-Won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (Julian Fellowes)
-Other Academy Award Nominations includes: Best Director (Robert Altman), Best Supporting Actress (Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith), Best Costume Design (Jenny Beavan), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (Stephen Altman and Anna Pinnock)
Brooke Review:When Geoff and I saw that there was a murder mystery film as one of the Academy Awards nominees we gladly chose it over the others seeing as it is a compromise between our two extreme preferences: epic romances (chick flicks) and action films. I had high hopes from the beginning - the imagery and piano music gave me all the indications that the film would resemble one of my Jane Austin classics (despite Gosford Park's official genre). The heavy rain and almost all British cast certainly convinced me it would portray a stereotypical English society. Also, the costumes and old country mansion reeled me in such that I think Geoff even doubted out loud whether it would actually turn from English romance to murder mystery. Gradually the hopes began to fade after the first 5 mins though and it was clear to me this would be no epic romance. No problem - I geared up for the suspenseful murder mystery I thought it would turn into. However, no such plot ever emerged. Yes there was a murder - a dead body and everything but definitely no suspense. Instead of creating a climax into a "mystery" which had to be solved I felt like I was in a bad game of CLUE where the whole plot focused on which character piece everyone wanted to be rather than getting to the bottom of whether it was Mrs. McCordle or Butler Jennings (or both). Oh yeah Mr. McCordle, the victim, was killed twice in one night. And it was made perfectly clear that no one cared of his death including is rigid wife (luckily later in his career Michael Gambon's "death" would be mourned by millions). So the main plot angle failed to captivate me.
The other attempt at a story was centered around the former mistress of murder victim who gave up their love child for adoption based on the recommendation of the father and never forgave herself or William McCordle. Sounds plausible but the film failed to make me feel bad for her or the scorned kid - more to do with the character development than the acting of Helen Mirren. Second fail of plot.
Robert Altman, apparently this was your plan. Some people even praised his attempt to describe each character's happenings as separate little plots including the unlikely connections and twists rather than having a central story they could all contribute to. I for one would have to see the movie again if not a third or fourth time to keep all the humans' faces straight let alone learn their names or character descriptions. Critics argue that the point of the movie was to glimpse inside the caste system of English society with the actual murder planned as just an after thought. I personally don't accept this excuse for the lack of plot or cohesive order I would demand from anything ending up on the "big screen." It just didn't do it for me. Even Clive Owen's almost romance with one of the ladies maids (Kelly MacDonald) and the appearance of Tom Hollander and Claudie Blakley who have since sparked my interest from my beloved Pride and Prejudice couldn't salvage the film enough to give it a passing grade.
F+ at best (59/100).
Acting: Good. I was convinced it was an English society & it did not change my opinion of the aforementioned actors/actresses which I admire from other films.
Story: utter fail - no intention of re-watching this film
Director: Some of the images & shots were cool but overall vision was flawed
Music/Soundtrack: Can't complain, I'm a sucker for piano music tho
Editing: honestly I liked all the shots
Costumes/Make-Up: two thumbs up
Screenplay: overall dialogue and story = fail but I liked how they set the scene
Geoff Review:
This is officially the first movie review that I have written for our blog, but I have a confession to make: I did not actually finish this movie. I stopped watching an hour and a half into the film. Why? Because I thought it was terribly slow, and it wasn't doing anything for me so I had to stop. The description of the movie says its a murder mystery. The thing is, I wanted to like this movie. I like the idea of sitting through a movie, trying to pick up on little clues, and having to guess who is the murderer. I believe that if a murder mystery is done right (i.e. if written, directed, and acted out correctly), it could be one hell of a film. Gosford Park is not said film. I get it how they needed to set up all the characters for the first half of the movie, so you could get the idea for motives of why who wants to kill who, etc. However, it just ended up taking too long with nothing of real substance happening. Also, maybe it was just me, but it was hard to know who's who, making it even more difficult to follow. And what was with the Inspector character? The whole first half of the film was portrayed as a relatively serious movie, but then they introduce the goofy Inspector for comic relief. His character just didn't fit in my mind. It just seemed like a total shift in what kind and type of story they wanted to tell. So I am baffled to why this movie was even nominated for Best Picture, and I can't really see why it Won the Oscar for Best Screenplay.Lastly, despite not finishing the film, I was able to guess correctly the TWO murderers (thanks to Brooke, who did finish). Not that they made it that hard to figure out, as there are some painfully obvious signs. Maybe I missed the point of this movie, as in it is not supposed to be any sort of murder mystery, but nevertheless it is 90 minutes of my life I want back. This is not a movie I would recommend seeing.
Acting: Fine
Directing: I liked some of the shots that used multiple mirrors to add effect and depth
Story/Screenplay: Had the potential, but ultimately a let-down
Creativity/Originality: Again, could have been a lot better
Costumes: Probably the only solid thing about this film
Music:/Soundtrack: Not noticeable
Rewatch-ability: No
Geoff's Overall Grade: F (50/100)
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