Word: campion
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...wrote last year's most memorable and original movie score -- for Jane Campion's The Piano -- was not even nominated for an Academy Award. That says a lot about the Oscars, but it also says something about Michael Nyman, a composer who has never quite received his due. Whether writing for films or turning out concertos, string quartets, ballets and chamber operas, the English critic turned composer is a cult figure on both sides of the Atlantic who yearns for wider acceptance. "I've had to contend with a certain amount of envy and puffy-nosed disapproval," he says...
...reveal what happens would be unthinkable, for the surprises in the plot are one of he films manifold pleasures. Campion has said that in writing the screenplay she drew on the Bronte sisters. She is faithful to her inspiration, and the violent unleashing of passions and the consequences that follow are portrayed in a manner that does the author of Wuthering Heights proud. In the world portrayed by Campion, the characters have no defense against the passion that threatens to overtake them. They are foreigners transplanted to a strange new land where the senses rule. Life is overpowering here...
...works on so many levels at the same time that at moments you don't know what has hit you. Photographed by Stuart Dryburgh, "The Piano" is visually stunning, but its beauty is not of the empty picture-postcard kind. The visual texture of the movie is integral to Campion's vision. Michael Nyman has issued a haunting score that captures the essence of each character...
...these things would be useless if the film did not contain performances to match. Campion's direction is perhaps her greatest achievement in "The Piano." A nearly unrecognizable Holly Hunter is simply amazing as Ada. Despite the fact that she does not utter a word during the movie, Hunter manages to provide a full-bodied portrait of Ada, so that the audience knows what she is thinking and feeling without her having to articulate it. Ada marks Hunter's best work on screen thus far. Keeping up with Hunter is Anna Paquin as Ada's daughter Flora. Paquin brings...
...comet bursting forth in a year in which cinematic greatness has been rare. It showcases a sensual and poetic sensibility which has for the most part been absent in the history of film. In order to do this, the movie takes many risks, and brings them off spectacularly. Jane Campion has fashioned a masterpiece, one woman's private symphony. Let yourself be seduced by the wondrous music of the peerless "Piano...