Demme started directing at the age of thirty, and debuted with Roger Corman-produced comedy Caged Heat, a film which showed the emergence of a thriving artist.
The dynamic auteur entered into the prestige circles in 1991 with his Hannibal Lecter thriller, which dominated both the box office and the Academy Awards, winning Demme his only Best Director nod and win. Over the last four decades, his career turned into one of the most varied filmographies of any director in Hollywood, constantly reinventing himself behind each comedy, documentary, drama, and TV show. Tributes have been pouring in from collaborators and fans since his death on April 26 . Here’s Dhaka Tribune’s own appreciation of Demme by remembering some of the best works of the demised auteur.
Handle with Care (1977)Also known simply as Citizens Band, Demme’s first truly noteworthy motion picture venture interlaces the stories of several characters in a small town united by their use of CB (Citizen’s Band) radio. Paul LeMat is the local CB coordinator who has time for little else in his life. His father, Roberts Blossom is a sour old man who is nice on the radio. Charles Napier is a trucker, who is hospitalised after an accident, with hilarious consequences.
Described by critics as a winning comedic portrayal of American idiosyncrasies and ways, Handle with Care remains criminally under-seen three decades after it was released.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)The film is about FBI agent Clarice Sterling (Jodie Foster), who is assigned to the case of a missing woman believed to be in custody of a serial killer known for skinning his victims alive. She recurs to another psychopath to help her, the imprisoned Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), who Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) believes has information about the killer in question.
The Silence of the Lambs is a new age classic which has been ruling over the cinephiles’ minds for the last two decades. The Silence of the Lambs is one of the only three movies to ever win the “Big Five” Oscar categories (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and one of the Best Writings) that year, and probably the only horror movie to ever win the main prizes of the night.
With a quintessential Foster and Hopkins performance, The Silence of the Lambs is a hugely entertaining masterpiece, which exceeds Demme’s own legacy as a film-maker.
Melvin and Howard (1980)Melvin and Howard is the story of hard-luck Melvin E Dummar, who claimed to have received a will naming him an heir to the fortune of Howard Hughes.
This film gave Demme more attention from Hollywood. Penned by One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest famed master screenwriter Bo Goldman, Melvin and Howard scored Oscar nominations for Robards, the script, and Mary Steenburgen, in her breakout role as Melvin’s girlfriend. It put Demme en route for a career in bigger Hollywood movies.
Philadelphia (1993)Philadelphia arrived in a time when people still couldn’t get a hold of the mystery surrounding HIV and homosexuality, and depicted the stigmatised issues revolving around the story of a man with HIV, who got fired by his law firm because of his condition. He hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.
Demme recruited some huge stars for the film and made it a big hit both in the box office and in the Academy Awards, spanning a successful soundtrack and making Tom Hanks into a dramatic heavy-hitter. The masterful work of Demme is considered to be one of the best films of his career.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)The film is a remake of the John Frankenheimer classic The Manchurian Candidate, in which Live Schreiber, Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep take over for Laurence Harvey, Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury, respectively.
With an updated script which switches the setting from the Cold War to the Gulf War, the film narrates the story of the soldiers who are kidnapped and brainwashed for sinister purposes in the midst of the Gulf War. Demme constructed a riveting and timely story out of a script that is light-years below the original film’s quality and aced in directing his cast to unforgettable performances.
A Master Builder (2013)A Master Builder is about a successful, ego-maniacal architect who has spent a lifetime bullying his wife, employees and mistresses, and wants to make peace as his life approaches its final act. The film is one of the most under-appreciated ones by Demme, which is an adaptation of a legendary play by Henrik Ibsen. Demme added a new dimension to the original work with his deft creativity and unique ability of portrayal.
Rachel Getting Married (2009)Jenny Lumet’s first and only script as of today was for Rachel Getting Married, which revolves around the story of a young woman who has been in and out of rehab for the past 10 years and returns home for the weekend for her sister’s wedding.
The family drama, directed by Demme in 2009, brought Anne Hathaway her very first Academy Award nomination. Demme tore up the relationships between a dysfunctional American family with his brilliant use of dark humour to portray Kym’s situation and particular annoyances. Rachel Getting Married is like a feast for Demme’s sensibility.
Concert filmsAll the Demme concert films are a must watch. The auteur’s Stop Making Sense, as well as the collaborations with Neil Young and Justin Timberlake, revolutionised music-performance films. Stop Making Sense, his first work in this regard, was so perfect that even Demme couldn’t replicate it. He went on to make music docs for musicians like Neil Young.
Handle with Care (1977)Also known simply as Citizens Band, Demme’s first truly noteworthy motion picture venture interlaces the stories of several characters in a small town united by their use of CB (Citizen’s Band) radio. Paul LeMat is the local CB coordinator who has time for little else in his life. His father, Roberts Blossom is a sour old man who is nice on the radio. Charles Napier is a trucker, who is hospitalised after an accident, with hilarious consequences.
Described by critics as a winning comedic portrayal of American idiosyncrasies and ways, Handle with Care remains criminally under-seen three decades after it was released.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)The film is about FBI agent Clarice Sterling (Jodie Foster), who is assigned to the case of a missing woman believed to be in custody of a serial killer known for skinning his victims alive. She recurs to another psychopath to help her, the imprisoned Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), who Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) believes has information about the killer in question.
The Silence of the Lambs is a new age classic which has been ruling over the cinephiles’ minds for the last two decades. The Silence of the Lambs is one of the only three movies to ever win the “Big Five” Oscar categories (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and one of the Best Writings) that year, and probably the only horror movie to ever win the main prizes of the night.
With a quintessential Foster and Hopkins performance, The Silence of the Lambs is a hugely entertaining masterpiece, which exceeds Demme’s own legacy as a film-maker.
Melvin and Howard (1980)Melvin and Howard is the story of hard-luck Melvin E Dummar, who claimed to have received a will naming him an heir to the fortune of Howard Hughes.
This film gave Demme more attention from Hollywood. Penned by One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest famed master screenwriter Bo Goldman, Melvin and Howard scored Oscar nominations for Robards, the script, and Mary Steenburgen, in her breakout role as Melvin’s girlfriend. It put Demme en route for a career in bigger Hollywood movies.
Philadelphia (1993)Philadelphia arrived in a time when people still couldn’t get a hold of the mystery surrounding HIV and homosexuality, and depicted the stigmatised issues revolving around the story of a man with HIV, who got fired by his law firm because of his condition. He hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.
Demme recruited some huge stars for the film and made it a big hit both in the box office and in the Academy Awards, spanning a successful soundtrack and making Tom Hanks into a dramatic heavy-hitter. The masterful work of Demme is considered to be one of the best films of his career.
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)The film is a remake of the John Frankenheimer classic The Manchurian Candidate, in which Live Schreiber, Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep take over for Laurence Harvey, Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury, respectively.
With an updated script which switches the setting from the Cold War to the Gulf War, the film narrates the story of the soldiers who are kidnapped and brainwashed for sinister purposes in the midst of the Gulf War. Demme constructed a riveting and timely story out of a script that is light-years below the original film’s quality and aced in directing his cast to unforgettable performances.
A Master Builder (2013)A Master Builder is about a successful, ego-maniacal architect who has spent a lifetime bullying his wife, employees and mistresses, and wants to make peace as his life approaches its final act. The film is one of the most under-appreciated ones by Demme, which is an adaptation of a legendary play by Henrik Ibsen. Demme added a new dimension to the original work with his deft creativity and unique ability of portrayal.
Rachel Getting Married (2009)Jenny Lumet’s first and only script as of today was for Rachel Getting Married, which revolves around the story of a young woman who has been in and out of rehab for the past 10 years and returns home for the weekend for her sister’s wedding.
The family drama, directed by Demme in 2009, brought Anne Hathaway her very first Academy Award nomination. Demme tore up the relationships between a dysfunctional American family with his brilliant use of dark humour to portray Kym’s situation and particular annoyances. Rachel Getting Married is like a feast for Demme’s sensibility.Concert filmsAll the Demme concert films are a must watch. The auteur’s Stop Making Sense, as well as the collaborations with Neil Young and Justin Timberlake, revolutionised music-performance films. Stop Making Sense, his first work in this regard, was so perfect that even Demme couldn’t replicate it. He went on to make music docs for musicians like Neil Young.