Shakespeare in Love (1998)

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Movie #12: Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Oscar wins: 7- Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Paltrow), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Dench), Best Original Screenplay (Norman & Stoppard), Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Original Musical/Comedy Score
Nominations: Best Director (Madden), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Rush), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Make-Up, Best Sound Mixing
Directed by: John Madden
Written by: Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard
Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Colin Firth, Ben Afleck, Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson
Length: 123 minutes
Budget: $25 million

Shakespeare in Love beating out Saving Private Ryan was one of the biggest upsets in Oscar history, period.

This film tells the story of William Shakespeare (Fiennes) and his forbidden love for a rich girl, Viola de Lesseps (Paltrow). It's a witty, entertaining love story surrounding real people (Shakespeare, for example, Philip Henslowe [Rush], etc) as well as fictional ones, set in Shakespearean times.

It's not that this film is bad: it has a very good, very witty and clever script; the acting is excellent, including Oscar winners Paltrow and Dench (who played the real Queen Elizabeth I, and was on screen for only eight minutes!); and it has costumes, shots, and all-around design. However, it was certainly not the best film of the year (I would argue it was behind Saving Private Ryan for sure and even Life is Beautiful), it was simply cute and entertaining, but without any real depth, message, or meaning.

So, how did it win? Many critics call the 71st Oscars the year that "money beat out quality." Miramax Films launched a HUGE campaign for Shakespeare in Love, spending over $5,000,000 to promote the film (to compare, major films usually spend--at most-- $2 million, and smaller films less than $250,000). Also, there were complaints about the company holding a party after the film was nominated for (a high for that year) 13 awards. The result of all the company's hard work: Shakespeare in Love pulled off a come-from-behind, last-minute upset of one of the best war films of all time.

Also, as a Cate Blanchett fan, I was incredibly upset that she lost the Best Actress award to Gwyneth Paltrow (and I think everyone that year was equally shocked). Again, Paltrow gave a good performance, but it was nothing to the level of Blanchett's acting in Elizabeth-- in my opinion one of the most powerful performances of all time. I used to complain about Blanchett losing without having seen Paltrow's performance, but when I first saw Shakespeare in Love (and this was my second viewing, by the way) I was even more surprised at her victory: she gives a very simple performance, both on the technical and emotional level, and I would even argue that her portrayal of a man was somewhat... corny.

Well, I don't have much else to say about this film. Sure, it was cute. Sure, it was entertaining. But, in my opinion (and in the opinion of a lot of other critics and film fans), certainly not the best picture of 1998. Unfortunately, though, this was only one of many upsets in the history of the Academy Awards.

I can say a few more things about the 71st Academy Awards, though! First, it was the first time in history that two different people were nominated for playing the same person (Dench and Blanchett, both for Elizabeth I). Second, Life is Beautiful became only the 8th foreign language film to be nominated for Best Picture; also, Roberto Benigni's win for Best Actor was only the 2nd time an actor has won the award for a film they directed themselves (the other being Laurence Olivier for Hamlet in 1948). And, lastly, it was the year the Academy gave their honorary award to director Elia Kazan, and many people in the audience refused to applaud. Why? Because, during the 1950's, Kazan "named names," reporting to HUAC eight fellow workers in the film industry who were reportedly into communism.

You can see the controversial presentation on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YziNNCZeNs

And so, that does it for 1998, now it's on to James Cameron's first giant, Titanic.

Rankings:
1. American Beauty (1999)
2. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
3. Chicago (2002)
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
5. The Departed (2006)
6. No Country for Old Men (2007)
7. The Hurt Locker (2009)
8. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
9. The Gladiator (2000)
10. Crash (2005)
11. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
12. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)