Shanghai Triad
Shanghai Triad 1995, R, 109 min. Directed by Zhang Yimou, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Gong Li, Wang Xiao Xiao, Li Baotian, Li Xuejian, Shun Chun. Blessed with a cinematic sensibility that appears only every so often — Coppola, Scorsese, Almodovar, and Tarantino come to mind, to name just some of the relatively…
The Convent
The Convent 1995, NR, 90 min. Directed by Manoel de Oliveira, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Catherine Deneuve, John Malkovich, Luis Miguel Cintra, Leonor Silveira, Duarte D’Almeida, Heloisa Miranda. The Convent is the first international venture by the 87-year-old Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira (Valley of Abraham), whose film career stretches back to…
Up Close and Personal
Up Close and Personal 1996, PG-13, 124 min. Directed by Jon Avnet, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Robert Redford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stockard Channing, Joe Mantegna, Kate Nelligan, Glenn Plummer, James Rebhorn. Why was it that every time I saw the trailer for Up Close and Personal, I felt that I ought to be…
Before and After
Before and After 1996, PG-13, 108 min. Directed by Barbet Schroeder, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson, Edward Furlong, Julia Weldon, Alfred Molina, John Heard, Ann Magnuson. Before and After is ostensibly about that precise moment when a person’s life changes forever, that immutable point of no return. What the…
The City of Lost Children
This follow-up from the same Frenchmen who made Delicatessen fancies itself a fairy tale – albeit a dark and scary one that’s jam-packed with enough strange characters and wild mythologies for at least three movies.
Mary Reilly
Mary Reilly 1996, R, 108 min. Directed by Stephen Frears, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Julia Roberts, John Malkovich, George Cole, Michael Gambon, Kathy Staff, Glenn Close. A gothic little slip of a film, beautiful to behold but with less substance than the shadowy tendrils of fog that blanket nearly every scene. Frears…
