Film Festivals 1997
Yet another all-sorts year with something for all tastes. From Atom Egoyan's controversial "The Sweet Hereafter" and Kirby Dick's provocative "Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Lanagan, Supermasochist" to the warm and witty "Kolya" from the Czech Republic and the harrowing and visually stunning "Zero Kelvin" from Norway. The Wachowski Brothers' stylish contemporary noir "Bound" was good company for David Cronenberg's not-for-all-tastes minor masterpiece "Crash". Peter Greenaway offered up his stylistic "The Pillow Book".
East Side Story (1996)
6.7/10
Director: Dana Ranga
Starring: Chris Doerk, Erich Gusko, Helmet Hanke
This fascinating and fun, though not campy, documentary focuses on Soviet musicals, which were made to distract audiences from the oppressive politica... Read more
Erotique (1994)
5.2/10
Director: Clara Law, Lizzie Borden, Monika Treut, Ana Maria Magalhaes
Starring: Kamala Lopez-Dawson, Priscilla Barnes, Marianne Sagebrecht, Camilla Soeberg, Mic...
This erotic film compilation, told from the female perspective, features four separate vignettes by four award-winning international directors. Lizzie... Read more
Fever Pitch (1996)
6.2/10
Director: David Evans
Starring: Colin Firth, Ruth Gemmell, Neil Pearson
Based on the cult novel by Nick Hornby and set against the backdrop of the 1988-89 English football season. This well-written, exuberant and witty num... Read more
Fiesta (1996)
6/10
Director: Pierre Boutron
Starring: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Gregoire Colin
Set in Spain during the 1936 civil war and exploring the evolution of two individuals; a young man growing from gilded carefree adolescence into a kil... Read more
Flirt (1995)
6.3/10
Director: Hal Hartley
Starring: Bill Sage, Martin Donovan, Parker Posey
Three couples of assorted gender pairings play out similar tales of unrequited love, desire, casual violence, and trust in New York, Berlin and Tokyo.... Read more
Heavy (1996)
4.8/10
Director: James Mangold
Starring: Pruitt Taylor Vince, Liv Tyler, Shelley Winters
This Sundance winner tells the tale of a chubby, balding, hopelessly shy pizza chef who works in a rural eatery run by his widowed mother when his wor... Read more
Her Majesty Mrs Brown (1997)
Director: John Madden
Starring: Judi Dench, Billy Connolly, Geoffrey Palmer
Dame Judi Dench is flawless as the morose Queen Victoria mourning the death of spouse Albert. Billy Connelly plays the plain-speaking John Brown, the... Read more
Hype! (1996)
7.7/10
Director: Doug Pray
Starring: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, The Posies
An absorbing document of the evolution of the Seattle grunge-music scene from it's genesis in the early 80's. Reflected in the ambiguous light of hind... Read more
Jazz On A Summer's Day (1959)
8.1/10
Director: Bert Stern
Starring: Mahalia Jackson, Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry
This precursor to Woodstock is the granddaddy of all concert films, a chronicle of the Newport, Rhode Island Jazz Fest where music greats like Louis A... Read more
Kiss or Kill (1997)
6.4/10
Director: Bill Bennett
Starring: Frances O'Connor, Matt Day, Chris Haywood
A fresh, funny, intelligent and powerful film about two young hustlers who accidentally kill a sleazy businessman with a drug overdose, leaving them w... Read more