A rise in documentaries and quality

Last year saw the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Quentin Tarantino and Clint Eastwood

Despite the number of high-budgeted Hollywood fare and some very impressive independent cinema, the year 2003 was a memorable one thanks mostly to the heady material that got released on the screens.
A few themes for the year emerged. Movies in 2003 were more on the dramatic and dark side, and the Far East influence was undeniable, whether it be epic dramas (The Last Samurai), action (Kill Bill - Vol. 1) or comedy (Lost in Translation).
Documentaries, once virtually unseen except on the pre-recorded segments of the Oscar telecast, came into their own, led by the breakthrough success of Capturing the Friedmans, Andrew Jarecki's shattering account of the fate of the Friedman family in Long Island, whose paterfamilias, Arnold, along with his teenage son, Jesse, were convicted in a sensational child-molestation case.
Then there was, Spellbound, which charmed audiences with its portrait of the National Spelling Bee as a symbol of aspiration and assimilation for children from diverse national and economic backgrounds.
One of the year's most impressive features, American Splendor, could be called a semi-documentary; made by documentary filmmakers Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, the movie accomplished the seemingly impossible feat of bringing Harvey Pekar's autobiographical underground comic to life. Another fact-based film, Shattered Glass, was a timely exploration of journalistic ethics, an issue that captured headlines this year, thanks to media miscreants as Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass, the New Republic writer whose mendacious exploits (he made up most of his stories) earned him a place of dishonor in the journalism hall of shame. Even if Glass's crimes were relatively insignificant in the scheme of things, director Billy Ray made the story into something quite riveting.
The best dramas this year were independents: The Station Agent, Tom McCarthy's modestly affecting tale of three loners who find comfort in one another; The Secret Lives of Dentists, Alan Rudolph's literate drama about a pair of married dentists whose relationship is threatened by suspicions of infidelity; The Magdalene Sisters, Peter Mullan's wrenching, account of the suffering of young women confined to an Irish home for unwed mothers; and Swimming Pool, François Ozon's mysterious tale of a repressed mystery novelist (Charlotte Rampling) whose vacation idyll is disturbed by the appearance of her publisher's sexy daughter.
While not an independent, one of the year's most memorable films was Mystic River, Clint Eastwood's harrowing tale of three childhood friends (Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon) brought together by a horrific tragedy.
Among the year's top surprises were Finding Nemo and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which both topped the box office. Disappointments both critically and financially were the two highly anticipated sequels to The Matrix, and The Hulk.
The most anticipated movie of the year was, of course, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the last in Peter Jackson's trilogy of J.R.R. Tolkien books. The picture did not disappoint critically nor financially, and it promises to go strong throughout the first quarter of 2004.
Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger came back, then quickly said goodbye to Hollywood as he left the big screen for politics. A month after Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines became his first hit in years, the Austrian-born began a successful campaign for California governor in a chaotic recall election.
But the issue that dominated the world of movies in 2003 was piracy. Now that the technology exists to copy and instantaneously send a DVD to an infinity of people on the internet, Hollywood desperately fears it could go the way of the music industry: toward virtual collapse. The studios angered independent filmmakers and critics by banning the year-end DVD screeners usually provided to Oscar voters and reviewers making up their top 10 lists - until the courts stepped in. The word is still out on the future of "screeners."

Publication Date: 2004-01-11
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3528