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BEST DIRECTOR
Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
It's hard to know for sure, since I'm so in love with what Jackson has achieved in all three LOTR films, but I think even those who don't find fantasy their cup of tea would have to appreciate the discipline and imagination required to pull off his juggling act of multiple storylines threading through multiple invented cultures arrayed across an entire invented world. But even the grand scope of Jackson's feat would be nothing without its humanity -- Jackson drew career-best (or career-making) performances from his entire cast, who poured as much heart and soul into the film(s) as Jackson did himself.
almost as great
Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation
(in the diametric opposite of Jackson's triumph, her gossamer touch creates a film as radiant as a daydream)
Peter Weir, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
(raising pulp to art, he sends us on a soaring adventure kept down to earth through a passion for verisimilitude)
Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, American Splendor
(blurring the lines between fiction and documentary, they brilliantly mimic their subject's own work)
worth a look
Ang Lee, Hulk
Jim Sheridan, In America
Michael Winterbottom, In This World
Terry Zwigoff, Bad Santa
BEST DIRECTORIAL DEBUT
Sylvain Chomet, The Triplets of Belleville
This delicious film is all the more astonishing because it seems to come out of left field. With a portfolio that includes only one prior film -- an animated short -- and a few comic books, Chomet sneaks up on us with his bewitching illustrative animation. Often hilariously satirical and full of odd touches that linger in the mind, this is, one hopes, a major debut, only the beginning of a long career of similarly delightful and provocative work.
almost as great
Jacques Perrin, Winged Migration
(venturing into a realm never before explored so intimately, he gave us a peek into an alien world all around us)
Peter Webber, Girl with a Pearl Earring
(painterly and seductive, his soothingly beautiful visuals create a counterpoint to polite domestic turmoil)
Andrew Jarecki, Capturing the Friedmans
(combining new footage with extensive home videos, he builds a haunting portrait of a family under siege)
worth a look
Thomas McCarthy, The Station Agent
Jeffrey Blitz, Spellbound
Wayne Kramer, The Cooler
Billy Ray, Shattered Glass
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Jim Sheridan, Namoi Sheridan, & Kirsten Sheridan, In America
Father and daughters alike drew on their own childhoods to produce a tale of such winsome and tragic wonder that it seems to speak to the childhood memories in us all. Its timeless reverie and its abundance of hopes and secrets counteract despair and fear so that all we're left with is a keen confidence in family and the future.
almost as great
John Requa & Glenn Ficarra, Bad Santa
(their bitter candy cane of a holiday treat takes the prize for meanest but most welcome Christmas story ever)
Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation
(her writing commands the highest possible praise: her story and her characters seem not to have been invented, merely discovered)
Sylvain Chomet, The Triplets of Belleville
(a work of singular fancy, his acerbically charming tale touches the heart and the mind in equal doses)
worth a look
Thomas McCarthy, The Station Agent
Peter Mullan, The Magdalene Sisters
Christopher Guest & Eugene Levy, A Mighty Wind
Satoshi Kon & Sadayuki Murai, Millennium Actress
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, & Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
When you go back and reread Tolkien after memorizing Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens's adaptation of it, the most startling realization is that somehow, they found nuances in books you thought you'd memorized as well. A greater accomplishment may be that they also brought out Tolkien's lyricism in dulcet dialogue that's poetic but never florid.
almost as great
Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini, American Splendor
(they transformed a series of graphic novels about nothing -- and everything -- into big-screen panels of perfection)
Peter Weir & John Collee, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
(distilling an historical period into one potent moment in time, they created the blueprint for a model of visual storytelling)
John August, Big Fish
(he turned the most internal of conversations, the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, into images)
worth a look
Louis Sachar, Holes
Olivia Hetreed, Girl with a Pearl Earring
Niki Caro, Whale Rider
Heather Hach & Leslie Dixon, Freaky Friday
--MaryAnn Johanson
01.09.04
Looking back at 2003.
Also:
Best and Worst Movies
Best Performances
Best Production Design and Other Superlatives of the Year
2003 Films Ranked
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