Category: Best Art/Production Design

Posted on | No Comments |

Dune (2021)

In this adaptation of the Frank Herbert novel, Duke Oscar Issac and Lady Rebecca Ferguson travel with their special son Timothée Chalamet to a far away desert planet to learn about spice production. There’s quite a bit of political intrigue going on behind the scenes and Timothée has a bunch of dreams about Zendaya. Even with its bleak desert setting, it’s an incredibly gorgeous film with extremely high production values and some good world building, but it’s obvious that it was made as a set up for a sequel or two as the story is almost all setup with no conclusion.   Best Picture Nomination  SciFi

Oscar Wins: Best Sound; Best Achievement in Visual Effects; Best Achievement in Production Design; Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score); Best Achievement in Film Editing; Best Achievement in Cinematography

Oscar Nominations: Best Achievement in Production Design; Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score); Best Motion Picture of the Year; Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling; Best Achievement in Costume Design; Best Adapted Screenplay

Posted on | No Comments |

King of Jazz (1930)

An early sound and color film, this revue ostensibly serves as a celebration of the work of Paul Whiteman, the titular King of Jazz. Beginning with a Walter Lantz cartoon, the array of musical and comedy bits, some featuring a young Bing Crosby as a member of the Rhythm Boys, are mostly entertaining in their own right, many similar to later Busby Berkeley numbers, but it’s the visuals that are truly stunning and just took my breath away. Made with an early two-color Technicolor process which contains no blue, the film is entirely done in shades of coral, aqua, silver, and black, which all shine beautifully in the restoration on the Criterion release. The set and costume designers had a perfect eye to how these colors interacted and presented on film and it is gorgeous. Some amazing camera wizardry, such as the orchestra walking out of a suitcase carried by Whiteman, and extremely lavish set pieces just enhance the beauty.  Musical

Oscar Win: Best Art Direction

Posted on | No Comments |

The Little Foxes (1941)

The Hubbards are a rich family living in the South in the early 1900s. The only daughter of the family, Bette Davis must contend with a society where her brothers inherited from their father and are independently wealthy while she had to find a pliable husband to support her financial ambitions. The three Hubbard siblings are all ruthless and conniving, more concerned with acquiring more than the human collateral damage along the way. Davis is quite good in her role, wicked but still as restrained as society expects her. She goes toe to toe with her brothers, particularly the equally manipulative Charles Dingle.   Best Picture Nomination

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actress in a Leading Role ; Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White; Best Film Editing; Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture

Posted on | No Comments |

The Prince of Tides (1991)

As far as psychiatric ethics go, this film is an abomination. After his twin sister’s latest suicide attempt, Nick Nolte travels from South Carolina to New York to meet with her psychiatrist, Barbra Streisand. There under the guise of ‘helping’ his sister’s recovery, Streisand holds meetings that essentially become therapy sessions with Nolte and later starts up an extramarital affair with him. Their relationship is mind boggling on its own and then when the big twist is revealed, the whole plot flies off the handle. The film is beautifully shot, particularly the Carolina scenes, and in all of her scenes, Streisand is always cast in gorgeous light.

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published; Best Cinematography; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; Best Music, Original Score

Posted on | No Comments |

The Age of Innocence (1993)

In upper-class 1870s New York, Daniel Day-Lewis is engaged to marry Winona Ryder when her attractive cousin, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, comes to town after her own marriage falls apart. Daniel sees in the newcomer an appealing break from the constrains of society. He believes he’s cleverer and smarter than those around him, but he is no match for high society and their prescribed ways. It’s an appealing period piece with lavish sets and costuming. The story and the acting within is compelling. Though I found the romantic chemistry a bit lacking, it held my interest to mild twist of an ending.

Oscar Win: Best Costume Design

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; Best Music, Original Score

Posted on | No Comments |

The Brink’s Job (1978)

Inspired by the true story of the Brink’s Robbery of 1950, Peter Falk is a small-time Boston crook who, after successfully robbing a Brink’s armor car with his gang, sets his sights on bigger prey, the Brink’s headquarters. As a heist film, this mostly doesn’t work for me. There’s not a lot of tension in the actual heist, almost everything goes smoothly and as planned. The tension arises more as the noose tightens around the gang, which includes Peter Boyle, Paul Sorvino, and Warren Oates, as Brink’s tries to save its reputation and the gang squabbles amongst themselves. Visually there is a lot done to evoke post-War Boston, but I wish the pacing of the film had been kept throughout to hold my interest.

Oscar Nomination: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration

Posted on | No Comments |

National Velvet (1944)

Elizabeth Taylor’s star quality might never have shown as much as it did as a twelve year old in this tale of the horsiest horse girl who ever did live. The smittenness of her character for The Pie oozes out of her every action, a puppy love that is portrayed better than any teen romance on film. Even Mickey Rooney’s haminess as a horse trainer can’t detract from Liz’s performance. Though sadly other family characters are either wasted, such as Angela Lansbury as the oldest sister, or annoyingly unnecessary, Jackie Jenkins’s little brother, the relationship between Liz and Anne Revere as her mother has some incredibly beautiful moments as the two bond over finding a love and purpose in life even at an unexpected age. As someone who never really interacted or understood horse girls, the tale still drew me in with its beautiful fake countryside and feel-good, family-friendliness.   Sports

Oscar Wins: Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Film Editing

Oscar Nominations: Best Director; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color

Posted on | No Comments |

When Ladies Meet (1933)

What a delightful Pre-Code film! Myrna Loy is a writer who, much to the consternation of her wannabe suitor Robert Montgomery, is in love with her married publisher Frank Morgan. Ann Harding is the wife of the publisher and the mother of his children. The suitor tries to meddle into the others’ relationships hopefully to his own advantage, resulting in the two women meeting though at first not knowing each other’s identities. This interaction makes the film, where each woman is honest about their feelings on love and the roles they fill. I didn’t enjoy the direction the end took, but fear that the 1941 adaptation would be less honest and forthright, especially missing the tender approaches by Loy and Harding.

Oscar Nomination: Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White

Posted on | No Comments |

La Dolce Vita (1960)

Grappling with what to write about this, I recognize that I probably don’t understand the great majority of what the film is trying to say. Marcello Mastroianni is a journalist who is always searching for the next thing: the next big story, the next woman who excites him, the next thing that’ll bring him the best that life has to offer. Told in episodes that proceed over the course of some portion of time, he ages and progresses on this journey, using the males in his life as inspiration and caution. Every day with potential leads to an exciting, electric night that turns into the grey reality of morning. I love watching Mastroianni move, there’s a cool European smoothness, but also a bit of self-deprecation in the way he hunches his shoulders as if he’s hoping these things will just come to him. Anita Ekberg’s fountain scene is iconic for so many reasons, she exuberates with those best parts of life, fully engrossing in everything life has to offer.

Oscar Win: Best Costume Design, Black-and-White

Oscar Nominations: Best Director; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White

Posted on | No Comments |

Daddy Long Legs (1955)

I wish I were a bigger fan of Leslie Caron because she’s obviously a beautiful dancer. I just can’t get into her roles in these 1950s spectacular musicals. Here she is a French orphan who catches the eye of wealthy playboy Fred Astaire so that he offers to secretly pay for her to attend college in the United States. The pairing is pretty gross as Astaire is bordering on being old enough to be her grandfather. The costuming seems to play with this idea, making her look young in the orphanage and while in school but older when she’s being wooed. The songs are fairly unmemorable, but the dancing is a sweet blend of Astaire’s tapping and Caron’s ballet.   Musical

Oscar Nominations: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Music, Original Song; Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture

Scroll to Top