31 Days of Oscar TCM Premieres

Turner Classic Movies is once again presenting 31 Days of Oscar, this year organized by nominees and winners in a different category each day. The channel has scheduled a bunch of films that have never graced TCM airwaves before, even venturing into the 21st century, which, in my unpopular opinion, is welcome addition. (This isn’t a new thing for me. I’ve been advocating for Future Classic Movies since 2012.) Most of the Oscar films are in heavy rotation year-round, and, as controversial as it may be, it’s nice to get some variety. Some titles like Gosford Park, The Triplets of Belleville, Far From Heaven, and Lincoln map obviously to classical genres, but all of these deserve a chance. Try one, you might like it. After all, even Wings (1927) was new once. More on the remaining premières after the jump

Tuesday 2/13 – Original Screenplay

9:30p Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) — Its unorthodox structure and sci-fi aspects might seem too newfangled for TCM, but “the feelings that Eternal Sunshine evokes couldn’t feel more grounded in the real devastation of a lost love—or the blissful fatedness of a new one.” — Vanity Fair. Just an instant classic.

11:30p Gosford Park (2001) — A direct descendant of La Règle du jeu (1939), “Upstairs Downstairs,” and every country house whodunnit, Gosford is also a predecessor of “Downton Abbey,” which was first intended as a spinoff of this film. Julian Fellowes wrote both and the two share some cast and crew. The murder mystery set in the titular estate was directed by Robert Altman from an idea by Altman and Bob Balaban. It’s not as lightweight as you might think — the scenes involving Constance Trentham (Maggie Smith) and her maid Mary (Kelly Macdonald) have stuck with me for more than 20 years.

Friday 2/15 – Film Editing

7:45a Crazylegs (1953) — I doubt this one is controversial at all. The life and career of football star Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch (who plays himself). New to me.

Sunday 2/18 – Supporting Actor Winners

10:15p Adaptation. (2002) — Charlie Kaufaman wrote this screenplay about himself; Nic Cage plays both Charlie and his twin brother Donald. It’s so meta it’ll make your head spin, but meta is nothing new to classic films like The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and Day for Night (1973).

Monday 2/19 – Original Song

noon The Triplets of Belleville (2003) — The unique style of this animated classic is a long way from Disney, but it begins with a tribute to early animation, and its anti-corporate message, a warning about what happens when profiteers control art (ahem Z*slav), wouldn’t be out of place in a Frank Capra film.

Weds 2/21 – Documentary

6:15p Winged Migration (2003) — New to me.

8:00p The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975) — New to me.

Sun 2/25 – Actress

4:00p Far From Heaven (2002) — Writer/director Todd Haynes employed cinematography, mise-en-scène, and a melodramatic tone to pay loving tribute to 1950s Douglas Sirk films like All That Heaven Allows and Magnificent Obsession. While class is a common theme, Heaven also deals with topics the Sirk films could never address overtly due to the Production Code and societal norms of mid-century American society, such as racism and homosexuality, and the film challenges gender roles in a way very few films did then. Julianne Moore’s Best Actress Oscar was well-deserved; don’t miss Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson, and Viola Davis.

Tues 2/27 – Foreign Language

12:30a Indochine (1992) – Catherine Deneuve is a French plantation owner in Vietnam involved in a love triangle with her lover (Vincent Perez) and her adopted daughter (Linh Dan Pham). It’s been compared unfavorably with Gone With the Wind, but it gives more Year of Living Dangerously.

3:15a Sundays and Cybele (1962) – A French veteran of his country’s war on Vietnam forms an unlikely friendship with a girl who has been abandoned at the local convent. New to me.

Thurs 2/29 – Director

6:15p Midnight in Paris (2011) — It’s complicated.

Sat 3/2 – Actor

8:00p Lincoln (2012) — Loosely based on one of my favorite books, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. New to me (yeah, I know).

Tues 3/5 – Picture

10:00p Platoon (1986) — A more straightforward 1980s update of Apocalypse Now (1979), this picture made a star of Charlie Sheen, but it also gave us Willem Dafoe, one of the most consistently brilliant actors in the years since. Dafoe plays a mellow sergeant battling a violent one (Tom Berenger) for the soul of a rookie soldier (Sheen).

Are you looking forward to seeing any of these TCM premières? Let me know in the comments!