1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die-PART 2

China / Hong Kong / Taiwan (Palace, Da hong deng long gao gao gua Era, China Film) 125m Eastmancolor Language Mandarin Producer Fu-Sheng Raise the Red Lantern Yimou Zhang, 1991 Chiu Screenplay Ni Zhen, from novel by Su Tong Photography Zhao Fei, Lun Yang Completing a loose trilogy that began with Red Sorghum (1987) and Ju Music Naoki Tachikawa, Jiping Zhao Dou (1990), Yimou Zhang’s grim adaptation of a novel by Su Tong once Cast Li Gong, Caifei He, Jingwu Ma, Cuifen again stars Li Gong as a young woman who marries a much older man. Cao, Qi Zhao, Jin Shuyuan, Ding Weimin, Again he tells a story that explicitly critiques Chinese feudalism and Cao Zhengyin, Zhihgang Cui, Chu Xiao, Lin indirectly contemporary China. This time, however, the style is quite Kong Oscar nomination Hong Kong (best different (despite another key use of the color red) and the vision bleaker. foreign language film) Venice Film Festival Zhang Yimou (Silver Lion, tied with The Fisher The heroine, a less sympathetic figure than her predecessors, is a university student in the 1920s who becomes the fourth and youngest King and J’entends plus la guitare) wife of a powerful man in northern China after her stepmother can no longer afford to pay for her education. She quickly becomes involved in i the various intrigues and rivalries between wives that rule her husband’s The face of Master Chen (Jingwu world and family tradition. Each wife has her own house and courtyard within the palace, and whoever the husband chooses to sleep with on Ma), husband of the four wives, a given night receives a foot massage, several lighted red lanterns, and is never clearly seen on screen. the right to select the following day’s menu. Raise the Red Lantern confines us throughout to this claustrophobic universe of boxes within boxes, where wives and female servants devote their lives to scheming against one another. Zhang confirms his mastery and artistry here in many ways, some relatively new (such as his striking soundtrack), though the cold, remote, and stifling world he presents here offers little emotional release. JRos 799



U.S. (American Zoetrope) 96m Color Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse 1991 Producer Doug Claybourne, Les Mayfield, Fax Bahr, Eleanor Coppola, & George Hickenlooper, 1991 George Zaloom Screenplay Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper Photography Larry During the 238 days it took Francis Ford Coppola and company to finish principal shooting of Apocalypse Now in the Philippines, Coppola’s wife Carney, Igor Meglic, Steven Wacks Eleanor documented on camera and in writing the nightmarish trials Music Todd Boekelheide, Carmine Coppola, experienced by the film’s cast, crew, and, perhaps most profoundly its Francis Ford Coppola, Mickey Hart Cast Sam renowned director. The astounding commercial and critical success of Apocalypse Now following its 1979 release resulted in its attaining the Bottoms, Marlon Brando, Colleen Camp, almost immediate status of a contemporary American classic. Contributing Eleanor Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola, Gia mightily to the legend is Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, directed by Fax Bahr with George Hickenlooper, which chronicles the Coppola, Roman Coppola, Sofia Coppola, turbulent making of Coppola’s film. Hearts of Darkness seamlessly blends Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Laurence together the on- and off-set footage shot by Eleanor—as well as private conversations between her and her husband that Coppola was unaware Fishburne, Harrison Ford, Frederic Forrest, were being taped—with more standard “talking head” interviews with Albert Hall, Dennis Hopper, George Lucas, numerous people involved in the production (conducted by Bahr more than ten years later). Also punctuating the documentary are outtakes John Milius, Martin Sheen, G.D. Spradlin and scenes left on the cutting-room floor, as well as aural snippets of Orson Welles narrating Joseph Conrad’s 1901 novel Heart of Darkness “It’s scary to watch (upon which the Apocalypse Now screenplay was loosely based) for the someone you love go Mercury Theatre radio program in 1938. into the center of himself and confront his fears, Hearts of Darkness is widely considered among the very best entries in the subgenre loosely known as “making of” documentaries, in large fear of failure, fear part because of its creators’access to primary source materials that would of death, fear of normally be difficult to obtain. Among the highlights (lowlights for going insane.” those involved): Interruptions on set by the Filipino military; increasingly grim confessions of insecurity and despair by the director to his wife; a Eleanor Coppola heart attack suffered by the film’s main actor, Martin Sheen, during the middle of shooting; and heated discussions between Coppola and two i key cast members, Dennis Hopper (seemingly stoned the entire time Francis Ford Coppola disliked his and incapable of remembering his lines) and Marlon Brando (who portrayal in the film and did not showed up on set grossly overweight, without having read Conrad’s want it released on DVD initially. novel). Add to all this the sacking of the originally contracted lead, Harvey Keitel; a massive typhoon that destroyed numerous sets; Coppola’s endless dissatisfaction with his film’s conclusion; and the fact that a project originally scheduled for sixteen weeks of shooting ended up taking more than three years to complete, and one has to figure the creators of Hearts of Darkness knew they had a “making of” gold mine on their hands. On the one hand, as Hearts of Darkness labors to make clear beyond the shadow of a doubt, Apocalypse Now could only ever have been a Coppola picture. On the other hand, it is just as clear that Apocalypse Now could never have been the masterpiece it turned out to be had Coppola not received such magnificent contributions from his cast and crew. Not to mention from Eleanor, who, if Hearts of Darkness is at all to be trusted, had much more faith in her husband than he had in himself. SJS 801

Romper Stomper Geoffrey Wright, 1992 Australia (Australian Film Commission, Romper Stomper ignited a passionate debate in Australia about whether Film Victoria, Romper Stomper P/L, Seon) it was a racist or antiracist tract. The passage of time allows us to judge the qualities of Geoffrey Wright’s impressive feature debut more clearly. 94m Eastmancolor Language English / Vietnamese Producer Ian Pringle, Daniel Set within the skinhead subculture of the Melbourne suburb of Footscray, Romper Stomper vividly details the disintegration of a gang Scharf Screenplay Geoffrey Wright led by Hando (Russell Crowe in an early role)—from bashing up Photography Ron Hagen Music John Vietnamese Australians to being picked off like scared animals by the Clifford White Cast Russell Crowe, Daniel law and aggrieved citizens alike. Pollock, Jacqueline McKenzie, Alex Scott, Leigh Russell, Daniel Wyllie, James McKenna, The central focus of the film is a violently melodramatic love triangle, Eric Mueck, Frank Magree, Christopher involving Gabe (Jacqueline McKenzie) and her shifting intimacies with McLean, Josephine Keen, Samantha Bladon, the bullish Hando and the more sensitive Davey (the remarkable Daniel Tony Lee, John Brumpton, Don Bridges Pollock). The influences of Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese are palpable, especially in set pieces like the siege on a bourgeois home in 1992 A Clockwork Orange (1971) style. Romper Stomper does not pretend to offer a sophisticated commentary on the complexities of multicultural Australia. These “skins” are what gangsters or juvenile delinquents so often are in cinema—a flamboyant metaphor for a life lived at the edge of society. Both Wright and Crowe strive to give these events a Shakespearean grandeur, à la Richard III, and they largely succeed. AM Australia (M & A, Australian Film Strictly Ballroom Baz Luhrmann, 1992 Finance Corporation, Beyond, Rank) 94m Before writer-director Baz Luhrmann made the frenetic bauble Moulin Eastmancolor Producer Tristram Miall Rouge (2001), he deftly captured the magic and power of old-fashioned Screenplay Baz Luhrmann, from story by Hollywood musicals with Strictly Ballroom. He did so by intertwining two classic themes: the rebel who eventually triumphs over adversity and Andrew Bovell and Baz Luhrmann naysayers, and the ugly duckling who blossoms into a swan—and gets Photography Steve Mason Music David the prince in the end. Hirschfelder Cast Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice, Bill Hunter, Pat Thomson, Gia Carides, Peter When promising dancer Scott Hastings (a devastatingly sexy Paul Whitford, Barry Otto, John Hannan, Sonia Mercurio) defies the ballroom dancing community and its rules, his Kruger, Kris McQuade, Pip Mushin, Leonie shrieking stage mother (Pat Thomson) nearly disowns him and resorts Page, Antonio Vargas, Armonia Benedito, to all manner of trickery to rein him back in. Simultaneously, one of the mother’s beginning dance students, the mousy Fran (Tara Morice, Jack Webster Cannes Film Festival sweetly affecting) develops a crush on Scott, a man seemingly far out of Baz Luhrmann (award of the youth— her league in every way. Defying odds and doubters, the two become a couple, both on and off the dance floor. Fast-moving, romantic, funny, foreign film) and full of wit, Strictly Ballroom is sterling escapist fare. What makes the film work is that beneath the fast edits, swooning soundtrack, and gloriously garish costumes (and even more garish secondary characters) is an enormous heart. Its knowing evocation of what it means and costs to be both a dreamer and an outcast makes the couple’s heart-stopping finale a lump-in-the-throat triumph. EH 802

The Player Robert Altman, 1992 U.S. (Avenue, Guild, Spelling) 124m Color At the start of The Player, two fast-talking Hollywood types amble out 1992 Producer David Brown, Michael Tolkin, the front door of a studio office, trading one-liners about films that begin with spectacular “long takes.” As the camera leaves these characters and Nick Wechsler Screenplay Michael Tolkin, picks up others, the joke becomes knowingly clear: This is the ultimate from his novel Photography Jean Lépine such take, a parody of modern cinema’s jazzy, showy moments. Music Thomas Newman Cast Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, The Player was touted as Robert Altman’s comeback—his recovery twelve years after the commercial disaster of Popeye (1980). This claim is Peter Gallagher, Brion James, Cynthia far from correct—Altman never stopped working in film, theater, and TV. Stevenson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Dean But The Player, displaying a breathtaking mastery and modernity, brought him back to mainstream attention. It is fabulously cynical entertainment. Stockwell, Richard E. Grant, Sydney Pollack, Lyle Lovett, Dina Merrill, Angela Hall, Leah The witty script (by Michael Tolkin, from his novel of the same name) Ayres Oscar nominations Robert Altman resembles a more successful screen adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities than Brian De Palma’s official 1990 version. Griffin Mills, (director), Michael Tolkin (screenplay), played with icy charm by Tim Robbins, is a slick studio executive. He Geraldine Peroni (editing) Cannes Film evaluates pitches—brief verbal synopses of often absurdly high-concept Festival Robert Altman (director, Golden film ideas (such as The Graduate II). Griffin is being made increasingly Palm nomination), Tim Robbins (actor) nervous by the power plays in his company, and especially by the death threats he is receiving from a disgruntled, ignored scriptwriter. “It’s not as tough in [The Player] as it really is Here begins a thriller plot involving mysterious identity, accidental in real life. These people murder, deception, bluff, coincidence, physical danger, and sexual intrigue. Altman carries it all off faultlessly, yet his true interest lies are much uglier in real elsewhere. As usual, Altman delights in the painting of a detailed mosaic, life than they were in a world in miniature. The oddball minor characters, fleeting incidents, that film.” overheard conversations, strange digressions—these are what make The Player marvelous. Altman effortlessly encapsulates modern Hollywood filmmaking, while providing a radical alternative to it. Against all those feel-good movies with strong heroes, clear conflicts, and clear-cut motivations, The Player offers a shifty hero, fuzzy situations, and ambiguous motives— sliced and diced with the purest irony. By the end, you’ll wonder how the cream of Hollywood’s stars—from Jack Lemmon to Julia Roberts—ever agreed to be a part of this supreme exercise in subversive mischief. AM Robert Altman, 1999 i The Player has more Oscar-winning actors in its cast (twelve) than any other movie in history.

Reservoir Dogs Quentin Tarantino, 1992 1992 U.S. (Dog Eat Dog, Live) 99m Self-confessed video geek Quentin Tarantino was just twenty-eight when Eastmancolor Producer Lawrence he wrote the script for this groundbreaking—and much imitated— Bender Screenplay Quentin Tarantino movie. Its title apparently came from a patron of the video store where Photography Andrzej Sekula Cast Harvey Tarantino used to work who referred to Au Revoir les Enfants (1987) as Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, “that reservoir dog movie.” Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Randy Brooks, Kirk Baltz, Edward Dripping with quotable dialogue and superb performances from the Bunker, Quentin Tarantino, Rich Turner, almost totally male cast, Reservoir Dogs tells the story of the bloody David Steen, Tony Cosmo, Stevo Polyi, aftermath of a diamond heist gone wrong. In flashback, we see the criminals as they are brought together by Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney)— Michael Sottile none of whom know each other’s real identities (making it impossible for anyone to rat their accomplices out)—and are given new monikers: “[My films are] my Mr. Brown (Tarantino), the jerky Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), young Mr. children. I love them all, Orange (Tim Roth), world-weary Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), and violent but at the end of the day Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen, in a creepily mesmerizing performance); I’m always going to have and in a series of revealing scenes we learn about the events that have a soft spot for Reservoir led to the film’s blood-soaked climax in a warehouse. Dogs. That was my first, But it isn’t just the clever plotting that makes this film such a 1990s the one that changed classic. Like the second film that Tarantino directed, Pulp Fiction (1994), my life.” the movie is cleverly cast (Madsen, Keitel, and Roth all giving career-best performances) and packed with memorable scenes that have become part of cinematic history, each containing pop culture references that are now recognized as a trademark of his scripts. Whether it’s a scene in which the men—convening in a coffee shop before the heist— discuss everything from the etiquette of tipping to the real meaning of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” (their conclusion being unprintable here), or the shocking “ear” tableau with Madsen (featuring the unforgettable use of Steeler’s Wheel classic“Stuck in the Middle with You”), Tarantino choses his words and actions so cleverly that much is revealed about each character’s personality no matter how trivial the words are that they speak. A superb debut from one of the most individual cinematic talents to come out of the 1990s. JB Quentin Tarantino, 2007 i Tarantino’s original budget was just $30,000, but with the help of Harvey Keitel it was raised to $1.5 million. 804

Glengarry Glen Ross James Foley, 1992 U.S. (GGR, New Line, Zupnik II) 100m Color With Glengarry Glen Ross, James Foley crafts the ultimate black comedy Producer Jerry Tokofsky, Stanley R. Zupnik about selling. Adapted for the screen by David Mamet from his own 1984 Pulitzer Prize–winning play, Mamet’s trademark repeating dialogue Screenplay David Mamet, from his not only keeps the story at one remove from reality but keeps the viewer play Photography Juan Ruiz Anchía in a tension-filled holding pattern as well. Music James Newton Howard Cast Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, In a depressingly functional real-estate office on a rainy New York Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin, Jonathan night, a team of desperate salesmen are given an ultimatum: Sell Pryce, Bruce Altman, Jude Ciccolella, Paul dubious property to “dead leads”—people who have no history of land Butler, Lori Tan Chinn, Neal Jones, Barry investment—by morning or else be fired. Those who succeed will be Rossen, Leigh French, George Cheung given the “Glengarry leads,” a list of genuine buyers. As for the actors— Oscar nomination Al Pacino (actor in Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino (nominated for a supporting actor Oscar here; support role) Venice Film Festival Jack he won it for his lead in Scent of a Woman the same year), Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, Jonathan Pryce, and Alex Baldwin—Glengarry Glen Ross Lemmon (Volpi cup—actor) doesn’t have a cast, it has a pantheon. Baldwin in particular gives a supporting yet pivotal performance as the hardline company man, a role created expressly for the film. Director Foley makes Glengarry Glen Ross 1992 into more than an updated Death of a Salesman: It’s the only film for which antacids should be taken before viewing. KK Conte d’hiver Eric Rohmer, 1992 A Tale of Winter France (C.E.R., Canal+, Losange, The second film in Eric Rohmer’s Contes des quatre saisons (“Tales of Four Sofiarp, Soficas) 114m Color Seasons”) series begins a little disconcertingly with a summer romance (featuring equally surprising explicit sex) between a young hairdresser Language French Producer Margaret (Charlotte Véry) and the handsome hero she meets while vacationing Ménégoz Screenplay Eric Rohmer in Brittany (Frédéric van den Driessche). That brief prologue over, however, the rest of the film is a more familiarly cool Christmas-period Photography Luc Pagès Music Sébastien conversation piece as, five years later, the heroine dithers between two Erms Cast Charlotte Véry, Frédéric van den stolid suitors, perversely still believing that the holiday lover—who Driessche, Michael Voletti,Hervé Furic, Ava unwittingly fathered her daughter and to whom she accidentally gave Loraschi, Christiane Desbois, Rosette, Jean- an incorrect home address with which to contact her—will reappear as if by magic out of the blue. Luc Revol, Haydée Caillot, Jean-Claude Biette, Marie Rivière, Claudine Paringaux, With its witty but wintry study of seemingly forlorn faith and lost love reminiscent of My Night at Maud’s (1969), and the almost irritatingly Roger Dumas, Danièle Lebrun, Diane indecisive and self-centered heroine recalling The Green Ray (1986), this Lepvrier Berlin International Film Festival is archetypal Rohmer territory, down to the beautifully judged nod to Shakespeare’s play and, consequently, a miraculous but extremely Eric Rohmer (FIPRESCI award, prize of the satisfying ending. As ever, too, the naturalistic performances are entirely ecumenical jury—special mention, plausible, the use of place—Paris and Burgundy—evocative, and the Golden Bear nomination) characterizations (including an intellectual librarian and the girl’s more pragmatic boss as her admirers) precisely representative of the choices she faces. Quietly brilliant, and finally very moving. GA 805

Unforgiven Clint Eastwood, 1992 1992 U.S. (Malpaso, Warner Bros) 131m Clint Eastwood’s last Western is a grand one to have ridden out on. Technicolor Producer Clint Eastwood Dark, gripping, and embracing complex themes, Unforgiven is a saga of melancholy beauty and unflinching moral, physical, and historical Screenplay David Webb Peoples realism. Eastwood received his belated due as a filmmaker with this, his Photography Jack N. Green Music Clint sixteenth feature, winning Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. It’s a radical revision of his younger, iconic, “supercool” man with no name Eastwood, Lennie Niehaus Cast Clint and few words. Graying gunmen, oppressed women, and the painful Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan ugliness of death provide the dark matter. Debunking Western heroics, and a dime novelist rewriting and glamorizing the bloody events he Freeman, Richard Harris, Jaimz Woolvett, witnesses, adds sardonic humor to Unforgiven’s mix. Saul Rubinek, Frances Fisher, Anna Levine, David Mucci, Rob Campbell, Anthony James, Eastwood’s weather-beaten William Munny is a retired killer, reformed Tara Dawn Frederick, Beverley Elliott, Liisa by the love of a good woman who has died, leaving him struggling to raise two children on a failing farm. Unlike Eastwood’s Josey Wales, Repo-Martell, Josie Smith Oscars Clint Munny doesn’t need to redeem his humanity but struggle to retain it Eastwood (best picture), Clint Eastwood when he teams with old sidekick Ned (Morgan Freeman) to claim a (director), Gene Hackman (actor in support bounty offered by brothel women. Their task: to avenge a knifed whore role), Joel Cox (editing) Oscar nominations in bleak Big Whiskey, where brutal sheriff Little Bill (Gene Hackman) is David Webb Peoples (screenplay), Clint indifferent to the women’s demands for justice. Meanwhile, Richard Eastwood (actor), Henry Bumstead, Janice Harris’s flamboyant killer English Bob arrives to take up the prostitutes’ reward himself, traveling with his biographer, one of those Eastern Blackie-Goodine (art direction), Jack N. journalists who transformed some of the scum of the earth into the Green (photography), Les Fresholtz, Vern libertarian outlaw heroes of penny dreadful novellas. Poore, Rick Alexander, Rob Young (sound) Unforgiven is most fascinating in its revisionist approach to the “Unforgiven . . . is a mythology of the Old West, of dashing desperados and daring deeds, masterpiece . . . and juxtaposed with the realities as recalled by Munny and Ned concerning the discomfort of sleeping on the trail, the misery of riding through the certain to take its rain, and the ugly actuality of shooting a man—preferably when he’s place among the down. In another sharp contrast, the settings are gorgeous (Alberta, great Westerns.” Canada, spectacularly doubling for the Midwestern frontier). The film is punctuated with grim scenes of horror from the slashing of the young Philip French, prostitute to the inevitable final showdown. The Observer, 1992 Both Hackman’s and Freeman’s performances stand out, but there is i an interesting dichotomy in Eastwood’s own. Munny’s pious utterances The script for Unforgiven did the and his professed loss of appetite for killing do not ring entirely true, and rounds in Hollywood for twenty when he is at last aroused to rage the result is what Eastwood devotees years before Eastwood seized on it. have been awaiting. In the end, Munny becomes an amalgam of all the violent avenging riders Eastwood has portrayed over the years. This is as fine a piece of craftsmanship as one would expect from Eastwood, who brings to the film all his understanding of a genre he single-handedly kept alive for twenty years when it was out of fashion. Hackman won an Oscar for his sadistic Little Bill, having turned down the script years before Eastwood bought it. Touchingly, in its final grace note the film is dedicated “to Sergio and Don”—Eastwood’s late directorial mentors Leone and Siegel. He did them proud. AE 806

Hong Kong (Swift) 167m Color Yuen Ling-yuk Stanley Kwan, 1992 1992 Language Cantonese Producer Jackie Chan, Leonard Ho Screenplay Chiu Tai The Actress An-Ping Photography Poon Hang-Sang Stanley Kwan’s 1992 masterpiece is quite possibly the greatest Hong Music Huang Jin Chen Cast Maggie Kong film ever; perhaps only some of the works of Wong Kar-wai, Cheung, Han Chin, Carina Lau, Shin such as Days of Being Wild (1991) and In the Mood for Love (2000) are comparable in depth and intensity. Yet it must be acknowledged that Hong, Tony Leung, Lawrence Ng the shortening of the original 167-minute running time to 126 minutes Berlin International Film Festival Maggie has been harmful. Adding insult to injury, the Hong Kong producers Cheung (Silver Bear—actress), Stanley Kwan destroyed the original negative; apparently the uncut version survives only on Australian television. The story of silent film star Ruan Ling-yu nomination (Golden Bear) (1910–1935), known as the Garbo of Chinese cinema, The Actress combines documentary footage with period re-creation, biopic glamor “Nothing like an with profound curiosity, and ravishing historical clips with color orthodox biopic, the simulations of the same sequences being shot—all to explore a past that result is tender, vivid, and seems more complex, sexy, and mysterious than the present. almost overwhelmingly Maggie Cheung won a well-deserved best actress prize at Berlin moving.” for her classy performance in the title role, despite the fact that her difference from Ruan Ling-yu as an actress is probably more important Time Out Film Guide than any similarities. She was known as a comic actress in relatively lightweight Hong Kong entertainment before this film, and The Actress proved to be a turning point in her career toward more dramatic and often meatier parts. But the gap between her own polished star image and that of Ruan as a more unbridled tragedienne is crucial, and much of Kwan’s work as a director goes into creating a kind of nimbus around Cheung’s poise and grace. Kwan also creates a labyrinth of questions around who Ruan was and why she committed suicide—a labyrinth both physical (with beautiful uses of black-and-white movie sets) and metaphysical. Highlights include the stylish beauty of an imagined Shanghai film world of the 1930s and the flat abrasiveness of Kwan chatting with Cheung on video about what all this means and coming up with damn little. Any historical movie worth its salt historicizes the present along with the past, and this movie implicitly juxtaposes our own inadequacy with those potent clips of Ling-yu herself. JRos i Cheung became the first Chinese actor to win a major European film award for her performance.

1992 Belgium (Artistes Anonymes) 92m BW C’est arrivé près de chez vous Language French Producer Rémy Belvaux, Man Bites Dog André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde Screenplay Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, & Benoît Poelvoorde, 1992 Benoît Poelvoorde, Vincent Tavier Man Bites Dog is probably the most controversial film in the history of Photography André Bonzel Music Jean-Marc Belgian cinema. It rose to instant fame after critics all over the world denounced its portrayal of on-screen violence, linking it to contemporary Chenut, Laurence Dufrene Cast Benoît films such as Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Poelvoorde, Jacqueline Poelvoorde-Pappaert, (1990). Although Man Bites Dog shares some features with these other Nelly Pappaert, Hector Pappaert, Jenny Drye, movies, it is also very different. Malou Madou, Willy Vandenbroeck, Shot in grainy black-and-white stock, employing handheld camera Rachel Deman, André Laime, Edith Lemerdy, work and direct sound (there is no music), Man Bites Dog has the look of Sylviane Godé, Zoltan Tobolik, Valérie Parent, a cinema verité documentary. The story concerns a film crew who are Alexandra Fandango, Olivier Cotica Cannes following around a self-proclaimed serial killer named Ben (played by cowriter and codirector Benoît Poelvoorde). As Ben goes about his Film Festival Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, business, he slowly makes the crewmen accomplices to his crimes. He Benoît Poelvoorde (SACD award—best takes them out to a copious meal, they start helping him dispose of feature, special award of the youth) bodies, and he even helps them out financially. “A grisly sick joke of Ben’s running commentary—on his “craft,” on his victims and their a film that some will social peculiarities, and on the crew—invests Man Bites Dog with a surprisingly humorous tone. Here we are, enjoying a serial killer’s work, find funny, others because he is so funny, upbeat, and unpredictable. While murdering a simply appalling.” man in his bathroom, Ben abruptly stops and asks the crew which French film this scene reminds them of. Then the laughter stops. The turning point is a gruesomely explicit rape scene. Here the film stops being a black comedy, becoming instead a bleak criticism of our desire to watch everyday life tilt out of balance. The impact of the scene is so shocking that it forces us to rethink our earlier pleasures, and changes the status of the narrative. According to the creators of Man Bites Dog, the idea for the film stemmed from a Belgian tabloid journalism TV series, one which blew small stories out of proportion and intruded on people’s private lives. This underlying concept helped guarantee the film’s success, and secured its status as an all-time cult favorite. EM Stephen Holden, The New York Times, 1992 i Rémy Belvaux had the idea for the film while looking for a project that could be made without any money. 808

The Crying Game Neil Jordan, 1992 G.B. / Japan (British Screen, Channel Four, The Crying Game’s big, infamous twist is actually far less interesting than Eurotrustees, Nippon Film Development the more radical depiction that it offers: Forest Whitaker’s character, and Finance, Palace) 112m Color Jody, whose queerness is so removed from most people’s preconceptions that few critics or viewers ever even seem to notice the slyly drawn Producer Stephen Woolley Screenplay Neil man’s tiered sexuality. Writer-director Neil Jordan crafts an often droll, Jordan Photography Ian Wilson frequently melodramatic essay on the unfathomable laws of desire in this layered tale of a mysterious “woman” (the aloof and beautiful Music Simon Boswell, Anne Dudley Jaye Davidson, reviving the tragic mulatto), her lover who is murdered Cast Forest Whitaker, Miranda Richardson, under bizarre circumstances (Whitaker), and a man involved with the murder (Stephen Rea). It’s all wrapped in a bow of political intrigue that’s Stephen Rea, Adrian Dunbar, Breffni centered on longstanding tensions between the British army and the McKenna, Joe Savino, Jaye Davidson, Andrée Irish Republican Army. Bernard, Jim Broadbent, Ralph Brown, Tony As the love triangle between the deceased man, his faux widow, Slattery Oscar Neil Jordan (screenplay) and his assassin deepens, all sorts of secrets come tumbling out; the movie abandons what the story first appeared to be about for a new Oscar nominations Stephen Woolley (best tale altogether, this one about sexual intrigue. A landmark film for the picture), Neil Jordan (director), Stephen Rea convergence of marketing chutzpah and layered sexual subversiveness (actor), Jaye Davidson (actor in support role), that made it a hit, The Crying Game proved that there was an audience for audacious, nervy independent cinema. With its varying takes on Kant Pan (editing) race, sexuality, and gender, it kicked open the doors for discussions on the complexities of attraction and erotic longing. Its extraordinary box- office success, for better or worse, helped transform independent film 1993 from a cult item to a highly profitable market share. EH China / Hong Kong (Beijing Film, Longwick) Lan feng zheng Tian Zhuangzhuang, 1993 138m Color Language Mandarin The Blue Kite Producer Luo Guiping, Cheng Yongping Screenplay Xiao Mao Photography Hou Banned in China, the powerful eighth feature of Tian Zhuangzhuang Yong Music Yoshihide Otomo Cast Yi Tian, (The Horse Thief [1986] and Li Lianying, The Imperial Eunuch [1991]) Zhang Wenyao, Chen Xiaoman, Lu Liping, follows its fictional hero, Tietou, and his family in Beijing from 1953 to 1968, through the Cultural Revolution and its ensuing repercussions Zhong Ping, Chu Quanzhong, Song and purges. Tietou’s father is a librarian, and in one unforgettable and Xiaoying, Zhang Hong disquieting postrevolution scene, the hero’s father, attending a meeting for library staff, briefly leaves the room to go to the toilet. Upon his return he finds that he’s been branded a reactionary, leading to his banishment to a collective farm for “reeducation” and a radical change in his entire family’s fortunes. The Blue Kite offers a sublime and often subtle look at how history and politics disrupt ordinary lives, with a memorable use of its central courtyard location and a keen feeling for everyday life within that space. One comes away from this film with a profound sense of how individuals strive to maintain a sense of ethics within a changing society that periodically confounds those ethics or makes them irrelevant. JRos 809

U.S. (Clinica Estetico, TriStar) Philadelphia Jonathan Demme, 1993 125m Technicolor Producer Edward Although AIDS had been tackled on TV, most notably in the acclaimed Saxon Screenplay Ron Nyswaner 1985 drama An Early Frost, and in independent cinema (the 1990 film Photography Tak Fujimoto Music Howard Longtime Companion), Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia was the first mainstream Hollywood movie about the disease. Tom Hanks, in a role Shore, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young that won him his first Best Actor Oscar, stars as Andrew Beckett, Cast Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, a homosexual Philadelphian lawyer who is fired by his firm after Antonio Banderas, Roberta Maxwell, Buzz they discover he has AIDS. They claim they dismissed him for Kilman, Karen Finley, Daniel Chapman, incompetence at work, so he hires a hotshot lawyer to defend him in a Jeffrey Williamson, Joanne Woodward, Jason suit against them. Of course, the lawyer he hires, Joe Miller (Denzel Robards Oscars Tom Hanks (actor), Bruce Washington), is homophobic and harbors misconceptions about the Springsteen (song) Oscar nominations Ron disease, but in the course of their fight he learns from Andrew and Nyswaner (screenplay), Carl Fullerton, Alan comes to respect him. D’Angerio (makeup), Neil Young (song) Berlin International Film Festival Tom Demme fills his heartfelt drama with accomplished actors, from Hanks (Silver Bear—actor), Jonathan Hanks (who pulls off an opera-appreciation scene that lesser actors would have fumbled) and Washington to Jason Robards, as the firm’s Demme nomination (Golden Bear) bigoted boss, and Antonio Banderas as Andrew’s companion. Some may argue that Demme sanitizes the ravages AIDS inflicts on a person 1993 in the film, but Hanks’s sympathetic, passionate performance more than makes up for any attempts at softening the subject matter for a mainstream audience. JB Hsimeng jensheng Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1993 The Puppetmaster Taiwan (ERA, Nian Dai, Qiu Fusheng) 142m Part of a loosely connected trilogy on the history of Taiwan that Color Language Mandarin / Taiwanese / includes City of Sadness (1989) and Good Men, Good Women (1995), The Puppetmaster is set during the Japanese occupation, which lasted Japanese Producer Chiu Fu-Sheng, Zhang from 1895 to 1945. Based on fact, it recounts the life story of Li Tianlu, Huakun Screenplay Chu T’ien-wen, Li recollected in old age, with Li himself appearing occasionally as an on-screen narrator. Li is apprenticed to a puppeteer, and as he Tianlu, Wu Nien-Jen Photography Lee Pin develops his skills we witness the events of his life. The film weaves Bing Music Chen Ming Chang, Zhang together the personal and the political, as Li gets married and acquires Hongda Cast Li Tianlu, Lim Giong, Lin a mistress, as well as negotiating other family complications. At times the Japanese are presented as oppressors—in one scene they arrive Chung, Bai Ming Hwa, Cheng Fue Choung, to demand that the men in his grandfather’s family cut their pigtails. Liou Hung, Tsai Chen-Nan, Yang Lai-Yin But Li manages an accommodation with them, even working as a puppeteer for the Japanese propaganda service. At the end of the Cannes Film Festival Hou Hsiao-hsien (jury war the Japanese commander invites him to lunch and tells him how prize, Golden Palm nomination) much he will miss him. Director Hou Hsiao-hsien has an unhurried style, with long shots that calmly observe the interaction of the characters. If the narrative method, with its frequent ellipses, requires attention, audiences will be well rewarded by a deeply felt portrait of Taiwanese life. EB 810

Short Cuts Robert Altman, 1993 U.S. (Avenue, Fine Line, Spelling) 187m Color One of the shortest-seeming long movies of the 1990s, this is Robert Producer Cary Brokaw Screenplay Robert Altman’s braiding-together of a fistful of Raymond Carver stories. Short Altman, Frank Barhydt, from stories by Cuts follows various plot and character threads through a Los Angeles Raymond Carver Photography Walt Lloyd blighted by insects and earthquake, where everyone is on the point of cracking up and random tragedy is always impending. Music Gavin Friday, Mark Isham, Doc Pomus Cast Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Altman assembles a once-in-a-lifetime cast, but also manages to Lemmon, Julianne Moore, Matthew Modine, give them all things worth doing: Jack Lemmon as an estranged father, Julianne Moore naked from the waist down, Anne Archer as a party Anne Archer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris clown, Bruce Davison and Andie MacDowell shocked by grief, Jennifer Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey, Jr., Jason Leigh as a phone-sex operator, Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Penn as casually awful men, Tim Robbins as a callous cop, Peter Gallagher Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Peter wrecking his wife’s home, Lily Tomlin and Tom Waits drinking. On Gallagher, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Lori Singer, repeated viewings, the overlaps become more fun to spot and individual performances take the spotlight. In the end, the film is especially notable Lyle Lovett, Huey Lewis, Darnell Williams for its mosaic portrait of Altman’s sparkly, haunted, corrupt Los Angeles Oscar nomination Robert Altman (director) (a very different place from Carver’s drier Midwest). Venice Film Festival Robert Altman (Golden An interesting counterpart to Altman’s insider’s vision of The Player Lion, tied with Trois couleurs: Bleu), (1992), Short Cuts gets away from the arena of the movie business entire ensemble cast (Volpi cup) (which is only a brief presence here) into the strange little lives of other involved Angelenos. KN i Each of the stories was shot in a week, the entire movie being completed in ten weeks. 811

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U.S. (Amblin, Universal) 197m BW / Color Schindler’s List Steven Spielberg, 1993 1993 Producer Branko Lustig, Gerald R. Molen, Working from a well-constructed script by Steven Zaillian (Searching for Steven Spielberg Screenplay Steven Bobby Fischer [1993]), adapting Thomas Keneally’s nonfiction novel—a Zaillian, from the novel Schindler’s Ark by fascinating account of the Nazi businessman Oskar Schindler, who saved the lives of over 1,100 Polish Jews—Spielberg does an Thomas Keneally Photography Janusz uncommonly good job both of holding our interest over the course of Kaminski Music John Williams Cast Liam 185 minutes and of showing more of the nuts and bolts of the Holocaust than we usually get from fiction films. One enormous plus is Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, the rich and beautiful black-and-white cinematography by one-time Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagall, Embeth Chicagoan Janusz Kaminski—who opted for monocrome because he wanted the movie to possess a timeless quality. Spielberg was adamant Davidtz, Malgoscha Gebel, Shmulik Lev, that his film should not be seen simply a period piece and should carry Mark Ivanir, Béatrice Macola, Andrzej Seweryn, contemporary relevance. As he noted after completing the shoot, “I made it this year because I was so upset about what was happening Friedrich von Thun, Krzysztof Luft, Harry in Bosnia, as well as about the attempted genocide of the whole Nehring, Norbert Weisser Oscars Steven Kurdish population.” For similar reasons, much of the picture was shot Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen, Branko Lustig using handheld cameras, in order to project an documentary-like, (best picture), Steven Spielberg (director), “cinema verité” atmosphere. Steven Zaillian (screenplay), Allan Starski, Ewa Braun (art direction), Janusz Kaminski Spielberg’s capacity to milk the maximal intensity out of the (photography), Michael Kahn (editing), John existential terror and pathos conveyed in Keneally’s book—Polish Jews Williams (music) Oscar nominations Liam could be killed at any moment by the capriciousness of a labor camp director (Ralph Fiennes)—is complemented and even counterpointed Neeson (actor), Ralph Fiennes (actor in by his capacity to milk the glamor of Nazi high life and absolute support role), Anna B. Sheppard (costume), power. (In a telling phrase, the director later commented on the Christina Smith, Matthew W. Mungle, Judith “sexual evil” conveyed by Fiennes’s performance.) Significantly, each emotional register is generally accompanied by a different style of A. Cory (makeup), Andy Nelson, Steve cinematography, and much as Liam Neeson’s effective embodiment of Pederson, Scott Millan, Ron Judkins (sound) Schindler works as our conduit to the Nazis, Ben Kingsley’s subtle performance as Itzhak Stern—his Jewish accountant, right-hand man, “Stern, if this factory and mainly silent conscience—provides our conduit to the Polish Jews. ever produces a shell In 2011, Kingsley recalled that Spielberg told him at the time that he that can actually be fired, was “the witness of the film.” I’ll be very unhappy.” What are unfortunately missing, and therefore distorted, are many Oskar Schindler of the more fascinating elements in the real-life story that don’t match (Liam Neeson) Spielberg’s pious, patriarchal scenario—such as the major role that Schindler’s wife, Emilie, played in saving Jewish lives after he resumed i living with her while he was establishing a mock munitions plant in Moravia, or the fact that he continued to betray her with other women. At his own request, Spielberg One also wonders how Spielberg might have coped with the subject of was not paid for making the film. the bribes that were necessary for many of the Polish Jews to find their He felt it would be inappropriate. way onto Schindler’s list—actually compiled mostly by Marcel Goldberg (played here by Mark Ivanir)—and thus survive. If he had dealt with this sort of material, though, the film would have probably lost some of its moral directness even while gaining in moral complexity. JRos 813

Trois couleurs: Bleu Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1993 Three Colors: Blue 1993 France / Poland / Switzerland (CAB, Blue, the first film in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Three Colors” trilogy, may be CED, Eurimages, France 3, MK2, Tor) inspired by the meaning of the first color in the French flag (liberty), but 100m Eastmancolor Language French the irascible director would never be so literal. Instead he keeps the movie mysterious and oblique, with both beautiful and haunting results. Producer Marin Karmitz Juliette Binoche plays a widow who reacts to the death of her composer Screenplay Agnieszka Holland, Slavomir husband and daughter by withdrawing from the world. Yet memories of her past, as well as the secrets her husband left behind, interrupt her Idziak, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof selfish emotional isolation, leading her to complete unfinished business. Piesiewicz, Edward Zebrowski Photography Slavomir Idziak Along with a top-tier score and evocative cinematography, Blue benefits most from Kieslowski’s sharp eye and unerring feel for the Music Zbigniew Preisner Cast Juliette fleeting emotions, enigmatic actions, and minute details that comprise Binoche, Benoît Régent, Florence Pernel, human nature. Thanks to his perceptive script and careful control of the Charlotte Véry, Hélène Vincent, Philippe story, Kieslowski creates a film whose richness and honesty offer a Volter, Claude Duneton, Hugues Quester, glimpse into the enigmatic workings of the soul. He fills every frame Emmanuelle Riva, Florence Vignon, Daniel of Blue with meaning, enhanced and accented in no small part by Martin, Jacek Ostaszewski, Yann Trégouët, Binoche’s brave and powerful performance, which hinges on subtle Alain Ollivier Venice Film Festival Krzysztof tics and other physical nuances in its depiction of a broken spirit slowly Kieslowski (Golden Lion), tied with Short pulling herself back together. JKl Cuts, Slavomir Idziak (Golden Osella— photography), Juliette Binoche (Volpi cup—actress) China / Hong Kong (Beijing Film, Ba wang bie ji Kaige Chen, 1993 China Film, Maverick, Tomson) 171m Color Language Mandarin Producer Feng Hsu Farewell My Concubine Screenplay Wei Lu, from novel by Lillian Lee Photography Changwei Gu Music Jiping First of the “Fifth Generation” of Chinese filmmakers to emerge onto the world scene from the Beijing Film Academy since it reopened its doors Zhao Cast Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, in 1978, Kaige Chen bravely invoked his own bitter memories of the Li Gong, Qi Lu, Da Ying, You Ge, Chun Li, Han Cultural Revolution with Farewell My Concubine. The film is an exquisite, fascinating drama of the fifty-year relationship between two male Lei, Di Tong, Mingwei Ma, Yang Fei, Zhi Yin, Beijing Opera singers that spans China’s turbulent twentieth century Hailong Zhao, Dan Li, Wenli Jiang Oscar through convulsive collective and personal betrayals. nominations Hong Kong (best foreign Farewell My Concubine, China’s first Golden Palm winner at Cannes (to language film), Changwei Gu (photography) the dismay of officials provoked by elements of homosexuality and recent Cannes Film Festival Kaige Chen (FIPRESCI history), is an impassioned, sumptuous epic and a stunning achievement, award, Golden Palm, tied with The Piano) particularly because it was made in a troubled, censorious environment. Hong Kong pop star Leslie Cheung plays the abandoned boy sexually abused and groomed to become a star in female roles—most significantly as a tragic royal concubine in a popular classic. Fengyi Zhang is his lifelong intimate, the less artistic and less idealistic costar whose marriage to conniving prostitute Li Gong is a catalyst for jealousy, denunciation, and haunted self-preservation during upheavals in the company and society. Rare indeed is a film on this scale that balances exotic culture and thrilling spectacle (the opera, civil war, and revolutionary mobs) with intimate and universally powerful human experience. AE 814

Groundhog Day Harold Ramis, 1993 U.S. (Columbia) 101m Technicolor Comic actor Bill Murray gives what may be the best and warmest 1993 Producer Trevor Albert Screenplay Danny performance of his career in this genius comedy—arguably the best of the 1990s—from writers Harold Ramis (who also directs) and Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis Photography John Rubin. Murray plays Phil Connors, a grumpy weatherman who is Bailey Music George Fenton Cast Bill dispatched with producer Rita (Andie MacDowell) and cameraman Larry Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, (Chris Elliott) to the friendly little town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to witness the annual Groundhog Day ceremony. A groundhog named Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray, Punxsutawney Phil emerges and, depending on whether or not he sees Marita Geraghty, Angela Paton, Rick his shadow, predicts if the town will experience a few more weeks of Ducommun, Rick Overton winter. Disparaging and self-centered, Phil doesn’t want to be there at all, so when he wakes up the next morning to discover he is reliving “This is one time where Groundhog Day all over again, he isn’t exactly thrilled. Especially when television really fails he relives it again the next day, and the next, and seems to be the only to capture the true person who is experiencing, and remembering, the same events over excitement of a large and over (and over) again. squirrel predicting the weather.” It’s a terrific conceit (one that is never explained, which makes it even better) that first causes the scheming Phil to take advantage of the situation. He asks a woman one day what she looks for in a man, and the following day embodies all those attributes to the unwitting lady. It then drives him to attempt suicide in various ways (until he discovers that he will inevitably wake up alive again the next/same morning). Eventually he is led to improve his behavior as well as his people skills in an effort to redeem himself in the eyes of Rita, who sees him only as the grouch he has always been. In between, there are delicious running gags including waking up to the same banter and Sonny and Cher song (“I’ve Got You Babe”) on the radio; seeing Stephen Tobolowsky in a superb turn as irritating insurance salesman Ned Ryerson, and knowing what is going to happen before it does. Groundhog Day is both wonderfully clever and hysterically funny— comedy is rarely this perfect. JB Phil Connors (Bill Murray) i Bill Murray was bitten twice by a groundhog during shooting, necessitating anti-rabies jabs.

The Piano Jane Campion, 1993 Australia / NZ / France (AFC, CiBy NSW Sweetie (1989) and An Angel at My Table (1990) taught us to expect Film & TV Office) 121m Eastmancolor startling as well as beautiful things from Jane Campion, and this assured and provocative third feature offers yet another lush parable about the Producer Jan Chapman Screenplay Jane perils and paradoxes of female self-expression. Campion Photography Stuart Dryburgh Music Michael Nyman Cast Holly Hunter, Set during the nineteenth century, this original story by Campion— Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, Anna Paquin, Kerry which evokes at times some of the romantic intensity of Emily Brontë— Walker, Geneviève Lemon, Tungia Baker, Ian focuses on a Scottish widow (Holly Hunter) who hasn’t spoken since Mune, Peter Dennett, Te Whatanui Skipwith, her childhood, presumably by choice, and whose main form of self- expression is her piano playing. She arrives with her nine-year-old Pete Smith, Bruce Allpress Oscars Jane daughter (Anna Paquin) in the New Zealand wilds to enter into an Campion (screenplay), Holly Hunter (actress), arranged marriage, which gets off to an unhappy start when her Anna Paquin (actress in support role) Oscar husband-to-be (Sam Neill) refuses to transport her piano. A local white man living with the Maori natives (Harvey Keitel) buys the piano from nominations Jan Chapman (best picture), him and, fascinated by and attracted to the mute woman, agrees to “sell” Jane Campion (director), Stuart Dryburgh it back to her a key at a time in exchange for lessons—lessons that have (photography), Janet Patterson (costume), ultimately traumatic consequences. Veronika Jenet (editing) Cannes Film Setting out to be politically correct, erotic, and romantic at the same Festival Jane Campion (Golden Palm, time, The Piano inevitably bites off more than it can possibly chew, but winds up stimulating passionate feelings nonetheless. JRos tied with Farewell My Concubine), Holly Hunter (actress) i Hunter is a capable pianist and performed the majority of the piano sequences in the film herself. 816

Taiwan / U.S. (Central Motion Pictures Hsi yen Ang Lee, 1993 Corp., Good Machine) 106m Color The Wedding Banquet Language Mandarin / English A young Taiwanese businessman living in New York and sharing an Producer Ted Hope, Ang Lee, James apartment with his physical therapist boyfriend decides to marry a Schamus Screenplay Ang Lee, Neil Peng, Chinese artist who needs a green card. The next thing he knows, his parents from Taiwan, not knowing he’s gay, have decided to come to James Schamus Photography Jong Lin the wedding, leading to a good many predictable if enjoyable comic Music Mader Cast Dion Birney, Jeanne complications. Director Ang Lee collaborated on the script for The Wedding Banquet with Neil Feng and producer James Schamus—the Kuo Chang, Winston Chao, Paul Chen, latter of whom has continued to work with the director ever since as May Chin, Chou Chung-Wei Oscar both producer and cowriter. nomination Taiwan (best foreign language This 1993 feature, Lee’s second, is a clever and entertaining social film) Berlin International Film Festival Ang comedy that helped to establish him as a commercial director long before such more obvious mainstream crowd-pleasers as The Ice Storm Lee (Golden Bear, tied with The Women (1997) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Satire about—yet from the Lake of Scented Souls) also clearly for—the middle class, The Wedding Banquet has a lot more heart than edge, and is pitched mainly at liberal straight people, though the Chinese cultural details should be fascinating to all non- 1993 Chinese viewers. JRos Canada / Portugal / Netherlands / Finland Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (CBC, Glenn Gould, NOS, Rhombus, Samuel François Girard, 1993 Goldwyn, Société Radio-Canada, Ontario Film Development Corporation, Téléfilm Glenn Gould was the brilliant, eccentric Canadian pianist who retired Canada, YLE) 92m Color Producer Michael from the concert stage young and spent the rest of his driven, reclusive Allder, Niv Fichman, Barbara Willis Sweete, but remarkable life making acclaimed recordings, experimental radio Larry Weinstein Screenplay François Girard, programs, a fortune on the commodities market, and legendarily bizarre Don McKellar Photography Alain Dostie telephone calls until his death at age fifty in 1982. An entirely appropriate acknowledgment of his other-worldly genius was the inclusion of Gould’s Music Johann Sebastian Bach, Richard performance of a Bach prelude in the Voyager spacecraft’s message to Wagner Cast Colm Feore, Derek Keurvorst, the stars from planet Earth. Katya Ladan, Devon Anderson, Joshua Young French-Canadian writer-director François Girard adroitly Greenblatt, Sean Ryan, Kate Hennig, Sean juggles dramatic fiction, documentary realism, humor, and even animation with insight into the artist’s agony and ecstasy in a beguiling, Doyle, Sharon Bernbaum, Don McKellar, dazzlingly adventurous series of vignettes—the playful structure of David Hughes, Carlo Rota, Peter Millard, thirty-two short films a witty mimicking of Bach’s“Goldberg Variations”— for a unique, funny, tender, and exhilarating biopic. “Diary of One Day,” John Dolan, Allegra Fulton for example, is an X-ray film of a pianist’s skeleton, musculature, and nerve endings at work; “Truck Stop” observes Gould mentally orchestrating conversations around him in a café into a pleasing rhythmic arrangement. Colm Feore gives a wonderful, commanding performance of this rare individual, suggesting all the complexities of a gifted, multifaceted, and idiosyncratic character. And the soundtrack, compiled from Gould’s own repertoire, is glorious. AE 817

Jurassic Park Steven Spielberg, 1993 1993 U.S. (Universal, Amblin) 127m Color The same year that saw his “grown-up” war drama Schindler’s List win Producer Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. vast critical acclaim, Steven Spielberg also delivered the kind of movie Molen Screenplay Michael Crichton, David we had come to expect from the director of Raiders of the Lost Ark Koepp, from novel by Michael Crichton (1981)—a rip-roaring adventure of dinosaurs and disaster based on Photography Dean Cundey Music John Michael Crichton’s best-selling novel, Jurassic Park. Williams Cast Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Slightly bonkers millionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) Martin Ferrero, B.D. Wong, Joseph Mazzello, has created the ultimate theme park on a remote island, and he Ariana Richards, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne wants to offer a sneak preview to a few carefully selected people: Knight, Gerald R. Molen, Miguel Sandoval, paleontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Cameron Thor, Christopher John Fields mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), and Hammond’s own Oscars Gary Rydstrom, Richard Hymns grandchildren Tim (Joseph Mazzello) and Lex (Ariana Richards). What (special sound effects), Dennis Muren, they find is a luscious isle populated by real-life dinosaurs recreated Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, Michael Lantieri using DNA found in pieces of long-buried amber. A perfect sanctuary, (special visual effects), Gary Summers, in theory, but because the dinosaur breeds they have “made” include the infamous T. rex and some nasty, toothy creatures named Gary Rydstrom, Shawn Murphy, velociraptors—and because one of the park’s employee is secretly Ron Judkins (sound) working for one of Hammond’s rivals, and is set on stealing dinosaur embryos—it’s obvious that the whole scheme is going to end in tears. “Dinosaurs and man, And screaming and dying. two species separated by 65 million years of Part monster movie and part disaster movie as the island is thrashed evolution have just been by a storm and the assembled characters find there is nowhere to hide suddenly thrown back from giant rampaging (and, one assumes, hungry) prehistoric creatures, into the mix together.” Jurassic Park is packed with so many thrills and jaw-dropping dino effects—utilizing both CGI and animatronics—it isn’t hard to see why Alan Grant (Sam Neill) the movie went on to gross over $900  million worldwide. Indeed, it succeeded in becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time, before i being overtaken by Titanic (1997). Spielberg cleverly builds up to the Prior to Jurassic Park, Attenborough revelation of the “monsters” by stunning us with the visual treat of cuddly, friendly, vegetarian dinosaurs first—and by rationing had not acted in a film since appearances of any prehistoric beasts for most of the first half of the The Human Factor (1979). film, much as he did with the fearsome shark in Jaws (1975). So when we do finally meet the ass-kicking T. rex, it results in one of the movie’s fabulous set pieces. The imperiled adults and children are stranded in the broken-down “ride” (jeeps on a track taking them through the park) as the storm hits, the electric fences malfunction, and the scariest dinosaur of them all gets loose. There are many other impressive moments in Crichton and Spielberg’s fable of science gone out of control, ranging from the raptors in the kitchen to the T. rex/raptor showdown. The actors, while realizing the true stars of the film are computer generated, have fun with their performances (especially Goldblum as the “I-told-you-so” chaos theorist) and make the most of the smart, witty dialogue. But ultimately this is Spielberg’s show, and what an impressive, edge-of- the-seat show it is. JB 818



The Lion King Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff, 1994 U.S. (Walt Disney) 89m Technicolor In 1991, Disney released the magical Beauty and the Beast—the first Language English / Swahili Producer Don animated movie to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award— Hahn Screenplay Irene Mecchi, Jonathan and brought its animation right up to date with a beautiful mix of traditional and computer-generated cartooning. The Lion King followed Roberts, Linda Woolverton Music Hans three years later and not only improved on the standards set by Beauty Zimmer, Elton John, Tim Rice, Lebo M., but also instantly became a Disney classic. Joseph Williams Cast (voices) Matthew Broderick, Joseph Williams, Jonathan Taylor Young Simba the lion cub (voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas as a cub Thomas, Jason Weaver, James Earl Jones, and Matthew Broderick as an adult lion) is exiled by his evil uncle Scar—a Jeremy Irons, Moira Kelly, Niketa Calame, creepily effective performance from Jeremy Irons—following his father Laura Williams, Ernie Sabella, Nathan Lane, Mufasa’s (James Earl Jones) death. Forced to fend for himself, he befriends Robert Guillaume, Rowan Atkinson, Madge two odd characters, Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella) and Timon (Nathan Lane), Sinclair, Zoe Leader Oscars Hans Zimmer and also falls for a lioness named Nala (voiced by Niketa Calane and later by Moira Kelly) before returning to regain his place as head of the pride. (music), Elton John, Tim Rice (song) Oscar nomination Elton John, Tim Rice This animated adventure works so well because it has all the elements of a terrific movie and plenty of action and adventure. The lion cub (two more nominations for song) scenes appeal to small children and the impressive animation causes even adult jaws to drop. The film has a classic story arc as the carefree i cub becomes a wise and respected lion. Backed by a catchy score by The movie spawned two hits Elton John, The Lion King is surprisingly moving, considering that we are for Elton John: “Circle of Life” and only relating to cartoon characters, and the ending is capable of turning “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.” even grown men into blubbering piles of mush. JB 820

The Last Seduction John Dahl, 1994 U.S. (ITC) 110m Color Producer Jonathan Made for U.S. cable TV company HBO (which broadcast it before giving Shestack Screenplay Steve Barancik the film a theatrical release, thus sadly making it ineligible for the Academy Awards), The Last Seduction was director John Dahl’s third, and Photography Jeff Jur Music Joseph Vitarelli best, venture into the film noir genre. Cast Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg, Linda Fiorentino positively sizzles across the screen as femme fatale Bill Pullman, Michael Raysses, Bill Nunn, Zack Bridget, whom we first meet when she cons her husband (Bill Pullman) Phifer, J.T. Walsh, Brien Varady, Dean Norris, into making a large drug deal, only to run off with the money and leave Donna Wilson, Mik Scriba, Erik-Anders him behind. She then slithers into a small town and into the life of Nilsson, Patricia R. Caprio, Herb Mitchell, sweet, infatuated Mike (Peter Berg), who has no clue just what he has Renee Rogers let himself in for. Simmering with steamy sexuality, Dahl’s thriller is deliciously bitter 1994 and twisted as Fiorentino twirls unsuspecting men around her little finger then casts them aside just as quickly. Pullman—best known for kinder roles—is a revelation as Fiorentino’s almost-as-nasty-as-she-is spouse, while Berg hits exactly the right note as the poor guy who never quite realizes how deep he is being dragged in. But the true star of the film is Fiorentino, who chews up and spits out Steve Barancik’s delicious dialogue, reducing men to quivering, whimpering victims in the process. JB France (IMA, Alain Sarde, Strand) 110m Color Les roseaux sauvages André Téchiné, 1994 Language French Producer Georges The Wild Reeds Benayoun, Alain Sarde Screenplay Olivier Massart, Gilles Taurand, André Téchiné The Wild Reeds is a wonderful and masterful feature from Andre Téchiné (his twelfth) and one of the best movies from an excellent French Photography Jeanne Lapoirie Cast Élodie television series of fiction features on teenagers from the 1960s to the Bouchez, Gaël Morel, Stéphane Rideau, early 1980s. As Téchiné’s French Provincial (1974) evokes in some ways the Bernardo Bertolucci of The Conformist (1970), this account of kids Frédéric Gorny, Michèle Moretti, Jacques living in southwest France in 1962 toward the end of the Algerian war Nolot, Eric Kreikenmayer, Nathalie Vignes, has some of the feeling, lyricism, and sweetness of Bertolucci’s Before the Michel Ruhl, Fatia Maite, Claudine Taulère, Revolution (1964). Wild Reeds, however, is clearly the work of someone much older and wiser. Elodie Soulinhac, Dominique Bovard, Monsieur Simonet, Chief Officer Carre The main characters are all completing their baccalaureate examination at a boarding school. They include a boy struggling with his homosexual desire for a close friend (Gael Morel), an older student who is a right-wing opponent of Algerian nationalism (Frédéric Gorny), and a communist daughter of one of the teachers (Élodie Bouchez), who befriends the homosexual and falls for the older student in spite of their political differences. One comes to regard these characters and others as old friends, and Téchiné’s handling of pastoral settings is as exquisite as his feeling for period. Wild Reeds was the winner of César awards (the French equivalent of the Oscars) for best picture, director, screenplay, and “new female discovery” (for Bouchez). JRos 821

Crumb Terry Zwigoff, 1994 1994 U.S. (Superior) 119m Color Anyone familiar with the work of underground comic artist R. Crumb Producer David Lynch, Lynn O’Donnell, might assume that he has a few screws loose, and indeed they might be Terry Zwigoff Photography Maryse Alberti right. But the most remarkable discovery made by Terry Zwigoff’s sad, Music David Boeddinghaus Cast Robert fascinating documentary is that R. Crumb is actually the least strange and Crumb, Aline Kominsky, Charles Crumb, best adjusted of three siblings, all of whom reveal an offhand brilliance and creativity yet channel that brilliance into radically contrasting outlets Maxon Crumb, Robert Hughes, Martin and lifestyles. One spends much of his time meditating on the streets of Muller, Don Donahue, Dana Crumb, San Francisco. The other is a recluse, holed up at home with his mother as he battles clinical depression and madness. Both exhibit an artistic Trina Robbins, Spain Rodriguez, Deirdre inclination and talent at least equal to R. Crumb’s, and the film spends English, Peggy Orenstein, Beatrice Crumb, much of its time revealing how a relatively inconsequential shared childhood steered each sibling in different directions. Kathy Goodell, Dian Hanson Crumb, of course, spends most of its duration tracking the rise of “When I listen to R.  Crumb as an underground comic icon during the heyday of the old music, it’s one of American Haight-Ashbury hippie culture in the late 1960s. Through a the few times I actually series of revealing and shockingly honest interviews, Zwigoff shows have a kind of a love Crumb to be contrary at heart. He is a rebel against seemingly arbitrary (and often infuriatingly politically correct) rules of art and behavior with for humanity.” a taste for vintage jazz, fashions, and affectations that existed before American culture was gripped tighter by its corporate overseers. Crumb Robert Crumb is the quintessential rebel whose form of passive resistance—comics— ironically transformed him into an underground icon. Crumb marked an auspicious debut for Zwigoff, a longtime fan of vintage jazz and underground comics who eventually parlayed his success as a documentary filmmaker into a feature film, directing Ghost World (which happened to be based on an underground comic by Daniel Clowes, another vintage jazz obsessive). Needless to say, Crumb has as much to say about the lifestyle and attitude of eccentrics like Zwigoff in general as it does about R. Crumb. Specifically, his portrayal of the jaded Crumb in the months before his retirement remains an invaluable document (and in some ways outcome) of the underground 1960s comics scene. JKl i Zwigoff told critic Roger Ebert that he “called in every favor he owed me” to persuade R. Crumb to be in the film. 822

G.B. / Germany / New Zealand (Fontana, Heavenly Creatures Peter Jackson, 1994 Miramax , New Zealand Film Commission, More often than not, filmmakers wilt into reverence or undue solemnity Senator, WingNut) 99m Eastmancolor when they take on fact-based movies rooted in tragedy. Not Peter Producer Jim Booth Screenplay Frances Jackson, who, though now famous for his Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001, Walsh, Peter Jackson Photography Alun 2002, 2003), was already hedging the lines between good and evil, Bollinger Music Peter Dasent Cast Melanie innocence and sin, comedy and drama in his early film Heavenly Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse, Diana Creatures: a gleefully free interpretation of a 1952 murder case in which Kent, Clive Merrison, Simon O’Connor, Jed two schoolgirls in New Zealand, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, Brophy, Peter Elliott, Gilbert Goldie, Geoffrey conspired to kill Pauline’s mother (prophetically named Mrs. Rieper) in Heath, Kirsti Ferry, Ben Skjellerup, Darien hopes of avoiding being separated from one another. Takle, Elizabeth Moody, Liz Mullane Oscar nomination Frances Walsh, Peter Jackson At once prankish and moving, the film tells the girls’ story as a parable of teenage puppy love gone awry between two bookish misfits. (screenplay) Venice Film Festival Peter Juliet (Kate Winslet, in the role that launched her career), a smart- Jackson (Silver Lion) mouthed poor little rich girl from England who’s cursed with callously neglectful parents, bonds with the shy, dowdy but intelligent Pauline i (Melanie Lynskey). The more the girls’ parents, disturbed by the In the 1970s, Juliet became a writer homoerotic intensity of their friendship, try to pry them apart, the more of mystery stories, publishing under they retreat into a florid dream universe, driven by their journals and populated by avenging princes and princesses. Each girl jacks up the the pseudonym of Anne Perry. other’s obsessive imagination until they have abolished the line between reality and desire—as does Jackson in gorgeous fantasy sequences filled with digitally manipulated clay figures and featuring, hilariously, the girls’ idols, Mario Lanza and Orson Welles. ET 823

Pulp Fiction Quentin Tarantino, 1994 1994 U.S. (Band Apart, Jersey, Miramax) This clever and immensely entertaining second feature by Quentin 154m Color Producer Lawrence Bender Tarantino (after Reservoir Dogs [1992] and before Jackie Brown [1997]) is Screenplay Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary a chronologically scrambled collection of interrelated and interlocking Photography Andrzej Sekula Music Dick crime stories. Apart from its ingenious structure, Pulp Fiction extracts Dale and his Del-tones, Kool and the Gang, nearly all its kicks from allusions to and echoes of other movies and TV Al Green, Tornadoes, Ricky Nelson, Dusty shows. Despite all its thematic nudges about redemption and second Springfield, Centurians, Chuck Berry, Urge chances, its true agenda is only the flip side of Forrest Gump (1994): to make the escapist, media-savvy viewer the real hero of the story. Overkill, Maria McKee, Revels, Statler Brothers, Lively Ones Cast Tim Roth, Taken on its own crass terms, Tarantino’s mock-tough narrative— Amanda Plummer, Laura Lovelace, John which derives most of its titillation from farcical mayhem, drugs, deadpan Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Phil LaMarr, macho monologues, evocations of anal penetration, and terms of racial Frank Whaley, Burr Steers, Bruce Willis, Ving abuse—resembles a wet dream for fourteen-year-old male closet Rhames, Paul Calderon, Bronagh Gallagher, queens (or, perhaps more accurately, the fourteen-year-old male closet Rosanna Arquette, Eric Stoltz, Uma Thurman queen in each of us), and his command of this smart-alecky mode is so Oscar Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary sure and confident that this nervy movie sparkles throughout with (screenplay) Oscar nominations Lawrence canny twists and turns. Bender (best picture), Quentin Tarantino (director), John Travolta (actor), Samuel L. John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, and Harvey Keitel all Jackson (actor in support role), Uma vibrate with high-voltage star power, while the rest of the film’s cast Thurman (actress in support role), Sally (including Uma Thurman, Ving Rhames, Maria de Medeiros, Tim Roth, Menke (editing) Cannes Film Festival Amanda Plummer, Eric Stoltz, Rosanna Arquette, Christopher Walken, Steve Buscemi, and Tarantino himself ) amply fill out the remaining Quentin Tarantino (Golden Palm) scenery. Only occasionally—as in an overloaded and ugly basement episode and some anemic love scenes—does Tarantino seem to be “If my answers straining, though even here his overall project is evident: to evict real life frighten you, then you and real people from the art film once and for all and replace them with generic teases and assorted homages, infused with hype and attitude, should cease asking building a veritable monument to the viewer’s assumed cinema scary questions.” connoisseurship. The references range from Douglas Sirk to Howard Hawks to Saturday Night Fever (1977) to kung fu by way of Godard, but one shouldn’t expect any of the life experiences of the old movie sources to leak through; punchy, flamboyant surface is all. JRos Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) i Travolta was second choice for his role, after Michael Madsen—Vic Vega in Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992). 824

Trois couleurs: Rouge Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1994 Three Colors: Red France / Poland / Switzerland (CAB, France The third color of the French flag stands for fraternity, and although the 1994 3, Canal+, MK2, Tor, TSR) 99m Eastmancolor last film of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s“Three Colors”trilogy again remains only Language French Producer Marin Karmitz loosely connected to that theme, he gets to the heart of brotherhood via Screenplay Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof the sometimes tenuous and often-impossible-to-comprehend ties that connect all of humanity. If each of the “Three Colors” films ends up much Piesiewicz Photography Piotr Sobocinski more than the sum of their ambiguous parts, then Red provides the grand Music Bertrand Lenclos, Zbigniew Preisner and illuminating summation of all three entries. Like the last chapter of a great philosophical novel, Red parcels out its details patiently and elliptically, Cast Irène Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, drawing power from the mysterious plot machinations that connect a Frédérique Feder, Jean-Pierre Lorit, Samuel good-natured model (the ineffable Irène Jacob) with a cynical retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant). Both lead empty lives yet express their loneliness Le Bihan, Marion Stalens, Teco Celio, in completely different ways, but the judge sees something intriguing Bernard Escalon, Jean Schlegel, Elzbieta in the model that draws him out of his shell of self-hatred. Jasinska, Paul Vermeulen, Jean-Marie Like many of Kieslowski’s works, Red runs deep with chance and Daunas, Roland Carey, Brigitte Raul, Leo coincidence, and although the metaphysical director rarely addresses spirituality in his work per se, his final film (Kieslowski retired after Ramseyer Oscar nominations Piotr directing Red and died shortly later) often seems a meditation on not Sobocinski (cinematography), Krzysztof just earthly bonds but also our place in the universe. In lesser hands such Kieslowski (director), Krzysztof Piesiewicz, subject matter would no doubt have gotten bogged down in New Age Krzysztof Kieslowski (screenplay) Cannes musings, but Kieslowski is smarter than that. His characters develop and Film Festival Krzysztof Kieslowski (director, interact organically, as if tapping into a script made entirely of emotional cues rather than mere words. His camera captures places and moments Golden Palm nomination) that appear insignificant yet whose importance is inevitably born out. In Red he even manages to almost magically make manifest the very “Maybe you’re the fabric of our existence, as the metaphors and symbolic touches of all woman I never met.” three films—Blue (1993), White (1994), and Red—blur together during the challenging and undeniably moving conclusion, which casts the entire trilogy in a new light. Rarely has a film so brilliantly fused together so many ideas, images, and emotions into one masterful whole, a life primer and work of art posing as a mere movie. JKl The Judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) i The film features cameo appearances by the main actors and actresses in the previous two films of the trilogy.

Natural Born Killers Oliver Stone, 1994 U.S. (Alcor, Ixtlan, J D, Regency, Warner Bros.) Never one to avoid controversy with films like Platoon (1990) and JFK 118m BW/ Technicolor Producer Jane (1991), Oliver Stone caused his biggest storm yet with this superb, satirical comment on the relationship between the media and violence. Hamsher, Don Murphy, Clayton Townsend Using diverse film techniques and styles—animation, video, back and Screenplay David Veloz, Richard Rutowski, front projection, black-and-white and color film—Natural Born Killers tells the story of Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory (Juliette Lewis) Oliver Stone, from story by Quentin Knox on a cross-country murder spree. The lurid tale soon comes to the Tarantino Photography Robert Richardson attention of the media, and is related to an eager public by sleazy TV Music Zack De La Rocha, Peter Gabriel, Tom host Wayne Gale (Robert Downey, Jr.). Hajdu, Brent Lewis, Andy Milburn, Trent The movie is graphically violent as the white-trash lovers slaughter Reznor, Eric Avery Weiss, Leonard Cohen, Dr. their way across the United States, but Stone should be commended for this provocative tale rather than condemned for it. Many acclaimed Dre, Bob Montgomery, Patti Smith actors believed in his clever, stylized, and striking movie enough to Cast Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, appear in it, from Tommy Lee Jones (as a particularly smarmy prison Juliette Lewis, Rodney Dangerfield, Robert governor) to Tom Sizemore (as the dogged cop on Mickey and Mallory’s trail), and lead actors Harrelson, Lewis, and Downey, Jr. all deliver searing Downey, Jr. Venice Film Festival Oliver performances that are among the best of their respective careers. JB Stone (special jury prize), Juliette Lewis (Pasinetti Award—actress) 1994 Muriel’s Wedding P.J. Hogan, 1994 Australia / France (CiBy 2000, What seemed at first like a small, silly, romantic Australian comedy about Film Victoria, House & Moorhouse) 106m a fat girl who desperately wants to get married, Muriel’s Wedding became something of a cult classic. It also made more ripples within the rom- Color Producer Lynda House, Jocelyn com community than arguably any other film of its generation. The Moorhouse, Michael D. Aglion, moment Rachel Griffiths and Toni Collette appear on screen together, moviegoers know this is not going to be your average gooey-sweet Tony Mahood Screenplay P.J. Hogan romantic adventure. (Both have since gone on to receive Oscar Photography Martin McGrath Music Peter nominations.) Collette does not play the overweight Muriel Hislop, an awkward soul from Porpoise Spit, Australia, as much as she inhabits her. Best Cast Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, She’s a girl who will do anything to have a white wedding, never mind Sophie Lee, Rosalind Hammond, Belinda the romance or the happily ever after. Jarrett, Pippa Grandison, Bill Hunter, Jeanie Bumping into old friend Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths), Muriel begins her Drynan, Daniel Wyllie, Gabby Millgate, transformation, renaming herself and trying to find her romantic feet. Gennie Nevinson, Matt Day, Chris Haywood, But it is not all happy endings, as her potential husband—a swinish South African Olympic swimmer—is only after an Australian passport. Daniel Lapaine Writer-director P.J. Hogan’s placement of unexpectedly bitter strands within what is essentially a girl’s fantasy world make this comedy unique and lasting: Few films have managed to balance the sense of girlish joy with a sense of foreboding and doom. Even years after its release, it is easy to see why Griffiths and Collette made such a breakthrough duo, Abba tunes (of which this film is crammed) or not. Hogan went on to make the Julia Roberts hit My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), which benefitted from the director’s love of the romantic underbelly. KK 826

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the 1994 Desert Stephan Elliott, 1994 Australia 104m Color Producer Al Clark, Michael Hamlyn Screenplay Stephan Elliott One of the first films to celebrate the “fabulous” nature of the drag queen, Priscilla shocked the cinema-going world by featuring venerable Photography Brian J. Breheny Music Guy British actor Terence Stamp as Bernadette, an out-and-out boa-wearing Gross Cast Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, transsexual. Teamed with newcomer Hugo Weaving (who since went onto fame, most notably in The Matrix Trilogy [1999, 2003]) as Teke and Guy Guy Pearce, Rebel Russell, John Casey, Pearce (Memento [2000]), Australian director Stephan Elliot shows us a June Marie Bennett, Murray Davies, perfected, candy-colored world of the drag queen, stained somewhat by their ever-lurking fears of growing old and ugly. This is basically (and Frank Cornelius, Bob Boyce, Leighton Picken, literally) a dressed-up road movie: Two gay men from Sydney are given Maria Kmet, Joseph Kmet, Alan Dargin, the opportunity to put on a transvestite show in the desert. Bernadette is mourning the death of her young lover and so joins the duo as a Julia Cortez, Daniel Kellie, Hannah Corbett, distraction. The trio buy a bus and make a scene wherever it stops. Trevor Barrie, Ken Radley, Sarah Chadwick, Homophobia, rampant in the outback, makes the journey full of Mark Holmes Oscar Lizzie Gardiner, danger—especially when Pearce’s character Adam insists on walking the Tim Chappel (best costume design) streets in full drag. What is endearing is the character portrayal of each of the drag artists. They are not merely the screaming, painted queens “We dress up in of To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995), who are women’s clothes caring, sharing, and catty. Each of the three has a different aspiration— and parade around one to climb Ayers Rock, another to finally meet his son, and Bernadette, mouthing the words to whose elegant front drops and we see that she is longing to have a new other people’s songs.” love in her life. Even if you are not fascinated by drag queens (who can be a rich confection at the best of times), the visuals in Priscilla (which is, by the way, the name of the bus) are heavily cinematic. The Oscar-winning costume design, complete with makeup and wigs as used by the trio in their drag act and on the street, is superb. Most memorable, however, is the shot of Pearce atop the bus as it drives through the desert, the wind trailing an enormous silver scarf behind him. For added oomph, he’s lip-synching opera. Joyous and poignant, Priscilla gives us a rare glimpse behind the drag queen guise to see the real people within. KK Felicia (Guy Pearce) i The opening and closing scenes of the movie were both filmed on the same day.

Hoop Dreams Steve James, 1994 1994 U.S. (KTCA-TV, Kartemquin) 170m Color Hoop Dreams follows the true story of a pair of inner-city Chicago teens, Producer Peter Gilbert, Steve James, Arthur Agee and William Gates, and their pursuit of NBA fame. Straight out of junior high school the two boys are recruited by an athletic scout, Frederick Marx Screenplay Steve James, literally pulled off the streets and placed in a predominately white Frederick Marx Photography Peter Gilbert college preparatory school, St. Joseph High. Following in the footsteps Music Ben Sidran Cast William Gates, Arthur of their basketball idol and St. Joseph’s alumnus Isiah Thomas, both boys are inundated with the intense demands of maturation, academia, Agee, Emma Gates, Curtis Gates, Sheila and, of course, athletics. Agee, Arthur “Bo” Agee, Earl Smith, Gene Within the first year documented by the film, only one of the boys Pingatore, Isiah Thomas, Sister Marlyn survives the rigors of the prep school. In an attempt to continue Hopewell, Bill Gleason, Patricia Weir, Marjorie following his basketball dreams, the other returns to the city and attends a public high school. Although separated by different basketball Heard, Luther Bedford, Aretha Mitchell programs, we continue to watch the boys mature and grow into athletic Oscar nomination Frederick Marx, Steve powerhouses over a five-year period. Such a concentrated time span allows a personal look into these two boys’ lives, showing that their James, William Haugse (editing) pursuit of basketball glory is not just their passion, but their respective families’ dream. “Even though I love playing basketball, you Keeping in step with their failures and successes, director and know I want to do other narrator Steve James unravels a unique story of inner-city struggles. As things with my life too.” the film’s layers become more apparent, intricate subplots make us intimately familiar with the other players in their lives. The constant William Gates ebb and flow of life plays on the boys’ emotions and fate. Basketball functions not only as a game for Arthur and William, but as a way for their instructors and family members to play out their own dreams and desires. The film thus allow us to peer into the world of competitive high school basketball through the eyes of young men, torn families, and passionate coaches. Hoop Dreams represents five years of painstaking dedication by both of the featured boys, as well as by the filmmakers. Following both Arthur and William from their boyish scrawny days of junior high to their highs and lows as prized high school basketball players, this film questions and contemplates inner-city life, family, sacrifices, success, and failure. AK i When the electricity supply to the Agee home was cut off at one point, the filmmakers paid for its restoration. 828

Hungary / Germany / Switzerland Sátántangó Béla Tarr, 1994 (Mafilm, Vega Film, Von Vietinghoff ) How can one do justice to this grungy seven-hour black comedy, which 450m BW Language Hungarian in many ways is among the most impressive films of the 1990s? Adapted Producer György Fehér, Ruth Waldburger, by Hungarian director Béla Tarr and László Krasznahorkai from the Joachim von Vietinghoff Screenplay Béla latter’s 1985 novel, Sátántangó is a diabolical piece of sarcasm about the dreams, machinations, and betrayals of a failed farm collective, set Tarr, from novel by László Krasznahorkai during two consecutive rainy fall days (rendered more than once from Photography Gábor Medvigy Music Mihály the perspectives of different characters) and later the same month. The form of the novel was inspired by the steps of the tango—six forward, Vig Cast Mihály Vig, Putyi Horváth, László six backward—an idea reflected by the film’s overlapping time structure, Lugossy, Éva Almássy Albert, János Derzsi, its twelve sections, and its remarkably choreographed long takes and camera movements, which often suggest a despiritualized Andrei Irén Szajki, Alfréd Járai, Miklós Székely B., Tarkovsky with the hothouse intensity of a John Cassavetes. Each section Erzsébet Gaál, Erika Bók Berlin International ends powerfully with offscreen third-person narration—eloquent, poetic commentary on the characters and their world that comes Film Festival Béla Tarr (Caligari film award) directly from the novel. i The story may seem to comment indirectly on the collapse of In an interview in 2000, Tarr revealed communism, but it has just as much to say about the subsequent degradations of capitalism; as Tarr has pointed out, the police—and that there were only around 150 human nature—are the same everywhere. The subject of this brilliantly separate shots in the entire movie. constructed narrative is nothing less than the world today, and its 431-minute running time is necessary not so much because Tarr has so much to say, but because he wants to say it right. JRos 829

Clerks Kevin Smith, 1994 U.S. (Miramax, View Askew) Writer-director Kevin Smith stepped forward in 1994 as the most 92m BW Producer Scott Mosier, promising Generation-X newcomer with this impressive debut film. Kevin Smith Screenplay Kevin Smith Set in a New Jersey convenience store, Smith’s Clerks is a day-in-the-life Photography David Klein Music Scott tale of two shopworkers, Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and his reckless Angley Cast Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, friend Randal (Jeff Anderson) who works at the video store next door. Marilyn Ghigliotti, Lisa Spoonhauer, Jason As various oddballs come into the store, Dante tries to sort out Mewes, Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier, Walter relationship problems, while Randal spends most of the day bored, Flanagan, Scott Schiaffo, Al Berkowitz, Ed insulting customers, watching porn movies, and discussing important Hapstak, Lee Bendick, David Klein, Pattijean matters like the true meaning of the destruction of the Death Star in Csik, Ken Clark Cannes Film Festival Kevin Return of the Jedi (1983). Smith (award of the youth foreign film, Shot in black and white, the $27,500-budget movie was filmed over Mercedes-Benz award) twenty-one days at the QuickStop Groceries store where Smith had worked since he was nineteen, and where he edited the film each 1994 night. Anchored by a pair of great central performances, and packed with witty dialogue, the film also introduced the two hilarious characters Smith has used in his subsequent movies (Mallrats [1995], Chasing Amy [1997], Dogma [1999], and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back [2001], all of which are at least partly set in Smith’s home state of New Jersey): Stoner Jay (Jason Mewes) and his aptly named pal Silent Bob (played by Smith himself ). JB G.B. (Channel Four, PolyGram, Working Title) Four Weddings and a Funeral Mike Newell, 1994 117m Eastmancolor Producer Duncan Kenworthy Screenplay Richard Hugh Grant is the perennial best man in this hugely successful British Curtis Photography Michael Coulter comedy set at various social functions from director Mike Newell and TV comedy series Blackadder writer Richard Curtis. Music Richard Rodney Bennett Cast Hugh Grant, James Fleet, Simon Callow, John Grant—in the part that propelled him from stiff-upper-lipped roles in movies like Bitter Moon (1992) and The Remains of the Day (1993) to Hannah, Kristin Scott Thomas, David Bower, Hollywood megastar—is perfect as the chronically late Charles, who Charlotte Coleman, Andie MacDowell, falls for Carrie (Andie MacDowell) at one wedding and then spends the Timothy Walker, Sara Crowe, Ronald rest of the film awkwardly attempting to woo her. In between, this richly humorous look at the British upper middle class at play features all Herdman, Elspet Gray, Philip Voss, Rupert those classic wedding nightmares (the bumbling priest, a tactless toast Vansittart, Nicola Walker Oscar nominations from the best man, a bride jilted at the altar, the awkwardness of being seated at a table with all your ex-girlfriends) dressed up in lovely hats Duncan Kenworthy (best picture), and gowns. However, it is the funeral of the title that provides the Richard Curtis (screenplay) movie with its poignant heart. Some may argue that the rarely expressive MacDowell was miscast as the love interest (perhaps so the British filmmakers could boast a Hollywood name). However, she sensibly takes a backseat to the wonderful supporting cast of characters, including Simon Callow, John Hannah, and Kristin Scott Thomas, who provide Four Weddings and a Funeral with its charm and funniest moments. JB 830

Forrest Gump Robert Zemeckis, 1994 U.S. (Paramount) 142m BW / Color A brisk trot through events in American history from the 1950s until the 1994 Producer Wendy Finerman, Steve Starkey, 1980s as seen through the eyes of one man, Forrest Gump succeeds as both epic and character study. This is thanks to clever, if occasionally Steve Tisch Screenplay Eric Roth, from sentimental, direction from Robert Zemeckis and a sensitive central novel by Winston Groom Photography Don performance from Tom Hanks, who won his second Best Actor Academy Award in as many years for the role. Burgess Music Alan Silvestri Cast Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Penn, Gary Sinise, We first meet Forrest, an amiable idiot savant with an IQ of 75, sitting Mykelti Williamson, Sally Field, Rebecca on a park bench, waiting for a bus to take him to meet his childhood Williams, Michael Conner Humphreys, friend Jenny (Robin Wright Penn). While lingering there, he relates his Harold G. Herthum, George Kelly, Bob life story to a succession of people who share the bench—and what a Penny, John Randall, Sam Anderson, Margo story it is. Raised by a mother (Sally Field) who corrected his gait with leg Moorer, Ione M. Telech, Christine Seabrook braces but never attempted to correct his mind (“Stupid is as stupid Oscars Wendy Finerman, Steve Starkey, does” being her motto), Forrest went on to experience many of America’s Steve Tisch (best picture), Robert Zemeckis most famous events of the twentieth century. This begins on the day he (director), Eric Roth (screenplay), Tom Hanks discovered that he could run (outrunning bullies, his braces fly off and he speeds into the distance) when he uses his talent to become a football (actor), Ken Ralston, George Murphy, star. Over the next three decades, this simple man meets John F. Kennedy, Stephen Rosenbaum, Allen Hall (special Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon; becomes a Vietnam war hero (saving visual effects), Arthur Schmidt (editing) “Lieutenant Dan,”his grumpy superior brilliantly portrayed by Gary Sinise); Oscar nominations Gary Sinise (actor in and later a shrimp tycoon. All the while he dreams of being reunited support role), Rick Carter, Nancy Haigh (art with Jenny, whose life takes a different path from his. Where Forrest direction), Don Burgess (cinematography), experiences many cultural historical moments, Jenny is deep into American counterculture, protesting the war and embracing alcohol and drugs. Gloria S. Borders, Randy Thom (special sound effects), Daniel C. Striepeke, Hallie The love story between Jenny and Forrest is somewhat unconvincing— D’Amore, Judith A. Cory (makeup), Alan she seems to turn up only when she needs help, which makes her Silvestri (music), Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, character less sympathetic. However, this adaptation of Winston Groom’s Dennis S. Sands, William B. Kaplan (sound) novel works best as the moving story of an honest, innocent man (superbly played by Hanks, who modeled his distinctive accent on that of Michael Conner, who plays Forrest as a boy), and as a meditation on the latter half of the last century, made possible by computer trickery that places Hanks—to often hilarious effect—in old footage of notable events. JB “Life’s a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Mrs. Gump (Sally Field) i Jim Hanks, Tom Hanks’s younger brother, doubled for him in many of the running scenes in the movie.

France / Iran (Abbas Kiarostami, Zire darakhatan zeyton Abbas Kiarostami, 1994 CiBy 2000, Farabi, Miramax) 103m Color Language Farsi Producer Abbas Kiarostami Through the Olive Trees Screenplay Abbas Kiarostami The social status of filmmaking among ordinary people, central to Abbas Photography Hossein Djafarian, Farhad Kiarostami’s wonderful movies Close-Up (1990) and Life, and Nothing More Saba Cast Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Farhad (1991) is equally operative in this entertaining and sometimes beautiful Kheradmand, Zarifeh Shiva, Hossein Rezai, film. Through the Olive Trees concludes an unofficial trilogy begun with Tahereh Ladanian, Hocine Redai, Zahra Where Is the Friend’s Home? (1987), which focused on the adventures of a poor schoolboy in a mountainous region of northern Iran. Through the Nourouzi, Nasret Betri, Azim Aziz Nia, Olive Trees is a comedy about the making of a movie, mostly emphasizing Astadouli Babani, N. Boursadiki, Kheda the persistent efforts of a young actor to woo an actress who won’t even Barech Defai, Ali Ahmed Poor, Babek Ahmed speak to him. Like Kiarostami’s subsequent Taste of Cherry (1997), all Poor, Mahbanou Darabi Cannes Film three films in the trilogy strategically leave out certain information about Festival Abbas Kiarostami nomination the characters, inviting audiences to fill in the blanks and in this case yielding a mysteriously beautiful and open-ended conclusion. (Golden Palm) If you’re unfamiliar with Kiarostami—one of the greatest filmmakers i alive and certainly the greatest in Iran—this is an excellent introduction. Two key characters from the earlier It was the first of his European coproductions and has the only professional actor he’s ever hired, Mohammad-Ali Keshavarz, as the director. Shot parts of the “trilogy” reappear exclusively in exteriors, it’s an especially effective showcase for Kiarostami’s in Through the Olive Trees. gifts as a landscape artist, and the beautiful ways that he interweaves conversations in cars moving through this mountainous region, and the people and sights that they pass on the road, are often breathtaking. JRos 832

The Shawshank Redemption Frank Darabont, 1994 U.S. (Castle Rock, Columbia) 142m Much of horror writer Stephen King’s work has been successfully Technicolor Producer Niki Marvin translated to the screen (including Misery [1990], Carrie [1976], and The Screenplay Frank Darabont, from Shining [1980]), but the best adaptations are arguably those of his the novella Rita Hayworth and the nonhorror short stories, like Stand by Me (1986) and this reworking of a Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King tale originally titled Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. Photography Roger Deakins Music Doris Fisher, Thomas Newman, Allan Roberts In 1946, quiet young banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is sent Cast Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob to Shawshank Prison for the murder of his wife and her lover. While Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil there he slowly builds a friendship with another long-term prisoner, Bellows, Mark Rolston, James Whitmore, Red (Morgan Freeman, who narrates Andy’s story). Over a period of Jeffrey DeMunn, Larry Brandenburg, Neil twenty years, Andy gradually learns the prison system and wins the Giuntoli, Brian Libby, David Proval, Joseph respect of the governor and guards by using his banking skills to do their tax returns and business dealings for them, but he never stops Ragno, Jude Ciccolella wishing for his freedom. Simply and movingly played by Freeman and Robbins, and 1994 beautifully scripted by director Frank Darabont (who keeps close to the source material, the only major change being that Red was an Irishman in King’s story), Shawshank is an intelligent, engrossing tale, rich with characterization that, although not a box-office success on its initial release in 1994, has deservedly become a must-see movie thanks to word of mouth in the years since. JB Caro diario Nanni Moretti, 1994 Dear Diary Italy / France (Banfilm, La Sept, Canal+, Nanni Moretti has attracted the label of the “Italian Woody Allen,” but Rai Uno, Sacher) 100m Technicolor this description is woefully inadequate. In Dear Diary he turns to the genre of the diary film. Yet this is not a spontaneous, cinema verité Language Italian / English / Mandarin piece; everything we see is carefully scripted and staged. Producer Nella Banfi, Angelo Barbagallo, Nanni Moretti Screenplay Nanni Moretti The film is made up of three sections. The first and best is “On My Photography Giuseppe Lanci Music Nicola Vespa,” a glimpse at Moretti’s daily travels. The second, “Islands,” is the most overtly comic, showing Moretti and a friend in search of an ever Piovani, Keith Jarrett, Angélique Kidjo elusive quiet island on which to work. The third, “Doctors,” is a sobering Cast Nanni Moretti, Giovanna Bozzolo, and unforgettable account of Moretti’s brush with cancer. Sebastiano Nardone, Antonio Petrocelli, Giulio Base, Italo Spinelli, Carlo Mazzacurati, Dear Diary teems with marvelous digressions, reflections, and Jennifer Beals, Alexandre Rockwell, Renato cinema quotations. Exercises in personal filmmaking can sometimes Carpentieri, Raffaella Lebboroni, Marco prove narcissistic and cloying, but that is not the case here. Moretti’s hatred of pathos and easy spectacle serve him well. Everything in the Paolini, Claudia Della Seta, Lorenzo film—from chemotherapy to a visit to the place where Pier Paolo Alessandri, Antonio Neiwiller Cannes Film Pasolini was murdered—is presented with utter simplicity and directness. Dear Diary is a glorious movie about everyday experience— Festival Nanni Moretti (director, about traveling, dancing, thinking, getting sick, even drinking a glass Golden Palm nomination) of water. Few films give such a grounded and joyous sense of what it is to live in the material world. AM 833

1994 Hong Kong (Jet Tone) 97m Color Chong qing sen lin Wong Kar-wai, 1994 Language Cantonese / Mandarin Producer Yi-kan Chan Screenplay Wong Chungking Express Kar-wai Photography Christopher Doyle, Wai Keung Lau Music Frankie Chan, Wong Kar-wai’s preference to work without a script gives his films Roel A. García Cast Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung some brilliantly off-kilter cadences. That the results are just as often as Chiu-wai, Faye Wong, Takeshi Kaneshiro, beautiful and touching as they are challenging stands as a testament to Valerie Chow, Chen Jinquan, Huang his choice of collaborators and his trust in the same. Chungking Express Zhiming, Liang Zhen, Zuo Songshen tells two unconventional (and barely related) love stories, each involving a lonely policeman and set in the bustling urban epicenter of Hong “We’re all unlucky in love Kong. In the first, young detective Takeshi Kaneshiro pledges to find sometimes. When I am, a new girlfriend before an arbitrary can of pineapples reaches its I go jogging. The body expiration date. He thinks he succeeds when he comes across Brigitte loses water when Lin, who (unbeknownst to him) happens to be a drug dealer in search you jog, so you have of a lost shipment. Then the director suddenly shifts gears to the laconic none left for tears.” Tony Leung, a beat cop who catches the eye of counter girl Faye Wong at his regular eating spot. Frustrated by his apparent lack of interest, He Qiwu/Cop 223 Wong expresses her affection by breaking into Leung’s apartment, (Takeshi Kaneshiro) cleaning and redecorating it, relishing the chance (however fleeting and furtive) to live in his world and absorb his essence. Both stories are as funny as they are oddly compelling. Yet the real star of Chungking Express is neither the actors nor the story, but the way they are presented. Working with talented cinematographer and frequent collaborator Christopher Doyle, Wong Kar-wai transforms Hong Kong into a blur of orange neon lights and disjointed, distorted images, playing with film stock, exposure, and speed the way others might fiddle with a script. Add to this a keen understanding of the power of song—in the case of Chungking Express, the Mamas and the Papas’ quirkily incongruous “California Dreamin’”—and Wong reveals himself as one of the more pop savvy and iconoclastic of Hong Kong’s new generation of filmmakers. While other films by Wong may pack more emotional resonance, Chungking Express gets by and gets off on sheer innocence, exuberance, and cinematic freedom, a striking triumph of style over substance that gives life to the grunge and chaos at the heart of contemporary Hong Kong. JKl i Chungking Express was shot entirely in sequence and over the course of just twenty-three days. 834

Denmark / France / Germany / Riget Morten Arnfred & Lars von Trier, 1994 Sweden (Arte, Coproduction, DR, Greco, The Kingdom MEDIA, NOS, Nordic Film & TV, SVT, TV Collaboration Fund, WDR, Zentropa) A medical horror epic, The Kingdom was originally a four-part TV miniseries: Sewn together into two parts for theatrical showings, it ends 280m Color Language Danish / Swedish tantalizingly with a “To Be Continued” caption setting up the similarly Producer Sven Abrahamsen, Philippe Bober, inconclusive Kingdom 2 (1997). Dr. Stig Helmer (Ernst-Hugo Järegård), an arrogant Swedish neurosurgeon in exile after plagiarizing research, Peter Aalbæk Jensen, Ole Reim, Ib Tardini is in trouble in the eponymous Copenhagen hospital because his Screenplay Tomas Gíslason, Lars von Trier, botched brain operation has left little Mona (Laura Christensen) a babbling imbecile. Helmer’s Danish nemeses are spiritualist malingerer Niels Vørsel Photography Eric Kress Mrs. Drusse (Kirsten Rolffes), pompous administrator Moesgaard (Holger Music Joachim Holbek Cast Ernst-Hugo Juul Hansen), and Bilko-esque fixer Hook (Troels Lyby). Järegård, Kirsten Rolffes, Holger Juul Hansen, Søren Pilmark, Ghita Nørby, Jens Okking, The Kingdom’s spare, but escalating, supernatural manifestations are Otto Brandenburg, Annevig Schelde Ebbe, genuinely eerie, sometimes magical: a little quake as water eats away at Baard Owe, Birgitte Raaberg, Peter Mygind, the foundations; a discarnate spirt communicating with Mrs. Drusse through flickering fluorescent lights; a bloody hand waving in intense Vita Jensen, Morten Rotne Leffers, light inside a driverless ambulance. Throughout, von Trier (with Solbjørg Højfeldt, Udo Kier codirector Morten Arnfred and longtime collaborator Niels Vørsel sharing the Mark Frost role) seamlessly blends the distinctive look of his i early films (rust-colored filters, lots of water, muted or brown-toned color, Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital, suppurating unpleasantnesses) with the mock-documentary aesthetic a thirteen-part U.S. miniseries based of irony-laden 1990s soap: Jittery handheld camera work, deliberately on the movie, was aired in 2004. rough edits, cross-cut subplots, catch-phrases (“Danish scum”), likably obsessive characters, and out-of-left-field plot developments. KN 835

1995 U.S. (Fox, B.H. Finance, Icon, Paramount, Braveheart Mel Gibson, 1995 Ladd) 177m Color Language English / French / Latin Producer Bruce Davey, Mel Producer, director, and star Mel Gibson’s gigantic historical epic Gibson, Alan Ladd, Jr. Screenplay Randall combines brutal action, heaps of derring-do, and romantic tragedy so wholeheartedly that both the testosterone-crazed action crowd and Wallace Photography John Toll women who love a good cry are pleased by at least one or the other half Music James Horner Cast Mel Gibson, of its ruggedly handsome three hours. James Robinson, Sean Lawlor, Sandy Nelson, James Cosmo, Sean McGinley, Andrew Weir, Financed heavily by Gibson himself, whose attractions in tartan skirt and blue dye are matched by one of his most appealing and heroic Gerda Stevenson, Brian Cox, Patrick performances, Braveheart is a panegyric for Scottish warrior William McGoohan, Sophie Marceau Oscars Mel Wallace, whose loss of his love (stunning Catherine McCormack) triggers Gibson, Alan Ladd, Jr., Bruce Davey (best a handkerchief-wringing sequence of events in spectacular locations picture), Mel Gibson (director), John Toll with a cast of thousands. Wallace’s grassroots revolt against Edward I (cinematography), Lon Bender, Per Hallberg (dastardly Patrick McGoohan) at the turn of the fourteenth century climaxed with the Scots’ victory at Stirling but ended in tears, betrayal, (special sound effects), Peter Frampton, and butchery. Punctuated by battle sequences that run from thrilling to Paul Pattison, Lois Burwell (makeup) repulsively gory, the story is a good old-fashioned swashbuckler with Oscar nominations Randall Wallace vengeance and historical figures. Gibson took Best Picture and Best Director Oscars (among Braveheart’s five wins) for a film made with (screenplay), Charles Knode (costume), passionate gusto and heart that retains a sense of humor and exhibits a Steven Rosenblum (editing), James Horner flair for the mythic, balancing the sadistic and partisan excesses. AE (music), Andy Nelson, Scott Millan, Anna Behlmer, Brian Simmons (sound) U.S. 82m BW / Color Deseret James Benning, 1995 Producer James Benning The better-known work of experimental/structuralist filmmaker James Writer James Benning Benning, Deseret became an undisputed succès d’estime when it was Photography James Benning premiered at Sundance in 1996. The title is an allusion to the name proposed by the Mormons when applying for statehood for the Cast Fred Gardner (narrator) territory in which they were settling—later to become Utah. The film combines ninety-two New York Times excerpts from 1852 to 1991 with magnificently composed static shots taken throughout the territory. Benning recorded images at different times of the year over eighteen months with his 16mm camera, pared them down to ninety-two shots of one minute each, and then reorganized them to “match,” one shot per sentence, a prerecorded soundtrack of the New York Times stories boiled down to a few lines. Creating sometimes mysterious ties between image and text, the film leaves viewers free to make their own connections. The text recounts the turbulent genesis of Utah. Apart from one spectacular instance, image and sound are at odds with each other, the East Coast style of the New York Times seemingly missing the point of the real drama that took place there. The landscapes resist the inscription of official history, yet they are haunted by its imperfect traces. Never have Benning’s images been so beautiful, so starkly composed, and so sad. Their deceptively still surface hides troubled waters, but the emotion is kept at bay. BR 836

Babe Chris Noonan, 1995 Australia / U.S. (Kennedy Miller, Universal) This joyous fable of a pig who becomes a champion sheep-herder makes 1995 89m Color Producer Bill Miller, George previously unrepentant carnivores seriously contemplate vegetarianism. Babe is an innocent, irresistible piglet whisked from breeding pen to the Miller, Doug Mitchell Screenplay George barnyard of an eccentric man of few words, Farmer Hoggett (James Miller, Chris Noonan, from the novel Cromwell), who develops an affectionate bond with the creature. The The Sheep-Pig by Dick King-Smith farmer’s fat, rosy wife (Magda Szubanski) unsentimentally eyes the piggy as a Christmas dinner of roast pork. But Babe has“an unprejudiced heart,” Photography Andrew Lesnie Music Nigel unfailing courtesy, curiosity, and courage, affecting every life on the farm Westlake Cast Christine Cavanaugh, Miriam and reshaping his ultimately heroic destiny. Margolyes, Danny Mann, Hugo Weaving, Ten years passed from the time Australian producer and cowriter Miriam Flynn, Russi Taylor, Evelyn Krape, George Miller—doctor, vegetarian, and creator-director of the Mad Max Michael Edward-Stevens, Charles Bartlett, trilogy (1979, 1981, 1985)—became captivated with British farmer turned Paul Livingston, Roscoe Lee Browne, James teacher and author Dick King-Smith’s charming children’s book The Cromwell, Magda Szubanski, Zoe Burton, Sheep-Pig to the film’s production. Miller waited for the development Paul Goddard Oscar Scott E. Anderson, of the technology he required. Now he could seamlessly mix real Charles Gibson, Neal Scanlan, John Cox livestock with uncanny animatronic doubles. Plausible dubbing of voice (special visual effects) Oscar nominations performances (notably those by Christine Cavanaugh as Babe and George Miller, Doug Mitchell, Bill Miller (best Miriam Margolyes and Hugo Weaving as Hoggett’s sheepdogs) set a new picture), Chris Noonan (director), George standard for anthropomorphic entertainment. Within moments, the Miller, Chris Noonan (screenplay), James illusion that the animals are talking completely takes over, giving Cromwell (actor in support role), Roger Ford, credibility to the impulses of human behavior they display, from Kerrie Brown (art direction), Marcus D’Arcy, generosity and selflessness to neuroses to spite, bigotry, and criminality. Jay Friedkin (editing) Longtime Miller colleague Chris Noonan made his feature directorial debut with witty invention, delightful pace, emotive use of music from “The Citizen Kane of Charles Camille Saint-Saens’s “Carnival of the Animals,” and the serenity talking pig movies.” of a St. Francis in choreographing his four-footed and feathered company to wildly hilarious and exciting effect. The story, narrated by Roscoe Lee Browne and a zany chorus of singing mice, has sweet, touching simplicity to enchant children while operating as beautifully on a more mature level. We hear and see gentle echoes of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, whose satire was reproduced more faithfully in the darker, underrated sequel Babe: Pig in the City (1998). AE Dann Gire, The Chicago Daily Herald, 1995 i Babe was played by a combination of forty-eight real Yorkshire pigs and an animatronic double.

Se7en David Fincher, 1995 1995 U.S. (New Line) 127m Color Who would have guessed that a grisly and upsetting serial-killer police Producer Phyllis Carlyle, Arnold Kopelson procedural costarring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as detectives, written by a Tower Records cashier (Andrew Kevin Walker), and directed Screenplay Andrew Kevin Walker by David Fincher (Alien 3 [1992]) would bear a startling resemblance to Photography Darius Khondji Music Howard a serious work of art? One can already tell that this film is on to something special during the opening credits, which formally echo several classic Shore Cast Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, American experimental films and thematically point to the eerie kinship Kevin Spacey, Gwyneth Paltrow, R. Lee between the serial killer (Kevin Spacey) and the police—not to mention Ermey, Andrew Kevin Walker, Daniel Zacapa, the kinship between murder and art-making that the movie is equally John Cassini, Bob Mack, Peter Crombie, concerned with. The detectives are trying to solve a series of hideous Reg E. Cathey, George Christy, Endre Hules, murders based on the seven deadly sins, and the sheer foulness and Hawthorne James, William Davidson Oscar decay of the nameless city that surrounds them—which makes those of nomination Richard Francis-Bruce (editing) Taxi Driver (1976) and Blade Runner (1982) seem almost like children’s theme parks—conjures up a metaphysical mood that isn’t broken even “I thought what was when the film moves to the countryside for its climax. amazing about what Andy prescribed in his Admittedly, designer unpleasantness is a hallmark of our era, and this script and what he was movie may be more concerned with wallowing in it than with illuminating so adamant about was what it means politically. In this respect, it shares some of the duplicity that you don’t need to of Taxi Driver—another film that derives much of its power from America’s see stuff. He unlocks the love-hate relationship with fundamentalism. Se7en is one of the only Pandora’s Box of your Hollywood films to have shown widely in postrevolutionary Iran imagination, in a really (along with the Godfather trilogy [1972, 1974, 1990] and Dances with Wolves [1990]). It likely showed there in censored form; one can’t account gripping way.” for its appeal in that country simply by noting that its highly skilled cinematographer, Darius Khondji, is Iranian. The filmmakers stick to their vision with such dedication and persistence that something indelible comes across—something ethically and artistically superior to The Silence of the Lambs (1991) that refuses to exploit suffering for fun or entertainment and leaves one wondering about the world we’re living in. One should note, however, that the film originally had a much grimmer ending—available now as a DVD bonus— that preview audiences resisted. JRos David Fincher, 2009 i David Fincher named the detectives in Fight Club (1999), Andrew, Kevin, and Walker, after Se7en’s screenwriter. 838

Smoke Wayne Wang & Paul Auster, 1995 U.S. / Germany (Eurospace, Centered on a Brooklyn tobacco shop that also serves as a meeting place Internal, Miramax, NDF, Smoke) 112m for colorful eccentrics representing a cross-section of New York society, BW / Color Producer Kenzo Hirikoshi, Greg this collaboration between director Wayne Wang and author Paul Auster Johnson, Hisami Kuroiwa, Peter Newman wobbles intriguingly between an intricate character study and an Screenplay Paul Auster Photography Adam improvisational comedy. But given the film’s general emotional pay-off, punctuated with a bravura Harvey Keitel monologue, Smoke ultimately Holender Music Rachel Portman falls closer to the former, especially considering the heavy themes of Cast Giancarlo Esposito, José Zúñiga, trust, regret, and responsibility. Stephen Gevedon, Harvey Keitel, Jared Harris, William Hurt, Daniel Auster, Harold Keitel, William Hurt, Forest Whitaker, and Stockard Channing are Perrineau Jr., Cole/Paul Benjamin, Deirdre all great here, and Wang weaves their interrelated tales into a single O’Connell, Victor Argo, Michelle Hurst, Forest impressive tapestry. Smoke’s diverse plotlines are in fact all held together Whitaker, Stockard Channing, Vincenzo by tiny thematic threads: Many of the characters dwell on some Amelia, Erica Gimpel Berlin International significant loss in their life, others reflect on unrequited love, and still Film Festival Wayne Wang, Harvey Keitel others try to restore a frayed bond between child and parent. Each (Silver Bear—special jury prize), Wayne thread connects one character to the other in subtle ways, and while the fabric of society may for better or worse be in constant flux or full Wang (Golden Bear nomination) of gaps, Wang and Auster optimistically imply that it’s the inherent goodness of man which keeps it all from unraveling. JKl 1995 Iran (Ferdos Films) 85m Color Badkonake sefid Jafar Panahi, 1995 Language Farsi Producer Kurosh Mazkouri Screenplay Abbas Kiarostami The White Balloon Photography Farzad Jadat Cast Aida Mohammadkhani, Mohsen Kalifi, Fereshteh This fresh and unpredictable comic “thriller” from Iran is the first feature Sadr Orfani, Anna Borkowska, Mohammad of Jafar Panahi, a former assistant to the great Iranian filmmaker Abbas Shahani, Mohammed Bakhtiar, Aliasghar Kiarostami, who’s credited, along with Panahi and Parviz Shahbazi, with Smadi, Hamidreza Tahery, Asghar Barzegar, the screenplay. The White Balloon describes in real time the adventures Hasan Neamatolahi, Bosnali Bahary, of a seven-year-old girl named Razieh (Aida Mohammadkhani) and her Mohammadreza Baryar, Shaker Hayely, older brother in the streets of Tehran during the eighty-five minutes that Homayoon Rokani, Mohammad Farakani elapse immediately before the celebration of the Iranian New Year. Cannes Film Festival Jafar Panahi After convincing her mother she needs another goldfish for the (Golden Camera) celebration, Razieh sets off to buy one, but twice en route to the store she loses the banknote she’s been given. Most of the remainder of the film is devoted to her efforts to get the money back. If the plot sounds slender, the movie is both gripping and charming, with well-sketched characters and expert storytelling—and Panahi’s efforts to redefine our sense of time along the way are remarkable. Bit by bit, we’re drawn into this child’s perception of time passing, focused on her desire for the goldfish and the various obstacles standing in the way of her acquiring it. No less important is The White Balloon’s abrupt, last-minute revelation of middle-class snobbery on Razieh’s part after a soldier goes to significant trouble to help her recover her money. This points one toward the more obvious ethical concerns of Panahi’s next two features, The Mirror (1997) and The Circle (2000). JRos 839

Underground Emir Kusturica, 1995 France / Yugoslavia / Germany / Hungary Although slightly trimmed by director-writer Emir Kusturica for American (CiBy 2000) 192m Color Language Serbo- consumption, this riotous 167-minute satiric and farcical allegory about the former Yugoslavia from World War II to the postcommunist present Croatian / German Screenplay Dusan is still marvelously excessive. The outrageous plot of Underground Kovacevic, Emir Kusturica, from the involves a couple of anti-Nazi arms dealers and go ld traffickers who gain a reputation as communist heroes. One of them (Miki Manojlovic) novel Bila jednom jedna zemlja by Dusan installs a group of refugees in his grandfather’s cellar, and on the pretext Kovacevic and the play Prolece u januaru by that the war is still raging upstairs he gets them to manufacture arms and other black-market items until the 1960s, meanwhile seducing Dusan Kovacevic and Emir Kusturica the actress (Mirjana Jokovic) whom his best friend (Lazar Ristovski) Photography Vilko Filac Music Goran hoped to marry. Bregovic Cast Miki Manojlovic, Lazar Ristovski , Mirjana Jokovic, Slavko Stimac, Loosely based on a play by cowriter Dusan Kovacevic, this sarcastic, Ernst Stötzner, Srdjan Todorovic, Mirjana carnivalesque epic won the Golden Palm at Cannes in 1995 and has Karanovic, Milena Pavlovic, Danilo “Bata” been at the center of a furious controversy ever since for what’s been Stojkovic, Bora Todorovic, Davor Dujmovic, called its pro-Serbian stance. (Kusturica himself is a Bosnian Muslim.) Dr. Nele Karajlic, Branislav Lecic, Dragan However one chooses to take its jaundiced view of history, it is probably Nikolic, Erol Kadic Cannes Film Festival the best film to date by the talented filmmaker (Time of the Gypsies [1988], Arizona Dream [1993]), a triumph of mise-en-scène mated to a Emir Kusturica (Golden Palm) comic vision that keeps topping its own hyperbole. JRos 1995 India (Eros) 192m Color Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge Aditya Chopra, 1995 Language Hindi Producer Yash Chopra The Brave-Hearted Will Take the Bride Screenplay Aditya Chopra, Javed Siddiqi Photography Manmohan Singh In the 1990s, Hindi film reinvented itself as a slicker, younger, and more stylish form, the new cable and satellite television channels setting the Music Jatin Pandit, Lalit Pandit pace for a new look and the growth in advance music sales allowing Cast Shahrukh Khan, Kajol Mukherjee, budgets to rise. This resulted in a return to the cinema halls of the Amrish Puri, Farida Jalal, Anupam Kher, Karan middle-class audience that had deserted it for VHS. This decade also saw Johar, Pooja Ruparel, Satish Shah, Anaita, more films about the Indian diaspora—people of Indian origin settled Mandira Bedi, Arjun Sablok, Achla Sachdev, overseas—and The Brave-Hearted Will Take the Bride was as much a hit Parmeet Sethi, Himani Shivpuri, Lalit Tiwari with this audience as in its home country, making it one of the biggest hits in Indian film history. Londoners Raj Malhotra and Simran Singh (Shahrukh Khan and Kajol Mukherjee, respectively, one of the decade’s most popular screen pairs), meet on a vacation in Switzerland but are separated when Simran’s family takes her to Punjab for a marriage that was arranged at the time of her birth. Although the girl is ready to run away with her lover, Raj insists her father should give her away; so he persuades her family to accept him by showing them he knows how an Indian boy should behave. The tight script and hit music made it clear that Aditya Chopra, though very much his own director, was set to follow in the footsteps of his famous filmmaker father, Yash Chopra (known for films such as Deewar [1975] and Lamhe [1991]). RDw 840

Xich lo Tran Anh Hung, 1995 Cyclo Vietnam / France (Entertainment, In 1990s Hanoi, a young rickshaw rider (Le Van Loc) has his bicycle stolen, Lazannec, Lumière, La Sept, SFP) 120m which puts him in debt to the woman who rented it to him. She sends Color Language Vietnamese / Italian him to the silent gangster and pimp Poet (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), who puts him to work committing petty crimes to pay off his debt. What he Producer Christophe Rossignon doesn’t know is that Poet has also persuaded his sister into working as Screenplay Trung Binh Nguyen, Tran Anh a prostitute, servicing rich clients who pay with U.S. dollars. Thus two innocents are put on the path to corruption by the same man. Hung Photography Benoît Delhomme, Laurence Trémolet Music Tôn-Thât Tiêt Cyclo’s story may sound like a recipe for melodrama, but director Tran Cast Le Van Loc, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Tran Anh Hung is after something else altogether. His approach is measured Nu Yên-Khê, Nhu Quynh Nguyen, Hoang and considered. His focus is on color and silence as his camera lurks Phuc Nguyen, Ngo Vu Quang Hal, Tuyet around the characters, discreetly awaiting the smallest flicker in their Ngan Nguyen, Doan Viet Ha, Bjuhoang Huy, faces as thoughts and emotions shift and turn. The plot may take its Vo Vinh Phuc, Le Kinh Huy, Pham Ngoc Lieu, starting point from Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief (1948), but it is not Le Tuan Anh, Le Cong Tuan Anh, Van Day an exercise in Neorealism. Rather, the tone is almost magical realist, Nguyen Venice Film Festival Tran Anh focusing on unexpected eruptions of odd beauty. There’s a sense of Tran striving for a new form of storytelling, eschewing commercial genre Hung (FIPRESCI award, Golden Lion) conventions. The film could easily have been a thriller or a gangster movie, but Cyclo is a film in tune with the rhythms of the city it’s set in, i preparing to quietly reacquaint us with a place and a people we haven’t Soundtrack composer Tôn-Thât Tiêt seen since the news footage of the Vietnam War in the 1970s. AT also collaborated with Tran Anh Hung on The Scent of Green Papaya (1993). 841

Clueless Amy Heckerling, 1995 1995 U.S. (Paramount) 97m Color When Jane Austen wrote the novel Emma, it is unlikely she ever imagined Producer Robert Lawrence, Scott her tale of a nineteenth-century meddling young romantic heroine Rudin Screenplay Amy Heckerling would be transplanted to late-twentieth-century Beverly Hills, but that Photography Bill Pope Music David Kitay is precisely what writer-director Amy Heckerling did with Clueless. Cast Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Brittany Murphy, Stacey Dash, Donald Adeosun The film made a star of young Alicia Silverstone (who previously was Faison, Dan Hedaya, Breckin Meyer, Justin best known as the star of the Aerosmith video “Crazy”). She plays Cher, Walker, Wallace Shawn, Jeremy Sisto, Twink a 90210 teen whose mother, as she tells us, “died in a freak accident Caplan, Elisa Donovan, Aida Linares, during a routine liposuctioning,” leaving Cher to be raised by her wealthy father (Dan Hedaya) in their vast Beverly Hills home. Although Sabastian Rashidi, Herb Hall she does go to school with her pal Dionne (Stacey Dash), much of Cher’s life is spent shopping on Rodeo Drive, coordinating her humongous “Okay, so you’re wardrobe, and matchmaking for her friends, including school newcomer probably going, ‘Is Tai (Brittany Murphy), who soon becomes something of a clone of her this like a Noxzema more savvy pal. commercial or what?’ But seriously, I actually Like the Austen book on which it is (very loosely) based, there is a have a way normal life central love story. While interfering in other people’s love lives, Cher for a teenage girl.” barely notices her stepbrother Josh (Paul Rudd) as a possible romantic entanglement until it is almost too late. However, the film works best as a sharply funny satire on twentieth-century teens, complete with its own language (good-looking men are “Baldwins”—a nod to the handsome acting family led by Alec and Billy), blistering asides (“searching for a boy in high school is like searching for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie”), and well-aimed jabs at contemporary L.A. culture (Cher points out that she doesn’t need to practice parking because everywhere she goes there is valet parking). Heckerling keeps everything moving at a brisk pace, skewering fashion victims while making her heroine one of the most devoted, and Silverstone proves to be the perfect muse, fitting the role of the chic but dippy Cher to perfection. A funny, touching, and biting movie. JB Cher (Alicia Silverstone) i The scene where Cher realizes her true feelings for Josh as fountains erupt is a homage to Gigi (1958). 842

Safe Todd Haynes, 1995 U.S. / G.B. (Metro Tartan, American Even though it arrived a few years early, Todd Haynes’s Safe epitomized Playhouse, Channel Four, Chemical, America’s premillennial tension in the days leading toward the Good Machine, Kardana) 119m Color year 2000. Julianne Moore plays a vapid and materialistic suburban Producer Christine Vachon, Lauren Zalaznick housewife who develops a severe allergic reaction to the world around Screenplay Todd Haynes Photography Alex her, starting with a rash and lethargy but leading ultimately to more Nepomniaschy Music Brendan Dolan, Ed violently disruptive responses. Desperate, she ensconces herself in a Tomney Cast Julianne Moore, Peter holistic retreat for people with the same problem. But is the ailment just Friedman, Xander Berkeley, Susan Norman, a figment of Moore’s imagination, a by-product of her tedious, banal Kate McGregor-Stewart, Mary Carver, Steven existence? Or has her body truly revolted against modernity? Gilborn, April Grace, Peter Crombie, Ronnie Farer, Jodie Markell, Lorna Scott, James Haynes coyly keeps the exact nature of her illness ambiguous, depicting Moore’s syndrome as very real while at the same time LeGros, Dean Norris, Julie Burgess implying that her descent into sickness and subsequent embrace of New Age treatment may just be a search for something to fill a void in her life. Moore’s performance is increasingly wrought with anxiety, 1995 panic, and fear, as she realizes that everything she knows—her home, her routine, her family—may have to be sacrificed for the sake of her well-being. Safe offers a lot of questions but few answers, bravely subverting sickness-of-the-week tropes by withholding the promise of a miracle cure. It’s a thoroughly modern horror film whose threat seems to be civilization itself. JKl U.S. (Forward Pass, Monarchy, Regency, Heat Michael Mann, 1995 Warner Bros.) 171m Color Producer Art Linson, Michael Mann Screenplay Michael In Michael Mann’s telemovie L.A. Takedown (1987), there is a scene in which a cop and the criminal he has been obsessively tracking happen Mann Photography Dante Spinotti to bump into each other while shopping. There is a tense pause, and Music Elliot Goldenthal Cast Al Pacino, then the criminal breaks the ice with a classic invitation: “Coffee?” Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, That scene reappears in Mann’s Heat, a film whose richly deserved Ashley Judd, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, cult following has steadily grown since 1995. Set in Los Angeles, it takes a well-worked theme—the symbiotic relationship between cop Ted Levine, Dennis Haysbert, William Vincent (Al Pacino) and criminal Neil (Robert De Niro)—and meditates Fichtner, Natalie Portman, Tom Noonan moodily upon it. Mann combines a flamboyant, epic style with a manic attention to realistic detail—resulting in indelible set pieces like the street shoot-out. In its exploration of family and intimacy, Heat treats a founding theme of noir fiction: the danger of bonding with another person. Agonizing scenes dramatize Neil’s assertion that a “professional” should be able to walk away from everything in his life within thirty seconds. These professionals are almost automatons: hard-driven, single- minded, and married to their unsavory work (rather than their teary, long-suffering companions). But they are also proud, stoic men, and in their determination lies a lofty splendor to which Mann pays immortal tribute. AM 843

1995 Toy Story (1995) 81m Toy Story Trilogy Toy Story 2 (1999) 92m Toy Story 3 (2010) 103m John Lasseter, Ash Brannon, & Lee Unkrich, 1995, 1999, & 2010 All three films U.S. (Pixar Animation Studios, A Hollywood film franchise that heralded a new era in animation, the Toy Walt Disney) Color Music Randy Newman Story trilogy irrevocably changed the cinematic landscape when the series’first installment arrived in the mid-1990s. Since then, a generation Cast (voices) Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don has grown up alongside Andy and his toys: Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Rickles, Jim Varney (not Toy Story 3), Wallace (Tim Allen), and the gang, delighting at their adventures in America’s suburban landscape. And if the first two films detailed the wondrous Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, adventures and occasional travails of infancy and youth, the third John Morris, Erik von Detten, Laurie Metcalf, installment tackled the bittersweet reality of growing up. R. Lee Ermey, Sarah Freeman, Penn Jillette, With each installment we witness the gradual loss of childhood Jack Angel, Spencer Aste innocence, with the toys placed in an increasingly urgent state of peril. In Toy Story it is the cruelty of the boy next door, who mutilates his own Toy Story Producer Bonnie Arnold, Ralph toy collection, producing a dismembered population that wouldn’t look Guggenheim Screenplay Joss Whedon, out of place in a Tim Burton film. (The author Michael Chabon finds Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, the film’s adherence to orthodoxy troubling, instead admiring the imagination of a child who puts a wrestler doll in a dress.) John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Joe Ranft Oscars John Lasseter (Special Achievement In its sequel, it is an adult—up until that moment an entirely Award) Oscar nominations Randy Newman trustworthy figure—who takes on the role of the villain. It introduces the notion that value can extend beyond friendship to commerce, (music), Randy Newman (song), Joss where feelings and comradeship are replaced by profit and greed. And Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, Alec through Jessie (Joan Cusack) we first encounter the possibility of a child outgrowing their most valued possessions, which becomes the dominant Sokolow, John Lasseter, Pete Docter, theme in the third film. Joe Ranft (screenplay) In Toy Story 3 Andy is preparing to leave for college and with that he Toy Story 2 Producer Karen Robert packs away his treasured toys. A comedy of errors results in Woody and Jackson, Sarah McArthur, Helene Plotkin his friends being accidentally donated to Sunnyside, a local day care Screenplay John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Ash center, whose happy exterior masks a darker, more threatening toy Brannon, Andrew Stanton, Rita Hsiao, Doug regime. The group’s quest to return to Andy results in their being held Chamberlin, Chris Webb Cast (voices) Joan hostage by Teddy Kingpin Lotso (Ned Beatty), a grubby, pink and white Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Wayne Knight, toy bear, who happens to be the center’s de facto boss. Estelle Harris, Jodi Benson, Jonathan Harris, Joe Ranft, Andrew Stanton, Jeff Pidgeon Two scenes heighten Toy Story 3’s gravitas and emotional heft: the Oscar nominations Randy Newman (music), near-oblivion encounter faced by the toys when they are almost pulled into a furnace, and Andy’s realization that he must let go of his youth Randy Newman (song) and pass on his toys to a more appreciative and understanding child. It is these moments, interspersed among the usual banter and Toy Story 3 Producer Darla K. Anderson, knockabout scenes, which saw the film resonate strongly among an Nicole Paradis Grindle, John Lasseter adult audience. Screenplay John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, The Toy Story series realized the emotional depth that could be Lee Unkrich, Michael Ardnt Cast (voices) Joan invested in animation, recalling earlier Disney successes, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Bambi (1942), and highlighted Cusack, Wayne Knight, Estelle Harris, Jodi how much had been lost among the less adventurous traditional Benson, Michael Keaton, Ned Beatty, Emily animated features of recent decades. They are the pinnacle of Pixar’s Hahn, Blake Clark, Teddy Newton, Bud Luckey, achievements and a treasure for those young enough to still play with Beatrice Miller, Javier Fernandez Pena, Timothy toys, as well as the many who have long since given them up. JT Dalton, Lori Alan, Charlie Bright, Kristen Schaal, Jeff Garlin, Bonnie Hunt, John Cygan, Whoopi Goldberg, Jan Rabson, Richard Kind, Erik von Detten, Amber Kroner, Brianna Maiwand, Jack Willis Oscars Randy Newman (music), Randy Newman (song), Lee Unkrich (animated film) Oscar nominations Tom Myers, Michael Silvers (sound editing), Darla K. Anderson (film), John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Andrew Stanton, Michael Arndt (screenplay) i A Pizza Planet reference has appeared in every Pixar movie so far, apart from The Incredibles (2004). 844



Dead Man Jim Jarmusch, 1995 1995 U.S. / Germany / Japan (12 Gauge, At the beginning of Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man, a timid, bespectacled, JVC, Miramax, Newmarket, Pandora) hypercivilized clerk, William Blake (Johnny Depp), is heading west to take up a career in the frontier town of Machine. The journey seems endless, 121m BW Producer Demetra J. and once he arrives he discovers that his position was filled months ago. MacBride Screenplay Jim Jarmusch Feeling dejected, he beds a prostitute, only to be interrupted by her Photography Robby Müller Music Neil fiancé who shoots her dead, wounds William, and is shot by him in Young Cast Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, return. William flees, beginning a journey through the wilderness of the Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Mili American West in which, with an enigmatic Indian named Nobody (Gary Avital, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, Eugene Byrd, Farmer) at his side. Progressively suffering from his untreated wound, he Michelle Thrush, Jimmie Ray Weeks, Mark navigates toward his death. Nobody is his guide: “Do you know how to Bringleson, Gabriel Byrne, John Hurt, use that weapon?” he asks. “It will replace your tongue.” Alfred Molina, Robert Mitchum Cannes Film Festival Jim Jarmusch (Golden An essay on contemplation, Dead Man charms through Robby Müller’s black-and-white cinematography (influenced by Ansel Adams), Palm nomination) the exquisitely simple guitar score by Neil Young, and Depp’s gentle performance poetry—typified when he lies down to embrace a dead “Dead Man is likely fawn. Bizarre support roles by John Hurt, Iggy Pop, Lance Henriksen, Jim Jarmusch’s most Gabriel Byrne, and the lanky, towering, Robert Mitchum, in his last stunning achievement screen appearance, a smoking cigar between his lips—persuading Blake . . . He tears down one to leave his office by pointing a double-gage shotgun into his face—fill mythopoetic image out the almost plotless scenery. of [the] West and in its place resurrects his own.” Much of the narrative and violence in Dead Man is flat and unromantic, especially the perverse, almost catatonic behavior of Cole Wilson (Henriksen)—a killer not so much cold-blooded as bloodless. The pervading silences of the great Western emptiness, the silver birch gliding by as William rides through the forest, Nobody’s matter-of- factness as he performs not entirely comprehensible rituals upon a man not entirely conscious, all lead to an almost meaningless evocation of person, place, and moment. When at the end Nobody pushes William off on a great lake, the spirit-canoe glides away into the other world in a vision that recalls the Death of King Arthur at Avalon. MP Zach Campbell, Slant Magazine, 2004 i Gary Farmer had a cameo as Nobody in the 1999 Jim Jarmusch film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. 846

U.S. / Germany (PolyGram, The Usual Suspects Bryan Singer, 1995 Spelling, Blue Parrot, Bad Hat Harry, Rosco) With its convoluted plotting, macho repartee, and Bryan Singer’s 106m Technicolor Language English / confident direction, The Usual Suspects is an absorbing confidence trick Hungarian / Spanish / French concerning the identification of a criminal archfiend: Who is Keyser Soze? Producer Michael McDonnell, Bryan Spacey snatches his first Oscar as Verbal “people say I talk too much” Singer Screenplay Christopher McQuarrie Kint, a con man and the talkative cripple to whose narrative we cling. Five criminals are placed in a holding cell to appear in a lineup, although Photography Newton Thomas Sigel none were actually involved with the crime for which they have been Music John Ottman Cast Gabriel Byrne, arrested. The seemingly chance meeting, however, inspires them to team up on a heist, which sets them up for blackmail and betrayal. Kevin Spacey, Stephen Baldwin, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Kevin Pollak, A hip, urban Rashômon (1950) with bursts of violent, beautifully choreographed action, The Usual Suspects opens on a scene of carnage Benicio Del Toro, Suzy Amis, Giancarlo in which a mystery man executes Gabriel Byrne’s Keaton. This sequence Esposito, Dan Hedaya, Paul Bartel, Carl will recur, revised, as remembered by Verbal and as imagined by his Bressler, Phillip Simon, Jack Shearer, Christine interrogator, a federal agent (Chazz Palminteri) too fixated on his own Estabrook Oscars Kevin Spacey (actor in theory of why these men came together to “stand back from it”and “look support role), Christopher McQuarrie at it right.”The viewer makes the same mistake, cleverly misdirected. (screenplay) Singer delights in sleights of hand (like a camera dissolve into a swirling cup of coffee and a thrilling elevator shaft assassination) that i make one forgetful of loose ends. The contribution of John Ottman, Kevin Spacey had the fingers on his performing the unusual double of editing labyrinthine scenes and left hand glued together to make his composing the brooding score, shouldn’t be underestimated either. The character’s disability more realistic. ultimate accolade is that one cannot say that the film does not hold up. It may not add up, but it remains a madly intriguing puzzle. AE 847

Kjærlighetens kjøtere Hans Petter Moland, 1995 Zero Kelvin Norway / Sweden (Norsk, Sandrews) 118m Hans Petter Moland’s Zero Kelvin has the crisp economy of a tough, Color Language Norwegian Producer Bent knotty thriller by Roman Polanski. The story occurs in a grimly circumscribed setting: a shack in Greenland where three men hired as Rognlien Screenplay Lars Bill Lundholm, seal hunters quickly go crazy. Larsen (Garb B. Eidsvold) is a dandy; Holm Hans Petter Moland, from the novel Larsen (Bjørn Sundquist) is the quiet, scientific type; and Randbaek (Stellan by Peter Tutein Photography Philip Øgaard Skarsgård) is a raging bull. For a while, dramatic tension occurs only Music Terje Rypdal Cast Stellan Skarsgård, between Larsen and Randbaek, as they seesaw between violence and Gard B. Eidsvold, Bjørn Sundquist, Camilla boyish, petulant displays. But then Holm makes a sudden, decisive Martens, Paul-Ottar Haga, Johannes Joner, intervention—propelling the characters out of the shack and into the Erik Øksnes, Lars Andreas Larssen, Juni Dahr, ice and snow. Now Moland can produce his most striking images and Johan Rabaeus, Frank Iversen, Tinkas Qorfiq most ingenious narrative moves. i Although they are stranded in a landscape where all traces of The Arctic island of Spitsbergen was civilization are absent, the characters’ social values do not disappear, but instead are placed into stark relief by the monumental setting. used to stand in for Greenland on Moland’s ultimate concern is with the ethical dilemmas of human location shooting for the film. behavior under pressure. Zero Kelvin brilliantly examines what a normally civilized person will do in extreme circumstances, with all restraints removed. It asks what can separate men from beasts. And it coolly probes the constant claims of its characters to moral superiority or lofty idealism. AM 848