| The world according to Chairman Tony... |
| The Best Films Ever Made
From the DVD Collection of Antonio C. Abaya Last updated in December 2006 |
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| H - P |
| Hannah and Her Sisters, by Woody Allen. (1984, US.) Interpersonal relationships among three sisters and their husbands, relatives and lovers, set in the arty enclaves of Manhattan. Excellent ensemble acting throughout. Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey, Dianne West, Woody Allen, Michael Caine, Lloyd Nolan, Max von Sydow, etc.
Heat and Dust, by James Ivory. (1983, GB.) Parallel lives intersect as a modern English girl who comes to India to do research on her grand-aunt who had lived there at the time of the British Raj and was seduced by it, is herself drawn to India by its magical spell. Julie Christie, Greta Scacchi, Shashi Kapoor. Henry V, by Laurence Olivier. (1946, GB.) I first saw this film in Quiapo�s Times Theater, when I was 11 or 12 years old, not knowing who Henry V or Shakespeare was. I went to see it for the battle scenes in what I now know was Agincourt. The film starts with a bird�s eye view of Shakespeare�s London , narrows down to the Globe Theatre, focuses on the stage as the play begins, then segues into the outdoors. Arguably the best adaptation of Shakespeare into film. Olivier won Oscars as both director and lead actor. Laurence Olivier, Robert Newton, Leslie Banks, Renee Asherson. Hero, by Zhang Yimou. (2002, China, in Mandarin.) A highly stylized account of China�s turbulent years of internecine warfare when the seven kingdoms were finally united into one, under Qin King, China�s first emperor, who then becomes the target of three legendary assassins. Spectacular cinematography and sumptuous production. Jet Li, Tony Cheung, Chiu Wai. High Noon , by Fred Zinnemann. (1952, US.) One of the few westerns that I truly enjoy. Instead of leaving on his honeymoon, a newly married marshall stays in town to confront a released convict come to seek revenge against him at high noon. The dramatic tension is palpable. Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Lloyd Bridges. Hiroshima Mon Amour, by Alain Resnais. (1959, France, in French.) Based on the novel by Marguerite Duras. In 1961, I rode my Vespa scooter to Nevers just to try to recapture the atmospherics of this film. While doing an anti-war film in Hiroshima, a French actress falls in love with a Japanese architect, and recalls her earlier doomed romance with a German soldier�in occupied Nevers. Eiji Okada, Emmanuelle Riva. House of Sand and Fog, by Vadim Perelman. (2001, US.) A domestic tragedy of Shakespearean resonance revolving around a house in Marin County that is sought after by the various characters for different reasons. Ben Kingsley, Jennifer Connelly, etc. Howards End, by James Ivory. (1992, GB.) Based on the novel by E. M. Forster. Class struggle in Edwardian England in which the upper, middle and lower strata of English society interact with impeccable manners and with the conviction that all this was ordained by God. Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave Husbands and Wives, by Woody Allen. (1992, US.) Two Manhattan couples go through the ups and downs of their conjugal relationships, including the attraction of the elder Woody to a younger woman, as art imitates life. Done in cinema verite style. Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Judy Davis, Sydney Pollack, Liam Neeson, Juliette Lewis. I, Claudius, by Herbert Wise. (1976, GB, a BBC mini-series.) Based on Robert Graves� history of Imperial Rome as seen through the eyes (and pen) of Claudius, one of the later emperors. Ancient history was never this fascinating. Derek Jacobi, Sian Philips, Brian Blessed, Margaret Tyzack, John Hurt, George Baker, Patrick Stewart, etc. I Know Where I�m Going, Michael Power and Emeric Pressburger. (1945, GB.) A strong willed and methodically determined young woman journeys to the Hebrides to marry her rich fianc� on one of the wind-swept islands off Scotland, but is prevented, by foul weather and a naval officer, from reaching her destination. Wendy Hiller, R. Livesey. Ikiru, by Akira Kurosawa. (1952, Japan, in Japanese.) I am not a great fan of Kurosawa�s samurai films because I am put off by his characters� exaggerated motions and their unnaturally gruff way of talking, which is probably a tradition in classical Japanese theatre. In the modern-day setting of this film, a government bureaucrat, who has been �dead� in his job for decades, finds out that he is dying of cancer and re-discovers life. Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kameko, etc. In Cold Blood, by Richard Brooks. (1967, US.) Based on the book by Truman Capote. A semi-documentary account of the random killing of a farm family by a pair of aimless drifters, including their trial and eventual execution by hanging. Based on a true story. Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, John Forsythe. In the Line of Fire, by Wolfgang Petersen. (1993, US.) Fast-paced suspense thriller, a cat-and-mouse game played between a would-be presidential assassin and an ageing Secret Service agent who has seen better days. Clint Eastwood, John Malkovitch, etc. In the Realm of the Senses, by Nagisa Oshima. (1976, Japan, in Japanese.). The ultimate in eroticism on film short of hard-core porn. A servant-girl and her lover engage in endless bouts of frenetic love-making in a seeming quest for the ultimate orgasm. Its companion In the Realm of Passion (1978) is much tamer. Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda. Indochine, by Regis Wargnier. (1992, France, in French.) Set in the Indo-China about to explode in nationalist revolt, a Frenchwoman manager of a rubber plantation and her adopted Vietnamese daughter fall in love with the same French naval officer. Catherine Deneuve, Linh Dan Pham, Vincent Perez. Intolerance, by D. W. Griffith. (1916, US, silent.) Stung by criticism that his earlier Birth of a Nation (1915) was racist � which it certainly was � Griffith now dwells on man�s inhumanity to man as illustrated in four interweaving tales from ancient Babylon, biblical Judaea, medieval France and present-day America, that all come to a climax. Lilian Gish, Moe Marsh, Constance Talmadege It�s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, by Stanley Kramer. (1963, US.) And it�s money, money, money, money that the world is a mad over, as various people overhear from a dying accident victim references to treasure buried somewhere and they all scramble for it. Spencer Tracy, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Milton Berle, Phil Silvers, Don Knotts. It�s a Wonderful Life, by Frank Capra. (1946, US.) A young father and bank executive, running into one problem after another, contemplates suicide and is saved by his guardian angel disguised as a watchman. A feel-good sentimental comedic drama. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Henry Traverse. Jaws, by Stephen Spielberg. (1978, US.) Based on the novel by Peter Benchley. On one level, a suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat thriller as three men seek to destroy a great white shark that has been terrorizing an island resort community. On another level, an obsession that literally and figuratively consumes one of the hunters, a modern day Captain Ahab. Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfus, Robert Shaw, etc. Jesus of Montreal, by Denys Arcand. (1990, Canada, in French.) An attempt to rehash and modernize a Canadian parish� annual Passion Play leads to conflict with municipal officials, which parallels (or tries to) the original agony of Jesus Christ. Lothaire Bluteau, Giles Pelletier, Catherine Wilkening, Marie-Christine Barrault. JFK, by Oliver Stone. (1991, US.) Was John F. Kennedy killed by a lone gunman, or was he the target of a wider conspiracy? Stone believes the latter and has crafted this controversial dissertation based on the work of New Orleans DA Jim Garrison in bringing charges against some of the principals. Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pesci, Gary Oldman, Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau. Judgment at Nuremberg, by Stanley Kramer. (1961, US.) A small-town American judge is enlisted to try for war crimes four German judges who served the Nazi cause in varying capacities. A fictional spin-off of the actual Nuremberg Trials, the film none the less captures the moral anguish of the times. Spencer Tracy, Maximilian Schell, Burt Lancaster, etc. Jules and Jim, by Francois Truffaut. (1962, France, in French.) Effervescent m�nage a trois set in Paris before World War I in which the heroine alternately shares her love with two good friends, one French, the other German. Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner etc. Kandahar, by Mohsen Makhmalbaf. (2001, Iran, in Farsi.) Returning home to her native Afghanistan to prevent the threatened suicide of her sister, a Canadian journalist journeys from the Iranian border into the heart of Taliban-land, at once both familiar and bizarre, at once both culturally akin and inscrutably alien. Niloufar Pazira, Hassan Tantai, etc. The King of Comedy, by Martin Scorsese. (1983, US.) An aspiring but batty comedian with the unlikely name of Rupert Pupkin schemes to insert himself into a prime-time TV slot by the simple act of kidnapping the real comedian-star of that show, and actually gets away with it. Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Sandra Bernhard, Tony Randall. Knife in the Water, by Roman Polanski. (1962, Poland, in Polish.) In this first film by Polanski, a couple on their way to the marina for a sail, picks up a young hitchhiker on the road, whose presence on their sailboat creates an unexpected triangle. Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka, Zybmunt Malandowicz Kramer vs. Kramer, by Robert Benton. (1979, US.) The glossiest tear-jerker since the invention of Kleenex. A divorced advertising exec gets temporary custody of their seven-year old son, until� Glorious cinematography, first-rate acting especially by the two principals. Dustin Hoffman, Justin Henry, Meryl Streep, etc LA Confidential, by Curtis Hanson. (1997, US.) A no-holds barred look at police corruption and brutality in 1950s Los Angeles, it follows the career paths of three police officers, each one�s character and personality clearly etched against a backdrop of media sleaze, internal police politics. Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger. The Ladykillers, by Alexander MacKendrick. (1955, GB.) A gang of stumblebum thieves, attempting to hide their loot, are done in by a harmless old lady in tennis shoes who insists on proper behavior from everyone at all times. Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Katie Johnson, Herbert Lom, etc. Lamerica, by Gianni Amelio. (1995, Italy, in Italian and Albanian.) What starts as a scam to set up a dummy corporation in the drab and dreary environment of post-Communist Albania turns into a nightmare for the Italian proponent as he is swallowed by the stampede of tens of thousands of impoverished Albanians to escape their country into�.Italy. Enrico Lo Verso, Michele Placido, Carmelo Di Mazzarelli. The Last Laugh, by F. W. Murnau. (1924, Germany, silent.) The heart and soul of this classic silent film is the humiliation and loss of self-esteem suffered by the doorman of a luxury hotel when he is demoted to bathroom attendant, as poignantly portrayed by Emil Jannings.. Everything else, including his �last laugh,� is almost superfluous. Jannings, etc. The Last Seduction, by John Dahl. (1994, US.) When her husband comes home with a bundle from a drug deal, the woman runs away with it and moves to a small town where her manipulative character asserts itself in the plot�s intricate twists and turns. Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg, J. T. Walsh, Bill Pullman, Bill Nunn. The Last Tango in Paris, by Bernardo Bertolucci. (1973, Italy, in French and English.) An ageing American expat in Paris, despondent over his wife�s suicide, enters into a doomed affair with a young woman. A cult film in its time because of its bold treatment of sex, including scenes of frontal nudity (for which it was banned in some places), it is a pretentious prattle with inexplicable outbursts and pseudo-spontaneity in the phony style of Jean Luc Godard. Rather than the classic it set out to be, it is actually a terrible bore. Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, Jean Pierre Leaud. The Last Temptation of Christ, by Martin Scorsese. (1988, US.) Based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis who was excommunicated from the Greek Orthodox Church for it, directed by a Roman Catholic, and produced by a Calvinist, this film was banned in Manila by Manoling Morato. Its sin: its fictive Jesus, dying on the Cross, imagines for a fleeting instant what it would have been like if he had married Mary Magdalene, had children with her and lived an ordinary life to a ripe old age. Judas Iscariot shames him back to his messianic mission. Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, etc. Late Spring, by Yasujiro Ozu. (1949, Japan, in Japanese.) Subtle family drama in which a widowed father, fearful that his daughter will end up an old maid from taking care of him, pretends to be preparing to re-marry in order to encourage her to start her own family. Chisu Ryu, Setsuko Hara, Hakuro Sugimura. Lawrence of Arabia, by David Lean. (1962, GB). My all-around favorite film: a larger-than-life hero, spectacular desert cinematography, glorious soundtrack music and dramatic story-telling. Set in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire as the Turks lose control of Damascus to the manipulative British and their Arab surrogates. Peter O�Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Claude Rains, etc. The Legend of Rita, by Volker Schlondorff. (2000, Germany, in German.) Rita is an anti-capitalist activist who robbed banks and played cat and mouse with the West German police. Forced to flee to East Germany, she comes face to face with the drab realities of life under socialism. Bibiana Beglau, Martin Wutke, Nadja Uhl, etc. Lifeboat, by Alfred Hitchcock. (1944, US.) In a cramped lifeboat, a handful of survivors of a torpedoed ocean liner rescue another, who turns out to be an officer of the German sub, since also torpedoed, that had sunk their ship, and who is the only one among them with the navigational skills and compass to lead them to rescue. Tallulah Bankhead, etc. Life is Beautiful, by Roberto Benigni. (1998, Italy, in Italian.) Herded with other Italian Jews into a Nazi concentration camp, a father makes light of the situation and convinces his young son that it is all a game, the winner of which will be rewarded with a real tank. Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, etc The Lion in Winter, by Anthony Harvey. (1968, GB.) Essentially a talkfest pas de deux between Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II in some damp and dreary dungeon of their castle. If you can�t stand royal conversation, this film is not for you. Katherine Hepburn, Peter O�Toole, Anthony Hopkins, Nigel Terry, etc. The Longest Day, by Andrew Marton et al. (1962, US.). Panoramic, if somewhat idealized, account of the Normandy invasion. Realism is attempted through many location shoots and by the authentic use of language: the Germans speak German, the French speak French, the British speak English, and the Americans speak Brooklynese. John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Curt Jurgens, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Rod Steiger, Kenneth More, Roddy McDowell, Peter Lawford. Lost in Translation, by Sofia Coppola. (2003, US.) An ageing (married) film star doing a whiskey commercial and the young wife of a busy photographer become acquainted in their Tokyo hotel and while away their boredom together, without the obligatory humping and heavy breathing. That her characters did so, convincingly and without prudery or preaching, even with an undercurrent of unspoken mutual attraction, makes this minimalist film, Coppola�s debut, a remarkable achievement. Bill Murray, Scarlett Johanson, etc. Love and Death, by Woody Allen. (1975, US.) A slapstick spoof of 19th century Russia without sparing Tolstoy and Dostoevsky (or the 20th Swede Ingmar Bergman), and the real reason why Napoleon retreated from Moscow: Woody and his love tried to assassinate him. Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, etc. Madadayo, by Akira Kurosawa. (1992, Japan, in Japanese.) A retired university professor is honored by his former students with a dinner on his birthday every year after the 60th, during which he is toasted with a ceremonial Mahda-kai? (Are you ready for the next life?), to which he replies Madadayo! (Not yet!) Unusual for Kurosawa, this film brims with robust good humor. Kyoko Kagawa, Tatsuo Matsumura, etc. The Madness of King George, by Nicholas Hytner. (1994, GB.) Having just lost the American colonies, King George III starts to lose his mind. A finely detailed historical drama on court manners, the maneuvers for royal succession, and the state of medical diagnosis in 18th century England. Nigel Hawthorne, Helen Mirren, Ian Holm, etc. A Man and a Woman, by Claude Lelouch. (1966, France, in French.) An old-fashioned romantic story that avoids falling into the saccharine pit through deliberate restraint all around. Melancholic sweet-sad songs. Anouk Aimee, Jean Louis Trintignant, etc. A Man for All Seasons, by Fred Zinnemann. (1966, GB.) The celebrated head-on collision between King Henry VIII, who wanted a divorce from his barren wife, and Sir Thomas More, his lord chancellor, who would not water down his religious convictions to accommodate the king. Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw, Wendy Hiller, Orson Welles, etc. The Man Who Loved Women, by Francois Truffaut. (1978, France, in French.) An incorrigible womanizer pursues the female of the species for the pleasure of the chase, faithfully recording his dalliances in his memoirs, until he literally drops dead from it. Charles Denner, Leslie Caron, Brigitte Fossey, Nathalie Baye, etc. Manhattan, by Woody Allen. (1979, US.) A very Woody and a very New York film delving into the indiscretions, infidelities and anxieties of its characters as only Allen can portray them in their ever mutating relationships. Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep. Mariel Hemingway, Wallace Shawn, etc. M*A*S*H, by Robert Altman. (1970, US.) Black comedy amid the broken bodies and ruptured blood vessels in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War, as a trio of military surgeons upset the cosmic order with their flagrantly outrageous behavior. No wonder the US failed to win that war. Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, etc. Match Point, by Woody Allen. (2005, US/GB.) In tennis, when the ball hits the edge of the net, luck determines on which side it will fall. So also in life. A stolen bracelet engraved with a traceable address, is cast in the direction of the River Thames but hits the railing instead and determines the success or failure of a double murder. Brian Cox, Matthew Goode, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, etc. Maurice, by James Ivory. (1987, GB.) Based on the novel by E. M. Forster. Set in pre-World War I England, the story examines the social and sexual mores of the upper class, especially among those in university, as some of them come to grips with homosexuality. James Wilby, Hugh Grant, Rupert Graves, Ben Kingsley, Helena Bonham Carter, etc. Meet John Doe, by Frank Capra. (1941, US.) The least known of Capra�s moralistic social dramas. In order to raise her paper�s circulation and keep her job, a female journalist builds up a common drifter into a national icon, who is in turn used by a corrupt politician for his own agenda. Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold. Memoirs of a Geisha, by Rob Marshall. (2005, US.) Although the book on which it was based, the screenplay, the music score, the cinematography and the direction are all by Americans, and the dialogue is in English, the film nevertheless still manages to capture the secretive world of the geisha, its nuances and its texture. One wonders if and how the film would have been better if it had been done by Japanese and the dialogue was in Japanese. Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh, Gong Li, etc. Mephisto, by Istvan Szabo. (1981, West Germany, in German.) An ambitious stage actor in Germany sacrifices his artistic integrity in a Faustian bargain for the patronage of, and career advancement under, the Nazis. Klaus Maria Brandauer, Krystyna Janda, etc. Midnight Cowboy, by John Schlesinger. (1969, US.) Life in the Manhattan gutter as experienced by a would-be stud from Texas and a tubercular small-time crook whom he winds up taking care of. A tale of two losers in the urban jungle. Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Brenda Vacarro, Sylvia Miles, etc. Mighty Aphrodite, by Woody Allen. (1995, US.) What happens when a couple adopts a baby who grows up to be an exceptional child, and the foster dad looks for the real mother, who turns out to be a prostitute? As usual, Woody�s neuroses provide the laughs, helped along by a hilarious Greek chorus. Woody Allen, Helena Bonham Carter, etc. Minority Report, by Steven Spielberg. (2002, US.) In a not-so-distant future, psychics have developed the ability to predict a crime before it is committed. A top agent of the Pre-Crime Unit of the Washington DC police force is himself tagged as about to commit a murder and has to look for his victim-to-be whom he does not even know. An intelligent sci-fi film without space monsters. Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Max von Sydow. The Miracle of Marcelino, by Ladislao Vajda. (1955, Spain, in Spanish.) An infant left at the doorsteps of a monastery grows up among the monks but later begins to ask for and about his mother. How he rejoins her is the miracle of Marcelino Pan y Vino. Pablito Calvo, Rafael Riveles, Juan Calvo, Antonio Vico, etc. The Miracle Worker, by Arthur Penn. (1962, US.) Based on the stage play by William Gibson.The extraordinary story of how Helen Keller, blind-deaf-mute since birth, learns to communicate during her teen years through the untiring efforts of her miracle worker, the half-blind Annie Sullivan. Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Victor Jory, etc. The Mission, by Roland Joffe. (1986, GB.) In 18th century South America, a Jesuit priest leads Indian tribesmen in open revolt against avaricious Spanish colonists. Gorgeous cinematography. Jeremy Irons, Robert De Niro, Aidan Quinn, Liam Neesom. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, by Frank Capra. (1939, US.) The American Jesuits at the Ateneo in the late 1940s made sure we young impressionable students watched the moralistic films of Frank Capra. Especially this classic about an idealistic young senator who, upon taking his seat in Washington, discovers corruption and wrongdoing in high places and sets out to uncover them. James Stewart, Claude Rains, Jean Arthur, etc. Modern Times, by Charlie Chaplin. (1936, US, silent.) Chaplin�s last silent comedy as he moved his art to, well, modern times. A biting satire on mechanization and industrialization in the urban milieu, Chaplin stars in it as a worker who goes berserk on the factory floor due to the repetitiousness of his chores. Chaplin, Paulette Goddard. Monty Python�s Life of Brian, by Terry Jones. (1979, GB.) Everyone knows about the baby born in a manger in Bethlehem. Unknown to all was the other baby born that day in another manger down the next block, whose name was Brian. An irreverent, wacky spoof from the Monty Python crew. John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, G. Chapman. Mother and Son, by Alexandr Sokurov. (1997, Russia, in Russian.) To watch this film is almost to intrude into their privacy, as a grown son takes care of his dying mother. Barely a hundred words are spoken and the air of hushed reverence is almost unbearable. Gudrin Geyer, Alexander Anaishnov. Mutiny on the Bounty, by Frank Lloyd. (1935, US.) The recent sex scandal in remote Pitcairn Island involving direct descendants of the mutineers on the HMS Bounty recall the harsh conditions and stern discipline on board British warships in the 18th century, so vividly portrayed in this film classic. Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone. My Dinner with Andre, by Louis Malle. (1981, US.) A filmic duet played out almost entirely as a dinner conversation between a practical-minded stage writer, and his polar opposite, a quest-driven romantic vagabond forever in search of new emotional and artistic experiences. Andre Gregory, Wallace Shaw. My Fair Lady, by George Cukor. (1964, US.) Musical based on the play �Pygmalion� by George Bernard Shaw. The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain, but this musical gem has circumnavigated the earth several times in the past 40 years because of infectious songs (by Lerner and Lowe), dazzling sets and costumes and durable entertainment values. Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, etc. My Night at Maud�s, by Eric Rohmer. (1970. France, in French.) One of Rohmer�s Six Moral Tales. A strong-willed Catholic engineer is invited by a free-spirited flirt to spend the night at her apartment, which tests the strength or weakness of his religious scruples. Jean Louis Trintignant, Francoise Fabian, Marie-Christine Barrault. Nashville, by Robert Altman. (1975, US.) Was this really �one of the greatest (film) achievements of the decade�? Not in my book, it wasn�t. A motley group of characters happen to meet in Nashville, which must be the cornball music capital of America, while a political campaign for something called the Replacement Party intermittently blares out its platform to �replace� lawyers, the Star Spangled Banner, etc. And all the while, one character after another is belting out an endless stream of bluegrass, country, western, cowboy and evangelical songs, which moved this unappreciative non-aficionado to groan, �When can I get out of this oversized hillbilly karaoke bar?� Keith Carradine, Lily Tomlin, Ronee Blakely, Henry Gibson, etc. The Navigator, by Buster Keaton. (1921, US, silent.) Together with two shorts of a similar nautical setting, this DVD is the best showcase for Keaton�s considerable comedic repertoire of sight gags and slapstick capers. The chase scenes are particularly hilarious. Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, etc. Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud, by Claude Sautet. (1995, France, in French.) A wealthy elderly judge hires a despondent young woman to help him prepare the manuscripts of his memoirs. Their daily meetings generate a sexual tension that is never spoken or acted upon but simmers below the surface. Emmanuelle Beart, Michel Serrault, etc. Network, by Sidney Lumet. (1976, US.) Scathing satire on American TV network politics and the intricacies of the rating game. A weary TV anchor man suffers a nervous breakdown while on the air and becomes an instant guru for millions of disaffected urban viewers. Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty. Nicholas and Alexandra, by Franklin Schaffner. (1971, GB.) The drama of the Russian Revolution as the weak-kneed czar and his strong-willed czarina lose their grip on power to the Bolsheviks and are eventually executed, along with their children, in the Urals. Michael Jayston, Janet Suzman, Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, etc. Never on Sunday, by Jules Dassin. (1959, France/Greece, in English and Greek.) An idealistic American, aptly named Homer, comes to Greece to rediscover its ancient glory, falls in love with a Greek prostitute whom he tries to reform, with little success. Entertaining comedic romp, with infectious bouzouki music. Melina Mercouri, J. Dassin. A Night at the Opera, by Sam Wood. (1935, US.) A con artist and his two zany accomplices (the Marx Brothers) become involved with an opera company on board an ocean liner. You�ll never guess what will tumble out when you open a liner�s stateroom door. Groucho, Harpo, Zippo, Margaret Dumont, etc. Nights of Cabiria, by Federico Fellini. (1957, Italy, in Italian.) The poignant story of a prostitute in Rome who still searches for romance and fulfillment from the men who buy her favors, only to be disappointed at every turn. Giulietta Masina, Francois Perier, etc. Nixon, by Oliver Stone. (1995, US.) No modern American president was as contradictory in his personality as Richard M. Nixon. On the one hand, he soared to great heights with lofty visions of geopolitical initiatives; on the other, he trolled in the gutter with his petty concerns and his vindictive nature. Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, Paul Sorvino, etc. North by Northwest, by Alfred Hitchcock. (1959, US.) An unsuspecting advertising executive is mistaken for a spy and is dragged into a mysterious plot to recover some objects that he does not possess. Edge-of-your-seat suspense thriller. Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin Landau. Notes from the Underground, by Gary Wolkow. (1995, US.) Based on the novel by Fyodor Dostoyevski, but adopted for a modern audience. Instead of writing a diary, the present-day anti-hero speaks into a video camera to record his existential angst, his consuming paranoia, his unbearable self-awareness. Henry Czerny, Sheryl Lee, etc. Oblomov, by Nikita Mikhalkov. (1979, USSR, in Russian.) Based on the novel by Ivan Goncharov. Very 19th century Russia. A slothful landowner cannot gather enough reasons and muscles to rise up from his stupor in the horizontal position, until he is smitten by a young lady. Interesting character study. Oleg Tabakov, Elena Solovel. On Golden Pond, by Mark Rydell. (1981, US.) A meditation on old age and mortality. A cantankerous retired teacher celebrates his 80th birthday with an outing in the woods in the company of his devoted wife and estranged daughter with whom he becomes reconciled. The last film of Henry Fonda. Fonda, Katherine Hepburn, Jane Fonda. On the Waterfront, by Elia Kazan. (1954, US.) Corruption in a dockside labor union is exposed by a stevedore after the suspicious death of his brother, but union thugs make life difficult for him. Made Marlon Brando a star. Brando, Rod Steiger, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint. Once Upon a Time in America, by Sergio Leone. (1989, US.) An ex-convict recalls a life of crime lived by him and his three childhood friends from the 20s to the 60s in the Little Italy tenements of Manhattan. Sprawling gangster saga. Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Treat Williams, Tuesday Weld. Once Were Warriors, by Lee Tamahori. (1995, New Zealand, in English and Maori.) A powerful domestic drama about a woman who tries to preserve her dignity and to protect her children in the face of violent abuse from her hard-drinking husband. Emotionally draining to watch, but very compelling. Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, etc. Open City, by Roberto Rossellini. (1946, Italy, in Italian.) During the last days of the Second World War, Italian resistance fighters in Rome openly defy the Nazi German occupiers. Said to be the first film in the Italian neo-realist genre. Anna Magnani, etc. Ordinary People, by Robert Redford. (1980, US.) An upper middle-class WASP suburban family copes with the accidental death of the elder son, which was most painful for the younger son. Excellent ensemble acting and directorial debut for Redford. Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch. Osama, by Sodiq Barmak. (2004, Afghanistan, in Pashtoo.) A 12-year old girl and her mother in Kabul, trapped by their poverty and the misogynic policies of the Taliban, attempt to survive by disguising the girl as a boy (named Osama) so that she can go to school and work on the side. Nothing to do with Bin Laden. Actors unidentified. The Others, by Alejandro Amenabar. (2001, US/Spain.) The only ghost story in this list as I do not like the genre. But Spanish director Amenabar�s first film in English manages to build up the suspense without resorting to clich�d screaming and comes up with an ending that no one could have expected. Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flannagan, etc. Out of Africa, by Sydney Pollack. (1985, US.) A non-ideological view of European colonialism in Africa in the eyes of a Danish outsider. Spectacular cinematography, memorable soundtrack music and luminous performance by Meryl Streep make this one of my top favorites. Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer, etc. The Passion of Joan of Arc, by Carl Dreyer. (1928, France/Denmark, silent.) One of the greatest films ever made. Based on the actual court records of the trial and execution of the Maid of Orleans in 1431, the silent film captures the nuances of the drama through the exceptional use of camera close-ups. Be sure to get the Criterion Collection edition which includes an option to play Visions of Light with the film, a choral work which Composer Richard Einhorn was moved to compose after watching this film. Maria Falconetti, Eugena Sylvaw. The Passion of the Christ, by Mel Gibson. (2003, US.) The only film that was ever, and probably will ever be, filmed in Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin. It is claimed to be the most faithful recreation of the physical suffering endured by Jesus before he was crucified. A powerful statement by conservative Roman Catholic Gibson. Jim Caviezel, Monica Bellucci, Claudia Gerini, Maia Morgenstern, etc. Patton, by Franklin J. Schaffner. (1970, US.) Character study of the US� most flamboyant and controversial general in Europe during World War II. If Patton had had his way, he would have beaten the Soviet Army to Berlin and would have redrawn the map of Europe, or would have started World War III. George C. Scott, Karl Malden, etc. Pelle the Conqueror, by Billie August. (1988, Denmark, in Danish and Swedish). Pelle is a 14-ish boy who migrates from Sweden to Denmark with his impoverished widower father at the turn of the century, in search of a better life, but meets only hardship, disappointment and humiliation. Max von Sydow, Pelle Hvengaard, The People vs Larry Flynt, by Milos Forman. (1996, US.) Who would have thought that the slime-ball publisher of a sleazy and exploitative girlie magazine would be the winner in a US Supreme Court judgment on the definition of pornography? Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton, James Cromwell, etc. The Piano, by Jane Campion. (1993, Australia/New Zealand.) New Zealand�s unique vegetation and the painted faces of Maori characters give this film an eerie, other-worldly look, but it is still the same eternal triangle, at the apex of which is a mute woman who expresses herself through her piano. Holly Hunter, Sam Neill, Harvey Keitel, etc. Pixote, by Hector Babenco. (1981, Brazil, in Portuguese.) Pixote (�Peewee�) is a 10-year old boy who gets mixed up with a gang of young toughies in the slums of Sao Paulo as they live out hopeless lives mired in pimping, drug-dealing and murder. A searing cinematic document on a major social problem in Brazil. Fernando Ramos da Silva etc. Platoon, by Oliver Stone. (1986, US.) One of the most realistic war movies ever made, with special emphasis on the gray areas of the Vietnam War in particular, which made it such an emotional cause celebre among the affected generations. Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenguer, Johnny Depp, etc. Priest, by Antonia Bird. (1995, GB.) In a working class parish in Liverpool, an idealistic young priest attempts to minister to his flock and at the same time indulge his homosexual tendencies. A provocative story of cynicism, inner conflict, forgiveness and redemption. Linus Roache, Tom Wilkinson, Cathy Tyson, etc. Primary Colors, by Mike Nichols. (1998, US.). Based on a celebrated book by Anonymous, this film recreates the Clinton presidential campaign of 1992 and offers character portraits of the principals. Superb thinly disguised caricatures of Bill and Hillary. John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton, etc. Psycho, by Alfred Hitchcock. (1960, US.) Hitchcock�s classic suspense thriller about a psychopathic killer hiding inside the persona of a mild-mannered motel manager. Taking a shower has since become an exercise in paranoia. Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, etc. |
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