Top 10 Films of 1991

1. ''The Silence Of The Lambs'' (Jonathan Demme, USA)

2. "Beauty And The Beast" (Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, Disney, USA)

3. "JFK" (Oliver Stone, USA)

4. "Raise The Red Lantern" (Zhang Yimou, Hong Kong)

5. "Europa" (Lars von Trier, Denmark)

6. "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (James Cameron, USA)

7. "Once Upon A Time In China" (Tsui Hark, Hong Kong)

8. "The Commitments" (Alan Parker, Ireland)

9. ''My Own Private Idaho'' (Gus Van Sant, USA)

10. "Toto le héros" (Jaco van Dormael, Belgium)

Other great films:

The Abashiri Family (Japan)
The Addams Family
The Applegates

Armour Of God II: Operation Condor (Hong Kong)
L'Assassin jouait du trombone (Canada)
Barton Fink

La Belle Noiseuse (France)

Black Cat (Hong Kong)

Boyz N The Hood
Bugsy
Cape Fear
A Chinese Ghost Story 3 (Hong Kong)

City Of Hope 
Dead Again

Death In The Seine (UK)
Delicatessen (France)

The Doors
The Elementary School (Czechoslovakia)

Erotic Ghost Story 2 (Hong Kong)

Europa Europa (Germany)

The Fisher King

Flirting (Australia)
Fried Green Tomatoes

Hear My Song (UK)
Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

High Heels (Spain)
Hot Shots!
Impromptu
The Inner Circle

Jungle Fever

L.A. Story

Love At The Time Of Hysteria (Mexico)

Magnificent Scoundrels (Hong Kong)

Mediterraneo (Italy)

Merci la vie (France)
Montréal vu par... (Canada)
Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell Of Fear

Naked Lunch (Canada)

New Wave Hookers 2
Once A Thief (Hong Kong)

The Passion Of Martin

Podwojne zycie Weroniki (Poland)

Prospero's Books (UK)
Riff-Raff (UK)

Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves

Robotrix (Hong Kong)

Sex And Zen (Hong Kong)

Shadows And Fog
Slacker
Slickers Vs Killers (Hong Kong)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Surviving Desire

La Tarea (Mexico)
Thelma & Louise
A Time For Love (Iran)

To Be Number One (Hong Kong)
Trust

Truth Or Dare

Until The End Of The World

La Vieille qui marchait dans la mer (France)

Volere Volare (Italy)

Short Top 3:

1. "World of Glory" (Roy Andersson, Sweden)

2. "Pensées et visions d'une tête coupée" (Olivier Smolders, Belgium)

3. "Theory Of Achievement" (Hal Hartley, USA)

Other great shorts:

Ambition

Carne (France)

La Philosophie dans le boudoir (Belgium)

Top 3 Music Videos:

1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Samuel Bayer, Nirvana)

2. "Wicked Game" (Herb Ritts, Chris Isaak)

3. "Cream" (Rebecca Blake, Prince)

Top Commercial:

"There Is No Finish Line" (Nike)

TV Top 3:

1. "Seinfeld: The Library" (Joshua White, NBC)

2. "Seinfeld: The Pen" (Tom Cherones, NBC)

3. "The Simpsons: Stark Raving Dad" (Rich Moore, Fox)

Other great TV shows:

Golden Girls: The Case Of The Libertine Belle
Kabaret Olgi Lipinskiej: Cala w gwizdek (Poland)
Kabaret Olgi Lipinskiej: Ku pokrzepieniu serc (Poland)

Kabaret Olgi Lipinskiej: Miejmy nadzieje (Poland)

Kabaret Olgi Lipinskiej: Nasi i elektorscy (Poland)

Kabaret Olgi Lipinskiej: uma uma um (Poland)
Seinfeld: The Parking Garage

Cartoon Top 3:

1. "Grey Wolf And Little Red Riding Hood" (Garri Bardin, Soviet Union)

2. "Blackfly" (Christopher Hinton, NFB, Canada)

3. "The Lump" (John Weldon, NFB, Canada)

Other great cartoons:

Manipulation (UK)

Weak films of 1991:

Allemagne annee 90 (France)
Une Balle dans la tête (Canada)
Blue Jean Monster (Hong Kong)

City Slickers
Contre l'oubli (France)
Crazy Safari (Hong Kong)
La Demoiselle sauvage (Canada)
Edward II (UK)
Eternal Combat (Hong Kong)
Father Of The Bride
Grand Canyon
Homicide
Hook
The Last Blood (Hong Kong)
Life On A String (China)
Mortal Thoughts
The Neverending Story II
The Ox (Sweden)
The Prince Of Tides
Rambling Rose
Salmonberries (Germany)
Saviour Of The Soul (Hong Kong)
Sleeping With The Enemy
The Super
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze
There Goes My Baby

Tous les matins du monde (France)

Weak shorts:

Cauchemar blanc (France)

Weak cartoons:

The Alchemists (Canada)
The Apprentice (Canada)
The Balgonie Birdman (Canada)
Every Dog's Guide To The Playground (Canada)
The Irises (Canada)
Strings (Canada)
Two Sisters (Canada)

Weak TV shows:

Kabaret Olgi Lipinskiej: Studio eksperymentalne (Poland)

Kabaret Olgi Lipinskiej: Wesolych swiat (Poland)

Top Musical of 1991

"The Doors" (Oliver Stone, Warner)

Beauty And The Beast (1991) *****

Not since the early 40's did the Disney studio released such magnificent and superbly animated cartoon feature. The film has memorable characters: animals, animated objects (tea pots, candelabras, clocks) and humans. The narrative structure is close to perfection, the story moves quickly, there are plenty of superb songs and the influence of Busby Berkeley is quite obvious in the staging of the big musical number, "Be Our Guest". The vocal talents of Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, Robby Benson and Paige O'Hara greatly contribute to its success. "Beauty And The Beast" is among the greatest animated features of all time, proof positive of Disney's continuing domination in the field. Songs:

"Belle" ***
"Gaston" ***
"Be Our Guest" ***
"Something There" **
"Beauty And The Beast" ***
"The Mob Song" **

JFK (1991) *****

A terrifying thriller presenting an extremely complex and highly speculative account of the Dallas assassination in 1963. Director Oliver Stone accuses the CIA, the FBI and Lyndon B.Johnson of killing John F.Kennedy and then masterminding an incredible cover-up of monstrous proportions. While this theory is quite unbelievable, the film convincingly proves that there was indeed a conspiracy, that Lee Harvey Oswald wasn't the sole assassin and that the CIA, the FBI and the Warren Comission did a disgracefully incompetent job of investigating the matter. Oliver Stone completely discredits the official "single-assassin" theory by pointing out the incredibly high mortality rate among various witnesses, the connections between people implicated in the drama and, above all, to the impossible trajectory of the notorious "magic bullet" (brilliantly exposed in the film's climactic courtroom scene). The film also presents a possible (though highly unlikely) explanation of the motives for the assassination - JFK's alleged attempt to get out of Vietnam. A more likely explanation - revenge for abandoning anti-Castro guerrillas at the Bay of Pigs - isn't mentioned. On the cinematic level, the film is absolutely stunning, brilliantly mixing black & white, color and documentary footages. The direction is flamboyant and charged with nerve-wrecking tension. Dynamic and electrifying.

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) *****

Volere Volare (1991) ****

La Belle Noiseuse (1991) ****

Merci la vie (1991) ****

Love At The Time Of Hysteria (1991) ****

The Commitments (1991) ****

Alan Parker's masterpiece is an unpretentious musical about a soul band from Dublin. Songs include:

"Destination Anywhere" **
"Nowhere To Run" **
"Mustang Sally" **
"Too Many Fish In The Sea" **
"Mr.Pitiful" *
"Bye Bye Baby" **
"Show Me" **
"Take Me To The River" *
"The Dark End Of The Street" *
"Chain Of Fools" **
"Mustang Sally" (reprise) ***
"I Never Loved A Man" **
"Try A Little Tenderness" ***
"In The Midnight Hour" **

Europa (1991) ****

Modernist drama set in post-war Germany.

Raise The Red Lantern (1991) ****

Directed by Zhang Yimou. With Gong Li. Superb melodrama about power struggles among various wives of a very rich man.

Once Upon A Time In China (1991) ****

Set in the late 19th century, it's a thrilling adventure film, directed by Tsui Hark, the first part of a long saga. It has excellent kung-fu fights (courtesy of Jet Li). The main villains in this film are foreign mercenaries and Chinese traitors collaborating with them.

Toto le héros (1991) ****

'My Own Private Idaho (1991) ****

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) ****

Until The End Of The World (1991) ***

Truth Or Dare (1991) ***

Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (1991) ***

Jungle Fever (1991) ***

The Fisher King (1991) ***

City Of Hope (1991) ***

Boyz N The Hood (1991) ***

Shadows And Fog (1991) ***

One of Woody Allen's most unusual films. A low-key pastiche of German expressionism. Other influences include Ingmar Bergman and Franz Kafka.

The Passion Of Martin (1991) ***

L.A. Story (1991) ***

Delicatessen (1991) ***

A bizarre French drama. Surrealism galore.

A Chinese Ghost Story 3 (1991) ***

The exciting fantasy saga continues. A ghost woman tries to seduce a young monk travelling with his elderly master.

The Doors (1991) ***

The Addams Family (1991) ***

Classic horror comedy.

The Applegates (1991) ***

Giant preying mantis living in a south American jungle decide to move into suburban USA to get their revenge.

Barton Fink (1991) ***

Bizarre film noir about a New York playwright who is hired to write a movie in Hollywood.

Bugsy (1991) ***

Life of gangster Bugsy Siegel, the founder of Las Vegas.

Cape Fear (1991) ***

A Southern Gothic thriller about a released rapist who stalks the family of the lawyer who originally defended him.

Dead Again (1991) ***

Kenneth Branagh directs and stars in this excellent film noir about a woman suffering from amnesia (Emma Thompson).

Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) ***

Great film set in the South.

The Elementary School (1991) ***

Unruly school kids have a new teacher (the old one ended in an insane asylum !!).

Magnificent Scoundrels (1991) ***

One of Stephen Chow's best films, a very funny comedy about con-men and con-women trying to blackmail each other. Co-starring Amy Yip.

Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) ***

Great documentary about the filming of Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now".

Montréal vu par... (1991) ***

Six short films about Montreal, produced for the 350th anniversary of the city and directed by leading Canadian filmmakers from Quebec and Ontario. Patricia Rozema directed the first segment, starring Sheila McCarty as a shy and naive dancer from Toronto getting a taste of Montreal's nightlife. The second part (directed by Jacques Leduc) is a confusing, but quite original brechtian tale. Hockey is the main subject of the third episode, directed by Michel Brault. Atom Egoyan's segment is a bizarre tale about a tourist. The best episode was directed by Lea Pool - it presents a harrowing account of a tragic accident. Denys Arcand directed the last, very satiric segment.

"Desperanto" ***
"La Toile du temps" **
"La Derniere partie" *
"En passant" **
"Rispondetemi" ****
"Vue d'ailleurs" ***

Once A Thief (1991) ***

A caper movie by John Woo. Plenty of action and shootings in the second half. Lots of humor.

Hot Shots! (1991) ***

A funny comedy in the "Naked Gun" style.

Riff-Raff (1991) ***

Excellent British film about construction workers.

Slacker (1991) ***

24 hours in the lives of Austin slackers - weirdos and losers hanging around town, doing nothing.

Slickers Vs Killers (1991) ***

Very entertaining chop socky film from Hong Kong. Director Samo Hung plays a cell phone salesman pursued by vicious killers. There is plenty of good comedy between kung-fu fight scenes.

Surviving Desire (1991) ***

A literature professor (Martin Donavan) has an affair with one of his students. One of Hal Hartley's finest films, a black comedy full of absurdist humor. ***

Trust (1991) ***

Hal Hartley's masterpiece is a deadpan comedy about a pregnant teenage girl and a troubled TV repairman.

Impromptu (1991) ***

Charming comedy starring Hugh Grant as Frederique Chopin.

The Inner Circle (1991) ***

Great film about Stalin's reign of terror.

Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell Of Fear (1991) ***

A fine sequel to the 1988 hit.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) ***

An above-average entry in the series.

Thelma & Louise (1991) ***

Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis star in this classic feminist road movie.

L'Assassin jouait du trombone (1991) ***

Entertaining satiric comedy that pokes fun at the clichés of the film noir genre.

A Time For Love (1991) ***

A story of adultery and murder in Istanbul. An Iranian film directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

Allemagne année 90 (1991) **

La Vieille qui marchait dans la mer (1991) ***

Contre l'oubli (1991) **

A compilation of 30 short films pleading on behalf of a political prisoner.

Tous les matins du monde (1991) *