Shine Movie Review
Geoffrey Rush deservedly won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for his full-throttle performance as David Helfgott, and Noah Taylor really deserved a nod, too, as adolescent David. Armin Mueller-Stahl was SO creepy as Helfgott's control freak father that he probably freaked out the Academy members who voted for Cuba Gooding Jr. instead. Shine basked in a 90 something-day glow until some nasty music critics said that Helfgott was no Van Cliburn. Man, they were mean! The credits clearly state that Shine was never meant to be a documentary and that many situations had been fictionalized, but the folks who bet on the Oscars actually said that there would be a backlash because Helfgott wasn't a better piano player. All of this had zip to do with Rush or Shine, but that didn't stop musical cognoscenti from buzzing about both as if they were investigative reporters! Even after the Oscars, critics continued to gun for Helfgott as if it weren't enough that he'd conquered madness, he had to be a genius, too. (Oh, get a life/a heart/a grip…GRR!!!) John Gielgud is so animated as one of young David's teachers, it's hard to believe that you're watching someone who made his movie debut at age 20 in 1924's Who Is the Man? It's a treat to see Googie Withers again as another influential teacher and friend. And Lynn Redgrave is radiant as the delightful lady who sees past David's mumbling straight into his heart. That's sort of the point of the film, actually.
1995 (PG-13) 105m/C AU Geoffrey Rush, Noah Taylor, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Lynn Redgrave, John Gielgud, Googie Withers, Chris Haywood, Sonia Todd, Randall Berger, Alex Rafalowicz; D: Scott Hicks; W: Jan Sardi; C: Geoffrey Simpson; M: David Hirschfelder. Academy Awards ‘96: Best Actor (Rush); Australian Film Institute ‘95: Best Actor (Rush), Best Cinematography, Best Director (Hicks), Best Film, Best Film Editing, Best Screenplay, Best Sound, Best Supporting Actor (Mueller-Stahl), Best Score; Golden Globe Awards ‘97: Best Actor—Drama (Rush); Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards ‘96: Best Actor (Rush); National Board of Review Awards ‘96: Best Film; New York Film Critics Awards ‘96: Best Actor (Rush); Screen Actors Guild Award ‘96: Best Actor (Rush); Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards ‘96: Best Actor (Rush); Nominations: Academy Awards ‘96: Best Director (Hicks), Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Mueller-Stahl), Best Writing, Best Original Dramatic Score; Australian Film Institute ‘95: Best Actor (Taylor); British Academy Awards ‘96: Best Actor (Rush), Best Director (Hicks), Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Gielgud), Best Supporting Actress (Redgrave); Directors Guild of America Awards ‘96: Best Director (Hicks); Golden Globe Awards ‘97: Best Director (Hicks), Best Film—Drama, Best Screenplay, Best Score; Screen Actors Guild Award ‘96: Best Supporting Actor (Taylor), Cast; Writers Guild of America ‘96: Best Original Screenplay. VHS, LV, Closed Caption, DVD