My Top Film Festivals Movies for 1988... (in list order of my choice)
In competition at Cannes, Venice and Berlin. A diverse range of powerful movies as usual, with the Palme d'Or going to Pelle the Conqueror, which I still have to view. In list order...
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19 titles
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiStarsMiroslaw BakaKrzysztof GlobiszJan TesarzA soon-to-be lawyer crosses his path with a taxi driver and a young sinister man.4. Art in the killing... (Cannes)
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsCherNicolas CageOlympia DukakisLoretta Castorini, a bookkeeper from Brooklyn, New York, finds herself in a difficult situation when she falls for the brother of the man she has agreed to marry.8. A real entertaining treat... (Berlin)
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsGong LiWen JiangRujun TengWhen a leprous winery owner in 1930s China dies a few days after his arranged marriage, his young widow is forced to run the winery to make a living while contending with bandits, her drunkard lover, and the invading Japanese army.9. A visual treat... (Berlin)
- DirectorAlex CoxStarsEd HarrisRichard MasurRene AuberjonoisAn unconventional retelling of the life of William Walker, a 19th century American mercenary leader who became the president of Nicaragua.10. Madness of all sorts... (Berlin)
- DirectorJames L. BrooksStarsWilliam HurtAlbert BrooksHolly HunterTake two rival television reporters: one handsome, one talented, both male. Add one producer, female. Mix well, and watch the sparks fly.15. The J.L. Brooks magic starts here... (Berlin)
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsForest WhitakerDiane VenoraMichael ZelnikerThe troubled life and career of jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker.20. Eastwood takes Parker out for a ride... (Cannes)
- DirectorAleksandr AskoldovStarsNonna MordyukovaRolan BykovRaisa NedashkovskayaKlavdia Vavilova, a Red Army cavalry commissar, is waylaid by an unexpected pregnancy. She stays with a Jewish family to give birth and is softened somewhat by the experience of family life.20. Released twenty years later from ban, and still powerful... (Berlin)
- DirectorPaul SchraderStarsNatasha RichardsonWilliam ForsytheVing RhamesIn the 1970s, Patricia Hearst is abducted by American revolutionaries, but eventually joins their cause instead.27. Schrader's mess is still fascinating... (Cannes)
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsJane BirkinMathieu DemyCharlotte GainsbourgMary-Jane, a lonely mother in her forties, gets absorbed in a sentimental affair with a 14-year-old boy.30. Varda masterfully portrays a forbidden love without going over-the-top... (Berlin)
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsCarmen MauraAntonio BanderasJulieta SerranoA television actress encounters a variety of eccentric characters after embarking on a journey to discover why her lover abruptly left her.44. Almodovar getting ready for the big ones... (Venice)
- DirectorPeter GreenawayStarsBernard HillJoan PlowrightJuliet StevensonThree generations of women share the same problem--marriage woes--and want to put an end to it.49. The wonderful ways of Greenaway... (Cannes)
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsIsaach De BankoléGiulia BoschiFrançois CluzetA French woman returns to her childhood home in Cameroon - formerly a colonial outpost - where she's flooded by memories, particularly of Protée, her servant.55. Childhood memories of an interesting time in a foreign country... (Cannes)
- DirectorDavid MametStarsDon AmecheJoe MantegnaRobert ProskyShoe-shiner Gino is hired to take the rap for a mafia murder. Two-bit gangster Jerry watches over Gino and gives him a weekend to remember.58. David Mamet is saved by the two leading stars... (Venice)
- DirectorKaige ChenStarsYuan XieXuewen YangShaohua ChenThis film is adapted from the novel of Ah Cheng. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), a young man is assigned to teach in village school.69. Another Chen Kaige visual odyssey... (Cannes)
- DirectorFernando E. SolanasStarsSusú PecoraroMiguel Ángel SoláPhilippe LéotardThe movie starts while Floreal, the main protagonist, was being released from the prison when the military coup ended in 1983. He is estranged to his former life because of his last few years in prison and especially discovering his wife has cheated on him soured their relation. He is not sure if he wants to go back to his old life and family. Wandering through the night his old friend "El-Negro" appears in the dark. He announces that he was assassinated during the military coup and he is a dead man now. But he has a special mission this night and he is back for this special occasion: To help Floreal catch up fast and face with his life and his time in prison. El-Negro helps him to watch through the important events happened in his absence. He confronts some people of importance to him as he wanders around through the night while his wife is waiting for him anxiously thinking he might never come back. During the long night El-Negro helps him to get past with his anger, makes him to understand the difficulties in such a controversial time and how military coup crushes people's lives and even killing a some of them relentlessly. Finally during the dawn, El-Negro announces that he is ready to go on with his life now and he must be back. Floreal figures that he must be strong and continue his life where he left off like his coup stricken country.71. Important political issues of a country going through changes... (Cannes)
- DirectorBruce MylesMichael PattinsonStarsColin FrielsJack ThompsonDonald PleasenceA second generation cameraman in Australia finds evidence that his father had filmed a nuclear test that allowed aboriginies to be exposed to and killed by radiation. He begins a search for a secret that if true, his government has already killed people to keep quiet.An interesting Aussie political view that was lost in the thriller genre... (Berlin)
- DirectorVincent WardStarsBruce LyonsChris HaywoodHamish GoughMen seeking relief from the Black Death, guided by a boy's vision, dig a tunnel from 14th century England to 20th century New Zealand.80. A real bizarre odyssey... (Cannes)
- DirectorChris MengesStarsBarbara HersheyDavid SuchetJodhi May1963. Thirteen year old Molly Roth, the eldest of three offspring of Gus and Diana Roth, lives a carefree life as part of the affluent white minority in South Africa. Race is a non-issue for her as although, under apartheid, the Roths largely exist among other white people like them, she feels equally comfortable around the black people in her life, such as their servants and her parents' black friends. Beyond knowing that they are busy in their work, Molly is unaware of the full extent of what her parents do, Gus a leading member of the South African Communist Party and Ruth an anti-apartheid journalist who also secretly works for the underground in support of the outlawed African National Congress. Shortly after Gus quietly escapes the country to evade probable arrest by the government - Molly believing it just a short work related trip - Molly's carefree life starts to unravel when Diana is detained for ninety days under a new law that allows such detention without ever even being charged with a criminal offense. The goal of Diana's interrogators, led by Inspector Muller, is to get her to divulge details especially of the underground, most specifically proverbial "names". Beyond missing her mother, Molly begins to resent the anti-apartheid work which has directly and indirectly impacted her life in a negative way, she wanting a mother, not an activist-mother. As the situation with Diana evolves, which includes someone needing to act as caregivers to Molly and her younger sisters while Diana is in detention, Molly gets a broader perspective of her situation under apartheid as she is able to see more of life just outside her protected white enclave, and as she is made aware of what Diana is trying to achieve for society in her work.86. A worth while anti-Apartheid drama... (Cannes)
- DirectorMargarethe von TrottaStarsFanny ArdantGreta ScacchiValeria GolinoRoberto and his three sisters don't know what to do with their lives.Trotta's look at sisterly-love... (Cannes)