Subgenre Sampler
Rental > Drama: 808 Films to Rent on 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…
- 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.