16 Feb 2000 Director: Shohei Imamura Japan 1997 117 min Shohei Imamura’s first film after a seven year absence. The Eel won the Palm d’Or at Cannes in 1997. It is the story of Tokuro Yamashita who is paroled from prison after serving time for stabbing his unfaithful wife. He attempts to recover his life… Continue reading The Eel
Tag: 1997
Career Girls
21 Oct 1998 Director: Mike Leigh UK 1997 87 min Annie (Lynda Steadman) reconnects with an old college friend, Hannah (Katrin Cartlidge); whom she has not seen since leaving university. They spend a weekend together during which Annie recalls her student days, portrayed by a series of flashbacks. During their reunion they encounter faces from… Continue reading Career Girls
TwentyFourSeven
02 Dec 1998 Director: Shane Meadows UK 1997 96 min 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Filmed emotively in black and white and full of beautiful landscapes and visual imagery. An evocative sound track accompanies the story. Our Hero is Darcy (Bob Hoskins at his best), a flawed modern day saint, who is… Continue reading TwentyFourSeven
As Good As It Gets
16 Dec 1998 Director: James L Brooks USA 1997 138 min Helen Hunt and Jack Nicholson both won Oscars for their performances in this irreverent comedy drama. Melvyn Udall (Nicholson) is a dysfunctional and altogether obnoxious individual trapped in a life of solitude by a compulsive obsessive disorder. Carol (Hunt) is the gutsy, independent waitress… Continue reading As Good As It Gets
Ma Vie En Rose
06 Jan 1999 Director: Alain Berliner France 1997 85 min My Life as a Rose concerns Ludovic, a young boy who appears at his parents’ house warming party dressed as an oriental princess. Prudery and bigotry raise their ugly faces against Ludo’s family as the boy’s transvestism inspires a hate campaign against them. Ludo is… Continue reading Ma Vie En Rose
The Sweet Hereafter
20 Jan 1999 Director: Atom Egoyan Canada 1997 110 min A small community is torn apart by a tragic accident which kills most of the town’s children. A lawyer (lan Holm) visits these victims’ parents in order to profit from the tragedy by stirring up their anger and launching a class action suit against anyone… Continue reading The Sweet Hereafter
L.A. Confidential
03 Feb 1999 Director: Curtis Hanson USA 1997 135 min This James Ellroy Novel turned to film, concerns crooked cops and devious dealings set in 1950’s LA. The brutal massacre in a burger bar starts a complicated and dangerous investigation by the few honest cops LA has left. Thereupon a tightly knitted plot unfolds to… Continue reading L.A. Confidential