The Best Years of Our Lives: 1999

It's been a while since I highlighted an excellent year in film and now seems like a good time for it after a rather disappointing year at the movies in 2009. This time I'll be looking at 1999, a particularly rich cinematic year, though you might not know it from the nominees for Best Picture:

American Beauty: a film that I like but that I have a few issues with

The Cider House Rules: a decent movie, exactly the kind of middle of the road picture that the Academy tends to favour

The Green Mile: a movie that didn't leave much of an impression on me, but that a lot of other people seem to love

The Insider: Russell Crowe's breakthrough film which, I must confess, I have never gotten around to seeing

The Sixth Sense: the populist choice, a film that doesn't quite hold up ten years later - though, in fairness, that's due largely to the number of times it's been parodied and riffed on since its release.

None of these are bad movies (I'm making an assumption about The Insider, of course), but when you consider some of the absolutely extraordinary work that came out in 1999, it's hard not to think of the Academy's picks as a watered down version of the year's best. Some of the other films that came out that year:




Being John Malkovich: a personal favourite of mine and the film that really announced Charlie Kaufman as a writer (and now director) to watch out for. Not content to rest on the laurels of a mind bending, cleverly written screenplay, the film also boasts several great performances, including one from John Malkovich himself, who proves to be a really good sport.

Boys Don't Cry: Kimberley Pierce's brutal but also sensitive depiction of the life and death of Brandon Teena made a star of Hilary Swank and solidified Chloe Sevigny's place as an indie It Girl. It's a terrific, haunting film.

Dogma: Kevin Smith's best film. He's fond of saying that his work is built on a foundation of "dick and fart jokes," but this one proves that he runs a lot deeper intellectually. In his tale of fallen angels, he manages to be subversive and challenging without ever forgetting to be funny.

Fight Club: David Fincher's robust meditation on manhood in the 20th century sparked a lot of controversy when it first came out but has stood the test of time. It features one of Brad Pitt's most interesting performances and is arguably Fincher's best work to date.

Magnolia: A friend once described this movie as "all climax" and I can think of no better way to characterize it. Paul Thomas Anderson's follow-up to Boogie Nights is a whirlwind of a movie with energy to spare. It will leave you breathless.

Office Space: Has any film ever more accurately captured the spirit (if not necessarily the reality) of working in an office? It's one of the best comedies to come out of the 90s.

Sweet and Lowdown: Ever since the early 90s, Woody Allen has been notoriously hit and miss. This film, featuring Oscar nominated performances from Sean Penn and Samantha Morton, is most definitely a hit and I count it as one of my favourite Allen flicks.

Three Kings: A great film about one of the least cinematically depicted wars of the 20th Century (the first Gulf War). Its exploration of wartime morality still resonates deeply today and the fact that it received absolutely no love from the Academy (not even for its truly great editing) underscores how off the ball they were that year.

Titus: I had to see this one a couple of times before I was really able to get a handle on its strange beauty. Julie Taymor's take on Shakespeare's play is a visual masterpiece.

The War Zone: A very dark and underrated film directed by Tim Roth. Its story of a family trying to keep its secrets suppressed nearly reaches the proportions of Greek Tragedy.

Internationally:
Foreign films released in 1999 were also particularly good and include:

All About My Mother: Pedro Almodovar's love letter to women, which took home the prize for Best Foreign Langauge Film and helped launch Penelope Cruz's stateside career.

Audition: I've actually never been able to make it all the way to the end of this film. Some day, however, I hope to work myself up to it because I truly admire what Takashi Miike accomplishes in the parts that I've seen.

Romance: Catherine Breillat's notorious, boundary pushing film is one of my favourites ever, let alone of 1999. It's a challenging and occassionally hard to watch movie, but also completely unforgettable.

Run, Lola, Run: Perhaps the only film from 1999 that's more high-energy than Magnolia. Tom Tykwer's three times a charm story is still highly watchable and enjoyable today.

Other Notable Films:
Dick: Frank Langella got an Oscar nomination last year for his portrayal of Richard Nixon, but for my money Dan Hedaya will always be the definitive Tricky Dick. This hilarious and criminally underseen movie about uncoding the secrets of Watergate is a smart and sharp comedy.

Eyes Wide Shut: The great Stanley Kubrick's last film is perhaps more notable for the behind the scenes story than for its actual content. It's an uneven film, but also intriguing.

Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace: For a certain segment of Star Wars fans, the release of this movie was the best thing ever. For others, it was the worst. A bloated and racially problematic film, it nevertheless grossed about a kagillion dollars.

The Talented Mr. Ripley: An underrated movie, if you ask me. Based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith, this exploration of the shifting possibilities of identity is engaging and engrossing.

So, what's your favourite film from 1999 - and have I left anything out?

The Best Years of Our Lives: 1939

By and large film historians and cinephiles seem to agree that 1939 is not simply a great year in film but the great year in film. Looking over the roster of films released that year, it’s difficult to argue with that logic:



Gone With The Wind: The highest grossing film of its time, an Oscar juggernaut, and a bona fide classic despite its problematic treatment of race. It hasn’t aged quite as well as some of the other films of that year – it is one of the most poorly paced great films I can think of – but its main characters are timeless. Scarlett O’Hara is one of the greatest female characters in fiction and Vivien Leigh’s portrayal of her one of the best in film history.

The Wizard of Oz: A beloved classic for people of all ages. Its production history is as storied as that of Gone with the Wind - both films are credited as being directed by Victor Flemming, though both had other directors doing early legwork - and it has proved to be as enduring, if not more so.



Ninotchka: Garbo laughs! My personal favourite of all Garbo’s films, it’s a great comedy of manners, clashing cultures, and an interesting look at Hollywood’s treatment of Communism prior to the Red scare that would follow WWII. The only bad thing about this film is that it’s the only good comedy Garbo ever made (the less said about Two-Faced Woman the better), as she proves to have great aptitude for the genre.

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington: I’m a bit of a cynic, but even I get a little choked up during the filibuster sequence as the once wide-eyed innocent Jefferson Smith fights for the integrity of the American political system. After 70 years, it hasn’t lost any of its power or charm.



The Women: Okay, so the remake proved to be pretty lame but the original certainly has a pretty loyal fanbase – personally I don’t think it’s all that but it definitely has its moments and it provides a showcase for many of the best actresses of the era.

Stagecoach: John Ford and John Wayne are the classic American western and Stagecoach marks the first of their many collaborations and the first film Ford would make in Monument Valley.



Wuthering Heights: The classic story from Emily Bronte has been made many times but this version starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon is the favourite for many. The twisted love of Heathcliff and Cathy was perfect for this duo, who apparently detested each other off-screen.

The Rules of the Game: Renoir’s film features a large canvass of characters whose lives and problems criss-cross and overlap, and inspired one of the great American directors. In Robert Altman’s own words: “I learned the rules of the game from The Rules of the Game.”




Gunga Din: Granted, the film is probably guilty of a fair bit of exoticization, but how wrong can you possibly go with an adventure story starring the incomparable Cary Grant and based on the word of Rudyard Kipling?

Goodbye Mr. Chips: Robert Donat won the Oscar for his role as a beloved teacher Mr. Chips. The film itself has inspired multiple remakes, proving that there’s just something about this story that makes it worth telling over and over again.

The Best Years of Our Lives: 1960

The year 1960 falls during a period of transition in American film, coming along as the studio system was on its last legs and before the MPAA replaced the Hays Code, allowing for bolder narratives from rising auteur filmmakers. It’s a great year for film and produced a number of enduring classics, made both in America and abroad:


For starters, there’s The Apartment, Billy Wilder’s ode to the lonely that would go on to be crowned Best Picture by AMPAS.

Psycho, one of Hitchcock’s very best (and that’s a very long list indeed).

The Magnificent Seven, John Sturges’ retelling of Seven Samurai and the film which made Steve McQueen a genuine star.


Inherit The Wind, a personal favourite of mine and a showcase for top notch performances by Spencer Tracy and Frederic March.

Spartacus, written by Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten. A blacklisted screenwriter, Trumbo worked on the film under a pseudonym, but the film’s star Kirk Douglas would later reveal his involvement, kick-starting the beginning of the end of the blacklist period.

The Misfits, a film released in 1961 but made in 1960 and which has the distinction of being the last appearance of two bigger than life stars: Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe

Coming from the other side of the Atlantic:

Peeping Tom, the controversial horror thriller from Michael Powell that was initially lambasted by critics but has since been championed by Martin Scorsese and Roger Ebert, amongst others.

L’avventura Michelangelo Antonioni’s incredibly influential masterpiece.


Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard’s French new wave tour de force.

Two Women, which won Sophia Loren an Oscar as Best Actress, the first time a woman had won the award for a non-english speaking role.

La Dolce Vita from the master Federico Fellini.

The Virgin Spring from that other master, Ingmar Bergman

The Best Years of Our Lives: 1927

1927 is a film year I’ve found myself especially interested in lately, partly because I’m still in the process of discovering it, and partly because it’s generally a landmark year for films. 1927 is the year that The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded and also the year of The Jazz Singer, the film that made talking pictures the rule rather than the exception. Although studios would continue to produce silent films for a few more years, sound quickly came to dominate and the popularity of the new format sealed the fate of the old one. 1927 was the last great year for silent films and a great year in film full stop, with many enduring classics being produced and released:


Sunrise: My favourite film from 1927 and one of my favourites of all time. F.W. Murnau's graceful masterpiece won a special Oscar as Best Unique and Artistic Production.


Metropolis: Fritz Lang's seminal science fiction film continues to influence films even 70 years after its release. Echoes of Metropolis can be heard in Frankenstein, Blade Runner, and Star Wars amongst others.


It: Over the decades Hollywood has crowned a number of "It Girl"s with varying levels of success, but Clara Bow was the very first, so named for her role in this film. Unfortunately for her she was also one of the many actors who wasn't successful in making the transition from silents to sound.


The General: Buster Keaton was a master and made a number of great films, but I think this one might be his most perfect. Well crafted in every respect, this is a movie that I can watch over and over again.


Wings: The first Best Picture winner is a sweeping World War I epic that has it all: action, romance, tragedy, and a star making appearance by Gary Cooper in a small role.


Napoleon: Abel Gance's staggering epic about the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. Employed some technical innovations, particularly in its use of handheld cameras.


October: An epic about the 1917 October Revolution, this film by Sergei Eisenstein had the unenviable task of following up his masterpiece Battleship Potemkin.

As if all that wasn't enough, 1927 is also the year in which the great Barbara Stanwyck made her film debut in Broadway Nights.

The Best Years of Our Lives: 1982

This is the first entry in what I hope to make a semi-regular series where I’ll look at some of the best years for movies and talk about why I think they're so great. After considering the options for a while, I decided to start with 1982, a year which has particular significance for me because it’s the year that I was born and also the year that one of my favourite movies, E.T. was released.

But that's not all 1982 has going for it:



As I said, this is the year of E.T., which would go on to become the highest grossing film of the year and one of the top grossing films of all time. Rounding out the top 3 in terms of box office were Tootsie, a comedy classic, and An Officer and a Gentleman, a romantic classic with an iconic and much parodied ending. As an aside, looking over the year's box office top ten, it's funny to think that the #10 film - Annie - came in at $57 million domestically, a number which would only be considered so-so at best today. To put this in proper perspective, the #10 grossing film of 2007 - 300 - ended up with $210 million domestically.


On the science fiction front, 1982 is the year of The Wrath of Khan, considered by some to be the best of the Star Trek movies, Poltergeist, Blade Runner and Tron which, while not much of success in terms of either box office or critical reception, has become a cult classic and proven to be a highly influential film in its technical and visual aspects.


Although 2005 was lauded as being the year of mainstream GLBTQ representation in Hollywood with Oscar nominations going to Brokeback Mountain, Capote and Transamerica, 1982 saw the release of two landmark mainstream films featuring gay characters: Making Love and Personal Best. Plus, there was also the Julie Andrews starring tranny musical Victor/Victoria.

Other notable films from 1982:
Fast Times At Ridgemont High, a high water mark in the genre of teen comedies and one of the only movies to feature Sean Penn as an entirely likeable character;
Sophie’s Choice, the second film to net Meryl Streep an Oscar;
First Blood, which marks Sylvester Stallone’s first appearance as John Rambo;
Pink Floyd The Wall;
The World According To Garp;
Querelle, the last film of the great Rainer Werner Fassbinder;
Fanny and Alexander;
The Return of Martin Guerre, which was later remade as the dreadful Sommersby, starring Richard Gere and Jodie Foster;
My Favorite Year;
and a film that can make all Canadians proud: the Canadian-produced Porky’s, which was the highest grossing Canadian film in Canada until 2006, when it was displaced by Bon Cop, Bad Cop.

Looking at things taking place behind the scenes, 1982 is the year that the THX sound system is developed for theatres, and also the year in which child-labour and safety laws are reformed following an accident on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie which led to the deaths of Vic Morrow and two child actors.

So what's your favourite movie from 1982?