Driving Miss Daisy (Beresford, 1989)

Every so often, when looking for a movie to watch, I consult the list of Academy Award Best Picture winners. I have discovered that it is not quite the list of great movies that one might expect. Still, it is interesting to go through and see what films The Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences deemed the best picture of their respective years.

This time we picked Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford, 1989). I honestly do not have much to say about this film. Driving Miss Daisy tells a story; it has a beginning, middle and end. Characters learn things and change. It also promotes acceptance and 'good' morals. However, by the end of it, I just wanted to ask "why?". This film fails to say why it is interesting or important. It is boring throughout. There will be a few uneventful scenes, and then some number of months or years will pass without any acknowledgment, and the same thing will happen again. It is a simple story with very little depth. The characters do change, but there is no depth to the character, and no real reason for the change.

Hoke (Morgan Freeman) is meant to show that people can overcome their differences, and succeed in life and relationships. It seems to me though, a pretty racist representation. Freeman's performance is well executed, but the direction is pretty outlandish. Seeing Morgan Freeman play the black servant to the rich Jewish woman, with his best slave accent on was a little uncomfortable for me. But I guess it is all okay because of Hoke's unfaltering morals and good-natured demeanor that finally gains him acceptance from Miss Daisy (Jessica Tandy).... Sorry Beresford, but I'm not buying it. Nobody's perfect. (To put it in the words of Osgood Fielding).

Technically it is pretty solid. I noticed a few awkward cuts (which I doubt were intentional), but other than that it is pretty much 'invisibly' edited. It is not a bad movie, just plain boring. Maybe it deserves another chance, but I still have quite a few movies to see on the Academy's list so it'll have to wait a while.