I’ve decided to start watching films seen as ‘classics’ to see if they measure up to their reputation. It’s annoying when people hark on about certain films all the time, especially when you watch them and they are rubbish! Some films do stand the test of time, and others just don’t. My first golden oldie proved that it certainly did...
Amadeus (The Director’s Cut) (1984)
Starring F. Murray Abraham & Tom Hulce
Directed by Milos Forman
Rating: ★★★★★
What an amazing film. AMAZING. Now normally I don’t want to watch a film that lasts for 3 ½ hours, but seriously, I didn’t even notice time when watching this movie- it just flew by! Amadeus is often regarded as a classic, and unfortunately also referred to because it’s two main stars, who were both nominated for the Best Actor Oscar (and Abraham won it) failed to do anything better afterward. (It’s sad to think that Abraham’s next best role wouldn’t come until 2001 when he was in shlock horror remake Thirteen Ghosts- ouch! And he was in National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon 1. No wonder people say he had the ‘Oscar jinx’). The film won 8 Oscars including Best Director and Best Picture, which it rightly deserves!
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| Don't mess with Salieri! |
Told in flashback by an elderly composer called Salieri, the story follows Salieri, who composes for the royal Emperor, and is then filled with jealousy as Mozart arrives and begins to outshine him. Mozart is spoiled, arrogant and childish, and Saileri sees it as his task to destroy Mozart because he is undeserving of his God given gifts. Both men are then slowly destroyed: one by envy and the other by pride, and it is fascinating and harrowing to watch. The film is of course completely fictional, even though it is based on real people, which is kind of cruel in a way because if you thought that it was based on reality you would end up hating both Salieri and Mozart! What is really clever about the film is that in the first half you are on Saileri’s side, but then throughout the second half you start to root for Mozart and feel real sympathy for him. Amadeus sucks you in and plays with your emotions, and by the time it reaches its distressing conclusion, you feel like you were on the journey with them.
Now many people have debated exactly who should have won the Best Actor Oscar, and I can see why both men were nominated. I wish that they could have both won an Oscar for it, but unfortunately not. Half way through the film I felt that Abraham did deserve it (mainly because he gets more of a ‘range’ by playing an elderly man), but by the end I thought that Hulce gave a stronger performance. As I said before, it would have been better if they had both shared the Oscar!
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| Mozart is quite a flamboyant character! |
The music, the directing, the editing, the costumes, the sets, and the script: everything about Amadeus is excellent. This is what a real ‘classic’ film is all about: it has aged well and when watching it now, you can see exactly why it deserved all of the accolades that it received. Classic movie gold.
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