Film Festivals 1999
1999's festivals were categorised by a stand-out crop of documentaries, 'Ghengis Blues', Werner Herzog's 'Little Dieter Needs to Fly', Ken Burns' 'Frank Lloyd Wright', Cuban music legends 'Buena Vista Social Club' and the hilariously insightful 'American Movie'. And along with these some highly imaginative and challenging features such as Lars von Trier's 'Idiots', Darren Aronofsky's 'Pi', Todd Solondz's 'Happiness', Tom Tykwer's 'Run, Lola, Run' and low-budget sci-fi hit, 'Cube' (pictured).
Hana-Bi ( Fireworks ) (1998)
7.8/10
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Starring: Kayoko Kishimoto, Ren Osugi, Takeshi Kitano
This original, offbeat, explosive drama showcases Takeshi Kitano as Nishi, a detective distraught by a number of troubles in his life. Pushed to the e... Read more
Cube (1997)
7.3/10
Director: Vincenzo Natali
Starring: Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni, David Hewlett, Andrew Miller
Six strangers wake up inside a three-dimensional maze of interlocking cubes. None of them know how they got there or why they have been chosen. Some c... Read more
Kiss Me, Guido (1997)
6.1/10
Director: Tony Vitale
Starring: Nick Scotti, Anthony Barrile, Anthony Desando
Can a homophobic tough guy and an out-of-the-closet gay man find happiness splitting the rent in Midtown Manhattan? This and other crucial questions a... Read more
The Dinner Game (1998)
Director: Francis Veber
Starring: Thierry Lhermitte, Jacques Villeret, Daniel Prevost, Alexandra Vandernoot
Laughter is the main course in this acclaimed Gallic farce. Snide publisher Thierry Lhermitte delights in attending dinner parties where he and his so... Read more
Irma Vep (1996)
7/10
Director: Olivier Assayas
Starring: Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Nathalie Richard
This dig at French film-making stars Jean-Pierre Leaud as a faded auteur, who having seen Maggie Cheung in some Hong Kong action flicks, casts her as... Read more
eXistenZ (1999)
6.8/10
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Ian Holm, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Christopher Eccleston, D...
Playstation it ain't. This 'video game' has a latexy pod, made from the intestines of mutant amphibians, that plugs directly into the user's spinal c... Read more
Clockwatchers (1996)
6.4/10
Director: Jill Sprecher
Starring: Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow, Alanna Ubach
Four women hired as temp workers in a credit company are united by dissatisfaction with their tenuous job status and the lock of direction in their li... Read more
Run Lola Run ( Blu-ray ) (1998)
7.7/10
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Herbert Knaup, Moritz Bleibtreu, Franka Potente
Time is running out for Lola. She's just received a frantic phonecall from her boyfriend, who's lost a small fortune in cash belonging to his Mob boss... Read more
Pi - Faith in Chaos (1998)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis
This original work focuses on an obsessed math prodigy. A strange numeric pattern thrown up by the fluctuations of the stock market, which only he can... Read more
Besieged (1998)
7/10
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring: Thandie Newton, David Thewlis
This erotic and emotional love story is set in a lush Roman villa and focuses on a reclusive British musician (David Thewlis) who is irresistably draw... Read more