Driving Miss Daisy (1989) (2nd time)

It tells the story of the friendship between an old Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur in 1950s American South. [imdb]

Nominated for 9 Oscars:

Best Picture (WINNER)
Best Actor: Morgan Freeman
Best Actress: Jessica Tandy (WINNER)
Best Supporting Actor: Dan Aykroyd
Best Adapted Screenplay (WINNER)
Best Editing
Best Art Direction
Best Costume Design
Best Makeup (WINNER)

The film is part of a new tradition I'm trying to set to actually watch some relaxing films, because sometimes I'm too tired for heavy drama. This was the case here, and even though I didn't go crazy for Driving Miss Daisy in the past, I suspected it was going to be an enjoyable watch, mostly because it has a witty old lady as a title character. And it was fun and time flew by. Many people really dislike it, but that was a wacky year for the Oscars, starting with the nominations... I haven't seen the competition for Best Picture, but I can just say that I did enjoy this little flick and that it's definitely NOT one of the worst Best Picture winners outthere.

***trivia time: Driving Miss Daisy is one of only 3 films to win Best Picture without having a Best Director nomination. The other 2 films are... let's say... not so recent: Wings (1927-1928) and Grand Hotel (1932).***

What was strange about watching it again was that I remembered a quite different ending, at least in their final meet. But I'm glad I was wrong, because I was taken a bit by surprise. Jessica Tandy delivers a good, solid performance even though she could've used one or two more dramatic scenes. Even so, she's lots of fun and the highlight of the film (I am not opening the Best Actress 1989 topic). Morgan Freeman is very in character and it's one of his best performances, at least on the funny side.

My rating for the film: 8/10. The adapted screenplay win is much deserved.

EDITED: 26/06/2014. After seeing it for a 3rd time, I'm changing the rating to: 8.5/10. ;)