THE WIND WILL CARRY US (1999, IRAN), ELECTION (1999)

1999

Ah, the last year of the twentieth century...*

The Wind Will Carry Us

Abbas Kiarostami certainly put out some memorable films during the 90's, including Close-Up and A Taste of Cherry. The Wind Will Carry Us is an intriguing addition to this list. What is it about exactly? I can't say I'm a hundred percent sure, but I know it is sort of about a journalist posing as an engineer wanting to film the death of an old woman who won't die and villagers who never seem to do the things our journalist wants them to do. We also have important characters we never see in the film at all! I also love the scenes (don't ask me why) when our hero gets a call in the village and has to get into his car and drive to higher ground only to generally to find it's just a wrong number.

Scott Foundas of Variety noted the filmmaker's "mission to capture something of real life without violating its essence." The struggle is real and Kiarostami was one of the best at capturing it.

Election

When looking to find another 1999 film to watch that I had never seen before I picked Alexander Payne's Election, because I had heard good things about it and I generally like Payne's films. It is also based on a story by Tom Perrota (The Abstinence Teacher), who I also like.

The film is a about a teacher named Jim McCallister (Mathew Broderick) whose star student Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) proves to be a big thorn in his side when she runs for student council president. The movie is most amusing and the plot hops around several interesting characters (including a fellow teacher who gets fired for having an affair with Tracy and his wife who later has an affair with McCallister.) A smart film and the multi-layered storyline kept me interested throughout. Reese Witherspoon is charismatic as the brilliant and over zealous Tracy and I like Broderick very much in the role of the teacher (Much better than his other 1999 film a few listings down.)

Here are some other films released in 1999 that I have seen at some point-

After Life
This is a Japanese film that I saw years ago based on a recommendation from a library patron. It is a deep film centering around a metaphysical weigh station between heaven and hell. It does try to explore some of the why questions of life. 

In fact, I'm sure why questions can be applied to other films I've seen from this year. I'll give it a shot!

Whys**

After Life

Analyze This
Why is the effectiveness of psychoanalysis such a polarizing issue in the health field?

Analyze This

Any Given Sunday
Why is professional football treated with such reverence in our society despite all the problems inherit within it?

Any Given Sunday

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Why do I still feel the need to periodically do impressions of Dr. Evil and Austin Powers all these years later?

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Big Daddy
Why are Adam Sandler movies so popular?

Big Daddy

Dogma
Why can't the Catholic Church take a joke?

Dogma

Galaxy Quest
Why do we form cults around our favorite TV show?

Galaxy Quest

Girl, Interrupted
Why doesn't society take better care of the mentally ill?

Girl, Interrupted

The Green Mile
Why can't all Stephen King adaptations be as good as The Green Mile?

The Green Mile

Inspector Gadget
Why did casting Matthew Broderick as Inspector Gadget ever seem like a good idea?

Inspector Gadget

Man on the Moon
Why did people get so mad at Andy Kaufmann when he was obviously just putting them on?

Man on the Moon

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Why rebuke you him that loves you so?

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The Mummy
Why can't all librarians depicted in movies be as appealing as Rachel Weisz in this one?

The Mummy

Muppets from Space
Why did my son have to watch this movie every night before he went to bed one summer?

Muppets from Space

Never Been Kissed
Why hasn't anyone kissed Drew Barrymore yet?

Never Been Kissed

Office Space
Why is this considered by some the greatest cult movie of all-time?

Office Space

Onegin
Why did someone recommend we read Eugene Onegin for my book group?

Onegin

Payback
Why did they remake the film Point Blank and take out the parts that made it special?

Payback

Runaway Bride
Why were there so many Julia Roberts romcoms during the 90's?

Runaway Bride

South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
Why did the censors not seem to be on the job during the Saddam/Satan sex scenes?

South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut

Star Wars: Episode I
Why did anyone ever think Jar Jar Binks was a good idea?

Star Wars: Episode I

Tarzan
Why does the Phil Collins song theme song always go running through my head if I ever think about this movie?

Tarzan

The Thomas Crown Affair
Why are we so intrigued by bored rich guys?

The Thomas Crown Affair

True Crime
Why is the efficacy of the death penalty still in question?

True Crime

The World is Not Enough
Why does James Bond endure?

The World is Not Enough

*You may or may not consider 1999 the last year of the twentieth century. Either way, I do recommend reading Questioning the Millennium by Stephen J. Gould

**For more whys, I highly recommend reading Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener by Martin Gardner

MOVIES FROM THE 1990'S (MONTH 4)

 MOVIES FROM THE 1990'S NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILMS 

Since I still had quite a few movies from the 90's left on my 1001 list, I decided to watch ten this month that I haven't seen and aren't in the mother tongue.

Open Your Eyes

If you like a movie that will keep you guessing, Open Your Eyes might make for a good nights viewing. The lead character is rich, handsome and about to embark on a relationship with the hopelessly beautiful Penelpe Cruz...until a disfiguring accident turns his world upside down. Or does it? What is actually happening here? What does it mean? It's worth finding out even if you've seen this film's remake, Vanilla Sky. I do prefer Open Your Eyes to Vanilla Sky overall, though the latter film manages to be pretty creative on its on.

Man Bites Dog

What are you doing to me, 1001 list? Man Bites Dog is a Belgian film that is a mock documentary featuring a serial killer who we go on his rounds with as he and his filmmakers provide narration as they are bumping people off! Very unpleasant to look at, but maybe the director wanted to show this guy in his environment being so matter of fact because he doesn't feel he is doing anything wrong. Did I mention this was unpleasant to look at?

Sombre

And yet another movie about a serial killer is Sombre, an odd little French film about a serial killer who kills mostly prostitutes but gets involved with one woman who actually develops an interest in him. A lot of the film is intentionally dark (as in it's hard to see what's going on on the screen) and is done with a hand held camera to give it more of a documentary feeling. But could someone please explain the ending?

Rosetta

Rosetta is the story of a poor teenage girl who lives with an alcoholic mom. The mom is also prostituting herself to make extra money. Rosetta's obsession is getting a job that will give her needed stability for her most unstable life. Rosetta's dealings with a young man who works at a waffle stand and her manipulations in the seeking of employment make up a lot of the drama of this simple but effective film.

A Taste of Cherry

I was sorry to hear about the recent death of Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, the director of Close-Up and Through the Olive Trees. The journey of the protagonist, Mr. Badii, of A Taste of Cherry, is a slow trek by car and is a search for someone to bury him after he commits suicide. The amount of admiration one can have for Kiarostami's movies depend on whether or not you can get interested in stories that don't exactly go at a swift pace. I for one appreciated the slow moving journey in A Taste of Cherry. Mr. Badii's  journey was sad, tragic, difficult, but sometimes funny as well. It wasn't the director's final film, but it would certainly have served as a nice epitaph for him, anyway.

Farewell My Concubine

Farewell My Concubine is a Chinese epic that features politics, revolution, poverty, sexuality and opera. It's a long ride at almost three hours, but the entire movie has a wonderful attention to detail and a plot that is often sad, but is a most worthwhile story...but one that requires your full attention.

Beau Travail

Beau Travail is a French film about a French Foreign legion officer who becomes jealous of his superior's admiration for new recruit and tries to destroy the recruit in any way possible. The story is based somewhat on Herman Melville's Billy Budd. One thing about this film that you can't mistake is the underlying homosexual overtones. It isn't explicitly stated, but it is definitely there.  Okay...that's two films in a row from this list with a gay theme.

Happy Together

Make that three in a row with a gay theme! Nothing subtle in the homosexual theme of Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet, which is about a Taiwanese man living in the United States who marries a woman to satisfy his parents even though he actually has a relationship with another man who poses as his landlord when the parents are around. A movie that successfully explores cultural differences as well as sexual differences and is a pretty engaging comedy to boot.

Happy Together

What is it about all these nineties foreign films that have a gay angle? Happy Together starts off with a sex scene between the two male protagonists. It is about the only scene of the entire movie where this off-again, on-again couple seem to get along well at all! Sparked by jealousy, misunderstandings and distinctly different personalities, their relationship is doomed from the beginning. The movie does have some nice closure at the end in a scene near a waterfall in Hong Kong. And if you are waiting for them to play the song Happy Together, you'll get your fix at the end of the movie. Does that last point qualify as a spoiler?

The Wild Reeds

The Wild Reeds is the coming of age story featuring four young people, one of which discovers he's gay (in keeping with the theme of the last few movies I've seen!) . The main drawing point of this film is that the young people in the film seem real as do their struggles and uncertainty. But watch out for the Commies!

Note: Forty 1990's films in the last four months, but I still have more from that decade to go!  Will I ever get through this flippin' list? And it's about time for the new 1001 addition to come out, so they may even add more! Oh, well...moving on...