When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences looked at 1981, it gave its Best Picture award to Chariots of Fire, the film that appears in the dictionary next to the phrase "Oscar bait." Here are some better movies:
1. Coup de Torchon Directed by Bertrand Tavernier Written by Tavernier and Jean Aurenche, from a novel by Jim Thompson
Apparently a Jim Thompson story still works when you transport it to colonial Africa.
2. The Decline...of Western Civilization Directed by Penelope Spheeris
If this isn't the best rock doc ever made, it's certainly the funniest.
3. Blow Out Written and directed by Brian De Palma
Imagine Blow Up crossed with a '70s conspiracy thriller.
4. Lola Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder Written by Fassbinder, Pea Fröhlich, and Peter Märthesheimer
"I'm corrupt." "You most certainly are not." "I adapt. Same thing."
5. Mephisto Directed by István Szabó Written by Szabó and Péter Dobai, from a novel by Klaus Mann
In 2006 it emerged that Szabó had been an informant in the aftermath of Hungary's failed 1956 revolution. He claimed at first that he'd done it to save a friend's life, then admitted that this was a self-serving lie. I relate these unpleasant details not to criticize this absorbing film, but to suggest that its textured portrait of an opportunist adjusting to life under totalitarian rule might have a touch of self-lacerating autobiography to it.
6. Gallipoli Directed by Peter Weir Written by David Williamson, from a story by Weir
One of the great antiwar movies. Shame about the soundtrack.
7. Time Bandits Directed by Terry Gilliam Written by Gilliam and Michael Palin
"Why does there have to be evil?" "I think it has something to do with free will."
8. Polyester Written and directed by John Waters
Not many motion pictures are this cruel to a protagonist. Even fewer manage to be this funny in the process.
9. Modern Romance Written and directed by Albert Brooks
#firstworldproblems
10. Ms.45 Directed by Abel Ferrara Written by N.G. St. John
If Death Wish had starred Valerie Solanas...
Honorable mentions:
11. Vernon, Florida (Errol Morris) 12. America is Waiting (Bruce Conner) 13. Pixote (Hector Babenco) 14. Das Boot (Wolfgang Petersen) 15. Pennies from Heaven (Herbert Ross) 16. Tango (Zbigniew Rybczynski) 17. Junkopia (Chris Marker, John Chapman) 18. Crac (Frédéric Back) 19. Gregory's Girl (Bill Forsyth) 20. Smothering Dreams (Daniel Reeves)
Of the films of 1981 that I haven't seen, I'm most interested in The Aviator's Wife.
When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences looked at 1991, it gave its Best Picture award to The Silence of the Lambs, a highbrow slasher flick. I liked that one well enough to add it to my honorable mentions, but it didn't make my top 10:
1. The Rapture Written and directed by Michael Tolkin
The best movie ever made about apocalyptic Christianity.
2. Hearts of Darkness Directed by Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper
A behind-the-scenes look at Apocalypse Now that doubles as a remake of Apocalypse Now.
3. Homicide Written and directed by David Mamet
"When you start cumming with the customers, it's time to quit."
4. Raise the Red Lantern Directed by Zhang Yimou Written by Zhen Ni, from a novel by Su Tong
"It's all playacting. If you play well, you fool the others. If you play badly, you only fool yourself. If you can't even fool yourself, you can fool the ghosts."
5. Prime Suspect Directed by Christopher Menaul Written by Lynda La Plante
How amazed I was by this miniseries when it first came out. A police procedural whose solution wasn't telegraphed from the beginning. With red herrings that might actually mislead you. On television! In those days this was just about unheard-of.
6. Blooper Bunny Directed by Greg Ford and Terry Lennon Written by Ford, Lennon, and Ronnie Schelb
One of the few latter-day Bugs Bunny cartoons to retain the edge of the originals.
7. Tribulation 99 Written and directed by Craig Baldwin
Yes, we'll get to JFK in a moment. But this is the great sprawling conspiracy epic of 1991.
8. JFK Directed by Oliver Stone Written by Stone and Zachary Sklar
Stone throws so many theories into this movie that his psychedelic montages take on a life of their own; the cascading images and ideas sweep aside any single thesis about what happened in Dallas in 1963. As a result, whether he intended it or not, the film looks less like an historical theory and more like a panoramic view of the psychic landscape in paranoid post-assassination America. Needless to say, that's much more interesting than the standard Oliver Stone message-movie.
9. Slacker Written and directed by Richard Linklater
Obsessive geeks, conspiracy theorists, alt-media weirdos, an anarchist invoking Guy Fawkes, even a "Ron Paul: Libertarian for President" sign: Here is your guide to the ensuing 20 years of the counterculture.
10. Point Break Directed by Kathryn Bigelow Written by W. Peter Iliff
I'll tip my hat to Andrew Sarris and call this "expressive esoterica."
Honorable mentions:
11. Delicatessen (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro) 12. Blood in the Face (Anne Bohlen, Kevin Rafferty) 13. The Double Life of Veronique (Krzysztof Kieslowski) 14. Zentropa (Lars von Trier) 15. Little Man Tate (Jodie Foster) 16. Dogfight (Nancy Savoca) 17. Like Water for Chocolate (Alfonso Arau) 18. Thanksgiving Prayer (Gus Van Sant) 19. The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme) 20. Flirting (John Duigan)
Of the films of 1991 that I haven’t seen, I’m most interested in The Architecture of Doom.
Steve Kurtz always gives me a hard time when I put a season of a TV show on one of these lists. Well, look: This is a coherent three-hour story with a beginning, middle, and end. Unlike any season of the American Office, which I also like but is much more open-ended, it could be a miniseries. And anyway, it's far too good to leave out.
8. Waking Life Written and directed by Richard Linklater
Reason #23,000 not to trust the Motion Picture Academy: It found room for Jimmy Neutron among its Best Animated Feature nominees, but not this.
9. Lantana Directed by Ray Lawrence Written by Andrew Bovell
"This is not an affair. It's a one-night stand that happened twice."
10. The Pledge Directed by Sean Penn Written by Jerzy Kromolowski and Mary Olson-Kromolowski, from a novella by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
It's always a pleasure to see Jack Nicholson acting without carpet in his mouth.
Honorable mentions:
11. Storytelling (Todd Solondz) 12. Claire (Milford Thomas) 13. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet) 14. Gosford Park (Robert Altman) 15. The Others (Alejandro Amenábar) 16. Time Out (Laurent Cantet) 17. Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff) 18. What Time Is It There? (Tsai Ming-liang) 19. Ocean's Eleven (Steven Soderbergh) 20. Hyakugojyuuichu!! (Neil Cicierega)
Of the films of 2001 that I haven't seen, I'm most interested in CQ and Light of My Eyes.