Nicole Kidman Tribute: Billy Bathgate (1991)

by Cláudio Alves

In 1991, Nicole Kidman was nominated for Best Supporting Actress by the Golden Globes. Interestingly, though it marks the first time she wever scored a major precursor, the film that did it, Billy Bathgate, is a somewhat forgotten stop in the star's Hollywood journey. 

After the splashy box office results from Days of Thunder, the actress was a hot commodity, some beautiful import from Australia whose persona was still malleable for American audiences. Moreover, her true powers remained untapped, perchance untested. In that context, Robert Benton's Doctorow adaptation is a chance to test Kidman's talents, an attempt at transitioning from popcorn cinema into prestige fare. After all, haven't we seen similar projects elevate a starlet's profile? In a cast dominated by men, she's the only important woman, the linchpin of the protagonist's arc and an alluring sight that sings a silent siren song. She's the Hollywood Golden Age brought back from the dead for one more gangster movie…

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Horror Costuming: The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

by Cláudio Alves

Jonathan Demme's horror masterpiece, the only film in the genre to win the Best Picture Oscar, has been written about ad nauseam since its release. And yet, some elements of The Silence of the Lambs remain under-discussed. It would seem impossible, but such is the richness of this feature. Take its design, iconic but understated enough to be taken for granted. The costumes are especially deserving of attention, going way beyond Lecter's mask and Buffalo Bill's world of human skin suits. They were designed by Colleen Atwood, a future favorite of the Academy, and represent an oft-forgotten part of her artistry - the ability to ground grotesquerie in reality and use clothing to define the relationships between people…

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Babs as director

by Cláudio Alves

Barbra Streisand is a powerhouse in every sense of the word. Her long career has encompassed many facets of show business, from night club singer to Broadway sensation, from Oscar-winning actress to successful producer, and so on. Considering we've been discussing 1991 for the past couple of weeks, it seems appropriate to consider Streisand's legacy, not as a music or movie star, but as a director. That was the year that she released one of her dream projects, The Prince of Tides, which was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture. Streisand, however, was left out of the directing lineup despite an aggressive campaign and much publicity. The snub stung and robbed Streisand of the honor of becoming the second woman to be nominated for that award, after Lina Wertmüller in the 1970s. 

Still, while it's difficult not to see AMPAS' decision as a blatant rebuke of Streisand as a director, one has to wonder if she'd have deserved the nod. After all, 1991 had a stellar, and historic, Best Director lineup...

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Martin Scorsese: Master of the Remake

by Cláudio Alves

As a general rule, remakes don't represent a particularly respected type of film among cinephiles. Concerns about lack of originality abound, as do questions of necessity and the way remakes can lead to the obscuration of older movies. That being said, to characterize every remake as a mercenary minded waste of time isn't fair to the filmmakers involved. Moreover, it can result in the unfair dismissal of interesting cinematic propositions. Remakes can recontextualize past narratives, respond to aesthetics of yore and comment upon them, reinterpret texts and revitalize forgotten styles, deepen pre-established themes or even make us look at a classic through new eyes. They can also highlight the specificities of different artists' visions, exposing how their particularities shape the same raw material. Not all remakes are good, but we can say that about every kind of film project.

Some directors have shown a particular aptitude for this type of project, like Luca Guadagnino with A Bigger Splash and Suspiria. Still, we're not here to talk about that epicurean delight or the transfiguration of Dario Argento's post-Giallo masterpiece. Our subject, today, shall be Martin Scorsese and his mastery of the remake… 

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John Singleton made history

by Cláudio Alves

As previously explored in our 1991 pre-Smackdown ruminations, the 64th Academy Awards were marked by several first in the annals of Oscar history. The Silence of the Lambs became the first horror movie to conquer Best Picture, and it was also only the third flick to win the Oscars' Big Five (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay) after It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Among the other Best Picture contenders, Disney's Beauty and the Beast also made a splash, becoming the first animated feature to be nominated for that most important category. Still, more important even than that landmark for animation, we have the case of John Singleton who, in one fell swoop, became the first Black man to be in contention for the Best Director Oscar, as well as the youngest nominee in the category's history…

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