When I wrote about
1991 as a year in cinema, I said that it was an uptick in quality over
1990. This does shock me as I never really considered 1991 to be that strong of a year, but it'll likely measure up as being one of the best of the 90s.
Sadly, I will not be saying the same about 1992.
Don't get me wrong, most years of film do have some hidden gems. It isn't super often that you get a year of film where you struggle to fill out your top 10 because nothing is making you feel that enthralled (I am looking at you 2022!!!!)
1992 has a mix of films that are clearly quite good but are either films I admire more than love, or I have a sentimental attachment to them for one reason or another.
Having said that though, my top 5 is pretty strong. I would also go as far as to say my #1film is a true underrated effort that played a bigger role in my adolescence than I truly realized.
I am not going to do a Honorable Mentions section for this one, but I will list a couple of films from this year that I do really like but won't make the top 10: A League of Their Own, Aladdin, and A River Runs Through It.
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THE TOP 10:
#10 - BOB ROBERTS
Written & Directed by Tim Robbins
A film like Bob Roberts manages to feel both quaint and way ahead of its time all at once. In a lot of ways, the satire of it feels similar to that of Network in that it seems ridiculous but in today's political climate, you sort of sulk and think "Wow, they really did nail a lot of this didn't they?"
Tim Robbins does it all here: acts, writes, directs. His Bob Roberts is a conservative folk singer who is looking to run for an open Pennsylvanian seat in the US Senate race against Democratic incumbent Brickley Paiste (Gore Vidal).
I do sort of wish the film delved more into the campaigning a bit, but I do appreciate how biting the film was for its time. I also love that Robbins chose to film it very much in the style of documentarian D.A. Pennebaker, particularly his Bob Dylan piece Don't Look Back and even eerily nailing the political arena that Pennebaker himself would capture a year later with his Academy Award winning documentary The War Room, which chronicled the 1992 Presidential Campaign of Bill Clinton led by James Carville and George Stephanopoulos.
In 2018, Tim Robbins was quoted as saying that the film became real in light of Donald Trump coming into power.
It is one case where I wish reality weren't stranger (or more dangerous) than fiction.
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#9 - THE CRYING GAME
Written & Directed by Neil Jordan
If you had come to me 20 years ago and asked me what my favorite film was from 1992, my answer likely would've been The Crying Game.
I think I responded in a similar way that most people did when the film came out. A major part of that was the promotional angle of the film's secret twist that had critics such as Roger Ebert proclaiming "See this film...and then shut up about it".
I would assume most of you reading this likely already know the twist, but I am going to spoil it in case you don't so if for any reason you don't want to know, stop reading and move along to #8!
Writer/director Neil Jordan had trouble getting the film approved to make as the character of Dil was considered to be impossible to cast. Why? We had to believe that Dil was a cis woman when in reality she is trans.
However, here is the issue: I understand that for the time period, this was pretty much par for the course in terms of the portrayal of someone trans. In fact, a lot of the hubbub that surrounded the film focused on the reveal of actor Jaye Davidson's penis in all its glory.
Jaye Davidson wasn't even a professional actor when he was cast in the film. He had the androgynous look that Jordan was looking for...but he was by no means someone who identified as trans.
Beyond that element, the film does have something of a Psycho structure in that the film begins with one story, involving our lead played by the underrated Stephen Rea, Miranda Richardson, and Forest Whitaker with a strong suspense thriller vibe as the former two are IRA terrorists...then it flips to the film mostly revolving around Rea and Davidson in what becomes something of a neo-noir romance.
I think what I still admire about The Crying Game was that it took a lot of bold choices for its time, but I will definitely make the claim that it hasn't aged very well. I do think it is a fascinating snapshot for its time, plus all of the performances are wonderful.
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#8 - HILL OF NO RETURN
Directed by Wang Toon
Written by Wu Nien-jen
Hill of No Return is a film I saw rather randomly on a TCM airing many years ago, and admittedly I have only seen it that one time. In fact, the film doesn't get screened that much to the point that I couldn't even find a Wikipedia article for it.
Wang Toon is a filmmaker I actually don't much about, which is a little strange for me as I do try to follow a lot of Asian directors...at least when I was fully engrossed in my film bro era years ago.
Set in 1927 Taiwan during the Japanese occupation, we begin with two brothers (played by P'eng Chia-chia & Huang P'in-yuan) who set off to work for a gold mine that is controlled by the Japanese army. For the nearby mining town, the other major sources of income are gold smuggling or prostitution for the women.
One brother falls for a widower while the other falls for a prostitute.
When it comes to stories about societal expectations and class warfare, it is always cinema from the continent of Asia that excels in telling these stories with a scope that manages to feel so taut and intimate while also feeling epic in its presentation. This film was certainly no different and doesn't shy away from the brutal realities and doesn't want to shoot for the unrealistic happy ending.
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#7 - HOWARDS END
Directed by James Ivory
Written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Okay so, yeah...I am not sure a lot of you would consider
Howards End to be some kind of masterwork. There are certainly some sentimental factors to my love for films from the Merchant/Ivory catalog, such as
A Room with a View or
The Remains of the Day, particularly how I watched them with my late Nan, who passed away in 2024.
I have always been a bit of a sucker for the repressed emotions within stuffy British period dramas because I feel as though I repressed a lot of my own emotions growing up.
SPOILER ALERT - this dynamic will be coming up big time later on the list.
While I do think I might prefer the other two films from their catalog a tad more for various reasons, Howards End is nipping at their heels and also happens to contain a luminous performance from Emma Thompson that became her breakout role for American audiences and netted her an Oscar in a season in which she swept nearly every prize.
As is often the case with the Brits, Howards End tackles the conflict of classes as two sisters Margaret and Helen (Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter) who become involved with two couples, one wealthy and one working class all in the midst of the modernity shifts of Edwardian England.
Perhaps it'll be a bit stoic for some and be a lot of the usual stuffy British tropes surrounded by glorious set designs and costumes, but for me, it taps into more emotion than I think many may give it credit for.
And yes, Emma Thompson is a major reason to see this.
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#6 - THE PLAYER
Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Michael Tolkin
I always think of The Player as a key example of a film I admire more than I love...which was a key theme I stated would occur on this list. This is also a film that came in with a bit of a built-in reputation as in the early days of the internet, I would read a lot of film lovers expressing that this was a prime example of how Hollywood didn't seem to be cool enough to embrace the film. While Altman did manage to get a Directing nod along with its Screenplay and Editing, the film was left off the Best Picture list in favor of a more populist effort like A Few Good Men.
While it wouldn't make my top 5 (although it was certainly better than the majority of the films that did get nominated), I can certainly attest that The Player is a pretty salty and entertaining satire about Hollywood that shows artistic integrity is usually second (or less) to money.
Tim Robbins, making yet another appearance on this list, plays a studio executive named Griffin Mill who rejects a script from a writer and promptly begins receiving death threats from them. However, much like Altman works, the film is a rich ensemble piece with so many big name actors left and right that add to the cacophony around him.
Truthfully, I should give this film a revisit, but as it stands, I do think it remains a touchstone for how a film can do such a glorious job at calling out Hollywood for its worst qualities.
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#5 - UNFORGIVEN
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by David Webb Peoples
I will admit that if there is a genre you never really see me talking about on here, it would be the western. As a genre, it is not one that I often gravitate towards but it also isn't helped by the fact that it isn't a style of film you see pop up much these days.
I also haven't discussed many years from films where westerns had any dominate offerings, but I think you could make the claim that Unforgiven is the last gasp of the western genre that was accepted with adoration from critics and audiences...and even awards bodies as it would be that year's Best Picture and Director winner, beating out two other films I already mentioned: The Crying Game and Howards End.
Not surprisingly, I didn't respond to the film as strongly when I was younger but have grown to appreciate it more as an adult. While the film does suffer a bit in how it paces its exposition and setup, a lot of the script is rather gripping and it also contains a truly magnetic and vile villainous Oscar winning performance from the late great Gene Hackman, who only took the role because the script compelled him deeply despite the fact the character disturbed him.
Eastwood also stars as William Munny, a former ruthless contract killer who is trying to raise his motherless children. He decides to take on one more contract killing: a man who brutally murdered a prostitute and also battling the corrupt sheriff (the aforementioned Hackman) in the area.
I will admit that I don't exactly think much of Eastwood as an actor, but he is also one of those actors who can excel in certain archetypes. While a film like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly are pinnacle status, a film like Unforgiven gifted him with a chance to imbue a bit more complexity and humanity in his strong stoic demeanor.
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#4 - TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME
Written & Directed by David Lynch
Co-written by Robert Engels
*If you don't want to know who killed Laura Palmer, don't read this"
My history with
Fire Walk with Me is pretty similar to the journey the film has had over time. I was a passionate fan of
Twin Peaks when I first watched it in the early 00s so naturally, I sought out this prequel knowing that when it was released, it was raked over the coals with gleeful malice.
The story goes that when it was screened at Cannes, just two years after Lynch won the Palme d'or for Wild at Heart (a divisive selection in its own right), it got booed as soon as the film ended.
What a lot of people remember about Twin Peaks as a series was the mix of quirky irreverent humor amidst the dark, mysterious, and surreal storylines at a time when such a genre-bending show was practically unheard-of TV. Keep in mind, Twin Peaks aired on ABC at a time when its most successful shows were sitcoms like Perfect Strangers and Full House or more dramedy-esque shows like The Wonder Years.
The prequel was showing us the final week of Laura Palmer's life before she was brutally murdered at the hands of her demon-possessed father Leland...so a lot of that humor was missing; so were a lot of the supporting characters we saw on the show.
It isn't that Lynch intentionally avoided them. In fact, there are nearly 2+ hours of deleted scenes featuring some of these characters like Harry, Pete, and Josie...and in that case, we don't really NEED to see them because most of them weren't linked enough to Laura for them to factor into the film. Although, I would argue, Ben Horne not being in the film is very glaring considering how he was, briefly, the one arrested for her murder and had been sleeping with her...as was half the town apparently but why split hairs? ;-)
What I am trying to get at is that Fire Walk with Me has managed to endure and get a bit more adoration from fans and critics (especially me) in recent years because the film truly gave us something uncomfortable and unsettling which was as it should've been.
Watching Sheryl Lee navigate all of the brutal tragedy in this has got to be one of the most intense performances ever captured on film. She can also scream in such a way that she rivals any classic scream queen from film history, and it is a shame that her career never truly took off. Then you have Ray Wise as Leland, one of those character actors who is able to play both warm and sinister with such ease that it feels like a magic trick.
In the end, Fire Walk with Me works also as a tragic horror film...one that actually highlights not just a storyline that was built simply as mystery but became a graphic and brutal look at someone suffering of the hands of sexual abuse from their father (possessed or not).
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#3 - LIFE, AND NOTHING MORE...
Written & Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
I think one of the biggest surprises while making various lists like these is that I was truly sleeping on the work of Abbas Kiarostami. That isn't to say I thought less of him per se, but for whatever reason, his name never came to mind when I would list off favorite all time filmmakers.
As for his work, his films Homework and Close Up have appeared on their years' Top 10 lists while other films like Where is the Friend's House?, Taste of Cherry, and Certified Copy will (spoiler alert) be featured on their year's lists. Everything about his style was minimal; he could create beautiful shots, to be sure, but he never cared about extravagance. He wanted it to be natural and often even messy...which well aided his films that were more like narrative documentaries like Close Up. It is also why he loved casting non-actors for their naturalistic approach that wasn't often marred by theatrics.
Heavily influenced by an actual incident, Life, and Nothing More... was inspired by a 1990 earthquake in Iran that killed over 30,000 people. Due to the devastation around where Kiarostami made his 1987 film Where is The Friend's House, he goes on a quest to the area of Koker to ensure their safety.
Farhad Kheradmand plays the Kiarostami counterpart with Pouya Payvar as his son. Along the way, they do meet various other people, including a young couple who would become the focal point for a third entry into the "Koker" trilogy: 1994's Through the Olive Trees, which (yet another spoiler alert) will likely be at least an honorable mention for that list.
While not specifically about this film, I do want to take a moment to quote the legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. Upon the passing of another filmmaking legend Satyajit Ray, Kurosawa was devastated but when he came across Kiarostami, he felt a rejuvenation.
"Words cannot describe my feelings about [his work]...I thanked God for giving us just the right person to take [Ray's] place".
All around, a very apt statement from one legend about another legend becoming a new legend.
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#2 - MALCOLM X
Written & Directed by Spike Lee
Co-written by Arnold Perl
I strongly did debate putting this one at #1, but I went more with my emotional choice in the end.
Even by the standards of Spike Lee, this film perhaps was a bit too passive at times for what should've been a bit more of an abrasive experience. In her essay, writer bell hooks felt that the film didn't "compel viewers to confront, challenge, and change. It embraces and rewards passive response - inaction."
Considering Malcolm X as a figure was known for his "violence" approach rather than Dr. King's "peace" approach, it might seem a tad bit disingenuous to not embrace that grittier edge.
Having said that, the final result onscreen has got to be one of the finest biopics ever made. With its 3.5-hour runtime, Malcolm X is so epic in how it sweeps through his life. It is made with such grand elegance and manages to tap into so many aspects of his life without feeling bloated or unnecessary. Biopics have become such a commonplace in Hollywood that they are usually considered the ultimate form of awards bait...which ironically, though not a surprise, was not the case for Malcolm X.
While not specifically related to the film itself, Malcolm X is one of the earliest films I can remember seeing its cover for at various local video store: the distinctive white X on a black ground:
To 4-year-old me, it felt like some kind of mystery...and as I got older and learned more about the Civil Rights movement (which, believe it or not, my northern WV public school education from the 90s into the 00s dove so deeply into the topic each year), I realized that "X" movie was about this remarkable and fascinating figure. When I did first watch the film, I think at the age of maybe 11 or so when it aired on TV, I liked it enough, but I certainly didn't embrace it.
Then I revisited the film again a few years later and THAT was when it clicked.
First of all, Denzel Washington lost the Oscar to Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman, a fairly weak choice as the narrative was so desperate to give him an Oscar after he had been passed over for at least 2-3 Oscar worthy performances in the 70s.
Washington had already won a (deserved) Supporting Oscar for Glory 3 years prior, but he clearly should've won again for this. I still consider this to be his crowning achievement, and he is absolutely compelling in capturing him...even down to looking very similar to him in appearance.
While the film may have a certain gloss to it, I am not going to knock it for that. If anything, this is a very ambitious effort for Lee to have tackled, and it is clear that in every frame he is treating this story with utmost care and respect.
For 1989, Spike Lee should've won Best Picture & Director for Do the Right Thing. Had he achieved this in 1992 for Malcolm X, it would've been richly deserved...but there is one other film that I have to mention that shook younger me to my core to the point that I buried the emotions it made me feel until I was an adult.
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#1 - THE LONG DAY CLOSES
Written & Directed by Terence Davies
Coming-of-age films can be rather mawkish or manipulative if done poorly. When done to their best potential, they can end up being some of the most moving kinds of films you could ever witness.
Within that realm, there is a subgenre of young kids being influenced the cinema. Perhaps the most iconic example of this was Cinema Paradiso, Agnes Varda's take on her husband Jacques Demy's childhood in Jacquot de Nantes, and more recently, Steven Spielberg released his semi-autobiographical work The Fabelmans. While those films would delve into kids who would go on to become filmmakers, a film like The Long Day Closes feels like a more relatable and attainable narrative...at least for me.
As someone who did consider film as a source of escape against a relatively oppressive conservative environment while questioning his own sexuality, The Long Day Closes hit me like a punch at the throat. My response to it when I first watched it as a 12 year old was to glom it onto the more "mawkish" types of films I referenced that failed to reach the potential of a Cinema Paradiso.
The simple truth is that the film just hit too close to home. What Terence Davies achieved here was simply sublime and it is easily one of the most underrated films to have come out in my lifetime.
Set in 1950s Liverpool, 11 year old Bud (Leigh McCormick) is shy and quiet and rather lonely. He feels rather suffocated at his surroundings and takes solace in going to the cinema...but what is rather remarkable about this film is how Davies uses music to evoke emotion and to comment on scenes that play out almost like he is recreating his own ghostly memories (which was more or less his intention).
Obviously, this is not an unusual or groundbreaking method, but very few films achieved the mastery level of this trick quite like this one. In fact, one of these sequences is quite beloved in film circles and that is the use of Debbie Reynolds' "Tammy" that she sang in the film Tammy & the Bachelor.
I've never told this story to anyone before, but as a young boy, when I first heard this song, I used to imagine that someone would long for me in the way that Tammy was longing. When the song played within the context of this film, it actually made me cry...and it made me angry.
15 years later when Debbie Reynolds passed away, I thought of the song and also thought of the movie and I revisited it. This time, I cried again but it came from a place of growth and understanding.
I often wish I could go back and comfort that version of me and tell him that it would get better for him, and I would like to think that he would be proud for the person I became. Maybe I am not so huge success when it comes to artistic endeavors (although I'd like to dive back into that world), but I have accepted who I am.
To all of the Buds out there, I hope you all find your peace and your place of belonging. It can be a tough and cruel world we live in, but you do belong.
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FINAL THOUGHTS:
Full disclosure, I just went back to watch the "Tammy" sequence from The Long Day Closes without watching the full film (though I hope to do that again soon) and even then, I got misty because it put me right back in that mindset of how I felt.
If any of you haven't seen The Long Day Closes and feel compelled to give it a try, I hope that you will. It deserves to be seen by more people.
Once again, 1992 may not be the strongest year compared to most of the 1990s, but it does have some very potent offerings to give us.
I wrote about 1993 a couple of years ago for its then 30th anniversary, so it is already available here. Be on the lookout for 1994 soon, which will be a pretty stellar year to discuss as it is often considered the other truly banger year of cinema from the 90s aside from 1999.
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