2002 Fidelio Film Awards
Winners

March 16, 2003

Roman Polanski’s Holocaust survival epic The Pianist brings home the Best Dramatic Feature Fidelio Film Award, while Polanski himself wins Best Director for 2002.  Other big winners included The Hours, which took home 4 awards, Far From Heaven and Minority Report, which each won 3 awards.

The Pianist won 3 awards total, Adrien Brody beating out Gangs of New York favorite Daniel Day-Lewis.  While Day-Lewis may have added one of the great villainous performances to Scorsese’s repertoire, it was Brody’s minimalist performance as Warsaw Ghetto survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman that brought him the top award.  Brody, who won a Best Supporting Fidelio Film Award in 1999 for his portrayal of a Bronx neighborhood kid turned punk rocker, was like the young De Niro from Raging Bull, in the range of emotion he displayed just through a look, just with his eyes and facial expressions.  Like De Niro’s battle for perfection in every aspect of his character, Brody lost between 20-30 lbs. to play Szpilman in his final days of escape. 

Todd Haynes’s Far From Heaven won Best Original Screenplay for its satiric take on the 50’s and witty dialogue.  Edward Lachman, who just co-directed Ken Park with Larry Clark, brings home Best Cinematography for the beautiful scenery and capturing the bright colors of the film.  Julianne Moore, who is quickly becoming one of our best actresses around, takes home her first award for Best Actress for her brilliant performance as an unhappy housewife, beating out favorite Nicole Kidman in The Hours. 

David Hare wins Best Adapted Screenplay for the most complex screenplay of the year, The Hours.  On top of that, The Hours won Best Editing for engagingly tying together three stories of unhappy women.  Ed Harris wins Best Supporting Actor for his dramatic performance as a poet with AIDS.  And finally, Phillip Glass takes home the Best Score award for his haunting music that ostensibly ties together the three stories.

I’ve maintained Spielberg is the best of the big budget film and he proved it again this year with Minority Report.  Minority Report beat out favorite Gangs of New York for Best Art Direction/Set Design for the creative futuristic look Spielberg gave his film.  It also won Best Special Effects, and Samantha Morton picks up her second Fidelio Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.  I predict she is a rising star as well as Julianne Moore.

About Schmidt beat out Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love for Best Comedic Feature.  Schmidt was a consistently funny, heartbreaking character study of Warren Schmidt and is by far one of Nicholson’s best.  Eminem also brought home his first award for Best Song from 8 Mile, “Lose Yourself.”

The worst of the year is led by one of the most awful war films ever, Windtalkers. Windtalkers won Worst Feature and John Woo wonWorst Director. Slackers won Worst Original Screenplay for it’s inane premise and inept carrying out of that premise, while Rules of Attraction, Roger Avery’s—of Pulp Fiction— dreadful adaptation of a Bret Easton Ellis novel, wins Worst Adapted Screenplay.
 
 
 
 

	Best of 2002 Best Dramatic Feature 25th Hour Far From Heaven The Hours Minority Report The Pianist Best Comedic Feature About Schmidt Igby Goes Down My Big Fat Greek Wedding Punch-Drunk Love Secretary Best Director Michael Moore Bowling for Columbine Todd Haynes Far From Heaven Stephen Daldry The Hours Steven Spielberg  Minority Report Roman Polanski The Pianist Best Original Screenplay Scott Silver 8 Mile Todd Haynes Far From Heaven Krzysztof Kieslowski , Krzysztof Piesiewicz Heaven Mark Romenek One Hour Photo M. Night Shyamalan Signs Best Adapted Screenplay David Benioff 25th Hour Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor About Schmidt David Hare The Hours Scott Frank, Jon Cohen Minority Report Ronald Harwood The Pianist Best Cinematography Rodrigo Prieto 25th Hour Newton Thomas Sigel  Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Edward Lachman Far From Heaven Pawel Edelman The Pianist Robert Elswit Punch-Drunk Love Best Editing Eric Zumbrunnen  Adaptation Stephen Mirrione  Confessions of a Dangerous Mind James Lyons Far From Heaven Peter Boyle The Hours Michael Kahn Minority Report Best Art Direction/Set Design Peter Rogness/ Mark Friedberg Far From Heaven Alessandro Alberti et al./ Dante Ferretti Gangs of New York Ramsey Avery et al./ Alex McDowell Minority Report Sebastian T. Krawinkel/ Allan Starski The Pianist Sue Chan/ William Arnold  Punch-Drunk Love Best Actor Jack Nicholson About Schmidt Dennis Quaid Far From Heaven Daniel Day-Lewis Gangs of New York Robin Williams  One Hour Photo Adrien Brody The Pianist Best Actress Julianne Moore Far From Heaven Nicole Kidman The Hours Kyra Sedgwick Personal Velocity Maggie Gyllenhaal Secretary Diane Lane Unfaithful Best Supporting Actor Barry Pepper 25th Hour Cedric the Entertainer Barbershop Dennis Haysbert Far From Heaven Ed Harris The Hours Ryan Phillippe Igby Goes Down Best Supporting Actress Rosario Dawson 25th Hour Kathy Bates About Schmidt Drew Barrymore Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Claire Danes Igby Goes Down Samantha Morton Minority Report Best Special Effects Minority Report The Pianist Spider-Man Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones Best Song "Lose Yourself"--Eminem 8 Mile "The Hands That Built America"--U2 Gangs of New York Best Score Terence Blanchard 25th Hour Rolfe Kent About Schmidt Elmer Bernstein Far From Heaven Philip Glass The Hours Danny Elfman Spider-Man Worst of 2002 Worst Feature Deauces Wild Rules of Attracton Slackers Windtalkers XXX Worst Director Christophe Gans Brotherhood of the Wolf Roger Avery Rules of Attraction Rob Cohen XXX Randall Wallace We Were Soldiers John Woo Windtalkers Worst Original Screenplay Stéphane Cabel, Christophe Gans  Brotherhood of the Wolf James Kearns John Q David H. Steinberg  Slackers John Rice, Joe Batteer  Windtalkers Rich Wilkes  XXX Worst Adapted Screenplay Jay Wolpert The Count of Monte Cristo Hillary Seitz Insomnia Roger Avery Rules of Attraction Randall Wallace We Were Soldiers Summary of 2002 Winners Best of 2002 4   The Hours 3   Far From Heaven  3   Minority Report 3   The Pianist 1   8 Mile 1   About Schmidt Worst of 2002 2   Windtalkers 1   Rules of Attracton 1   Slackers