"Are any of these good??" - A Look at the Best Films of 1994

Let me start this start this off with an incredibly piping hot take: 

The Shawshank Redemption will NOT be on this list. 

That is a comment that will likely start a riot amongst some of you, but if there was ever a film that seemed to wear out its welcome with me based on the combo of hype and how frequently it got played on TV, it was clearly Shawshank for me. 

That isn't to say the film was without its great qualities. I still think Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins make an excellent duo, and the ending feels emotionally earned but I never considered more than just a good film at best. 

With that out of the way, I should probably also go ahead and state that Forrest Gump will also not be on this list. Saying that is not going to strike up as much negative fervor as the former, but I will say that I do find a lot of entertainment value in Forrest Gump. I think the real issue with the film is that it plays so much like a Baby Boomer's wet dream of what America should be.

Hot takes aside, 1994 might one of the years from that decade that truly represents the quality and the styles that have come to immortalize so much about it. While maybe not my personal favorite year of the 90s, it does offer some true classics that people still talk about today...even some of the ones that could be dubbed "popcorn flicks".

I will start off with a few Honorable Mentions as I do think a year such as this warrants the extra spotlight. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Serial Mom

Written & Directed by John Waters

I have always found this film to be something of a pinnacle for John Waters. Sure, it was a bigger budget than his most famous films are typically known for...but the energy and the wit and the dark undertones are truly enjoyable in the best way. I love that Kathleen Turner gave her all to this role and knew exactly what it needed. Horror comedic camp at its best!

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The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert

Written & Directed by Stephan Elliott

While elements of the film haven't aged as well (such as a cis man playing a trans woman), it is clear that for a product of its time and that it was a VERY important film for the LGBTQ+ community. The trio of Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and the late Terence Stamp made for a truly indelible ensemble and in the end, the film nails a lot of the discourse within the community rather well.

This was also a pretty big film in terms of putting Australia onto the worldwide film forum again, which was also followed by the next film getting a mention.

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Muriel's Wedding

Written & Directed by P.J. Hogan

The film that unleashed Toni Collete onto the world. That alone is enough to praise it, but this is a truly quirky and enjoyable Australian gem about a very socially awkward girl who wants nothing more than to have a glamorous wedding move from her dead-end town of Porpoise Spit to Sydney.

Collete is, as she would go on to prove time and time again, an absolute marvel here. Oh, and the soundtrack featuring a ton of ABBA is iconic...before Mamma Mia stormed in to try to steal its thunder.

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Clerks

Written & Directed by Kevin Smith

A true indie vision and an inspiring filmmaking story to boot, Clerks was shot for only $27,575 and then managed to get distributed by Miramax. An additional $230,000 would be spent on music licensing which is crazy to think that the music was the most expensive part. 

Smith is clearly a master at writing such quirky, quotable, and often brilliant dialogue. With his debut, Kevin Smith showed such confidence with his abilities, and it is always so exciting when a filmmaker comes in and gives you that surge right off the bat.

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Through the Olive Trees

Written & Directed by Abbas Kiarostami

Back in the land of Kiarostami again! The fact that this film didn't even make my top 10 is a testament to the strength of 1994. 

When I talked about Life, and Nothing More... on my 1992 list, I did mention that Through the Olive Trees would likely be an Honorable Mention at the very least. It actually took many years for me to be able to see this film as it never received a Home Video release in the US. It would be the final entry in the "Koker trilogy" that would blur the line between art and reality as filmmaking continues in earthquake-stricken Northern Iran.

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Leon: The Professional

Written & Directed by Luc Besson

In recent years, this film is mainly known as Leon: The Professional, but upon its release, it was known as Leon in France and The Professional in the US. 

I always put this film on a very high pedestal even if I didn't quite respond to it as strongly at first. Back in the late 90s/early 00s when I was truly becoming a film fanatic, those on the internet that would wax incessantly about fantastic films from the 90s would bring up this one. 

To younger me, I was still at a stage where a lot of my film knowledge (at least in terms of what was "prestige") came from what got nominated for mainstream awards. Leon was one of the first films I can recall that didn't get any real mainstream awards attention but would continuously get singled out as a masterwork. That isn't to say that the film was well-received in 1994. Roger Ebert and Janet Maslin were certainly not as pleased with it, nor did it even receive the best reviews in Besson's native France. This was a film that's reputation grew over time, to be sure.

Our titular lead is a hitman (Jean Reno) who is forced to care for a young 12-year-old girl named Mathilda (Natalie Portman in her film debut, and she's great) after her family is killed by corrupt DEA agent Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman).

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THE TOP 10:

#10 - CRUMB

Written & Directed by Terry Zwigoff 

Crumb was one of the many films from the 90s that I got introduced to by watching old episodes of Siskel & Ebert, who both adored the film. I can't quite remember if Ebert had it up there, but I do remember Siskel calling it the best film of 1995 (as it didn't technically get a theatrical release till that Spring).

Crumb goes into the story of underground cartoonist Robert Crumb and his family, and how he goes about interpreting life. I talk a lot about how art saved me as a kid, and I know that isn't an uncommon feeling people have had. Everything about this film feels so incredibly honest; it holds no punches and manages to straddle a line between being truly endearing and leaving you feeling a bit shaken and unsettled.

There is a vibrancy to how Zwigoff presents his subject and certainly leaves the concepts of race and sexuality and pornography all on the table.

As far as documentaries go, this one certainly falls under a provocative banner.

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#9 - QUIZ SHOW

Directed by Robert Redford

Written by Paul Attanasio 

As a kid, I was very drawn to game shows for whatever reason. I don't think I can truly explain it, but I do recall the cable channel USA having afternoon blocks of game show reruns that would include the likes of The $25,000 Pyramid, Scrabble, Joker's Wild, and Press Your Luck. Don't even get me started on the cheese fest that was Supermarket Sweep! There was also the split battle in my house growing up where my mom & I loved Jeopardy! while my dad and sister responded more to Wheel of Fortune as those two would be, and still are, indelibly linked in syndication for decades.

Not surprisingly, hearing of a film about a game/quiz show scandal was very much up my alley.

Based on the true story of the Twenty-One quiz show scandal from the late 1950s, we see a contestant by the name of Herb Stempel (John Turturro) winning night after night to the point that the producers are worried about him causing ratings to drop. The producers, Dan Enright & Albert Freedman (David Paymer & Hank Azaria), become entranced when Columbia professor Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes) comes to their office with the goal of being on the far sillier game show Tic Tac Dough. Instead, they want to rig the game for him to be the successor that will beat Herb Stempel. 

They coerce Stempel to blow an answer live on air, which was regarding which film had won the Oscar for Best Picture the year prior (the answer was Marty, and it is implied in the film that EVERYONE knows that...good luck getting that kind of recognition if you've won an Oscar these days). The film then becomes about the legal investigation against the game show by congressional lawyer Richard N. Goodwin (Rob Morrow), whose eventual book would be the basis for the film.

Quiz Show is a film made with such sleek style and feels like such an immaculate relic in the best possible way. This was also one of the better directorial achievements of actor-turned-director Robert Redford who, as of this writing, just passed away a few days ago. 

The dichotomy of Fiennes and Turturro is also very compelling. Considering this was Fiennes' first big film following Schindler's List, it served as such a great contrast. Then you have Turturro, who shamefully got snubbed for an Oscar nomination for what was one of his best performances as the nebbish Stempel.

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#8 - TO LIVE

Directed by Zhang Yimou

Written by Lu Wei

We have yet another entry in the Zhang Yimou/Gong Li pairing to discuss!

After Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern, we now have To Live, yet another prime example of how Gong Li is one of our finest actresses and how Yimou is a filmmaker who was able to create such bleak and tragic stories amidst such gorgeous color palates. 

Set during the Chinese Civil War, the film delves into the lives of the Xu family as their lives descend from relative wealth to a life of peasantry. 

My introduction to the film was actually in a World History class my sophomore year of high school. Strangely enough, I had seen Raise the Red Lantern at that point but somehow To Live alluded me. For the most part, my class responded to the film surprisingly well. If I recall, it was the only time a film with subtitles was shown to me during my public-school years. 

No wonder this film is frequently shown over here in schools when addressing Chinese history because the decades scope of To Live has been said to be a truly accurate portrayal of what many families faced in China at that time. 

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#7 - PULP FICTION

Written & Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Co-written by Roger Avary

I find myself at a weird and complicated crossroads with Pulp Fiction. 

Yes, it was a game changer of a film. Yes, it is iconic, Yes, it is entertaining. Yes, it is made with great verve and style...and yet, for whatever, I find myself a bit more distant with it as time goes on.

I wouldn't be lying if I said a lot of that has to do with Quentin Tarantino himself, whose grandiose and cocky demeanor makes him almost insufferable to listen to. Some also complain that a lot of his work is simply him stealing very basic ideas and giving them a fresh coat of paint. Even he himself has said he knows he works with a lot of common tropes, but alas..."great artists steal" as Ginsberg once said. 

There is no denying that Tarantino as a filmmaker has an immense vitality, and in the case of films like Pulp Fiction, I will still succumb to his prowess. 

As one of the two films that often gets cited as the unfortunate loser to Forrest Gump for the Best Picture Oscar along with The Shawshank Redemption, there is a sense with Pulp Fiction that you are watching a film of that moment. It was a watershed beacon for indie film and it signaled that there was a new kind of filmmaker in town...particularly with how his scripts would be dripping with fast-paced and very verbose dialogue. Who could forget Travolta and Jackson riffing on something as simple as what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris? What about the tension of Travolta having to save Uma Thurman from OD'ing as she is his boss' wife and her dying on his watch would undoubtedly lead to his own demise?

However, the elements of misogyny and homophobia do rear their heads in moments of the film...particularly with the latter...but I will still find the film to be rather important to igniting the success of indie cinema that had been experiencing such a surge in the 90s after it mostly struggled in the 80s. 

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#6 - HOOP DREAMS

Written & Directed by Steve James

Co-written by Frederick Marx

Much like Crumb, I was introduced to Hoop Dreams by watching Siskel & Ebert. In fact, both of them even named it the best film of 1994 which is saying something considering how passionate they both were about Pulp Fiction.

Hoop Dreams, along with Crumb, got a lot of press attention at the time not necessarily because of their quality but rather how they were overlooked. Both documentaries got snubbed for Best Documentary nominations when some felt that not only were either of them far and away the best options, but they were also good enough to be in the Best Picture race; something that no Documentary has ever achieved.

*UNLESS - you want to count Chang, which was a silent documentary released in 1928 that got nominated for "Unique & Artistic Picture" at the very first Academy Award ceremony. 

Not surprisingly, as you will be seeing a lot in this post, it was Roger Ebert who led a lot of the uproar. In interviews, reliable sources told him that during nomination committee screenings, a lot of those in the room would wave a flashlight at the screen if they gave up on the film. The majority of the room did so, and the film was shut off. The response was so vitriolic that it became one of the rare instances in Oscar history that the Academy and the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse which tabulates the votes, released data to explain on how the snub occurred. 

Ebert's colleague Gene Siskel made another very valid point: the snub gave the film more promotion than if it had actually gotten the nomination.

With that all out of the way, I need to address what Hoop Dreams is actually about...I mean, I shouldn't ramble all day about the awards details, but I suppose I am known for that after all.

We follow two Chicago high school students: William Gates and Arthur Agee, and their dream to become professional basketball players. What began as a modest piece that Steve James and Frederick Marx hoped to air on PBS evolved into a multi-year shoot and editing process that became one of the most engrossing sports films ever made. It is so compelling that it truly plays out that some might think it is a work of fiction.

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#5 - ED WOOD

Directed by Tim Burton

Written by Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski

Perhaps one of the most well-known directors to the general public of the last few decades is Tim Burton. Sort of in the same vein that Wes Anderson's style is so instantly recognizable, there is usually no mistaking a Tim Burton film. Often dark in tone and look, maybe it has quirkier elements mixed in with splashes of bright colors. 

His filmography does contain work I have a fondness for such as Pee Wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice, but I can't say that I am truly enamored with his work. Most of his films wouldn't even make the top 10 of the given year that they came out. Even a film like Edward Scissorhands that I do really like ended up barely missing my 1990 list.

However, Ed Wood is the one film of his that I think reaches a high masterwork level. 

For those not familiar with Ed Wood the person, he was a director who made many B movies throughout the 50s up until his death in 1978. A lot of these films fell into obscurity until film critic Michael Medved and his brother Harry wrote a book called The Golden Turkey Awards in 1980 in which they named Ed Wood as the worst film director of all time. 

Writers Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszweski saw this as their official break as their biggest films prior to Ed Wood were the Problem Child movies that starred John Ritter and were played relentlessly via cable reruns throughout the 90s. Alexander first devised the film as a documentary while he was a student at USC, but then it evolved into a narrative form.

           The major focus of the film revolves around Ed Wood's (Johnny Depp...in what still remains his best performance in my humble opinion) relationship with aging horror actor Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau, in his Oscar winning performance) and also how Wood's goal is to purchase the story rights of Christine Jorgenson for a film, who was the first widely known person in the US to have sex-reassignment surgery. This topic has some area of interest for Wood as he has been known for wearing women's clothes as a source of comfort since childhood, something that his girlfriend Dolores (Sarah Jessica Parker) has a very hard time accepting. 

Much like Quiz Show earlier, Ed Wood really captures an aesthetic of the 1950s that is incredibly alluring. It manages to feel like a very well-done B movie, and in terms of all-out confidence, Tim Burton has never been better.

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#4 - SATANTANGO

Written & Directed by Bela Tarr

Co-written by Laszlo Krasznahorkai

I have talked about films on this blog that were over 3 hours; I've talked about films that were roughly 4 hours; I have even talked about films that were originally presented as a miniseries but were screened in the US as films.

However, we haven't dealt with something quite like Satantango yet. This is a narrative film that runs for more than 7 hours in length. This is not a film that I would recommend easily to anyone as it does require a lot of stamina to sit through. I don't even know if I would necessarily sit down to watch it again any time soon, but what I will say is that the experience of watching was extremely worthwile.

How can one really condense Satantango down to a brief synopsis? 

Set in the early 90s following the fall of Communism, we meet a group of people living in a small Hungarian village that are struggling as the local source of revenue, a large factory, shuttered leaving many without a job.

For a 7+ hour film shot in black & white, this film manages to be one of the best I have seen in terms keeping you engrossed despite a lot of long slow takes. Very few films manage to succeed so strongly on atmosphere/world building quite like Satantango, because despite the unnatural black & white cinematography (unless one is severely colorblind), it really felt like we were watching a beautifully filmed documentary. 

It isn't a film with a strong plot, but a lot of it is based on the world of these characters within a very dire construct...and even with that all in mind, it is all the more remarkable that the film turned out as engrossing as it did.

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#3 - THE LION KING

Directed by Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff

Written by Irene Mecchi, Linda Woolverton, & Jonathan Roberts

"Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it".

Oh, that line...

I don't know what it was about The Lion King that didn't make me respond to it as rapturously as others did. There were certain films I would watch as a kid that seemed to be pretty beloved by a lot of people, but something about them would leave me feeling off. Even the original Toy Story was among that group, but the simple truth is that The Lion King is the pinnacle of the Disney Renaissance.

While I would still consider Beauty & the Beast to be my favorite Disney film from that era, I do think The Lion King represents such a high level of animation, voice work, music, and story to create such an immersive and monumental achievement for the animated genre.

I think the monumental nature of the film stems from the fact that we are delving into Shakespearean territory. The Lion King is Disney veering away from tales by the likes of Hans Christen Anderson and giving us Shakespeare's Hamlet...plus who can forget the iconic opening.

The sun rise, "Circle of Life", the sweeping scope of the animals approaching the reveal of young Simba...everything about this film screams epic and truthfully, it is kind of insane that after Beauty & the Beast managed to break the barrier of being the first animated film nominated that The Lion King couldn't achieve it. Even from a critical and box office standpoint, The Lion King was a smash right out of the gate and proved to be far more beloved than the other Disney film that was being groomed to be a prestigious Oscar player: 1995's Pocahontas.

And that is the only time you will see Pocahontas mentioned on a list about good films!

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#2 - CHUNGKING EXPRESS

Written & Directed by Wong Kar-wai

Whenever I see a pineapple, I often think of the song from Cabaret called "It Couldn't Please Me More" where Herr Schultz gifts Fraulein Schneider a glamorous pineapple. Perhaps in the case of Chungking Express, the pineapple is canned but the exchange about the sell by date being just "2 hours away" on a can of pineapple has weirdly resonated with me over the years. Then again, sell by dates likely became more prominent when my late Nan insisted that the milk in her fridge was fresh despite a sell by date of the next day only for me to take a sip of curdled milk.

Moving past that random memory, let's talk about yet another glorious outing for one of my personal favorites: Wong Kar-wai. 

Chungking Express is an example of a type of film that rarely works: the anthology film. It tells two stories in sequence; both are about policemen in love with a woman.

The funny thing about Wong with a lot of his earlier films, at least the ones from the 90s, are that they received mixed to tempered praise from mainstream American critics like Roger Ebert, Janet Maslin, and Peter Travers.

In fact, Maslin specifically called out the film for having too much of an MTV-like "aggressive energy". Frankly, she spoke a year too soon as the succeeding year's Fallen Angels has this vibe far more than Chungking Express...and I think despite my admiration for that film (it DID place on my 1995 list), that film has a little less substance compared to this one.

Chungking Express is very captivating as a romance, and it is yet another prime example of how Wong Kar-wai has become a master of the genre in ways that feel refreshing rather that stale. It is a shame that he hasn't made another film since 2013.

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#1 - THREE COLOURS: RED

Written & Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski

Co-written by Krzysztof Piesiewicz

As his final outing before passing away in 1996, Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski completed his Three Colours trilogy with Red.

Kieslowski's intent with the trilogy was that each film would represent a color of the French Revolutionary ideals: Blue, White, and Red.

Released in that color order, I think that White is a very good film, but it was the weakest of the three. As for Blue and Red, I honestly love them both pretty equally. If you had asked me which was my favorite several years ago, I likely would've said Blue, but I think a lot of that was due to Juliette Binoche's exquisite performance and how the film addressed grief.

Red, which I revisited during my oft-discussed COVID Quarantine Film Rewatch Marathon, would likely be my choice by a hair as I do love the construction of this story more. 

Blue referenced liberty, White addressed equality, while Red tackled fraternity. Pairings that might not seem to work on paper can sometimes become to most intriguing or indelible to watch, and that is what get here. 

Irene Jacob (who had headlined Kiselowski's fantastic 1991 film The Double Life of Veronique) stars as Valentine Dussaut. She is a student at the Univesity of Geneva who supports herself by working part-time as a model who accidentally hits a pregnant Malinois dog named Rita with her car. When she takes the dog back to her owner, a retired judge named Joseph Kern (the legendary Jean Louis Trintignant), he refuses to take her back in. After taking Rita to a vet herself, she decides to keep the dog...quickly followed by money being sent to her apartment anonymously.

Shortly thereafter, Valentine takes Rita for a walk, and she leads her back to Judge Kern's home. He admits that he sent her the money for the vet but still said he would like her to keep Rita. While there, Rita discovers that Judge Kern has something of an unsavory hobby: he loves listening in on his neighbors' phone calls. From there, a complicated and eventually solid friendship forms.

There is something that feels so familiar and yet so original about Red. We've seen films about unlikely friendship pairings before, but there is something whimsical and mysterious and alluring about how Kieslowski presents this story. 

The film, not surprisingly, didn't receive a Best Picture nomination. However, it did manage to net Kieslowski a nod for Best Director along him with and Piesiewicz getting a Screenplay nod. Nowadays, it feels more common for films in another language to slip into the BP race...especially with extra slots. Not to mention we have since had Parasite win the top prize, which hopefully paved the way for more international offering to do so.

If I were to list nominations over the years that bring me a lot of joy, it would be those Directing and Screenplay nods because Kieslowski was a filmmaker who was seminal. It felt fitting that what was to be his final film less than two years before his passing would give him this kind of recognition and not only that, but it also still managed to be his best work. That is truly remarkable considering how strong a lot of his earlier efforts were. 

Everything about this film is as close to perfect as a film can get. It's beautiful to look at, the script is intelligent, the performances are glorious, the score is wonderful...and it goes into the idea of how platonic love can be just as valuable and important as romantic love.

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FINAL THOUGHTS:

Full disclosure, I started making this post last year with the intention of making it for 1994's 30th Anniversary...but I couldn't get myself to have the drive to complete it.

I think a major reason for that was 1994 is one of those years that a lot of film buffs love and therefore, I don't feel like I am saying anything new. I find myself more drawn to discussing years with hidden gems, especially if there is a surprising abundance of them. 

It is a similar reason as to why I struggled to put together a list for 1999's 25th Anniversary but felt more inclined to discuss 2000 as I felt so many films deserved a spotlight that don't get talked about as much.

I do still think pretty highly of 1994 and think it was one of the banner years from the 90s. It definitely has one of the strongest #1s of that decade for sure. 

I have already tackled 1995 and 1998, so next up we will continue with 1996, 1997, and 1999. I will be doing this for other decades as well but as of this writing, I do not know which decade I will tackle next. 

Such suspense... ;-)

 

REPRESSED EMOTIONS GALORE! - A Look at the Best Films of 1992

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. 

"There May Be Something There..." - A LOOK AT THE BEST FILMS OF 1991

I decided that I am still feeling sentimental for the 90s and that I am going to discuss the rest of that decade's cinematic output. In the end, this is my blog and I am a 90s kid and it was a glorious resurgence for the artform.

If you have been following my blog, you will know I have been doing these retrospective posts about years of film from the past that are either celebrating a milestone anniversary or I find them to be truly exceptional in terms of quality. 

When it comes to the 90s, I have already discussed the following years for one reason or another:

1990

1993

1995

1998

And today, I will begin going through the remaining years in order starting with 1991. I have to admit that 1991 is one of those years at first glance that looks rather bland on paper, but while making this list, I was actually rather shocked looking at the films in my top 10. More than once, I was thinking "How is that film THIS LOW?" or "Wait...that film will miss my top 10????" 

And this list will include one glaring omission that might raise a few eyebrows amongst the film buff community, so we shall see how you all respond.

I am going to begin with 6 Honorable Mentions because I didn't want to go without bringing up these films in some capacity. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

The Commitments

Directed by Alan Parker

Written by Dick Clement, Ian Le Frenais, & Roddy Doyle

A wonderful little gem of a film about a group of working-class Irish misfits who decide to form a soul group known as The Commitments. While mostly ignored during award season, it did net an Oscar nod for its Editing by Gerry Hambling which was some of his finest work; those performance sequences are so wonderfully put together.

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Dead Again

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Written by Scott Frank

A film that seems to have been somewhat forgotten these days, this neo-noir starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson takes a lot in style from Alfred Hitchcock in a way that felt more palatable to me than most of the similar efforts done a decade earlier by Brian de Palma. 

Quick side note: the script was by Scott Frank, who will forever be the pompous loon behind the highly overrated miniseries The Queen's Gambit who gave one of the most insufferable awards speeches I've ever heard when he won a Directing Emmy. 

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Night on Earth

Written & Directed by Jim Jarmusch

Perhaps not as memorable as some of his films like Down by Law or Mystery Train, I do think there is a certain charm to Night on Earth. Considering anthology films aren't typically successful, this is an area that Jarmusch often excels in. Each segment focuses on a taxi driver in a different city from around the world and the passengers they pick up one evening. A little gem of a character piece.

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Thelma & Louise

Directed by Ridley Scott

Written by Callie Khouri

Honestly, the fact a movie like Thelma & Louise isn't even on my top 10 surprises me. It is an iconic film for a reason and I do think it is a great showcase for Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. I would actually suspect a lot of people would have this on their top 10, but I just think the lineup from this year is just THAT strong.

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Jacquot de Nantes

Written & Directed by Agnes Varda

Inspired by Jacques Demy

Films about younger children getting artistic inspiration in various ways can make for truly moving experiences, and while this may be no Cinema Paradiso, there is a lot to really love about what the luminous Agnes Varda achieves with Jacquot de Nantes, which was a biopic about Varda's husband Jacques Demy, the legendary French New Wave director behind the seminal musicals The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort. 

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THE TOP 10:

#10 - My Own Private Idaho

Written & Directed by Gus Van Sant

Loosely based on the Histories Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part II, and Henry V by William Shakespeare, My Own Private Idaho would prove to be a landmark film in the New Queer Cinema movement that took off in the world of indie cinema of the 90s.

Mike Waters (River Phoenix) is a hustler aimlessly bouncing around when a chance encounter with an older woman leads him to connecting with his best friend Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves) ...but Mike suffers from narcolepsy. Before preparing to have sex with the woman, he has an episode (where he sees his mother comforting him) and then awakens the next day with Scott now in Portland instead of Seattle. 

The film is essentially a small odyssey of self-discovery as the two of them take off to the small town in Idaho that Mike grew up in to try to find his mother, only to hear that she took off to Rome to work as a maid. Will he be able to find her and rekindle the comfort he craves?

Typing out that sentence sounds treacly, but I wouldn't say the film even taps into anything remotely treacly. Gus Van Sant is most remembered for being the person who directed Good Will Hunting and for his (in my opinion) disastrous attempt at a shot-for-shot remake of Psycho. He did also manage to find success for Milk, the very well done but not creatively ambitious Harvey Milk biopic...but in the early days of his career, Van Sant was a lot grittier and stylish in his indie approach with films such as this, Drugstore Cowboy, and To Die For. 

Considering we would lose River Phoenix to a drug overdose just two years after this, I consider this film to be his last hurrah...and it feels very fitting. It is tragic that his life got cut so short as he showed such immense promise as an actor...which his younger brother, Joaquin, has since carried on the mantle with. 

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#9 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day 

Written & Directed by James Cameron

Co-written by William Wisher

Despite the immense critical, awards, and box office success of Titanic or the reclaiming of the box office crown with the Avatar films, I am still of the belief that James Cameron's finest hour to date was Terminator 2: Judgment Day, one of those rare film sequels that not only surpasses the original in terms of quality (even though it is also a classic) but manages to change the way films would be made for years to come.

The visual effects in his film have aged so well over 30 years later that it is nothing short of stunning. I am not saying it is foolproof, but it even watching all these years later, it just goes to show you that matter how exacting or grating James Cameron may come across with his process, the man does know how to craft a film strongly from a technical standpoint.

However - when it comes to dialogue - he may be passable at best. Perhaps he is good at crafting one-liners, but at least the plots are pretty compelling. 

I do have to say that Linda Hamilton deserved a better career. She throws herself into Sarah Connor with such abandon and her transformation from how she was in the first film to this one is truly impressive. I do also love the camaraderie that does occur Arnold Schwarzenegger and Edward Furlong, even if it may seem like a predictable relationship, it works well within this film.

It isn't exactly perfect, but it still stands out as one of the greatest science fiction films ever made...and it is so easy to marvel at every single second from a technical standpoint.

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#8 - La Belle Noiseuse

Written & Directed by Jacques Rivette

Co-written by Christine Laurent & Pascal Bonitzer

This is one of those films where if I tell you the plot or what the film tries to achieve/convey, some of you would likely roll your eyes and deem me pretentious.

To be fair, this is a film that is not for everyone. It is a nearly 4-hour French film about an elderly painter who comes out of retirement to one final painting of a beautiful young woman. Several scenes have long static shots of nothing but painting, but I suppose for some, the idea of seeing the extended moments of Emmanuelle Beart's nudity would appeal to the sleazier sanctions of filmdom. 

Renowned French actor Michel Piccoli plays the painter Edouard. I singled out his work a couple of years ago in my "Acting!" post delving into what I considered to be the best performances of the 90s. Here is a sampling of what I wrote about him there:

"There is something truly unsavory and unrepentant about Piccoli as Edouard. 

Watching the tortured artist be an insufferable tortured artist might be...well.. insufferable to witness, but this is a performance that feels truly lived in that I, for the longest time, wasn't able to separate Piccoli from this character. Once I saw him in other films, I truly realized the depth of his talents."

The film is something you could call a celebration of art and the idea of the tortured artist. It is one of the true masterworks of French New Wave icon Jacques Rivette along with his 1974 film Celine & Julie Go Boating. Considering the rather ambitious runtime, what Rivette accomplishes with engrossing you deeply into this story is nothing short of remarkable. 

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#7 - Beauty & the Beast 

Directed by Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise

Written by Linda Woolverton

It was a colossal achievement for Disney that Beauty & the Beast not only received such rapturous reviews along with stellar box office receipts, but it was the first animated film to finally slip into the Best Picture race. 

It remains the only animated film to do so in a year of 5 nomination slots. When the slot tally increased to then in the late 00s, we managed to get nods for Up and Toy Story 3 in 2010 and 2011, respectively. No other aminated film has been able to achieve this since. 

Even more crazy is the apologetic reluctance to even acknowledging the film with this kind of recognition. Clint Eastwood told a reporter he voted for it with a layer of shame; Billy Crystal's Oscar opening medley referred to the film's success as leading actors to being "out of a job". Sally Field introduced a clip of the film at the ceremony with the caveat that she hopes the animated surge "doesn't become a trend".

The simple truth is that Beauty & the Beast WAS and IS that good. I still consider it to be the beacon of the Disney Renaissance that lasted from 1989-1999, right in the heart of my childhood. 

Watching Beauty & the Beast is like watching the future of animation in a lot of ways. While The Little Mermaid was all hand drawings, you see a certain polished sophistication with the style of this one...including the use of computer animation during the iconic ballroom dance. 

However, it isn't the animation quality that is the star here. It is a strong story, a great voice cast, and a score that was so strong that it was no wonder Disney took over Broadway with it 3 years later. Even the New York Times film critic called the film "the greatest Broadway musical of the year" simply on the basis of the film.

A truly grand and decadent piece of animation that still stands the test of time.

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#6 - Boyz n the Hood 

Written & Directed by John Singleton

When the nominations were announced for the 64th Annual Academy Awards, a lot of press was given to the fact that Barbra Streisand was not nominated for Best Director for the truly sappy and maudlin fluff known as The Prince of Tides. 

Don't get me wrong though. Considering the film's acclaim at the time, even with some wondering if it could win Best Picture during the award season process, it was a clear bias against her that she got snubbed.

On the flip side though, the Academy did something truly remarkable and nominated the late John Singleton for Best Director. It seemed like a bit of a surprise nod as Boyz n the Hood wasn't expected to make it into Best Picture (which it didn't), but also he simultaneously not only became the youngest director to ever receive a nomination (at the impressive age of 24) but also the first black person. To this day, he is only one of 6 to do with no one else to pull off the win...even though Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) and Barry Jenkins' (Moonlight) films would go on to win the top prize. 

I do have to wonder if the embrace of this film by the Academy was partly due to the outcry when Do The Right Thing got shafted out of so many categories two years prior...but the film is great and it deserved to get that kind of recognition.

As I mentioned, Singleton was only 23 when he made this film. The utter confidence and conviction he has with this is simply a masterclass. He is able to create such a vivid and gritty environment and makes it feel totally real. You could even argue this is a film without a very strict plot; it is essentially a film about a father trying to raise his son amidst the crime and drugs and street wars within a Los Angeles ghetto.

You have Cuba Gooding Jr, Ice Cube, Lawrence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Regina King...all of them kicking ass. Much like Spike Lee who perhaps might give his films a bit more flair in terms of vibracncy, Singleton gives us a strong dose of grit...and it is a shame his career never took off as strongly as Lee's. 

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#5 - The Double Life of Veronique

Written & Directed by Krysztof Kieslowski

Co-written by Krysztof Piesiewicz 

The truly incomparable Polish filmmaker Krysztof Kieslowski ended his career with a bang. Known mostly for his final magnum opus: The Three Colours Trilogy before his passing in 1996, he also had the remarkable Dekalog (which I talked about on my 1989 list) and The Double Life of Veronique, which starred eventual Red leading lady Irene Jacob.

What is crazy about Irene Jacob is that Kieslowski admitted that she was his third choice for the role; upon watching the film, you can't help but be so thankful it panned out the way it did as she fits so easily in these dual roles that you can't even imagine anyone else coming close.

Jacob plays Veronique, a French woman who is looking to become a successful singer; and Weronika, a doppelganger who lives in Poland and has similar aspirations to Veronique.

There is something truly surreal and dreamy about this film, almost ghostlike. With these two counterparts, we explore themes of love and identity as they each seem to share a common bond as if they know the other one is out there. As if it were a precursor to Kieslowski's obsession with colors (as seen in Blue, White, and Red), this film almost takes on a yellowish-green hue that is frankly unlike many other films I can think of...although as I type this, the closest I can think of are certain scenes from Apocalypse Now but that is a whole other thing entirely. 

As is the case of Kieslowski, the film's message is presented in such a quiet though abstract manner. Life is complicated but, in the end, we won't always know the answers. We won't always know why we have a pull to certain things even if it may not make sense. Life can be fragile and fleeting and beautiful and profound...and for a film to perfectly tap into that those themes without seeming a complete slog or overbearing in its intent, that is a resounding success.

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#4 - Barton Fink 

Written & Directed by The Coen Brothers

There are certain actors from over the years that I have considered my idols and that I hoped to aspire to be like. Among those were Gene Wilder, Christopher Walken, Alan Rickman, John Lithgow, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Vincent Price...and most definitely John Turturro.

What I find remarkable about Turturro as an actor is that he can play a role like the brutish Danny in the play Danny & the Deep Blue Sea or the racist Pino in Do The Right Thing but then turn around to do nebbish roles like Herb Stemple in Quiz Show or the titular role in the film I am about to discuss: Barton Fink.

Fink is a playwright who is hired by a film studio to write screenplays in Hollywood's continued quest from that time period to expand upon the kinds of films that could be made as they steered into talkies rather than silent films. He takes up residence at the rundown Hotel Earle where his nearby is an insurance salesman named Charlie (John Goodman, another perennial Coen Brothers favorite).

One crazy aspect of the development of Barton Fink was that the Coens wrote the film over a 3-week period while taking a break developing their previous film, Miller's Crossing, which was just featured on my 1990 post. I love that they were able to step away from one film (which turned out to be one of their best) only to churn out this one, which is my second favorite film of theirs behind Fargo. 

What begins as a sort of quirky satire of the supposed Golden Age of Hollywood ends up devolving into something else entirely, and frankly, it is bizarre and glorious. 

This one is an absolutely diabolical gem.

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#3 - Raise the Red Lantern

Directed by Zhang Yimou

Written by Ni Zhen

When writing about 1990, I mentioned that Zhang Yimou (and Gong Li) would have their magnum opus the following year with Raise the Red Lantern. 

And here we are. Let's talk about this beautiful but somber film. 

How is this film beautiful? The cinematography, the score, the set designs, the costumes...this is a film that should be placed on a list of films that pose as paintings along with Barry Lyndon and Days of Heaven.

You also have Gong Li giving what might be the best performance of her career, which is saying something considering how stellar she always is. Her she plays Song Lian, a young woman who becomes a concubine to a powerful lord. Considering he already has 3 wives, she is pitted against them to curry his favor and approval. 

Not only is this film a fervent attack on archaic patriarchal systems, but it could also even be seen as an allegory for capitalism almost in the same vein of something such as Parasite. 

Raise the Red Lantern is a film I often think about in comparison to Farewell My Concubine, which was featured on my 1993 list. Both films do differ in content in noticeable ways, but both are such beautiful, elegant films that are brimming with almost a suffocating despair.

We watch Gong Li try to go through the rigid systems with a quiet strength, but her vulnerability is often unbearable to watch. You feel deeply for her and these women, and how they are made to be competitive when they should be able to lean upon one another.

The film's spirit manages to both enthrall and crush you, and you're left wondering whether or not you should admire it or mourn it.

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#2 - The Silence of the Lambs 

Directed by Jonathan Demme

Written by Ted Tally

It is kind of crazy to think that a psychological thriller with grisly horror/crime elements that was released in February of 1991 would go on to become only the third and the last to date to win the Big 5 Prizes: Picture, Director, Actress, Actor, and (Adapted) Screenplay.

It also remains the only film that could be classified as horror to ever win the top honor, unless you want to count something like Rebecca but that is a whole other thing entirely in my opinion.

The Silence of the Lambs does perhaps have one element that plays as rough around the edges: the conception of serial killer Jame Gumb/Buffalo Bill as a character and the negative depiction it put forth towards the LGBTQ community even though it is never explicitly stated what sexuality he is in the film. Director Jonathan Demme had said in an interview that he felt the character wasn't gay. "He wanted to be a woman because he was a tormented man who wanted to be as far away from himself as he could possibly be." The trans angle to this not aged especially well but, to Demme's credit, he did take the criticism to heart and felt that more stories with LGBTQ protagonists needed to be told...which led him to taking on Philadelphia a couple years later.

What else is there really to say about this one?

Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins are an iconic film duo, and it is even crazier to think that they only share the screen together for less than 15 minutes. Nowadays, there are performances that win in the Supporting categories that are basically the leads of their film (i.e. Zoe Saldana for Emilia Perez), so to think Hopkins pulled off a Best Actor win with roughly 17 minutes of screentime is a testament to how incredible he was. So much so that even I didn't truly comprehend how little time he had onscreen when I first heard that number. 

A true iconic classic and a beacon of the genre.

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#1 - A Brighter Summer Day

Written & Directed by Edward Yang

Co-written by Hung Hung, La Ming-tang, & Alex Yang

Well, here we are. I am choosing a nearly 4 hour long Taiwanese film as the best piece of cinema from 1991...and it also would be on my top 5 for best films of that decade. Call me pretentious (not to mention this is the 2nd film on this list to be 4 hours long), maybe I am choosing with my head instead of my heart, maybe this is a film I wouldn't put on repeatedly whereas I have seen films like Beauty & the Beast, Barton Fink, and Silence of the Lambs several times...but I have seen A Brighter Summer Day twice...and I am now inclined to revisit again after ruminating over the film now.

I cannot express to you how much I wish we could still be getting work from the late great Edward Yang, who is known to most people as the man behind the equally wonderful 2000 film Yi Yi.

If you look online, you will often see A Brighter Summer Day as being a "coming-of-age drama" but it is also far more than that. It is a small-epic crime drama as well that is rather tragic in its scope.

Set during the late 50s/early 60s in Taipei, we meet young teenager Chang Chen, which is also the name of the actor, who goes by Si'r. He is forced to attend night school after he fails another test. 

His father in particular is concerned about this because he knows the night school crowd is filled with various "delinquents"...and while this may be seen as ignorant and classist, the truth is that Si'r does get swept up into the world of juvenile delinquency. While it is expected, Si'r also comes across a girl named Ming and you expect a love story to occur between them. However, Ming is far more complex than Si'r expects her to be; she is bolder and has more of a desire to explore her prospects.

These two are both fascinating characters and while this term is often used rather hastily quite a bit, I do think the film acts as a fascinating character study for them both. Si'r is clearly a young guy who is surrounded by patriarchal conservative values and the further he slips down the path of rebellion, he seems to not be able to handle her freedom. She insists to him that she and the world cannot be changed...and while you may question the flirtation she has with an older man such as the doctor she encounters, you also admirably see her as someone who just wants what she wants and knows what the world is. 

This is truly a stunning film. I don't think I can properly give it the justice it deserves, but it is easily one of the finest films ever made. A small but epic and tragic story told against the backdrop of a country fresh off of a civil war. 

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FINAL THOUGHTS:

In my introduction, I made a comment about a film being omitted that would likely surprise some of you. Considering not everyone is going to be a hardcore geek like me and be able to remember what year a certain film may come out, I will forego the further suspense and reveal that this particular film is:

Oliver Stone's JFK 

The fact that I even ended up being underwhelmed by this film was an early example of me discovering how subject matter of great interest to me wouldn't necessarily mean that the final product would be a success.

As a child, I had a rather intense interest in American history and the gateway into that was learning about all of our presidents. The crazy trajectory during the 1960s following the assassination of John F. Kennedy was, arguably, the era that fascinated me the most. I can't tell you how many documentaries I had seen on the topic of the assassination and the potential conspiracy theories. That might sound a bit morbid, but it felt like a prime example of how reality could be stranger or at least more compelling than some fiction. 

However, I think it must be said that I have never been the biggest fan of Oliver Stone as a filmmaker. It is kind of crazy to think that at that time, Stone was one of the two true premiere filmmakers having won two Best Director Oscars in a 3-year span for Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July with some even thinking he was likely in the running for JFK as well...and nowadays, he is mostly forgotten about and hasn't a truly acclaimed film in decades. 

The bombastic, chaotic, and sensationalized nature of JFK turned me off instantly watching the film for the first time over 20 years ago. Even when I tried revisiting the film back in 2013 when content surrounding the assassination was EVERYWHERE for the 50th anniversary, my thoughts held up. If anything, I actually thought LESS of the film. 

As for the rest of 1991, it is truly a hidden little gem of a year. While not the absolute best of that decade, I could see this falling in the top 3. Its strength is quietly stealthy and often feels like many lost opportunities as a many of these films flirted on the periphery of success (critical or audiences) only to get pushed aside in favor of films like Bugsy or The Prince of Tides. 

1991 was certainly a bit of an uptick over 1990, but how will 1992 fare in comparison?