1990 Poll 2.0

[greennui]

Pick your favourite movies of 1990 (according to IMDB), up to 20 films.

20-film ballots must be ranked as follows (with point totals assigned):
Five tiers 5-4-3-2-1
Four tiers 4.5-3.5-2.5-1.5
Three tiers 5-3-1
Two tiers 4-2
One tier (aka unranked) 3

Ballot totals that aren't divisible by the number of tiers must be unranked. So 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19 film ballots are unranked.

[greennui]

The Guardian Angel 1990 Skyddsängeln Directed by Suzanne Osten
Singapore Sling 1990 Singapore Sling: Ο άνθρωπος που αγάπησε ένα πτώμα Directed by Nikos Nikolaidis
Life Is Sweet 1990 Directed by Mike Leigh
Bumming in Beijing: The Last Dreamers 1990 流浪北京 Directed by Wu Wenguang
A Spy in the House That Ruth Built 1990 Directed by Vanalyne Green
Zoo Piece 1990 Directed by Chris Marker
New York Portrait, Chapter III 1990 Directed by Peter Hutton
Siddheshwari 1990 सिद्धेश्वरी Directed by Mani Kaul
King of New York 1990 Directed by Abel Ferrara
Days of Being Wild 1990 阿飛正傳 Directed by Wong Kar-wai

Boiling Point 1990 ３－４Ｘ１０月 Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Close-Up 1990 کلوزآپ ، نمای نزدیک Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
House of Cards 1990 Directed by Paul Seed
All the Vermeers in New York 1990 Directed by Jon Jost
The Exorcist III 1990 Directed by William Peter Blatty
Cry-Baby 1990 Directed by John Waters
A Tale of Springtime 1990 Conte de printemps Directed by Éric Rohmer
The Mind’s Eye 1990 Directed by Jan Nickman
I Hired a Contract Killer 1990 Directed by Aki Kaurismäki
Die Hard 2 1990 Directed by Renny Harlin

[rischka]

close-up
trust
life is sweet
twilight
paris is burning
swordsman
to sleep with anger
siddheshwari
metropolitan
goodfellas

[Monsieur Arkadin]

Trust - Hal Hartley
Comfort of Strangers - Paul Schrader
Boiling Point - Takeshi Kitano
Wild At Heart - David Lynch
Bride of Re-Animator - Brian Yuzna

The Match Factory Girl - Aki Kaurasmaki
Metropolitan - Whit Stillman
Tremors - Ron Underwood
King of New York - Abel Ferrara
Introduction to the End of an Argument - Elia Suleiman, Joyce Salloum

Jacob's Ladder - Adrian Lyne
Miller's Crossing - Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
I Hired A Contract Killer - Aki Kaurismaki
To Sleep With Anger - Charles Burnett
Total Recall - Paul Verhoeven

[Silga]

[provisional list deleted]

[Lencho of the Apes]

Hey, I've come up with a prelim. list I'm actually satisfied by... for once.

The Garden - Jarman
The Golden Boat - Ruiz
Paris Is Burning - Livingston
Red Dawn - Fons
Swan Lake: The Zone - Ilyenko

Close-Up - Kiarostami
Disha - Paranjape
King Of New York - Ferrara
The Rainbow Thief - Jodorowski (Yeah, I hate him too, but this was decent!)
Yo, La Peor De Todas - Maria Luisa Bemberg

Furia Asesina - Rene Cardona Jr
Halfaouine, Boy Of The Terraces - Boughedir (I wish I wasn't so juyvenile that I think of the title/character as "Half a weenie.")
I Hired A Contract Killer - Kaurismaaki
The Law - Ouedraogo
Vojtech, Called The Orphan - Tyc

Agneepath - Anand
Ju Dou - Zhang Yimou
Mo Betta Blues - Lee
No Or The Vainglory Of Command - de Oliveira
Return To Aztlan - J. Mora Catlett

[flip]

it used to be that Nostos: Il Ritorno was a 1990 film on imdb, but it isn't now, so i won't vote for it... i clearly need to watch a few things from other lists, because i haven't seen a lot of great films from this year yet

Passion (Jurgen Reble)
Freeze, Die, Come to Life (Vitali Kanevski)
Life is Sweet (Mike Leigh)
Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami)

Hidden Agenda (Ken Loach)
By Dawn's Early Light (Jack Sholder)
Tilai (Idrissa Ouedraogo)
Judgment (Tom Topor)

An Angel at my Table (Jane Campion)
The Comfort of Strangers (Paul Schrader)
Conte de Printemps (Eric Rohmer)
Echoes from a Somber Empire (Werner Herzog)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Tom Stoppard)
Slacker (Richard Linklater)
Mohajer (Ebrahim Hatamika)
Cyrano de Bergerac (Jean-Paul Rappeneau)

Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women (Michael Lindsay-Hogg)
I, the Worst of All (Maria Luisa Bemberg)
Singapore Sling (Nikos Nikolaidis)
Ultraman Q: The Movie (Akio Jissoji)

[Pretentious Hipster]

Unranked

Metropolitan - Whit Stillman
Hard to Die - Jim Wynorski
King of New York - Abel Ferrara
Szürkület [Twilight] - György Fehér
Tilaï [The Law] - Idrissa Ouédraogo
Лебедине озеро. Зона [Swan Lake: The Zone] - Yuri Illienko
सिद्धेश्वरी [Siddheshwari] - Mani Kaul
All the Vermeers in New York - Jon Jost
Cry-Baby - John Waters
I Hired a Contract Killer - Aki Kaurismäki
In the Cold of the Night - Nico Mastorakis
Miller's Crossing - Joel Coen
Spontaneous Combustion - Tobe Hooper
Круг второй [The Second Circle] - Alexander Sokurov
Последний сон Анатолия Васильевича [The Last Dream of Anatoly Vasilievich] - Vladimir Kobrin
Close-Up - Abbas Kiarostami
नज़र [The Gaze] - Mani Kaul
夢 [Dreams] - Akira Kurosawa
菊豆 [Ju Dou] - Zhang Yimou
Total Recall - Paul Verhoeven

[karl]

This is not an uninteresting year, a lot of great movies (if no outstanding masterpiece), but I despise Goodfellas and Wild at Heart and most other films of their directors.

Would at present have to whittle 20 down from this bunch:

Freeze, Die, Come to Life (Kanevsky)
Close Up (Kiarostami)
Open Doors (Amelio)
Siddheshwari (Kaul)
The Walls (Gopalakrishnan)
The Branches of the Tree (Ray)
Five Girls and a Rope (Yeh)
Ju Dou (Zhang)
Black Snow (Xie)
Mankurt (Kuli Narliyev)
Black Republic (Park)
No, or the Vainglory of Command (Olivera)
Korczak (Wajda)
Dances with Wolves (Director's Cut) (Costner)
To Sleep with Anger (Burnett)
Yearning (Dovlatyan)
Trust (Hartley)
The Law (Ouedraogo)
Mister Johnson (Beresford)
Song of Chao Praya (Yukol)
Mother (Panfilov)
Miller's Crossing (Coen)
Escape from the "Liberty" Cinema (Marczewski)
Halfaouine (Boughedir)
Life Is Sweet (Leigh)
Passport (Daneliya)
Vincent & Theo (Altman)
Europa, Europa (Holland)
Homeland (Podnieks) - a moving doc on the Latvian struggle for independence from the empire, on Youtube here:

[ofrene]

starts from here

Close-Up
GoodFellas
No, or the Vain Glory of Command
Tokyo Heaven
White Hunter, Black Heart

An Angel at My Table
Days of Being Wild
King of New York
Miller’s Crossing
Twilight

How to Live in the German Federal Republic
Nouvelle Vague
The Match Factory Girl
To Sleep with Anger
Total Recall

[St. Gloede]

My list:

Goodfellas (1990, Martin Scorsese)
Ucho / The Ear (1970-1990, Karel Kachyna)
Das schreckliche Mädchen / The Nasty Girl (1990, Michael Verhoeven)
Nema-ye Nazdik / Close Up (1990, Abbas Kiarostami)

Jacob's Ladder (1990, Adrian Lyne)
Privilege (1990, Yvonne Rainer)
Lebedyne ozero. Zona / Swan Lake - The Zone (1990, Yuri Ilyenko)
Daddy Nostalgie (1990, Bertrand Tavernier)

Trust (1990, Hal Hartley)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1990, Tom Stoppard)
Oblako-ray / Cloud Heaven (1990, Nikolay Dostal)
Europa Europa (1990, Agnieszka Holland)

Pont de Varsòvia / Warsaw Bridge (1990, Pere Portabella)
Tilaï / The Law (1990, Idrissa Ouedraogo)
Paris Is Burning (1990, Jennie Livingston)
Metropolitan (1990, Whit Stillman)

S'en fout la mort / No Fear, No Die (1990, Claire Denis)
¡Ay, Carmela! (1990, Carlos Saura)
Conte de printemps / A Tale of Springtime (1990, Éric Rohmer)
The Field (1990, Jim Sheridan)

Honourable mentions:

Shakha Proshakha / Branches of the Tree (1990, Satyajit Ray)
The Godfather: Part III (1990, Francis Ford Coppola)
Days of Being Wild (1990, Kar-Wai Wong)
Le château de ma mère / My Mother's Castle (1990, Yves Robert)
Milou en mai / May Fools (1990, Louis Malle)
Edward Scissorhands (1990, Tim Burton)
Ben ming nian / Black Snow (1990, Fei Xie)
Siddeshwari (1990, Mani Kaul)
The Grifters (1990, Stephen Frears)
Tatie Danielle (1990, Étienne Chatiliez)
Cyrano de Bergerac (1990, Jean-Paul Rappeneau)

Magyar rekviem / Hungarian Requiem (1990, Károly Makk)
Quick Change (1990, Howard Franklin & Bill Murray)
King of New York (1990, Abel Ferrara)
Dances With Wolves (1990, Kevin Costner)
Total Recall (1990, Paul Verhoeven)
Archangel (1990, Guy Maddin)
Sink or Swim (1990, Su Friedrich)
Dreams (1990, Akira Kurosawa)
Le mari de la coiffeuse / The Hairdresser's Husband (1990, Patrice Leconte)
La gloire de mon père / My Father's Glory (1990, Yves Robert)
Wild at Heart (1990, David Lynch)

[rischka]

gonna watch godfather coda: the death of michael corleone previously known as godfather 3

[wba]

Final List

Films seen: 90+

5 tiers

Le petit criminel "The Little Gangster" (Jacques Doillon, France)
Pretty Woman (Garry Marshall, USA)
Narrow Margin (Peter Hyams, USA)
Umetni raj "Artificial Paradise" (Karpo Godina, Yugoslavia)

Dances with Wolves (Kevin Costner, USA/UK)
Back to the Future Part III (Robert Zemeckis, USA)
Nema-ye nazdik "Close-Up" (Abbas Kiarostami, Iran)
Lambada (Joel Silberg, USA)

Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö "The Match Factory Girl" (Aki Kaurismäki, Finland/Sweden)
Internal Affairs (Mike Figgis, USA/Canada)
Ah fei jing juen "Days of Being Wild" (Kar-Wai Wong, Hong Kong)
Yume "Dreams" (Akira Kurosawa, Japan/USA)

The Russia House (Fred Schepisi, USA)
Ke tu qiu hen "Song of the Exile" (Ann Hui, Hong Kong/Taiwan)
Quick Change (Howard Franklin/Bill Murray, USA)
Wild at Heart (David Lynch, USA)

Captain America (Albert Pyun, USA)
Blue Steel (Kathryn Bigelow, USA)
3-4 x jûgatsu "Boiling Point" (Takeshi Kitano, Japan)
The Phantom of the Opera (Tony Richardson, USA/France/Italy/Germany)


Honourable mentions:

I Hired a Contract Killer (Aki Kaurismäki, Finland/Germany/Sweden/France/UK)
Die Hard 2 (Renny Harlin, USA)
Archangel (Guy Maddin, Canada)
Home Alone (Chris Columbus, USA)
Mountains of the Moon (Bob Rafelson, USA)
Total Recall (Paul Verhoeven, USA/Mexico)
High Finance Woman (Joe D'Amato, Italy)
Hidden Agenda (Ken Loach, UK)
Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, USA)
Predator 2 (Stephen Hopkins, USA)
Mermaids (Richard Benjamin, USA)
Darkman (Sam Raimi, USA)
Quigley Down Under (Simon Wincer, USA)
The Reflecting Skin (Philip Ridley, UK/Canada)
Docteur Petiot "Dr. Petiot" (Christian de Chalonge, France)
Europa Europa (Agnieszka Holland, Germany/France/Poland)
...

[rischka]

Чёрная роза — эмблема печали, красная роза — эмблема любви

black rose is an emblem of sorrow, red rose is an emblem of love d. sergey solovyov

















strange colorful nightmare of the break up of the soviet union. i liked a lot of it if not as much as other films i've seen by this director. probably some lost cultural references but the rattled feeling is certainly familiar

[aimo]

unlike in most other sources Metropolitan is listed on IMDB for 1989

[rischka]

song of the exile (ann hui) - very good semi-autobiographical journey with young maggie cheung



surprised this isn't available in better quality. burnt in english and cantonese subs

this reminded me a good bit of duo sang (1994) and i see now that wu nien-jen wrote the script. so that explains that!

[wba]

Such a wonderful movie!
More films by Ann Hui definitely need the HD treatment.

[rischka]

ok i loved this bizarre swedish movie. why does it make me think of teorema directed by bergman

really quite lovely. and also strange. Skyddsängeln/the guardian angel d. suzanne osten

THX RASMUS. to whom it may concern: there are hot naked guys in this

based on a novel by ricarda huch! i should watch teorema before throwing it's name around

[rischka]

the fun, the luck and the tycoon is a very silly film but i couldn't help enjoying it and the adorable couple of sylvia chang and chow yun-fat

the richest man in hong kong is bored and so leaves his mansion behind to take a regular job and meet the girl of his dreams

chow yun-fat impresses me with how well he glides through ridiculous set ups like this and god of gamblers

oh forgot to mention -- this was johnnie to's second feature! loosely based on 'coming to america'

[greennui]

The Huch novel is from 1910 so maybe it's the OG Teorema and served as an inspiration to Pasolini...or maybe not.

Bergman and Osten actually didn't see eye to eye and when the film was nominated for a lot of categories at the European Film Awards, Bergman was the jury president and was critical of it, especially for the use of handheld camera in some scenes...she credits him for much of the film's lack of success.

[rischka]

i did subsequently watch teorema and there are definite similarities

perhaps bergman was a chauvinist who thought women should be in front of the camera and not behind it

[nrh]

bergman's relationship to women was far too bizarre to read a simple chauvinism, this was the period where liv ullmann directed two of his scripts for example

i love fun the luck & the tycoon, very beautiful movie, but it would be closer to johnnie to's 7th movie, if you're not counting all of his tv productions.

[rischka]

i love fun the luck & the tycoon, very beautiful movie, but it would be closer to johnnie to's 7th movie, if you're not counting all of his tv productions.

yeah i see you're right about this! i took the word of some letterboxd review instead of doing my own research (looking at imdb) my bad!

i have more to watch - including tokyo heaven, black snow and all the vermeers in new york

just trying to distract myself from the ongoing disaster

[greennui]

Osten was a noted left wing feminist and pioneer in developing theater for children, that probably played a big part in it.

Roy Andersson on Bergman: "He was not a nice person. He was a so-called inspector of the film school that I attended, and each term we were called and we had to go to his office and he gave some advice, or even some threats, and he said, ‘If you don’t stop making left wing movie…’ because a lot of the students were left wing at the time, Vietnam and so on… “if you continue with that you will never have the possibility to make features. I will influence the board to stop you.”

[oOgiandujaOo]

King of New York (Abel Ferrara)
Il sole anche di notte / Night Sun (Paolo & Vittorio Taviani)
After Dark, My Sweet (James Foley)
阿飛正傳 / Ah fei zing zyun / Days of Being Wild (Kar-wai Wong)
Pont de Varsòvia / Warsaw Bridge (Pere Portabella)
Miller's Crossing (Joel and Ethan Coen)

Szürkület / Twilight (György Fehér)
Archangel (Guy Maddin)
The Sheltering Sky (Bernardo Bertolucci)
The Hot Spot (Dennis Hopper)
RoboCop 2 (Irvin Kershner)
Leben - BRD / How to live in the FRG (Harun Farocki)

[Angel]

Cyrano de Bergerac
Dip huet gai tau (Bullet in the Head)
Edward Scissorhands
Europa Europa
Gumapang ka sa lusak (Dirty Affair)
Hard to Kill
Havana
Ju Dou
Ke tu qiu hen (Song of the Exile)
La fracture du myocarde (Cross My Heart) -DtC nominee-
Misery
Mountains of the Moon
Pod severnym siyaniyem (Aurora Borealis)
Pretty Woman
Quigley Down Under
Reise der Hoffnung (Journey of Hope)
The Grifters
Tilaï (The Law)
Tremors
Uranus

[karl]

I've been watching some obscurer movies of the year, but this is the only one so far that I'd recommend:

[aimo]

Close-Up – Abbas Kiarostami
Hick’s Last Stand – Herbert Achternbusch
The Cherry Orchard – Shun Nakahara
Step Across the Border - Nicolas Humbert, Werner Penzel
Torment – Michael J. Murphy

King of New York - Abel Ferrara
Wild at Heart – David Lynch
A Moment of Romance – Benny Chan
To Sleep with Anger - Charles Burnett
The Sound of the Shaking Earth - Rita Azevedo Gomes

The Death King – Jörg Buttgereit
Days of Being Wild – Wong Kar-wai
Bullet in the Head – John Woo
Sink or Swim - Su Friedrich
The Match Factory Girl - Aki Kaurismäki

Paris Is Burning - Jennie Livingston
Shiva - Ram Gopal Varma
Farewell China - Clara Law
The Curse of Kazuo Umezu - Naoko Omi
How to Live in the German Federal Republic - Harun Farocki

[pabs]

Metropolitan (Stillman)
Comfort of Strangers (Schrader)
The Sheltering Sky (Bertolucci)
Paris is Burning (Livingston)
Close-Up (Kiarostami)


Ju Dou (Zhang)
Life is Sweet (Leigh)
An Angel at my Table (Campion)
Conte de printemps (Rohmer)
Daddy Nostalgie (Tavernier)

[karl]

There's no Whoa, Masterpiece! but I liked a number of films from this year.

Freeze, Die, Come to Life (Kanevsky)
Homeland (Podnieks)
Close Up (Kiarostami)
Open Doors (Amelio)

Siddheshwari (Kaul)
The Walls (Gopalakrishnan)
Five Girls and a Rope (Yeh)
Ju Dou (Zhang)

Black Snow (Xie)
Mankurt (Kuli Narliyev)
No, or the Vainglory of Command (Olivera)
Korczak (Wajda)

Black Republic (Park)
Yearning (Dovlatyan)
Trust (Hartley)
The Law (Ouedraogo)

The Dream (Bae)
The Branches of the Tree (Ray)
The Abnormal (Blawut)
To Sleep with Anger (Burnett)