Daniel Bergstein: Consummate Movie
Fan
It
hardly made sense to enter the office Oscar pool if
Daniel Bergstein was in it. He was unbeatable. Year after
year, he took the money.
Mr. Bergstein, 38, the corporate secretary at the Port
Authority, was not just an avid movie fan. He knew just
about everything there was to know about movies.
Everything. "He was always interested in how the movies
were directed, the angles, what kind of close-ups," said
his wife, Alicia Bergstein.
Not only did he watch countless movies, buy countless
movies, devour countless movie reviews, but he read
everything that told him anything about movies.
And he had this uncanny knack for predicting Oscar
winners. Not that he got every category correct. Last
year, he missed the best picture award, which went to
"Gladiator." He picked "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
"He thought that was the perfect movie," his wife
said.
Among his all-time favorite films were the Godfather
movies. (He felt that "Godfather II" was the best of the
lot.) His birthday was coming up. He had sent his wife an
e- mail message with an unsubtle hint: "The Godfather DVD
set is coming out. That would be a good birthday
gift."
.
