For much of the year, the only films it seems anyone was talking about were Fargo and Flirting With Disaster, which were released in early Spring. It seemed that they would easily be among the year’s Best Picture nominees. Fate was kind to the former, but had different plans for the latter.

The hilarious Flirting With Disaster about an adopted man’s search for his birth parents resulted in a Best Picture nomination from the Satellite Awards and Independent Spirit nominations for Best Direction and Screenplay (both David O. Russell) and supporting players Richard Jenkins and Lily Tomlin, but that was it.

The equally hilarious, to some, Fargo, the Coen Brothers crime drama fared much better, winning too many awards to enumerate. It was nominated for seven Oscars and won two for Best Actress Frances McDormand as an intrepid pregnant cop, and her husband and brother-in-law, Joel and Ethan Coen, for their screenplay. It had also been nominated for Best Picture; Direction (a solo Joel Coen); Supporting Actor (William H. Macy); Cinematography and Editing.

We were now well into the era when distribution companies saved their best for last, and Fargoand Flirting With Disaster had plenty of last minute competition.

Abandoned by Twentieth Century-Fox two weeks before production was to begin, Anthony Minghella’s film of Michael Ondatjee’s The English Patient was rescued by independent producer Saul Zaentz, previously responsible for the Oscar winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus.

The film, about a World War II plane crash burn victim whose story is told in flashbacks, was largely thought to be un-filmable. Its many awards would seem to belie that supposition. It won for Best Picture; Direction; Cinematography; Art Direction; Editing; Costume Design; Music; Soundand surprisingly, Supporting Actress Juliette Binoche as a compassionate nurse. Binoche won the award expected to go to screen legend Lauren Bacall for The Mirror Has Two Faces in which she played Barbra Streisand’s caustic mother.

The film had also been nominated for Best Actor (Ralph Fiennes); Actress (Kristin Scott Thomas) and Adapted Screenplay.

Nominated for seven Oscars, Scott Hicks’ Shine catapulted Australian actor Geoffrey Rush to international stardom as acclaimed pianist David Helfgott who rises to critical acclaim despite bouts of schizophrenia. Rush was the film’s only winner. It had also been nominated for Best Picture; Direction; Adapted Screenplay; Supporting Actor (Armin Mueller-Stahl); Editing and Score.

Mike Leigh’s first film in several years, Secrets & Lies, brought the British director the first two of his seven Oscar nominations to date for Best Direction and Screenplay. The largely improvisational drama focused on a young black woman (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) who discovers that her birth mother is a middle-class white woman (Brenda Blethyn). Belthyn was nominated for Best Actress and Jean-Baptisste for Best Supporting Actress. The film was also a Best Picture nominee.

The only Hollywood studio release among the Best Picture nominees was Tri-Star’s production of Cameron Crowe’s Jerry Maguire which was not expected to be a player in the race between the big three independent films, Fargo, The English Patient and Shine. The film’s stars, however, were a factor with Tom Cruise riding his National Board of Review victory to a Best Actor nomination and Cuba Gooding, Jr. riding his Oscar nomination all the way to a victory.

The film had also been nominated for Original Screenplay and Editing.

Other films Oscar liked this year included The People vs. Larry Flynt; Primal Fear; Marvin’s Room; Breaking the Waves; Sling Blade; Lone Star; Hamlet and Evita.

Hopes were high for Milos Forman’s critically lauded The People vs. Larry Flynt, but they were dashed by a feminist backlash of the film which was about the notorious titled “Hustler” publisher. Nevertheless the film did garner two high profile nominations for Best Director and Actor (Woody Harrelson). Singer Courtney Love, who had won numerous critics’ prizes as Flynt’s heroine addicted wife Althea, was ignored and Edward Norton, who wowed critics as Flynt’s lawyer, was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his other high profile performance in Gregory Hoblit’s Primal Fear in which he played an altar boy accused of murdering an archbishop.

Love and Debbie Reynolds were the year’s two biggest surprise non-nominees. Reynolds, who hadn’t had a starring role in a film since What’s the Matter With Helen? twenty-five years earlier was widely expected to receive a nomination for her comeback performance as Albert Brooks’ mother in the aptly titled Mother, but it wasn’t to be.

Diane Keaton, who hadn’t received an Oscar nomination since 1981’s Reds was a nominee once again as Meryl Streep’s dying sister in Jerry Zaks’ Marvin’s Room. Newcomer Emily Watson was the fifth nominee for her lacerating performance in Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves.

Newcomer Billy Bob Thornton was nominated both for Best Actor and Adapted Screenplay for his adaptation of his own play, Sling Blade. He won the latter prize for his terrifically reviewed tale of a simple man with uncommon insights.

John Sayles received his second Oscar nomination for Original Screenplay for his highly regarded western murder mystery, Lone Star. At the other end of the spectrum was the questionable nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay given to Kenneth Branagh for adapting William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The only adapting was in the staging, the dialogue was all Shakespeare’s.

Alan Parker’s film of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Evita was nominated for five Oscars and won one for Best Original Song, “You Must Love Me”, an aphorism that many thought star Madonna took to heart after her surprise Golden Globe win as Best Actress – Musical or Comedy.

All films discussed have been released on DVD in the U.S.

This week’s new DVD releases include Robert Redford’s post-Civil War drama, The Conspirator and the 21st screen iteration of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.