For this week's Best Shot topic, Milos Forman's scrumptious musical duet between jealous Salieri and genius Wolfgang. It was called Amadeus and it was very very good and very very popular -- raking in big box office, too. Though it never landed in the box office top five it had major legs and ended its reign as the 12th highest grosser of 1984.
The music drama won 8 Oscars (from 11 nominations) but curiously one of the prizes it lost was cinematography! The DP was Miroslav Ondrícek who had also been nominated for the previous Milos Forman picture Ragtime (1981).
Amadeus is so visually luxurious that I figured it would be a hard assignment and these eight images surprised me and I can't wait to dig into the articles. Unfortunately I had a computer mishap -- something is not working about my screengrab program (argh-the timing) -- so my own pick for Amadeus will have to wait. But please do read these articles and consider the visual choices. I'm not even going to attempt to put these in chronological order. It's a massive three hour film with lots of performances and difficult to place shots from the luxury overload. Today's Best Shot choices, from brave cinephiles round the web who dare to play this game, are presented in the order in which they were sent to me.
11 BEST SHOTS - AMADEUS (1984)
click on the photos to be taken to the corresponding article
Next Wednesday: MAGIC MIKE (2012)... grab your singles and pick a shot to shove them into
Forman wisely draws a visual (and comedic) parallel between the two appearances of the mask.
-The Entertainment Junkie
When all you can do is seethe in your utter failure...
-Drink Your Juice Shelby
In a film with such a lavish production, a quiet, almost bare scene caught my eye...
-Sorta That Guy
Hard to pick a shot because its best visual moments come from clever cutting and juxtapositions...
-Coco Hits NY
'It seemed to me that I was hearing the voice of God...'
-54 Disney Reviews
Thematically, I can't think of a more blunt message statement...
-Antagony & Ecstasy
VIDEO ENTRY
-Movie Motorbreath
If every Oscar winner was as loose and irreverent as Amadeus...
-Serious Film
This resplendent film earned every one of its 8 statues.
-Film Actually
The perfect metaphor for the movie's dynamic...
- The Expert Newbie *first entry*
"I'm frightened!!!" Yet she was fearless. Cynthia Nixon at 18
-Paul Outlaw
Finis