1990s List Discussion and Suggestions (Lists Project Vol. 3)

[colinr0380]

I'd also add to Satori's rundown the extremely odd, semi-sci-fi lesbian drama, Fresh Kill from 1994, which mixes polemics, early 90s cyber-tech and apocalyptic environmentalism. It's not great (here's Janet Maslin's review) but interesting as an oddity, sort of Jubilee meets Until The End of the World, although not as coherent as those films!

[barryconvex]

...Ferrara idled around on crack and perhaps contributed an idea here and there

Do you have any other information about Ferrara and his crack use? Was he using just during the screenplay writing process? Never heard that about him before (not that i don't necessarily believe it) and am curious...

[oh yeah]

...Ferrara idled around on crack and perhaps contributed an idea here and there

Do you have any other information about Ferrara and his crack use? Was he using just during the screenplay writing process? Never heard that about him before (not that i don't necessarily believe it) and am curious...

I can't find the link now unfortunately, but it was Zoe Lund (or possibly her husband) who accused Ferrara of horsing around and getting high instead of writing while Zoe worked hard on the screenplay, there were a few other accusations which put Ferrara in an unflattering light but I won't say any more because I can't find the link (It may have been on zoelund.com, a site run by her husband Robert). But regardless, Ferrara's crack use is fairly well-documented; in a candid interview with the recovery website The Fix in 2012, he recalled the difficulty of crack addiction as opposed to plain cocaine. Vincent Gallo also publicly accused Ferrara of smoking so much crack on the set of The Funeral that it negatively affected the filming, the director staying in his trailer getting high for much of the time. While Gallo isn't the most reliable person, I doubt that he would slander the director to such a great degree (now, perhaps Abel didn't try to "pick-pocket" Gallo as Gallo claims). There's an infamous interview on Conan (it's on YouTube, of course) from when that film came out, where Ferrara is clearly very high on something(s) to the point where it's kind of uncomfortable to watch. And in his next film, the autobiographical-feeling The Blackout, actor Matty smokes crack in one important scene that's so viscerally and realistically shot and scored that it carries a certain ring of authenticity, just as the drug use in Bad Lieutenant did.

I want to add, just in case, that I am not coming at this from some salacious gossip-hound perspective, nor am I passing any sort of negative judgment on Ferrara for anything; I myself am a recovering opiate addict, and I have nothing but compassion for fellow addicts. And I suppose that my own history makes me appreciate these films all the more, and also makes me naturally more interested than most in details of drug-use on and off screen. It seems though that Ferrara has been clean for at least 3 years or so now, so kudos to him.

[domino harvey]

the Bachelor (Gary Sinyor 1999) I didn't care for Down With Love, the Renée Zellweger vehicle which lampoons the sex comedies of the sixties via reverse period fetishization, and on a basic level, this update of Buster Keaton's Seven Chances is a much more successful attempt at casting Zellweger and recreating that time-specific Hollywood subgenre. Unfortunately, the sixties sex comedy the Bachelor is channeling is awful. Chris O'Donnell, whose every moment of screentime here serves as Exhibit A against his position as a viable movie star, is a commitment-phobic asshole who acts like a total prick for most of the movie and then decides to take the most infinitesimal of steps towards decency as the film nears its merciful end. The film's attitude towards women and marriage would have been old hat with Natalie Wood or Doris Day at the helm. With a modern actress like Zellweger in the lead they're more confusing than offensive-- who is this film even for? It's not even remotely funny, it's sexual politics are one step removed from Andy Capp, and few of the supporting actors even seem conscious that they're being filmed. Zellweger's level of commitment to forming a discernible character from her underwritten (not the right term, as it implies her part as-written contains some elements of characterization in a reduced fashion) role is getting her hair curled. In a film that seems to exist only to provide clips and images of hundreds of brides descending on O'Donnell as he flees through the streets of San Francisco, Zellweger's ringed locks were by far the most noteworthy achievement.

Congo (Frank Marshall 1995) Goofy movie serial update that pitches everything at a certain level that I suspect few here are receptive to if my cursory search of the board is any indication. I enjoyed this more when I was a kid, to be sure, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't entertained by this film's low-rent King Solomon's Mines approach and bizarre casting (Laura Linney, fresh off Tales of the City, leading a summer tent pole? Okay 90s, whatever you say). And this faint praise is coming from someone who has a deep dislike and impatience with monkeys/apes/gorillas/etc in film and real life. By far the most shocking part of the entire action film was when the credits rolled at the end and I discovered that the screenwriter who adapted and turned Michael Crichton's deadly serious novel into a silly actioner was John Patrick Shanley of Doubt and Moonstruck fame. Second most shocking part occurs in the prologue to the film with the surprise appearance of Taylor Nichols, who I guess wandered over from a Whit Stillman movie to interrupt Bruce Campbell's product placement.

Parklands (Kathryn Millard 1996) Cate Blanchett's film debut is an Australian art house production concerning a young woman investigating her estranged cop father's mysterious death. Sort of. Interspersed throughout the narrative are liberal excerpts from promotional and educational films selling consumers, tourists, and would-be homeowners on the virtues of Adelaide, a planned city surrounded by the titular geographic structure. Blanchett being Blanchett of course commands some attention, and she does what she can with what is ultimately pretty thin material, but I kind of wish I'd just been shown any of the promo films in full instead of the film we got, which has the same aimless vagueness masquerading as open-ended insight found in countless other indie features this decade. But this one's got Blanchett so here we are. Worth not flipping past if it came on IFC ten years ago maybe, but nothing to go out of your way for now.

Thick as Thieves (Scott Sanders 1999) In a decade that quickly devolved into countless crime films ripping off Tarantino, it's refreshing to see one ripping off Elmore Leonard instead. Alec Baldwin leads as "the Thief" who is double crossed by a Detroit gangster (over)played by Michael Jai White and the two sides are given their share of notable, colorful criminal characters fond of exchanging peculiar dialog while in unusual situations. Dog lovers beware, this is probably the only film in history to have a gangland slaying of a lovable mutt! Rebecca de Mornay, sporting an interesting bowl-cut, brings up the law and order side and Andre Braugher for a change of pace does not-- one of the great treats of this film is seeing Braugher play an articulate streetwise criminal instead of a cop. This is another in the long list of movies I saw part of on HBO et al back in the day and it always stuck in the back of my mind. Seeing it now in one piece, there's lots to recommend (I was particularly fond of the film's odd sense of timing) but given its OOP status, an okay but entertaining film like this is already pretty much lost to the sands of time a mere fifteen years later.

[zedz]

Great rundown, Satori, and a real swagger down memory lane. I'll also be voting for Su Friedrich's Rules of the Road, the greatest lesbian break- up short of all time.

[Mr Sausage]

And this faint praise is coming from someone who has a deep dislike and impatience with monkeys/apes/gorillas/etc in film and real life.

Why?

[Forrest Taft]

Bad memories of Bubbles?

[domino harvey]

There's no grand reason I'm consciously aware of, I just don't like them on some basic elemental level. No idea why, and if I ever received analysis or therapy, I imagine exploring that distaste is somewhere near the bottom in terms of priority! However, I have another ape movie in the queue for this decade, so perhaps some immersion therapy will do my dislike some good

[colinr0380]

You'll love Dunston Checks In, domino! (Or it'll compound your phobia!)

[domino harvey]

To be fair, I'm not scared of them (And I even like another ape movie, Link from last decade), but I would rather have my arm slowly bitten off by a dog than watch Dunston Checks In (Certainly one of the monkey movies that helped form my dislike as a child)

[thirtyframesasecond]

Wouldn't say Max Mon Amour was the best Nagisa Oshima movie but it might be a better "ape" movie.

[colinr0380]

Yes, luckily all the best monkey/ape movies (apart from the Planet of... ones) are in the previous decade: Max, Mon Amour, Gorillas In The Mist, Project X, Monkey Shines, um...Any Which Way You Can.

[knives]

Doesn't Instinct have apes?

[anvilscepe]

Can't forget 'bout Outbreak either.

[zedz]

My spotlight last time was Yang's A Brighter Summer Day, and it's still the greatest film I've ever seen and will still top my list, but this time I'm going to spotlight my presumable number 2, Edgar Reitz's Die Zweite Heimat, the longest film ever made, and one of the best. It's a fantastic music film, and a fantastic film about friendships and growing through them.

If you haven't seen the first Heimat, that's no big deal. It's a richer film if you've seen it, but it's not a conventional sequel - more like a parallel (universe) film, and you certainly won't be complaining about a lack of richness once you finish the final, strange and beautiful, chapter.

[A man stayed-put]

Single White Female
A little trashy (everyone has to be naked at some point- although at least it’s equal opportunities) but well acted (Leigh’s good in a role she never overplays but I was surprised by how good Fonda is here), and is certainly more accomplished than many similar films of the time (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Fatal Attraction, Deception, etc.).
A few things stood out:-
The film's depiction of a well rounded gay character, was refreshing.
I liked that Fonda’s character was never soft pedalled and turned into a ‘victim’, she’s spiky and resourceful but also pretty cold and difficult to like at times (there’s a hint of this in her conversation about a falling out her ex-business partner and her initial reaction to the dog).
Schroeder gives us some cues of what to expect from the film early on with glimpses of In a Lonely Place and Vertigo playing on the TV.
The geography of the apartment is clearly, but unfussily, established and it’s effectively shot by Tovoli- there are definitely a few visual nods to Argento in both the lighting and the

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eye abuse.

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Although I didn’t find the film particularly creepy or suspenseful (which I think is it’s major fault), I did enjoy many of the comedic touches, some of which prompted genuine laughs- Leigh chirping “Hey sleepy guy” to a distraught Steven Weber’s, Sam after blowing him under false pretences, and her one sided conversation before the reveal of Fonda tied up and gagged were highlights.

I also loved the moment when you think Tobolwsky’s despicable would-be rapist may end up saving the day, “Don’t worry, I dealt with her”, before getting clonked over the head and shot in the face. It undercut the tension in an interesting way- you want Fonda’s Allie to escape or be saved, but not by that guy- and Schroeder appears to be inviting the audience to be relieved when Hedy despatches him before we return to fretting over whether Allie will get away.

It was fun to revisit and find it better than I remembered.


Close-Up
In form and structure, it goes without saying that Close-Up is endlessly fascinating. And as the form and content of this docu-drama are so perfectly suited, you can't help but wonder whether the whole story of Mohsen Makhmalbaf impersonator Hossain Sabzian, is Kiarostami's creation. That it isn't, is testament to the intelligence and craft of the filmmaker.However, it could easily fall in love with it's own construction to the detriment of its subject. The triumph of the film is that, even knowing much (if not all) of the film was staged to some extent, it loses none of it's emotional impact.This shouldn't be underestimated- for a film that constantly asks the audience to second-guess the nature of what they're being shown, to still be able to make you feel so strongly for Hossain Sabzian as a human being, is an amazing feat.
Some further, somewhat muddled, thoughts:-
As well as a social commentary, I see the film as a warning about the destructive power of cinephillia and the escapism inherent in it.
Whether Sabzian’s example can be branded escapism is debatable, but films can offer a form of escapism that mirrors our experience and grants it worth, import and a kind of ‘glamour', purely by being the subject of art - “…a good man comes along who portrays all my suffering in his films, and I can go and see them over and over again”.
Being empowered by the expression of your plight, even through the voice of another, is as intoxicating as the wish fulfillment of the superhero blockbuster or the aspirational romantic comedy.
The crossing he makes in letting his ‘escape’ intrude into reality is problematic not so much for it’s deceit but for the question it raises regarding his intent.
The indication is that Sabzian see’s a power in the creation of art- you have people's ear, some form of influence- but has not considered what the end result of this is, or should be; societal change and understanding or individual success and glory?
The question asked of Sabzian could be asked of any artist- why?

Dead Man
I was somewhat underwhelmed after a first viewing (and I didn’t watch it under ideal circumstances) but it has stuck in my mind in the days following- both individual scenes and the otherworldly atmosphere of the film as a whole. I feel compelled to give it another watch soon and, hopefully produce some more coherent thoughts.

Georgia
A film I never would have bothered watching without the recommendation offered here, and in the early going I was a little concerned that, despite being impressed by Leigh’s performance (and the rest of the cast- special mention to a subtle and complex performance from Ted Levine), the film would follow a well-worn path to a predictable conclusion. It doesn’t, and has an emotional honesty that is disarming and, eventually, very moving.

Twilight (Robert Benton 1998)
Awkwardly positioned between Noir-ish mystery and winking, OAP comedy, this really didn’t work for me. Outside of the tone being all over the shop, it’s routinely plotted and nondescriptly shot. The cast are good enough to make all this even more disappointing.

Cop Land
This crime/western hybrid is the very definition of ‘solid’. Direction, cast (an impressive collection of big names and future Sopranos actors) and script all have their virtues and although it fades from memory swiftly, it’s an enjoyable couple of hours. As a side note, it could be watched alongside the second half of Goodfellas as a jittery, coked up Ray Liotta double-bill.

I'm very keen to see A Brighter Summer Day but can only find a poor quality, although subbed, version online (in the obvious place). Is this as good as it gets or is there a better version doing the rounds anywhere? Any advice would be much appreciated.

[swo17]

That's probably the best version of A Brighter Summer Day that's readily available at the moment. But if we're lucky, the WCF restoration will come out sometime in the next eight months. (I'm not holding my breath though.)

And I'm not sure that Heimat 2 is technically the longest film ever. But at over 25 hours, it might as well be! If you're region-free, you will definitely want to opt for the Second Sight release over the R1 Facets. Amazon UK keeps yo-yoing the price between £35 and £42, so if you watch closely enough, you can get in an order at the low end.

[domino harvey]

Maybe he meant longest narrative film?

A man stayed-put: I have long claimed Fonda was a good actress with a bad agent. She's the bright spot in many films that wouldn't be half as interesting without her, and it's always nice when her choices match up-- though fair warning, she's in some really bad movies this decade (I still have PTSD from the Break-Up). I would however put in another strong word for the wonderful lightweight "horror" comedy Lake Placid (recently rescued by Shout Factory), which wisely plays everything like a 40s all-star Hollywood vacation picture. It's one of the most laidback, fun times I've had watching a movie and a lock for my list. I am in the minority on it like a lot of things, but it's so breezy in just the right way that I don't get the common derision!

[A man stayed-put]

Thanks for the confirmation swo, knowing it’s the only option makes sitting through a less than optimal version easier to do.

Domino: I love Fonda in Jackie Brown and have an inexplicable soft spot for It Could Happen To You, but outside of a A Simple Plan being on my list for a re-watch, the rest of her 90’s films don’t hold many good memories- I remember Nikita and The Road to Wellville being particularly worthless.
I’ve never seen Lake Placid but you’re the second person who I’ve heard say it’s good fun recently, so I’ll be sure to give it a look.

[domino harvey]

I remember Road to Wellville being inexplicably awful when I caught it on Cinemax as a kid, but I just listened to a podcast about the history of cereal and now I want to revisit it again to see if it holds up any better (it surely does not). I can't really defend Point of No Return (Nikita), but Fonda at least has one of the best hairstyles of all time in it!

[A man stayed-put]

Upon checking, I think I've conflated the original and the remake in my head, I also could've sworn Jean Reno was in the Fonda version (The Assassin as it was renamed in the UK). Maybe that suggests a re-visit is due, although I already have so much I feel I should watch before submitting any list that a re-watch based on a pleasingly tousled 'do seems excessive.

[John Cope]

Wellville is godawful and I say that as a big defender of/apologist for Alan Parker (though it does provide this genuinely classic scene). I have a lot of affection for Fonda too but Little Buddha would be my choice for the most lasting of her 90's films and she's barely in it.

[colinr0380]

The Assassin is one of those remakes that isn't a travesty of the original but adheres so closely to the film it is remaking that there is little point in its existence. Fonda makes for a fine replacement for Anne Parrilaud, but is still only an echo from the original film. The one aspect I did think was wonderful about The Assassin though was that the brothel madame/etiquette teacher/stylist brought in to teach our uncouth heroine how to dress and act in upper crust company was played by Anne Bancroft, who was an inspired replacement for Jeanne Moreau from the original.

While talking about Anne Parillaud, she also starred in John Landis's long awaited return to the horror genre with the vampire-amongst-the Mob film Innocent Blood. It's not as classic as An American Werewolf In London, and I see it as the start of the Mafia-parody craze that was going to get done to death over the next decades, but it manages to have a similar mix of tongue in cheek comedy mixed with some vividly gory jolts (Don Rickles gets a great death scene). And it is far better than any other films that Landis made that decade!

Lake Placid is also great for being one of two 'badass Betty White' films from the late 90s, in which she takes her lovable old lady persona into extremely amusing areas. The other film being the flooded town heist film Hard Rain, which is a nutty guilty pleasure of mine! (Up there with Turbulence and The Relic!)

Wellville is godawful and I say that as a big defender of/apologist for Alan Parker. I have a lot of affection for Fonda too but Little Buddha would be my choice for the most lasting of her 90's films and she's barely in it.

Not Jackie Brown? Or Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan?

[domino harvey]

She's also in Cameron Crowe's Singles, which with Reality Bites and Empire Records captures the Gen X 20-something feel of the era, even if all three of these movies are pretty flawed affairs on the whole (and Fonda is given a really cringe-worthy plot line in Singles concerning her desire for breast implants)

I picked up Innocent Blood after seeing it pop up on the Cahiers Top 10, so I'm glad to hear someone a little more rational also enjoys it before partaking myself!

[John Cope]

Wellville is godawful and I say that as a big defender of/apologist for Alan Parker. I have a lot of affection for Fonda too but Little Buddha would be my choice for the most lasting of her 90's films and she's barely in it.

Not Jackie Brown? Or Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan?

Those are great (especially the Tarantino) but for me the Bertolucci is even better--a purer, more elemental thing, but one done with typically monumental artistry.