Subgenre Sampler

Show: All FilmsRental Rental DVD Rental VHSSales Sales DVD Sales Blu-Ray Sales VHS

21 Grams (2003): Dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Feat. Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro…; For his English–language debut, the celebrated Mexican director of AMORES PERROS weighs in with an unconventional, soul–baring drama that…
All the Real Girls (2003): Dir. David Gordon Green
Feat. Patricia Clarkson, Zooey Deschanel, Paul Schneider; Wistful, nuanced tale set in a tiny North Carolina town, where the town stud must prove himself in a romance with his best friend's…
Blind Flight (2003): Dir. John Furse
Feat. Ian Hart, Linus Roache; True story of the 4–year kidnapping in 80s Lebanon of Irishman Brian Keenan and Englishman John McCarthy, given an affecting depth by its…
Bloom (2003): Dir. Sean Walsh
Feat. Stephen Rea, Angeline Ball, Hugh O'Conor…; The second attempt at adaptating James Joyce's famously 'difficult' novel "Ulysses" is more ambitious (and successsful) than the 1967 version at…
Lost Prince, The (2003): Dir. Stephen Poliakoff
Feat. Gina McKee, Miranda Richardson, Bibi Andersson…; A sumptuous BBC production concerning Prince John, the youngest son of King George V of England, whose autism and mild epilepsy embarrassed the…
My Life Without Me (2003): Dir. Isabel Coixet
Feat. Sarah Polley, Mark Ruffalo, Deborah Harry…; This award–winning vignette concerns a young woman (Polley), told by her doctor she has only a short time to live, who strives to secretly…
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002): Dir. Callie Khouri
Feat. Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Ashley Judd…; In this spirited adaptation of Rebecca Wells’ novel, alienated daughter Sandra Bullock is given the lowdown on her mother Ellen Burnstyn’s…
Heaven (2002): Dir. Tom Tykwer
Feat. Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi; An art–thriller worked from a script by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski which follows the enigmatic trail of recently widowed and vengeful Cate…
Off (.OFF.) (2002): Dir. Colin Hodson
Feat. Colin Hodson, Gregory King, George Rose…; Locally produced DV–feature which observes the activities of several drug associates, with a style both languid and, at times,…
Swimming Upstream (2002): Dir. Russell Mulcahy
Feat. Geoffrey Rush, Judy Davis; A sturdily dramatic account of Australian Anthony Fingleton’s rise from his working class origins in 1950s Brisbane to becoming a champion…
Boycott (2001): Dir. Clark Johnson
Feat. Jeffrey Wright; HBO’s excellent, underplayed dramatisation of the Rosa Parks story, who in Alabama in 1955 refused to give up her bus–seat to a white man, in…
Dinner With Friends (2001): Dir. Norman Jewison
Feat. Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell, Greg Kinnear…; Warm and unexpectedly insightful telemovie that depicts a series of eventful evening meals between two couples. Based on the prize–winning…
Four Days (2001): Dir. Curtis Wehrfritz
Feat. Colm Meaney, Lolita Davidovich, Kevin Zegers…; This accomplished 'existential thriller', based on 60s crime novel by John Buell, fuses genre conventions with weightier concerns about loneliness…
Guinevere (2001): Dir. Audrey Wells
Feat. Sarah Polley, Stephen Rea; Sarah Polley (GO) headlines in this Sundance–winning indie, as a directionless Harvard graduate who falls under the spell of…
Hysteria - The Def Leppard Story (2001): Dir. Robert Mandel; Of interest to fans of the British heavy metallers who hit the big time in the 1980s, and anyone else who had ‘Pyromania’ or…
In Praise of Love (Eloge de L'amour) (2001): Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Feat. Bruno Putzulu, Cecile Camp, Jean Davy…; Dir. Godard’s first major film in over a decade presents intellect and filmmaking in full–flight, while stubbornly refusing to provide a…
Life With Judy Garland: Me And My Shadows (2001): Dir. Robert Allan Ackerman
Feat. Judy Davis, Victor Garber, Hugh Laurie…; The amazing, slightly tragic life of Hollywood star Judy Garland is retold with Judy Davis (eventually) in the title role, in a compelling telemovie…
Lorna Doone (TV Series) (2001): Dir. Mike Barker
Feat. Rebecca Callard, Martin Clunes, Richard Coyle; R.D. Blackmore’s classic romantic swashbuckler, set amid the dynastic squabbles of a murderous Scottish clan – the Doones. Made by the BBC.
Love the Hard Way (2001): Dir. Peter Sehr
Feat. Adrien Brody, Pam Grier; Big–city fable with Brody playing a snakeskin–jacketed thief with some polished one–liners, who nurses a secret ambition to be a…
Me Without You (2001): Dir. Sandra Goldbacher
Feat. Anna Friel, Kyle MacLachlan, Oliver Milburn…; Growing up on the outskirts of 1970s London, Anna Friel and Michelle Williams make a friendship–pact that helps them through the sex, drugs and…
Shot in the Heart (2001): Dir. Agnieszka Holland
Feat. Elias Koteas, Giovanni Ribisi, Eric Bogosian; Interesting slant on the Gary Gilmore case – an infamous US murderer and subject of a Norman Mailer book –this sets Gilmore (Koteas) against his…
Tart (2001): Dir. Christina Wayne
Feat. Dominique Swain, Brad Renfro, Lacey Chabert…; Dominique Swain (LOLITA) comes a cropper in New York’s prestigious prep–school, Hewitt College, becoming involved with cocaine,…
Vertical Ray of the Sun, The (At the Height of Summer) (2001): Dir. Tran Anh Hung
Feat. Tran Nu Yen-Khe, Nhu Quynh Nguyen, Le Khanh; Conjuring once more the scent, hue and atmosphere of Vietnam, the dir. of SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA depicts the complicated sisterhood of three women in…
Wild Iris (2001): Dir. Daniel Petrie
Feat. Gena Rowlands, Laura Linney, Fred Ward…; Superior tele drama that cultivates a convincingly dysfunctional relationship between mother Gena Rowlands and daughter Laura Linney, returning home…
Ali - An American Hero (2000): Dir. Leon Ichaso
Feat. David Ramsey, Vondie Curtis Hall, Joe Morton…; TV–Movie biopic of boxing's greatest personality Cassius Clay/Muhummad Ali, with David Ramsey donning the gloves and mantle of charisma.
American Tragedy (2000): Dir. Lawrence Schiller
Feat. Ving Rhames, Ron Silver, Christopher Plummer; Heavyweight TV movie of the OJ Simpson trial, with Ving Rhames and Ron Silver and Christopher Plummer suiting up to defend the former football star…
Beat (2000): Dir. Gary Walkow
Feat. Kiefer Sutherland, Courtney Love; Detailing the early life of writer William S Burroughs, centring round the notorious ‘William Tell’ episode, this small–scale…
Cheaters (2000): Dir. John Stockwell
Feat. Jeff Daniels, Jena Malone, Paul Sorvino; Solid cable–movie based on the alarming true story of a state schoolteacher (Jeff Daniels) who encouraged his team of underachievers to cheat…
Clubland (2000): Dir. Saul Rubinek
Feat. Alan Alda, Steven Weber, Brad Garrett…; Plaintive teledrama set on the fringes of the entertainment scene with Alan Alda as a jaded, overbearing New York nightclub talent agent who has…
Common Ground (2000): Dir. Donna Deitch
Feat. Edward Asner, Beau Bridges, Harvey Fierstein…; Compassionate, quality trilogy of short stories dealing with gay issues over three different eras. "A Friend of Dorothy" concerns a woman…
Day I Became a Woman, The (2000): Dir. Marziyeh Meshkini
Feat. Fatemeh Cherag Akhur, Hassan Nebhan, Shahr Banou Sisizadeh; A trio of strong metaphorical tales that outline three aspects of “a woman’s lot” in contemporary Iran, with humour and cinematic…
Dirty Pictures (2000): Dir. Frank Pierson
Feat. James Woods, Craig T. Nelson; Based on the true–story of how the Chicago Arts Centre was prosecuted in 1990 for obscenity over an exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe's…
Edge of Seventeen (2000): Dir. David Morton
Feat. Thomas Arklie; With its drab mid–1980s Ohio setting, complete with pastel clothing, Boy George–inspired haircuts and Bronksi Beat music, this puts a…
Farewell - Brecht's Last Summer, The (2000): Dir. Jan Schutte
Feat. Josef Bierbichler, Monika Bliebtreu, Elfriede Irrall; Prior knowledge of the life of playwright Bertolt Brecht (played by Josef Bierbichler) will enhance this accomplished chamber–drama, set at an…
Growing Up Brady (2000): Dir. Richard A. Colla; Tele–movie version of Barry 'Greg Brady' Williams' unembittered memoirs, who spent five years of his adolescence as the eldest brother of one…
Harlan County War (2000): Dir. Tony Bill
Feat. Holly Hunter, Stellan Skarsgard, Ted Levine…; Based on the famous (and deadly) Union–vs–Company showdown in a Kentucky coalmine in 1976, this TV docudrama is an Emmy–nominated…
Hendrix (2000): Dir. Leon Ichaso
Feat. Wood Harris, Billy Zane; TV–Movie biopic of the rock guitarist and 60s icon Jimi Hendrix (Wood Harris) that pushes all the predictable buttons: psychedelic drug…
Me You Them (Eu Tu Eles) (2000): Dir. Andrucha Waddington
Feat. Regina Case, Lima Duarte, Stenio Garcia; Set in the arid hinterlands of Brazil, this serio–comic study of rural polyandry has Regina Case (Brazil’s Oprah Winfrey) hitch up three…
My Mother Frank (2000): Dir. Mark Lamprell
Feat. Sinead Cusack, Sam Neill, Sacha Horler…; Sober comedy with an 'it's never too late' theme, is nicely done despite some rather convenient plotting. Mother and widow Sinead Cusack decides…
Nicholas Nickleby (TV Series) (2000): Dir. Stephen Whittaker
Feat. James D'Arcy, Charles Dance; An ITV version of Charles Dickens’ saga of family misfortune. Young Nicholas (James D’Arcy) must fight his malevolent uncle (Charles Dance) to…
O (Othello) (2000): Dir. Tim Blake Nelson
Feat. Josh Hartnett, Mekhi Phifer, Julia Stiles; Continuing recent trends, this ‘updating’ of Shakespeare’s ”Othello” transfers the dialogue and setting into the US schoolyard, where Josh…
Road Home, The (2000): Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Zhang Ziyi, Honglei Sun, Hao Zhang; Tackling the period of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, period dir. Zhang Yimou (RAISE THE RED LANTERN) gives the story of a young man's return home…
Shirt, The (2000): Dir. John Laing
Feat. Brian Sargent, Kirsty King-Turner, Jeff Szusterman…; Chiefly the creation of Wellingtonian writer/producer Ross Bevan, this hits hard as a raw study of three career–junkies ‘led’ by a…
Shower (Xizhao) (2000): Dir. Zhang Yang
Feat. Pu Cunxin, Zhu Xu; A popular success with international audiences, this Chinese comedy is centred around a modern–day bathhouse in Beijing without a…
Subway Stories (2000): Dir. Various
Feat. Denis Leary, Lili Taylor, Christine Lahti…; Renewing the London TUBE TALES concept on the NYC subways, this tele–movie saw 10 true–life experiences (submitted by HBO viewers)…
Timecode (2000): Dir. Mike Figgis
Feat. Saffron Burrows, Salma Hayek, Holly Hunter…; Dividing the screen into four quadrants, each carrying an unbroken 90 min shot, the dir. of LEAVING LAS VEGAS juxtaposes four stories set in the…
Two of Us (2000): Dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Feat. Aidan Quinn, Jared Harris; TV–movie centred around the intriguing prospect of a mid–70s meeting in New York between John Lennon (Quinn) and Paul McCartney (Harris).…
Where the Money Is (2000): Dir. Marek Kanievska
Feat. Paul Newman, Linda Fiorentino, Dermot Mulroney; A still–charismatic Paul Newman is an aged bank–robber esconsed in a nursing home after suffering a stroke, though his nurse Linda…
Agnes Browne (1999): Dir. Anjelica Huston
Feat. Anjelica Huston, Ray Winstone; Anjelica Huston adapts Brendan O'Carroll best–selling novel through an American romantic prism of working class Irish culture. The director…
Barber of Siberia, The (1999): Dir. Nikita Mikhalkov
Feat. Julia Ormond, Richard Harris, Oleg Menshikov; Oddly toned blend of historical epic and comedy set in late 19th century Russian, where an American inventor seeks to sell his timber harvesting…
Beautiful People (1999): Dir. Jasmin Dizdar
Feat. Rosalind Ayres, Julian Firth, Bobby Williams…; Set in London 1993 when the Balkan Wars were in full flight, this lively, panoramic drama reaches its ambitions in witnessing turbulence of the…
Big Brass Ring, The (1999): Dir. George Hickenlooper
Feat. William Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne, Irene Jacob…; Curiosity–piece that updates a dusty Orson Welles script from 1980. William Hurt plays a US presidential candidate, whose murky past is being…
Bleeder (1999): Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn
Feat. Kim Bodnia; Hard–nosed drama about a brooding man who turns destructive when he learns of his girlfriend’s pregnancy in…
Body Shots (1999): Dir. Michael Cristofer
Feat. Sean Patrick Flannery, Amanda Peet, Tara Reid…; Flashy tale of eight twentysomethings shares its style, setting and cultural niche with GO, dividing neatly into four typically smug boys and four…
Cabaret Balkan (The Powder Keg) (1999): Dir. Goran Paskaljevic
Feat. Nikola Ristanovski; Troubling split–portrait of the Serbian psyche, depicting a series of often violent incidents over the course of a single night in Belgrade,…
Channeling Baby (1999): Dir. Christine Parker
Feat. Danielle Cormack, Kevin Smith; 'First sight' romance between a blind pacifist and a shell–shocked soldier in the 70s ended in heartbreak after the tragic 'disappearance' of…
Colour of Paradise, The (1999): Dir. Majid Majidi
Feat. Mohsen Ramezani; A gripping, compassionate study of a blind Iranian boy’s attempts to connect with his egotistical father and a carpentry tutor when he is taken to…
Cool Dry Place, A (1999): Dir. John N. Smith
Feat. Vince Vaughn, Monica Potter, Joey Lauren Adams; Hot–shot lawyer Vince Vaughn is dumped by wife Monica Potter, and moves with his young son to a small town to restart his life. So begins a…
Cooler Climate, A (1999): Dir. Susan Seidelman
Feat. Sally Field, Judy Davis; Exploring the emotional climate between newly–separated Sally Field and her new boss, rich–bitch Judy Davis, this small–scale drama…
Cotton Mary (1999): Dir. Ismail Merchant
Feat. Madhur Jaffrey, Greta Scacchi; Set in post–Independence India, Merchant–Ivory spin one of their more disturbing tales around Indian nurse Madhur Jaffrey, who insinuates…
Cradle Will Rock (1999): Dir. Tim Robbins
Feat. John Cusack, Bill Murray, John Turturro…; Caught between government paranoia and unionist principles in depression–era New York, a theatre troupe voice their dissent by attempting to…
Crossing, The (1999): Dir. Robert Harmon
Feat. Jeff Daniels, Roger Rees, Sebastian Roche; Acclaimed telemovie recreation of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware during the American War of Independence. Jeff Daniels lives up to the…
Don's Plum (1999): Dir. RD Robb
Feat. Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, Marissa Ribisis…; A B&W nocturnal drama that gathers around 4 young couples who mingle in a night–club over cocktails to banter, discuss their sex–lives…
Earthly Possessions (1999): Dir. James Lapine
Feat. Susan Sarandon, Stephen Dorff; Bored housewife Susan Sarandon, who is planning to leave her husband, gets mixed up in a bank robbery instigated by Stephen Dorff and becomes his…
Elephant Juice (1999): Dir. Sam Miller
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Sean Gallagher, Daniel Lapaine; The makers of the cult late–night TV–series ‘This Life’, extract a similar blend of drama, ennui and pathos from the lives of…
Entropy (1999): Dir. Phil Joanou
Feat. Stephen Dorff; A rock–video director for U2, Stephen Dorff talks/confesses to his own camcorder about how he came to New York, hung out and fell in love with…
Finding Graceland (1999): Dir. David Winkler
Feat. Johnathon Schaech, Harvey Keitel, Bridget Fonda; Heartbroke Johnathon Schaech is speeding away from his ex–wife when he picks up Harvey Keitel, an Elvis impersonator who takes his…
Gloria (1999): Dir. Sidney Lumet
Feat. Sharon Stone; Stepping into the moll stilettos worn by Gena Rowlands in the 1980 original, Sharon Stone plays a hard–boiled dame who is landed with a mouthy…
Grey Owl (1999): Dir. Richard Attenborough
Feat. Pierce Brosnan, Annie Galipeau; True–story of Englishman Archie Belany, whose obsession with all things Native American led to his emigration to the North American wilderness,…
I'm Losing You (1999): Dir. Bruce Wagner
Feat. Frank Langella, Andrew McCarthy, Elizabeth Perkins…; Hollywood 'commentator' Bruce Wagner (WILD PALMS) directs his own novel inter–connecting the rather plaintive lives of well–heeled Los…
Instinct (1999): Dir. Jon Turtletaub
Feat. Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Jr. Gooding; In another mad shrink role, Anthony Hopkins loses it while studying mountain gorillas in Africa and is brought back to the US for assessment by Cuba…
L.A. Clubland (1999): Dir. Mary Lambert
Feat. Alexis Arquette, Lori Petty; The extravagance and exploitation of the L.A. music industry, according to insider Glen Ballard (producer of Alanis Morrisette and Aerosmith) and…
L.A. Without a Map (1999): Dir. Mika Kaurismaki
Feat. David Tennant, Vincent Gallo, Julie Delpy…; A young Scottish undertaker (Tennant) follows an aspiring American actress back to La–la land, where he competes with the shallow excesses and…
La Veuve de Saint-Pierre (Widow Of Saint-Pierre) (1999): Dir. Patrice Leconte
Feat. Emir Kusturica, Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil; In 1850, on a tiny island near Canada, an oafish Emir Kusturica is sentenced to die by guillotine. While waiting for an executioner to arrive from…
Lies (Gojitmal) (1999): Dir. Jang Sun-Woo
Feat. Kim Tae Yeon, Lee Sang Hyun; Highly controversial in its native Korea (the source novel was banned) this tale of S&M sex–addiction between a schoolgirl and an older…
Loss of Sexual Innocence, The (1999): Dir. Mike Figgis
Feat. Julian Sands, Saffron Burrows; Intriguing, largely slated work from Dir. Mike Figgis (LEAVING LAS VEGAS) takes poetic licence to extremes with a series of interwoven, symbolic…
Lunatics Ball, The (1999): Dir. Michael Thorp
Feat. Michael Daly, Jane Irwin, Sarah Ashworth…; Idiosyncratic indie set around a doctor’s efforts to apply his unorthodox ideas in a psych–ward which is slowly coming unstuck. More…
Mifune (1999): Dir. Soren Kragh-Jacobson
Feat. Iben Hjejle, Anders W Berthelsen, Jesper Asholt…; The third Dogma 95 film is in many ways as traditional a European romantic comedy as you could come across, a breezy and smart take on a yuppie…
Miss Julie (1999): Dir. Mike Figgis
Feat. Saffron Burrows, Peter Mullan, Mary Doyle Kennedy; The puritan 19th century Swedish setting of August Strindberg's one–act play yields dramatic dividends in its fraught affair between flighty…
Oliver Twist (TV Series) (1999): Dir. Renny Rye
Feat. Alan Bleasdale, Julie Walters, Robert Lindsay…; Charles Dickens' enduring classic of orphan Oliver's hardships in Victorian London. Here the timeless story gets the lavish six hour treatment at…
Onegin (1999): Dir. Martha Fiennes
Feat. Ralph Fiennes, Liv Tyler; The classic, passionate Russian poem by Pushkin is lavished with whole–hearted sympathy in this adaptation, the dir.'s brother Ralph Fiennes…
Passion (1999): Dir. Peter Duncan
Feat. Richard Roxburgh, Barbara Hershey, Claudia Karvan; Inspired by the early life of eccentric Australian pianist/composer Percy Grainger, and while well–shot and thoughtful, is firmly located at…
Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999): Dir. Martyn Burke
Feat. Anthony Michael Hall, Noah Wyle; History of the PC–computer revolution gets the telemovie treatment, with Bill Gates (Anthony Michael Hall) and Apple founder Steve Jobs (Noah…
Playing by Heart (1999): Dir. Willard Carroll
Feat. Sean Connery, Gena Rowlands, Gillian Anderson…; Ambitious multi–character film along the lines of SHORT CUTS, likewise set in the varying social strata of Los Angeles, but infused with…
Pornographer, The (1999): Dir. Doug Aitchison
Feat. Craig Wasson; A despairing young loner finds self–esteem and success as a pornographer, but quickly finds himself on the receiving end of exploitation. Rises…
Random Hearts (1999): Dir. Sydney Pollack
Feat. Kristin Scott Thomas, Harrison Ford; Both widowed by the same plane–crash, Kristen Scott Thomas and Harrison Ford put the pieces together and discover their respective spouses were…
Siam Sunset (1999): Dir. John Polson
Feat. Linus Roache, Danielle Cormack; Bright brain candy that puts a surreal, antipodean tilt on road–movie/black comedy familiarities, with dazed Brit Linus Roache suffering an…
Story of a Bad Boy, The (1999): Dir. Tom Donaghy
Feat. Jeremy Hollingworth, Christian Camargo; Taken from the dir.’s stageplay, this not–so–bad gay teen drama sets itelf in early 80s New Jersey with student Jeremy Hollingworth…
Strange Fits of Passion (1999): Dir. Elise McCredie
Feat. Michela Noonan; On a quest to lose her virginity, break out of the rut and gain some life–experience, Michela Noonan goes after a reclusive…
Sunset Strip (1999): Dir. Adam Collis
Feat. Jared Leto, Tommy Flanagan, Adam Goldberg…; Not the BOOGIE–NIGHTS–retread it appears, this intimate, reflective tribute to Los Angeles' hedonistic club…
Talk of Angels (1999): Dir. Nick Hamm
Feat. Polly Walker, Vincent Perez, Frances McDormand; Undeniably polished costume epic, sees Irish governess Polly Walker transplanted to the aristocratic Spanish household of Franco Nero during the…
This Year's Love (1999): Dir. David Kane
Feat. Kathy Burke, Jennifer Ehle, Ian Hart…; Set amongst the romantic roundelays of 6 thirty–somethings who reside in London's bohemian Camden Town, this comedy has a quirky streak, some…
Titus (1999): Dir. Julie Taymor
Feat. Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming…; A ferocious, no–holds–barred reading by Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange and Alan Cumming of Shakespeare's early play, the baroque, and…
Up at the Villa (1999): Dir. Philip Haas
Feat. Sean Penn, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne Bancroft; Adrift in pre–fascist 1930s Italy, widowed Englishwoman Kirsten Scott Thomas lives on the generosity of her well–heeled peers before…
Venus Beauty Institute (Venus Beauty) (1999): Dir. Tonie Marshall
Feat. Nathalie Baye, Audrey Tautou; A modest beauty salon is the setting for this wry ensemble piece about the vagaries of womanhood, with an engagingly eccentric collection of clients…
Walk On the Moon, A (1999): Dir. Tony Goldwyn
Feat. Diane Lane, Anna Paquin, Viggo Mortensen; Taking a fairly cynical view of the moral grunginess of the hippie 1960s, actor Tony Goldwyn's directorial debut is blessed with a nuanced script and…
Wild Blue (1999): Dir. Dale G. Bradley
Feat. Nicola Murphy, Judge Reinhold; The wilds of Otago serve as a backdrop for this modern drama, with young Nicola Murphy (MAGIK AND ROSE) returning to NZ to assume a postponed role of…
A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998): Dir. James Ivory
Feat. Kris Kristofferson, Leelee Sobieski, Barbara Hershey…; Merchant/Ivory make one of their rare ventures into recent history, with a surprisingly eloquent depiction of an expatriate American family stoically…
Afterglow (1998): Dir. Alan Rudolph
Feat. Nick Nolte, Julie Christie, Lara Flynn Boyle…; At times precious but ultimately wise drama of multiple adulteries sees disjointed couple Nick Nolte (plumber) and Julie Christie (ex–horror…
Alice Et Martin (1998): Dir. Andre Techine
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Carmen Maura, Mathieu Amalric; A maladjusted young drifter (Alexis Loret) has success as a Paris fashion model and a torrid love affair with his half–brother's…
Among Giants (1998): Dir. Sam Miller
Feat. Pete Postlethwaite, Rachel Griffiths; Quirky, lowkey romance from the writer of FULL MONTY, follows the travails of a group of daredevil labourers who paint high–voltage…
Butcher Boy, The (1998): Dir. Neil Jordan
Feat. Eamonn Owens, Stephen Rea, Fiona Shaw; Despairing yet distinctive black comedy depicts the insanity implicit in a boy's view of his small town in Ireland, circa 1962. Adopts a lurid…
Chance or Coincidence (1998): Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. Alessandra Martines, Pierre Arditi, Marc Hollogne; Bereaved wife Alessandra Martine speeds like a comet through this intriguing comedy from dir. Lelouch equal parts melodrama, musical and…
Chinese Box (1998): Dir. Wayne Wang
Feat. Jeremy Irons, Gong Li, Maggie Cheung; Set in Hong Kong just prior to the British handover to China, this follows the last dissatisfied days of dying journalist Jeremy Irons as he pads the…
Destiny of Her Own, A (Dangerous Beauty) (1998): Dir. Marshall Herskovitz
Feat. Catherine McCormack, Rufus Sewell; Historical romance that profits from a sensuous 16th century Venetian setting, as the low–prospect Catherine McCormack opts for the tradeoffs…
Don King: Only in America (1998): Dir. John Herzfeld
Feat. Ving Rhames, Vondie Curtis Hall; Ving Rhames combs up as the notorious boxing impressario in this admirable, Emmy–award winning bio. Avoids all reductions of a rather…
Dreaming of Joseph Lees (1998): Dir. Eric Styles
Feat. Samantha Morton, Rupert Graves, Lee Ross; Moderately adventurous psycho–drama set in late 1950s Somerset has the young Samantha Morton (UNDER THE SKIN) leading a vivid fantasy life with…
Drifting Clouds (1998): Dir. Aki Kaurismaki
Feat. Kati Outinen, Kari Vaananen, Elina Salo…; Day–glo colours collide with glum silences in Aki Kaurismaki's unemployment comedy, effortlessly combining the previously unreconcilable genres…
Endurance (1998): Dir. Leslie Woodhead; Quietly profound docu–drama on the life of the 1996 Olympic 10,000 metre champion, Haile Gebrselassie, gives unique insight into the man behind…
Girls' Night (1998): Dir. Nick Hurran
Feat. Julie Walters, Brenda Blethyn; A windfall at the local bingo hall puts air in the wings of forty–something factory gals Julie Walters and Brenda Blethyn, but a wheel of…
Henry Fool (1998): Dir. Hal Hartley
Feat. Thomas Jay Ryan, Parker Posey, James Urbaniak…; Hal Hartley gathers several unlikely narrative threads concerning a bottled–up trashman composing an epic poem while under the spell of…
Hi-Lo Country, The (1998): Dir. Stephen Frears
Feat. Billy Crudup, Woody Harrelson, Patricia Arquette; Long left out to pasture, the male–bonding cowboy genre is saddled–up and mounted by dir. Stephen Frears (THE GRIFTERS), who honours the…
High Art (1998): Dir. Lisa Cholodenko
Feat. Radha Mitchell, Ally Sheedy; Accepted into the fold of her washed–up, drug–addled neighbours, a curious young photojournalist (Rahda Mitchell) finds professional and…
Hope Floats (1998): Dir. Forest Whittaker
Feat. Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick Jnr., Gena Rowlands; It's back to the hometown for former prom–queen Sandra Bullock, jilted by her husband and best friend on a live TV talkshow. Here she heals the…
Houdini (1998): Dir. Pen Densham
Feat. Paul Sorvino, George Segal, Rhea Perlman; Well–equipped with a bevy of character actors, this biopic of the famous escape–artist goes on to detail Harry's seance–debunking…
Left Luggage (1998): Dir. Jeroen Krabbe
Feat. Isabella Rossellini, Marianne Sagebrecht, Laura Fraser; Concerning a free–spirited young woman working as a nanny in a Jewish household in Antwerp, this resolutely serious drama struggles with…
Legend of 1900, The (1998): Dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
Feat. Tim Roth, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Bill Nunn…; A beautiful and completely impossible tale about a musician (Tim Roth) whose life is defined by the luxury ocean liner on which he has grown up –…
Like It Is (1998): Dir. Paul Oremland
Feat. Steve Bell, Roger Daltrey; Amateur boxing champ Steve Bell does well in his acting debut as a naïve prizefighter who abandons violent life in Blackpool's underworld to find…
Living Out Loud (1998): Dir. Richard LaGravenese
Feat. Holly Hunter, Queen Latifah, Danny De Vito…; Facing up to life without her philandering husband, a nurse (Holly Hunter) forges unlikely friendships with a jazz club chanteuse (Queen Latifah) and…
Love Etc. (1998): Dir. Marion Vernoux
Feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Charles Berling, Yvan Attal; Depicts an infernal love–triangle between three friends – taken from the novel ‘Talking It Over’ by Julian Barnes. Charming comedy…
Love is the Devil (1998): Dir. John Maybury
Feat. Derek Jacobi, Daniel Craig, Tilda Swinton; Audacious biopic of great British painter Francis Bacon (he of the 'screaming pope' paintings), travels the raw–nerve edge of artistic…
Mad City (1998): Dir. Costa-Gavras
Feat. Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, Alan Alda…; Straight–faced media satire involving ambitious reporter Dustin Hoffman, sidelined on smalltown assignment. However he soon whips up a news…
Marquise (1998): Dir. Vera Belmont
Feat. Sophie Marceau; Bawdy, naturalistically–styled period romp about the artistic clashes between playwrights Moliere and Racine at the court of Louis XIV. Sophie…
Men with Guns (1998): Dir. John Sayles
Feat. Frederico Luppi; Criminally denied a theatrical release, this masterful study of Third World realities is arguably prolific indie dir. John Sayles most accomplished…
My Life So Far (1998): Dir. Hugh Hudson
Feat. Colin Firth, Irene Jacob, Malcolm McDowell; Set on a Scottish estate in the 1920s, this slice of nostalgia is based on the childhood memoirs of Denis Forman, a director of the Royal Opera…
No Looking Back (1998): Dir. Edward Burns
Feat. Lauren Holly, Jon Bon Jovi, Edward Burns; Dir. Ed Burns (BROTHERS MCMULLEN) again provides a mellow, if lukewarm comedy of romance and muted expectations set among a group of…
Only Thrill, The (1998): Dir. Peter Masterson
Feat. Diane Keaton, Sam Shepard, Diane Lane…; Smalltown folk Diane Keaton and Sam Shepard's unrequited love mellows into a thirty year friendship, which their children then risk repeating.…
Permanent Midnight (1998): Dir. David Veloz
Feat. Ben Stiller, Elizabeth Hurley, Owen Wilson…; Based on the therapeutic memoirs of television writer Jerry Stahl (namely of the hit series 'Alf'), infamous for snorting and injecting his sizeable…
Players Club, The (1998): Dir. Ice Cube
Feat. Monica Calhoun, Lisa Raye, Jamie Foxx…; Proving a talent on his first directorial outing, actor–rapper Ice Cube enlists a no–name cast in this seriocomic glimpse into a tawdry…
Polish Wedding (1998): Dir. Theresa Connelly
Feat. Gabriel Byrne, Lena Olin, Rade Serbedzija…; Laid on incredibly thick, Polish accents and all, this is 'ethnic shtick' writ large with Gabriel Byrne, Lena Olin and Rade Serbedzija heading a…
Price Above Rubies, A (1998): Dir. Boaz Yakin
Feat. Renee Zellweger, Christopher Eccleston, Julianne Margulies…; Sincere though meddlesome attempt to depict life in the closed society of Hasidic Judaism, finds it hard to measure up to dir. Boaz Yakin's…
Rat Pack, The (1998): Dir. Rob Cohen
Feat. Ray Liotta, Joe Mategna, Don Cheadle…; While mostly avoiding the sordid details of the 1950s American libertines, this look into the social lives of Frank Sinatra (Ray Liotta), Dean Martin…
Relax...It's Just Sex (1998): Dir. P.J. Castellaneta
Feat. Mitchell Anderson, T.C. Carson, Lori Petty…; Centring around an eclectic group of friends – gay, straight and lesbian – in LA, a struggling gay playwright is desperately looking for…
Rogue Trader (1998): Dir. James Dearden
Feat. Ewan McGregor; A lasting symbol of stock–market excess, British broker Nick Leeson (Ewan McGregor), he who brought down Baring's Bank after losing…
Serious Shorts (Five NZ Short Films) (1998): Dir. Charlie de Salis, Neil Pardington, Stuart McKenzie; A collection of 5 short films from New Zealand. Specially compiled for educational purposes, this tape includes film analysis material between each…
Shadrach (1998): Dir. Susanna Styron
Feat. Harvey Keitel; A languid drift back into Depression–era Virginia sees Harvey Keitel and clan coping with poverty and the return of an elderly…
Slam (1998): Dir. Marc Levin; Tight, impassioned street–drama that won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance in 1998, following the travails of a petty drug–dealer whose…
Stella Does Tricks (1998): Dir. Coky Giedroyc
Feat. Kelly MacDonald; Worldly teenage prostitute Stella escapes the paternal clutches of her pimp to reclaim herself and find companionship in a sympathetic young junkie.…
Theory of Flight, The (1998): Dir. Paul Greengrass
Feat. Helena Bonham Carter, Kenneth Branagh; Helena Bonham–Carter plays a misery–guts in a wheelchair, crippled by motor–neuron disorder, who gets a companion in the form of an…
Velocity of Gary, The (1998): Dir. Dan Ireland
Feat. Vincent D'Onofrio, Salma Hayek, Thomas Jane; Urban soap–opera set in a Manhattan fringe world of hustlers, trannies and coke–heads, with Vincent D'Onofrio as a bisexual…
Waking the Dead (1998): Dir. Keith Gordon
Feat. Billy Crudup, Jennifer Connelly; A curious, intriguing drama in which congressional candidate Billy Crudup is haunted by a woman (Jennifer Connelly) from his past, who he thought had…
Whatever (1998): Dir. Susan Skoog
Feat. Lisa Weil; Beset by apathy, uncertainty and her indulgent best friend, a teenage girl falls victim to her own adolescence while trying to complete her final…
Windhorse (1998): Dir. Paul Wagner
Feat. Dadon, Jampa Kelsang, Richard Chang; Shot on digital video under the noses of Chinese authorities in Tibet, this fiercely moral drama follows the fortunes of a family in contemporary…
Without Limits (1998): Dir. Robert Towne
Feat. Billy Crudup, Donald Sutherland; The life of fabled long–distance runner Steve Prefontaine, who died in 1975 at the age of 24 is given a heartfelt glow by Billy Crudup and the…
Woundings (1998): Dir. Roberta Hanley
Feat. Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Lloyd…; In a near–future world, after a debilitating military campaign for Great Britain (reminiscent of the Falkland Islands conflict), a unit of…
Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star, The (1998): Dir. Sheree Folkson, Kieron Walsh
Feat. Ciaran McMenamin, Simone Lahbib, Nicole Stapleton…; Young persons are the target of the whimsical Scottish TV series following the fortunes of an eclectic rock group who go from garage nobodies to gain…
Alive and Kicking (Indian Summer) (1997): Dir. Nancy Meckler
Feat. Jason Flemyng; Solid British drama takes the post–AIDS–revelation scenario and couples it with an interesting setting – a crisis in a…
All Over Me (1997): Dir. Alex Sichel
Feat. Alison Folland, Tara Subkoff, Cole Hauser…; A lesbian festival hit that has 'crossover' hit written all over it, as it persuasively pinpoints some of the universal, intense emotions of…
Apparition (Photographing Fairies) (1997): Dir. Nick Willing
Feat. Toby Stephens, Ben Kingsley, Emily Woof; A sceptical, widowed portrait photographer investigates reports of everglade fairies and becomes transformed by otherworldly encounters. Inspired by…
Apple, The (1997): Dir. Samira Makhmalbaf
Feat. Massoumeh Naderi, Zahra Naderi, Ghorban Ali Naderi; More than the curiosity piece you'd expect from its 17 year old director, this is a strange, small film that uniquely blends documentary footage with…
Bastard Out of Carolina (1997): Dir. Anjelica Huston
Feat. Anjelica Huston, Jena Malone, Jennifer Jason Leigh…; In her directing debut, Anjelica Huston boldly renders the indelicacies of a grim coming–of–age story, but its success is thanks largely…
Bliss (1997): Dir. Lance Young
Feat. Sheryl Lee, Craig Sheffer, Terence Stamp; Frustrated marrieds Sheryl Lee and Craig Sheffer turn to controversial sex therapist Terence Stamp, whose remedial methods include hands–on…
Blood and Wine (1997): Dir. Bob Rafelson
Feat. Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Jennifer Lopez…; Jack Nicholson dusts off his cynical, scowling persona of the 70s, as a desperate, philandering Florida wine merchant who enlists Michael Caine for a…
Blood Oranges, The (1997): Dir. Philip Haas
Feat. Charles Dance, Sheryl Lee, Colin Lane…; An obscure indie–psychodrama from the dir. of MUSIC OF CHANCE and ANGELS AND INSECTS, with Charles Dance and Sheryl Lee as a…
Brylcreem Boys, The (1997): Dir. Terence Ryan
Feat. Gabriel Byrne; The ubiquitous face of Irish cinema, Gabriel Byrne, slicks his hair back in a neutral POW camp in WWII Ireland, bunking with a variety of allied and…
Clockwatchers (1997): Dir. Jill Sprecher
Feat. Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow…; Four office temps band together in an oppressive (and outdated?) corporate environment – too bad they're caricatures: Toni Collette is…
Grace of God, The (1997): Dir. Gerald L’Ecuyer; Biographical ‘essay’ that’s a genuinely moving patchwork of scenes from the director’s life, sharing stories of his loves, losses, emerging…
Hurricane Streets (1997): Dir. Morgan J. Freeman
Feat. Brendon Sexton III, Antoine McLean; The excellent Brendan Sexton III (WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE) does a sympathetic about–turn for this unflashy take on teenage delinquency. It…
Ivanhoe (1997): Dir. Stuart Orme
Feat. Steven Waddington, Victoria Smurfit, Ciaran Hinds…; Sir Walter Scott's classic adventure of the Crusades gets a fair rollicking in this BBC adaptation. Returning from the wars in Palestine, Ivanhoe…
Kitchen (1997): Dir. Yim Ho
Feat. Jordan Chan, Yasuko Tomita; Treading the same grungy Hong Kong streets as the films of Wong Kar–Wai, this adaptation of a novel by Banana Yoshimoto concerns a love affair…
Lawn Dogs (1997): Dir. John Duigan
Feat. Sam Rockwell, Mischa Barton; The Australian director of THE YEAR MY VOICE BROKE applies a lightly–stylised Antipodean touch to this American tale of a friendship between a…
Limited Edition (1997): Dir. Bernard Rapp
Feat. Terence Stamp, Maria de Medeiros; Smalltime publisher Terence Stamp delves into a literary mystery which relates to dark events in his own background. Maria de Medeiros (PULP…
Mandela and De Klerk (1997): Dir. Joseph Sargent
Feat. Sidney Poitier, Michael Caine; The political backdrop to Nelson Madela's release in 1991 from a South African prison is solidly dramatised in this telemovie. Stars Sidney Poitier…
Niagara Niagara (1997): Dir. Bob Gosse
Feat. Robin Tunney, Henry Thomas, Michael Parks…; If you have the stamina to hit the road again with another pair of white–trash, gun–crazy young lovers (who meet while shoplifting), this…
On Connait la Chanson (Same Old Song) (1997): Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Pierre Arditi, Sabine Azema, Jean-Pierre Bacri…; A winner of seven Cesar awards, this light–hearted homage to Dennis Potter applies his musical–cinematic ideas to the…
One Night Stand (1997): Dir. Mike Figgis
Feat. Wesley Snipes, Nastassja Kinski; The long–awaited 'morning after' LEAVING LAS VEGAS dawns for Brit dir. Mike Figgis, another impassioned drama mapping the ill–matched…
Orphans (1997): Dir. Peter Mullan
Feat. Douglas Henshall, Gary Lewis, Rosmarie Stevenson; The writer/directing debut of Peter Mullen, star of MY NAME IS JOE,is an expectedly raw and bleakly humorous journey through the darker side of…
Owd Bob (1997): Dir. Rodney Gibbons
Feat. Colm Meaney, James Cromwell; Set on the Isle of Man, this drama avoids the recent Irish cockle–warming for a more realistic account of rural feuding, that's…
Post Coitum (1997): Dir. Brigitte Rouan
Feat. Brigitte Rouan; The director herself plays a 40–year–old wife, mother and book editor who has her respectable life devastated after a whirlwind affair…
Quiet Room, The (1997): Dir. Rolf De Heer
Feat. Celine O'Leary, Paul Blackwell; Low budget, almost experimental film from the dir. of BAD BOY BUBBY, who organically developed the script around his real–life daughters.…
Rosewood (1997): Dir. John Singleton
Feat. Ving Rhames, Jon Voight, Don Cheadle…; A black community in 1920s Florida is plagued by mobs of local rednecks in this impassioned melodrama from Dir. John Singleton's ('Boyz in the…
Sarabande (1997): Dir. Atom Egoyan
Feat. Lori Singer, Don McKellar; The dramatic entry in the 'Inspired by Bach' series in which renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma collaborates with an artist in another medium. Finding perfect…
Second Civil War, The (1997): Dir. Joe Dante
Feat. Denis Leary, James Earl Jones, James Coburn; Fairly realistic speculation of an American Civil War, occurring when present–day Idaho cedes from the Union, painted over with the lighter…
Secrets of the Heart (Secretos del Corazon) (1997): Dir. Montxo Armendariz
Feat. Andoni Erburu, Inigo Garces; A subdued drama that views rural Spain through the childs' eye of its protaganist, a young boy whose curiosity leads him into a haunted house…
Selena (1997): Dir. Gregory Nava
Feat. Jennifer Lopez, Edward James Olmos; Worthy biopic of the Latin–American pop star who on the verge of crossing over into the American market was tragically murdered.
She's So Lovely (1997): Dir. Nick Cassavetes
Feat. Robin Wright, Sean Penn, John Travolta; As a low–life couple whose romantic intensity borders on madness, married double–act Robin Wright and Sean Penn off–handedly…
Slab Boys, The (1997): Dir. John Byrne
Feat. Russell Barr, Bill Gardiner, Robin Laing…; A quiff–headed rites–of–passage in dead–end 1950s Scotland, follows three apprentice dripheads at a carpet factory and their…
Someone Else's America (1997): Dir. Goran Paskaljevic
Feat. Tom Conti, Miki Manojlovic; A quirky character–study drawn from the lives of illegal European immigrants living hand–to–mouth on the bottom–rung of New…
Star Maps (1997): Dir. Miguel Arteta
Feat. Douglas Spain, Efrain Figueroa; With dreams of Hollywood stardom, a Mexican teen migrates to California, settles for work in his father's prostitution ring, and makes 'progress' as…
Substance of Fire, The (1997): Dir. Mark Herman
Feat. Ron Rifkin, Tony Goldwyn, Sarah Jessica Parker; Well–crafted essay of domestic unrest in a Jewish–owned NY publishing house, where Holocaust–survivor Ron Rifkin's obsession with…
Suburbia (1997): Dir. Richard Linklater
Feat. Giovanni Ribisi, Parker Posey, Steve Zahn…; Dir. Linklater returns to his favourite milieu – the teen angst movie – only this time working from someone else's material, a play by…
Sugar Factory, The (1997): Dir. Robert Carter
Feat. Matt Day; The director adapts his novel about a disturbed Aussie teenager (Matt Day) searching for love and meaning in his life after a string of traumatic…
Surviving Picasso (1997): Dir. James Ivory
Feat. Anthony Hopkins, Natascha McElhone, Julianne Moore…; Anthony Hopkins acts his beret off in this portrait of the insatiable, cantankerous Spanish genius and the trail of emotional devastation he left…
Sweeney Todd (1997): Dir. John Schlesinger
Feat. Ben Kingsley, Joanna Lumley; Based on the true story of the demon barbers of Fleet Street, Ben Kingsley and Joanna Lumley attend this gruesome tale of the esteemed barbershop in…
Swept from the Sea (Amy Foster) (1997): Dir. Beeban Kidron
Feat. Vincent Perez, Rachel Weisz, Ian McKellen…; Shipwrecked Ukrainian emigree Vincent Perez washes ashore in rugged Cornwall, to the bafflement of the folk, especially after he receives scandalous…
Tango Lesson, The (1997): Dir. Sally Potter
Feat. Sally Potter, Pablo Veron; Uninspired by her latest script, film–maker Sally Potter becomes obsessed with the tango, and soon strikes a deal with an Argentine dancer she…
Tichborne Claimant, The (1997): Dir. David Yates
Feat. Stephen Fry; Based on a real–life 19th century mystery concerning the fabulously wealthy Sir Roger Tichborne, who disappeared in the South Pacific in 1866.…
Tom Jones (Mini-series) (The History of Tom Jones - A Foundling) (1997): Dir. Metin Hüseyin
Feat. Max Beesley, Brian Blessed, Kathy Burke…; Full–scale adaption of Henry Fielding's comic masterpiece, charting the amorous misadventures of the orphan Tom through the rollicking morals…
True Love and Chaos (1997): Dir. Stavros Andonis Efthymiou
Feat. Ben Mendelsohn, Noah Taylor, Miranda Otto; A half–baked script straight out of the same Melbourne film school that produced LOVE & OTHER CATASTROPHES leaves an Aussie brat–pack…
Ulee's Gold (1997): Dir. Victor Nunez
Feat. Peter Fonda, Patricia Richardson, Jessica Biel; Peter Fonda gives good grace as an ageing, emotionally reticent beekeeper who is much less at ease with what's going on in his family's hive, a unit…
Weapons of Mass Distraction (1997): Dir. Stephen Surjik
Feat. Gabriel Byrne, Ben Kingsley, Mimi Rogers…; Media moguls Gabriel Byrne and Ben Kingsley vie for ownership of a pro football team, in an escalating war of one–upmanship, eventually raking…
Whole of the Moon, The (1997): Dir. Ian Mune
Feat. Toby Fisher, Nikki Si'Ulepa, Pascale Bussieres…; Heartfelt yet uplifting story of two disparate teenage cancer patients who find strength in their misfortune. Dir. Ian Mune's talent for coaxing…
Winter Guest, The (1997): Dir. Alan Rickman
Feat. Emma Thompson, Phyllida Law, Gary Hollywood; Emma Thompson ventures to farther–flung fields in a contemporary family melodrama played out within the bleak confines of a wintery British…
Bag of Rice (1996): Dir. Mohammad-Ali Talebi
Feat. Jairan Abadzade, Shirin Bina, Masume Eskandari; A child and her elderly neighbour have small adventures on the streets of Tehran while trying to buy a sack of rice. Those seeking a rare alternative…
Boys (1996): Dir. Stacy Cochran
Feat. Lukas Haas, Winona Ryder; Downbeat, murky tale of adolescent intrigues has high scholar Lukas Haas becoming entangled in the mysterious past of accident victim Winona Ryder.
Boys Life (1996): Dir. Raoul O'Connell, Robert Lee King, Brian Sloan
Feat. Josh Phillip Weinstein, Raoul O'Connell, Russell Scott Lewis…; Three half–hour short films that examine the gay perspective in America through three adolescent characters. 'Pool Days' – For…
Brilliant Lies (1996): Dir. Richard Franklin
Feat. Anthony LaPaglia, Gia Carides; Real–life couple Gia Carides and Anthony LaPaglia get to pull out each other's hair in this adaptation of David Williamson's meaty stageplay…
Citizen Ruth (1996): Dir. Alexander Payne
Feat. Laura Dern, Swoosie Kurtz; When chronic solvent–abuser Laura Dern becomes pregnant, then gets arrested again, she strays into the idealogical thicket of the abortion…
Crime of the Century (1996): Dir. Mark Rydell
Feat. Stephen Rea, Isabella Rossellini, J.T. Walsh…; Astute re–enactment of the controversial Lindbergh trial that resulted in a supposed wrongful execution for the kidnap and murder of a baby in…
Devil's Island (1996): Dir. Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
Feat. Baltasar Kormakur, Gisli Halldorsson; The director of COLD FEVER bites off a little more ice than he can comfortably chew, with this sprawling tale of the difficulties of life in 1950s…
Dogs (Dogs: The Rise and Fall of an All-Girl Bookie Joint) (1996): Dir. Eve Annenburg
Feat. Pam Columbus, Pam Gray, Melody Beal…; Four Brooklyn women opt for a life of running an illegal bookie joint, over the dead–end, unemployed lifestyle of the local area. In her debut,…
Driftwood (1996): Dir. Ronan O'Leary
Feat. James Spader; A washed–up, amnesiac James Spader is beachcombed in remote Ireland by borderline obsessive Anne Brochet, who gets rather possessive when he…
East Palace / West Palace (1996): Dir. Zhang Yuan
Feat. Vicki Zhao, Si Han, Jun Hu; This rare independent mainland Chinese film is a difficult, often devastating two–hander between a gay man and the policeman sent to arrest him…
Eclipse (1996): Dir. Jeremy Podeswa
Feat. Von Flores, John Gilbert, Pascale Montpetit; Canadian festival fave is a fluent, quirky first feature that follows a chain of disparate sexual encounters that come full circle under the…
Eden (1996): Dir. Howard Goldberg
Feat. Joanna Going, Dylan Walsh, Sean Patrick Flanery; Joanna Going positively glows as a mother–of–two whose struggle with MS and home–making is transcended through 'astral projection'.…
Eighth Day, The (1996): Dir. Jaco Van Dormael
Feat. Daniel Auteuil; The director of the much–loved TOTO THE HERO makes another film about magic at ground level, with Daniel Auteuil having his humdrum life…
Elgar's Tenth Muse (1996): Dir. Paul Yule
Feat. James Fox, Selma Alisaphic; Slight, but well–dramatised snippet from the life of composer Sir Edward Elgar (James Fox). Inspired by Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Aranyi,…
Entertaining Angels (1996): Dir. Michael Ray Rhodes
Feat. Moira Kelly, Martin Sheen; Stirring biopic of American champion of the poor Dorothy Day (played with passion by Moira Kelly), who rose from obscurity in 1920s New York to…
Feeling Minnesota (1996): Dir. Steve Baigelman
Feat. Keanu Reeves, Cameron Diaz, Vincent D'Onofrio…; Another in a line of sorry tales of violence, aimlessness and broken dreams, this represents everything that was bad about independent (American)…
Fiesta (1996): Dir. Pierre Boutron
Feat. Jean-Louis Trintignant, Gregoire Colin; Biting, rigorously intelligent parable of the Spanish Civil War, watches unblinking as a young soldier is intiated into the brutalities by his…
Flynn (1996): Dir. Frank Howson
Feat. Guy Pearce, John Savage, Claudia Karvan; The adventures and film career of Hollywood's leading debauchee of the 1940s, Errol Flynn, are enacted with spunk by fellow–Australian Guy…
Frankie Starlight (1996): Dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Feat. Gabriel Byrne, Anne Parillaud, Matt Dillon…; Extensive flashbacks illustrate the unusual memoirs of a dwarf. This not–so–tall tale has a special blend of Irish whimsy, with native…
Garden of Redemption (1996): Dir. Thomas Donnelly
Feat. Anthony LaPaglia, Embeth Davidtz; A saga of challenged faith and endurance set in Nazi–occupied Italy, where the village priest assists with the local resistance while besotted…
Get On the Bus (1996): Dir. Spike Lee
Feat. Danny Glover, Will Smith, Wesley Snipes; A highly combustible mixed–bag of black men journey by bus to the Million Man March in Washington DC, a march of affirmation for a troubled…
Ghosts of Mississippi (1996): Dir. Rob Reiner
Feat. Alec Baldwin, Whoopi Goldberg, James Woods…; Thirty years after the fact, D.A. Alec Baldwin re–investigates the murder of a Mississippi civil rights leader. Fact–based…
Girls Town (1996): Dir. Jim McKay
Feat. Lili Taylor, Idina Harris, Anna Grace; Winner of both the Filmmaker's Trophy and the Special Jury prize at Sundance, this little seen film was one of genuine highlights of the 1997 NZ Film…
God's Lonely Man (1996): Dir. Francis Von Zerneck
Feat. Michael Wyle, Jamie Walters; The story of St. Francis of Assisi is loosely transposed to the underbelly of modern LA – a redemption–seeking nervous loner befriends a…
Grass Harp, The (1996): Dir. Charles Matthau
Feat. Walter Matthau, Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie…; Adapted from Truman Capote's novel about a young boy raised by his three eccentric aunts in the American Deep South, and capturing the period, but…
Hollow Reed (1996): Dir. Angela Pope
Feat. Sam Bould, Martin Donovan, Joely Richardson…; An exceptional and gripping British drama is made of delicate subjects –child abuse, custody rangling, homosexuality. The women…
Horseman on the Roof (1996): Dir. Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Feat. Juliette Binoche, Olivier Martinez; Strapping melodrama in the old–fashioned Errol Flynn milieu set during the cholera epidemic of 1800s France. A tale of chivalry, loyalty and…
I Love You I Love You Not (1996): Dir. Billy Hopkins
Feat. Claire Danes, Jeanne Moreau, Jude Law; Jewish student Claire Danes and grandmother Jeanne Moreau share romantic and tragic stories of their lives, linked by anti–Semitism. A gently…
It's My Party (1996): Dir. Randal Kleiser
Feat. Eric Roberts; Eric Roberts is bravely cast against as an LA professional dying of AIDS, who decides to host a farewell party before taking his own life. His…
Jaded (1996): Dir. Caryn Krooth
Feat. Carla Gugino, Rya Kihlstedt, Christopher McDonald…; Putting a hefty, controversial twist on the subject of rape, this psychodrama has smalltown loner Carla Gugino sexually abused, not by a man, but by…
Jason's Lyric (1996): Dir. Doug McHenry
Feat. Allen Payne, Jada Pinkett Smith, Forest Whitaker…; If you can't get enough boys in the 'hood, there's plenty of bloodshed and moral penance to be found in this tale of doomed lovers struggling to…
Keeper, The (1996): Dir. Joe Brewster
Feat. Giancarlo Esposito, Isaach de Bankole, Regina Taylor…; An idealistic black corrections officer bails out and offers shelter to a Haitian immigrant unjustly accused of rape, a gesture that will profoundly…
Killer: a Journal of Murder (1996): Dir. Tim Metcalfe
Feat. James Woods, Robert Sean Leonard, Ellen Greene; James Woods plays America's first official serial killer, Carl Panzram, but his demonic energies seem wasted on a simplistic film that offers scant…
Kissed (1996): Dir. Lynne Stopkewich
Feat. Molly Parker, Peter Outerbridge; A woman develops an unusual fascination with dead rodents that becomes a desire for embalming humans and blossoms into full–blown, ahem,…
Last Dance (1996): Dir. Bruce Beresford
Feat. Sharon Stone, Rob Morrow, Randy Quaid…; In some kind of bid for dramatic range, Sharon Stone tackles the important issues – as a woman on death row – but no amount of Clairol…
Lilies (1996): Dir. John Greyson
Feat. Marcel Sabourin, Aubert Pallascio, Matthew Fergusson; Stylised, ripely sensual adaptation of Michel Marc's play 'Les Feluettes' set in a men's prison in 1950s Quebec, where the inmates kidnap a local…
Loaded (1996): Dir. Anna Campion
Feat. Oliver Milburn, Dearbhla Molloy, Danny Cunningham…; Fans of Trainspotting will connect with this compelling snapshot of the E–generation – an acid–inflected psychodrama that unfolds…
Loved (1996): Dir. Erin Dignam
Feat. Robin Wright, William Hurt; Robin Wright strongly commits to the difficult role of a woman oddly reluctant to testify against her abusive ex–husband, despite pressure from…
Lowball (1996): Dir. Demian Lichenstein
Feat. Peter Greene; Grimy, low–budget drama pursues NY cop Peter Greene through the mire of his deep cover assignment, as the various temptations of the scumbag…
Lust and Revenge (1996): Dir. Paul Cox
Feat. Nicholas Hope, Claudia Karvan; An unlikely creative partnership between the solemn, prolific Dutch–Aussie director Paul Cox (MAN OF FLOWERS, A WOMAN'S TALE) and John Clarke…
Mary Reilly (1996): Dir. Stephen Frears
Feat. John Malkovich, Julia Roberts, Michael Gambon…; John Malkovich and Juila Roberts star in this alternative take on R.L. Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde story – the toil and double trouble is seen…
Member of the Wedding (1996): Dir. Fielder Cook
Feat. Anna Paquin, Alfre Woodard; Awkward tomboy Anna Paquin further withdraws after her mother's death, but pins hopes on fleeing her small town troubles when her brother returns to…
Mind Bender (1996): Dir. Ken Russell
Feat. Terence Stamp, Ishai Golan; Ken Russell recreates the exploits of controversial spoon–bender and parapsychologist Uri Geller, but seems puzzlingly reluctant to provoke.…
O'Quatrilho (1996): Dir. Fabio Barreto
Feat. Fabio Barreto, Mariana Pellegrino Barreto; Steamy Latino variant on the patented love–triangle/adultery story, set among immigrants newly settled in turn of the century Brazil, freshly…
Other Side of Sunday, The (1996): Dir. Berit Nesheim
Feat. Marie Theisen, Bjorn Sundquist, Hildegun Riise; Yearning to discover the 'other side' of life in 1950s Norway, teenager Marie Theisen evades her harshly religious father to explore the amorphous…
Ponette (1996): Dir. Jacques Doillon
Feat. Victoire Thivisol; Staying at her Aunt's provincial cottage after the accidental death of her mother, a four–year–old girl comes to terms with death, while…
Prisoner of the Mountains (1996): Dir. Sergei Bodrov
Feat. Oleg Menshikov, Sergei Bodrov Jr, Susanna Mekhraliyeva…; A Tolstoy fable is here seamlessly transposed to the Chechean conflict, with two Russian soldiers apprehended by a Chechean village elder who hopes…
Rasputin (1996): Dir. Uli Edel
Feat. Alan Rickman, Greta Scacchi, Ian McKellen…; Richly turned–out costume saga of Rasputin: the enigmatic, unwashed peasant who rose up to become the spiritual guide of the Tsar's family in…
Reef, The (Passion's Way) (1996): Dir. Robert Allan Ackerman
Feat. Timothy Dalton, Sela Ward, Leslie Caron; Unrequited love is the theme of this adaptation from Edith Wharton, as young lovers Timothy Dalton and Sela Ward are repeatedly separated by…
Self Made Hero, A (1996): Dir. Jacques Audiard
Feat. Mathieu Kassovitz; Mattieu Kassovitz (director of LA HAINE) proves to be no slouch actor here as a WW2 idler who swats up and cheekily ascends the ranks of the…
Stonewall (1996): Dir. Nigel Finch
Feat. Guillermo Diaz, Fred Weller, Brendan Corbalis…; Mismarketed as a comedy to cash in on the post–Priscilla 'drag' craze, this has serious things to say about what it was like to be 'gay' well…
Summer in La Goulette (1996): Dir. Ferid Boughedir
Feat. Sonia Mankai, Ava Cohen-Jonathan, Sarah Pariente…; Three families of disparate cultures enjoy harmony in Tunisian paradise, until three of their beautiful daughters flirt with losing their virginity,…
This Is the Sea (1996): Dir. Mary McGuckian
Feat. Richard Harris, Gabriel Byrne, Samantha Morton…; Richard Harris introduces a sheltered Protestant lass to the nighttime excitements of Belfast. However, when IRA–man Gabriel Byrne looms on the…
To Have and to Hold (1996): Dir. John Hillcoat
Feat. Tcheky Karyo, Rachel Griffiths, Steve Jacobs; The director of GHOSTS OF THE CIVIL DEAD takes an unexpected turn into full blown romantic melodrama. The plot's twists and turns take place in the…
Under the Lighthouse Dancing (1996): Dir. Graeme Rattigan
Feat. Jack Thompson, Jacqueline McKenzie; Jack Thompson and Jaqueline McKenzie are fiances whose mystery–weekend on an idyllic Aussie island may or may not end in a surprise wedding.…
Unhook the Stars (1996): Dir. Nick Cassavetes
Feat. Gena Rowlands, Marisa Tomei, Gerard Depardieu; Ageing widow Gena Rowlands forms an unlikely bond with a seven–year old neighbour and his abrasive mother in this absorbing drama, directed…
Up Close and Personal (1996): Dir. Jon Avnet
Feat. Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Redford; Small–town weather girl Michelle Pfeiffer ascends to ambitious journalist and finally star TV reporter under the auspice of boss and lover…
Vacant Possession (1996): Dir. Margot Nash
Feat. Pamela Rabe; Pamela Rabe grapples with some disturbing family secrets on returning to her childhood home in Botany Bay. Beautifully shot drama also confronts…
Victory (1996): Dir. Mark Peploe
Feat. Willem Dafoe, Irene Jacob, Sam Neill…; Adventure film set in 1913 and based on the novel of the same name by Joseph Conrad. After attempting to rape a woman, a man living in Dutch occupied…
When Saturday Comes (1996): Dir. Maria Giese
Feat. Sean Bean, Emily Lloyd, Pete Postlethwaite; Sean Bean balances the prospect of football greatness with the consumption of much lager in a mining town of North England. It's…
When the Cat's Away (1996): Dir. Cedric Klapisch
Feat. Garance Clavel, Zinedine Soualem; A movie for cat lovers and young romantics alike, this Latino–tinged, funky, yet alluringly modest French film follows the dowdy–cute…
Will It Snow for Christmas? (1996): Dir. Sandrine Veysset
Feat. Dominique Reymond, Daniel Duval; Not a seasonal film 'for the whole family', rather a slow–paced evocation of hard–won, rural life for an impoverished French family of…
All Things Fair (1995): Dir. Bo Widerberg
Feat. Johan Widerberg, Marika Lagercrantz; The late Bo Widerberg's swansong records a bittersweet memoir of his love affair with a teacher 22 years his senior. The casting of his young son in…
Brother of Sleep (1995): Dir. Joseph Vilsmaier
Feat. Andre Eisermann, Dana Vavrova, Ben Becker…; A bastard child born in remote 19th century Bavaria proves to have an eerie, powerful musical gift, causing consternation among the inbred, somewhat…
Brothers in Trouble (1995): Dir. Udayan Prasad
Feat. Om Puri, Angeline Ball; A Pakistani illegal–immigrant family struggle to maintain an income and dignity in a grim '60s Midland town. Bittersweet tragicomedy.
Buccaneers, The (1995): Dir. Philip Saville
Feat. Carla Gugino, Mira Sorvino, Alison Elliott…; Four blue–blooded American girls search in England for the fortune and success denied to them back home. A BBC production, from Edith Wharton's…
Colonel Chabert, Le (1995): Dir. Yves Angelo
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Fanny Ardant, Fabrice Luchini…; After being presumed dead in Napoleonic battle, Gerard Depardieu returns to his home town to find his wife, his money and his honour being betrayed…
Convent, The (1995): Dir. Manoel de Oliveira
Feat. John Malkovich, Catherine Deneuve; Academic couple John Malkovich and Catherine Deneuve survey a spooky ancient convent in a quest to prove that Shakespeare is of Spanish descent. From…
Delinquent (1995): Dir. Peter Hall
Feat. Desmond Devenish, Shawn Batten, Jeff Paul; The dysfunctional initiation into adulthood of a 15–year–old in a rural East Coast backwater. Atmospheric, with a groovy soundtrack by…
Disappearance of Kevin Johnson, The (1995): Dir. Francis Megahy
Feat. Pierce Brosnan, James Coburn, Dudley Moore…; Fact–based movie movie about the perils of the Hollywood machine, in which a would–be film producer apparently runs afoul of the…
Edie and Pen (1995): Dir. Matthew Irmas
Feat. Stockard Channing, Jennifer Tilly, Scott Glenn…; Unhappily–marrieds Stockard Channing and Jennifer Tilly cut out to Reno to dispense with husbands, bad luck and sobriety. Bittersweet comedy…
French Woman, A (Une Femme Francaise) (1995): Dir. Regis Wargnier
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Daniel Auteuil; Emmanuelle Beart stars in this period tale of idyllic romance compromised by the reality of war. The director of INDOCHINE again embraces the…
Funny Bones (1995): Dir. Peter Chelsom
Feat. Oliver Platt, Jerry Lewis, Lee Evans…; A fascinating ode to laughter and the business of laughter. After failing on the cut–throat Las Vegas circuit, would–be comic Oliver…
Kicking and Screaming (1995): Dir. Noah Baumbach
Feat. Josh Hamilton, Eric Stoltz, Elliott Gould…; Several college grads flounder in love and with prospects of the future. Dialogue–intensive comedy borrows its philosophical vantage and acting…
Land of Milk and Honey (1995): Dir. Joseph Destein
Feat. Lumi Cavazos, Richard Panebianco; A hired man plumbs the secrets of a Spanish–American family on a remote Californian coastal farm, in this stark, brooding melodrama. Stars…
Last Good Time, The (1995): Dir. Bob Balaban
Feat. Armin Mueller-Stahl, Olivia d'Abo, Maureen Stapleton…; Affecting tale of complementary opposites – a young woman takes refuge in the apartment of a longtime widower (Armin Mueller–Stahl),…
Late Shift, The (1995): Dir. Betty Thomas
Feat. Kathy Bates, John Michael Higgins, Bob Balaban…; Searing, insightful fact–based drama that charts the jostle for late–night supremacy between David Letterman and Jay Leno after the…
Les Miserables (1995): Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. Jean-Paul Belmondo; Widely considered the definitive screen version of this granddaddy of French literary staples. Few concessions have been allowed in staging a…
Letters from the East (1995): Dir. Andrew Grieve
Feat. Ewa Froling, Mark Womack, Ingeborga Dapkunaite; The political turmoil of the Baltic Republics provides a backdrop for this Anglo–Estonian drama, in which a young English woman searches for…
Life (1995): Dir. Lawrence Johnston
Feat. John Brumpton, David Tredinnick; Set in the HIV–isolation unit of an Australian prison, this is reflective cinema at its most interesting, distilling down the raw terms of…
Like Grains of Sand (1995): Dir. Hashiguchi Ryosuke
Feat. Yoshinori Okada, Kouta Kusano; Remarkable, intense Japanese high school romance is centrally about a gay relationship, though it essentially captures the universal,…
Lilian's Story (1995): Dir. Jerzy Domaradzki
Feat. Toni Collette, Ruth Cracknell; Toni Collette won an AFI Best Actress award for her moving portrait of a long–committed psych–patient who is rehabilitated into the…
Low Life, The (1995): Dir. George Hickenlooper
Feat. Rory Cochrane, Sean Astin, Kyra Sedgwick; Amiable, intelligent US independent about a young writer who moves to L.A. to find a struggle in the simplest things, let alone his hopes of taking…
Mad Love (1995): Dir. Antonia Bird
Feat. Chris O'Donnell, Drew Barrymore; An apple–pie American boy (Chris O'Donnell) hightails it with free–spirit wild child Drew Barrymore, an ex–hospital patient who is…
Madagascar Skin (1995): Dir. Chris Newby
Feat. Bernard Hill, John Hannah; Intimate drama that portrays the unlikely relationship between two outsiders in a remote seaside cottage in South Wales. Hannah plays a disfigured…
Mina Tannenbaum (1995): Dir. Martine Dugowson
Feat. Romane Bohringer, Elsa Zylberstein; Two childhood girl–friends of different character and ambition endure a tempestuous friendship over three decades. A freshly drawn, stylish…
Molom (1995): Dir. Marie Jaoul De Poncheville
Feat. Molom Tseded, Yonden Yondejunai; Mystical travelogue of a spiritual nomad/shaman who comes to earth as an eagle, then traverses the breathtaking landscapes of rural Mongolia as the…
My Brother's Keeper (1995): Dir. Glenn Jordan
Feat. John Lithgow; Courageous true story of twin–brother teachers, one of whom required a precarious bone marrow transplant from the other to keep his HIV from…
My Family (1995): Dir. Gregory Nava
Feat. Jimmy Smits, Esai Morales, Edward James Olmos; A engrossing and ambitious saga about a troubled Hispanic–American family recalled in flashback through three snapshots; the 20s, 50s and 80s.
Neon Bible, The (1995): Dir. Terence Davies
Feat. Gena Rowlands, Denis Leary; Dreamy, Big Band–infused coming–of–age, in which British lyricist Terence Davies transposes his woozy, nostalgia–lensed…
Nina Takes a Lover (1995): Dir. Alan Jacobs
Feat. Laura San Giancomo, Paul Rhys, Michael O'Keefe…; Married sales girl Laura San Giancomo makes illicit park–side rendezvous with a British photographer (Paul Rhys). Naturalistic take on the…
Perez Family, The (1995): Dir. Mira Nair
Feat. Alfred Molina, Anjelica Huston, Marisa Tomei…; A gently humorous tale about Cuban refugees who pose as a family in order to gain entry into the U.S. The director of SALAAM BOMBAY well harnesses…
Red Ribbon Blues (1995): Dir. Charles Winkler
Feat. Paul Mercurio, RuPaul , Debi Mazar; Seeking to liberate an AIDS wonder–drug from commercial interests, Paul Mercurio, RuPaul and Debi Mazar, embark on a Robin Hood–style…
Restoration (1995): Dir. Michael Hoffman
Feat. Robert Downey Jnr., Sam Neill, Meg Ryan…; Golden–age English past is again revisited, to when debauched King Charles II was re–throned and decadence reigned. Robert Downey Jnr,…
Rude (1995): Dir. Clement Virgo
Feat. Maurice Dean Wint, Rachael Crawford, Clark Johnson; Three separate stories focus on personal crises in the housing projects of Toronto. A Canadian take on the ghetto drama, that is a refreshingly…
S.F.W. (1995): Dir. Jefery Levy
Feat. Stephen Dorff, Reese Witherspoon; Based on a significant Gen–X novel, Stephen Dorff plays Cliff Spab, a teenage loser who garners a major cult following as a hostage in a…
Sister, My Sister (1995): Dir. Nancy Meckler
Feat. Julie Walters, Joely Richardson, Jodhi May; Two sibling maids flirt with incest, madness and a homicidal tendencies toward their employer. Bleak melodrama builts to a haunting finale, though it…
Sugartime (1995): Dir. John N. Smith
Feat. John Turturro, Mary-Louise Parker, Elias Koteas…; Charts the infamous, real–life romance between Chicago mobster Sam Giancana (John Turturro) and whitebread songstress Phyllis McGuire…
Sun Valley (1995): Dir. He Ping
Feat. Feng Gu, Xueqi Wang; A vengeful Chinese warrior drifts into a small village on the Silk Road, where he is destined for a climactic showdown with a rival suitor of a young…
Total Eclipse (1995): Dir. Agnieszka Holland
Feat. Leonardo DiCaprio, David Thewlis; Voraciously dueling bohemians of late 19th century Paris, Leonardo Di Caprio and David Thewlis impersonate Rimbaud and Verlaine – French poet…
Two Bits (1995): Dir. James Foley
Feat. Al Pacino, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio; Delicate Depression–era memoir set during the hot Philadelphian summer of 1933, stars Al Pacino as a…
Unconditional Love (The Art of Passion) (1995): Dir. Arthur Bjorn Egeli
Feat. Pablo Bryant, Isabelle Dahlin, David Ellsworth…; Art and love conflict in this semi–autobiographical portrait of a young painter whose work and respect suffers after a whirlwind affair with a…
Voices from a Locked Room (1995): Dir. Malcolm Clarke
Feat. Jeremy Northam; Diverting believe–it–or–not true story of Peter Warlock, a 1930s British composer who inhabited a separate personality and identity…
West Side Waltz (1995): Dir. Ernest Thompson
Feat. Shirley Maclaine, Liza Minnelli, Jennifer Grey…; Cold widow Shirley Maclaine lives for playing the piano and isolates all except her violin accompanist, Liza Minnelli. A prelude to change comes in…
White Balloon, The (1995): Dir. Jafar Panahi
Feat. Aida Mohammadkhani, Mohsen Kalifi, Fereshteh Sadr Orfani; Sophisticated kids and adults alike should seek out this multiple prize–winner from Iran that follows a seven–year–old–girl's…
White Man's Burden (1995): Dir. Desmond Nakano
Feat. John Travolta, Harry Belafonte, Kelly Lynch; In an alternative America, blacks are members of social elite, and whites inhabit the urban ghettos. John Travolta plays a humble white factory…
Witch Hunt (1995): Dir. Paul Schrader
Feat. Dennis Hopper; Dennis Hopper plays P.I. Philip Lovecraft and becomes embroiled in the murder of a Hollywood producer with supernatural side–effects. Pleasing…
Young Poisoner's Handbook, The (1995): Dir. Benjamin Ross
Feat. Hugh O'Conor, Antony Sher, Ruth Sheen…; A disquieting black comedy about a chemistry student who proceeded to poision his parents and others in the 1960s. Typically British in its portrait…
Angie (1994): Dir. Martha Coolidge
Feat. Geena Davis, Stephen Rea; Geena Davis brings real authenticity to her role as an expectant mother who, after meeting flamboyant Irishman Stephen Rea, discovers there's is more…
Being Human (1994): Dir. Bill Forsyth
Feat. Robin Williams, Robert Carlyle, John Turturro…; An episodic comic–drama in which Robin Williams plays five men named Hector, who each search for their place in their own historical period…
Blush (1994): Dir. Shaohong Li
Feat. Ji Wang, Zhiwen Wang, Caifei He…; A sensual historical epic that follows the fortunes of two prostitutes who escape the Chinese revolution by fleeing their brothel in 1949 Shanghai.…
Captives (1994): Dir. Angela Pope
Feat. Julia Ormond, Tim Roth; Working in a tough British prison, young dentist Julia Ormond becomes intimate with violent inmate Tim Roth, and too becomes a helpless captive as…
Claire of the Moon (1994): Dir. Nicole Conn
Feat. Trisha Todd, Karen Trumbo, Faith McDevitt; An awkward sexual initiation plays out between an odd couple of women at a writing retreat. Lo–fi production lends the intimate affair an…
Cobb (1994): Dir. Ron Shelton
Feat. Tommy Lee Jones; Muscular sporting biopic from the creator of BULL DURHAM and WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP in which Tommy Lee Jones lets it rip as America's most…
Country Life (1994): Dir. Michael Blakemore
Feat. Sam Neill, Greta Scacchi, Kerry Fox; Yet another version of Uncle Vanya, this time set 'out back' in WWI–era New South Wales, and providing some interesting comparisons between…
Dangerous Woman, A (1994): Dir. Steven Gyllenhaal
Feat. Debra Winger, Gabriel Byrne, Barbara Hershey…; Debra Winger gives her most impressive performance yet as a simple woman whose compulsive honesty wins her few friends. Reminiscent of the plays of…
Day the Sun Turned Cold (1994): Dir. Yim Ho
Feat. Siqin Gaowa; Stark melodrama set in Northern China about a man who accuses his mother of having murdered his father some years before. Tantalising central tale,…
Double Happiness (1994): Dir. Mina Shum
Feat. Sandra Oh, Allanah Ong, Stephen Chang…; A Chinese–Canadian woman faces a common dilemma – how far is she willing to compromise her parents expectations and values in pursuit of…
Ermo (1994): Dir. Zhou Xiaowen
Feat. Liya Ai, Liu Peiqi; A young woman yearns to acquire the largest colour tele in her village, largely as a bid in the popularity stakes. The Chinese flirt with materialism…
Everynight, Everynight (1994): Dir. Alkinos Tsilmidos
Feat. David Field, Bill Hunter; Gruelling chronicle of brutality at the 'Hell' Division of a Melbourne prison, during the incarceration of Australia's notorious hitman Christopher…
F.T.W. (Last Ride, The) (1994): Dir. Michael Karbelnikoff
Feat. Mickey Rourke, Lori Singer; Ex–con rodeo rider Mickey Rourke takes wounded bird Lori Singer under his wing in this brooding ballad of the mid–west. Evocative score…
Fun (1994): Dir. Rafal Zielinski
Feat. Renee Humphrey, Alicia Witt; Two teenage girls just want to have fun, but their obsessive pursuit of it leads them to murder an old lady for no other reason. This remarkable…
Girls in Prison (1994): Dir. John McNaughton
Feat. Ione Skye, Anne Heche, Jon Polito…; An aspiring rock singer is framed for murder and thrown into jail with birds eager to engage in alot more than a friendly round of…
Glass Shield, The (1994): Dir. Charles Burnett
Feat. Ice-Cube, Lori Petty; A black police officer is divided by loyalties to his race and to his fellow officers when a black street punk (Ice Cube) is accused of murdering a…
Imaginary Crimes (1994): Dir. Anthony Drazan
Feat. Harvey Keitel, Kelly Lynch, Fairuza Balk…; Con–man Harvey Keitel attempts to raise two daughters after their mother dies, and struggles to reconcile the demands of parenthood with his…
Ladybird Ladybird (1994): Dir. Ken Loach
Feat. Chrissie Rock; Ken Loach puts not a foot wrong in bringing the heart–rending true story of one mother's struggle to keep custody of her many children after a…
Lush Life (1994): Dir. Michael Elias
Feat. Forest Whitaker, Jeff Goldblum; Forest Whitaker and Jeff Goldblum bring this modest jazz film to vibrant life as top session horn players whose lives come to a cross–roads,…
Mac (1994): Dir. John Turturro
Feat. John Turturro; Actor John Turturro also wrote and directed this labour of love dedicated to and based on his father, a fiercely principled Italian immigrant…
Man of No Importance, A (1994): Dir. Suri Krishnamma
Feat. Albert Finney, Tara Fitzgerald, Michael Gambon…; An ensemble comedy set in 1963 Dublin where suppressed homosexual bus conductor Albert Finney aspires to direct a production of Oscar Wilde's Salome,…
My Crazy Life (Mi Vida Loca) (1994): Dir. Allison Anders
Feat. Angel Aviles, Seidy Lopez, Jacob Vargas; Latino, girl–centic spin on BOYZ 'N THE HOOD from the director of GAS, FOOD, LODGING derives its script from anecdotes from real gang girls and…
New Age, The (1994): Dir. Michael Tolkin
Feat. Peter Weller, Judy Davis; Peter Weller and Judy Davis are a restless, avaricious L.A. couple who seek fortune and/or meaning in their lives. Another icy, cynical hybrid of…
Nobody's Fool (1994): Dir. Robert Benton
Feat. Paul Newman, Bruce Willis, Jessica Tandy…; An unassuming American ballad that falls between arthouse independent and Hollywood sentiment. Paul Newman ages gracefully as a stubborn old salt…
Picture Bride (1994): Dir. Kayo Hatta
Feat. Youki Kudoh, Akira Takayama; A young Japanese woman emigrates to Hawaii as a 'picture bride', but finds it less than paradise – firstly misled by a photograph taken during…
Roswell: The UFO Cover Up (Incident at Roswell) (1994): Dir. Jeremy Kagan
Feat. Kyle MacLachlan, Martin Sheen, Dwight Yoakam…; Credible dramatisation of events surrounding the world's most documented UFO sighting in New Mexico, 1947. Kyle MacLachlan plays the military officer…
Safe Passage (1994): Dir. Robert Allan Ackerman
Feat. Susan Sarandon, Sam Shepard; Susan Sarandon plays an over–protective mother of seven boys whose new–found freedom is short–lived when the reported death of a…
Saint of Fort Washington (1994): Dir. Tim Hunter
Feat. Matt Dillon, Danny Glover; Matt Dillon and Danny Glover are two of New York's homeless whose unlikely friendship bonds through the battle that each day brings. The finale will…
Sex Is a Four Letter Word (1994): Dir. Murray Fahey
Feat. Joy Smithers, Mark Lee, Miranda Otto; A love columnist holds a dinner party for six young Ozzies, ostensibly to source material for her spicy novel. Low budget comedy–drama.
Silences of the Palace (1994): Dir. Moufida Tlatli
Feat. Amel Hedhili, Hend Sabri, Najia Ouerghi…; The daughter of a palatial servant reflects on her upbringing and steady revolt of her birthright obligations. Impassioned look at the status of…
Silent Fall (1994): Dir. Bruce Beresford
Feat. Richard Dreyfuss; An autistic child is the only witness to a brutal murder. The job of bringing him out of his shell falls to discredited child psychologist Richard…
Sleep with Me (1994): Dir. Rory Kelly
Feat. Meg Tilly, Eric Stoltz, Craig Sheffer…; Playfully intelligent 'Gen X' drama in which Meg Tilly is the object of desire of both her fiancee and his best friend. Quentin Tarantino cameos as a…
Spanking the Monkey (1994): Dir. David O. Russell
Feat. Jeremy Davies, Elizabeth Newett, Benjamin Hendrickson…; The awkwardness of youth is brilliantly captured in this provocative tragi–comedy, another maverick success story from the US indie scene. A…
Spider and Rose (1994): Dir. Bill Bennett
Feat. Ruth Cracknell, Max Cullen; A light Ozzie road movie about a special friendship between her elderly widow and a rebellious young ambulance driver entrusted to escort her home.…
Story of Xinghua (1994): Dir. Yin Li
Feat. Wen Jiang, Xingli Niu, Shaojun Tian…; Set in a remote village at the ruins of the Great Wall in Northern China, this explores the conflict between moral corruption, ancient traditions and…
That Eye, The Sky (1994): Dir. John Ruane
Feat. Lisa Harrow, Peter Coyote, Jamie Croft; A troubled family life and supernatural events in the outback, co–mingle in a young boy's mind in this low–key yet haunting drama. From a…
Through the Olive Trees (1994): Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Feat. Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Farhad Keradmand, Zerifeh Shiva; An extreme simplicity of style and storytelling disguises complex meditations on human nature and cinema in a typically distinctive film –…
Tom and Viv (1994): Dir. Brian Gilbert
Feat. Willem Dafoe, Miranda Richardson; A moving exploration of the intense yet painful relationship between Nobel prize–winning poet T.S. Eliot (Willem Dafoe) and his lovably…
Utz (1994): Dir. George Sluzier
Feat. Armin Mueller-Stahl, Paul Scofield, Peter Riegert…; Stately, tragi–comic account of an elderly nobleman (Armin Mueller–Stahl) living in moth–eaten poverty in Prague with his valuable…
Vanya On 42nd Street (1994): Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Wallace Shawn, Julianne Moore, Andre Gregory; The late director's final film recouples him with Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory from MY DINNER WITH ANDRE for another compulsive round of…
War of the Buttons (1994): Dir. John Roberts
Feat. Greg Fitzgerald, Gerard Kearney; The feuding children of two neighbouring Irish villages learn about love, war and democracy through their mischievous games. A good–hearted and…
War, The (1994): Dir. Jon Avnet
Feat. Kevin Costner, Elijah Wood; Vietnam vet father, Kevin Costner, looks on as Elijah Wood plays elaborate war games with his buddies. Themes of war, compromise and remorse are…
Advocate, The (Hour Of the Pig) (1993): Dir. Leslie Megahey
Feat. Colin Firth, Donald Pleasence, Nicol Williamson…; Polished, wry and most unusual medieval fact–based tale. Colin Firth plays a lawyer summonsed to act for the defence a pig (yes, an animal) for…
Bad Behaviour (1993): Dir. Les Blair
Feat. Stephen Rea, Sinead Cusack, Phil Daniels…; Middle life and class are sliced from the Leigh/Loach mould, but with more improvisation and less cynicism. Stephen Rea plays a town planner at the…
Barbarians at the Gate (1993): Dir. Glenn Jordan
Feat. James Garner, Jonathan Pryce, Peter Riegert…; James Garner, Jonathan Pryce and Peter Riegert engage in power–plays and an outrageous take–over bidding war for cigarette giant,…
Blue (1993): Dir. Derek Jarman
Feat. Derek Jarman, John Quentin, Nigel Terry…; Against a simple, unchanging blue screen, Derek Jarman weaves intricate collages of sound, music and poetry. A moving self–portrait, as the…
Bodies Rest and Motion (1993): Dir. Michael Steinberg
Feat. Tim Roth, Bridget Fonda, Phoebe Cates…; Suburban aimlessness underlies this entertaining, stylish 'gen–X' romancer with an appealing twentysomething quartet.
Bopha! (1993): Dir. Morgan Freeman
Feat. Danny Glover, Malcolm McDowell, Alfre Woodard; Danny Glover plays a loyal police sergeant in 1980 South Africa who comes under fire from his militant son. Examines the less visible conflicts that…
Boy's Life, A (1993): Dir. Todd Haynes, Raoul O'Connell, Peggy Rajski; Three short – and very different – short films about growing up gay, from the little boy who likes a soap star in Todd Haynes' remarkable…
Broken Highway (1993): Dir. Laurie McInnes
Feat. Aden Young; Seaman Aden Young delivers a mystery package for a dying friend, to a bleak coastal town of lost souls and drifters. Audacious B&W cinemascope…
Burning Season, The (1993): Dir. John Frankenheimer
Feat. Raul Julia, Carmen Argenziano, Sonia Braga…; Raul Julia stars as Chico Mendes, the activist who lost his life protesting the destruction of the Brazilian rain forests. The continued volatile…
Business Affair, A (1993): Dir. Charlotte Brandstom
Feat. Carole Bouquet, Christopher Walken, Jonathan Pryce…; Would–be writer Carole Bouquet is caught between her husband (another struggling scribe) and publisher Christopher Walken. European…
Century (1993): Dir. Stephen Poliakoff
Feat. Clive Owen, Miranda Richardson, Charles Dance; Medical researchers agonize over love, ethics and the future at the turn of the twentieth century. Though a period picture, it captures an excitable…
Chain of Desire (1993): Dir. Temistocles Lopez
Feat. Linda Fiorentino, Malcolm McDowell; A 'chain' of sexual encounters between numerous partners, brought full circle before the stinging twist in its tale. Linda Fiorentino and Malcolm…
Chantilly Lace (1993): Dir. Linda Yellen
Feat. Lindsay Crouse, JoBeth Williams, Martha Plimpton; Satisfying story of friendship among seven women who trade memories at a country retreat.
Dallas Doll (1993): Dir. Ann Turner
Feat. Sarah Bernhardt; Sandra Bernhardt plays a free–spirited American who turns the lives of a middle–class Sydney family on its ear with her unbridled…
Especially On a Sunday (1993): Dir. Giuseppe Tornatore, Giuseppe Bertolucci, Marco Tul
Feat. Jean-Hugues Anglade, Patricia Arquette, Nicoletta Braschi…; Three stories of love and loss from the pen of Tonino Guerra brought to screen life by three directing talents. Sublime fare in the finest European…
Ethan Frome (1993): Dir. John Madden
Feat. Liam Neeson, Patricia Arquette; Liam Neeson and Patricia Arquette are master and housekeeper who fall in love after he suffers years of emotional estrangement from his wife.…
For a Lost Soldier (1993): Dir. Roeland Kerbosch
Feat. Maarten Smit, Jeroen Krabbe, Andrew Kelley; A dance teacher recalls his childhood love affair with a Canadian soldier at the end of WW2. Taboo subject is subtly drawn and fulfils the director's…
From the Island (As an Eilean) (1993): Dir. Mike Alexander
Feat. Ken Hutchison, Iain MacLeod; A teenager comes to terms with the parochial and insular way of life in his village on a remote Scottish island. A vivid sense of landscape and local…
Go Fish (1993): Dir. Rose Troche
Feat. Guinevere Turner, V.S Brodie; A free–wheeling and revealing study of things lesbian with all its inherent prejudices and dilemmas. Not a 'coming–out' movie, but rather…
Household Saints (1993): Dir. Nancy Savoca
Feat. Julian C. Blaustein, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lili Taylor; An immaculately conceived tragi–comic tale of Catholic guilt, redemption and sacrifice in Italian New York told through several decades. With…
I Don't Kiss (J'embrasse Pas) (1993): Dir. Andre Techine
Feat. Emmanuelle Beart, Philippe Noiret; A 19–year old breaks away from his sheltered rural life and drifts into the seedy world of Parisian streetlife where he falls in love with…
I Don't Want to Talk About It (1993): Dir. Maria Luisa Bemberg
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni, Luisina Brando, Alejandra Podesta; The mother of a dwarf sets about removing all references in her town to dwarfism in order to protect her daughter from prejudice. Things complicate…
Immaculate Conception (1993): Dir. Jamil Dehlavi
Feat. James Wilby, Melissa Leo; Well–bred Anglo–Indian drama with James Wilby and Melissa Leo as a childless couple in India who choose the wrong time and place to…
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. (1993): Dir. Leslie Harris
Feat. Ariyan Johnson; This cautionary tale from the Brooklyn streets lacks technical polish, but its heart–felt enthusiasm paints a geniune picture of what it is to…
Lipstick On Your Collar (1993): Dir. Renny Rye
Feat. Giles Thomas, Louise Germaine, Ewan McGregor; Dennis Potter's musical comedy combines the elements that made his 'Singing Detective' and 'Pennies from Heaven' so memorable and distinctive. This…
Lost in Yonkers (1993): Dir. Martha Coolidge
Feat. Mercedes Ruehl, Richard Dreyfuss; Neil Simon's laugh–and–cry theatre piece about two boys carted off to live with their eccentric rellies in '40s New York. Mercedes Reuhl…
M Butterfly (1993): Dir. David Cronenberg
Feat. Jeremy Irons, John Lone; Bizarre true–story of a French diplomat's long–term sexual relationship with a Chinese opera singer who managed to conceal the fact that…
Married People, Single Sex (1993): Dir. Mike Sedan
Feat. Chase Masterson, Shelley Michelle, Samuel Mongiello…; Cheaply shot triptych peeps into marital dysfunction and the implications of infidelity on three sets of married couples. Flirts unapologetically…
Mr. Jones (1993): Dir. Mike Figgis
Feat. Richard Gere, Lena Olin; Richard Gere earnestly acts the method as an impulsive–depressive who gets keen on spunky therapist Lena Olin. Its whimsical flourishes work…
Nun and the Bandit (1993): Dir. Paul Cox
Feat. Chris Haywood, Gosia Dobrowolska; Cox returns with regulars Chris Haywood and Gosia Dobrowolska for a tale of industrial disputes, revenge and kidnapping in the Australian bush.
Paris, France (1993): Dir. Georgio Ciccoretti
Feat. Leslie Hope, Peter Outerbridge; While her husband descends into madness, a novelist attempts to cure her writer's block by engaging in kinky sex with a drifter. Preposterous 'art'…
Poetic Justice (1993): Dir. John Singleton
Feat. Janet Jackson; Janet Jackson plays Justice, a girl who writes poetry and stuff about the problems of the 'hood. She's the best thing on offer in this tepid follow…
Pornographer, The (1993): Dir. Patrick S. Duncan
Feat. Nicholas Cascone, Melora Hardin; An ambitious attempt to draw a co–relate the legitimate art world and the pornographic one – both, it asserts, as being founded on…
Punk, The (1993): Dir. Mike Sarne
Feat. Charlie Creed-Miles; Based on the cult writings of the late Gideon Sams, this modern London take on Romeo and Juliet is technically flakey, but naively charming. Charlie…
Rich in Love (1993): Dir. Bruce Beresford
Feat. Albert Finney, Jill Clayburgh, Kyle MacLachlan…; A knock–out cast bring to life the comic and tragic of a splintered yet tightly knit South Carolinan family.
Salt On Our Skin (1993): Dir. Andrew Birkin
Feat. Greta Scacchi, Vincent D'Onofrio; Greta Scacchi and Vincent D'Onofrio duet in this lush, erotically charged (Eu)romance as lovers who are wrong for each other, but happen to sizzle in…
Second Best (1993): Dir. Chris Menges
Feat. William Hurt; An earnest Irish drama in which William Hurt sports a curly red wig for the role of an ordered and reclusive bachelor whose world is thrown into…
Secrets (1993): Dir. Michael Pattinson
Feat. Noah Taylor, Willa O'Neill; During the Beatles' Melbourne tourdate of 1964, four Beatle–maniacs and an Elvis fan find themselves trapped together in a hotel basement,…
Slingshot, The (1993): Dir. Ake Sandgren
Feat. Jesper Salen, Stellan Skarsgard, Basia Frydman; A bittersweet snapshot of pre–war Stockholm in which an enterprising 10–year–old flirts with boyhood rebellion. This local…
Sofie (1993): Dir. Liv Ulmann
Feat. Liv Ullmann; Actress Liv Ullmann makes a confident directing debut with this period drama about a Jewish woman's emotional journey over 20 years that begins with…
Stalin (1993): Dir. Ivan Passer
Feat. Robert Duvall, Maximilian Schell, Joan Plowright; Robert Duvall embodies the full–blooded treachery of the Soviet dictator in this mini–series biography shot on location in Moscow.
Sugar Hill (1993): Dir. Leon Ichaso
Feat. Wesley Snipes; Snipes vehicle in which he plays a drug dealer wanting to wade out of the mire and come to terms with his afflicted past.
Temptation of a Monk (1993): Dir. Clara Law
Feat. Joan Chen, Zhang Fenyi; Graphic chronicle of blood–letting by a fierce warrior general in 7th century China, that hews to the visual traditions of the classic Japanese…
Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom (1993): Dir. Michael Ritchie
Feat. Holly Hunter; Holly Hunter won an Emmy for her portrayal of a woman who would go to any length to ensure her daughter's place on the high school cheerleading team.…
Traps (1993): Dir. Pauline Chan
Feat. Saskia Reeves, Jacqueline McKenzie; An English journalistic couple travel to pre–war South Vietnam to rejuvenate their floundering marriage, but falter on the shifting ground of a…
Typhon's People (1993): Dir. Yvonne MacKay
Feat. Alfred Molina, Sophie Lee, Michael Hurst…; Capable sci–fi thriller, scripted by Margaret Mahy, concerning dodgy genetic–engineering in a remote NZ research station. Stars local…
Widow's Peak (1993): Dir. John Irvin
Feat. Joan Plowright, Natasha Richardson, Mia Farrow; In 1920s Ireland, Joan Plowright presides over a widow's community and engages in emotional game–playing with Natasha Richardson and Mia…
Younger and Younger (1993): Dir. Percy Aldon
Feat. Donald Sutherland, Julie Delpy, Lolita Davidovich; The director of BAGDAD CAFÉ fashions another quirky, character–driven comedy of self–discovery. Donald Sutherland must reconsider his…
Zelda (1993): Dir. Pat O'Connor
Feat. Natasha Richardson, Timothy Hutton; A polished biography about the decadent, obsessive lives of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda.
Absent Without Leave (1992): Dir. John Laing
Feat. Craig McLauchlan; Craig McLauchlan from Neighbours stars as a love–struck newly–wed on the run from the army during WW2. Slight nostalgia with lots of…
Accompanist, The (1992): Dir. Claude Miller
Feat. Richard Bohringer, Romane Bohringer; A humble pianist is hired to accompany a wealthy soprano in occupied France, but their partnership becomes fraught with rivalry and…
Best Intentions (1992): Dir. Bille August
Feat. Samuel Froler, Pernilla August, Max von Sydow…; Sincere, meticulous yet characteristically bleak adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's biographical account of his parents' turbulent courtship and…
Blackfellas (Day of the Dog) (1992): Dir. James Ricketson
Feat. John J. Moore, David Ngoombujarra, Jack Charles; The first feature to be made within the Aboriginal community paints an unglamorous picture of a displaced culture in telling its tragic tale of a…
Broadway Bound (1992): Dir. Paul Bogart
Feat. Anne Bancroft, Hume Cronyn; Third film in the trilogy based on the Neil Simon's memoirs remains faithful to its stage origins. His alter–ego aspires to write successful…
Citizen Cohn (1992): Dir. Frank Pierson
Feat. James Woods; James Woods plays Joseph McCarthy's crooked lawyer, Roy Cohn – a role meaty enough to sustain every ounce of his frustrated energy. The…
City of Joy (1992): Dir. Roland Joffe
Feat. Patrick Swayze; Patrick Swayze sincerely portrays an American surgeon who encounters difficulties in the heart of India's urban slums. A polished adaptation of…
Conte D'hiver (A Winter's Tale) (1992): Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Charlotte Very, Frederic Van Den Driessche; A whirlwind romance ends abruptly for a young woman when she accidentally gives her lover a wrong address. Four years pass and she remains possessed…
Crossing the Bridge (1992): Dir. Mike Binder
Feat. Stephen Baldwin, Josh Charles; A drug smuggling venture across the Canadian border tests the wits and friendship of three long–time pals about to confront adulthood in the…
Deadly (1992): Dir. Esben Storm
Feat. Jerome Ehlers, Frank Gallacher; This thriller deals frankly with the subject of Aboriginal deaths while in police custody. Flawed, yet recommended for those with an interest in the…
Discrete, La (1992): Dir. Christian Vincent
Feat. Fabrice Luchini, Judith Henry, Maurice Garrel…; Things don't go to plan for a philandering writer who refuses to commit emotionally. A literary yet accessible essay on sexual game–playing,…
Doing Time On Maple Drive (1992): Dir. Ken Olin
Feat. James Sikking, Bibi Besch, Jim Carrey…; Effective tragic farce about an 'ordinary' family in crisis over several coinciding issues, including alcoholism, closet homosexuality, abortion and…
Fiorile (1992): Dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
Feat. Claudio Bigagli, Galatea Ranzi, Michael Vartan; The brothers' Taviani spin three torrid tales of hot–blooded Italians at love and war, recounted by a father to his children about family myths…
Fly by Night (1992): Dir. Steve Gomer
Feat. Jeffrey D. Sams, Ron Brice; An unheralded black youth melodrama that brings with it a fresh perspective, an intelligent script and direction that doesn't impose (too much)…
Footstep Man, The (1992): Dir. Leon Narbey
Feat. Michael Hurst, Jennifer Ward-Lealand; An ambitious psychological drama about a forlorn sound–effects man who becomes obsessed with the woman in a film he is working on. Technically…
Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1992): Dir. Jeff Stanzler
Feat. Tim Roth, Alexis Arquette; Tim Roth and Alexis Arquette both give knock–out performances in this powerful drama about a violent man trying to clean–up his…
La Reine Blanche (1992): Dir. Jean-Loup Hubert
Feat. Catherine Deneuve, Richard Bohringer; The return of a childhood friend to his home fishing village has fateful consequences for a long–married couple.
Laws of Gravity (1992): Dir. Nick Gomez
Feat. Peter Greene, Edie Falco, Adam Trese…; Remarkably authentic Brooklyn street story follows a couple of aimless pals, their girlfriends and a volitile circle of hoods. The four leads are…
Leaving Normal (1992): Dir. Edward Zwick
Feat. Christine Lahti, Meg Tilly; Post–THELMA AND LOUISE female–bonding drama with the ever–likeable Christine Lahti and Meg Tilly, who abandon their lives of…
Lolo (1992): Dir. Francisco Athie
Feat. Damian Alcazar, Lorena Caballero, Alonso Echanove; An unflinching portrait of an urban Mexican slum in which a 17–year–old's pursuit of happiness is shattered when a petty crime leads to…
Love Field (1992): Dir. Jonathan Kaplan
Feat. Michelle Pfeiffer, Dennis Haysbert; Michelle Pfeiffer plays a forlorn housewife who befriends a black man and his daughter en route to JFK's funeral. Confederate cronies and bitter…
Midnight Clear, A (1992): Dir. Keith Gordon
Feat. Peter Berg, Kevin Dillon, Arye Gross…; A provocative, suspenseful anti–war parable about a fresh–faced American platoon assigned to an abandoned chateau near the German border…
Mima (1992): Dir. Philomene Esposito
Feat. Nino Manfredi, Margarita Lozano, Virginie Ledoyen; The first–time director captures the nuance and feeling of her own experience as a young girl who witnesses the mysterious disappearance of her…
Ox, The (1992): Dir. Sven Nykvist
Feat. Stellan Skarsgard, Ewa Froling, Lennart Hjulstrom; During the famine years of Sweden in the 1860s, a peasant family slaughter their employer's ox, then reap the consequences. Directed by Ingmar…
Plague, The (1992): Dir. Luis Puenzo
Feat. John Hurt, Robert Duvall, Raul Julia…; William Hurt, Robert Duvall and Raul Julia star in this truncated adaptation of Albert Camus's complex novel. Bubonic plague besieges a modern South…
Quiet Days in Clichy (1992): Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Nigel Havers, Andrew McCarthy; From Henry Miller's novel, Nigel Havers and Andrew McCarthy are hedonistic literary foreigners cavorting in turn–of–the–century…
Savage Nights (1992): Dir. Cyril Collard
Feat. Cyril Collard, Romane Bohringer, Carlos Lopez…; A audaciously frank and romantic tale of the life, love and passions of its bisexual director and star, who died of AIDS and was posthumously…
Stan and George's New Life (1992): Dir. Brian McKenzie
Feat. Paul Chubb; Life begins at 40 forty for under–achiever Stan who finally cuts the apron strings, gets a new job and finds a soul mate. A poignant story of…
Station, The (1992): Dir. Sergio Rubini
Feat. Sergio Rubini, Margherita Buy, Ennio Fantastichini; Beguiling film about a disillusioned society woman who becomes drawn to a humble station–master while waiting for the first available train.
Stolen Children, The (1992): Dir. Gianni Amelio
Feat. Enrico Lo Verso, Valentina Scalici, Giuseppe Ieracitano; Two kids are reluctantly escorted from Milan to Palermo after they are refused asylum at an orphanage. A warts–and–all, portrait of…
Story of Qui Ju, The (1992): Dir. Zhang Yimou
Feat. Gong Li; Docu–drama about a peasant wife's determined fight for her justice after her husband is assaulted. An insight into modern China is glimpsed…
Strangers (1992): Dir. Daniel Vigne, Joan Tewkesbury, Wayne Wang
Feat. Linda Fiorentino, Joan Chen, Timothy Hutton; A compendium of three stories connected only by a theme of American tourists in Europe. Three seasoned directors add class.
Trial, The (1992): Dir. David Jones
Feat. Kyle MacLachlan, Anthony Hopkins, Jason Robards Jr.…; Update of Kafka's disturbing, influential novel posits Kyle MacLachlan as the man mysteriously arrested and subjected to a totalitarian judiciary.…
Used People (1992): Dir. Beeban Kidron
Feat. Shirley Maclaine, Marcello Mastroianni, Kathy Bates…; Feathers fly in the hen–house of recently widowed Shirley Maclaine when courted by debonair Marcello Mastroianni.
Warszawa (1992): Dir. Janusz Kijowski
Feat. Julie Delpy, Lambert Wilson, Hanna Schygulla; Tense and original drama has a young Jewish couple (Lambert and Delpy) escaping the Warsaw massacre in 1943, by hiding with an older woman…
Waterdance, The (1992): Dir. Neal Jimenez, Michael Steinberg
Feat. Eric Stoltz, Wesley Snipes; A wheel–chair bound Eric Stoltz shares a rehab unit with others whom he has nothing else in common. Based on writer Neal Jimenez's experience,…
Waterland (1992): Dir. Stephen Gyllenhaal
Feat. Jeremy Irons, Sinead Cusack, Lena Headey…; Jeremy Irons plays a history teacher in America who recounts his own suppressed coming of age to his cynical students. Adapted from Graham Swift's…
Zebrahead (1992): Dir. Anthony Drazan
Feat. Michael Rapaport, Kevin Corrigan; A white Jewish boy ignites long–simmering racial tension when he starts dating his best friend's black cousin. Gritty urban drama coasts along…
Adjuster, The (1991): Dir. Atom Egoyan
Feat. Elias Koteas, Arsinee Khanjian, Maury Chaykin; Eliptical and seductive fifth feature from one of cinema's most original talents. Two 'adjusters' – an insurance assessor, and his wife, a film…
At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991): Dir. Hector Babenco
Feat. Tom Berenger, John Lithgow, Daryl Hannah…; Tom Berenger, John Lithgow, Darryl Hannah, Aidan Quinn, Kathy Bates and Tom Waits endured the two–year location shoot of Peter Matthiessen's…
Breaking In (1991): Dir. Bill Forsyth
Feat. Burt Reynolds, Casey Siemaszko, Sheila Kelley; A Stateside charmer from the director of LOCAL HERO about a veteran burglar who takes on a young petty criminal as an apprentice of his trade.
Bridge, The (1991): Dir. Sydney MacCartney
Feat. Saskia Reeves, David O'Hara, Joss Ackland…; A moving–canvas period drama about a romantic liaison between a married mother (Saskia Reeves) and a impressionist painter. Over–familiar…
Bright Angel (1991): Dir. Michael Fields
Feat. Dermot Mulroney, Lili Taylor, Sam Shepard…; Sombre mid–western road movie avoids genre cliches and maintain its grip once it takes hold.
Closet Land (1991): Dir. Radha Bharadwaj
Feat. Madeleine Stowe, Alan Rickman; Madeleine Stowe and Alan Rickman comprise the entire cast of this dramatic exercise that consists solely of an alleged subversive children's author…
Conte De Printemps (A Tale of Springtime) (1991): Dir. Eric Rohmer
Feat. Anne Teyssedre, Hugues Quester, Florence Darel…; The first of the director's 'Tales of Four Seasons', as invigorating as its Springtime theme. Complex relationships are woven from the meeting of two…
December Bride (1991): Dir. Thaddeus O'Sullivan
Feat. Saskia Reeves; A rain–soaked melodrama set in '30s rural Ireland in which Saskia Reeves endures Catholic prejudice after giving birth out of wedlock. This is…
Dying Young (1991): Dir. Joel Schumacher
Feat. Julia Roberts, Campbell Scott, Vincent D'Onofrio…; Chuckle as stilettoed ignoramus Julia Roberts nurtures a rich and handsome cancer patient with whom she falls in lurve.
Edward II (1991): Dir. Derek Jarman
Feat. Tilda Swinton, Nigel Terry; Self–conscious updating of the Elizabethan play by Phillip Marlowe, imbued with a stagey panache by dir. Jarmen (a la WITTGENSTEIN),…
Gas, Food, Lodging (1991): Dir. Allison Anders
Feat. Brooke Adams, Ione Skye, Fairuza Balk; Delectable romantic tale of life in a truck–stop town for mom and two teenage daughters adds up to much more than the sum of its incidental…
Herman (1991): Dir. Erik Gustavson
Feat. Anders Danielsen Lie, Elisabeth Sand, Bjorn Floberg; A gentle, wry tale of a boy who finds his hair is falling out at the ripe old age of 11 but, instead of wallowing in puberty blues, chooses to turn…
Hours and Times, The (1991): Dir. Chris Munch
Feat. David Angus, Ian Hart; Intriguing gem posits what might have gone on between John Lennon and his gay manager, Brian Epstein, a weekend in Barcelona, just before The Beatles…
Indecent Woman, The (1991): Dir. Ben Verbong
Feat. Jose Way, Coen Van Vrijberghe de Coningh, Huub Stapel; A married violinist is drawn into a no–holds–barred relationship with a mystery man. A decent erotic parable that perceptively explores…
Journey of Hope (1991): Dir. Xavier Koller
Feat. Necmettin Cobanoglu, Emin Sivas, Yaman Okay; Powerful but heart–breaking drama about an exiled Turkish family who trek through the Swiss alps in a desperate bid for a new homeland. Upset…
Kafka (1991): Dir. Steven Soderbergh
Feat. Jeremy Irons, Ian Holm, Theresa Russell…; This unsuspecting follow–up film for the director of the independent smash hit, SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE went largely unreleased, though it has…
Last Butterfly, The (1991): Dir. Karel Kachyna
Feat. Tom Courtenay, Brigitte Fossey, Freddie Jones; Another worthy drama based on facts surrounding Nazi death camps, stage mime Tom Courtenay is compelled by the Gestapo to put on a performance for…
Life On a String (1991): Dir. Chen Kaige
Feat. Zhongyuan Liu, Lei Huang, Qing Xu; A richly poetic chronicle of a blind man who devotes himself to music. Like the director's subsequent FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE, some messages may be…
London Kills Me (1991): Dir. Hanif Kureishi
Feat. Justin Chadwick, Stephen Mackintosh, Emer McCourt; MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE writer Kureishi directs a young ensemble for his glossy depiction of drug–dealing squatters in London's Notting Hill.…
Mambo Kings, The (1991): Dir. Arne Glimcher
Feat. Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas; Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas play sibling Mambo freaks who spin out of the fast lane en route to the American Dream. The dance sequences are…
Married (1991): Dir. Gaylene Preston
Feat. Jed Brophy, Tracey Moore; Jed Brophy and Tracey Moore play newlyweds coping with sex roles and a communication breakdown one day in mythical NZ suburbia. Preston directs a…
Medicine Man (1991): Dir. John McTiernan
Feat. Sean Connery, Lorraine Bracco; Sean Connery plays a crotchety mad scientist whose tinkerings in the Amazon rainforest result in a cure for cancer – but then he just as soon…
Meeting Venus (1991): Dir. Istvan Szabo
Feat. Glenn Close, Niels Arestrup; Glenn Close plays a Swedish diva (miming to our Dame Kiri) entangled in personal and political problems whilst leading in Wagner's Tannhauser.
Merci La Vie (1991): Dir. Bertrand Blier
Feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Anouk Grinberg; Two young girls bond on a magical, mysterious tour played out against shifts in time, from the present to Occupied France. The audacious mix of ideas…
Nirvana Street Murder (1991): Dir. Aleksi Vellis
Feat. Mark Little, Ben Mendelsohn; Raw, inventive street story that juggles cultural conflict with matters of the heart as two disparate brothers find themselves in a scrape with Greek…
Object of Beauty (1991): Dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Feat. Andie MacDowell, John Malkovich, Joss Ackland…; An amusing black comedy set around a pair of passionate high–flying art lovers, who contrive the theft of a prized sculpture while in London,…
On My Own (1991): Dir. Antonio Tibaldi
Feat. Judy Davis; Coming–of–age tale draws a devastating performance from Judy Davis as the imbalanced mother of a fifteen–year–old boarding…
Our Sons (1991): Dir. John Erman
Feat. Julie Andrews, Ann-Margret; Middle–aged Julie Andrews and Ann–Margret discover their estranged gay sons have only weeks to live. In other words they have AIDS,…
Over the Hill (1991): Dir. George Miller
Feat. Olympia Dukakis; Not getting any younger, inpedendent widow Olympia Dukakis travels to Australia and has the time of her life in the outback. Will win the hearts of…
Paris Trout (1991): Dir. Stephen Gyllenhaal
Feat. Dennis Hopper, Barbara Hershey; In 1949, crazed hick Dennis Hopper manifests his full–blooded rascism when he murders the young sister of a negro who has renegged on his car…
Prisoner of Honour (1991): Dir. Ken Russell
Feat. Richard Dreyfuss, Oliver Reed, Peter Firth…; Fact–based story of a military official Alfred Dreyfuss who was wrongly convicted of espionage in the French army c1900. Richard Dreyfuss (no…
Quarrel, The (1991): Dir. Eli Cohen
Feat. Saul Rubinek, R.H. Thompson; In 1948, two estranged friends of the Jewish faith overcome their differences through honest discussion on how the Holocaust has impacted on their…
Rhapsody in August (1991): Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Sachiko Murase, Richard Gere; A Japanese grandmother shares painful memories of Nagasaki with her four grandchildren who travel to meet extended kin–folk in Hawaii. Dir.…
Shadows and Fog (1991): Dir. Woody Allen
Feat. Woody Allen, John Malkovich, Kathy Bates…; Woody, John Malkovich, Kathy Bates, John Cusack, Jodie Foster and Madonna cast their prominent shadows for his droll tale of mystery stranglers,…
Swoon (1991): Dir. Tom Kalin
Feat. Daniel Schlachet, Craig Chester; A stylised interpretation of the famous Loeb–Leopold murder case of 1924. The fateful gay lovers entwined their clandestine sex life with that…
Together Alone (1991): Dir. P.J. Castellaneta
Feat. Terry Curry, Todd Stites; Two disparate gay men share their thoughts 'the morning after' on everything from gay issues and abortion to poetry, dreams and betrayals. This…
Toto the Hero (1991): Dir. Jaco Van Dormael
Feat. Michel Bouquet; Fascinating tragicomedy about an old man who bitterly reflects on his life and the privileged life he feels was stolen from him. Intricate and fresh…
Tous Les Matins Du Monde (All the Mornings of the World) (1991): Dir. Alain Corneau
Feat. Jean-Pierre Marielle, Gerard Depardieu, Anne Brochet…; Gerard Depardieu duets with real–life son Guillaume in this romantic tale of love, betrayal and classical music in the 17th Century. Exquisite…
Voyager (1991): Dir. Volker Schlondorff
Feat. Sam Shepard, Julie Delpy; Based on an existentialist novel of the 1950s, Sam Shepard plays a lone, melancholy man of science who uneasily submits to the random hand of fate…
Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991): Dir. Charles Sturridge
Feat. Judy Davis, Helena Bonham Carter, Rupert Graves…; An untimely death in the family spurs Judy Davis, Helena Bonham–Carter and Rupert Graves to squabble it out in…
Whore (1991): Dir. Ken Russell
Feat. Theresa Russell; Theresa Russell in a likeably loathsome dead–pan performance in this portrait of a prostitute as blunt as its title. Ken did it better with…
Woman's Tale, A (1991): Dir. Paul Cox
Feat. Sheila Florance; An unexpected pleasure about old age starring and written for the late, great Sheila Florance who had only weeks to live when the film was shot. A…
Woman, Her Men and Her Futon, A (1991): Dir. Mussef Sibay
Feat. Jennifer Rubin, Grant Show; A woman juggles her career in the film industry with her love life as she tries to find the perfect lover and partner. The star presence of Jennifer…
Young Soul Rebels (1991): Dir. Isaac Julian
Feat. Frances Barber, Shyro Chung; A melange of black, white, gay, straight, soul and punk cultures as it might have been in London in the late 1970s. Popularly dubbed as the black MY…
Antonia and Jane (1990): Dir. Beeban Kidron
Feat. Saskia Reeves, Imelda Staunton; Whimsical portrait of friendship will tickle the fancy of women in particular. Insecurities abound for long–time chums – attractive…
Avalon (1990): Dir. Barry Levinson
Feat. Armin Mueller-Stahl, Aidan Quinn; The director's semi–autobiography is a gorgeously lensed account of a Polish immigrant family facing the trials and tribulations of growing up…
C'est La Vie (1990): Dir. Diane Kurys
Feat. Nathalie Baye, Richard Berry; Another twee autobiographical snapshot, set at a French holiday resort in a late–'50s summer. A teenager's coming of age is marked by the…
Class Action (1990): Dir. Michael Apted
Feat. Gene Hackman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio; A lawyer becomes forced to prosecute a case in which his estranged daughter will act for the defence. Courtroom ethics are violated in style by Gene…
Close My Eyes (1990): Dir. Stephen Poliakoff
Feat. Saskia Reeves, Clive Owen, Alan Rickman; This admirably probes the notion of a love affair between a long–separated brother and sister. Saskia Reeves and Clive Owen entwine in the…
Close to Eden (Urga) (1990): Dir. Nikita Mikhalkov
Feat. Badema , Bayaertu , Vladimir Gostyukhin; The vanishing ancient culture of Mongolia is offered spellbinding yet humourous insight through a herdsman's family whose simple life is threatened…
Close-Up (1990): Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Feat. Hossain Sabzian, Mohsen Makhmalbaf; A uniquely–devised work intermingling life and art, documentary and fiction, born of a real life incident in which an unemployed film buff is…
Dancin' Thru the Dark (Dancing Through the Dark) (1990): Dir. Mike Ockrent
Feat. Peter Beckett, Angela Clarke, Julia Deakin…; An engaged couple's stag and hen parties wind up at the same nightclub, with a mixed reception! Writer Willy (SHIRLEY VALENTINE) Russell again forges…
Fools of Fortune (1990): Dir. Pat O'Connor
Feat. Julie Christie, Iain Glen; Intimate family saga set against the Irish turbulence between the wars.
Garden, The (1990): Dir. Derek Jarman
Feat. Tilda Swinton, Johnny Mills; Derek Jarman's sincere personal affront with AIDS and the Christian church is represented through a non–narrative dreamscape with himself as…
Golden Braid (1990): Dir. Paul Cox
Feat. Chris Haywood, Gosia Dobrowolska; Off–beat tale of a clock–maker who finds he can't commit to a relationship because he's in love with a girl from the past whose sole…
Havana (1990): Dir. Sydney Pollack
Feat. Robert Redford, Lena Olin; A gracefully ageing Robert Redford seeks his fortune on the verge of the Cuban revolution, while romantic entanglement with Lena Olin has political…
Horseplayer (1990): Dir. Kurt Voss
Feat. Brad Dourif, Sammi Davis, Max Perlich; Interesting item stars the incomparably strange Brad Dourif as a loner being manipulated by bored neighbours. Unfortunately for them, Brad turns out…
Julia Has Two Lovers (1990): Dir. Bashar Shbib
Feat. Daphna Kastner, David Duchovny; A simple wrong number turns into a marathon phone conversation and 'relationship' between a doubtful bride–to–be (Daphna Kastner) and a…
Life and Nothing But (1990): Dir. Bertrand Tavernier
Feat. Philippe Noiret, Sabine Azema; Philippe Noiret plays a Missing–in–Action chief officer whose obsession to account for the anonymous casualties of WW1 draws him to a…
Longtime Companion (1990): Dir. Norman Rene
Feat. Campbell Scott, Patrick Cassidy, John Dossett; Spirit–lifting work chronicles a decade in the lives of a group of gay men and their freinds who become personally affected by AIDS.
Man and Two Women, A (1990): Dir. Valerie Stroh
Feat. Valerie Stroh, Lambert Wilson, Dianne Pierens; Inspired by the writings of Doris Lessing, three sensuous stories are thoughtfully realised from the imagination of an emotionally inhibited writer.
Martha and I (1990): Dir. Jiri Weiss
Feat. Michel Piccoli, Marianne Sagebrecht; A touching, humourous yarn from the director's childhood memoirs. He witnesses his eccentric uncle (Michel Piccoli) marry his under–educated…
Men Don't Leave (1990): Dir. Paul Brickman
Feat. Jessica Lange; Jessica Lange stars as the mother of two precocious sons, forced to adapt to a new environment after losing her husband and their rural home.
Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990): Dir. James Ivory
Feat. Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward; A Merchant–Ivory production with real–life partners Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward as a straight–laced couple who devote their…
Night Sun (Il Sole Anche Di Notte) (1990): Dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
Feat. Julian Sands, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Nastassja Kinski; After rejecting nobility, a soldier (Julian Sands) struggles to find fulfilment at a monastery. A thoughtful, near–mythical meditation based on…
Queen of Hearts (1990): Dir. Jon Amiel
Feat. Vittorio Duse, Joseph Long, Anita Zagaria; Love, revenge and cappuccino permeate this exquisite story of an Italian family living in 1950s London. Fans of CINEMA PARADISO should indulge.
Riff Raff (Riff-Raff) (1990): Dir. Ken Loach
Feat. Robert Carlyle, Emer McCourt, Richard Belgrave; A warts–and–all exploration of the barely–working class focusing on a group of nomadic Northerners who find work on a London…
Royal Hunt, The (1990): Dir. Vitaly Melnikov
Feat. Nikolai Yeryomenko Ml, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Anna Sumokhing; Erotic and exotic expose of Catherine the Great and the claimants to her throne in 17th Century Russia. Passion, scandal and lavish costumes come…
Seduction: The Cruel Woman (1990): Dir. Monika Treut, Elfi Mikesch
Feat. Udo Kier; The director of VIRGIN MACHINE takes her subversive sensibilities further with this outing exploring the activities of a domanatrix. Udo Kier takes…
Soldier's Tale, A (1990): Dir. Larry Parr
Feat. Gabriel Byrne; A tragic love story between a British soldier and a beautiful French woman who is accused of Nazi collaboration by the French resistance. Gabriel…
Stella (1990): Dir. John Erman
Feat. Bette Midler, John Goodman, Trini Alvarado; Bette Midler takes a dramatic turn as Stella Dallas, a woman determined to sacrifice her own lifestyle for the sake of her daughter.
Story of Boys and Girls (1990): Dir. Pupi Avati
Feat. Felice Andreasi, Angiola Baggi, Davide Bechini; A piquant soap opera in which love, lust and class rivalry add to a twenty course meal shared by the thirty relatives of a newly engaged couple in…
Time of the Gypsies (1990): Dir. Emir Kusturica
Feat. Davor Dujmovic, Bora Todorovic, Ljubica Adzovic; A fascinating and unconventional glimpse at gypsy life in pre–revolution Yugoslavia. It follows the fortunes of a supernaturally–gifted…
Vincent and Theo (1990): Dir. Robert Altman
Feat. Tim Roth; This biopic charts the relationship between the tortured artist and his patron brother, with sympathetic direction and Tim Roth's performance as…
Wait Until Spring, Bandini (1990): Dir. Dominique Deruddere
Feat. Joe Mantegna, Faye Dunaway; Beautifully made adaptation of Joe Fante's novel about the father of impoverished immigrants who falls for a rich widow.
Women and Men: Stories of Seduction (1990): Dir. Ken Russell, Tony Richardson, Frederic Raphael
Feat. James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Peter Weller…; Three stories of love from the pens of famous Americans, in the hands of three great directors.
Yaaba (1990): Dir. Idrissa Ouedraogo
Feat. Fatimata Sanga, Noufou Ouedraogo, Roukietou Barry; All–too–rare African film to emerge on Western shores is a simple delight about a friendship between a 12–year–old boy and an…
A TV Dante (The Inferno Cantos I - VIII) (1989): Dir. Peter Greenaway
Feat. John Gielgud, Bob Peck, Joanne Whalley; Striking recitation by Gielgud and company of the first eight cantos. Greenaway superimposes some truly potent images over a series of talking heads.…
A World Without Pity (Un Monde Sans Pitie) (1989): Dir. Eric Rochant
Feat. Hippolyte Girardot, Mireille Perrier, Yvan Attal; A young Parisian slacker falls in love with an ambitious, bright student but finds the tables turning on his egocentric existence. Rochant's debut…
Belt, The (La Cintura) (1989): Dir. Giuliana Gamba
Feat. James Russo; American teacher James Russo embarks on an affair with a beautiful Italian woman in Rome, which gets interesting when she buys him a belt... to whip…
Beyond Gravity (1989): Dir. Garth Maxwell
Feat. Iain Rea, Robert Pollock; Gay romance blossoms for a astronomy–obsessed technician when he encounters a free–spirited Italian.
Circus Boys (1989): Dir. Kaizo Hayashi
Feat. Hiroshi Mikami, Moe Kamura, Shu Ken; Sumptuous film blends illusion and reality in contrasting the paths of two brothers from a circus family, one an idealist who attempts to rejuvenate…
City of Sadness, A (Beiging Chengsi) (1989): Dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Feat. Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Hsin Shu-fen, Chen Sown-yung…; The first of the director’s trilogy of films about the modern history of Taiwan, here depicting the unstable post–WW2 period through the eyes…
Emma's Shadow (1989): Dir. Soeren Jacobsen
Feat. Line Kruse, Borje Ahlstedt, Erik Wedersoe; 12–year–old Emma, feeling that her affluent parents would care more for her if she were missing, fakes her own kidnapping, and discovers…
Enemies, A Love Story (1989): Dir. Paul Mazursky
Feat. Ron Silver, Anjelica Huston; Ron Silver and Anjelica Huston star in this sobering story of a Jewish immigrant in post–war New York who winds up married to three different…
Five Days in June (1989): Dir. Michel Legrand
Feat. Sabine Azema, Annie Girardot, Matthieu Roze; Yet another addition to the canon of dramas based on childhood memoirs. A renowned composer takes the helm to recall five days in his life on the…
Francesco (1989): Dir. Liliana Cavani
Feat. Mickey Rourke, Helena Bonham Carter; Mickey Rourke and Helena Bonham–Carter star in this lavish yet clunky Italian production of the story of Francis of Assisi, the 13th Century…
Hush-A-Bye-Baby (1989): Dir. Margo Harkin
Feat. Seamus Ball, Rosina Brown, Sean Carlin…; Excellent portrayal, using 'workshop' methods, of the tribulations of four teenage girls in Northern Ireland, as they negotiate the local facts of…
In Fading Light (1989): Dir. Amber Film Collective
Feat. Joe Caffrey, Maureen Harold; Amber collective's admirable film focuses on the plight of a fishing town on the English north coast, in the face of Thatcherite corporate investment.
Iron and Silk (1989): Dir. Shirley Sun
Feat. To Funglin, Zhuong Genyuan; Autobiographical account of an American in China who learns the inherent cultural differences by way of a mysterious girl and a dedication to the…
Island (1989): Dir. Paul Cox
Feat. Irene Papas, Eva Sitta; Three disparate women cross paths on a remote Greek island where they come to terms with their past to reconsider their place in the world.
Kitchen Sink (1989): Dir. Alison Maclean
Feat. Theresa Healy, Peter Tait, Anagretta Christian; Three shorts from director Alison Maclean. Her 1989 award–winning Gothic horror is here paired with two earlier works, TALKBACK (1987), and the…
Kiwi Shorts Volume 2 (1989-1993): Dir. William Toepfer, Anthony McCarten, Jessica Hobbs; Another good sampling of eight short films funded by the NZ Arts Council and Film Commission – also compiled by the good folk at…
Lily Was Here (1989): Dir. Ben Verbong
Feat. Marion Van Thijn, Thom Hoffman, Coen Van Vrijberghe de Coningh; Well known for Eurythmics' Dave Stewart's seductive score, the film follows the desperate plight of a young woman forced to resort to prostitution…
Little Thief, The (1989): Dir. Claude Miller
Feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Didier Bezace; Penned by the late Francois Trauffant and completed by his protege, this engaging tale of mis–spent youth follows the adventures of a…
Master of the Marionettes, A (1989): Dir. Pedr James
Feat. Kenneth Cranham, Carol Drinkwater; Effective though modest BBC drama–thriller posits a 'Twilight Zone' scenario of a salesman suspected of stabbing a man he has rescued. As…
Matter of Degrees, A (1989): Dir. W.T. Morgan
Feat. Arye Gross, Sarah Bork; Student life on a Long Island university campus, centering around the imminent commercialisation of their beloved radio station. Well–made…
On a Moonlit Night (Up to Date) (1989): Dir. Lina Wertmuller
Feat. Rutger Hauer, Nastassja Kinski, Peter O'Toole…; A reporter (Rutger Hauer) travels the world pretending to have AIDS so that he write a story. In English.
Open Doors (1989): Dir. Gianni Amelio
Feat. Gian Maria Volente, Ennio Fantastichini, Renato Carpentieri; A resonant political drama set in corrupt fascist Italy about a juror's attempt to save a political murderer from the gallows.
Sandwich Years (Les années sandwiches) (1989): Dir. Emile Ghigo
Feat. Michel Aumont, Clovis Cornillac; In post–war France, a young Jewish boy befriends an elderly op–shop owner after his parents are arrested.
Secret Wedding (1989): Dir. Alejandro Agresti
Feat. Floria Bloise, Mirta Busnelli, Tito Haas; An amnesic returns to his home village after 15 years to try to reconstruct his life, but the townspeople shun him and the authorities get…
She's Been Away (1989): Dir. Peter Hall
Feat. Peggy Ashcroft, James Fox; After a lifetime in mental institutions, an elderly Peggy Ashcroft is released into the care of her liberal nephew James Fox. A disarming and…
This Dance Is Ours (Waltzing Regitze) (1989): Dir. Kaspar Rostrup
Feat. Frits Helmuth, Mikael Helmuth, Ghita Norby; Longtime married couple reminisce the good times and bad when Regitze hosts a party for family and friends. Finely crafted family drama with inspired…
When the Whales Came (1989): Dir. Clive Rees
Feat. Paul Scofield, Helen Mirren; Picturesque tale set on a British Isle in which old eccentric Paul Scofield and two young locals battle to save the whale that has beached upon their…
Wired (1989): Dir. Larry Peerce
Feat. John Belushi; Stylised, controversial biopic of ailed cult funnyman John Belushi. Not sanctioned by the Belushi estate but the warts–and–all depiction…
Woman in Black, The (1989): Dir. Herbert Wise
Feat. Adrian Rawlins, Bernard Hepton, David Daker; Tastefully macabre ghost story from the makers of REILLY, ACE OF SPIES sees a young lawyer's rural visit turn macabre after his seemingly good deed…
Wonderland (the Fruit Machine) (1989): Dir. Philip Saville
Feat. Robbie Coltrane; Two gay teenagers witness a murder and flee their Northern home for Brighton, where their problems seem to escalate. Robbie Coltrane cameos as a…
Zanzibar (1989): Dir. Christine Pascal
Feat. Fabienne Babe, Andre Marcon, Francis Girod; An enigmatic, sensual work set in the tumultuous and fickle world of film–making where three self–interested obsessives – the…
36 Filette (Virgin) (1988): Dir. Catherine Breillat
Feat. Delphine Zentout, Etienne Chicot, Olivier Parniere; The thrills and fears of a young girl's willed sexual awakening are explored when she opts to accept a ride from a mysterious stranger in order to…
Clara's Heart (1988): Dir. Robert Mulligan
Feat. Whoopi Goldberg; Whoopi Goldberg plays housemaid to various insufferable yuppies.
Fresh Horses (1988): Dir. David Anspaugh
Feat. Andrew McCarthy, Molly Ringwald; Blue–blood collegian Andrew McCarthy falls for the wrong–side–of–the–tracks and underage Molly Ringwald. Earnest love…
Heat and Sunlight (1988): Dir. Rob Nilsson
Feat. Rob Nilsson, Consuela Faust; This film documents the final, agonising hours of a love affair between a man and his exotic dancer girlfirend. An intriguing, erotic oddity with…
I'm the King of the Castle (1988): Dir. Regis Wargnier
Feat. Jean Rochefort, Dominic Blanc, Regis Arpin; The young sons of a rich widowed industrialist and his house matron enter into an increasingly dangerous power play as their parents become close.…
Kiwi Shorts Volume 1 (1988-1992): Dir. Grant Lahood, Scott Reynolds, Nicky Marshall; A good sampling of eight short films funded by the NZ Arts Council and Film Commission, including the classic "The Lounge Bar". Compiled by the good…
Madame Sousatzka (1988): Dir. John Schlesinger
Feat. Shirley Maclaine; Shirley Maclaine is acutely cast as an eccentric, reclusive piano teacher forced to confront the modern world when her talented pupils deny her their…
Mapantsula (1988): Dir. Oliver Schmitz
Feat. Eugene Majola, Darlington Michaels, Thomas Mogotlane; A disturbingly accurate evocation of township unrest in Soweto, as a young black petty criminal is throne into jail with a militant fraternity whom…
Monsignor Quixote (1988): Dir. Rodney Bennett
Feat. Alec Guinness, Leo McKern; Fine tele–version of Graham Greene's novel follows a newly appointed Monsignor and his avowed Marxist companion on an enlightening drive to…
Pascali's Island (1988): Dir. James Dearden
Feat. Ben Kingsley, Charles Dance; Polished thriller in which frustrated Turkish spy Ben Kingsley discovers little honour among thieves after he steals a Greek treasure with mysterious…
Permanent Record (1988): Dir. Marisa Silver
Feat. Keanu Reeves; Keanu Reeves stars in this slight but interesting teen drama about the effects of a suicide on a group of college friends.
Rikky and Pete (1988): Dir. Nadia Tass
Feat. Stephen Kearney, Nina Landis; A misfit with a penchant for mechanical inventions jaunts with his lost–soul sister to a remote mining village. Quirky fun from the makers of…
Rouge (1988): Dir. Stanley Kwan
Feat. Leslie Cheung; Beautiful, haunting ghost story about a 1930s courtesan whose restless spirit roams modern Hong Kong. Asian stars Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung…
Salome's Last Dance (1988): Dir. Ken Russell
Feat. Glenda Jackson, Stratford Johns; Oscar Wilde drops in to witness a risque performance of his own play. A perfect reason for Ken to indulge in opulent overstatement with Glenda…
Trial of Bernhard Goetz (1988): Dir. Harry Moses; A verbatim re–creation of the courtroom battle that ensued after Goetz admitted to shooting four black muggers on the New York subway in 1984.…
Tucker: a Man and His Dream (1988): Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
Feat. Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, Martin Landau…; Jeff Bridges portrays Preston Tucker, who dreamed of building the car of the future, but was crushed by the big three auto–makers in the 1940s.
Two of Us (1988): Dir. Roger Tonge
Feat. Jason Rush, Lee Whitlock, Kathy Burke; This gay youth drama made for British television caused a political outcry upon release just as the sex education laws were being revised. This…
Une Affair Des Femmes (a Story of Women) (1988): Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Francois Cluzet; Traumatic, gripping fact–based story about the last woman to be guillotined in France. Isabelle Huppert is in feverish form as the woman both…
We Think the World of You (1988): Dir. Collin Gregg
Feat. Gary Oldman, Alan Bates; Quirky Brit comedy/drama about a love triangle between two men and an alsatian! Jealousy overcomes Gary Oldman when a prison sentence brings together…
World Apart, A (1988): Dir. Chris Menges
Feat. Barbara Hershey; True account of a teenage girl's isolated upbringing in aparteid–torn South Africa, whose obsessed mother is jailed for political activism in…
Zelly and Me (1988): Dir. Tina Rathborne
Feat. Isabella Rossellini, David Lynch; Poignant story of a young orphan girl caught between her possessive grandmother and her governness (Isabella Rosellini). David Lynch has a major…
Best Seller (1987): Dir. John Flynn
Feat. Brian Dennehy, James Woods, Victoria Tennant; An arresting thriller with Brian Dennehy and an on–form James Woods.
Castaway (1987): Dir. Nicolas Roeg
Feat. Amanda Donohoe, Oliver Reed; Amanda Donahue and Oliver Reed cohabit on a desert island. Story verges on allegory.
Crazy Love (Love Is a Dog from Hell) (1987): Dir. Dominique Deruddere
Feat. Josse De Pauw, Geert Hunaerts, Michael Pas…; Superlative tragicomedy based on the work of Charles Bukowski is told in three parts – pre–pubescence, acne plagued teenagehood and…
Dark Eyes (1987): Dir. Nikita Mikhalkov
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni; The Soviet director ventures to Italy for this exquisite Chekhovian romantic tragedy in which Marcello Mastroianni abandons rationale for the allure…
Friendship's Death (1987): Dir. Peter Woollen
Feat. Ruby Baker, Patrick Buchanan; Philosophical sci–fi film subverts genre conventions to instead deliver a delicate drama about a woman who alleges she is a robot sent to Earth…
Gathering of Old Men (1987): Dir. Volker Schlondorff
Feat. Holly Hunter, Louis Jr. Gossett, Richard Widmark; Racial tensions overboil in the Deep South when a white man is killed in a black man's yard. Holly Hunter and a group of white elders emerge in…
Girl Who Lived Twice, The (1987): Dir. Francois Villiers
Feat. Julian Sands; Julian Sands stars in this fantasy/drama about an Indian girl's obsession with finding her alleged rich husband of a past life. Shot in Nepal.
Grand Chemin, Le (1987): Dir. Jean-Loup Hupert
Feat. Anemone , Richard Bohringer; A charming, heartfelt drama about a childless and unhappy couple who are entrusted with the care of a 9–year–old relative over the summer…
Ironweed (1987): Dir. Hector Babenco
Feat. Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep; Rich, downbeat story of a guilt–ridden alcoholic hobo and his companion, with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep in finest method.
Julia and Julia (1987): Dir. Peter Del Monte
Feat. Kathleen Turner, Gabriel Byrne, Sting; Kathleen Turner leads a double (love) life with husband Gabriel Byrne and toy–boy photographer Sting.
Kitchen Toto, The (1987): Dir. Harry Hook
Feat. Edwin Mahinda, Bob Peck, Phyllis Logan; Rewarding drama set in Kenya, during the Mau Mau insurrection.
Living On Tokyo Time (1987): Dir. Stephen Okazaki
Feat. Minako Ohashi, Ken Nakagawa, Mitzi Abe; Amusing independent film about a Japanese–American couple living in a marriage–of–convenience in San Fransisco.
Long Day's Journey Into Night (1987): Dir. Jonathan Miller
Feat. Jack Lemmon; Jack Lemmon gives an incredible performance as the patriach of a family plagued with drug–addiction, madness and disease. Based on Eugene…
Long Live the Lady (1987): Dir. Ermanno Olmi
Feat. Marco Esposito, Simone Brandalise, Stafania Busanello; Six teenage catering scholars await a banquet at a remote chateau. A telling observation of boyhood evolves, with an emphasis on action and…
Mark II (1987): Dir. John Anderson; Three unemployed Maori youth embark on a bumpy ride south in their Mark II Ford Zephyr. The young novice actors exude charm and raw energy that…
Month in the Country, A (1987): Dir. Pat O'Connor
Feat. Colin Firth, Kenneth Branagh, Natasha Richardson; Colin Firth plays a shellshocked WW1 vet keen to recoup a medieval painting in a remote Yorkshire town. Kenneth Branagh and Natasha Richardson prove…
On the Black Hill (1987): Dir. Andrew Grieve
Feat. Bob Peck, Nicola Beddoe, Patrick Godfrey; Adapted from Bruce Chatwin's novel about the difficult lives of Welsh tenant–farmers in the early 20th century. A bull–headed Bob Peck…
Orphans (1987): Dir. Alan J. Pakula
Feat. Albert Finney, Matthew Modine; Two delinquents attempt to rob a gangster, but tables turn to a point where he becomes their friend and mentor. Powerhouse drama.
September (1987): Dir. Woody Allen
Feat. Denholm Elliott, Dianne Wiest, Mia Farrow; A weekend gathering of friends proves to be an emotionally taxing experience when true feelings are gradually exposed. An under–rated serious…
Shy People (1987): Dir. Andrei Konchalovsky
Feat. Jill Clayburgh, Barbara Hershey, Martha Plimpton; Manhattanite Jill Clayburgh ventures into the Florida everglades to discover her family roots.
Someone to Love (1987): Dir. Henry Jaglom
Feat. Orson Welles; Typically loose and naturalistic drama from independent stalwart Henry Jaglom, who pretty much plays himself – a jaded divorcee filmmaker in search…
Sur (1987): Dir. Fernando Solanas
Feat. Susu Pecoraro, Miguel Angel Sola, Philippe Leotard; A political prisoner, freed after five years, confronts his haunting past and alien present before reconciling with his wife. Deeply personal,…
T. Dan Smith (1987): Dir. Amber Film Collective; Docu–drama chronicles of events leading to the imprisonment of a maverick Newcastle councillor. Made in collaboration with Smith himself, it…
Track 29 (1987): Dir. Nicolas Roeg
Feat. Gary Oldman, Theresa Russell, Christopher Lloyd…; Purporting to be her long–lost son, sleazoid Gary Oldman materialises out of Theresa Russell's alcoholic haze, as husband Christopher Lloyd…
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1987): Dir. Stan Lathan
Feat. Avery Brooks, Phylicia Rashad, Edward Woodward…; Faithful to the classic abolitionist novel this made for cable adaptation garnered considerable acclaim for Avery Brooks' performance.
Weeds (1987): Dir. John Hancock
Feat. Nick Nolte; Fact–based story of a San Quentin prisoner who is relieved of his life term to pursue his talent for play–writing.
Winter Tan, A (1987): Dir. Jackie Burroughs, Louise Clark, John Frizzell
Feat. Jackie Burroughs; Based on the late Maryse Holder's raw, confessional letters from Mexico, Jackie Burroughs brilliantly interprets this woman who "took a holiday from…
Wolf at the Door, The (1987): Dir. Henning Carlsen
Feat. Donald Sutherland, Max von Sydow; Thoughtful biopic of painter Paul Gauguin’s middle–years, with Donald Sutherland contending with the philistines of Paris upon his return…
Arriving Tuesday (1986): Dir. Richard Riddiford
Feat. Judy McIntosh, Peter Hayden; An estranged couple try to rekindle their romance by taking a holiday which only seems to make matters worse. A poignant love story.
Bashu, The Little Stranger (1986): Dir. Bahram Beizai
Feat. Susan Taslimi, Parvis Pourhosseini, Adrian Afravian; Compassionate film follows the plight of a 10–year–old boy whose raided Iranian village forced him to take contentious refuge. Certain to…
Cactus (1986): Dir. Paul Cox
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Norman Kaye; Challenging and intriguing drama from dir. Paul Cox, about a French woman (Isabelle Huppert) having an uneasy vacation in Australia.
Comrades (1986): Dir. Bill Douglas
Feat. Keith Allen, Dave Atkins; A compelling epic exposing the hypocrisy and inequality facing the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the 1830s Dorset farmers who were deported to Australia after…
Decline of the American Empire (1986): Dir. Denys Arcand
Feat. Pierre Curzi, Remy Girard, Yves Jacques…; An astute and devastatingly frank expose of the sexes from the director of JESUS OF MONTREAL, that alternately eavesdrops on the separate gatherings…
Desert Bloom (1986): Dir. Eugene Corr
Feat. Ellen Barkin, Jon Voight; In 1951 Nevada, a 13–year–old girl becomes the victim of domestic turbulence and the ignorance of nuclear testing on their back…
Good Morning, Babylon (1986): Dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
Feat. Vincent Spano, Joaquim De Almeida, Greta Scacchi; Two artisan Italian brothers seek their fortune in America and wind up sculpting for D.W. Griffith on the set of INTOLERANCE. An elegant tribute to…
Man and A Woman: 20 Years Later, A (1986): Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. Anouk Aimee, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Richard Berry; Worthy follow–up to Lelouch's seminal 60's romantic drama benefits from appealing performances by it's two leads.
Mauvais Sang (The Night Is Young) (1986): Dir. Leos Carax
Feat. Michel Piccoli, Denis Lavant, Juliette Binoche; A street–punk joins a gang of hoods intent on stealing a top–secret serum, but complications prevail. Romantic thriller contains…
Second Serve (1986): Dir. Anthony Page
Feat. Vanessa Redgrave, Louise Fletcher, Martin Balsam; Vanessa Redgrave gives a remarkable performance in this TV–movie true–story as a transexual…
Therese (1986): Dir. Alain Cavalier
Feat. Catherine Mouchet, Aurore Prieto, Sylvie Habault…; Brooding realisation of the diaries of a convent girl who achieved sainthood. The meticulous, stylised treatment offers an experience akin to…
Working Girls (1986): Dir. Lizzie Borden
Feat. Louise Smith, Deborah Banks; A frankly realistic, 'fly–on–the–wall' insight into the daily lives of women working in a high–class New York brothel.…
Alamo Bay (1985): Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Amy Madigan, Ed Harris; Gulf–coast fisherman clash with Vietnamese boat–people. Ry Cooder soundtrack.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents… (1985): Dir. Various
Feat. Ned Beatty, John Huston, Steven Bauer…; Four episodes from the TV–series, posthumously endorsed by Hitch, which replicate his blend of suspense, macabre humour and brutal…
Assam Garden, The (1985): Dir. Mary McMurray
Feat. Deborah Kerr; Gently paced drama finds Deborah Kerr tending her late husband's garden.
Beethoven's Nephew (1985): Dir. Paul Morrissey
Feat. Wolfgang Reichmann, Dietmar Prinz, Nathalie Baye…; Thoughtful story of the destructively possessive relationship between Ludwig Von Beethoven and his nephew, leading to humiliation and tragedy.…
Great Wall, A (The Great Wall is A Great Wall) (1985): Dir. Peter Wang
Feat. Peter Wang, Sharon Iwai, Kelvin Han Yee; The first American film to be shot in China follows a Chinese–American computer executive (the director) and his family to Peking where they…
Lady Jane (1985): Dir. Trevor Nunn
Feat. Helena Bonham Carter; Helena Bonham–Carter leads a Royal Shakespeare Co. cast for this historical pageant about the shortest reigning British monarch.
Lamb (1985): Dir. Colin Gregg
Feat. Liam Neeson, Harry Towb; Catholic Brother Liam Neeson clashes with Irish traditions as he takes a 10–year–old epileptic boy into his care in this sombre yet…
Leave All Fair (1985): Dir. John Reid
Feat. John Gielgud, Jane Birkin; A rewarding drama set among the memories of John Middleton Murray (John Gielgud), husband of NZ writer Katherine Mansfield (Jane Birkin). Well worth…
Mishima - A Life in Four Chapters (1985): Dir. Paul Schrader
Feat. Ken Ogata; Fascinating study of the controversial Japanese author/militarist whose desire to merge life and art led to his ritualistic suicide. A luminous…
Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill (1985): Dir. Gavin Millar
Feat. Ian Holm, Judi Dench; Based on Noel Coward's play about an English couple who lived on the South Pacific island of Cowrie, this telemovie is graced with top cast and…
Sacred Hearts (1985): Dir. Barbara Rennie
Feat. Anna Massey; Earnest drama set in a repressive convent (run by Anna Massey) during the Blitz.
Seacoal (1985): Dir. Amber Film Collective; The first feature from the Tyneside film community who mix drama and 'real life' to tell their own stories. This film focuses on the plight of…
Should I Be Good or Should I Be Evil? (1985): Dir. Graham McLean
Feat. Beaver , Harry Lyon; Musos Beaver and Harry Lyon from Hello Sailor have a bash at acting in a story based on the Mr Asia drug–ring. Music by Hammond Gamble.
Steaming (1985): Dir. Joseph Losey
Feat. Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, Brenda Bruce…; A low–rent London bathhouse is the setting for six women’s weekly get–togethers, in this adaptation of Neil Dunn’s stageplay. Often…
Turtle Diary (1985): Dir. John Irvin
Feat. Ben Kingsley, Glenda Jackson; Ben Kingsley and Glenda Jackson seek to liberate giant turtles from London Zoo. Screenplay by Harold Pinter.
Among the Cinders (1984): Dir. Rolf Haedrich
Feat. Paul O'Shea, Derek Hardwick, Yvonne Lawley; A tender chronicle of a 16–year–old's rite–of–passage who finds first love with an older woman embittered by her experience…
And the Ship Sails On (1984): Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Freddie Jones, Barbara Jefford, Victor Poletti; An idyllic odyssey aboard an ocean liner, where celebrated guests who have gathered for the funeral voyage of a great opera star are introduced in…
Comfort and Joy (1984): Dir. Bill Forsyth
Feat. Bill Paterson, Eleanor David; Another likeable and quirky comedy from Bill Forsyth, about a disc–jockey who becomes involved in a mob feud over a mobile ice–cream…
Dim Sum (A Little Bit of Heart) (1984): Dir. Wayne Wang
Feat. Laureen Chew, Kim Chew, Victor Wong; Endearing, warm–hearted tale of Chinese–Americans living in San Fransisco. Distinctly Chinese but the themes and the humour are universal.
Garbo Talks (1984): Dir. Sidney Lumet
Feat. Ron Silver, Greta Garbo, Anne Bancroft…; This enchanting film sees Ron Silver attempting to fulfil his dying mother's last request; to meet Greta Garbo. Fine supporting cast.
Heart of the Stag (1984): Dir. Michael Firth
Feat. Terence Cooper, Bruno Lawrence; A harrowing drama that deals frankly yet sensitively with the subject of incest. Terence Cooper plays a brutish farmer whose dreadful secret is soon…
Holy Innocents, The (1984): Dir. Mario Camus
Feat. Alfredo Landa, Terele Pavez, Belen Ballesteros; A soldier returns to his rural croft and recalls his impoverished family's struggle with daily life and unscrupulous landlords. The bitter climate of…
King Pin (1984): Dir. Mike Walker
Feat. Nicholas Rogers, Junior Amega, Mitchell Manuel; Polynesian juveniles experience bonding, rivalry and violence at a child welfare training facility. Though budget constraints are evident, it's…
Man of Flowers (1984): Dir. Paul Cox
Feat. Norman Kaye, Alyson Best, Chris Haywood; A wealthy middle–aged bachelor pays a young woman to disrobe for him on call. A sombre, handsomely shot study of an odd character, with touches…
My First Wife (1984): Dir. Paul Cox
Feat. John Hargreaves, Wendy Hughes; A man is devastated when his wife of ten years walks out on him. His experience is achingly realised through an incisive screenplay and virtuoso…
Nineteen Nineteen (1984): Dir. Hugh Brody
Feat. Paul Scofield, Maria Schell; Paul Scofield and Maria Schell are two former patients of Sigmund Freud are brought together 50 years later to assemble fragments of their forgotten…
Other Halves (1984): Dir. John Laing
Feat. Lisa Harrow, Mark Pilisi; An unlikely relationship blossoms between a 32–year–old white woman and a polynesian street–kid half her age.
Purple Hearts (1984): Dir. Sidney J Furie
Feat. Ken Wahl, Cheryl Ladd, R. Lee Ermey…; Vietnam War set romance with Wahl and Ladd as love struck medics.
Runner, The (1984): Dir. Amir Naderi
Feat. Abbas Nazeri, Majid Niroumand, Musa Torkizadeh; On a coastline strewn with the flotsam of the Arabian Gulf, an Iranian orphan boy scrapes a living together scavenging and selling ice before it…
Swann in Love (1984): Dir. Volker Schlondorff
Feat. Jeremy Irons, Ornella Muti, Alain Delon…; Lavish filming of Proust's novel 'Remembrance of Things Past' which centres around a high class man who risks everything for his erotic obsessions.…
Three of Us, The (Noi Tre) (1984): Dir. Pupi Avati
Feat. Christopher Davidson, Ida De Benedetto, Gianni Cavina…; Charming, though slender, portrayal of Mozart’s teenage life as the 14–year old musical prodigy spends a summer in Italy and starts to…
Yellow Earth (1984): Dir. Chen Kaige
Feat. Quiang Liu, Tuo Tan, Xueyin Wang…; This spearheaded the wave of modern Chinese cinema to be seen outside the People's Republic. A communist soldier visits a backwards village in 1939…
Baby, It's You (1983): Dir. John Sayles
Feat. Rosanna Arquette, Vincent Spano; High–school sweethearts Rosanna Arquette and Vincent Spano undergo the trials of the late 60s counter–culture America. Characters and…
Betrayal (1983): Dir. David Jones
Feat. Ben Kingsley, Patricia Hodge, Jeremy Irons; Amorality tale of a publisher, his wife and her lover, adapted from Harold Pinter's powerhouse play, effectively told in reverse chronology. Ben…
Experience Preferred, but Not Essential (1983): Dir. Peter Duffell
Feat. Elizabeth Edmonds, Sue Wallace; Amusing, low–key drama about a young woman waitressing at a seaside resort.
Heart Like a Wheel (1983): Dir. Jonathan Kaplan
Feat. Jesse Aragon, Bonnie Bedelia; Well–rated biopic of woman racing–car driver, Shirley Muldowney.
Hound of the Baskervilles, The (1983): Dir. Douglas Hickox
Feat. Ian Richardson, Martin Shaw, Denholm Elliott…; Ian Richardson (HOUSE OF CARDS) plays Sherlock Holmes in this crafted version of Conan Doyle’s most famous mystery, in which a monstrous…
Independence Day (1983): Dir. Robert Mandel
Feat. Kathleen Quinlan; Kathleen Quinlan yearns to leave her hometown and fulfil her dreams as a photographer, but is unable to come unstuck from her boyfriend.
Issues Facing Women (1983-1987): Dir. Patricia Robins, Diana Rowan, Melanie Read
Feat. Judy McIntosh, Elizabeth McRae, Bridgette Allen…; Three short films from New Zealand made by and about women. Instincts (1987) 20 mins The story of a woman in a communal relationship in the 70's…
Signal 7 (1983): Dir. Rob Nilsson
Feat. Bill Ackridge, Dan Leegant; Dedicated to John Cassavetes, this 12–hr slice of the night–world of various New York taxi–drivers, shot on videotape, is similarly…
Sins of Dorian Gray, The (1983): Dir. Tony Maylam
Feat. Anthony Perkins, Joseph Bottoms, Belinda Bauer; Unusually trashy TV–movie that riffs on Oscar Wilde's famous adult fairytale. Here, a woman's celluloid screen–test carries the burden of…
Svengali (1983): Dir. Anthony Harvey
Feat. Peter O'Toole, Jodie Foster, Holly Hunter; Has been vocalist turned singing instructor O'Toole takes young rocker Foster under his wings. By all accounts a complete misfire. Though if you can…
Merry Wives of Windsor, The (1982): Feat. Alan Bennett, Richard Griffiths, Judy Davis…; Part of the BBC's excellent series of Shakespeare productions, filmed in a 'theatrical' TV environment utilising the best of English acting talent.
Return of Martin Guerre (1982): Dir. Daniel Vigne
Feat. Gerard Depardieu, Nathalie Baye; A legendary French tale with Gerard Depardieu as the 16th century peasant who returns to his family after an eight year absense but is suspected of…
Stories on Film (1982-1986): Dir. Larry Parr, Costa Botes, Lynton Butler
Feat. Bruno Lawrence, Annie Whittle; Three short films from New Zealand. The Makutu On Mrs. Jones (1986) 25 mins Based on a story by Witi Ihimaera, this short film is about a boys'…
Strata (1982): Dir. Geoff Steven
Feat. Nigel Davenport; Bold but failed attempt to emulate the arthouse cinema of European directors like Bergman, Tarkovsky and Antonioni in a New Zealand setting. Staged…
Tempest (1982): Dir. Paul Mazursky
Feat. John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Susan Sarandon; Paradise is found and then lost for John Cassavetes who escapes mid–life crisis and flees to the Greek Isles with his daughter. Loosely based…
Tex (1982): Dir. Tim Hunter
Feat. Matt Dillon, Jim Metzler, Meg Tilly…; Arguably the best adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s teen fictions (THE OUTSIDERS etc.), with Matt Dillon giving an early, heartbreaking performance as a…
That Night in Varennes (1982): Dir. Etore Scolla
Feat. Marcello Mastroianni, Jean-Louis Barrault, Harvey Keitel; An enthralling, vivid historical drama set during the last days of Louis XVI's reign during the 1791 revolution, but focusing largely on a band of…
Wild Style (1982): Dir. Charles Ahearn; The Hip–hop movement had it first wide impact via this documentary–drama shot on the streets of The Bronx in 1982. With its close…
World Cup, The (A Captain's Tale) (1982): Dir. Tom Clegg
Feat. Dennis Waterman, Nigel Hawthorne, Tim Healy; Intriguing true–story of how a minor–league English soccer–team from West Auckland (not New Zealand) got all the way to the first…
Americana (1981): Dir. David Carradine
Feat. David Carradine, Barbara Hershey, Michael Greene; Oddball tale of America in which a Vietnam vet becomes involved in the reconstruction of a smalltown merry–go–round. David Carradine's…
Choix Des Armes, Le (Choice of Arms) (1981): Dir. Alain Corneau
Feat. Yves Montand, Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu; Two disparate ex–convicts face difficulties settling into normal society. Boasts France's greatest acting talents.
Les Uns et Les Autres (Bolero) (1981): Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. James Caan, Geraldine Chaplin, Robert Hossein…; Sprawling extravaganza of questionable taste is not without its devotees. It charts the impact that music has made on the lives of four…
Memoirs of a Survivor (1981): Dir. David Gladwell
Feat. Julie Christie; Julie Christie portrays the diarist of Doris Lessing's cult novel, aimlessly existing in a crippled, post–apocalyptic future Britain. Genuinely…
No Time for Tears (1981): Dir. Hark Bohm
Feat. Marie Colbin, Michael Gwisdek; True story of Marianne Bachmeier who shot the murderer of her child during his trial. Subtle yet disturbing film concentrates on the background to…
Othello (1981): Dir. Jonathan Miller
Feat. Anthony Hopkins, Bob Hoskins; Part of the BBC's excellent series of Shakespeare productions, filmed in a 'theatrical' TV environment utilising the best of English acting talent.
Pixote (1981): Dir. Hector Babenco
Feat. Marilia Pera, Ramos Da Silva; Inspired by the plight of his country's homeless children, dir. Babenco created this semi–improvised odyssey of three boys in the slums of…
Postman Always Rings Twice, The (1981): Dir. Bob Rafelson
Feat. Jack Nicholson, Jessica Lange; Highly–charged remake of the steamy film–noir classic based on the 1934 novel by James M. Cain. Written by David Mamet (in his…
Shoot the Moon (1981): Dir. Alan Parker
Feat. Diane Keaton, Albert Finney, Peter Weller…; A devastating account of a marital breakdown between Diane Keaton and Albert Finney and the impact it has on their four daughters.
Winter's Tale, The (1981): Dir. Jane Howell
Feat. Jeremy Kemp, Anna Calder-Marshall; Part of the BBC's excellent series of Shakespeare productions, filmed in a 'theatrical' TV environment utilising the best of English acting talent.
Deathwatch (1980): Dir. Bertrand Tavernier
Feat. Harvey Keitel, Harry Dean Stanton; Cerebral drama set in the future about a media group who attempt to film the deaths of the terminally ill for public consumption.
Falls, The (1980): Dir. Peter Greenaway
Feat. Peter Westley, Aad Wirtz, Michael Murray; One of dir. Greenaway's more trenchantly avant–garde works (think 'A Walk Though H' crossed with DROWNING BY NUMBERS), expanding his riddling…
Look Back in Anger (1980): Dir. Lindsay Anderson
Feat. Malcolm McDowell; Malcolm McDowell stars in this updated version of the groundbreaking John Osborne play from the 1950s.
One Trick Pony (1980): Dir. Robert M Young
Feat. Paul Simon, Blair Brown, Rip Torn…; Interesting tale of rock–star, played by Paul Simon, undergoing personal crises.
Stardust Memories (1980): Dir. Woody Allen
Feat. Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper; Serio–comic look at the fame and 'successes' of a Woody Allen–ish filmmaker.
Staying On (1980): Dir. Silvio Narizzano
Feat. Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Saeed Jaffrey; Drama based on the award–winning novel by Paul Scott (The Jewel in the Crown), and reuniting BRIEF ENCOUNTER actors Celia Johnson and Trevor…
Agatha (1979): Dir. Michael Apted
Feat. Vanessa Redgrave, Dustin Hoffman, Timothy Dalton…; Speculating over the 11 days in 1926 when detective–writer Agatha Christie (Vanessa Redgrave) went missing, this gently–toned drama sees…
Chapter Two (1979): Dir. Robert Moore
Feat. James Caan, Marsha Mason, Valerie Harper; Neil SImon's hit play is competently adapted for the big screen. James Caan in a rare romantic role plays a man recently widowed who falls for a…
Great Santini, The (1979): Dir. Lewis John Carlino
Feat. Robert Duvall, Blythe Danner, Michael O'Keefe; Exploring the internal contradictions of ex–fighter pilot Robert Duvall, stranded in post WWll peacetime with his long–suffering family,…
Heartbeat (1979): Dir. John Byrum
Feat. Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek; From the bomb to the pill as seen through the eyes of beatnik poet Jack Kerouac with Neal and Carolyn Cassady.
Henry IV - Part 1 and 2 (1979): Dir. David Giles
Feat. Jon Finch, Anthony Quayle, Tim Pigott-Smith…; Part of the BBC's excellent series of Shakespeare productions, filmed in a 'theatrical' TV environment utilising the best of English acting talent.
Measure for Measure (1979): Dir. Desmond Davis
Feat. Kate Nelligan, Tim Pigott-Smith; Part of the BBC's excellent series of Shakespeare productions, filmed in a 'theatrical' TV environment utilising the best of English acting talent.
Onion Field, The (1979): Dir. Harold Becker
Feat. James Woods, John Savage; Sporadically intense drama based on a real–life cop–killing in 1960s California, notable for James Woods' creepy debut as, you guessed…
Skin Deep (1979): Dir. Geoff Steven
Feat. Ken Blackburn, Alan Jervis, Deryn Cooper; When an urban masseuse sets up at a legitimate health bar in a small South Island town she attracts as much demand for special services as…
That Sinking Feeling (1979): Dir. Bill Forsyth
Feat. John Hughes; The Bill Forsyth (LOCAL HERO) ‘touch’ for gentle, ironic comedy, is fully evident in this first feature. Chronicling a small–scale…
To Forget Venice (1979): Dir. Franco Brusati
Feat. Mariangela Melato, Eleonora Giorgi, Erland Josephson; Brooding melodrama about an extended family reunion in the house of an Operatic matriach.
Anna Karenina (1978): Dir. Basil Coleman
Feat. Victoria Allum, Nicola Pagett, Stuart Wilson; Leo Tolstoy's classic novel of the love–lives of Russian high–society, is here adapted by the BBC. Shot on location in Hungary.
Buddy Holly Story, The (1978): Dir. Steve Rash
Feat. Gary Busey; An exceptional Hollywood biography of the seminal rock 'n'roll star, with an uncanny lead performance from Gary Busey.
Coming Home (1978): Dir. Hal Ashby
Feat. Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern; A provocative weepie about the effects of the Vietnam war on the relatives at home. Jane Fonda involves herself with paraplegic veteran Jon Voight.
Ice Castles (1978): Dir. Donald Wrye
Feat. Lynn-Holly Johnson, Tom Skerritt; 'Affliction' drama that charts the rise of an Iowa farm–girl to Olympic success as a free–skater, but befalls a crippling accident.…
Orchestra Rehearsal, The (1978): Dir. Federico Fellini
Feat. Baldwin Baas, Clara Colosimo, Elizabeth Labi; A comedy of the absurd about a group of orchestra musicians who stage a revolt against the conductor after the building collapses. Allegory may be…
Romeo and Juliet (1978): Dir. Alvin Rakoff
Feat. Patrick Ryecart, Rebecca Saire, Sir Michael Hordern…; Part of the BBC's excellent series of Shakespeare productions, filmed in a 'theatrical' TV environment utilising the best of English acting talent.
An Enemy of the People (1977): Dir. George Shaefer
Feat. Steve McQueen, Charles Durning; Seldom–seen version of the Henrik Ibsen play (adapted by Arthur Miller), was a labour of love for Steve McQueen, who plays a scientist…
Blue Collar (1977): Dir. Paul Schrader
Feat. Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto, Richard Pryor; As one might expect from the writer of TAXI DRIVER, dir. Schrader's debut is a gritty, tough–minded drama of macho ethics, set in the grinding…
Chess Players, The (1977): Dir. Satyajit Ray
Feat. Richard Attenborough; India's first internationally renowned film–maker draws upon the ancient game of chess as a metaphor for Anglo–Indian political relations…
Despair (1977): Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Dirk Bogarde; Fassbinder's blackly comic adaptation of Nabakov's novel about delusion, depression and decline of the human spirit. Dirk Bogarde plays a Russian…
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977): Dir. Richard Brooks
Feat. Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, Tuesday Weld…; Repressed schoolteacher Diane Keaton cruises the singles bars of New York for action, and has mixed results in a series of dispiriting encounters. An…
Message, The (Al-risalah Aka Mohammad, Messenger Of God) (1977): Dir. Moustapha Akkad
Feat. Anthony Quinn, Irene Papas, Michael Ansara; An Islamic alternative to Hollywood epics such as GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD and BEN HUR, dealing with the rise of an initially persecuted…
Opening Night (1977): Dir. John Cassavetes
Feat. John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara; Intermittently fascinating, semi–improvised opus from Cassavetes (who also stars), about an aging actress (Gena Rowlands) who suffers a…
Other Side of Midnight, The (1977): Dir. Charles Jarrott
Feat. Marie-France Pisier, John Beck, Susan Sarandon…; Soapy Sidney Sheldon drama follows the exploits of a young French woman who vows revenge on a ne'er do well Canadian pilot for leaving her pregnant,…
Providence (1977): Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. John Gielgud, Dirk Bogarde, Ellen Burstyn…; John Gielgud plays a dying writer struggling to complete his final novel. Unusual film juxtaposes his imagined thoughts with events from his…
Boy in the Plastic Bubble, The (1976): Dir. Randal Kleiser
Feat. John Travolta, Glynnis O'Connor, Robert Reed; A cult telemovie starring John Travolta as an immune–deficient youngster with potentially fatal allergies, who has to exist in a sealed…
Brute, The (1976): Dir. Gerry O'Hara
Feat. Sarah Douglas, Julian Glover, Bruce Robinson; A strange combination of social realism and luridity turns this tale of a battered wife into a strange horror film indeed.
Front, The (1976): Dir. Martin Ritt
Feat. Woody Allen; Woody Allen in a rare pure acting role plays a young cashier asked to 'front' for a blacklisted writer during the McCarthy era. Satire at its most…
Mikey and Nicky (1976): Dir. Elaine May
Feat. Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Ned Beatty…; Loosely improvised drama, with a wild–eyed John Cassavetes calling on old pal Peter Falk to help escape the Mob. Turns out he may not be such a…
Picture of Dorian Gray, The (1976): Dir. John Gorrie
Feat. John Gielgud, Jeremy Brett, Peter Firth; His self–portrait taking all the consequences, artist Jeremy Brett leads a debauched lifestyle that ultimately takes its toll, leading to…
Terence Davies Trilogy, The (Children, Madonna and the Child, Death and Transfiguration) (1976-1983): Dir. Terence Davies
Feat. Wilfred Brambell; A striking – if not, overtly autobiographical – early trilogy of shorts from dir. Terence Davies, spanning the life of one man’s struggle with…
Welcome to L.A. (1976): Dir. Alan Rudolph
Feat. Keith Carradine; A discouraged rock composer finds solace in a number of one–night stands. An arresting, provocative tale of life at the mercy of the…
Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974): Dir. Ted Kotcheff
Feat. Richard Dreyfuss; A baby–faced Richard Dreyfuss excels as a pushy Jewish con–artist / entrepreneur in this teeming, energetic coming–of–age…
Conrack (1974): Dir. Martin Ritt
Feat. Jon Voight, Paul Winfield, Hume Cronyn; Based on the true experiences of a teacher in a sunlit backwater of South Carolina, Jon Voight gives one of his best performances, trying to rouse…
Stardust (1974): Dir. Michael Apted
Feat. David Essex, Adam Faith, Larry Hagman…; Musical biopic of fictional 60s British popsters The Stray Cats (the name later adopted by 80s rockabillies) and their invasion of America. 70s pop…
A Doll's House (1973): Dir. Joseph Losey
Feat. Jane Fonda; Jane Fonda plays the liberated 19th Century woman of Ibsen's play.
Bang the Drum Slowly (1973): Dir. John Hancock
Feat. Robert De Niro, Michael Moriarty, Vincent Gardenia; Robert De Niro plays a persecuted, simple–minded baseball player who contracts a terminal illness. The effect that it has on his fellow…
Blume in Love (1973): Dir. Paul Mazursky
Feat. George Segal, Kris Kristofferson, Susan Anspach…; George Segal loves his wife dearly, but loses her because of an office fling. Controversial 70s exploration of mid–life angst.
Last American Hero, The (1973): Dir. Lamont Johnson
Feat. Jeff Bridges, Valerie Perrine, Geraldine Fitzgerald…; Jeff Bridges' mix of redneck roughness and choirboy sweetness is just right for this 1973 true story of a country kid running moonshine and making…
Candidate, The (1972): Dir. Michael Ritchie
Feat. Robert Redford; Incisive political satire sees idealist Robert Redford run for the Senate, but finds his good intentions usurped by the system and the needs of…
Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972): Dir. Peter Medak
Feat. Alan Bates, Janet Suzman; Rewarding black comedy stars Alan Bates and Janet Suzman as a couple with an autistic child whom they consider mercy–killing. Bizarre yet…
Images (1972): Dir. Robert Altman
Feat. Susannah York, Cathryn Harrison; A stark and daring portrait of descending madness, Susannah York gives a seismic performance as a woman troubled by disturbing hallucinations. Filmed…
Touch of Class, A (1972): Dir. Melvin Frank
Feat. George Segal, Glenda Jackson, Paul Sorvino; George Segal and Glenda Jackson (in an Oscar–winning performance) strike up the right chemistry in this British romantic comedy in which their…
Trojan Women, The (1972): Dir. Michael Cacoyannis
Feat. Katharine Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave, Patrick Magee…; Filmed on location in Greece, this star–powered version of Euripedes play is a patchy but earnest attempt to convey the power of the classical…
Bleak Moments (1971): Dir. Mike Leigh
Feat. Anne Raitt, Sarah Stephenson, Eric Allan; Mike Leigh's first feature is a despairing slice–of–life drama about a young woman left at home with her retarded sister in suburban…
Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty, The (1971): Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Arthur Brauss; Enigmatic tale of a maturing goalkeeper who abandons his soccer team and ambles about Germany. Dir. Wender's typical sketchbook narrative provides…
Kotch (1971): Dir. Jack Lemmon
Feat. Walter Matthau; Heart–warming fare with irascible senior citizen Walter Matthau resisting all attempts to 'retire' him. Matthau's regular screen buddy directs.
Persuasion (1971): Dir. Howard Baker
Feat. Ann Firbank, Richard Vernon, Bryan Marshall; Circumspect heroine Anne Elliot has the opportunity to rekindle a long–abandoned love–affair, in this BBC adaption of Jane Austen's final…
Touch, The (1971): Feat. Elliott Gould, Max von Sydow
Angel Levine, The (1970): Dir. Jan Kadar
Feat. Zero Mostel, Harry Belafonte, Ida Kaminska…; In order to earn his wings Belafonte must convince the embittered Mostel that life still has value. Gentle yarn gets by chiefly on the charm of the…
Baby Maker, The (1970): Dir. James Bridges
Feat. Barbara Hershey, Sam Groom, Scott Glenn; Somewhat ahead of its time, this portrays a middle–class American couple who pay a hippy woman to be a surrogate mother for a child.…
Brian's Song (1970): Dir. Buzz Kulik
Feat. James Caan; Football player James Caan is diagnosed with cancer, deeply affecting the entire team. Multi–award winner was considered a milestone for…
Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1970): Dir. Douglas Hickox
Feat. Beryl Reid, Harry Andrews, Peter McEnery; Acclaimed version of British stage–farce delivers playright Joe Orton's bisexual innuendos with a rather heavy hand. Story concerns a fetching…
Only Game in Town, The (1970): Dir. George Stevens
Feat. Warren Beatty, Elizabeth Taylor; An aging showgirl stumbles into a clandestine affair with a brash young gambler. Based on a stage play by Pulitzer Prize winner Frank D. Gilroy.
Rabbit Run (1970): Dir. Jack Smight
Feat. James Caan, Carrie Snodgrass, Anjanette Comer…; James Caan stars in this adaptation of John Updike's acclaimed 1960 novel about a has–been basketball star who impulsively abandones his life…
Spider's Stratagem, The (1970): Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
Feat. Giulio Brogi, Alida Valli; Investigating the death of his anti–fascist father, Giulio Brogi is enveloped in an atmosphere of mystery as he strolls the sleepy town where…
Wanda (1970): Dir. Barbara Loden
Feat. Barbara Loden, Michael Higgins; The sole writing/directing credit of Barbara Loden, whose command of verite storytelling is matched by her own astonishing performance as a feckless…
Arrangement, The (1969): Dir. Elia Kazan
Feat. Kirk Douglas, Faye Dunaway; Advertising exec Kirk Douglas follows a mid–life suicide attempt with some desperate hi–jinks and a cry of rage at his hollow life.…
Femme Infidele, La (The Unfaithful Wife) (1969): Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Michel Bouquet, Stephane Audran, Maurice Ronet; French bourgeoisie couple Michel Bouquet and Stephane Audran form a murderous love–triangle with seducer Maurice Ronet, revealing the hidden…
Michael Kohlhaas (1969): Dir. David Warner
Feat. David Warner; Bizarre high drama about a 16th Century horse–dealer who leads a revolt against an unscrupulous Baron overlord. David Warner inhabits the title…
Rain People, The (1969): Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
Feat. James Caan; A woman hits the road to escape her suffocating marriage, but finds her new circumstances no more satisfactory. A thought–provoker from…
Tchaikovsky (1969): Dir. Igor Talankin; Dramatised biopic of the great Russian composer which uses natural imagery and impressionistic structure in a way reminiscent of Ken Russell's early…
Virgin Soldiers, The (1969): Dir. Norman Cohen
Feat. Lynn Redgrave, Hywel Bennett, Nigel Davenport…; Comdey–drama following a squad of naive young British soldiers in 1950's Singapore who fall for the daughter of the Regimental Sergeant Major.
Charly (1968): Dir. Ralph Nelson
Feat. Cliff Robertson, Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala…; Child–minded Cliff Robertson has experimental brain–surgery, but his resulting super–intellect proves a mixed blessing. Credible,…
Countdown (1968): Dir. Robert Altman
Feat. James Caan, Robert Duvall, Joanna Moore…; An early and unusual space–travel drama from dir. Altman, in which American astronaut Caan must undergo tough training with instructor Duvall…
Milky Way, The (1968): Dir. Luis Bunuel
Feat. Paul Frankeur, Laurent Terzieff, Alain Cuny…; Bunuel experiments with narrative in relating theories of traditional Catholicism to the encounters of two wandering vagrants.
Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The (1968): Dir. Ronald Neame
Feat. Maggie Smith, Robert Stephens, Pamela Franklin…; Schoolteacher at a private girls school, Maggie Smith grooms and instructs her pupils with a passionate sense of vocation, unfortunately making more…
Oedipus Rex (1967): Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Feat. Silvana Mangano, Franco Citti, Alida Valli; Striking visual achievement, filmed amidst the Moroccan desert and Bologna, describes the Oedipal tale of a tortured soul who murders his father and…
Poor Cow (1967): Dir. Ken Loach
Feat. Carol White, Terence Stamp, Malcolm McDowell; Striking the tone of much of his subsequent work, Ken Loach's debut film gives a semi–documentary edge to the story of 'poor cow' Carol White,…
Before the Revolution (1966): Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
Feat. Adriana Asti, Francisco Barilli; Bertolucci's second film – made at the age of 22! – demonstrates his bravura visual style fully formed around this coming of age in the…
Guerre Est Finie, La (1966): Dir. Alain Resnais
Feat. Yves Montand, Ingrid Thulin, Genevieve Bujold…; (The War is Over). Deeply romantic film in which Spanish Civil War refugee Yves Montand tries in vain to keep alive the memory of his struggle.
Inside Daisy Clover (1965): Dir. Robert Mulligan
Feat. Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, Ruth Gordon; Curious account of the rise and fall of a starlet in 30s Hollywood has improved with age thanks to off–kilter performances from Natalie Wood as…
Hamlet (1964): Dir. Grigori Kozintsev
Feat. Innokenti Smoktunovsky; The legendary Russian version of Shakespeare's play, which visually at least, stands as the greatest yet. Staged amidst the massive battlements of…
Empty Canvas, The (La Noia) (1963): Dir. Damiano Damiani
Feat. Bette Davis, Horst Buchholz, Catherine Spaak; Unsuccessful painter Buccholz falls for a young model who spurns his love and drives him to both ruin and his overbearing mother. Based on the novel…
Lilies of the Field (1963): Dir. Ralph Nelson
Feat. Sidney Poitier; Helping to repair a chapel for a convent of German nuns and rewarded with an Oscar for Best Actor, this sees Sidney Poitier giving one of his quieter…
Live it Up! (Sing and Swing) (1963): Dir. Lance Comfort
Feat. David Hemmings; Low–budget, but historically fascinating musical wraps some great mid–60s pop music around its slender plot. Hemmings plays a…
L-Shaped Room, The (1962): Dir. Bryan Forbes
Feat. Leslie Caron; Defining slice of gritty Brit realism tackles the issue of pregnancy outside marriage with considerable pathos. French girl Leslie Caron crosses the…
Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962): Dir. Sidney Lumet
Feat. Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson, Jason Robards Jr.…; Faithful and masterful adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's play about family life, love and losers drinking and tearing each other apart in leafy New…
Madame (1962): Dir. Christian-Jaque
Feat. Sophia Loren, Robert Hossein; Rags–to–riches tale set in Napoleonic France mirrors the real life of its Italian bomb–shell star, Sophia Loren.
Pity Me Not! (Without Each Other) (1962): Dir. Saul Swimmer
Feat. Tony Anthony, Anne Hegiba, Saul Swimmer; A trapeze artist has the unfortunate duty of informing the wife of a fellow performer that her husband has been crushed by an elephant.
Intruder, The (I Hate Your Guts) (1961): Dir. Roger Corman
Feat. William Shatner, Leo Gordon; The only Corman film ever to lose money is not surprisingly perhaps his best. William Shatner excels as a small–time drifter who preaches the…
Platinum High School (1960): Dir. Charles Haas
Feat. Mickey Rooney, Terry Moore, Dan Duryea…; Mickey Rooney overheats in investigating his son's death at a military academy. Casting quirks includes singer Conway Twitty.
Shadows (1959): Dir. John Cassavetes
Feat. Lelia Goldoni; Cassavetes' influential debut explores inter–racial relationships with improvised dialogue, gitanes, ray–bans and Charlie Mingus…
World of Apu, The (1959): Dir. Satyajit Ray
Feat. Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore, Alok Chakravarty; Final installment of the 'Apu trilogy' sees the complexities of adulthood painfully and euphorically realised for Apu through ambition, marriage and…
Young Philadelphians, The (1959): Dir. Vincent Sherman
Feat. Paul Newman, Barbara Rush; Engaging drama with Paul Newman as an attorney of dubious background who defends an affluent friend in a murder trial while hussling his way into the…
Magician, The (The Face) (1958): Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Max von Sydow; Bergman's allegorical self–portrait of a controversial travelling magician who exacts revenge on a cynical doctor, but becomes trapped in his…
Marjorie Morningstar (1958): Dir. Irving Capper
Feat. Gene Kelly, Natalie Wood; Would–be actress Natalie Wood gives up her Jewishness and independence to get ahead in this mild adaptation of Herbert Wouk's novel.
Some Came Running (1958): Dir. Vincente Minnelli
Feat. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley Maclaine…; Frank Sinatra gives an affecting, lowkey performance as soldier returning from WW2 to pick up his writing career again. Effective representation…
Brothers Karamazov, The (1957): Dir. Richard Brooks
Feat. Yul Brynner, Maria Schell, Claire Bloom…; A sumptuous Hollywood version of Dostoyevsky's classic novel of Czarist Russia. Centred around Karamazov (Cobb) and his four disparate offspring,…
Saint Joan (1957): Dir. Otto Preminger
Feat. Jean Seberg, Richard Widmark, John Gielgud…; Colourized version of the Joan of Arc story with Jean Seberg in her acting debut.
Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955): Dir. Richard Fleischer
Feat. Joan Collins; Glossy account of a truelife scandal in early 20th century NYC.
Long Gray Line, The (1955): Dir. John Ford
Feat. Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, Donald Crisp; Engrossing true life tale of military instructors Marty Maher and his rise to the top of his profession.
Picnic (1955): Dir. Joshua Logan
Feat. Kim Novak, Cliff Robertson, William Holden…; Epitome of the 50s smalltown melodrama has the sultry Kim Novak relieved of boyfriend Cliff Robertson and the general Mid–West tedium, by…
Queen Bee (1955): Dir. Ranald MacDougall
Feat. Joan Crawford; Archetypal glamour–bitch Joan Crawford is deliciously hammy as a compulsive socialite who brings destruction to an blue–blooded Southern…
Bigamist, The (1953): Dir. Ida Lupino
Feat. Edmond O'Brien, Joan Fontaine, Ida Lupino…; A San Francisco adoption agency, investigating salesman Edmond O'Brien and wife Joan Fontaine, discover he has a second life, and wife, in LA.…
Life of Oharu (1953): Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Kinuyo Tanaka, Toshiro Mifune; The prolific, though rarely seen dir. Mizoguchi came to attention with this chronicled downfall of a court–concubine in 17th century Japan,…
Deadline U.S.A. (1952): Dir. Richard Brooks
Feat. Humphrey Bogart; Tightly scripted account of the newspaper business. Editor–in–Chief: Humphrey Bogart.
Gentle Gunman, The (1952): Dir. Basil Dearden
Feat. Dirk Bogarde, John Mills; Dirk Bogarde and John Mills are Irish brothers sent to London by the IRA during the Blitz, but one succumbs to pacifism.
Phone Call from a Stranger (1952): Dir. Jean Negulesco
Feat. Bette Davis; Fine acting, from Bette Davis among others, lifts story of aircrash survivors coming together.
Summer with Monika (1952): Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Harriet Andersson; Early Bergman turns his lens on a pair of working class, teenage lovers. At first this rebellious holiday boat ride comes across as dreamy escapism…
Men, The (1950): Dir. Fred Zinnemann
Feat. Marlon Brando, Teresa Wright, Everett Sloane…; Famous as Marlon Brando's film debut, playing a paraplegic war veteran struggling to come to terms with post–war life. Brando's smouldering…
Stromboli (1950): Dir. Roberto Rossellini
Feat. Ingrid Bergman; After his neo–realist masterpieces, this is one of the dir.'s best films, concerning a WW2 refugee who hastily marries an Italian fisherman and…
Summer Interlude (1950): Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Maj-Britt Nilsson, Birger Malmsten, Alf Kjellin; Perhaps Bergman's first significant work, about an aging ballerina who reflects on a youthful romance with her now–deceased lover in moody…
Three Secrets (1950): Dir. Robert Wise
Feat. Eleanor Parker, Patricia Neal, Ruth Roman; Three women exchange handkerchiefs and spill their secrets while awaiting news of their children after a plane crashes. You may need the tissues…
Quartet (1949): Dir. Ken Annakin, Arthur Crabtree, Harold French
Feat. Dirk Bogarde, Basil Radford, Honor Blackman; Four W Somerset Maugham stories are given exemplary treatment by the best of British, incl. Dirk Bogarde, Basil Radford and Honor Blackman. Unlike…
Humoresque (1946): Dir. Jean Negulesco
Feat. Joan Crawford, John Garfield; Elegant drama features Joan Crawford in a towering performance as wealthy patron who falls in love with a gifted musician. A masterpiece of the…
Paisa (1946): Dir. Roberto Rossellini
Feat. Carmela Sazio, Robert Van Loon, Benjamin Emmanuel; Six short films focusing on the minor victories and losses of ordinary folk during WW2. Pioneering the now–familiar use of documentary footage,…
Diary of a Chambermaid (1945): Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Paulette Goddard; Chambermaid Paulette Goddard upsets an aristocratic household brimming with secrets and intrigues. One of Renoir's early Hollywood pictures.
Seventh Veil, The (1945): Dir. Compton Bennett
Feat. James Mason, Ann Todd; Renowned film serves up psychiatry in bite sized chunks as a concert pianist is cured of her complexes by a shrink intent on fixing her up with the…
Fighting Sullivans, The (1944): Dir. Lloyd Bacon
Feat. Anne Baxter, Edward Ryan; Early telling of the true story that inspired SAVING PRIVATE RYAN about five brothers who served in WWII (in reality, at Guadacanal).
Passage to Marseille (1944): Dir. Michael Curtiz
Feat. Humphrey Bogart, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre; Distinguished by the use of flashbacks within flashbacks, this WW2 propaganda piece re–unites the director with CASABLANCA alumnae.
Torment (Hets) (1944): Dir. Alf Sjoberg
Feat. Stig Jarrel, Alf Kjellin, Mai Zetterling…; Impressionistic study of authoritarian education and adolescent love was scripted by a young Ingmar Bergman, and its universe of cruel twists and…
White Cliffs of Dover, The (1944): Dir. Clarence Brown
Feat. Elizabeth Taylor, Roddy McDowall, Irene Dunne…; Patriotic sentiment up full–bore, this extended saga of English–American fraternising over both World Wars, has Irene Dunne and family…
Eternel Retour, L' (1942): Dir. Jean Delannoy
Feat. Jean Marais, Madeleine Sologney, Yvonne de Bray…; (Love Eternal) A contemporary take on the legend of Tristan and Isolde, lovers united after death. Jean Cocteau's script is realised with the…
Kings Row (1942): Dir. Sam Wood
Feat. Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan, Ann Sheridan…; Celebrated and infamous melodrama of the titular smalltown, a seemingly placid American community, around which insanity, poverty and sadism hover…
Les Visiteurs Du Soir (1942): Dir. Marcel Carne
Feat. Arletty, Marie Dea, Fernand Ledoux…; Two of the Devil's henchmen are dispatched to a fairytale–like 15th century castle with an eye to corrupting its inhabitants, especially a pair…
Magnificent Ambersons, The (1942): Dir. Orson Welles
Feat. Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Dolores Costello; Following up CITIZEN KANE, Orson Welles again drew a bead on the American rich, chronicling the dynastic squabbles of a…
Random Harvest (1942): Dir. Mervyn LeRoy
Feat. Ronald Colman, Greer Garson; A shell–shocked WW1 officer marries and is contented until he remembers his past life in the aristocracy. Far–fetched but very enjoyable…
Penny Serenade (1941): Dir. George Stevens
Feat. Cary Grant, Irene Dunne; Cary Grant and Irene Dunne adopt a infant, then lose it, in a brilliantly crafted tear–jerker.
Long Voyage Home, The (1940): Dir. John Ford
Feat. John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Ian Hunter…; John Wayne is a Swedish sailor aboard a doom–ridden tramp steamer circa. WWII, in this portmanteau of four stories by Eugene O'Neill. An…
Our Town (1940): Dir. Sam Wood
Feat. Frank Craven, William Holden, Martha Scott; Affectionate study of small–town American life, set in New Hampshire over a twelve year period. Frank Craven narrates our tour of the community…
Jour Se Leve, Le (Daybreak) (1939): Dir. Marcel Carne
Feat. Jean Gabin, Arletty; A renowned example of 'poetic realism', Jean Gabin gives another consummate performance as a doomed anti–hero. His tragic story is told in…
Good Earth, The (1938): Dir. Sidney Franklin
Feat. Paul Muni, Luise Rainer; Pearl S. Buck's epic novel is given the proud, grand and serious treatment by Hollywood. The tale told is about greed and gain amongst Chinese…
Great Waltz, The (The Life of Johann Strauss) (1938): Dir. Julien Duvivier
Feat. Fernand Gravey, Luise Rainer, Lionel Atwill; The lIfe story of Johann Strauss is given a rich if somewhat corny treatment in this otherwise well–mounted musical biopic.
I Accuse (J'Accuse) (1938): Dir. Abel Gance
Feat. Victor Francen, Line Noro, Marie Lou; Dir. Gance’s own remake of his 1919 silent classic, in which a soldier traumatised by the slaughter of WWI attempts to prevent future…
Marseillaise, La (1938): Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Pierre Renoir, Lisa Delamare, Leon Larive…; Renoir's classic depicts events leading up to the French revolution in the 18th Century, electing to extract history from the heart of the common…
Stella Dallas (1937): Dir. King Vidor
Feat. Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles; Definitive family melodrama in which Barbara Stanwyck compels as the social–climbing Stella, ultimately driven to painful self–knowledge…
Dangerous + Hell's House (1935/32): Dir. Alfred Green, Howard Higgin
Feat. Bette Davis; Bette Davis in two early roles – her lead performance as a star–turned–alcoholic in DANGEROUS fetching her the first of two Best…
David Copperfield (1935): Dir. George Cukor
Feat. W.C. Fields; Top–line Hollywood–ization of the Dickens classic.
Informer, The (1935): Dir. John Ford
Feat. Victor McLaglen; Stunning character study unfolds when an IRA leader is sold out by his dim–witted friend for reward money. Full–blooded acting by all was…
Le Crime De Monsieur Lange (1935): Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Rene Lefevre, Florelle , Jules Berry; One of the dir.’s early classics. Rene Leferve rises to newsprint fame as the author of the serial “Arizona Jim” after his boss, a…
Tale of Two Cities (1935): Dir. Jack Conway
Feat. Ronald Colman; A model screen adaptation of a classic novel. Script and spectacle are in perfect accord to tell Charles Dickens' story of courage and honour in 18th…
Liebelei (1933): Dir. Max Ophuls
Feat. Arthur Schnitzler; An early work from the German maestro of the tracking shot, whose tale of doomed romance between a young soldier and fraulein (taken from a play by…
American Madness (1932): Dir. Frank Capra
Feat. Walter Huston; Vivid parable in which Walter Huston portrays a bank president facing the threat of commercial failure during the Great Depression.
Bill of Divorcement, A (1932): Dir. George Cukor
Feat. John Barrymore, Katharine Hepburn, Billie Burke…; Shell–shocked war veteran John Barrymore returns to the world after 15 years in an asylum, to find that wife Katharine Hepburn (in her screen…
Possessed (1931): Dir. Clarence Brown
Feat. Joan Crawford, Clark Gable; Vivid and detailed early drama about a rich NYC lawyer and his mistress, made when its lead performers were both on the verge of stardom. Centred…
Blood of a Poet (1930): Dir. Jean Cocteau
Feat. Lee Miller, Pauline Carton; Cocteau's first film is a surrealist gem that sewed the seeds of his style. The Dali/Bunuel influence is clear, but this goes one step further with…
Diary of a Lost Girl (1929): Dir. G.W. Pabst
Feat. Louise Brooks; Exceptional follow–up to the eye–opening PANDORA’S BOX, with Louise Brooks again provoking disorder with her unrestrained vitality and…
Mother (1926): Dir. Vsevolod Pudovkin
Feat. Vera Baranovskaya, Nikolai Batalov; In one of the masterpieces of early Russian cinema, a fable of pre–revolutionary worker–resistance and Tsarist oppression is heightened…
Don't Blink: A compilation of short films and videos from students and independents in the South Island. Features 'Zero Graphic', 'Tuning In' and 'Domestic…
Jane Campion - 3 Films: Dir. Jane Campion; Three shorts from the formative years of NZ's most successful film–making 'export'; 'Passionless Moments' (1984, 12m.), 'A Girl's Own Story'…
Peter Greenaway - The Early Works: Dir. Peter Greenaway; Water Wrackets (1978), Dear Phone (1976) and A Walk through H (1978). Three shorts from the celebrated director demonstrate his distinctive style.
Walking Past Midnight / The Terrorist: Dir. Andrea Bosshard, Shane Loader; A pair of underseen short films from two Aro Valley film–makers.

Main menu

Section navigation menu

Subgenre Sampler