07 Jan 1998 Director: Anthony Minghella USA 1996 162 min Winner of nine Oscars. A powerful and gripping love story based on Michael Ondaatje’s novel. A Canadian nurse (Juliette Binoche) nurses a man badly burned in a plane crash. Alone with him in an abandoned Italian monastery during World War Two, she slowly learns his… Continue reading The English Patient
Tag: USA
Romeo & Juliet
21 Jan 1998 Director: Baz Luhrmann USA 1996 120 min A strikingly original and modern portrayal of the classic love story. The words are authentic but the style is definitely Luhrmann, the director of ‘Strictly Ballroom’. The backdrop is Los Angeles after the riots. The narrator is a news anchor woman, the prince is police… Continue reading Romeo & Juliet
Stealing Beauty
18 Feb 1998 Director: Bernado Bertolucci USA 1996 119 min Liv Tyler plays 19 year-old Lucy who comes to a Tuscany village in search of her real father, the man who seduced her mother 20 years ago, and to lose her own virginity. There she discovers herself and, with a new found independence, affects the… Continue reading Stealing Beauty
Michael Collins
18 Nov 1998 Director: Neil Jordan USA 1996 132 min Neil Jordan presents this historical tale of the 1920 political activist and member of the Irish Republican Army – Michael Collins. Liam Neeson plays Collins whose rise from terrorism on the streets to leadership and assassination is passionately charted here. The film deals with the… Continue reading Michael Collins
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
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
Chasing Amy
03 Mar 1999 Director: Kevin Smith USA 1994 90 min Holden (Ben Affleck) and Banky are best friends and creators of a popular comic called ‘Bluntman and Chronic’. At a convention, Holden meets Alyssa, another comic.book writer, and falls in love with her. However, he has a problem, for Alyssa is a lesbian. His infatuation… Continue reading Chasing Amy
Marvin’s Room
17 Mar 1999 Director: Jerry Zaks USA 1996 98 min Estranged since their father’s first stroke some 17 years earlier, Lee (Meryl Streep) and Bessie (Diane Keaton) lead separate lives in separate states. Lee’s son, Hank (Leonardo DiCaprio), finds himself committed to a mental institution after setting fire to his mother’s house. Marvin, the two… Continue reading Marvin’s Room
The Truffle Hunters
02 February 2022 Italy/Greece/USA 2020 Directors: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw Deep in the forests of Piedmont, Italy, a handful of men hunt for the rare and expensive white Alba truffle which, to date, has resisted modern science’s efforts at cultivation. They are guided by a secret culture and training passed down through generations as well… Continue reading The Truffle Hunters
The Reason I Jump
17 November 2021 UK/USA 2021 Director: Jerry Rothwell Based on the best-selling book by Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump is an immersive cinematic exploration of neurodiversity through the experiences of non-speaking autistic people from around the world. The film blends Higashida’s revelatory descriptions of his autism, written when he was just 13, with intimate… Continue reading The Reason I Jump