Film Festivals 2000
A broad spectrum of films this year offered up Miyazaki's beautiful anime 'Princess Mononoke', kiwi comedy 'Magik and Rose', and also from a New Zealand director, Alison McLean's wonderful 'Jesus' Son'. Eric Bana piled on the pounds for his role as 'Chopper' and Christian Bale played a different kind of maniac in 'American Psycho'. The Dogme team brought us the deliciously disturbing 'Celebration' and from China came the sumptuous historical epic 'The Emperor and the Assassin'.
East / West (1999)
7.5/10
Director: Regis Wargnier
Starring: Sandrine Bonnaire, Catherine Deneuve, Oleg Menshikov, Sergei Bodrov Jr
In this Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Film, Russian emigres are invited to return home by Stalin following World War II. But when a doctor, h... Read more
The Cup (1999)
6.9/10
Director: Khyentse Norbu
Starring: Jamyang Lodro, Neten Chokling
Filmed in the central Asian country of Bhutan and directed by Khyentse Norbu (recognised by Buddhists as an incarnation of a 19th century Tibetan sain... Read more
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
7.5/10
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Cliff Gorman, Forest Whitaker, Henry Silva, John Tormey
In Jim Jarmusch's fascinating meshing of gangster, urban and samurai action, Forest Whitaker is Ghost Dog, a mysterious hit man who rubs out targets f... Read more
The Filth and the Fury (1999)
7.7/10
Director: Julien Temple
Starring: Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, Paul Cook, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock
This electrifying documentary on the Sex Pistols, complete with rare archival footage and contemporary interviews, sets the record straight about punk... Read more
The Widow Of Saint-Pierre (1999)
7.3/10
Director: Patrice Leconte
Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Juliette Binoche, Emir Kusturica
1850 Saint-Pierre, a forgotten small island near Canada. Neel Auguste is found guilty and condemned to death, but in Saint-Pierre there is neither gui... Read more
The Road Home (1999)
7.9/10
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Sun Honglei, Zhang Ziyi, Zheng Hao, Zhao Yuelin, Li Bin
An exotic and exquisite film set in the unfamiliar Chinese outback that tells a simple, sweet love story in flashback. Sun Honglei, Zheng Hao and Zhao... Read more
Magik and Rose (1999)
5.6/10
Director: Vanessa Alexander
Starring: Alison Bruce, Nicola Murphy, Oliver Driver, Simon Ferry, Florence Hartigan
The Annual Wild Food Festival in Hokitika is the setting for this delightful tale of fertility, maternity and female solidarity. When Magik (approachi... Read more
Me and Isaac Newton (1999)
Director: Michael Apted
"Me and Isaac Newton" is a documentary in which seven scientists ranging in occupation from theoretical physicist to wildlife expert explain what they... Read more
Ratcatcher (1999)
7.5/10
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Starring: William Eadie, Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews, Leanne Mullen
Set in Glasgow in the 1970s, Ratcatcher is seen through the eyes of twelve-year-old James Gillespie, a young boy haunted by a secret. Feeling increasi... Read more
Kikujiro (1999)
7.8/10
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Starring: Yusuke Sekiguchi, Takeshi Kitano, Kayoko Kishimoto
Japanese director 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano is perhaps best known to international audiences for his violent and stylish crime flicks 'Violent Cop' and '... Read more