First & Last 019
Tuesday, July 11, 2023 at 8:00AM can you guess the movie from its first and last image?
the answer is after the jump...
Of course it's Best Picture winner Out of Africa (1985) which we haven't talked about in a long while. It's impossible to convey to today's youths how obsessed people were with that movie at the time since it's fallen so far out of favor / public interest. But seriously it was a massive hit (roughly as popular with moviegoers in its year as The Batman was last year or Captain Marvel was pre-pandemic!), winning 7 Oscars, inspiring fashion trends, the soundtrack going Gold, etcetera. Even Streep stans don't obsess over it anymore! What is it that keeps some traditional prestige dramas in favor and others fade from the cultural canon?
Don't say "quality" because quality is wildly subjective and plenty of older movies of questionable quality are widely loved to this day! Why do you think people don't speak of Out of Africa anymore? Is it because Meryl didn't win for it and in the grand scheme of her career it now pales in comparison to some of her other acting transformations?
Oscars (80s), first and last
Reader Comments (7)
I've seen this film twice and I really enjoy it. But, I know several people who just don't. Admittedly, it's a little slow, and I don't think younger generations love the colonialism of it all.
However, looking at the other 80s Best Picture costume dramas, I think there are three factors that keep it from being more popular. First, it's just not as fun as some of the other ones. Comparing it to Amadeus, it just doesn't have the electricity. Hulce's laugh is pure camp and memorable. This one only has hot Robert Redford, and you can see him in even better films that are much shorter looking just as hot (President's Men, Butch Cassidy, and Indecent Proposal). Meryl's good, but she's not as thrilling as she is in say French Lieutenant's Women or Sophie's Choice,and this doesn't seem like a particularly important film for her career like the Devil Wears Prada was. It's also not a turning point film for her.
I also think it just doesn't mean that much to people. Sure, it's a nice romance, but it doesn't have the same meaning to folks that The Color Purple does. Even Room with a View gets at something deeper. I don't think people want to reflect on the colonial moment, and I don't think the film is that insightful about it.
Finally, it just doesn't feel like an essential Pollack. I think some films have staying power because Cinephiles get excited about what it means for the director. I think you could skip this one, even though he won Best Director.
I just think it's a slog to get through and it's not really compelling,apart from the hair washing there are no key scenes that you'd rewatch on their own,I wasn't invested in the romance,the visuals are the film for me,even Streep is rather boring and Redford is just photographed well.
I'm not a hater but I do think it's pretty dull and stuffy and Streep's is a strong candidate as my least favorite of her nominated performances from the 1980s. It's the only one where I find her actively boring, whereas even in her performances that largely don't work for me she's still compelling. With the exception of Bancroft, who is HORRIBLE, in Agnes of God, Streep is very self evidently the weakest of that 1985 roster IMO.
As for why it's faded, I realize it was a hit in it's day. But I don't remember it being actually that beloved critically and it was one of the earlier instances where I remember those who were not a fan of Streep being more vocal about it. I think her rep as a technically proficient "lady of accents" sort of calcified around the time of this film. But it is odd that it has faded given that it was also her big commercial hit of the decade as well a best picture winner.
The only thing I love about it is Klaus Maria Brandauer, who should have won that year.
it's more of a case of it being overpraised then as opposed to underappreciated now
This is a film that demands to be seen on the big screen. I saw it three times in the theater in 1985/1986 but it simply does not play as well at home.
Africa come 2022
I’m definitely due for a rewatch but man I just have no desire. And when I think about how Sydney Pollack won his Oscar for this instead of Tootsie, literally one of the funniest films ever, it’s so disappointing.
I just think Out of Africa is one of the best examples of calling something Oscar bait. It’s boring, unmemorable and truly feels like it was only made to win awards. If it were released 10-15 years later, you’d swear Harvey was behind it.