While the company wasn’t completely shuttered at the time, the writing was on the wall and the ailing mini-major studio’s doors closed yesterday, after 220 Oscar nominations since it was founded in 1979 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein. The brothers left the company in 2005 to start The Weinstein Company, and since, things have been slowly crumbling for the studio. But during it’s ’90s heyday, Miramax was a nest of groundbreaking and original filmmaking, and the jump off point for many of today’s A-list Hollywood directors. Here we present highlights of some of Miramax’s best work.
“Sex, Lies, and Videotape” (1989)
Harvey Weinstein once called Miramax, “the house that Quentin Tarantino built,” if that’s the case, then Steven Soderbergh laid the foundation with the indie sensation that built Sundance and also went on to win the Palme d’Or. Let’s keep in mind the director was 26 and this was his feature film debut. After winning the Palme, the first words that came out of his mouth at the podium were, “Well, I guess it’s all downhill from here.” The odd independent picture about fractured relationships, voyeurism, emasculation and strange sexual peccadilloes was made for $1.2 million and went on to gross 100 times that internationally. Suffice to say it revolutionized the success for indie films and in 2006 was added to the United States Library of Congress’s National Film Registry as being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” What’s more than just being an important, key milestone in the beginning of Miramax, it’s actually a good, very-watchable film.
“The Grifters” (1990)
Of all the neo-noirs released in the early ’90s, Stephen Frears’ “The Grifters” was arguably the best. Nominated for four Academy Awards (and winning none) the film featured an impressive crime genre pedigree that would only be matched by HBO’s “The Wire” years later; the Martin Scorsese production was adapted from a novel by hard-boiled novelist Jim Thompson (“The Killer Inside Me”) and scripted by crime writer Donald Westlake (“Point Blank”). The story follows the seriously fucked up relationship between small-time con artist Roy (John Cusack), his sexy and youthful bookie’s assistant mother, Lilly (Anjelica Huston), and his even sexier girlfriend Myra (Annette Bening — oh yeah, she’s a con artist too). While most movies about con artists wrap up with the downside of the con finally being revealed to the con man, “Grifters” starts with the downside and goes downhill from there. A hard-R movie featuring violence against women, a story involving incest, and full-frontal nudity, “The Grifters” proved that Miramax wasn’t afraid to test audience’s (or the MPAA’s) stomachs.
“The Piano” (1993)
There’s almost not enough space to say all the good things that need to be said about this exquisite, sensual and tactile romance picture set in mid-19th century backwoods New Zealand. Director Jane Campion was already creating expressive and lovely pictures in her native land (Criterion approved pictures like, “An Angel at My Table” and “Sweetie”), but it wasn’t until this deeply affecting 1993 film that she broke out on the world stage. The film features a trio of incredible acting turns including Harvey Keitel (subverting his badboy image as a romantic lead), Anna Paquin (she would go on to become the second-youngest person ever to receive an Oscar) and Holly Hunter, in a staggeringly good performance as a mute, piano-obsessive mother who does not utter a word in the entire picture. Featuring one of the most romantic and emotionally fraught scores ever by Michael Nyman and wonderfully allusive cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh, it would create the blueprint for the tea-cuppy, period-piece that filmmakers strive to make — one that might sound dull to some audiences (dudes) on the outside, but is wholly engrossing and captivating within.
“Pulp Fiction” (1994)
“Reservoir Dogs,” a savvy and knowing crime pastiche, signaled the debut of a major American film talent in writer-director Quentin Tarantino. With “Pulp Fiction,” that talent was transformed into a virtuoso capable of creating a full-blown pop culture phenomenon, and in the process cemented not only the importance of independent filmmaking but also its popularity. With its fractured chronology, kicky soundtrack and larger-than-life characters (including the career resurrection of John Travolta), this was the movie everyone had to see. The fact that it was directed by a former video store clerk and made for the cost of most movies’ wardrobe budget didn’t matter. It shook off all the stuffiness associated with independent films, that they had to be boring, dramatically inert costume dramas where propriety reigned. Tarantino and the Weinsteins have remained unstoppable creative partners since, even weathering the Weinstein Company’s recent financial troubles. Unfortunately, “Pulp Fiction” created its own sub-genre, where independent movies had to be cool, sarcastic, and blood-splattered. We have him to blame for “Boondock Saints,” but all good art spawns lesser retreads.
“Il Postino” (1994)
An ode to love that might have made even its famed poetry-writing subject proud, “Il Postino” is a film that feels surprisingly sensual, despite its PG rating. Michael Radford directed the lighthearted romance, but star (and co-writer) Massimo Troisi is its soul. The Italian actor plays Mario, a postman who was inspired to woo his love, Beatrice (Maria Grazia Cucinotta), through his interaction with real-life writer Pablo Neruda (Philippe Noiret), but it wasn’t just his earnest performance that drew tears from his audience. Troisi knew he was ill and put off heart surgery until the completion of the film, but he died shortly after production finished, giving a bittersweet element to this anything-but-prosaic film. Composer Luis Enriquez Bacalov won an Oscar for the film’s sigh-worthy score.
“Trainspotting” (1996)
This uber-hip, zeitgeisty-snatching British film came out of the blue like a bolt of lightning. From the opening sequence, narrated by a charming thief and junkie (Ewan McGregor), set to the tune of Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life,” we were off. And the movie didn’t slow down for a second. “Trainspotting” is, first and foremost, a great example of the Weinsteins’ taste in acquisitions, which was almost unparalleled for much of their time at Miramax (though they did have a tendency to over-buy, giving some great movies the short shrift by scuttling them to home video and allowing others to languish on the studio’s shelves.) Danny Boyle was a young theater director turned filmmaker at the time, with only one film under his belt when he helmed this adaptation of the Irving Welsh novel, imbuing it with a sexy, kinetic pulse that has marked his work ever since. Launching the careers of McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Robert Carlyle and Kelly McDonald, and boasting a phenomenal soundtrack (“Born Slippy” itself put Underworld on the map) “Trainspotting” was a sharp and surprisingly affecting film that like “Pulp Fiction,” spawned a breed of lesser imitators.
“Citizen Ruth” (1996)
The film that kicked off a fruitful collaboration between Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne (Taylor has gone on to co-wrote all of Payne’s films that have hit the screen thus far), the hilariously biting, culture war satire, “Citizen Ruth,” might be the duo’s best work. About a glue-huffing fuck-up (Laura Dern in one of her finest roles) who gets caught in the middle of an abortion debate — torn between a militant anti-abortionist sewing circle of Midwesterners and dippy feminist pro-lifers battling for the life of her unborn child — Payne’s debut is sharp, wickedly ironic and deliciously sardonic. And the way it takes joys in skewering both sides of the argument and revealing the hypocrisies and absurdities of martial political activism is just ingeniously wry. While it didn’t light up the box-office or awards season, it was the beginning for a new filmmaker who would go on to greater things for himself and other indie studios (see the awards favorite and crowd-pleasing “Sideways” for Fox Searchlight).
“Swingers” (1996)
Everyone involved with “Swingers” has more or less become total money — screenwriter and co-star Jon Favereau made the transition to big shot director with the “Iron Man” films, director Doug Liman has gone from indie darling to studio stalwart, and Vince Vaughn has become a frat humor matinee idol. And the movie still holds up well, even if it has taken on the extra dimension of being a time capsule of a very specific period in the 1990s. But what it is, more than ever, is evidence of one of Miramax’s patented formulas – to take a low-budget, affable comedy, shot on the cheap with cut rate visuals, and turn it into something that could compete with the big budget romps. They would try this again and again, with more mixed results down the line (“Happy, Texas” and “Tadpole” didn’t exactly set the world on fire), but “Swingers” stands as a monumental testament to the early power of this formula, the inspiring work of driven and hungry filmmakers essentially using guerrilla tactics (half of the film was shot, run and gun, on the fly and without permits) and the whatever-it-takes-attitude to get the job done.
“Good Will Hunting” (1997)
The House of Miramax created many stars and many buddy-like duos, Quentin and Rodriguez, Favreau and Vaughn, but there was probably never a more recognizable, more tied-to-one-another’s success like the feel good story that was Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the marginally successful actors who wrote “Good Will Hunting” as a vehicle to get their star on the map, probably never dreaming just how bright their constellation would shine. Reaching out to their Miramax buddy Kevin Smith, who would help them get the script to Harvey, and then finally nabbing the patiently economical and subtle Gus Van Sant (who wisely subverted his own style to fit the tone) as well as Robin Williams in a key role, this story about a young prodigy delinquent working as a janitor at MIT, is a superbly crafted picture, ultimately about friendship and connection. Looking back on their careers (Damon’s great, Affleck’s finally getting back on track), it makes us yearn for the day when the duo get back together and write another screenplay.
“The Talented Mr. Ripley” (1999)
“The Talented Mr. Ripley” is a perfect example of the Miramax atmosphere; how they’d stick by gifted filmmakers and allow them to do creatively adventurous projects that may not be the most commercially sound. After the rapturous critical and commercial response to “The English Patient,” writer-director Anthony Minghella could have done anything. So he decided to adapt a notoriously tricky suspense novel by Patricia Highsmith (made into a film once before) about a gay, obsessive serial killer starring the titan of another Miramax juggernaut (“Good Will Hunting”) in the title role. “The Talented Mr. Ripley” was the rare thriller that actually thrilled; a luxurious, immaculately paced film that rivals Hitchcock’s best in terms of set pieces and psychological depth. It’s a notable Miramax film in that it featured many actors (Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett) that would serve as staple “Miramax players,” and displayed their steadfast support of their filmmakers’ occasionally bizarre taste.
Not Necessarily Best, But Important To The Miramax Story
“Life is Beautiful” (1997)
OK, it’s sweet, but a little on the treacly side, but anyone who knew Italian cinema knew that writer/director/comedian Roberto Begnini was a sensation waiting to happen outside of his country (where the Robin Williams-esque, charming comic was already a huge star) and Miramax’s keen eye pounced on him quickly. It’s also easy to cynically hate on now, (oh a Holocaust movie with a little kid!), but it’s a genuinely tender and moving tale about the lengths a father will go to protect his son’s innocence. Miramax’s “Shakespeare in Love” stole won the Oscar (and it was a competitive year with Terrence Malick and Spielberg at the plate, both with WWII pictures), but with their Academy prowess never more fully oiled, the Weinsteins proved they could take foreign films out of the arthouse and onto the mainstream stage as the picture took three Oscars that year, including Best Actor (leading the now clip worthy moment of Begnini climbing over rows of Kodak Theater seats to get to the stage), Best Score and of course, Best Foreign Language film.
“Scream” (1996)
Released under Miramax’s genre banner Dimension (which made the leap with the Weinsteins when they started their own company), “Scream” revitalized the badly sagging slasher genre in a knowing and provocative way. Through wink-wink nudge-nudge self reference, they created a horror movie steeped in other horror movies and one that was also breathlessly entertaining. Beyond spawning two diminishing-return sequels, it also inspired countless spoofs, rip-offs, and homages. The fact that the Weinsteins are trying to prop their failing studio up with the promise of another “Scream” trilogy tells you how deadly important the films are to their legacy.
“From Dusk Till Dawn” (1996)
This movie, released through Miramax even though it’s clearly a Dimension picture, is important because it began in earnest the insanely profitable working relationship between the Weinsteins and genre bad boy Robert Rodriguez. (He had done the best section of “Four Rooms” before this, but the less said about that film, the better.) Since “From Dusk Till Dawn,” he has worked exclusively with the studio on every film he’s made, up until last summer’s “Shorts.” The partnership perfected the formula of Rodriguez making fiercely personal movies (ok, fiercely personal genre movies), for limited budgets, that also happened to be enormously profitable, entertaining and pushed available technology in new and interesting ways.
“Clerks.” (1994)
A crummy black-and-white movie, filled with a bunch of equally crummy non-actors, a ton of cursing, gave birth a cinematic phenomenon. While mostly beneath us, the success of Kevin Smith’s “Clerks” is both a testament to the tenacity of no-budget filmmakers and a showcase that, yes, even the chubby guy from suburban New Jersey can make a movie that captures the hearts and imaginations of millions. Just like Rodriguez and Tarantino, Smith was fiercely loyal to both Miramax and the Weinsteins, until (just like Rodriguez) the recent monetary situation strained their relationship and the filmmaker went elsewhere. The Kevin Smith empire of sex-obsessed slackers, trash-talkers, and comic book nerds began here, and was a unique voice that Smith would milk for all he could, each time with diminishing results, right up until the bankrupt “Clerks 2.” While rather creatively empty, even at the time, “Clerks” was — like many important Miramax films — a triumph of marketing and storytelling (the rags to riches one), rather than an artistic one.
Honorable Mention: “Shakespeare In Love” stole the Oscar Best Picture from “Saving Private Ryan” proving that at the height of their abilities, no one could juke and sway a Oscar campaign better than Miramax and Harvey Weinstein. The lovely “Cinema Paradiso,” “My Left Foot, ” “Bob Roberts, ” “Exotica” “arguable the last great Woody Allen film, “Bullets Over Broadway,” Larry Clark’s unforgettable “Kids” “The Crossing Guard,” “Flirting with Disaster,” “Basquiat,” “Albino Alligator,” “Cop Land,” “Jackie Brown” the underrated “Rounders,” “Malèna,” “Chocolat,” “Amelie” and yes, many many more.
Hey, don’t shed too many tears, we’ll still have it all relived for us when the film adaptation of Peter Biskind’s “Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film” hits the screen with Vincent D’Onofrio as Harvey Weinstein, no? If that ever happens. We mean, it’s set to happen, but something about it just feels too soon, too odd and too good to be true. For another good read on the indie ’90s film scene read Sharon Waxman’s “Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors and How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System” which centers on many of these guys, Tarantino, Rodriguez, Soderbergh, plus Spike Jonze, David O. Russell, David Fincher and more. Many in the film industry have poked a lot of holes in it — for example, she says Julia Stiles was in “Traffic,” which is of course incorrect — and in some circles it’s described as a lot of made-up, exaggerated bullshit, but it is undeniably an entertaining read nonetheless — and as much as we sort of dislike her persona, it might be one of our favorite film books of the ’90s.
Lastly, the Weinsteins desperately want the Miramax name back as it’s deeply personal, named after their mother and father (Miriam & Max), but they should note, others who aren’t so financially strapped, like Summit Entertainment, are eyeing that rich archive and back catalog, so if TWC can’t get another loan sometime quick, it might be game over for a long long time. — Drew Taylor, Stephen Belden, and Kimber Meyers.
