Category: Best Costumes

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Moulin Rouge (1952)

Unexpectedly this isn’t about the famous Parisian cabaret, but instead focuses on the life of one of its more famous early patrons, the artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, told mainly through his relationships with women. The result is a fairly standard biopic, with its typical stretches of the truth, that is greatly improved during the few glorious scenes set in the titular club. Jose Ferrer plays the tortured artist, and his father, quite impressively, especially when noting the efforts required to portray someone of a much shorter stature. The transition montages of Toulouse’s art does at least give the viewer exposure to the prolific artist’s work.  Best Picture Nomination

Oscar Win: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Costume Design, Color; Best Costume Design, Color

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Director; Best Film Editing

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Cyrano (2021)

In this version of the classic story, Peter Dinklage is the title wordsmith who is in love with his long-time friend Haley Bennett’s Rosalind who is in turn mutually attracted to the more conventionally handsome Kelvin Harrison Jr. Instead of the somewhat comical large nose in the original story and many adaptations, Dinklage’s own short stature is what makes him ‘unworthy’ of Rosalind’s affections, a change that speaks more to contemporary biases. I hadn’t realized this was a musical going in and I’m still unsure how I feel about it. The music and singing is really good, but it wasn’t presented organically, which is my preference in musical films. While I thought the ending went a little too far in its resolution, but Dinklage is incredible in the lead. He plays the various emotions of Cyrano to perfection from the arrogant sword fighting to devastated yearning. It makes me want to search out more of his leading films.  Romance   Musical

Oscar Nomination: Best Achievement in Costume Design

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Daisy Miller (1974)

Cybill Shepherd is the titular character, a nouveau riche American travelling through Europe with her family who doesn’t understand and ignores the expected behaviors of high society. Her tale is told, and held in comparison, through the experiences of another upper class American visiting the continent, Barry Brown, who keeps himself restrained and unemotional despite his obvious attraction to Daisy. Shepherd acts like she’s in an entirely different film than everyone else. She’s flighty and flirty and her actions and reactions don’t track with those of the people around her. This is even more pronounced as the story takes an abrupt dark turn in its latter part.

Oscar Nomination: Best Costume Design

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Nightmare Alley (2021)

I have been anticipating Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of this title since watching the 1947 version last year. As in that earlier film, the main character, here played by Bradley Cooper, is a man who stumbles into a carnival job but has higher aspirations. I had been apprehensive toward Cooper carrying on the role, which were somewhat unfounded though he just wasn’t capable of really closing the the ending. This version has del Toro’s amazing visuals and incredible period details with a stellar cast that includes Cate Blanchett, David Strathairn, Willem Dafoe, and Toni Collette among countless others. Unfortunately it also adds almost 40 extra, almost all unnecessary, minutes to the story, dragging many of the parts on for way too long.  Best Picture Nomination

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Cinematography; Best Costume Design; Best Production Design

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Cries and Whispers (1972)

While Harriet Andersson painfully dies of uterine cancer, her sisters Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Thulin and servant Kari Sylwan keep watch, struggling to care for her while dealing with their own issues. I’m sure much of the film went over my head as it is quite stylized and the perspective quickly changes between the four women, but the performances reflect lives of pain and loneliness. Unforgettably the rooms these women embody are dramatically and oppressively covered in red while they themselves drift around in white dresses.   Best Picture Nomination

Oscar Win: Best Cinematography

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Director; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced; Best Costume Design

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Agatha (1979)

In 1926, writer Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days and it remains a mystery what actually happened during that time. This film imagines a history where she has followed her husband’s lover to a spa in Harrogate. Vanessa Redgrave portrays Christie appealingly, but the film turns out somewhat as a lackluster mystery. This isn’t helped by the inclusion of American reporter Dustin Hoffman who is offered as an uninteresting love interest.

Oscar Nomination: Best Costume Design

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The Grandmaster (2013)

Kung fu grandmaster Ip Man reflects on his life after his fortieth birthday and the connection he had to Gong Er, the daughter and holder of the secrets of another grandmaster. Apparently there were a number of changes made from the original Chinese cut of the film to what was released for American audiences, including about 22 less minutes of runtime. The latter version is the one I watched and the editing made for a confusing product with a very choppy flow. It’s a beautiful looking film with some gorgeous fight choreography, but I’m not sure I got much from the film beyond that.

Oscar Nominations: Best Achievement in Cinematography; Best Achievement in Costume Design

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West Side Story (2021)

When this remake of West Side Story was announced, I wondered what purpose it could possibly serve. The 1961 version has received high acclaim since it was made and seems better situated to exemplify the preceding decade. After watching this film, my misgivings weren’t allayed. In this take on Romeo and Juliet, Rachel Zegler, whose brother David Alvarez is a leader among the Sharks, spontaneously falls in love with Ansel Elgort, a former member of rival gang the Jets. While the film doesn’t establish their ages, the actors look as if there is about a fifteen year difference. It also doesn’t help that Elgort is rather weak in the role, particularly when he’s singing with the much talented Zegler. Overall there are some bad (constantly overpowering the view of the actors with light sources), neutral (changing the tomboy character to a trans man and the Jewish doc to Rita Moreno), and some great changes (little bits of added backstory and casting Latinx actors who intersperse more Spanish into their dialogue) but as a whole don’t give enough difference in vision to explain why anyone wanted to make this version happen.   Best Picture Nomination  Musical  Crime

Oscar Win: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Oscar Nominations: Best Motion Picture of the Year; Best Achievement in Production Design; Best Sound; Best Achievement in Costume Design; Best Achievement in Cinematography; Best Achievement in Directing

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Troy (2004)

Loosely based on Homer’s Iliad, when Orlando Bloom steals away Brendan Gleeson’s wife Diane Krueger during peace negotiations, Gleeson grabs his war-mongering brother Brian Cox to get her back. These actions ignite a war that brings Eric Bana and Brad Pitt into battle against each other. The cast is utterly stacked and the production values are exceptionally high, but it’s apparently mostly unfaithful to its source material. Brad Pitt’s disregard for the side he was recruited for is admirable, but I’ll never understand modern interpretations of the Trojan horse and it doesn’t make any more sense here.   War

Oscar Nomination: Best Achievement in Costume Design

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Hawaii (1966)

In this big-budget epic based on the James Michener novel, Max von Syndow is a Christian zealot who drags his young wife to Hawaii to educate the heathens after an appeal by one of their converted princes. It takes the film a long time to even get to this point in the story and it’s quite a drag before they get to the islands. From there, it’s endlessly frustrating watching von Syndow’s fanaticism beat against everyone else he meets, especially the native population and his wife, even when they are on his side. The performances are rather good with strong appearances from Richard Harris, Gene Hackman, and Jocelyne LaGarde.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Costume Design, Color; Best Sound; Best Effects, Special Visual Effects; Best Music, Original Song; Best Music, Original Music Score

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