OK, so we've got my Top Ten, part one of the awards, and part two of the awards. Now, the grand finale: part three of the 1990 Retro Hollmann Awards!
Best Score
1. Edward Scissorhands
Danny Elfman
2. Ghost
Maurice Jarre
3. Dick Tracy
Danny Elfman
4. Cinema Paradiso
Ennio Morricone / Andrea Morricone
5. The Witches
Stanley Myers
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
1. Dick Tracy
John Caglione, Jr., special character makeup designer
Doug Drexler, special character makeup
Cheri Mins, makeup department head
Peter Savic, Madonna's hairstylist
They commit to the bit and make real-life cartoons. Big Boy is a marvel, unmistakably Pacino and yet not Pacino. But you can't lie and say you see anyone other than Mumbles, Flat Top, Prune Face, or Lips. Tess and Breathless give good hair, too, and I love the D.A.'s whole thang. What's most impressive is that, as broad and caricatured and unreal as they are - the seams do not show. Bit of an uncanny valley, that.
2. Edward Scissorhands
Stan Winston, special makeup and scissorhands effects
Ve Neill, makeup department head
Yolanda Toussieng, hair designer
Fern Buchner / Werner Sherer, Dianne Wiest's makeup & hair
With plot elements including haircuts, Avon calling, and a beauty salon, hair and makeup is baked into this! Edward gets the bulk of the makeup: pale, scarred, wild-haired, sometimes soft and adorable, sometimes eerie and frightening. The hair, from Kim's wig to Peg's shorter, chicer 'dos to that one neighbor lady's snake pile, wow!
3. Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
Tameyuki Aimi / Norio Sano / Shoshichiro Ueda, makeup
Yumiko Fujii / Yamada Katsura / Sakai Nakao, hair
Dead soldiers so lifeless, their faces are blue-white. Man-sized foxes. Icicles feezing into the beards of weary men. Post-nuclear explosion vagabonds, starving and wild-eyed. Martin Scorsese as Vincent Van Gogh.
4. The Witches
Steve Norrington, Grand High Witch makeup
Nigel Booth / Lindsay MacGowan, prosthetic makeup
Tricia Cameron, hair stylist
Anjelica Huston looks absolutely glamorous, the most gorgeous she's ever been (until the very next year, when she's Morticia Addams). And then - hook-nosed, long-limbed, a bare and scabby scalp, the true Grand High Witch emerges. The wig work is great, the prosthetics are great.
5. Total Recall
Rob Bottin, special makeup effects design and creation
Vincent Prentice, special makeup effects
Jeff Dawn, makeup department head
Peter Tothpal / Michael White, hair stylists
Witty marriage of prosthetics and puppetry to create the mutants of Mars, from Kuato to that three-breasted lady to the wild red hair of Quaid's disguise.
Best Director
1. Peter Greenaway for The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
It is wild to me how someone can conceive of a perfect marriage of cinematic and theatrical traditions like this and execute it so beautifully, so perfectly, that it never gets repetitive or tedious, never alienates, but draws you in deeper and deeper. The shock of its approach gives way to surrender, we are fully in it by the finale. Same with his characters, who become less arch, more warm, as it progresses...or, in the case of The Thief, less secure, more cornered. Every detail has been considered and is perfect.
2. Martin Scorsese for GoodFellas
I've told you why his work is among the best of this year.
3. Tim Burton for Edward Scissorhands
This is the emo aesthetic defined, isn't it? A little goth, a little sentimental, cynical about "normies" but romantic overall, really into pulpy old-school vibes, a love of Vincent Price... Heart on his sleeve, Burton's made a valentine for the weirdos who can appreciate the grotesquerie of suburban pastels and the beauty of dust-covered blacks.
4. Whit Stillman for Metropolitan
His writing, we know, is marvelous. His direction sees to it that the rhythms are preserved, his anthropological study of privileged youth incisive, hilarious, but never boring or silly. I appreciate, even, that there's clear affection, the kind of affection one has for their younger, not-too-wise self.
5. Akira Kurosawa for Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
Well, he's a genius, what do you expect? I've not had these dreams but I've had dreams that felt like these dreams, and isn't that impressive?
Best Visual Effects
1. Total Recall
George Merkert, visual effects producer
Eric Brevig, visual effects supervisor
Erick Geisler, creature effects
Dale L. Martin / Andy Perillo / James Rollins, special effects
VFX, production design, makeup: I know there's a division and, indeed, way back in 2008/2009, I forget when, this was pointed out to me by my cinematography professor Rexford Metz. He's the VFX photographer of this film, so he knew whereof he spoke. Anyway, my point is this: the visual effects in this movie, the marriage of post-production CGI and matte paintings and practical effects are seamless, suggesting larger sets than are present, making the future tangible.
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Jim Henson, character design
Brian Henson, chief puppeteer
Joe Digaetano, special effects supervisor
Ray Scott, visual supervisor
The turtles themselves are an inventive combination of costuming and puppetry. I consider their fluidity of motion, their versatility, their execution, to be among the finest examples of practical effects, for it is the technicians that are in charge here. Frankly, I'm hard-pressed to find a single frame that reads as false.
3. The Hunt for Red October
Kimberly K. Nelson, VFX producer for ILM
Scott Squires, visual effects supervisor
George h. Joblove, computer graphics supervisor
Where does the early CG end and where do the models begin? I certainly can't tell, but I do know both are used. That;'s impressive!
4. Ghost
Terry D. Frazee, special effects supervisor
Laura Buff / Ellen Somers, visual effects production supervisor
Richard Edlund / Katherine Kean / Bruce Nicholson / John Van Vliet, visual effects supervisors
Jim Rugiel, digital effects supervisor
Practically, objects jerk and fall and float, their manipulator unseen by mortal eyes. Posthouse-ly, there are the shadow spirits that drag the damned away, and a ghostly kiss between two lovers.
5. RoboCop 2
Rob Bottin, creator
William Greg Curtis / Dale Martin, special effects supervisors
Craig Barron, visual effects supervisor
The over-the-top work that brings to life not just RoboCop but the stop-motion/animatronic next generation still hits. The one effect of a damaged Murphy short-circuiting is its most impressive because it is so visceral, realistic, and horrifying.
Best Actor
1. Michael Gambon as Albert Spica
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
The moment he entered, I knew this was one of the best performances I'd ever seen. He doesn't play a person of much depth but, the way he plays him! Utterly confused by things he doesn't expect, his constant talking full of pride in his own words as well as the need to impress others, lashing out violently when things don't just "not match" but conflict with what he needs: Gambon's cadence and posture reflect the tide of these moods. That they can turn on a dime makes The Thief formidable, but Gambon makes sure that's organic.
2. Johnny Depp as Edward
Edward Scissorhands
He doesn't say much (there's a YouTube video made up only of his lines and noises and it's still only about five minutes long), but Depp - a real cinephile - conjures Chaney (those hands!), Keaton (that face!), and Chaplin (that gait!), his face and physicality telling us much more than any dialogue could. And when he does have dialogue, well, that's the Chaplin coming out. A delicate performance.
3. Ray Liotta as Henry Hill
GoodFellas
From that first line, he has me. He's sleazy and enthralling and authentic. You really couldn't do better for the memoirist protagonist of a gangster flick than Liotta's Henry, he straddles the line between "nice guy gone bad" and "oh, what a piece of shit" so beautifully.
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4. Jeff Bridges as Duane Jackson
Texasville
He's confused, he's depressed, he's recognizable - I think I've met 100 Duanes, men who are successful but still feel like they're 19 and waiting for adulthood to "click", thinking age equals wisdom and knowledge and frustrated that it's just not true. Bridges, he gets it, he's great at depicting it.
5. Clint Eastwood as John Wilson
White Hunter Black Heart
He understands this guy with the fey mannerisms and masculine desires, knows how to depict the contradictions of a man who, say, is willing to fight the backers he needs for the dignity of a Black man while also exploiting Black safari guides for his own ends. Absolutely charming throughout.
My Top Ten was presented alphabetically. Now I can finally reveal the order:
10. Santa Sangre
9. Dick Tracy
8. Avalon
7. Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
6. Ghost
Which brings us to the final category. Let us count down from 5 to 1, the nominees and winner of:
Best Motion Picture of the Year
5. Texasville
produced by Peter Bogdanovich / Barry Spikings
4. Metropolitan
produced by Whit Stillman
3. GoodFellas
produced by Irwin Winkler
2. Edward Scissorhands
produced by Tim Burton / Denise Di Novi
1. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
produced by Kees Kasander
So, while Edward Scissorhands wound up leading in nominations (12), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover leads with six wins - including Best Picture of the Year!
Tomorrow (tomorrow? yes, tomorrow!) we start on 1997!
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