Michael Cimino
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In my 2012 essay for SUNCHASER, director Michael Cimino’s 1996 feature film, I wrote that the notoriously reclusive and mercurial filmmaker probably had one or two great films left in him, but I also concluded that he probably wouldn’t seize the opportunity. It saddens me to know that I was right– Cimino died of unknown…
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Notable Festivals: Cannes- In Competition After the dismal reception of DESPERATE HOURS in 1990, director Michael Cimino again went into a self-imposed exile from the screen. It would be six years until he was able to put together another film. By all accounts, Cimino was a washed-out has-been; an irrelevant filmmaking force for almost twenty years. In 1996, he broke…
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Ever since the disaster of 1980’s HEAVEN’S GATE, director Michael Cimino had been in a career tailspin from which he could not recover. Each successive, new project (themselves many years apart from each other) were met with an increasing chorus of negativity and a diminishing box office take. Despite his best efforts, an increasingly vain self-image…
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After YEAR OF THE DRAGON’s (1985) modest success, director Michael Cimino again found himself as an employable filmmaker. While it didn’t reach the heights that THE DEER HUNTER (1978) or even THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT(1974) did, Cimino could at least show that he was able to overcome the catastrophe that was HEAVEN’S GATE (1980). However, that success was short-lived, as it further…
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The complete and utter failure of director Michael Cimino’s film HEAVEN’S GATE (1980) left a number of bodies in its wake, not the least of whom was Cimino himself. The next five years would be the darkest time of his career– a forced, unwanted sabbatical in which he couldn’t get any films off the ground. He floated…
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Notable Festivals: Cannes (In Competition), Berlinale (Forum), Venice Inducted into the Criterion Collection: 2012 A gigantic albatross. A modern masterpiece. The worst film ever made. The best film ever made. Few films swing so wildly between those two poles of public perception. No other director experienced so quick a career-ruining plummet from monumental heights. No…
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Notable Festivals: Berlinale (Out of Competition) Academy Award Wins: Best Director, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Walken), Best Editing, Best Sound Inducted into the National Film Registry in 1996 The annals of film history are dotted with enduring classics that define their time. They act as avatars for the national mood, and are a…
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By the early 1970’s, director Michael Cimino had already made a name for himself as a helmer of standout television commercials. At the time, Cimino had moved to Los Angeles from his native New York, to pursue a career in movies. As it happened, Cimino’s first major feature came about due to a perfect storm of factors. After the…
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In Greek mythology, there was a boy named Icarus who, longing to escape from his island home of Crete, constructed wings from feathers and wax in an attempt to fly away. He was warned to not fly too close to the sun, but—of course—he ignored such warnings. You probably know the rest: Icarus’ magnificent wings melted and…