BEST FILMS OF 1990
by Mike Lorefice

All The Vermeers in New York
Jon Jost

***1/2

An Angel At My Table
Jane Campion

***

Avalon
Barry Levinson

***

Awakenings
Penny Marshall

***1/2

The Comfort of Strangers
Paul Schrader

***

Cross My Heart
Jacques Fansten

Another French film that shows a good understanding of certain aspects of adolescence, and elicits good performances from the children by letting them be more or less themselves. A child's mother dies and since he never knew who his father was and has no relatives he'll be condemned to the orphanage. To make things worse he's the class dunce and is now somewhat traumatized. His classmates band together to keep the secret of his mother's death and take care of him. None of them started out as the cuddly sentimental innocents Holyplastic always presents to begin with, and throughout the course of the film they all grow through practical necessity. It's not meant to show that children don't need adults the way Disney mythmaking does to make the children so heroic, but to show what children are capable of if their energy is channeled in the right direction. They make a game out of taking care of the orphan, thus rather than being a chore it occupies them and they forget about idle pastimes. They have to lie, cheat, and steal to take care of the kid, but part of the film is contrasting the children's ability to worry about what's important to the adults over reliance on convention. The orphan is all that matters to them, while the adults lose track of humanity in their institutionalized life that talks of order and protection, but either their hands are tied because it's not their field or it is their field but the best interest of who they are dealing with gets lost amidst rules, regulations, platitudes, and budgetary limitations. Much of the humor comes from the resilient children's ability to fool the adults by replicating their façade of "normalcy". But part of the problem lies in the solidarity of the children against adults, which leads to the conventional children=good, adults=bad. Though not a particularly believable film in it's plot details, it's an interesting study that avoids overdramatization and presents children much closer to how they really are rather than condescending to it's subjects for the "pleasure" of the audience. [11/10/05] ***

Crossing The Line
David Leland

As usual the Weinstein bunglers have decided what we can't see, i.e. the real film. What they've left is a social commentary that backs into stressing of working class solidarity, a solid gangster film, and what Stanley Kubrick called the greatest fight ever filmed. The film seems to attempt to have depth rather than just set up a convenient situation for some brutal action, which leads me to believe it's more of a mix of two main British genres, the working class and gangster films, but at least in this version the later is emphasized and the former doesn't really come off. But the action is magnificently filmed. The big reason fighting films are terrible these days is everything is sped up (largely to mask the fact that hardly anyone of the mannequins involved has a clue of how to fight), thus looking ridiculously fake and making zero impression. Big Man once again proves that by going in the other direction, slowing everything down (something Bruce Lee understood but that seems to go over the head of all the wannabes), everything is not only comprehensible but also heightened. It's much more intense and moving, every movement rising in importance. Liam Neeson has actually done some amateur boxing, and this is a rare sports movie where you could tell the people making it have actually watched it before. Unlike the duck one punch then KO and 10 second rounds of Million Dollar Bomb, this film doesn't just rush and fake everything. The brutality of bare knuckle boxing is certainly done justice, but that alone wouldn't make it impressive. Every aspect of filmmaking comes together to make it work, the scene is brilliantly shot and scored, sometimes rivaling it's inspiration Raging Bull in intensity. Even the crowd noise is done right, slowly building throughout. There's a scene where Neeson is running to save his family from the gangsters that's certainly one of the great running scenes ever, but for the most part the rest of the film is nothing special. So this film probably really does not belong on a best of list, but I include it because the fight is so brilliantly done that every action film fan needs to see this film. [10/5/05] ***

Cyrano De Bergerac
Jean Paul Rappeneau

***

The Disenchanted
Benoit Jacquot

***

Daddy Nostalgia
Bertrand Tavernier

***1/2

Dances With Wolves
Kevin Costner

***

December Bride
Thaddeus O'Sullivan

Quiet non-conformist film about young Irish woman in early 1900's who doesn't want to follow the boring path of religion and servitude like her mother. Instead she stays on with two farming brothers, a servant in title but closer to their equal. She's lover to both, initially because her body is the only thing of value. The conservative community, particularly the meddling clergyman, is up in arms because she bears a child but refuses to name the father. Very understated work with good rural setting and minimal pretention and manipulation. Though a painterly film, it's very much in the observed style rather than lush melodrama. It stays away from telegraphing the events it contains telling the story in small glances and gestures, which allows it to focus on life in those times, and be consistently surprising. One of the few period pieces that actually features people who could be living in their time, rather than modern superficial narcissists transporting their artificiality. It's a subtly erotic work that shows film is more charged when the character's emotions are suppressed and their clothes generally remain on. All the performances are impressive, but particularly Saskia Reeves, who is absolutely credible and human as the dominant woman. She knows what she wants and gets it by hanging in and refusing to bend, but she isn't just a manipulator. She is conflicted because she genuinely does care for both men, but is boxed in by the narrow walls she's forced to maneuver through if she doesn't want to be her mother. It's amazing how distribution works, this film was completely ignored yet everyone knows a similar film that came out a few years later, The Piano. [9/6/05] ***1/2

Two Evil Eyes
Dario Argento & George A. Romero

***

Edward Scissorhands
Tim Burton

***

Europa Europa
Agnieszka Holland

****

Exorcist III
William Peter Blatty

***1/2

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Every Other Weekend
Nicole Garcia

***

The Field
Jim Sheridan

***

The Freshman
Andrew Bergman

***1/2

The Garden
Derek Jarman

***1/2

Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg
Kjele Grede

***

Goodfellas
Martin Scorsese

****

The Grifters
Stephen Frears

***

Full Movie Review

The Hairdresser's Husband
Patrice Leconte

***

Heaven and Earth
Haruki Kadokawa

When it comes to showing the pictorial beauty of a county, it's hard to top Heaven and Earth. Though not nearly as well known as Akira Kurosawa's late epics Kagemusha & Ran, Haruki Kadokawa's Heaven & Earth is every bit as lovely. With its exquisite highly saturated color photography, Heaven and Earth is the modern day Japanese equivalent of the early exotic Japanese Technicolor stunner, Gate of Hell. Cherry blossoms afloat and wonderful landscapes aplenty, any colorful frame could be sold as a snapshot. The tranquility of the non-action scenes is counterpointed by the whirling dervish battle scenes, which are also very well done. People who watch samurai films for the elaborately choreographed battles may find the relaxed portions of Heaven & Earth to be dull stretches that simply fill out the running time, but the photography is so pretty one might also wonder if the film wouldn't be better if the two sides managed to get along. The real problem is not the lack of violence, but that the story of the good and bad samurai leaders battling is uninteresting to the point it seems to cheapen the film with its tiredness. To make matters worse, the story is told in a cold, distant and aloof manner, so much concentration is placed on the backgrounds and costumes they tend to overwhelm the characters, turning them into models. It's truly a shame because the cinematography and costume design are so good the film might have been an all-time classic if the story, which apparently isn't the most historically accurate, were merely good from a dramatic point of view. The film winds up being little more than spectacle, though one of the few unforgettable cinematic spectacles. The producers came up with the yen to costume around 1500 soldiers from each army in their respective authentic red and black armor, and Kadokawa takes great pleasure in showing this off with magnificent pans and wide angle shots. The extras enable beautiful and accurately simulated formation footage, important in a film more interested in recreating the strategy than depicting the bloodshed, allowing the final third of the shortened version shown in the US to take place on the battlefield. [1/19/07] ***1/2

Henry & June
Philip Kaufman

***

Hidden Agenda
Ken Loach

***

The Hot Spot
Dennis Hopper

***1/2

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Impulse
Sondra Locke

***1/2

Jacob's Ladder
Adrien Lyne

Tim Robbins plays a Vietnam vet who has bizarre hallucinations, including demonic children of thalidomide, and much of the strength of the film is it's probably as close as you can come to a drug trip without risking your life. You never know what to believe or who to trust because there's multiple contradictory explanations for most events, characters playing multiple roles and or different sides of the same person. The film is unrelentless, making everything seem askew rather than settling for big Exorcist shocks. In part, it's what 12 Monkeys could have been if it had some focus and wasn't so overbearing and pretentious. It's nightmarish but not heartless like most of the more well known works that attempt to utilize Alain Resnais' style (i.e. Memento). Much of that has to do with Jacob being played by Robbins, one of the last Hollywood stars who represents real living human beings. He's tormented and paranoid, but we are always allowed to relate to him, and that's very important since this atmospheric film constantly asks us to be him. Elizabeth Pena also adds to the legitimacy, she's neither too understanding nor too bitchy, doing her best to put up with Jacob's crazy ideas and unpredictability, but not without her limits (or moods). Though the ending is still the weakest part, causing some to feel like they you wasted their time, the film holds up surprisingly well to repeated viewings and this is the one Adrian Lyne film that isn't infected by what a call Lyne disease. This trademark affliction consists of a really strong first 3/4 that suddenly completely degenerates into a ludicrous cliché (for instance Fatal Attraction going from an interesting variation of Collector's Item to a Friday the 13th travesty). While this film may not be a true masterpiece, it's arguably the best horror film of the 90's and has so many memorable scenes before you reach the end. Though criticized for it's explanatory ending, when compared to the usual big budget film that must explain everything down to the last detail (and then some), even if that takes 15-20 minutes like in the dumbed down money version of Abre Los Ojos, Ladder is almost remarkable in getting away with explaining so little and thus sustaining it's disturbing level of intensity. At first it seemed to point too much to Vietnam, but the more I thought about it a delusional mind gets something in there and sticks with it unless it comes to a new solution or is somehow cured. So while not a complete head scratcher, it's beautifully non-coherent and fans of surreal and nightmarish films are sure to appreciate it. [9/6/05] ****

Ju Dou
Zhang Yimou

***

King of New York
Abel Ferrera

***1/2

Larks on a String
Jiri Menzel

***

Life Is Sweet
Mike Leigh

***1/2

May Fools
Louis Malle

***

Metropolitan
Whit Stillman

***1/2

Miller's Crossing
Joel Coen

****

Full Movie Review

Mindwalk
Bernt Amadeus Capra

A rare film for those of us who believe entertainment is having your gray matter engaged. "Nothing happens" except they explain how the world went to hell when everyone gave up in the early 70's and allowed big business to control their lives and determine the world's values, and go through several ways to put things back in balance, of regaining our consciousness so we don't always interpret in the same limited predefined notions that lead us to the same limited predefined results they want us to come to. Fritjof Capra is not about simply changing sides, for he sees that everything is interconnected and individually things are of minimal value, thus pulling the old 180 degree reversal would drastically alter but not in the least fix the imbalance. Instead, after redefining the system(s) so we can truly understand where the balance might lie, he offers the solution of median, the spot where both elements (for instance objects and data) meet. The fault of the few movies that present people who actually think about a potentially better way of life for the planet is one seems to always be the leader (here it's the physicist played by Liv Ullman, though her words are for the people not fellow physicists). The leader is always the one that's farthest from the "norm" (generally good, but tends to make it too easy for the status quo to spin into dismissing them as loons), and the other intelligent people (here the poet and politician) wind up followers, simply intelligent enough to learn from them (as the director is hoping the audience will also be). But the job of the audience only should be to learn, thus the film would be far better if there was more we could take from the subjugate characters, if there was a balance rather than just what the Capra's think is good from modern physics worldview. Anyone of high intelligence should be able to learn other enlightened individuals (Fritjof did in the years it took him to make the book), but the way the film version is presented once again leads to the idea one person is going to revolutionize the world. Such an idea that tends to be one reason why we never get anywhere, we aren't that good and we never find the one who is. But while I believe the masterpiece of this type will be the one that doesn't fall into the teacher student relationship, it's still very refreshing to hear a lot of truth, see a lot of myths (particularly economic and political) shattered, and of course get a fresh perspective that contains much to potentially adopt. A great film to watch with a group of people and discuss afterwards, some will violently hate it for the same reason others will passionately love it, it makes you view the world through a different lens. [9/6/05] ***

Misery
Rob Reiner

***

My Father's Glory
Yves Robert

***

My Mother's Castle
Yves Robert

***

Open Doors
Gianni Amelio

***

Pump Up The Volume
Allan Moyle

***

Q & A
Sidney Lumet

***

Reversal of Fortune
Barbet Schroeder

****

Riff-Raff
Ken Loach

Loach's socially conscious cinema always seems original even if many are thematically fairly similar (showing the unsatisfactory conditions many people outside of Hollyplastic's world live under) because essentially no other feature film director legitimately depicts these type of characters. In this case the working class stiffs are a disparate group of migrants working under horrific conditions at a non-union construction site in London. Since demand is far greater than supply, the workers are always fighting themselves rather than their oppressors, which allows the power to slyly dismiss anyone that asks for the bosses to put even a penny into safety. Though characteristically gritty and grim, the film is more about the colorful crew getting along. These people are - have to be- pragmatic and allow their similarities to overwhelm their differences. Loach brings a good wit, but doesn't condescend to his subjects by making them lovable losers that are there solely to make the audience feel better about themselves and their own financial standing. This is a director who creates works of great humanity. Loach incorporates a lot of social commentary, but it's interweaved in the realistic situations so well it never seems forced. For instance, when a worker is dismissed he doesn't make a huge scene like in commercial crap; he simply walks off and is never heard from again. The point is made without the hysterics, and the worker has been in the business long enough to know exactly what he's getting into by opening his mouth; he eventually just can't keep quite any longer. The observant and realistic script was provided by the late Bill Jesse, a former construction worker, and the cast members have also worked in construction. Robert Carlyle is the main worker, an ex-con who is determined to keep himself out of trouble. He meets Emer McCourt, a woman who is trying to be a singer but lacks talent and self confidence (in other words she's like virtually every female singer in the US corpstream except she has beautiful full eyebrows, nice natural brown hair, some character to her face, and authentic body parts). This is hardly an idyllic relationship, as Carlyle first thinks this artist is going to help him but finds out she is an extremely needy junky, another test to his willpower to remain clean. Riff-Raff is one of those films that simply presents life as it is, so it's possible it won't make a huge impression on you while you are watching it, but the characters stay with you. [11/25/05] ***1/2

The Sheltering Sky
Bernardo Bertolucci

***

A Shock to the System
Jan Egleson

***

State of Grace
Phil Joanou

***1/2

Strangers in Good Company
Cynthia Scott

***

A Tale of Springtime
Eric Rohmer

***1/2

Tatie Danielle
Etienne Chatiliez

***

Texasville
Peter Bogdanovich

***

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
Pedro Almodovar

***1/2

Total Recall
Paul Verhoeven

***1/2

Trust
Hal Hartley

***

Full Movie Review

The Two Jakes
Jack Nicholson

***

White Hunter, Black Heart
Clint Eastwood

***1/2

White Palace
Luis Mandoki

***1/2

Wild At Heart
David Lynch

Lynch shows an even more over the top and far more graphic version of the side of American culture glorified by entertainment and the media. The "American Dream" winds up as violence, sex, and money and of course freedom to imitate talentless created icons. So the film is purposely ridiculously melodramatic and the characters shallow as a drained pool. Nicolas Cage is an Elvis wannabe on the run from the law after breaking parole. Laura Dern is his girlfriend in tow, Mutant Monroe minus most of the beauty reductions. As this road nightmare goes on she increasingly longs to be Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, though her great love for Cage endures. Both of them do a great job given the "range" of their roles, but essentially all they are allowed to do is put their heart and soul into comic book hamminess. Still most of the scenes are interesting on their own, even if they don't amount to much. Some of them are even classics like the cameo by the lovely Sherilyn Fenn where she's dying from being in a car accident but is only concerned with what happened to her hair care items. Unfortunately, since the whole thing is sensationalism, the excessive stylistic flourishes and shock value scenes empty and going nowhere, and Lynch is as interested in his characters as Coen jokers it gets tiresome halfway through the far too long 125 minutes. The film has stagnated by the time Willem Dafoe shows up looking like the useless John Waters, and the fact that Waters is evoked shows the worst side of Lynch, following in his footsteps in exploiting freaks. Actually, this is even worse since Waters, once thought to be Lynch's opposite since he's so technically unsophisticated, at least felt for and associated with his sideshow. Fans of Twin Peaks will no doubt love this since they have much in common, both theoretically showing a deep dark hidden side of America which in fact isn't hidden at all since increasingly it's the only side you hear about. It's funny stuff to be taken lightly, but in any case it's funny stuff to be taken lightly. While always enjoyable, I find my opinion of it decreases with each viewing. [9/21/05] ***

The Witches
Nicolas Roeg

***

Yume
Akira Kurosawa

***