The Best Films of the 1990's

by Jeffrey M. Anderson

When I was working for Bayinsider, I was a bit rushed to get in my list of the ten best films of the 1990's by December 31, 1999. I regret the list I posted there now, and I think now that the smoke has cleared, I ought to post a more definitive list. Here's what I came up with now that I've had time to really think it over.

1. Pulp Fiction (1994) Directed by Quentin Tarantino Written by Tarantino and Roger Avary

The ultimate movie-movie of the decade, an enthusiastic essay on the nature of movies and the possibilities still unexplored. It was criticized for its violence and lack of emotional content, but many of us could hardly fail to miss the sheer excitement for the fabric of celluloid itself, the look, the feel, the sound, and the smell. It provided for us in the 90's what Godard's Breathless must have provided in the 1950's.

2. La Belle Noiseuse (1991) Directed by Jacques Rivette Written by Rivette, Christine Laurent, and Pascal Bonitzer, based on a story by Honore de Balzac
	The French New Wave was still alive in the 1990's, and Rivette gave us a masterpiece equal to his seminal Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974). A four-hour meditation on the nature of art, old age, and sensuality, La Belle Noiseuse did that thing that most movies don't dare to do now, slow down--and almost stop completely--to think

3. Unforgiven (1992) Directed by Clint Eastwood Written by David Webb Peoples

If Clint Eastwood is the true heir to John Wayne, then Unforgiven is his The Searchers (1956), a supreme study of lifeless violence and gutless revenge. It's a western disguised as a parable, with a living legend stalking through the lead role, old, dealing with a pen full of sick pigs, and eventually suffering from sickness himself. Could this dark, brilliant, elegy really have won four Oscars, when the usual winners are so much fluff?

4. Kundun (1997) Directed by Martin Scorsese Written by Melissa Mathison

Most folks prefer GoodFellas, but I think Kundun is among Scorsese's finest work. So much more complex, it deals with the Dalai Lama's ultimate conundrum; how does one defend oneself without resorting to violence? Without using a single Hollywood trick or movie star, Scorsese presents the inner life and struggle of the Dalai Lama on a stunningly beautiful canvas, sometimes funny, sometimes wondrous, sometimes frightening, always brilliant.

5. Taste of Cherry (1997) Directed by Abbas Kiarostami Written by Kiarostami

In the 90's, the films of Abbas Kiarostami awakened my senses. His views of man as minuscule in a gritty landscape, searching for something small but finding something big, spoke to me and many others across boundaries of language and culture. Though Taste of Cherry was his most mature work, it was also the only one of his films to receive a US theatrical release in the 1990's. Other titles, Close-Up, And Life Goes On, Through the Olive Trees, and The Wind Will Carry Us also deserve a slot on this list.

6. Eyes Wide Shut (1999) Directed by Stanley Kubrick Written by Kubrick & Frederic Raphael, based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler
	Stanley Kubrick's most human work, more sexual, emotional, and dreamlike than any of his previous works. Disguised as an "erotic thriller", the movie was wrongly advertised and misunderstood by nearly everyone who saw it. It's a brave, powerful, and beautiful work that will take another decade or more before it gets its due.

7. Crash (1996) Directed by David Cronenberg Written by Cronenberg, based on a novel by J.G. Ballard
	David Cronenberg took Ballard's material and made it his own, about a group of people both detached and re-connected with their sexuality through the twisted metal of broken cars. The smooth metallic look of the film perfectly clashes with its touchy subject, people using technology to find what it means to be human.

8. Fargo (1996) Directed by Joel Coen Written by Joel and Ethan Coen

The Coen Brothers' work has always been precise and almost surgically controlled, but Fargo is the first of their films where they let emotions run free. The performances of Frances McDormand and William H. Macy bring life and honesty to the film, so that we never feel cheated or outsmarted. Just the opposite, Fargo is comfortable and almost familiar but wildly original and compulsively watchable.

9. Fireworks (1998) Directed by Takeshi Kitano Written by Kitano

Kitano delivered two masterpieces in the 1990's, this and Sonatine (1993). Both used his cold sardonic humor and sudden violence to brilliant artistic effect, but Fireworks took the joke even farther, where we stopped laughing and started caring. Takeshi plays a gangster who impersonates a cop so that he can get money to take care of his terminally ill wife. Takeshi's card trick in the rear view mirror is something I'll never forget.

10. Babe (1995) Directed by Chris Noonan Written by Noonan and George Miller, based on a story by Dick King-Smith (tie) Babe: Pig in the City (1998) Directed by George Miller Written by Miller, Judy Morris, & Mark Lamprell

Babe was a superior attempt at a family film, free of cloying characters and obvious moral lessons. Its special effects were above par, allowing us to identify with normal farm animals. But Babe: Pig in the City was something even more; an astonishingly dark, Dickensian fable that put the pig on his own in the heartless big city with jive-talking monkeys and whining kittens. The dangers Babe faces are uncomfortably real, but his stout heart wins out. These are both truly inspiring movies.

RUNNERS UP: Autumn Tale (Eric Rohmer), La Ceremonie (Claude Chabrol), Bullet in the Head (John Woo), Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai), Clueless (Amy Heckerling), Crumb (Terry Zwigoff), Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch), Ed Wood (Tim Burton), Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (Errol Morris), Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao-hsien), The Godfather Part III (Francis Ford Coppola), Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis), Husbands and Wives (Woody Allen), Lost Highway (David Lynch), Short Cuts (Robert Altman), The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick), Three Colors Trilogy (Krzysztof Kieslowski), To Sleep With Anger (Charles Burnett), Vanya on 42nd Street (Louis Malle)

And here are some other worthy opinions...

Wes Anderson, director Bottle Rocket, Rushmore
Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara)
Buffalo '66 (Vincent Gallo)
Un Coeur en hiver (Claude Sautet)
The Daytrippers (Greg Mottola)
Flirting (John Duigan)
The Ice Storm (Ang Lee)
Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino)
Little Odessa (James Gray)
Un Monde sans pitie (Eric Rochant)
Olivier Olivier (Agnieszka Holland)

Georgia Brown, film critic
Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier)
Bullet in the Head (John Woo)
Caro Diario (Nanni Moretti)
Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai)
Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami)
Fireworks (Takeshi Kitano)
Mother and Son (Aleksandr Sokurov)
The Puppetmaster (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
The Quince Tree Sun (Victor Erice)
Red (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino)
Satantango (Bela Tarr)
Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)

Cahiers du Cinema, seminal French film magazine
1. Carlito's Way (Brian De Palma)
2. Goodbye South, Goodbye (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
3. The Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood)
4. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
5. Twin Peaks (David Lynch)
6. Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami)
7. Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)
8. Crash (David Cronenberg)
9. Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton)
10. The River (Tsai Ming-liang)

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times and TV film critic
1. Hoop Dreams (Steve James)
2. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino)
3. GoodFellas (Martin Scorsese)
4. Fargo (Joel Coen)
5. Three Colors Trilogy (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
6. Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg)
7. Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier)
8. Leaving Las Vegas (Mike Figgis)
9. Malcolm X (Spike Lee)
10. JFK (Oliver Stone)

J. Hoberman, The Village Voice
Conspirators of Pleasure (Jan Svankmajer)
Crash (David Cronenberg)
D'est (From the East) (Chantal Akerman)
Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-wai)
Lessons of Darkness (Werner Herzog)
The Long Day Closes (Terence Davies)
The Puppetmaster (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
Satantango (Bela Tarr)
Side/Walk/Shuttle (Ernie Gehr)
Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America (Craig Baldwin)

RUNNERS UP: Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins), Exotica (Atom Egoyan), The Georgetown Loop (Ken Jacobs), GoodFellas (Martin Scorsese), Histoire(s) Du Cinema (Jean-Luc Godard), Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas), Khrustaliov, My Car! (Alexei Guerman), Mother and Son (Alexander Sokurov), Topsy-Turvy (Mike Leigh), Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)

Phillip Lopate, essayist & Film Comment contributor
1. Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
2. Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami)
3. My Sex Life... Or How I Got Into an Argument (Arnaud Desplechin)
4. Un Coeur en Hiver (Claude Sautet)
5. Kundun (Martin Scorsese)
6. Public Housing (Frederick Wiseman)
7. Husbands and Wives (Woody Allen)
8. Caro Diario (Nanni Moretti)
9a. Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg)
9b. The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick)
10a. Autumn Tale (Eric Rohmer)
10b. Le Garcu (Maurice Pialat)
10c. Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino)
10d. There's Something About Mary (Bobby & Peter Farrelly)

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Actress (Stanley Kwan)
A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang)
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch)
Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
D'est (From the East) (Chantal Akerman)
Inquietude (Manoel de Oliveira)
The Puppet Master (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
Satantango (Bela Tarr)
When It Rains (Charles Burnett) [12 minute short film]
The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami)

RUNNER UP: Historie(s) du Cinema (Jean-Luc Godard)

Richard Schickel, Time Magazine
Bullets Over Broadway (Woody Allen)
Fargo (Joel Coen)
Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis)
L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson)
Live Flesh (Pedro Almodovar)
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino)
Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg)
Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg)
True Romance (Tony Scott)
Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)

Paul Schrader, screenwriter & director; Light Sleeper, Affliction
1. Flowers of Shanghai (Hou hsiao-hsien)
2. Mother and Son (Aleksandr Sokurov)
3. GoodFellas (Martin Scorsese)
4. Boys Don't Cry (Kimberly Peirce)
5. Fearless (Peter Weir)
6. Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann)
7. Get Shorty (Barry Sonenfeld)
8. Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh)
9. Maborosi (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
10. My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant)
11. Light Sleeper (Paul Schrader)
12. Richard III (Richard Loncraine)

Martin Scorsese, film director; GoodFellas, Kundun
1. The Horse Thief (Tian Zhuangzhuang)
2. The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick)
3. A Borrowed Life (Wu Nien-Jen)
4. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
5. Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara)
6. Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier)
7. Bottle Rocket (Wes Anderson)
8. Crash (David Cronenberg)
9. Fargo (Joel Coen)
10a. Heat (Michael Mann)
10b. Malcolm X (Spike Lee)

Susan Sontag, writer & critic
1. The Second Circle (Aleksandr Sokurov)
2. Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami)
3. The Stone (Aleksandr Sokurov)
4. Naked (Mike Leigh)
5. The Puppetmaster (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
6. Satantango (Bela Tarr)
7. Lamerica (Gianni Amelio)
8. Joan the Maid (Jacques Rivette)
9. Through the Olive Trees (Abbas Kiarostami)
10. Goodbye South, Goodbye (Hou Hsiao-hsien)

Michael Sragow, San Francisco Weekly
Babe (Chris Noonan)
Cobb (Ron Shelton)
Henry and June (Philp Kaufman)
In the Name of the Father (Jim Sheridan)
L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson)
Life Is Sweet (Mike Leigh)
Six Degrees of Separation (Fred Schepisi)
Three Kings (David O. Russell)
Trainspotting (Danny Boyle)
The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer)

RUNNERS UP: Babe: Pig in the City (George Miller), Before Sunrise (Ricahrd Linklater), Devil in a Blue Dress (Carl Franklin), The Russia House (Fred Schepisi), Vincent and Theo (Robert Altman), Where the Heart Is (John Boorman), The Whole Wide World (Dan Ireland), Wild Bill (Walter Hill)

Chuck Stephens, San Francisco Bay Guardian
1. Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
2. Days of Being Wild (Wong Kar-wai)
3. Actress (Stanley Kwan)
4. Cold Water (Olivier Assayas)
5. Satantango (Bela Tarr)
6. Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America (Craig Baldwin)
7. Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano)
8. Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara)
9. Cyclo (Tran Anh Hung)
10. Vive L'amour (Tsai Ming-liang)

RUNNERS UP: Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch), No Fear, No Die (Claire Denis), Twin Peaks: Fire Wlk With Me (David Lynch), The Adjuster (Atom Egoyan), Lessons of Darkness (Werner Herzog), The Power of Kangwon Province(Hong Sang-soo), Nadja (Michael Almereyda)

Amy Taubin, The Village Voice
1. JLG/JLG: Self-Portrait in December (Jean-Luc Godard)
2. The Portrait of a Lady (Jane Campion)
3. The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese)
4. Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-wai)
5. Goodbye South, Goodbye (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
6. Safe (Todd Haynes)
7. My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant)
8. Thelma and Louise (Ridley Scott)
9. Coming to Terms with Death (Pascale Ferran)
10. Crash (David Cronenberg)

RUNNERS UP: I Can't Sleep (Claire Denis), Outer and Inner Space (Andy Warhol), White Dog (Samuel Fuller), Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch), To Sleep With Anger (Charles Burnett)

The Village Voice Critics' Poll
1. Safe (Todd Haynes)
2. Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier)
3. Flowers of Shanghai (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
4. Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami)
5. GoodFellas (Martin Scorsese)
6. Fireworks (Takeshi Kitano)
7. Naked (Mike Leigh)
8. Underground (Emir Kusturica)
9. Satantango (Bela Tarr)
10. Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-wai)