A 35th Anniversary Retrospective: LOOKING BACK AT THE BEST FILMS OF 1988

Welcome back to my next installment of the ANNIVERSARY RETROSPECTIVE series!

As you can probably tell, I am not going in any particular order. I started with 2003 and now I am jumping down to 1988.

However, I am choosing 1988 for one very key reason: that was the year in which I came into this world.

Yes, that is right. 1988 is the year to thank for that. Give it a round of applause!!

For a year of cinema, 1988 did offer some interesting selections...although I would argue that 1987 and especially 1989 both had the upper hand in terms of the number of films that would've fought for a slot on my top 10 list. 

1988 was seen at the time as being a year in which popcorn flicks reigned supreme, but I think there were some truly great indies and art house films to also come out that year.

The results for my list are actually rather eclectic in the end. You get period pieces and animation and comedies and even an action film....and it just goes to show you that sometimes you may not realize what films are going to be the ones that impress you most.

Perhaps it will even be a film about a killing spree in a high school...such as...

#10 - Heathers

(Michael Lehmann)

I went into Heathers almost completely blind as to what the plot was. I knew it was supposed to be something of a black comedy, but needless to say, I was surprised when it started going in the direction it did.

Not long after watching Heathers, the 2004 film Mean Girls came out and I remember thinking at the time that it sort of paled to Heathers. Then again, they were both drastically different and I have grown to consider Mean Girls great in its own right.

Even with the differences, you can sort of see the spiritual predecessor qualities in Heathers, but I think I just took to the darker nature of it...not to mention the fact that I think Winona Ryder is one of the more underappreciated actresses we have had.

1988 had a great indie scene in terms of films like Stand & Deliver, Hairspray, Talk Radio, A World Apart, and Patti Rocks, but I still love how vibrant and sardonic Heathers is.

I will always consider it a great example of a counterculture high school film.

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#9 - Die Hard

(John McTiernan)

Amongst the group of indies and foreign films that I was growing to love in my late pre-teen and early teen years, there was a certain action film that stood out to me in a way that no other action film had.

There is something about Die Hard that just works...and splendidly so.

The formula of Die Hard was so successful that it seemed for the next 3 decades that many action films were being presented or pitched as "Die Hard on a plane", "Die Hard on a boat", "Die Hard on a mountain", and so on.

It does seem a little crazy to think about now, but at the time, Bruce Willis was by no means known as an action star. 

If anything, he was rough-around-the-edges romantic lead solving cases along side Cybil Shepard on the genre-hybrid detective show Moonlighting. Even on that show, Shepard's Maddie Hayes mocked Willis's David Addison and his ability to be tough.

In the pilot, she calls him "a sissy fighter" who doesn't know how to throw a proper punch.

So, perhaps, that image explains why many laughed when Bruce Willis was shown in early trailers of the film as being an "action hero".

As it turned out, that quality and his own natural charisma are what served the role of John McClane well and made him iconic.

Very few action films have thrilled or delighted me as much as Die Hard. I often call it "the best"...and I will also go ahead and say that the late great Alan Rickman should've been nominated and won the Oscar for his incredible debut performance as the iconic villain Hans Gruber.

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#8 - Dangerous Liaisons 

(Stephen Frears)

Speaking of Alan Rickman, I do feel like it would've been amazing to see him on film in this as he had originated the role on the Broadway stage just a year or so before the film version was released.

John Malkovich was certainly good in his place, but I think a lot of what makes this film adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses so delicious is that of Glenn Close.

I think most of you will be very familiar with Dangerous Liasions and what the plot entails...or if you don't, you are probably familiar with it as the 1999 teen drama Cruel Intentions.

Because of that, I want to go more into Glenn Close and her performance.

In the 1980s, Close had an impressive streak of nominations that seemed to come close to rivaling that of Meryl Streep. With her debut film The World According to Garp in 1982, she received a Best Supporting Actress nod which was following with two more in 1983 (The Big Chill) and 1984 (The Natural) before getting Leading noms for Fatal Attraction and Dangerous Liaisons in 1987 and 1988.

A lot of pundits expected that Close would pull off the win here due to her overdue status and the fact it seemed like her race was kind of divided between contenders like Jodie Foster and Sigourney Weaver and Melanie Griffith. You also had Streep up for A Cry in the Dark and frankly, I feel like she was worthy to win her third for that film...but it seems like this was the beginning of when people began to tire of her.

I do think her loss for Fatal Attraction the year prior still stung for many and her she was again playing such an indelible villainous character.

As is often the case...except for cases like Kathy Bates winning for Misery two years later...it does seem like women playing villains end up losing Oscar glory. Close lost to Jodie Foster, who played a rape victim in The Accused. 

As of this writing in 2023, Close has yet to win an Oscar and many suspected she would finally pull it off for The Wife in 2019...but she famously lost to Olivia Colman (a win I support).

Close easily could've won the Oscar for Dangerous Liaisons. She also was worthy to win for Garp and especially for Fatal Attraction.

If you want to see a true masterclass in acting, check out her final moments of this film when everything she tried so hard to fight for is ruined and her true intentions are exposed. The "silence" from her as she wipes off her makeup speaks VOLUMES.

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#7 - My Neighbor Totoro

(Hayao Miyazaki)

Ah, Studio Ghibli and the works of Miyazaki...

You could make a case that Miyazaki has made the greatest animated films of all time; I certainly wouldn't fight anyone on that argument.

My Neighbor Totoro is one of the warmest and most lovable animated movies ever made...and the whole time you watch it, you can't help but have a smile on your face. It is truly like a warm blanket for your soul and even as I type this, I almost feel compelled to put it on as I am dealing with a couple of frustrating things at the moment.

I would probably say that Spirited Away is Miyazaki's masterpiece, but there is something truly special about My Neighbor Totoro. It is just such a fanciful and wonderful world that I don't think I would ever want to leave....and speaking of that, I guess I will point out one more thing:

The movie is too short! That is my only complaint.

If there was ever a movie that I felt warranted another 20 minutes of screentime, it would be this one. 

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#6 - A Fish Called Wanda

(Charles Crichton)

A Fish Called Wanda was one of those rare comedies that seemed to be fairly well embraced by the Academy. Even though it didn't get a Best Picture nomination, it still managed Director and Screenplay nods plus an upset win for Kevin Kline in Supporting Actor.

This was one of those films where I went into it fully expecting to love it because of the fact it was co-written by and starring John Cleese and featured his Monty Python co-star Michael Palin. I was already a huge Python fan by the time I watched Wanda, so the film just seemed tailor made for me. 

The film contains a particular moment that I find to be one of my favorites ever in a comedy, and one of the finest moments of John Cleese's career...and it also happens to contain solid comedic work from Kevin Kine as well.

This would be the "I apologize unreservedly" scene, for those who have seen the film.

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#5 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 

(Robert Zemeckis)

There was actually a time when I considered this to be the best film from 1988, but I feel like a lot of the fervor I have felt for the film has cooled down in the last decade or so.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is a groundbreaking film in how it managed to blend live action with animation, and while that isn't the main reason, I am including it on this list, it certainly does play a factor.

The late great Bob Hoskins stars as Eddie Valiant, a detective hired to spy on Jessica Rabbit, the wife of Roger Rabbit...only for things to take a turn when Roger is deemed the prime suspect in the death of  Marvin Acme.

I have to admit one thing though.

 Who Framed Roger Rabbit? contains a scene that I find TO THIS VERY DAY to be very difficult to watch...and by saying this, many of you may already know.

There is a moment where Judge Doom puts a cartoon shoe into what he calls "The Dip", a deadly chemical substance that destroys cartoon creations. The animation and the vocal work (done by Simpsons legend Nancy Cartwright) is so stark and if I were to see the film again, I might honestly pass over this part because it just makes me feel so sad.

But hey...kudos to a film for making me feel that much for a cartoon shoe!

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#4 - Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

(Pedro Almodovar)

Never has a director had such a hot color palate like that of Pedro Almodovar; his movies often smolder in shades of red or pink.

I would've first discovered Almodovar around 2001 after he had just won the Foreign Language Film Oscar for All About My Mother...and then in 2003, he won Original Screenplay for Talk to Her...which seemed like a mild upset at the time.

 

Those were the two films of his I saw first, but I had heard shortly thereafter that Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown was one I should check out.

Dear lord, what a glorious and delicious film this is...and perhaps the first thing I think about when I hear or see gazpacho. 

Much like Heathers, you could classify Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown as a black comedy. I mean...we are talking about a movie where all our protagonist Pepa (Carmen Maura) wants to do his commit suicide by eating her pill-laced gazpacho, but she keeps getting interrupted.

When it comes to male filmmakers, I would say Almodovar manages to excel in how he writes and presents women characters in film. You can't really get much better than the kind of characters than Almodovar can provide.

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#3 - Grave of the Fireflies

(Isao Takahaka)

And on the other end of the Studio Ghibli spectrum, we get Grave of the Fireflies which probably takes the cake for the most depressing animated film ever made.

Did you cry during the first 20 minutes of Up? Did you cry during the "When She Loved Me" sequence of Toy Story 2?

Well...you would probably cry for a whole day if you watched Grave of the Fireflies.

Set during the final days of WWII, the film revolves around two orphans named Seita and Setsuko who try to survive not long before the Japanese intend to surrender.

When people talk about Pixar and how their stories show what animated films can accomplish, I think that is selling Studio Ghibli incredibly short.

I look at a film like Grave of the Fireflies and it sounds like it could easily be some kind of whimsical though bleak live action film. 

I implore you to check out this film if you haven't seen it. I don't want to spoil anything else, but it is a truly remarkable achievement.

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#2 - Landscape in the Mist

(Theo Angelopoulos)

Perhaps the more well known movie from 1988 to have "in the Mist" as part of its title was Gorillas in the Mist, which was the movie starring Sigourney Weaver about Dian Fossey. While that movie is okay and does contain a good performance by Weaver, I responded a lot more rapturously to the other "misty" film.

Landscape in the Mist is a Greek film, and I have to admit, I don't have a lot of knowledge or experience with the cinema of Greece. In fact, as I type this, the only other Greek film I can think of that I have seen is another one directed by Theo Angelopoulos called Eternity and a Day.

Perhaps I should start to seek out more.

Anyways, Landscape in the Mist tells the story of two young siblings named Alexandros and Voula, who ask their mother about their long-lost father. She tells them that he lives in Germany and the children proceed to search for him.

This is one of those films that you could sort of compare to that of an odyssey. 

The film contains such beauty and kindness, but it also showcases the cruelty and the selfishness of the world...and all through the point of view of children.

In his own very delicate way, Angelopoulos made a film that deals so delicately with the concept of the human condition. It represents such a truly powerful and potent look at how to view life and how it can be both glorious and horrifying all at once.

It is also a film that contains one of my favorite quotes of all time:

"If I were to shout, who would hear me out of the armies of angels?"

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#1 - Cinema Paradiso

(Guiseppe Tornatore)

As much as I respect the filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, I had to laugh when he was recently quoted as saying Steven Spielberg's 2022 autobiographical film The Fabelmans was "the best film about cinema".

I get that art is subjective. I don't necessarily want to knock someone for their opinion, especially someone who has made some pretty excellent films like Villeneuve. Nevertheless, I found The Fabelmans to be a film that didn't say much about cinema when compared to the likes of Cinema Paradiso. 

On a basic level, you could classify Cinema Paradiso as a coming-of-age story but in truth, I think it is the ultimate love-letter to cinema that should speak deeply to those love who the art form and those who make the art form. 

The film begins with Salvatore Di Vita, a famous film director who is told by his girlfriend late one night that he received a call from his mother saying that a man by the name of Alfredo died.

With that, we flashback to Salvatore's childhood in post-WWII Sicily.

Young Salvatore is a bit of a mischievous child, but he has developed a passion for film. Despite something of a rocky start, he soon strikes up a friendship with the prickly projectionist named Alfredo who allows him to watch the films from the booth.

The cinema, called Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, is owned by a priest who insists that all scenes featuring kissing or any kind of intimacy must be cut out...much to the chagrin of Alfredo and the audience. The shreds of missing film are cast off to the side for Alfredo to splice back in before sending the reels to the next town.

Salvatore does decide he wants to pursue a career as a filmmaker and Alfredo insists to him that he must leave and never look back as the town and any nostalgia for it will stifle him.

Salvatore finds his success but decides to return to his hometown for the funeral of Alfredo. While there, he finds out that Alfredo left him a couple of mementos, including a film reel. He returns to Rome with the reel and watches the footage.

My god, this scene. 

I could make a case that this is my favorite ending to a movie ever made. It is such a great callback and when paired with such a glorious score by Ennio Morricone, I can't help but get emotional by it.

In fact, the first time I saw the film (which was as a teenager in 2002), it became one of the rare movies that made me cry...and not just cry, I was practically sobbing at the end.

I almost considered the movie as a spiritual experience for me, because it spoke so much to my passion and love for film that was truly blooming. I also think the idea of feeling stifled in a smaller town and finding solace in the world of the arts was a major factor in my connection to the film, too.

And as I mentioned in my introduction, 1988 was the year in which I was born...and I sort of love that I share a birthday with Cinema Paradiso. It makes it feel a little more special and like I have a sort of special kinship with.

And there you have it...my favorite film from the year I was born, and it is easily one of the finest films of the 80s and of the last 40 years. 

The true deserving film to be declared the official "love letter to cinema".

...and I will leave you all with that.