Favorites Of 1990

[oscar jubis]

This is the first of ten threads on 90s Cinema designed to list my favorite films of a decade that's recent enough to remember clearly and remote enough to merit reappraisal. Perhaps you would like to discuss or opine on a film from my list. Perhaps you would compile and post your own list. Any type of response is appreciated.

Of course I believe the films I list are the "best" films of the year, but the word "favorites" stresses the fact that it's one guy's opinion and that my opinion reflects who I am and what I like. My taste is rather wide-ranging though, with no particular preference for or rejection of any genre.

As it's become my practice, I split the list into two: one for films in English and one for films in a language other than English. Dates: I'm using dates of world premiere according to IMdb. This policy eliminates all kinds of complications, particularly with foreign-language films, which were likely released in the US over the course of several years. Films are listed in order of preference. Films that are not numbered are tied with the film preceding it.

[oscar jubis]

1. AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE (Jane Campion)
2. LIFE IS SWEET (Mike Leigh)
3. GOODFELLAS (Martin Scorsese)
---MR. AND MRS. BRIDGE (James Ivory)
---TO SLEEP WITH ANGER (Charles Burnett)
6. ARCHANGEL (Guy Maddin)
---HIDDEN AGENDA (Ken Loach)
---JACOB'S LADDER (Adrian Lyne)
---REVERSAL OF FORTUNE (Barbet Schroeder)
---WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART (Clint Eastwood)
11.TEXASVILLE (Peter Bogdanovich)

Runners-Up
Paris is Burning, The Godfather Part III, Longtime Companion, Henry and June, Dick Tracy, Edward Scissorhands, Trust, Twin Peaks-Pilot, Miller's Crossing, The Sheltering Sky.

[oscar jubis]

1. AY CARMELA! (Carlos Saura/Spain)
--CLOSE UP (Abbas Kiarostami/Iran)
--JU DOU (Zhang Yimou/China)
4. FALLEN FROM HEAVEN (Francisco Lombardi/Peru)
5. EUROPA EUROPA (Agnieszka Holland/Poland)
6. LARKS ON A STRING (Jiri Menzel/ Czech Republic)
-- URANUS (Claude Berri/France)
8. TILAI (Idrissa Ouedraogo/Burkina Faso)
9. AMELIA LOPEZ O'NEILL (Valeria Sarmiento/Chile)
-- CYRANO DE BERGERAC (J. Rappeneau/France)

Runners-Up
Letters from Alou (Spa), Everybody's Fine (Ita), Taxi Blues (Russia), Rodrigo D:No Future (Colombia), My Mother's Castle (Fra), My Father's Glory (Fra), Tie Me Up,Tie Me Down (Spa), Tatie Danielle (Fra)

[HorseradishTree]

This sounds awesome; I've always wanted to better compile my thoughts on films in the 90s.

[oscar jubis]

I'm glad you like the idea. I'm hoping the threads stimulate some discussion. A personal reason is to figure out which 90s films I should re-watch in the limited time I have, since keeping up with current releases gets priority. I'm very pleased that finally An Angel at My Table is getting due recognition thanks to a superb Criterion release last fall. It's my favorite Aussie film and one of the very best biographical films ever (about writer Janet Frame from New Zealand).

Reappraising foreign-language movies is more daunting because they're not so widely available. Two from the list were never shown in the US outside of festivals. Several are available only on vhs, if you can find them: Ay Carmela!, Tilai, and Uranus. Do the members believe everything released on vhs will eventually come out on disc? If not, I better hunt down the rare remaining vhs copies of those flicks pronto.

I'll be posting the 1991 list today.

[HorseradishTree]

So can I assume you're not a fan of Akira Kurosawa's Dreams? That's probably my pick for that year, though I need to look a few things up.

[oscar jubis]

I considered listing Dreams as a runner-up because of its undeniable beauty, which is reason enough to recommend it. I'm glad you brought it up. It's the content behind the visuals that's inconsistent. I found some of the dreams either shallow or preachy, even though A.K.'s pontifications about ecology, the dangers of atomic energy, etc. are sincere and morally impeccable. Perhaps the best dream casts Marty Scorsese as Vincent Van Gogh?! IMdb voters rate Akira Kurosawa's Dreams as one of the top 5 foreign-language films of 1991, along with Europa Europa, Ju Dou, My Father's Glory, and Bullet in the Head (which also just missed making my list). I found Kurosawa's swan song, Rhapsody in August (1991), to have greater dramatic impact than Dreams. Have you seen it?

[HorseradishTree]

Nay, my friend, I have not, but it's Kurosawa, so I imagine it's not abhorrent.

From what I've discussed, it seems to me like the "Crows" segment was actually the weakest in popular opinion. I found it average, I suppose. My favorites include "The Blizzard" and "Mt. Fuji in Red." "The Tunnel" freaked the crap out of me.

[oscar jubis]

Odd choice of words, Tree. Nothing AK directed comes close to abhorrent. Rhapsody in August is about an old woman living in the countryside near Nagasaki, whose husband perished as a result of the nuclear bomb. She's entrusted with her four grandkids when their parents go visit relatives in Hawaii. Among them, the old lady's half-Caucasian, half-Japanese nephew (Richard Gere), who didn't know of the circumstances surrounding his uncle's death. So he decides to travel to Japan and pay his respects. Rhapsody in August deals with some of the same concerns evident in Dreams regarding atomic energy and warfare. It does so in a more affecting manner.

Go figure, "Crows" was the segment I remember liking the most. Then again, I'm a fan of Van Gogh, which has a bearing on my opinion.

[HorseradishTree]

I think the biggest complaint was that Scorsese was not the right choice to play the part. I'll admit, 'twas bizarre to have him there, but whatever. I'm trying to remember that vignette completely, and I'm having a hard time. I certainly need to see it again.

[Johann]

My favorite Kurosawa is Dreams.
I saw it on the big screen just weeks out of the army in 1996.

"Crows" is mesmerizing.

Scorsese met with A.K. in the late 80's, and Akira called him up some time later and said that he had a problem.
He couldn't stop thinking about Marty, about him as a character, as van Gogh.
Would he consider playing the part?
He replied immediately: "I'll do it".

"The Blizzard" left a huge impression on me.
Imagine it on the big screen. That snow witch/spirit was so haunting and interesting. And when you find out what all of the hard labour had wrought... magic.

The first dream is probably my favorite: "The Peach Orchard". The "foxes", the incredible Japanese soundtrack, and the best thing about it: the hypnotic movements of the colorfully dressed spirits on the dimensioned hillside.
Awe-inspiring.

All of the segments are breathtaking to me. They all impressed me and when I first saw it and left the theatre I could not stop thinking about the experience. It's in my top ten forever.


Dreams holds a very high spot on my shelf of movie memories.

[oscar jubis]

Johann, you've inspired me to watch it again and refresh my memories of this movie. Dreams is so unique within the films of Kurosawa. All his other films appear to have been thought out by his left brain whereas Dreams is so "right-brain", so to speak.

[Sano]

found this nice little thread for the opportunity of my first post.
Some interesting films were already mentioned.
Here's my list of the best I've seen from 1990.

1. Close Up (Abbas Kiarostami / Iran)
2. The Reflecting Skin (Philip Ridley / UK, Canada)
3. Wild at Heart (David Lynch / USA)
4. Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton / USA)
5. Dreams (Akira Kurosawa, Ishiro Honda / Japan, USA)
6. The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia (Jan Svankmajer / UK)
7. Dances with Wolves (Kevin Costner / USA)
8. Europa Europe (Agnieszka Holland / Germany, France, Poland)
9. Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg (Kjell Grede / Sweden, Hungary, Norway)
10. Song of the Exile (Ann Hui / Hong Kong, Taiwan)

[oscar jubis]

We definitely agree on Kiarostami.
Wild at Heart is the only Lynch film I don't like: http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=8266&highlight=wild+heart+lynch#post8266
I've been trying to find a copy of Song of Exile, which was released here on vhs over a decade ago.

[Sano]

Yes, Kiarostami :-)))
Close-up was one of the best movie experiences in my life, and though I was stood up by a woman I loved before the screening, i left the theater in a state of bliss.
If Kiarostami had made only this film, he would still have a firm place in film history.
I adore the scene where Kiarostami is following his protagonist, who is riding with Makhmalbaf through the city and the sound ceases to work. Sometimes life is the best director.

Wild at Heart was also the only Lynch film I didn't like when I first saw it a couple of years ago. I was already a huge fan of Lynch back than (probably more than now), but I couldn't appreciate this film. But a couple of further viewings convinced me that it is indeed one of his best and deservedly won the Palme d'Or.

Re:Song of Exile
This was probably the copy I saw. More films by Ann Hui should be out on DVD. This is so far the only film by her I've seen (still remember her in Tsai's "The River" though).

[Sano]

Just read your short take on Wild at Heart.

The guy you quote wrote:


"No matter how inflated with esteem Lynch becomes, his art isn't so great that it transcends vicious, regressive, conservative meaning. His white working-class identification masquerades as chic nostalgia for fifties-era inhibition and repression. As Lula and Sailor wheel across the Southwest encountering gimpy prostitutes, odious mobsters and porn stars, they're haunted by images out of The Wizard of Oz. Lula and Sailor are trying to get back to the way things used to be; they envision a sentimental, Boy Scout, pop-music America. Lynch retreats into the isolation of fantasy and erotic immaturity where adults are unclean, lecherous monsters."

Looked like this to me the first time, but nah Lynch is doing what he is always doing.

There is no "vicious, regressive, conservative meaning" in the film. What the film states is that it's hard to live in America if you are an ordinary person.

"As Lula and Sailor wheel across the Southwest encountering gimpy prostitutes, odious mobsters and porn stars, they're haunted by images out of The Wizard of Oz. Lula and Sailor are trying to get back to the way things used to be; they envision a sentimental, Boy Scout, pop-music America."
Yes, both are very damaged personalities haunted by the past, who try to flee into a fantasy world. And their idea of the American dream is probably shared by a lot of "ordinary" (adolescent) americans (a sentimental, Boy Scout, pop-music America).

But: "Lynch retreats into the isolation of fantasy and erotic immaturity where adults are unclean, lecherous monsters."
Nope, Lynch doesn't "retreat" into this. The film is a fairy-tale (Wizard of Oz anyone), where the characters retreat into such a world (which is VERY similar to the one envisioned in Blue Velvet btw). Only under the "disguise" of a fairy-tale can Lynch add the Happy Ending to the film. But if you watch closely, the "real" part (and one could also say the movie) ends when Sailor walks away at the end (before he changes his mind).
What I really love about the ending is that Lynch suceeds in adding to a depressive reality a renewed love ON FILM which is granted to the couple only ON FILM (and which perfectly expresses his view of the world). Thinking about our world, it would end when Sailor walks (and was doomed from the very beginning).
Lynch always likes his characters (even when they don't get away like the schizophrenic in Lost Highway) and keeps them in their own world. He doesn't impose himself on the characters, but on the film. This is what the best directors do.
See Kubrick as a prime example of this. In his films the acting is always top-notch (people who complain for example about the actors in "2001" didn't get the film). But he always leaves them as their own entities who are never a representation of himself in any way.

[Sano]

I noticed your review of "Innocence: Ghost in the shell". Glad you noticed the philosophical depth of it. Hoberman seemed to have no clue what it is all about.
But I still think the masterful "first" Ghost in the Shell has even more to say (and has a better narrative structure). Along with Avalon (2001) and Angel's Egg (1985) I consider this the best film by Oshii who is imo one of the best Japanese directors. (on a level with Ozu, Koreeda, Kurosawa and Miyazaki, to name a few).

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Sano
What the film states is that it's hard to live in America if you are an ordinary person.

This is too generic and simplistic to suit me. The concept of "ordinary person" is an entirely subjective construct.

And their idea of the American dream is probably shared by a lot of "ordinary" (adolescent) americans (a sentimental, Boy Scout, pop-music America).

I highly doubt that. In reality, this "Boy Scout" America of the 50s was a mirage, a facade. It was an era characterized by repression and hypocrisy (Did Good Night and Good Luck open in Deutschland?). Lynch's nostalgia for the 50s is at best myopic, at worst perverse.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Sano
I noticed your review of "Innocence: Ghost in the shell". Glad you noticed the philosophical depth of it. Hoberman seemed to have no clue what it is all about.

I assume you've read J. Hoberman's admiring review in order to come to this conclusion.

Oshii who is imo one of the best Japanese directors. (on a level with Ozu, Koreeda, Kurosawa and Miyazaki, to name a few).

I'd have to disagree strongly that Oshii is "on a level" with Ozu and Kurosawa. I'm sure you know your opinion would not be shared by most who are familiar with the works of these pantheon directors from Japan. You're entitled to your opinion though.

[Sano]

Don'T#t think there's any "Nostalgia" in Wild at Heart.
And as I've said before, I don't think the characters reflect Lynch ;-)

Regarding Oshii.
I actually think my opinion would be shared by most who are familiar with them.
Which films of Oshii have you seen?

Yes, I've read Hoberman's review, where he talks about the beauty of "Innocence". I have seen many better and more beautiful animes though. But of course that's my opinion.

[oscar jubis]

I took a decade! to respond to your excellent post. I certainly agree with your comments about Abbas Kiarostami, who passed away this year under strange circumstances. He was one of the greats.It's strange to write in the past about him. His sophisticated engagement between past and present seems so futuristic; He was also so much ahead of mainstream culture in his mixture of the documentary and the fictive or stylized.

I finally managed to buy a dvd of ann Hui's Song of Exile. I'm very excited about watching it, as well as a Blu-ray of her highly popular film A Simple Life. I am finally going to catch up with An Hui :-)

I am also writing to hail a film I overlooked back in 1990 (This thread is for films released in 1990 after all) and again I overlooked it when I posted this list and tried to watch any important 1990 films I had missed. Adrian Lyne's JACOB'S LADDER is a must-see and maybe a great film. Part of its effectiveness is how it keeps you guessing whether to call it a psychological drama or a fairly realistic horror film. It belongs to any discussion about films that broach Vietnam and US military intervention in general. Why did I miss it? I don't gravitate to film's starring Tim Robbins. Elizabeth Pena is fantastic in the earthy, concerned girlfriend role. Pena dies to young. I loved her in La Bamba and Lone Star. She was named after the town where she was born. I am not really a fan of other movies directed by Adrian Lyne such as Flashdance and Fatal Attraction. I notice that after being idle for almost 15 years, he is scheduled to direct a "steamy thriller" again. Anyway, Jacob's Ladder is pretty good, good enough for a spot in my Top 10 Favorite movies of 1990.

[Sano]

I finally managed to buy a dvd of ann Hui's Song of Exile. I'm very excited about watching it, as well as a Blu-ray of her highly popular film A Simple Life. I am finally going to catch up with An Hui :-)

I am also writing to hail a film I overlooked back in 1990. Adrian Lyne's JACOB'S LADDER is a must-see and maybe a great film. Anyway, Jacob's Ladder is pretty good, good enough for a spot in my Top 10 Favorite movies of 1990.

Wow, I had all but forgotten about this Film Forum and your wonderful posts Oscar. Glad to see you are still "into" cinema - so am I. I haven't seen a film by Ann Hui for a long time. Last one must have been THE POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT when it came out. Needless to say it was wonderful. My first (and so far last) Encounter with SONG OF EXILE was via the rare subtitled VHS which was for a long time the only way to see this wonderful film before filesharing and such opened up a whole new world for film lovers.

I am not familiar with the work of Adrian Lyne myself, though I do have an unseen DVD of JACOB'S LADDER sitting on my shelves for about 10 years now. I have seen one film by Lyne so far (actually in a film studies Seminar, "by accident" so to say) and found it delightful: FATAL ATTRACTION. A funny and thrilling hommage to genre cinema of yore, I found it to be a gift for cineastes. Too bad, the General public usually seems to regard it as one of those mysoginistic 80s Thrillers about "crazy" females, when it is in fact so much more. At least it seemed to me, many years ago. So I've marked Lyne as a filmmaker to watch in the back of my head but haven't had time to see some other films of his oevre so far. I'll definitely look into JACOB'S LADDER next, when I get the time.

[oscar jubis]

Sano, I have many DVDs waiting for years to be opened and watched! One of these days I will make a point of watching them.Instead I often keep re-watching the same films. For example, I've watched Renoir's A Day in the Country and Malick's The Tree of Life several times in the past few weeks!and neglect new films. I want to watch both Ann Hui movies you mention, they sound fascinating. The last movie I watched is Werner Herzog's doc about connectivity and the internet titled Lo and Behold. It's as thought-provoking as you'd hope, and expect. By the way, I've been finally won over by The Tree of Life, a film that won the Palme D'Or and always listed among the best of the 21st century, and yet SO divisive (My favorite critics don't like it at all). I think THE TREE OF LIFE is a masterpiece even if it's splintered and indulgent and overly religious (for some). Thanks so much for your reply. Do watch Jason's Ladder and Keep in touch.
Oscar aka Professor Kino

[Chris Knipp]

I love The Tree of Life but I have been so disappointed by Malick's recent efforts, especially the unbearable Knight of Cups, which I couldn't sit through (at Landmark Sunshine in NYC), and that's kind of unusual. This seems to be a case of self-overindulgence.

I didn't know Kiarostami had passed away. I was wondering what had happened to him. I like Asghar Farhadi, whom I didn't buy into at first. I have seen The Salesman and written a review (more appreciative than most) waiting for release date. It was in the NYFF, but I didn't get to see all their Main Slate this year as I did from 2005 till now. I have seen quite a few outside or since the festival but there are also quite a few I haven't yet, namely:

20th Century Women (Mike Mills 2016)
Hermia and Helena (Matías Piñeiro 2016)
Jackie (Pablo Larrain 2016)
Julieta (Pedro Almodóvar 2016)
Lost City of Z, The (James Gray 2016)
My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea (Dash Shaw 2016)
Paterson (Jim Jarmusch 2016)
Personal Shopper (Oliver Assayas 2016)
Rehearsal, The (Alison Maclean 2016)
Sieranevada (Cristi Puiu 2016)
Son of Joseph/Le fils de Joseph (Eugène Green 2016)
Yourself and Yours (Hong Sangsoo 2016)
I look forward to seeing 20the Century Women, Jackie, Paterson, and Julieta, all coming to US theaters soon, and Personal Shopper next March. I'm afraid Lost City of Z not to mention the others, may be harder to see in US cinemas.