Best Films 1995-2003
Richard L. Rapson
Department of History
Dear All,
Here are my
latest recommendations movies from
1997 to the present.
As
always, “9”
signifies terrific, “8” good, and “7” good enough. For 1997-2002 my list is
pretty complete, while 2003 is nearly so.
Forget 2004. I prefer to watch movies on DVD or video, and
they don’t get there onto that format until six months after release—at the
earliest. So I’ve barely made a dent in
the current year. If films you’ve seen
recently at the theatre and liked a lot do not appear below, it’s almost surely
because I haven’t seen them yet.
At the suggestion of one of my friends, I now subscribe to Netflix.com, which possesses for rental most of my suggested movies. (For the most esoteric films, Facets.org still has the best collection of foreign and independent American films I’ve seen.) If you watch more than one movie per week, you may find Netflix (or one of the many competing and similar new services) to be pretty economical and convenient.
Enjoy,
and do continue to let me know what I should and should not have included. My
choices, being purely personal, are indefensible. But spare me oozing blood, high body counts, and soppy, inspirational, unearned,
Hollywood-style happy endings—please.
I can also do without those uplifting, panning shots of the heavens at the end
of a sad movie, after the death of a loved character. You know: where the camera gazes upward, as
the music swells, ascending to the celestial blue sky above and thence onward
to the clouds reflecting rays of sun emanating from the heavens above.
Crescendo and fade . . . The kind of life-affirming picture that makes you want
to kill yourself!
Dick
[Because of overwhelming demand (thanks to both of
you), I now lay my movie suggestions on you twice a year. They’re attached.]
**************************************************************************************************
FILMS TO SEE FROM 2003
NINES: Angels in
EIGHTS: American Splendor; Bus 174 (Brazilian); Capturing
the Friedmans; The Cuckoo (Russian); Elephant (Van Sant); Fog of War (Morris docu);
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (Tautou); In America
(Sheridan); Lord of the Rings-Return of the King; Lost in Translation; Master
and Commander; A Mighty Wind; Monster; Mystic River; Nowhere in Africa
(German); School of Rock; Seabiscuit; Spellbound (docu); Spider; Swimming Pool (Ozon)
Winged Migration (French docu).
SEVENS: Bend It Like Beckham (UK); Calendar Girls (UK);
Casa de los Babys (Sayles);
Cold Mountain; Fellini: I’m a Born Liar (Italian docu); Ghosts of the Abyss (IMAX); Japon
(Mexican); Laurel Canyon; Lost in La Mancha (docu); Raising Victor Vargas; Respiro
(Italian); Secret Lives of Dentists; Sister Helen (docu);
Son Frere; Thirteen.
FILMS TO SEE FROM 2002
NINES: All Or Nothing (Leigh); The Hours; Man Without a
Past (Kaurismaki); Russian
EIGHTS: Alias Betty (French); Ararat (Egoyan);
Bloody Sunday (Irish); Chicago; Decasia; Elling (Norwegian); Far From Heaven; Fast Runner (Atanarjuat) [Inuit]; Heaven (Tykwer);
Les Destinees (Assayas);
Mostly Martha (German); Murderous Maids (French); Notorious C.H.O; Pianist;
Piano Teacher (Haneke); Quiet American; Read My Lips
(French); Road to Perdition; Safe Conduct (Tavernier); Secretary; Song for
Martin (August/Swedish); Triumph of Love (Marivaux).
SEVENS: About A Boy (UK); About Schmidt; Adaptation; Antwone Fisher; Auto Focus; The Bank
(Australian); Beijing Bicycle; Believer; Birthday Girl; Blackboards (S. Makhmalbaf); Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary; Bowling for
Columbine (Moore docu); Catch Me If You Can; Cherry
Orchard; Children of the Century (Kurys); Cockettes (docu); Confessions of
a Dangerous Mind; 8 Women (Ozon); Enigma (Apted/Stoppard); Emperor’s Club; Esther Kahn (Desplechin); Frida; Gangs of New
York; Girls Can’t Swim (French); The Good Girl; Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets; Human Nature; Importance of
Being Earnest; Insomnia (American); Invincible (Herzog); Justifiable Homicide (docu); The Kid Stays in the Picture; Kissing Jessica Stein;
Lovely and Amazing; Merci Pour le Chocolat (Chabrol); Monsoon Wedding (Nair); Mule Skinner Blues (docu); My Wife Is an Actress (French); Mystic Masseur
(Merchant); No Such Thing (Hartley); Nora (Irish); One Hour Photo; Pauline and
Paulette (Belgian); Personal Velocity; Possession; Presumed Guilty (SF docu); Punch-Drunk
Love; Rain (New Zealand); Real Women
Have Curves; Revolution No. 9; Sleepy Time Gal; Spirited Away (Miyazaki animé); Strange Fruit (docu);
Sunshine State (Sayles); Thirteen Conversations about One Thing; Time of Favor
(Israeli); Trials of Henry Kissinger; Tully; Virgil Bliss;
White Oleander.
FILMS TO SEE FROM 2001
NINES: Apocalypse Now Redux;
Divided We Fall (Czech); Gosford Park; Il Mio Viaggio in Italia (Scorsese); Lady and the Duke (Rohmer);
No Man’s Land (Bosnian); The Town is Quiet/La ville est tranqulle (Guediguian); Wit (Emma Thompson).
EIGHTS: Aberdeen; Conspiracy; Deep End; The
Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic
Expedition; Ghost World (Zwigoff); Hedwig and the
Angry Inch; I’m Going Home (Oliveira); In the Bedroom; Italian for Beginners
(Danish); Lantana (Australian); Last
Orders; Legend of Rita (Schlondorff); Liam (Frears);
L.I.E.; Lord of the Rings: Fellowship; The Man Who Bought Mustique
(UK docu); Me You Them (Brazilian); Memento;
Monster’s Ball; Moulin Rouge; Mulholland Drive
(Lynch); Pandaemonium (UK); Princess and the Warrior (Tykwer); Sexy Beast (UK); Son’s Room (Moretti);
Storytelling (Solondz); Thomas In Love (Belgian);
Time Out (French); Va
Savoir (Rivette); Under the Sand (Ozon);
Waking Life (Linklater); Widow of St. Pierre (Leconte); With a Friend Like Harry (French).
SEVENS: A.I.; About Adam (Irish); Adventures of Felix (French); Amelie
(French); An American Rhapsody; Anniversary Party; Audition (Japanese—strong
stomach required); Bad Company (French); Bandits (Levinson); Bartleby; A
Beautiful Mind; Behind the Sun (Brazilian); Burnt Money (Argentinian);
Business of Strangers; Bread and Tulips (Italian; Bride of the Wind (A.
Mahler); The Closet (French); Code Inconnu (Binoche);
Cool and Crazy (Norwegian); Dark Blue World (Czech); Devil’s Backbone
(Spanish); Diamond Men; Dinner Rush; Fighter (docu); Go Tigers! (docu);
Golden Bowl; Happenstance (French); Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone;
Heart of the World (6 mins.); I
Remember Me (docu); Intimacy (Chereau);
Iris; Kandahar; The King Is Alive (Danish); Lisa Picard is “Famous”; Little Otik (Svankmajer); A Love Divided (Irish); The Luzhin Defense (Nabokov); The Man
Who Wasn’t There (Coens); Maybe Baby (UK); My First Mister (Lahti);
Navigators; Nico and Dani
(Spanish); 101 Reykjavik (Iceland); Our
Lady of the Assassins (B. Schroeder/Spanish); Panic; Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story (docu); Porn
Star: Legend of Ron Jeremy; The River (Taiwanese); Shadow Magic (Chinese); Shipping News; Shot
in the Heart; Shrek; Songcatcher;
Startup.com (docu); Tape (Linklater);
Together (Swedish); Tuvalu (Bulgarian); Vengo (Gatlif/Spanish); Vertical Ray of the Sun (Vietnamese); What
Time Is It There? ((
FILMS TO SEE FROM 2000
NINES: Amores Perros (Mexican); Faithless (Bergman/Ullman).
EIGHTS: Before Night Falls; Best in Show; Butterfly (Spanish); Chuck and Buck; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee); East-West (French/Russian); The Gleaners and I (Varda docu); Hamlet (Almereyda); Human Resources (French); The Interview (Australian); It All Starts Today (Tavernier); Kestrel’s Eye (Swedish docu); L’Humanite; New Eve (French); Not One Less (Zhang Yimou); Nurse Betty (LaBute); Requiem for a Dream (Aronofsky); Shadow of the Vampire; State and Main (Mamet); Summer’s Tale (Rohmer); Sunshine (Szabo); The Terrorist (Hindi); The Trench (Wm. Boyd); Venus Beauty Institute (French); The Wind Will Carry Us (Kiarostami); You Can Count on Me.
SEVENS: Almost Famous (Crowe); An Affair of Love
(French); Aimee und Jaguar; Alice et Martin (Techiné);
Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack (docu);
Bamboozled (S.Lee);
Beautiful People (UK); Beyond the Mat (Wrestling docu);
Billy Elliot (UK); Boiler Room; The Bridge (Depardieu, dir.); Water Drops on
Burning Rocks (Ozon/French); Cast Away; Children of Chabannes; Chocolat; Chutney
Popcorn; Claire Dolan; Color of Paradise (Iranian); Cotton Mary (Merchant);
Criminal Lovers (Ozon); Dancer in the Dark (Trier)—but deeply flawed; Dr. T. and the Women (Altman);
Eight 1/2 Women (Greenaway); Eyes of Tammy Faye (docu); Five Senses (Canadian); From the Edge of the City
(Greek); George Washington; Ghost Dog (Jarmusch); Girlfight; A Good Baby; Goya in Bordeaux (Saura); Great Dance (docu); High
Fidelity (Frears); House of Mirth (Davies); I’m the
One That I Want (Cho); Into the Arms of Strangers: Kindertransport (docu); Jesus’ Son; Joe Gould’s Secret; Kadosh (Israeli); Kippur (Israeli); La Buche; Last
September (Bowen); Life and Times of
Hank Greenburg; Live Nude Girls Unite! (docu); Long
Night’s Journey Into Day (S.African docu); Love and Sex; Love’s Labour
Lost; Malena (Tornatore);
Luminous Motion; Mifune (Danish); O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Coens); One Day in September (docu);
Orfeu (Brazilian); Our Song; Paragraph 175 (docu); Place Vendome; Pollock;
Praise (Australian); Quarry (S. Africa); Quills; A Room for Romeo Brass (UK); Santitos (Mexican); The Annabel Chong
Story (docu7; Shadow Boxers (docu);
Soft Fruit (Australian); Solas (Spanish); Sound and Fury; Spring Forward;
Such A Long Journey (Indian); Gohatta [Taboo] (Oshima); Taste of Others (Jaoui);
Thirteen Days; Tigerland; A Time for Drunken Horses
(Kurdish); Titanic Town (UK); Twilight: Los Angeles (Deveare
Smith); Two Family House; Up at the Villa (UK); The Well (Australian); Winter
Sleepers (Tykwer); Wonderland (Winterbottom);
The Yards; Yi Yi (Taiwanese); Young Dr. Freud
(Austrian).
FILMS TO SEE FROM 1999
.
NINES: Beau Travail; Being John Malkovich;
42-Up;
EIGHTS: All About My Mother (Almodovar); American Movie (docu); Besieged (Bertolucci); Buena Vista Social Club (Wenders); Earth (Hindi); Felicia’s Journey; The Grandfather (Spanish); Harmonists (German); Holy Smoke (Campion); Insider; Limbo (Sayles); Love, Etc. (French); Magnolia; My Best Fiend, Klaus Kinski (Herzog); Onegin; Orphans (Glasgow); Rosetta (Belgian); Run Lola Run (German); Regret to Inform (docu); Sweet and Lowdown (Woody Allen); Third Miracle (A. Holland); Time Regained (Ruiz/Proust); Titus; Walk on the Moon; Winslow Boy (Mamet) .
SEVENS: All the Little Animals; American Beauty;
American Hollow (docu); Among Giants (UK); Another
Day in Paradise; Any Given Sunday; Arlington Road; B. Monkey (Radford); Boys
Don’t Cry; Bringing Out the Dead (Scorsese); Cider House Rules (Hallstrom); Close-Up (Kiarostami);
Cookie’s Fortune (Altman); Dancemaker; Dinner Game (French); Dry Cleaning (Nettoyage a sec); EdTV; Election;
Five Wives, Three Secretaries, and Me (docu); The
Gambler (Gambon); Genghis Blues (docu);
); Get Bruce (docu); Get Real (UK); God Said, ‘Ha!’; Green Mile; Hideous Kinky
(UK); Hands on a Hard Body (docu); Ideal Husband; Illuminata; Iris Blonde (Belgian); Judy Berlin; King of
Masks (Chinese); Last Days (Spielberg); Last Night (Canadian); Let It Come
Down: Life of Paul Bowles (docu); The Limey (Soderbergh); Lovers
of the Arctic Circle (Spanish); Man of the Century; Midsummer Night’s Dream;
Minus Man; Miss Julie; Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred Leuchter;
Mumford; My Son the Fanatic (Kureishi);
On the Ropes (Boxing docu); Open Your Eyes (Spanish);
Party Monster; Pizzicata (Italian); Portraits Chinois (“Shadow Play” (MinaTdir/Dugowson);
Princess Mononoke (Japanese animation); Pushing Tin
(Newell); Red Violin (Canadian); Show Me Love (Swedish); Sixth Happiness
(UK/India); South Park; Speaking in Strings (Salerno-Sonnenberg);
Still Crazy; Sugar Town (Anders); Talented Mr. Ripley; True Crime; Tumbleweeds
(McTeer); The Very Thought of You (UK); Whiteboys.
FILMS TO SEE FROM 1998
NINES: Chambermaid on the Titanic; Character (Dutch); The
Dream Life of Angels (La Vie Revee des Anges); Henry
Fool (Hartley); Love Is the
Devil (F.Bacon/ Jacobi);
Mrs. Dalloway; Shakespeare in Love; A Tale of Autumn
(Rohmer).
EIGHTS: Best Man (Italian-Avati);
;Festen (Celebration/Danish); Gadjo
Dilo (Gypsy); The General (Irish/Boorman);
Gods and Monsters (McKellen); Hanging
Gardens (Canadian); Happiness (Todd Solondz); Hilary and Jackie; I Stand
Alone (French); Jerusalem (Swedish); La Separation; Life Is Beautiful (Benigni); Lolita; Lucie
Aubrac (Berri); Marius
et Jeannette; Men With Guns (Sayles); Nil By Mouth (G.Oldman); Passion in the Desert (Balzac);
Regeneration (UK); Saving Private Ryan; School of Flesh (Jacquot);
The Thief (Russian); Waking Ned Devine (Irish); Western (French); Wilde; Young
Girls of Rochefort (1964-new print.
SEVENS: Affliction; The Apple (Iranian); Apt Pupil (McKellen); Arguing
the World; Artemisia (French); Beyond the Silence (German); Big Lebowski; Big One (M. Moore); Book of Life (Hartley short); Brandon Teena
Story (docu); The Break (Irish); Brother (Russian); Bulworth; Butcher Boy (Neil Jordan); Centrql Stqtion
(Brazilian);Dark City; Crossing Fields; Deja Vu (Jaglom); East Palace, West Palace (Chinese); Elizabeth; Firelight (UK); First Love, Last
Rites; Four Days in September (Brazilian); A Friend of the Deceased (Ukrainian);
The
Governess (UK); Hit Me; Horse Whisperer;HurlyburlyI
Went Down (Irish); The Inheritors (Austrian);
Insomnia (Norwegian); Kurt and Courtney; La Desenchantee
(Jacquot); Last Days of Disco (Stillman);
Late August, Early September (Assayas); Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth; Les Miserables (Bille August); Little
Dieter Needs to Fly (Werner Herzog/docu); Little
Voice; Mother and Son (Russian); My Name Is Joe (Loach); Next Stop Wonderland;
Out of Sight (Soderbergh); Paul Monette
(AIDS docu); A
Personal Journey With Martin Scorcese Through
American Movies; Pleasantville; Public Housing (Wiseman); Rushmore; Same Old
Song (Resnais); Secrets of the Heart (Spanish); See
the Sea (French/52mins); Seventh Heaven (Le septieme ciel) [Jacquot]; ); A Simple
Plan; A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries (Merchant-I); Spanish Prisoner (Mamet); Steam: The Turkish Bath (Italo-Turk);
The Swindle (Chabrol); Tango (Saura);
There’s Something About Mary; Thin
Red Line; The Truce (Primo Levi); Truman Show (Weir); Un Air de Famille (Klapisch); Wild Man Blues (Woody docu); Your Friends and Neighbors (LaBute).
FILMS TO SEE FROM 1997
NINES: Hamsun (Von Sydow!!); L.A. Confidential; Singing Detective (new video
of Dennis Potter, 1989); Sweet Hereafter (Egoyan);
Wag the Dog; Wings of the Dove.
EIGHTS: Angel Baby
(Australian); The Apostle (Duvall); Boogie Nights; The Boxer; Brassed Off (Postlethwaite); Capitaine Conan (Tavernier); Career Girls (Leigh); Chef in
Love (French-Georgian); Cold Lazarus
(Dennis Potter-2); Contact; Daytripper;
Deconstructing Harry (Woody); Diary of a Seducer (French); Donnie Brasco; Fast, Cheap, and Out of
Control (Errol Morris); Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown; Ice Storm (Ang
Lee);In & Out; In the Company of Men; Karaoke (Dennis Potter-1); Kiss or
Kill (Australian); L’Appat (Tavernier); Ma Vie en
Rose; Oscar and Lucinda; Pillow Book (Greenaway); Ponette; Post Coitum (Brigitte Rouan); Prisoner of the Mountains (Russian); Sick: The Life
and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (docu:warning—very difficult
to watch: for the unsqueamish only); Taste of
Cherry (Iranian/Kiarostami); Winter Guest (Emma/Phyllida).
SEVENS: Alive and Kicking (UK); Beaumarchais:
The Scoundrel); Box of Moonlight; Broken English (NZ-Croat); Children of the
Revolution (Stalin/JDavis; A Chorus of Disapproval
(Ayckbourn/1989); Dead Heart (Australian) Different for Girls (UK/transexual); Elective Affinities (Tavianis); Eve’s Bayou; Eye of God;
Forgotten Silver (NZ); Full Monty (UK); Four Little Girls (SpLee
docu); Gray’s Anatomy (Spalding); Gridlock’d
(Roth/Shakur); Grosse Pointe Blank; Guantanamera (Cuban); Hard Eight; Hollow Reed (UK);
Intimate Relations (UK); Jackie Brown; Kissed (Canadian); Long Way Home
(Holocaust docu); Mad City (Costa-Gavras);
Marcello Mastroianni, I Remember; Margaret’s Museum
(Nova Scotia); Mondo (French/gypsy); Mondo Plympton; Mongolian Tale;
Nothing Personal; Out of the Present (USSR docu);
Rats in the Rank (Aussie docu); Riding the Rails (docu); Romy and Michele’s High
School Reunion (Msorvino); Shall We Dance? (Japanese); Sunday (Suchet); Telling Lies in America; Timothy Leary’s Dead;
Titanic; Ulee’s Gold; The Van (Frears);
Waiting for Guffman (SpTap2); Washington Square (A.Holland); When the Cat’s Away (Klapisch).