Word: mystical
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...borrows heavily (and successfully) from Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. Bollywood grandees Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah play the clairvoyant cops; both are equally known these days for their roles in other fusion Indian films, such as Monsoon Wedding and Bombay Boys (Shah) and East is East and The Mystic Masseur (Puri...
...likely; if you look at this year’s Best Picture nominees, they’re mostly drawn from the same old strain of Oscar bait: there are gritty epics (The Return of the King and Master and Commander), lacquered period pieces (Seabiscuit), and scenery-chewing dramas (Mystic River). The Academy’s voting deadline may have changed, but their tastes have stayed the same...
...Clint Eastwood outmuscle Jackson for Best Director? Sure--in a body-building competition. On Oscar night, we'll see. Eastwood's Mystic River received a sheaf of rapturous reviews and did O.K. business. At 73, the old cowpoke might ride sentiment to take an Oscar. But he got Picture and Director statuettes for Unforgiven in 1993 and the Irving G. Thalberg Award two years later. A senior citizen can use only so many retirement gifts...
Some movie mavens predict that Sean Penn's absence at the Golden Globes last week could have a crippling effect on his shot at the Best Actor Oscar for Mystic River. When Penn won the Globe for Best Actor in a drama, Eastwood, accepting the award for him, mentioned what a commendable fellow Penn is. A few days later, after his Oscar nomination was announced, the star's handlers said he would attend several industry functions...
...acting too helps ground the film in a reality that somehow makes the mystic shenanigans believable. Jones, the actor, has never been more wry, sly and taciturn. He won't yield to his pain--to the memory of past mistakes, the implacable fury of the daughter he deserted--yet you feel it in his every movement. As for Blanchett, she's simply wonderful. She has played her share of queenly figures, but her acting essence is, emotionally speaking, plain-Jane. She's a straight shooter, with an uncanny ability to find a character's spine and communicate it without fuss...