#oscars 58

[theoscarsproject]

Return to Oz (1985). Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, is somehow called back to Oz when a vain witch and the Nome King destroy everything that makes the magical land beautiful.

HOW has this film escaped the legacy of children's horror masterpieces like The Dark Crystal and The Witches? I had pretty low expectations going in, but it really leans into the horror of its setting and lets Dorothy grow and regress in equal measure. Plus the stop motion and puppetry and practical effects are pretty awesome. Yeah, it's flawed, but man, I think I would've been obsessed with this if I'd watched it when I was 9. 7.5/10.

[theoscarsproject]

Ran (1985). In Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.

King Lear adaptations, my beloved. This is genuinely such a staggering feat of cinema - visually sublime and full of tension, texture and complexity. The use of colour and the environment just sings, and I really wish I'd gotten to see it on the big screen. Magic stuff. 8.5/10.

[theoscarsproject]

White Nights (1985). A Russian American ballet dancer's airplane is forced to land in USSR, where he's "repatriated". He stays with an American man married to a Russian. Will the American help him flee USSR?

This movie is ?? Insane ?? Yet it kinda works! I think a huge part of that goes towards its terrific cast and some really affecting sequences that merge the Cold War thriller elements with the post-Vietnam War trauma and, well, the power of dance. If that sounds wild, that's because overall it is, and its a testament to Taylor Hackford's skill as a director. Just a surprise from start to finish (complimentary). 7/10.

[theoscarsproject]

The Journey of Natty Gann (1985). In the 1930s, a tomboy runs away from her guardian to join her single father who is 2,000 miles away, where he has found work.

I'm a bit of a sucker for stories about kids and animals, and in that sense, this is just a really sweet family film. It does a pretty good job of navigating the darker themes both of the Great Depression, and of being a girl alone on a journey, without allowing them to overpower the main themes of connection, adventure and the wild. It did veer into caricature sometimes with the supporting cast, and I wish it hadn't done the romance at the end. 6/10.

[theoscarsproject]

The Official Story (1985). During the final months of Argentinian Military Dictatorship in 1983, a high school teacher sets out to find out who the mother of her adopted daughter is.

Just utterly haunting. I'm going to be thinking about this one for a long time. 9/10.

[theoscarsproject]

Mask (1985). A teenager with a massive facial skull deformity and biker gang mother attempt to live as normal a life as possible under the circumstances.

Yeah, okay, it's totally emotionally manipulative, and it's really dated in its approach in many ways, but the complex relationship between mother and son, the even more complex relationship between perception and identity, and how lovingly this film explores community is genuinely pretty magic. Plus, this has to be one of Cher's most underrated performances? She's so, so wonderful here, and really elevates every scene she's in. 7/10.

[theoscarsproject]

Witness (1985). While protecting an Amish boy - who is the sole witness to a brutal murder - and his mother, a detective is forced to seek refuge within their community when his own life is threatened.

This is one of my mum's favourite movies, and I still remember her finally deciding I was old enough to watch it with her (when I probably wasn't, haha) and feeling every way this movie sings. And man, it holds up. Peter Weir really is THAT director, an uncanny touch with both the feminine and the masculine, with tenderness and violence, with languid lyricism and brute, effective punctuation. It's kind of insane to me that his body of work isn't given the same bated-breath treatment as some of his contemporaries. Anyway, this might just be a perfect romantic thriller, and far and away Harrison Ford's best work. 9/10.

[theoscarsproject]

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). In 1935 New Jersey, a movie character walks off the screen and into the real world.

For somebody who's better known for absurd and neurotic cinema, man, if Woody Allen doesn't nail magical realism. In a lot of ways, this feels like a pre-cursor to Midnight in Paris, only where MIP is a lovesong to the artists, The Purple Rose of Cairo is a love song to the art, and to the life it lives out of the artist's hands. Mia Farrow is truly transcendent here too, and the final shot of her in the movie is one I'll be thinking of for a long time. 8/10.