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".
Prisoner of the Mountains (1996)
7.6/10
Director: Sergei Bodrov
Starring: Oleg Menshikov, Sergei Bodrov Jr
This devastating drama, based loosely on Tolstoy's Prisoner of the Caucsus, tells of two Russian soldiers captured by Chechen rebels and held in an im... Read more
Zero Patience (1993)
5/10
Director: John Greyson
Starring: John Robinson, Normand Fauteux, Bernard Behrens
The surreal and supernatural join forces in this extremely unusualAIDS musica. The story features the ghost of the Canadian airline steward, who alleg... 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
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
The Daytrippers (1995)
6.9/10
Director: Greg Mottola
Starring: Hope Davis, Parker Posey, Stanley Tucci, Liev Schreiber, Campbell Scott, Pat McN...
Happily married Eliza (Hope Davis) discovers a letter written to her husband Louis (Stanley Tucci), signed 'Forever Sandy'. Her curiosity pricked by t... Read more
Kolya (1996)
7.8/10
Director: Jan Sverak
Starring: Zdenek Sverak, Andrej Chalimon, Libuse Safrankova
This warm and witty seriocomedy follows a down-and-out cellist and confirmed bachelor who agrees to a marriage of convenience with a friend's beautifu... 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
Microcosmos (1996)
7.9/10
Director: Claude Nuridsany, Marie Perennou
A film of exquisite beauty following a day in the life of a French meadow: a thistle bursting into flower; a bee hovering over a clutch of poppies; an... 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
Madame Butterfly (1996)
7/10
Director: Frederic Mitterrand
Starring: Ying Huang, Richard Troxell, Ning Liang
Martin Scorsese presents Madame Butterfly, the heart-wrenching story of a beautiful young geisha who sacrifices her family, her religion and ultimatel... Read more