(story to be published in tomorrow's issue, March 28)
"American Beauty," a tragicomic tale of a dysfunctional family, came up roses at the Oscars on Sunday when it was named the year's best film. Its British director, Sam Mendes, making his screen debut, was named best director and its star, Kevin Spacey, who plays a man in mid-life crisis, was named best actor. Other major awards that went to the film -- the first by the new DreamWorks studio ever to win a best movie Oscar -- were for cinematography -- Conrad L. Hall -- and best original screenplay, Alan Ball. Hollywood newcomer Hilary Swank won the Oscar for best actress for her powerful performance as a woman who lives as a man in the low budget film "Boys Don't Cry." Swank said, "We have come a long way. This movie could nothave been made 2- 1/2 years ago. Everyone put their heart and soul into this movie and God knows nobody got paid," she said. The 25-year-old actress portrayed the tragic Brandon Teena, who was killed in 1993 in Nebraska after being unmasked as a woman posing as a man. One of Britain's classiest actors, Cockney trail-blazer Michael Caine, and a screen newcomer from a famous Hollywood family, Angelina Jolie, won best supporting acting Oscars. In a night rampant with jokes about the drama the Oscars have been through this turbulent year -- including the theft of the statuettes -- Caine had an audience of 5,000 of show business's elite jumping to their feet to applaud him. He declared he did not deserve the award for "The Cider House Rules" but would accept only on behalf of the four others in the race with him -- Tom Cruise, Haley Joel Osment, Michael Clarke Duncan and Jude Law. "I was watching all the others and thinking back when I saw all the performances, thinking how the Academy has changed the phrase from, 'and the winner is', to 'and the Oscar goes to." He praised all his fellow nominees by name and said if anyone deserved it, it was Osment, an 11-year-old beaten by a 67-year-old. Caine won for playing a kindly ether-sniffing abortionist in "The Cider House Rules" -- with an American accent. Jolie, 24, the tattooed daughter of Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight, won for her portrayal of a mentally ill young woman in "Girl, Interrupted." Wearing a full-length black dress, Jolie embraced her brother Jamie and both appeared near tears of joy. "I am in shock. I am just so in love with my brother. He just held me," she said as she paid tribute to other members of her family. In an upset, "One Day in September," a documentary about the slaughter of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, beat the widely popular "Buena Vista Social Club," a documentary that fuelled world-wide interest in Cuban jazz and was a major commercial and critical success. "One Day in September" producer Arthur Cohn said his film had yet to find a distributor and he praised the Academy for giving it the award even though it had no box office. he Academy Award for best song went to another Briton, Phil Collins, for "You'll Be in My Heart," from Disney's animated feature "Tarzan." Comedian Billy Crystal, hosting for the seventh time, opened the show in his now traditional manner - appearing digitally inserted into several classic films from "E.T." to "Casablanca" and "Spartacus" to this year's hot favourite for best film, "American Beauty."
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