1996's Oscar Nominees

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I stand firmly behind my 1996 support of Secrets & Lies

Fargo isn't quite as good as its rep, The English Patient is better than its rep, Jerry Maguire is a joke, never saw Shine, and after seeing it again recently Secrets & Lies is probably the best one.

Never been a Fargo enthusiast. It's Secrets & Lies for me too. The English Patient is far from terrible.

Apart from Shine, nothing on this list is as bad as the previous two years' winners.

At the time I was astonished they didn't nominate The People vs. Larry Flynt because (again, at the time) I thought it was so fantastic that they couldn't ignore it.

Now, having watched it somewhat recently, I'm still astonished they didn't nominate it because it's so typical Oscarbait, politically liberal and artistically conservative (per Michael Gebert).

never saw Shine

Mike Leigh by default

per Michael Gebert)

did he ever publish a sequel to his mid '90s Oscar book?

Is that the same Michael Gebert who's a big food writer in Chicago now?

twitter.com/skyfullofbacon

Haven't seen Secrets & Lies, but I'm sure it wouldn't change my vote for Fargo. The Daytrippers, Flirting with Disaster, I Shot Andy Warhol, Breaking the Waves, Lone Star, Trees Lounge, and Big Night were other favourites that year; I'd now add Walking and Talking, which I didn't see until later. The two Andersons made their first films in '96; don't think I caught them until two or three years after the fact, not that big on either.

xp might be ... his movie awards encyclopedia is my one perpetual nightstand book

I had these in my 1996 list:

Satantango (Bela Tarr)
Secrets and Lies (Mike Leigh)
Walking and Talking (Nicole Holofcener)
Goodbye South, Goodbye (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
A Summer’s Tale (Eric Rohmer)
Portrait of a Lady (Jane Campion)
Flirting With Disaster (David O. Russell)
La Ceremonie (Claude Chabrol)
Looking for Richard (Al Pacino)
Trees Lounge (Steve Buscemi)

Didn't see Satantango until later, but yes, I'd add that too. I checked documentaries for '96 and nothing jumped out (Paradise Lost, but I still need to see that).

I'd have swapped in Breaking the Waves for Shine for a start.

Despite 1996 being a year where I watched movies all the time, I've somehow only ever seen Fargo out of these.

https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1242237060i/2759140._UY630_SR1200,630_.jpg

^^ yeah this. It hasn't been updated.

are people coming back round to The English Patient? that's good to hear, it gets my vote. Secrets And Lies a very close 2nd, still blows my mind that such a tiny budget British movie got nominated for best film. it's got one of the best final shots/scenes i've ever seen.

my #1 movie in English at the time. It still works as a tony literate romance aka Oscar bait.

Portrait of a Lady: best Campion, best Kidman, best James adap since The Innocents

Your advocacy pushed me to rematch it a couple years ago. At the time I thought it a noble failure with a few striking scenes and one magnificent performance.

i've always loved the english patient personally. i remember a lot of debates w/fellow cinema and photo students in '96-'97 over its merits vs the other best pic noms. it was me and my friend (who is currently a horror filmmaker and not the target audience for this one) who were advocating for it over the "pretty good" Fargo. i think we were both disappointed by the latter, at the time it seemed a little dull (unlike their usual work) and removed (like their usual work, but in a way that acted against the story.)

i still think it's maybe just inside their top 10 films, but maybe not. i think a lot of its reputation rested on it being a crime pic being released at the right moment in time and it being exceptionally plotted and acted, which is fine. but for me it just didn't have the energy. it was vv "mature."

Just came to the realization that, True Grit aside, I'm pretty much in agreement with the Academy as to which of the Coen Bros' movies are the best.

The Coens have surpassed Fargo several times.

The mention of Satantango made me check what non-english language films snubbed it that year. This is the list:

Kolya (Czech Republic) in Czech – Jan Svěrák, director
Prisoner of the Mountains (Russia) in Russian – Sergei Bodrov, director
A Chef in Love (Georgia) in French, Georgian, Russian – Nana Djordjadze, director
Ridicule (France) in French – Patrice Leconte, director
The Other Side of Sunday (Norway) in Norwegian – Berit Nesheim, director

I don't even know any of these films?

Kolya is Goodbye Girl in its repulsive cuteness.

The Coens have surpassed Fargo several times

Twice, maybe.

Doesn't hurt to be from the area though.

I agree that the appeal of "Fargo" is magnified multiple times over by being from the upper midwest, particular Minnesota.

Still, "Secrets & Lies" pwns.

If only they could've given the four acting awards to only women that year, and no men.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzX1sPoZVZk

I also liked Allison Anders' Grace of My Heart at the time, but haven't seen it since so I'm not sure if it holds up.

My memory of Secrets and Lies is that after viewing it I actively looked forward to forgetting it. I succeeded. All I retain is the vague impression it was a mediocre melodrama.

Try again!

have you watched any Leigh?

As in Mike, not Janet? Yeah, sure. He's never been a favorite and I've stopped expecting to like his work.

same. I have a similar problem with Almodovar.

like I respect what they do and it sounds good on paper but I'm usually bored to tears

Almodovar has only bored me during his '90s run. At worst he comes up with failed hilarity, which doesn't offend me.

Fargo was my fave then, and is now, though I'll try to rewatch Secrets & Lies before the poll closes.

There's a good two-hour forties studio pic buried somewhere in the bloat of The English Patient, so I'll give it that. Also, it's not quite as much of a chore as reading (any) Ondaatje.

Was always indifferent to Jerry Maguire and never saw Shine.

Secrets and Lies easily

Secrets & Lies would be a pretty awesome winner here.

Rewatched Fargo thanks to this poll, and because I needed a guaranteed refreshment after a month of very little film viewing (we've been travelling and visiting family). I've come around to thinking that Harve Presnell as the father-in-law is the movie's secret weapon; his performance is every bit the equal of Macy, McDormand, and Buscemi. In the kind of world where Cuba Gooding Jr. wasn't the year's Best Supporting Actor winner, three of the years BSA noms would have gone to Fargo.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Three utter shut-outs!

Still don't like that margin.

All this tells me is that people haven't seen Secrets & Lies

(And I say this as someone who liked Fargo a lot.)

lmao