Tonight, I saw Clint Eastwood’s latest film, “Million Dollar Baby”, written by Paul Haggis (adapted from stories from Rope Burns by F.X.Toole), starring Eastwood himself, Hilary Swank, and Morgan Freeman. And what a film it is.
A masterpiece. It does a courageous and — in Hollywood — dangerous thing: it changes genre midway through. Film can easily lose their audience doing that. But boy does it get away with it. The emotional twist is so relentlessy brutal, I asked myself how they got it financed. But then again, it’s Eastwood, and he can do pretty much what he wants.
Not only will this film be nominated for several Oscars, it might even take home a few. And deservedly so. My prediction: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, possibly Best Male Leading and Best Female Supporting. Freeman is excellent, so I wouldn’t be surprised about Male Support either. Best Film — I don’t think so. Not because it wouldn’t deserve it, but because there are bigger movies this year, “The Aviator” being among them. I haven’t seen that one yet, but talk is it’s great.
It won’t be nominated for Best Cinematography or Best Score, since they’re both kept so much in the background. And in both cases it perfectly fits this story. I have no memory whatsoever of the score, and I just came back from the theater. But I do remember the camera, because it struck me as very Dogma-style. There doesn’t seem to be any artificial lighting around in any scene. Again, perfect for the story, but not Academy material.
