Scent of a Woman

Review: Scent of a Woman is basically a masterful character study by one of hollywoods best actors. They should have titled the film Lt. Col Frank Slade (Scent of a woman really is a poor choice for the title of this movie). Al Pacino (Carlito's Way, Scarface, Godfather II) plays the blind alcoholic who hates his world with such realism you forget he's acting. The ending is unfortunately too Hollywood, but amusing to watch as Pacino rips into the pompous administration at Charlie's Boston prep school. I've read that O'Donnell claims that he was so intimidated by Pacino during their first scenes that his lips were quivering, which I believe adds to more depth in Charlie's character, as he appears nervous and uneasy around the Colonel at first. Pacino took home best actor, beating out amazing performances by Denzel Washington (Malcolm X) and Robert Downey Jr (Chaplin). Review by Aaron Caldwell