from his very first effort that Tarantino was a natural at getting the most out of casting and subsequent performances. These two acclaimed actors flesh out a complex relationship, particularly in the intense final sequences.



05 Daryl Hannah as "Elle Driver" in Kill Bill, Vol 1 & 2 (2003-2004)
Arguably my very favorite thing (among many) about the Kill Bill movies is the notepad that The Bride has written her enemies in. She crosses them out as she kills them. It's such a superb touch that the names are sized according to who she hates most. "Elle" is quite large and the performance will have to be too, if you're to understand the animosity. Hannah never disappoints in a bold strokes turn as this childish irredeemable villain --the Bride's blonde amazon evil twin. It's this routinely undervalued actress's best performance.

04 John Travolta as "Vincent Vega"
03 Samuel L Jackson as "Jules Winnfield" and...
02 Uma Thurman as "Mia Wallace" in Pulp Fiction (1994) With apologies to Bruce Willis who fills out the magic quartet of stars in this breakthrough film...just typing out all three character names made me desperately want to see this again.

01 Uma Thurman as "The Bride" in Kill Bill, Vol 1 & 2 (2003-2004)
If Uma's iconic black bobbed gangster's moll in Pulp Fiction weren't a rich enough contribution to the Tarantino filmography, she cements her place as his premiere onscreen collaborator with this exceptional high wire act: an Oscar worthy creation --better than any of the actual nominees in 2003 and one of the best of the decade (gold medal, fb 2003). Much has been made of the fact that Tarantino fetishizes Uma's large feet in all three --or two, depending on how you view the Kill Bill film(s) -- of their films together. But if you were directing her and she was giving this sure-to-be-legendary star turn, you'd be wise to kiss them, too.

May Tarantino never take another seven year break from moviemaking and may Thurman's little piggies continue to get lots of screen time.

tags: Uma Thurman, Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill

Madonna Week: Best Film Performances

OK... stop laughing! Though Madonna has a reputation as a bad actress, among her 19 films there are a few vehicles that are worth sitting through. So, without further ado [Your laughter annoys me. Stop. Stop now.]... Madonna's 7 Best Film Performances

"the goods"
7 A League of Their Own (1992) as Mae
Debra Winger famously walked away from this enjoyable hunk of cheesy Americana when they cast Madonna saying she 'didn't approve of stunt-casting'. T'was a silly move. The film's only real acting demands were placed on the lead role (Geena Davis met them beautifully) Like many a comedy, the supporting cast are really only expected to sell one character trait each. Madonna gets big laughs as "All the Way" Mae. Can you guess the character trait?

6 Dangerous Game (1993) as Sarah Jennings
The divisive provocateur-director Abel Ferrara was coming off a career peak (The Bad Lieteunant with Harvey Keitel) when Madonna signed on. The movie doesn't work but Madonna gives a surprisingly unforced turn.

5 Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) as Susan
Many people still consider this to be both her debut film and her best work. It's not either actually... but I think the response was due to the widely held belief that she was basically playing herself in Susan Seidelman's charming punk comedy.

4 Dick Tracy (1990) as Breathless Mahoney
The film which led to that Oscar moment we've already discussed. Warren Beatty's colorful comic adaptation is an eye-popping good time. But I still want to strangle him for barely allowing us to see a killer Madonna performance (the song is "More") with ridiculously trigger happy cross-cutting. Argh.



and finally...the "must-see"s
3 The Hire: Star (2001) as the Star
The famed Hire series of shorts starring Clive Owen as the mysterious Driver is full of gems by major directors. This one, directed by the superstar's husband Guy Ritchie, is hilarious. Madonna is in great comic form as a diva from hell.

2 Evita (1996) as Eva Perón
Madonna fulfills a lifelong dream and earns the best reviews of her film career as well as a Golden Globe for her efforts. No Oscar nomination but she did get to perform "You Must Love Me" at the ceremony.

1 Truth or Dare (1991) as Madonna
What?! You think she wasn't 'performing' this role in the hit documentary? Think again. She's performing this the same way Norma Jean famously 'turned on' Marilyn when the time came. This is the one bonafide classic in her filmography.