The Hunter (2011) - Man wants to kill Tasmania's last tiger

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Lush mountain scenery and a family situation lurks on this star-centered poster for Daniel Nettheim's The Hunter

A professional huntsman arrives to a remote part of Tasmania, where it is his mission to shoot and bring home with him a tiger that was thought to be extinct. But in the process he falls for a woman in the area, - and for the tiger.

 

The Hunter is written by Alice Addison (The Silence (2006, TV movie)), with Wain Fimeri (Pozieres (2000, TV movie)) and co-writer/director Daniel Nettheim (Angst (2000)) making contributions. It is an adaptation of the same-titled 1999 novel by Julia Leigh (Disquiet (2008)).

An unusual story and a strong cast, which keeps us guessing, speaks in favor of The Hunter. Frances O'Connor (Best Man Down (2012)) has that special sympathetic quality and is good here, and Finn Woodlock (Neighbours (2013, TV-series)) as her son also brings sensitivity to the part. The Tasmanian nature and animals are also fascinating. These qualities keep The Hunter afloat and exciting for the most part.

But (understandably) we never really care for Willem Dafoe's (The Florida Project (2017)) title character due to his mission and engagement with a mysterious, evil company. He walks around and kills animals throughout the film SPOILER and ends up shooting the beautiful tiger, only to cremate it. An incredibly unsympathetic behavior, - and it changes little that he becomes a stepfather for the boy. SPOILER Throughout The Hunter Dafoe's character stands as a swaying leaf between the environmentalists and 'tree-huggers' of the story, - and I didn't buy the proposed change in him in the film's ending, which I really hated.

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 4 mil. $

Box office: 1.6 mil. $

= Uncertain, but likely a mega-flop (projected return of 0.4 times its cost)

[The Hunter premiered 9 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 102 minutes. Shooting took place around October 2010 in Australia. The film opened #68 to a 19k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #57 and in 17 theaters (different weeks), grossing 176k $ (11 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 3rd biggest market. Its biggest were Australia with 947k $ (59.2 %) and the UK with 367k $ (22.9 %). If made on a low 4 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a mega-flop. Nettheim returned with 22 TV credits but has not returned to theaters since. Dafoe returned with a voice performance in Gauguin: Maker of Myth (2011, video), and theatrically in John Carter (2012).  The Hunter is fresh at 72 % with a 6.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Hunter? 

Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) - Rodriguez goes digital and blows up his trilogy

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Three long-haired stars with sultry looks adorn this earthy-red poster for Robert Rodriguez's Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Guitar-playing hit-man El Mariachi becomes involved in a Mexican state coup, drug villains and lots - LOTS - of weapons.

 

Once Upon a Time in Mexico is written, co-produced, directed, photographed, edited and scored by great Texan filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi (1992)). It is the final film in his Mariachi trilogy that also comprises El Mariachi and Desperado (1995).

The plot is confused and hard to recount, as the masculine, action-packed trilogy ends disappointingly here. Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a film that isn't much fun, isn't ever exciting, but instead reeks of indifference and superficiality; it is also a raining of stars over a specific country (Mexico) that was already going apart at the seams with homicidal violence when the film was made and released due to the criminal drug cartels, which the film tries to milk some pulpy entertainment out of - making it even less fun.

Rodriguez had impressed to the point of getting a star parade of Mickey Rourke (Iron Man 2 (2010)), Antonio Banderas (The Body (2001)) and Willem Dafoe (A Woman (2010)) and many more to fall into this wretched action soup here. The film nevertheless has incredibly sexy turns from Johnny Depp (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)), Salma Hayek (Americano (2011)) and Enrique Iglesias (How I Met Your Mother (2007, TV-series)), as well as some photography, stunts and special effects tricks that work. Rodriguez had become a technically superior filmmaker at this point in his career, - but he forgot (or perhaps ignored) with Once Upon a Time in Mexico that all the work still comes down to making a good film.

 

Related posts:

Robert Rodriguez:  The Faculty (1998) or, Teacher Encounters of the Third Kind

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
From Dusk till Dawn (1996) - Tarantino, Rodriguez and chums' enjoyable Mexico vampire extravaganza
Desperado (1995) - Rodriguez' second Mexico actioner is a sexy, latino fireball 

Four Rooms (1995) - Rodriguez, Tarantino & Co. fail with LA hotel anthology comedy (segment) 

 

 

Watch 3 minutes from the beginning of the film here

 

Cost: 29 mil. $

Box office: 98.7 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.40 times its cost)

[Once Upon a Time in Mexico premiered 27 August (Venice Film Festival) and runs 102 minutes. Rodriguez reportedly wrote the script in 6 days. Shooting took place from May - June 2001 in Texas and Mexico. It was allegedly the first big budget film to shoot in be shot in HD digital video, a change that Rodriguez since championed and stuck with in subsequent films. The film opened #1 to a 23.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#4), grossing 56.3 mil. $ (57 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 7.1 mil. $ (7.2 %) and the UK with 4.4 mil. $ (4.5 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Rodriguez returned with 5 shorts prior to his theatrical return with The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3D (2004). Banderas returned in And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself (2003, TV movie) and theatrically in Imagining Argentina (2003); Hayek in After the Sunset (2004); and Depp in Secret Window (2004). Once Upon a Time in Mexico is fresh at 66 % with a 6.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Once Upon a Time in Mexico? 

The Lighthouse (2019) - Menfolk lose it in Eggers' astounding masterpiece

♥♥♥♥♥♥

+ 2nd Best Movie of the Year

+ Best B/W Movie of the Year + Best Poster of the Year + Best Psychological Thriller of the Year

Two halves of two men before the titular lighthouse on this tense B/W poster for Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse

A sobering ex-forest worker younger man arrives at a tiny rock island off the New England coast sometime at the end of the 19th century, where he is to work as a wicker at the important lighthouse under the direction of an older, curmudgeon ex-seaman.

The Lighthouse is written by Max Eggers (The Tell-Tale Heart (2008, short), production assistant) and master New Hampshirite filmmaker, his brother, co-writer/co-producer/director Robert Eggers (The Witch (2015)), whose 2nd film it is.
Robert Pattinson (Good Time (2017)) and Willem Dafoe (Edges of the Lord (2001)) both give fully immersed, great performances as the two very different men on the island, master class in acting I and II, they could be described.
Unusually shot in a near-square format on B/W film by cinematographer Jarin Blaschke (Fray (2012)), the film is ripe with eye-popping visuals that never seem to transgress the practically possible with overt uses of CGI. Much of the story and its visuals have symbolic connotations that enhance the mystery and attraction of the film for viewers sensible to them; but The Lighthouse is as compelling and fascinating seen as a straightly concrete tale SPOILER of two men on an island who gradually lose their minds due to dire circumstances.
The film has little music, and its soundscape is dominated by a surreal, deep humming seemingly created by machinery on the isle. In tone the film plays us with complex affinities: Several sequences are dialog reliant, and especially Dafoe's character's authentic local sailor's vocabulary and grammar is a joy as delivered by the seasoned veteran. There's much humor and a genuinely good time to be had, surprisingly, surrounded by the extreme ardors and rancid squalor of two men who descend in drink on a deserted island. Incredibly these hilarious bickering and chum-making scenes also often lapse into truly terrifying scenes of mystery, menace and deep-seated existential dread.
It is all told with assured, tight editing in a film of scenes and images that get lodged in the audiences' memories like a strange, unnerving 19th century novel. - What does it all mean? This review, like the film, will leave it up to each viewer to discern for himself.

Related posts:

Rogert Eggers: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

The Witch (2015) - Eggers' unsettling period-set debut creep-out

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 4 mil. $
Box office: 18 mil. $ and counting
= Big hit (returned 4.5 times its cost)
[The Lighthouse premiered 19 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 109 minutes. Max Eggers wanted to adapt Edgar Allan Poe's The Light-House (1849), but found it difficult and collaborated with his brother to make the film, which has almost no resemblance to Poe's story. It is instead inspired by the 1801 Smalls Lighthouse Tragedy, which you can read about here. A shot in the script of Pattinson's actual erect penis was removed at the request of the financiers. A 20-meter working lighthouse was erected for the film. Shooting took place in 34 days in Nova Scotia from April - May 2018. The film opened #15 to a 427k $ first weekend in 8 theaters in North America, were it peaked at #8 and in 978 theaters (different weeks), grossing 10.8 mil. $ (60 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1.6 mil. $ (8.9 %) and Mexico with 950k $ (5.3 %). The release was badly hurt by the cinema-closing Corona Crisis. The film was nominated for the Best Cinematography Oscar, lost to Roger Deakins for 1917. The film was also nominated for a BAFTA, a prize in Cannes, 2/5 Independent Spirit award nominations and countless other honors. Eggers returns with Viking movie The Northman (pre-production), again with Dafoe. Pattinson returned in The King (2019); Dafoe in Tommaso (2019). The Lighthouse is certified fresh at 90 % with an 8.04/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Lighthouse?

Finding Nemo (2003) - Stanton/Unkrich's oceanic animation masterpiece

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+ Best Movie of the Year

+ Best Adventure Movie of the Year + Best American Movie of the Year + Best Family Movie of the Year + Best Mega-hit Movie of the Year + Best Poster of the Year + Most Profitable Movie of the Year: 282.12 mil. $ range

A plush poster for Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich's Finding Nemo, filled to the brim with many of the film's fascinating characters

Nemo is a clownfish in Australia's Great Barrier Reef, whose father Marlin only has his son to look out for, and so when Nemo gets caught by a human diver on his first day of school, Marlin - and Nemo - each do everything in their power to locate each other again.

Finding Nemo is written by Bob Peterson (Up (2009)), David Reynolds (The Emperor's New Groove (2000)) and Bostonian master co-writer/co-director Andrew Stanton (John Carter (2012)), who directed it with Ohioan master filmmaker Lee Unkrich (Monsters, Inc. (2001)).
Finding Nemo is one of Pixar's top films, - arguably their best since Toy Story (1995), - it is an incredibly full and vibrant adventure which billows with love for the art of animating as well as for great storytelling. All members of every family should enjoy this fantastical journey, - and find plenty of amusement and excitement in the anonymous meat-eating sharks, the stoner sea turtle, the poisonous jellyfish scene, the Sydney dentist's aquarium and all the deep and deliciously vibrant colors on display. The voice work is terrific, suiting the remarkable character works created for the film without fail, and especially Ellen DeGeneres (Doctor Dolittle (1998)) and Willem Dafoe (Opus Zero (2017)) give perfect (and very funny) voice performances. Finding Nemo is the oceanic animated adventure.

Related posts:

Andrew Stanton: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess
Finding Dory (2016) - An endearing, funny and touching family adventure
2012 in films - according to Film Excess
John Carter (2012) - Bloated Mars-nonsense yawner

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Lee Unkrich: Toy Story 3 (2010) - The year's top-grossing movie is this excellent family animation  (Stanton story contributor) 

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 94 mil. $
Box office: 940.3 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 10.00 times its cost)
[Finding Nemo was released 30 May (North America) and runs 100 minutes. Production lasted from 1997 - October 2002. The film opened #1 to a 70.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 6 weeks in the top 5 (#2-#1-#2-#3-#4-#5) and grossed 380.8 mil. $ (40.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 102.4 mil. $ (10.9 %) and the UK with 67.1 mil. $ (7.1 %). The 2012 3D-converted re-release of the film added 72.1 mil. $ to the film's total gross. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, equal to its rating here. It was nominated for 4 Oscars, winning for Best Animation. It lost Original Screenplay to Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation, Sound Editing to Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Score (Thomas Newman (Skyfall (2012))) to Howard Shore for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, 2 BAFTAs, won an AFI award, nominated for a European Film award, won a National Board of Review award and several other honors. It currently sits at #168 on IMDb's user-generated Top 250, between Come and See (1985) and The Deer Hunter (1978). The film's success had negative environmental impacts, as tropical fish aquariums boomed in sales, adding stress to the decimation of the world's endangered fish species and reefs. A great sequel was made with Finding Dory (2016), reuniting co-director Stanton, DeGeneres and Marlin-voicing Albert Brooks (A Most Violent Year (2014)). Stanton returned with WALL-E (2008), Unkrich with Toy Story 3 (2010). DeGeneres returned with 5 TV and a short credit until her next theatrical outing in Finding Dory (2016), Brooks returned in Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World (2005), Nemo-voicing Alexander Gould (Mexico City (2000)) in 4 TV and a short credit until theatrically in Wheelman (2005). Finding Nemo is certified fresh at 99 % with an 8.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Finding Nemo?

The Florida Project (2017) - Baker skewers Disney Florida's backyard's social travesties with potent mother-daughter drama

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+ Best Florida Movie of the Year + Best Independent Movie of the Year + Best Social Realism Movie of the Year

A brightly colored, semi-psychedelic poster for Sean Baker's The Florida Project with its lead mother-daughter duo at its center

At a motel in Kissimmee, Florida, near Walt Disney World, 6 year-old Moonee lives with her mother Halley, whose life is a constant battle to secure next week's rent and providing the basics for the two.

The Florida Project is the 6th theatrical feature from great New-Yorker filmmaker Sean Baker (Tangerine (2015)), who co-wrote the screenplay with Chris Bergoch (Starlet (2012)). The Florida Project was an early name for the Orlando, Florida Disney park. The downright psychedelic quality of Florida in general and Orlando in particular are highlighted in the film, which begs the question of how that style affects the mentality of the permanent inhabitants there. - I certainly was not inspired to throw my hard-earned holiday money towards a stay in Florida from the presentation of the state given here.
Watching The Florida Project reminded me of Andrea Arnold's recent, great American Honey (2016), which deals with youths that also reside in shady motels, however not for long, in their hustling journeys and uncertain lives across America. That film is more enjoyable to sit through, simply because it has a lighter, compelling story and an air of youth and survival and unity to it. The Florida Project is an equally accomplished piece of independent filmmaking but a more oppressive and tough watch, because it deals with the mother of a little girl, and the other kids around who grow up in similarly under-stimulating circumstances. - Is American Honey's Star (played soulfully by Sasha Lane) going to end up like Halley here, I wonder? The possibility certainly exists.
Halley is a terrible mother. She doesn't reach the level of Precious' mother Mary, (played chillingly by Mo'Nique back in Lee Daniels' great Precious (2009)), because she is available for her daughter and loves her. But her own lifestyle, - and no-doubt also her personal experiences growing up and becoming a woman, - have left her as a multi-tattooed, blue-haired young woman in the skimpiest outfits and with the trashiest mouth. Her rudeness and physical affront seems to be a self-enforcing bad circle for her, as it makes her unemployable and hard to befriend for just about everyone around her.
The situation is only made more complicated from the fact that Moonee lives with her and naturally takes influence from her mother's behavior.
Baker gets dauntingly realistic, naturalistic performances from his cast of mostly amateurs: Bria Vinaite's (Adultland (2019)) Halley is a provocative character to say the least, but she is somehow also hard to completely reject, and this is a serious feat; she is undeniably a mother, no matter how we feel about what she passes on. Brooklynn Prince (Monsters at Large (2018)) is a true find as Moonee, a true star and a fierce and incredible emotional center for the film. She is helped by two other fine child performances, from Christopher Rivera and Valeria Cotto (Backup Plan (2018, short), who together share some childhood fun, adventure and misbehavior that most will be able to relate to. The film also has a master turn from Willem Dafoe (Fireflies in the Garden (2008)), the cast's only veteran and star actor. Dafoe plays the motel's upstanding manager, who is both a policing and care-giving social presence on the premises, and does it to a T, adding a layer of humanity to the otherwise somewhat grim social realism. One scene in particular, in which Dafoe's alert eye spots an elderly man who has wandered into the children's grounds and goes to handle the man, who has definite ill intentions, is a standout and a riveting scene in The Florida Project, in which one good man protects his turf and the children on it.
This and other scenes in The Florida Project graze the crimes, ugliness and debasement that is inherent in these high-risk living conditions with equal subtlety. This makes the film easier to take, but the images and what could so easily have happened haunt our imaginations as adult audiences nonetheless, which is part of its agenda. But what could be done about a situation such as Halley and Moonee's portrayed here is no easy question.
Baker and The Florida Project deserve high praise for inviting us to experience lives such as theirs so skillfully rendered for a while regardless of this.

Related post:

2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 2 mil. $
Box office: 10.8 mil. $ and counting
= Big hit
[The Florida Project premiered 22 May (Cannes Film Festival) and runs 111 minutes. Baker and Bergoch interviewed people in the area as research for the screenplay to achieve its authenticity. Shooting took place on location. The many helicopters in the film are in it, because the production could not afford to pay them not to operate by the motel. The film is shot on 35mm film, except for its last scene: SPOILER Moonee running from the motel to the Walt Disney Land was shot without getting permission from Disney with an iPhone 6S Plus. The film opened #27 in 4 theaters to a strong 157k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #16 and in 229 theaters (different weeks), grossing 5.9 mil. $ (54.6 % of the gross to date). The 2nd and 3rd markets so far have been France with 1.2 mil. $ (11.1 %) and the UK with 807k $ (7.5 %). The film was nominated for 1 Oscar: Best Supporting Actor (Dafoe), lost to Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, won an AFI award, nominated for 2 Independent Spirit Awards, won 2 National Board of Review awards, among many other honors. The Florida Project is certified fresh at 96 % with a 8.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Florida Project?

Existenz/eXistenZ (1999) - Cronenberg's 1990s-flavored VR nonsense

♥♥

+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year

Jude Law handles a strange weapon on this rust-colored poster for David Cronenberg's Existenz

A prominent video game designer brings an inexperienced hunk with her into her virtual reality game universe, where they go through various strange things, - but what is real, and what is the game, - and is it even important to be able to differentiate?

Aficionados of the 1990s sensibilities and styles might rate this film by great Canadian writer-director David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises (2007)) higher, as it is a film that feels very much of its time: Jude Law (Road to Perdition (2002)), pretty and uncharacteristically oblivious here, at one point asks game designer Jennifer Jason Leigh (Dolores Claiborne (1995)), (and I am paraphrasing), if she would like to play eXistenZ benevolently with him, or something like that, (eXistenZ is the name of the game in the film.) And the film is full of lines and plot points that are postmodernist nonsense on full steam like that. The whole film feels a bit like a tiring update of Cronenberg's earlier, much better Videodrome (1983), which charted similar territory. (Existenz is also Cronenberg's first original screenplay since Videodrome.)
Besides this, the body-related aspects of the film, which are a natural part of most of the works of body-horror maestro Cronenberg, are mostly simply curious and gross in Existenz, SPOILER as when Law licks a wound on Leigh's back, or when she loses things in his hole, (which is not what you may think.)
None of the characters in the movie stir up any considerable interest, and the film is built up like a Chinese box, which on the surface can seem fascinating. But the problem is that we are never supposed to ask questions of the preceding box, - because the construction is ultimately hogwash.

Related reviews:

David Cronenberg: Cosmopolis (2012) - Cronenberg/DeLillo/Pattinson's speculative limo lullaby
A Dangerous Method (2011) - Cronenberg's rather disappointing waltz with the fathers of modern psychology 
Eastern Promises (2007) - Cronenberg invites us to meet the Russian mob in London
A History of Violence (2005) or, Who Is Tom Stall? 
Spider (2002) - Cronenberg takes us to the tormented (and slightly dull) mind of a schizophrenic 

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Dead Ringers (1988) or, Brothers and Their Instruments 
The Dead Zone (1983) - Eerie sci-fi/horror King-adaptation  
The Brood (1979) or, Marital Fury and Craze!    

Here, Cronenberg and star Ralph Fiennes talk about Cronenberg's following film, Spider (2002)

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 2.8 mil. $ - North America only
= Box office disaster
[Existenz premiered 16 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 97 minutes. Cronenberg was inspired to the plot after conducting an interview with novelist Salman Rushdie for Shift magazine in 1995, centered on the Iranian fatwa imposed upon the writer due to his controversial novel The Satanic Verses. Shooting took place from April - July in Ontario, Canada. Leigh lost a part in Eyes Wide Shut by starring in Existenz. The film opened #15 to an 810k $ first weekend in 256 theaters in North America, which was its peak. It was released around the same time as another sci-fi movie about an alternate reality and existential ambiguities, which wowed the public infinitely more: The Matrix grossed 463.5 mil. $ globally. Few numbers from other markets are known, but it seems fair to project the global gross of Existenz around 5 mil. $; according to Cronenberg biographer Bart Beaty, the film was "one of the biggest bombs of the Canadian film industry." Cronenberg was eventually forced to return to matter with more popular appeal in his great A History of Violence (2005). Existenz won the silver prize in Berlin. Existenz is fresh at 71 % with a 6.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Existenz?

The English Patient (1996) - Minghella's oppulent, beautifully produced and shot, but nevertheless boring classic

♥♥♥

+ Most Profitable Movie of the Year: 65.76 mil. $ range

Ralph Fiennes squints back at us serenely in the sandy colors that permeate much of Anthony Minghella's The English Patient

A mysterious count, who is in bad condition following a plane crash, gets treated by a kind nurse, while his own story gradually returns to him.

The English Patient is an adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's (Anil's Ghost (2000)) same-titled 1992 novel by great English, Oscar-winning writer-director Anthony Minghella (The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)) It is an epic war romance that mixes airy dialog with a plot that swells in every direction. Its core romance is not unlike the kind you'd expect to meet a much briefer summation of in a women's magazine. Attractive actors and grand, Oscar-winning production values make this peculiar, overrated mega-hit worth watching. For me its most distinguishing trait is the beauty of many of its images; the remarkable, Oscar-winning cinematography is by John Seale (The Tourist (2010)).
In the end the reason I only award 3 hearts to the film is that despite these qualities, it still thoroughly bores me.

 

Related post:

 

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch 3 of the first minutes of the film here

Cost: 27 mil. $
Box office: 231.9 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[The English Patient premiered 6 November (LA) and runs 162 minutes. Studio Fox wanted bigger star actors in the leads, but Minghella and producer Saul Zaents were adamant about their choices, and eventually Miramax took over for Fox and allowed them their cast. Filming took place in Siena, Pisa, Tuscany, Venice and Rome, Italy, including in the Cinecittà Studios of Rome, and in Tunesia from September 1995 - January 1996. The film opened limited in 10 theaters to a 278k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 1,409 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 78.6 mil. $ (33.9 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert awarded it 4/4 stars. It was nominated for 12 Oscars and won 9: For Best Picture, Supporting Actress (Juliette Binoche), Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Director, Editing, Score (Gabriel Yared) and Sound Mixing. It lost Best Lead Actor (Ralph Fiennes) to Geoffrey Rush in the great Shine; Lead Actress (Kristin Scott Thomas) to Frances McDormand in masterpiece Fargo, and Adapted Screenplay to Billy Bob Thornton for Sling Blade. The film also won 2 Golden Globes out of 7 nominations, 6 BAFTAs out of 13 nominations, a César award nomination (France's Oscar), 2 European Film Awards out of 3 nominations, 3 National Board of Review awards and many more. The English Patient is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The English Patient?