1990s List Discussion and Suggestions (Lists Project Vol. 2)

[domino harvey]

there's only one title there that I'd bet any sum of money on still being in the top ten at the end of this exercise.

You just can't stop Booty Call's momentum

[Murdoch]

Well, I guess my top five is going to be:

1. Chungking Express (1994) – Wong Kar-Wai
2. Crash (1996) – David Cronenberg
3. Time Regained (1999) – Raoul Ruiz
4. Joe vs. the Volcano (1990) – John Patrick Shanley
5. La Belle Noiseuse (1991) – Jacques Rivette

I've only got a few more titles I have to watch before I'm going to submit, so unless Ferrara's The Funeral or Rohmer's A Tale of Springtime really wow me it seems my top choices are a lock for their spots.

[life_boy]

Are there are any other list-worthy comedies for the 90s?

On my preliminary list I ended up with a 4 film comedy block: Buffalo '66, Waiting for Guffman, "Praise You" (Spike Jonze, 1998 -- Fatboy Slim music video) and Anything Can Happen (Marcel Łoziński, 1995). Also worth mentioning, Soderbergh's Out of Sight may barely get knocked off my final list, but I like it a lot too. And has anyone mentioned Slacker?

I seem to get in on these swaps too late to really make much of a difference but if anyone has access to the PWA Marciej Drygas set and have not yet watched Hear My Cry or State of Weightlessness, I urge you to do so. Both films were major discoveries for me: towering works of detailed documentary research and an imaginitive use of archival footage.
Hear My Cry deconstructs an act of political protest years after the fact, as it is remembered, imagined, projected, and forgotten. The elliptical structure reveals little by little the truth of the event (or is it?) before finally paying off with an image of the event, brief and fleeting, given a huge significance by what has been discussed before. The conceptual unity, the daring structure, the final image, man....This film is in my top 3.

State of Weightlessness won't rank as high, but it is a great film too, discussing the Russian space program in details more than I ever thought I would hear. Space buffs out there should line up for this one; after I watched this, For All Mankind felt extraordinarily minor. My favorite Herzogian image that Herzog never shot is also in this film (if you've seen it I'm sure you can guess...I won't spoil it for the uninitiated).

[LQ]

Buffalo 66

I'm with you on this, but we might have to barricade ourselves in the basement when the not-amused come calling.

What a wonderfully strange film. I loved it. Christina Ricci's little tapdance in the bowling alley is one of the most beautiful (and surreal) moments I've seen in a while, and the soundtrack is amazing - always a big plus. I'm glad I caught this one.

I continue to be bewitched by this movie, days after seeing it for the first time. It might even break my top ten. I absolutely loved it-the absurdly humorous beginning, the excellent acting, the storyline, the characters, its look and feel, the beautiful little moments such as the one indicated above-everything.

I'm curious, though. I'll admit to knowing nothing about Gallo; I've seen him once before in Trouble Every Day which I've tried to forget, but certainly not because he as a person was involved, per se. I gather that he is a jerk. Is that why some people here seem to be so against this movie?

[zedz]

I seem to get in on these swaps too late to really make much of a difference but if anyone has access to the PWA Marciej Drygas set and have not yet watched Hear My Cry or State of Weightlessness, I urge you to do so. Both films were major discoveries for me: towering works of detailed documentary research and an imaginitive use of archival footage.
Hear My Cry deconstructs an act of political protest years after the fact, as it is remembered, imagined, projected, and forgotten. The elliptical structure reveals little by little the truth of the event (or is it?) before finally paying off with an image of the event, brief and fleeting, given a huge significance by what has been discussed before. The concEeptual unity, the daring structure, the final image, man....This film is in my top 3.

Ditto. Things are still pretty fluid, but this is currently in my top 10. An incredible piece of filmmaking, notwithstanding its extraordinary subject.

I'm curious, though. I'll admit to knowing nothing about Gallo; I've seen him once before in Trouble Every Day which I've tried to forget, but certainly not because he as a person was involved, per se. I gather that he is a jerk. Is that why some people here seem to be so against this movie?

You'll have to ask them, since I'm a fellow fan, but I think the evidence for Gallo being a jerk is overwhelming, and his public persona always seems to get dragged in to arguments against his worth as a filmmaker. Like you, I went into this film in a state of blissful ignorance and loved it from the first frame.

[swo17]

I believe I have mentioned's Švankmajer's Food before, but I'd also like to put in a good word for his Conspirators of Pleasure, which can conveniently be found on the same Kino disc (which is, inconveniently, OOP). As one might imagine, this is Švankmajer at his most perverse, as he catalogues in meticulous detail the lengths to which various people will go to get a thrill out of some of the most bizarre sensual stimuli imaginable. Of course, this plays partly as allegory for the human condition, as most of these pursuits would never even cross most of our minds (though I must fess to having tried out the bird thing once or twice), but it's also a) hilarious, and b) yet another fine showcase for Švankmajer's indelible way with clay. Though, coming full circle, Food is an even better showcase in my opinion. Both are highly recommended.

[Camera Obscura]

Manhattan Murder Mystery is good, but my choice will be Bullets Over Broadway. Last year I was filling in the few remaining Allen films I'd never gotten around to seeing and I was amazed at how great this one was. I'd never heard anyone rave about this one before, but I think it's the best thing he did in the decade between Crimes and Misdemeanors and Sweet and Lowdown. It's a shame the DVD presents it in a soft, non-anamorphic transfer.

Consider me raving about Bullets too. Love it, Allen's funniest (of the nineties at least), subtle, beautifully shot, magnificent period recreation. I'll stop the hyperboles now. Shame about the R2UK DVD, though, which has an incredibly soft blurry transfer, which is especially distracting during the many stage scenes, that almost exclusively consist of long shots, where everything just becomes an almost indistinguishable blur. A real shame. The R1 is supposedly a little better? Perhaps I'd better wait for a decent Blu-Ray.

I believe I have mentioned's Švankmajer's Food before, but I'd also like to put in a good word for his Conspirators of Pleasure, which can conveniently be found on the same Kino disc (which is, inconveniently, OOP). As one might imagine, this is Švankmajer at his most perverse, as he catalogues in meticulous detail the lengths to which various people will go to get a thrill out of some of the most bizarre sensual stimuli imaginable. Of course, this plays partly as allegory for the human condition, as most of these pursuits would never even cross most of our minds (though I must fess to having tried out the bird thing once or twice), but it's also a) hilarious, and b) yet another fine showcase for Švankmajer's indelible way with clay. Though, coming full circle, Food is an even better showcase in my opinion. Both are highly recommended.

Conspirators of Pleasure was a wonderfully bizarre experience indeed, but I'm not really considering Svankmajer for any list really (except for maybe a Czech and Slovak puppeteers and stop motion animators top 50 list). It's been a while since I've seen Food, which was shown on Dutch television a couple of years ago, and out-takes of which were actually used for a long time as a sort of one-minute intermezzo on a Dutch TV-channel as well, part of it engraved in my memory for ever, I'm afraid. Wonderfully weird, inventive and original, can't think of too many things to say about it. It's great!

[zedz]

(though I must fess to having tried out the bird thing once or twice)

And all this time I had you pegged as a carp man. It just goes to show. . .

[Gregory]

Are there are any other list-worthy comedies for the 90s?

Herod's Law is not only one of the best comedies of the decade but also one of the smartest political satires. It's hilarious but it resorts to almost no exaggeration. Estrada recognized that there was a surprisingly rich vein of comedy in an especially dismal and vexing state of corruption and hopelessness in rural Mexico. It's a crowd-pleaser but it's also a pretty brutal critique of the PRI (it almost didn't get released back in '99 as the party was about to lose its grip on power). If someone were to ask me how they could quickly get a basic understanding of Mexican politics during the last century (though in most respects it's nothing unique), rather than recommend a book they'd probably never read, I'd urge them to try to see this film. The Fox DVD has gone out of print, but I think Netflix has it, as do hundreds of libraries across the country of course.

[GringoTex]

Miami Blues - Domino's swapsie. I was expecting some sort of low-key gritty neo-noir- not this fevered pitch neon psychotic symphony. It's equal parts Godard, Demme, and Aldrich. I can't think of a 90s film with better acting- Baldwin, Leigh and Ward are beyond superb.

[ptatler]

Herod's Law is not only one of the best comedies of the decade but also one of the smartest political satires.

This was pretty great. I didn't see it until its "first run" in L.A. in the summer of '03. Didn't realize it was an eligible 90s film when I submitted my list this morning. It probably would have fallen in the 40s.

That said, here are the bottom ten of my 50; I think the stuff near the end of the list is almost always a more interesting glimpse of a person's tastes than the top ten:

41. Lessons of Darkness (Herzog)
42. Malcolm X (Lee)
43. Vincent and Theo (Altman)
44. No Surprises (Radiohead video; d. Grant Gee)
45. Mother and Son (Sokurov)
46. The Talented Mr. Ripley (Minghella)
47. Clean, Shaven (Kerrigan)
48. Black Ice (Brakhage)
49. Devil’s Advocate, The (Hackford)
50. Flirting With Disaster (Russell)

[Yojimbo]

Well, I guess my top five is going to be:

1. Chungking Express (1994) – Wong Kar-Wai
2. Crash (1996) – David Cronenberg
3. Time Regained (1999) – Raoul Ruiz
4. Joe vs. the Volcano (1990) – John Patrick Shanley
5. La Belle Noiseuse (1991) – Jacques Rivette

I've only got a few more titles I have to watch before I'm going to submit, so unless Ferrara's The Funeral or Rohmer's A Tale of Springtime really wow me it seems my top choices are a lock for their spots.

"Time Regained " is only a portion of Proust but it still marvellously captures the essence of Proust and is a wholly self-contained Masterpiece.
If you haven't already seen it, check out Leconte's 'Le parfum d'Yvonne' which I suspect you will love also.
(having said that, I was disappointed by 'La Belle Noiseuse')

[swo17]

46. The Talented Mr. Ripley (Minghella)

That's probably exactly where it'll end up on my list as well. A good solid bottom-of-the-list pick.

You guys are nuts though turning in your lists already. Are you really so bold as to claim to have seen every worthwhile film from the '90s with two weeks to spare? I still have like 50 more that I am determined to fit in by the 30th, and that's still not counting the roughly 237 zedz picks that are unavailable on DVD or otherwise (some of which I am not entirely convinced ever existed on film in the first place).[/rant]

[ptatler]

Are you really so bold as to claim to have seen every worthwhile film from the '90s with two weeks to spare?

Never will I be able to make such an outrageous claim. I was lucky to squeeze in the few I could for this project (particularly proud of SATANTANGO). There's no way I'll have the time for 50 movies over the next two MONTHS, let alone weeks. So I'm letting this go. I'm sure I'll make discoveries over the years to come that will make my list look pretty amateurish. But we can't all be zedz or swo17 (unfortunately)...

[swo17]

Lest you feel too intimidated, or my list be held to too high a degree of scrutiny, I feel I should qualify that I may have been exaggerating some of my figures above.

[ptatler]

Lest you feel too intimidated, or my list be held to too high a degree of scrutiny, I feel I should qualify that I may have been exaggerating some of my figures above.

I figured at least half of it was comprised of installments in the "Up & Cummers" franchise.

[Mise En Scene]

re: Mother and Son

As you say, zedz, it looks as though every frame has been shot as if to resemble a work of art. The use of different lenses and filters and unusual camera angles create this intoxicating dreamlike atmosphere.

I read that they also shot through paint-streaked glass. Unfortunately, this film is, in my opinion, one of the unheralded great achievements in cinematography.

[zedz]

and that's still not counting the roughly 237 zedz picks that are unavailable on DVD or otherwise (some of which I am not entirely convinced ever existed on film in the first place).[/rant]

My list is going to be composed exclusively of films that should have been made in the 1990s.

[GringoTex]

Dick - My second Domino swapsie. I have little tolerance for impersonation humor, so this one fell completely flat for me. Clever premise- I just didn't find it funny.

[ptatler]

Dick - My second Domino swapsie. I have little tolerance for impersonation humor, so this one fell completely flat for me. Clever premise- I just didn't find it funny.

Switched it off after fifteen minutes myself. Felt like ROMY & MICHELLE'S ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN.

My list kind of gives comedies a short shrift. Only one is what I'd call an out-and-out comedy (excluding BREAKING THE WAVES).

[domino harvey]

I'm honestly surprised it took this long to hear dissenting voices on Dick

[ptatler]

I'm honestly surprised it took this long to hear dissenting voices

They're all too intimidated, D. And afraid that their dissent will be deemed "rediculous."

[domino harvey]

Well, not from me. It's a very specific kind of humor, which is one of the reasons why from the outset I offered an alternate swapsie. I can debate a lot of things on this board, but if you don't find something funny, there's not much I can say to that

[swo17]

Switched it off after fifteen minutes myself.

You can't judge Dick until you have at least seen the scene with Nixon on the beach.

[Gregory]

Well, I'm going to be among the last-minute crowd, but I thought I'd share my #1 pick: La Promesse