Bluebeard's Wives

Prepare to die!"

Comments

[caroline]

I realized a few months ago that The Piano was actually one of my earliest film memories. My entire family watched the movie together (awkward, I imagine) when I was very, very young. My siblings and cousins found one of Kerry Walker's line deliveries so funny that they couldn't stop mimicking it to each other, and it became a little family joke. Years later, I still remembered the joke but barely any details of the actual movie, so when I saw the movie for the first time properly some ten years afterwards, I actually bolted upright when it came to her line. It was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

[Jonathon]

Anna Paquin's adult career is really exciting me. Remember when she raped the Emmys with Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and The Courageous Heart of Irene Sendler? Both smart performances. And she was heartbreaking as the guilty role in The Romantics and Margaret. And, as campy as True Blood may be, she totally commits and is completely fearless as Sookie Stackhouse. She seems like an honest performer to me and I can't wait for her post-Sookie career.

[Jonathon]

Anna Paquin's adult career is really exciting me. Remember when she raped the Emmys with Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and The Courageous Heart of Irene Sendler? Both smart performances. And she was heartbreaking as the guilty role in The Romantics and Margaret. And, as campy as True Blood may be, she totally commits and is completely fearless as Sookie Stackhouse. She seems like an honest performer to me and I can't wait for her post-Sookie career.

[Jonathon]

fml @ double-posting.

[//3rtfu11]

Come back Holly, come back

[amir]

i think holly hunter perhaps gives best female performance of all time after meryl in sophie's choice
both of them are truely superb
and i am so happy until yesterday both were in your oscar banner(today holly is not more )

[Mark]

I think the visual design of that film is kinda underrated considering the (appropriate) attention to the brilliant acting, directing and music. The semi-minimal sets, detailed costumes and haunting cinematography are so on point they almost become a non-issue.

And, you know, Paquin's winning performance holds up shockingly well. Although in one respect, I'm not crazy about propelling very young actors to Oscar wins. Nods, yes, but wins seem like such unnecessary real-word pressure for kids in a already tough business. But then again, I've never found one personally that I needed to declare a winner since so many things can go into shaping a young performer's screen moments moreso than any other kind of acting. Haley Joel Osment in A.I. is probably the only young actor performance that I was thoroughly convinced brought things to the table that came from deep within himself and his genuine talent than anything else. Or maybe Spielberg is a more clever director than we know. Whatever, he carried the film on his shoulders and he would've been in my safe fop five picks for 2001.

LOL my point is that it's rare to find genuine great performances from kids and whether Paquin was heavily puppeted by Campion (or Hunter) it's still a fascinating achievement that works greatly within the film nearly 20 years later.

/early a.m. film spiel

[Ellen]

Foreshadowing!

[Me]

This movie is already in Blu-ray! YAY!

[Blinking Cursor]

God, how I loved The Piano. One of my favorite movies, and one with an absolute brillant score as well. Someone refresh my memory - too lazy to look it up myself at the moment - but did Michael Nyman win for Best Score at the Oscars that year?

I'm glad to see Paquin still has a thriving acting career in her adulthood. She's a good actress that doesn't seem to get the kudos she deserves. I think the Sookie haters can't see past that particular performance and see the other good work she's turned in. When you look at Paquin's filmography, she's actually worked with a very diverse set of auteurs: Jane Campion, Cameron Crowe, Franco Zefferelli, Gus Van Sant, Spike Lee, Steven Spielberg...etc.

"LOL my point is that it's rare to find genuine great performances from kids and whether Paquin was heavily puppeted by Campion (or Hunter) it's still a fascinating achievement that works greatly within the film nearly 20 years later."

It's biased, but Hunter herself has praised Anna's performance. In a recent article, one which reunited Holly and Anna for a photo shoot, Hunter said that she felt that Anna was her equal. And what they had was a mixture of a mother/daughter type relationship, yet at the same time a professional one in which there was mutual respect.

I know that Tatum O'Neil is considered the youngest actor to have won an Oscar. However, I personally discount her performance as that it's been said that the director had to go as high as 70, 80 takes to get the desired response from Tatum. In my mind, Anna is the real youngest actor with an Oscar cause she didn't need to be propped up that way.

On a slightly different note, how awesome would it be to see Holly Hunter reunited with her onscreen daughters, Anna Paquin and Evan Rachel Wood in a film together?

[richard]

Thanks for giving this intensely rewarding and romantic film some love. One of the all-time greatest Oscar snubs was Michael Nyman's score not being nominated. And Paquin's win is still my favorite all-time win since I've been Oscar-watching (1989). :-)