The 1991 Mini-List

[swo17]

ELIGIBLE TITLES FOR 1991

VOTE THROUGH MARCH 31

Please post in this thread if you think anything needs to change about the list of eligible titles.

[therewillbeblus]

Can you please add:

All-American Murder (Anson Williams)
Dreaming the Reality (Simon Yun)
The Favour, the Watch, and the Very Big Fish (Ben Lewin)
Frankie and Johnny (Garry Marshall)
A Rage in Harlem (Bill Duke)

[swo17]

Added but is this the Hong Kong film you meant? I'm not sure who Simon Yun is.

Also, it looks like the Lewin film only played a couple festivals in 1991. I put it in 1992

[therewillbeblus]

Yeah I've seen both names used, but that's the right movie

[John Cope]

Please add the following:

A Grande Arte (aka: Exposure) - Walter Salles
Liquid Dreams - Mark S. Manos
The Divine Comedy - Manoel de Oliveira

[swo17]

Added, thanks

[Lowry_Sam]

Can you add the animation short The Sandman by Paul Berry. I saw it in that year's Spike & Mike Animation fest and it was probably the most memorable of all their animation fests for me.

[swo17]

Done!

[knives]

Got a few requests to add to the list.

I'm an absolute sucker for terrible criminal stories, dramatic and comedic, and Rainbow Kids is one of the funniest and lightest out there. Kitabayashi in particular is hilarious as the victim who takes this as a moment to teach her kidnappers lessons in how to abduct. She's so nonchalant and relaxed in conveying so much fun it's like the perfect reversal of Ruthless People. Ken Ogata also in a late appearing turn as a police officer indebted to the victim. This might not be the best film to come out of this generation of Japanese filmmakers (though I'd argue it is the best late film), but it is one of the most engaging and fun.

Dostoyevsky’s Travels is absolutely hilarious and wonderful. A slyly intellectual delight making fun of the concept behind intellectuals. You have to see it today: https://vimeo.com/307839240

The Dark Backward is just one of those crazy movies you’d hear about and could only watch properly if it came onto the television one random late night. It’s such a hilarious and strange piece that could have only come out during the ‘90s.

Heat Wave is one of Gosha’s last films and as with his last few it’s a real feel bad movie done so stylishly that just how miserable this all is only sneaks up in the last scene or two.

Femina blew me away. Possibly my favorite film of Szulkin's. He’s really wearing his Has influence on his sleeve here and I think that’s the secret ingredient to appreciating how he’s looking at this summer’s biggest topic: patriarchy. No horses though. It’s steaming with English subs on 35mm.

Finally is Brocka’s A Plea to God which was my first film by him a million years ago and it still remains my favorite of his. It’s this truly powerful mediation on womanhood and living in a religious culture.

[therewillbeblus]

One rec that may not be on people's radars is Merci la vie, which may be Blier's masterpiece. The less you know going in the better, but you can't really be prepared for where it goes. I recall it feeling sorta Ruizian

[swo17]

Got a few requests to add to the list.

Done, thanks! I was thinking this year seemed kind of light but those all sound intriguing

[swo17]

The Dark Backward

Starring Rob Lowe as Bobby Peru

[the preacher]

Please add: Ashakara, Story from Croatia and AAW Mediterraneo.

[swo17]

Added, I think, but what does AAW mean?

[knives]

Thanks for the watch swo. Never made that connection, but I totally see it now. Honestly the movie reminds me of the weirder side of Henry Sellick.

After a string of weak watches my monthly Alan Rudolph saved the day with a real thinker. The realistic style at the beginning of Mortal Thoughts was quite the surprise only really anchored in interest by Willis’ scummy performance. It’s such a great villain role with some of that Moonlighting energy. There’s a comparison I want to give, but it would reveal the whole structure of the film.

After the first act unreality hits making clear the need for the framing story outside of Dunkin product placement. I kind of wish Rudolph went further and further with the style as it is a good metaphor for Moore’s untethering. She becomes so good in the film. Moore isn’t who I usually think of when I think great actresses from the ‘90s, but this performance suggests she could be so capable.

Ultimately the second weakest Rudolph film I’ve seen, but a very good film nonetheless that provides me with a lot to chew on.

[the preacher]

Added, I think, but what does AAW mean?

Academy Award Winner.

[TechnicolorAcid]

Even though it’s not yet on the list, I’d like to request people check out Eldar Ryazanov’s Promised Heaven (although maybe not as your first Ryazanov), which I wrote about here:

The USSR was nearing its end when Ryazanov made Promised Heaven so it’s only fitting that Ryazanov’s film focuses on those practically on their deathbed. At this point he had a whole range of classic actors working with him and he used that to his advantage, all of them obviously older but no less comedically adept, a mentality extended to the film itself. The characters try to build meaningful relationships throughout the film with one particularly funny segment being a wedding with Oleg Basilashvili’s character and a much younger woman devolving into an almost pathetic attempt to keep to his only source of youth. But throughout the film, it’s obvious all they really have is each other and their own small, decaying part of the world where they’re either forgotten or despised by the outside world. And while the film is ultimately tragic and downright angry at points, Ryazanov still makes sure this is a fun film, filling with a touch of magical realism that occurs throughout the film and fantastic bits of comedy (there’s one really wonderful gag when the two old women get kicked out of the old folks’ cafeteria that caught me off guard in the best of ways) with an earnest love of it’s central characters and their connection in their own world in their own world. And it really is Ryazanov’s true swan song to the era where he thrived in with that final scene serving as a joyous ode to not only the stars of Soviet cinema but of Soviet cinema itself, leaving in an ancient vehicle of smoke and steam flying off into a sky of dreams and magic.

[swo17]

Added, thanks!

[knives]

I’ve continued to watch some good films for this list, but don’t really have words for them so I’ll just encourage everyone to see All the Mornings of the World and Brakhage’s rare feature attempt A Child’s Garden and the Serious Sea.

Also throw in a good word for The Pit and the Pendulum though it’s a fair amount easier to discuss. This is a truly great horror show largely forgoing Poe, though the wrong story does get the best reference, for an original tale of the blood and guts injustice of self rationalizing hypocrisy. This might be Henriksen‘s best performance portraying a simple character in a modern of depth. Though everyone does well here in a way that made me forget that this was a Full Moon endeavor.

[Lowry_Sam]

Wow is this a tough year for me to do. I don't know what I was doing in 1991, but there's a lot on the list that I haven't seen and quite a bit of that is only available on OOP DVDs.

[knives]

Honestly the hit to miss ratio is so good that any random 20 should be more than good enough. Next year is going to be a real tough one for me. So much mediocrity.

[Lowry_Sam]

So is Alan Clarke's Scum (TV version) a 1977 title even though it was first broadcast in 1991 (according to IMDB)?

[swo17]

I don't believe IMDb. Letterboxd says it debuted 8 Nov 1977, and in any case, we already had it eligible when we did that year

[TMDaines]

I think I am sadly gonna have to skip a couple of months reluctantly. We had our second child at the beginning of the month and it has put my watching on hold. I started with only a paltry two films that meet my quality threshold at the start of the month and it has still not grown! Might be a house move next month too, but hopefully things will pick up again later this year.

[therewillbeblus]

1991: The Year TMDaines Broke

In all seriousness, big congrats on the real life stuff that matters!