M.I.A. for 2008: Part 3, It's the 80s, Do a Lot of Coke and Vote for Ronald Reagan

Here we are, the 1980s. We're past the 1990s, where a bunch of minor works have missed the DVD cut. Here, we have a bizarre mixture of classics and failures. Though we were missing Rosetta (due to the death of its US distributor, USA Films) and The Best Intentions as far as Palme d'Or winners go for the 90s, a number of favorites from the festival in the 80s still have yet to appear on DVD in the US: Palme d'Or winners Under the Sun of Satan, The Ballad of Narayama, and Yol; Best Director winners Time of the Gypsies and Sur; actor winners Dark Eyes [Marcello Mastroianni], Shy People [Barbara Hershey], Ménage [Michel Blanc], Rosa Luxemburg [Barbara Sukowa], Love Me Forever or Never [Fernanda Torres], Kiss of the Spider Woman [William Hurt], Cal [Helen Mirren], The Holy Innocents [Fernando Rabal, Alfredo Landa], Story of Piera [Hanna Schygulla], The Death of Mario Ricci [Gian Maria Volontè], Another Way [Jadwiga Jankowska], Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man [Ugo Tognazzi], Leap into the Void [Michel Piccoli, Anouk Aimée], and Interrogation [the lovely Krystyna Janda, who won in 1990 due to the film's ban in Poland]. And most of those actors are pretty damn famous. So, as always, let me know what I forgot... and, yes, the title of this blog does come from Mystery Science Theater 3000's commentary of the gem Hobgoblins.

1989

City of Sadness, A - dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien - with Tony Leung - Taiwan/Hong Kong - UNK
Dark Obsession [aka Diamond Skulls] * - dir. Nick Broomfield - with Gabriel Byrne, Amanda Donohoe - UK - Kino
Fear, Anxiety, & Depression * - dir. Todd Solondz - with Solondz, Stanley Tucci - USA - Sony
Icicle Thief, The [Ladri di saponette] * - dir. Maurizio Nichetti - Italy - UNK
Last Exit to Brooklyn - dir. Uli Edel - with Stephen Lang, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stephen Baldwin, Jerry Orbach, Sam Rockwell - USA/West Germany/UK - UNK

Love Without Pity [Un monde sans pitié] - dir. Eric Rochant - with Hippolyte Girardot, Mireille Perrier, Yvan Attal - France - MGM
Marquis - dir. Henri Xhonneux - France/Belgium - UNK
Rainbow, The - dir. Ken Russell - with Sammi Davis, Paul McGann, Amanda Donohoe, Glenda Jackson, David Hemmings - UK - UNK
Roselyne and the Lions [Roselyne et les lions] * - dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix - France - UNK
Salut Victor! - dir. Anne Claire Poirier - Canada - Strand

Santa sangre - dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky - with Axel Jodorowsky, Adan Jodorowsky - Mexico/Italy - Lionsgate
Story of Boys & Girls, The [Storia di ragazzi e di ragazze] - dir. Pupi Avati - Italy - Wellspring
Todesking, Der - dir. Jörg Buttgereit - West Germany - Barrel Entertainment/Ryko Distribution
War Requiem - dir. Derek Jarman - with Nathaniel Parker, Tilda Swinton, Sean Bean, Laurence Olivier - UK - UNK
When the Whales Came - dir. Clive Rees - with Helen Mirren, Paul Scofield - UK - 20th Century Fox
Women on the Roof, The [Kvinnorna på taket] - dir. Carl-Gustav Nykvist - with Stellan Skarsgård - Sweden - Hen’s Tooth

1988

Bâton Rouge * - dir. Rafael Moleón - with Victoria Abril, Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas - Spain - UNK
Distant Voices, Still Lives - dir. Terence Davies - UK - Lionsgate
Drowning by Numbers - dir. Peter Greenaway - with Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson, Joely Richardson - UK/Netherlands - Lionsgate?
Hôtel Terminus * - dir. Max Ophüls - France/West Germany/USA - Sony?
Lectrice, La - dir. Michel Deville - with Miou-Miou - France - MGM
Patty Hearst - dir. Paul Schrader - with Natasha Richardson, Ving Rhames - USA/UK - Sony/MGM?

Petite voleuse, La [Little Thief, The] - dir. Claude Miller - with Charlotte Gainsbourg - France - Miramax
Straight for the Heart [À corps perdu] * - dir. Léa Pool - Canada - Water Bearer Films
Time of the Gypsies [Dom za vesanje] - dir. Emir Kustarica - Yugoslavia/UK/Italy - Sony
Times to Come [Lo que vendrá] * - dir. Gustavo Mosquera R. - Argentina - Cinevista
To Kill a Priest * - dir. Agnieszka Holland - with Christopher Lambert, Ed Harris, Joss Ackland, Tim Roth, Timothy Spall, Pete Postlethwaite, Joanne Whalley - France/USA - Sony
Track 29 - dir. Nicolas Roeg - with Theresa Russell, Gary Oldman, Christopher Lloyd, Colleen Camp, Sandra Bernhard, Seymour Cassel - UK/USA - MGM
Urinal [Pissoir] * - dir. John Greyson - Canada - Water Bearer Films

1987

Dark Eyes [Oci ciornie] - dir. Nikita Mikhalkov - with Marcello Mastroianni - Italy - UNK
Family, The [Famiglia, La] - dir. Ettore Scola - with Vittorio Gassman, Fanny Ardant - Italy/France - UNK
Good Morning, Babylon - dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani - with Vincent Spano, Joaquim de Almeida, Gretta Scacchi, Charles Dance - Italy/USA/France - UNK
Ishtar - dir. Elaine May - with Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Isabelle Adjani - USA - Sony
King Lear * - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - with Godard, Woody Allen, Julie Delpy, Molly Ringwald, Norman Mailer, Leos Carax, Peter Sellars, Burgess Meredith - USA - UNK
Light of Day - dir. Paul Schrader - with Michael J. Fox, Joan Jett, Gena Rowlands, Michael McKean - USA - Sony

Man in Love, A [Un homme amoureux] * - dir. Diane Kurys - with Peter Coyote, Greta Scacchi, Jamie Lee Curtis, Claudia Cardinale, Peter Riegert, Vincent Lindon - France/Italy - UNK
Night Zoo [Un zoo la nuit] * - dir. Jean-Claude Laurzon - Canada - UNK
Petit amour, Le [Kung-Fu master] * - dir. Agnès Varda - with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin, Mathieu Demy - France - UNK
Sand and Blood [De sable et de sang] * - dir. Jeanne Labrune - with André Dussollier - France - New Yorker
Secret Life of Sergei Eisenstein * - dir. Gian Carlo Bertelli - Switzerland - Mystic Fire Video
Shy People * - dir. Andrei Konchalovsky - with Barbara Hershey, Jill Clayburgh, Martha Plimpton - USA - Warner

Sorceress [Moine et la sorcière, Le] - dir. Suzanne Schiffman - with Tchéky Karyo, Maria de Medeiros - France - Mystic Fire Video
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story * - dir. Todd Haynes - USA - NULL [Rights issue with Carpenters’ music]
Three Bewildered People in the Night * - dir. Gregg Araki - USA - UNK
Under the Sun of Satan [Sous le soleil de Satan] - dir. Maurice Pialat - with Gérard Depardieu, Sandrine Bonnaire, Pialat - France - UNK
Westler - dir. Wieland Speck - East Germany - Strand

1986

8 Million Ways to Die * - dir. Hal Ashby - with Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette, Alexandra Paul, Andy Garcia - USA - Sony
Bandits [Attention bandits!] * - dir. Claude Lelouch - with Jean Yanne, Patrick Bruel - France - UNK
Caravaggio - dir. Derek Jarman - with Tilda Swinton, Nigel Terry, Sean Bean - UK - Zeitgeist
Charlotte for Ever - dir. Serge Gainsbourg - with Gainsbourg, Charlotte Gainsbourg - France - NULL
Désordre - dir. Olivier Assayas - with Wadeck Stanczak, Lucas Belvaux, Rémi Martin, Étienne Daho - France - NULL

Howard the Duck - dir. Willard Huyck - with Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones, Tim Robbins - USA - Universal
Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later, A [Un homme et une femme, 20 ans déjà] * - dir. Claude Lelouch - with Anouk Aimée, Jean-Louis Trintignant - France - Warner
Ménage [Tenue de soirée] * - dir. Bertrand Blier - with Gérard Depardieu, Michel Blanc, Miou-Miou, Jean-François Stévenin - France - UNK
Noir et blanc * - dir. Claire Devers - France - UNK
Pirates - dir. Roman Polanski - with Walter Matthau - France/Tunisia - UNK
Rosa Luxemburg - dir. Margarethe von Trotta - with Barbara Sukowa - West Germany/Czechoslovakia - New Yorker
She’s Gotta Have It - dir. Spike Lee - with Lee - USA - Criterion?

1985

Alamo Bay - dir. Louis Malle - with Amy Madigan, Ed Harris - USA - Sony
Amour braque, L’ - dir. Andrzej Zulawski - with Sophie Marceau, Tchéky Karyo - France - UNK
Angelic Conversation, The - dir. Derek Jarman - with Judi Dench - UK - UNK
Berlin Affair, The * - dir. Liliana Cavani - Italy/West Germany - MGM
Détective - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - with Jean-Pierre Léaud, Nathalie Baye, Claude Brasseur, Johnny Hallyday - France - Lionsgate?
Été meurtrier, L’ - dir. Jean Becker - with Isabelle Adjani - France - Universal

Harem * - dir. Arthur Joffé - with Nastassja Kinski, Ben Kingsley - France - UNK
Kiss of the Spider Woman * - dir. Hector Babenco - with Raul Julia, William Hurt, Sonia Braga - USA/Brazil - Universal/Strand?
Legend of Billie Jean, The * - dir. Matthew Robbins - with Helen Slater, Christian Slater, Yeardley Smith - USA - Sony
Péril en la demeure [aka Death in a French Garden] - dir. Michel Deville - with Richard Bohringer, Nicole Garcia, Michel Piccoli - France - Triumph Films
Police - dir. Maurice Pialat - with Gérard Depardieu, Sophie Morceau, Sandrine Bonnaire - France - New Yorker
Red Kiss [Rouge baiser] - dir. Véra Belmont - with Lambert Wilson - France/West Germany - Wellspring
Steaming - dir. Joseph Losey - with Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles - UK - UNK

1984

After the Rehearsal [Efter reptitionen] - dir. Ingmar Bergman - with Erland Josephson, Ingrid Thulin, Lena Olin - Sweden - Triumph Films]
Cal * - dir. Pat O’Connor - with Helen Mirren, John Lynch - UK - Warner
Crackers * - dir. Louis Malle - with Donald Sutherland, Jack Warden, Sean Penn, Wallace Shawn, Christine Baranski - USA - Universal
Holy Innocents, The [Santos inocentes, Los] - dir. Mario Camus - with Francisco Rabal, Alfredo Landa, Juan Diego - Spain - Sony

Love on the Ground [Amour par terre, L’] - dir. Jacques Rivette - with Jane Birkin, Geraldine Chaplin, André Dussollier, László Szabó, Jean-Pierre Kalfon - France - UNK
Love Songs [Paroles et musique] * - dir. Elie Chouraqui - with Catherine Deneuve, Christopher Lambert, Jacques Perrin, Charlotte Gainsbourg - Canada/France - Koch
Love Streams - dir. John Cassavetes - with Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel - USA - UNK
Sotto… Sotto [Sotto… Sotto… strapazzato da anomala passione] - dir. Lina Wertmüller - Italy - Triumph
Stilts, The [Zancos, Los] * - dir. Carlos Saura - with Laura del Sol, Francisco Rabal, Antonio Banderas - Spain - UNK

1983

Abuse * - dir. Arthur J. Bressan Jr. - USA - Cinevista
Another Time, Another Place * - dir. Michael Radford - UK - Sony
Baby, It’s You - dir. John Sayles - with Rosanna Arquette, Vincent Spano, Matthew Modine, Robert Downey Jr. - USA - Paramount
Ballad of Narayama, The - dir. Shohei Imamura - Japan - Kino
Danton - dir. Andrzej Wajda - with Gérard Depardieu, Patrice Chéreau - France/Poland/West Germany - Triumph
Death of Mario Ricci, The [Mort de Mario Ricci, La] - dir. Claude Goretta - with Gian Maria Volontè - France/West Germany/Switzerland - New Line Cinema
Eréndira * - dir. Roy Guerra - with Irene Papas - Mexico/France/West Germany - Miramax

Exposed * - dir. James Toback - with Nastassja Kinski, Harvey Keitel, Rudolf Nureyev, Ian McShane, Pierre Clémenti, Bibi Andersson - USA - MGM
Hanna K. * - dir. Costa-Gavras - with Jill Clayburgh, Jean Yanne, Gabriel Byrne - Israel/France - Universal
In the White City [Dans la ville blanche] * - dir. Alain Tanner - with Bruno Ganz - Switzerland/Portugal/UK - New Yorker
Moon in the Gutter, The [Lune dans le caniveau, La] - dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix - with Gérard Depardieu, Nastassja Kinski, Victoria Abril, Vittorio Mezzogiorno - France/Italy - Triumph
Story of Piera, The [Storia di Piera] - dir. Marco Ferreri - with Isabelle Huppert, Hanna Schygulla, Marcello Mastroianni - Italy/France/West Germany - UNK
Terence Davies Trilogy, The - dir. Terence Davies - UK - Strand
Yentl * - dir. Barbara Streisand - with Streisand - USA - MGM

1982

Angel - dir. Neil Jordan - with Stephen Rea - Ireland/UK - Triumph
Another Way [Egymásra nézve] - dir. Károly Makk, János Xantus - with Jadwiga Jankowska - Hungary - UNK
Colegas * - dir. Eloy de la Iglesia - Spain - UNK
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean * - dir. Robert Altman - with Karen Black, Cher, Kathy Bates - USA - Paramount
Eyes, the Mouth, The [Occhi, la bocca, Gli] * - dir. Marco Bellocchio - with Lou Castel, Angela Molina, Emmanuelle Riva, Michel Piccoli - Italy/France - Triumph
Identification of a Woman [Identificazione di una donna] - dir. Michelangelo Antonioni - Italy/France - Facets
Interrogation - dir. Ryszard Bugajski - with Krystyna Janda - Poland - Kino

Invitation au voyage - dir. Peter Del Monte - with Aurore Clément - France/Italy/West Germany - Triumph Films
Kamikaze 1989 - dir. Wolf Gremm - with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Brigitte Mira, Frank Ripploh - West Germany - MGM
Labyrinth of Passion [Laberinto de pasiones] - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - with Cecilia Roth, Almodóvar, Antonio Banderas - Spain - Cinevista
Passion - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - with Isabelle Huppert, Hanna Schygulla, Michel Piccoli, Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Jean-François Stévenin, László Szabó - France - MGM/Lionsgate?
Toute une nuit - dir. Chantal Akerman - with Aurore Clément, Tchéky Karyo - France - UNK
White Dog - dir. Samuel Fuller - with Kristy McNichol - USA - Criterion
Yol * - dir. Yilmaz Güney, Serif Gören - Turkey/Switzerland/France - UNK

1981

Choice of Arms [Choix des armes, Le] - dir. Alain Corneau - with Yves Montand, Gérard Depardieu, Catherine Deneuve - France - UNK
Deprisa, deprisa * - dir. Carlos Saura - Spain/France - Home Vision
Ladies and Gentleman, the Fabulous Stains * - dir. Lou Adler - with Diane Lane, Laura Dern, Ray Winstone - Canada - Paramount
Light Years Away [Années lumières, Les] * - dir. Alain Tanner - Switzerland/France - New Yorker
Mystery of Oberwald, The [Mistero di Oberwald, Il] * - dir. Michelangelo Antonioni - with Monica Vitti - Italy/West Germany - UNK
Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man [Tragedia di un uomo ridicolo, La] * - dir. Bernardo Bertolucci - with Ugo Tognazzi, Anouk Aimée, Laura Morante - Italy - Warner

1980

Cocktail Molotov - dir. Diane Kurys - France - Criterion?
From the Life of the Marionettes [Aus dem Leben der Marionetten] - dir. Ingmar Bergman - West Germany/Sweden - UNK
Horse of Pride, The [Cheval d’orgueil, Le] - dir. Claude Chabrol - with François Cluzet - France - Kino
In the Shadow of the Sun - dir. Derek Jarman - UK - UNK

Leap into the Void [Salto nel vuoto] - dir. Marco Bellocchio - with Michel Piccoli, Anouk Aimée - Italy - UNK
Nijinsky - dir. Herbert Ross - with Alan Bates - UK/USA - Paramount
Pepi, Luci, Bom - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - with Carmen Maura, Cecilia Roth, Assumpta Serna - Spain - Cinevista
Sauve qui peut (la vie) - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - with Isabelle Huppert, Nathalie Baye - France - New Yorker

M.I.A. for 2008: Part 2, the 1990s

In continuation, the overpopulated 1990s... You will notice that, unlike most earlier decades, New Yorker is not the most guilty party during this decade. Sorry, Universal, why don't you release a title older than two years once in a while?

UPDATE: I've included additional titles that I forgot in round 1. You can find those titles in italics.

UPDATE 2: Sorry for the disappearing images and now their shells that are still appearing on my page. This has been one of the most irritating posts I've ever made. Expect adjustments when the 1980s roll around.

1999

# Lovers - dir. Jean-Marc Barr - with Élodie Bouchez - France/Denmark - NULL
# Petit voleur, Le - dir. Erick Zonca - with Nicolas Duvauchelle, Yann Trégouët - France - New Yorker
# Oi! Warning - dir. Ben Reding, Dominik Reding - Germany - NULL
# Peut-être - dir. Cédric Klapisch - with Romain Duris, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Emmanuelle Devos, Julie Depardieu - France - NULL
# Return of the Idiot, The [Návrat idiota] * - dir. Sasa Gedeon - Czech Republic/Germany - UNK

# Room for Romeo Brass, A - dir. Shane Meadows - with Paddy Considine, Bob Hoskins - UK - USA Films
# Rosetta - dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne - with Émilie Dequenne, Olivier Gourmet - Belgium - USA Films
# Sugar Town * - dir. Allison Anders, Kurt Voss - with Rosanna Arquette, Martin Kemp, Ally Sheedy - USA - Universal
# Three Seasons - dir. Tony Bui - with Harvey Keitel - Vietnam/USA - Universal
# Venice Project, The * - dir. Robert Dornhelm - with Lauren Bacall, Parker Posey, Linus Roache, Dennis Hopper, Stuart Townsend, Stockard Channing - Austria/USA - NULL
# With or Without You - dir. Michael Winterbottom - with Christopher Eccleston, Yvan Attal - UK - NULL

1998

# Alice et Martin - dir. André Téchiné - with Juliette Binoche, Alexis Loret, Mathieu Amalric, Carmen Maura - France - USA Films
# Already Dead [Déjà mort] - dir Olivier Dahan - with Romain Duris, Benoît Magimel, Clément Sibony - France - NULL
# Among Giants * - dir. Sam Miller - with Rachel Griffiths, Pete Postlethwaite - UK - 20th Century Fox
# Autumn Tale, An [Conte d‘automne] - dir. Eric Rohmer - France - Universal
# Boys, The - dir. Rowan Woods - with Toni Collette, David Wenham - Australia - UNK
# I Want You - dir. Michael Winterbottom - with Rachel Weisz, Alessandro Nivola - UK - Universal
# Idiots, The [Idioterne] - dir. Lars von Trier - with Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Paprika Steen - Denmark - Universal

# L.A. Without a Map - dir. Mika Kaurismäki - with Vincent Gallo, Julie Delpy, Amanda Plummer - Finland/UK/France - UNK
# My Name Is Joe - dir. Ken Loach - with Peter Mullan - UK/Spain/Italy - Lionsgate
# Outside Ozona * - dir. J.S. Cardone - with Robert Forster, Sherilyn Fenn, Meat Loaf, Swoosie Kurtz - USA - Sony
# Proposition, The - dir. Lesli Linka Glatter - with Kenneth Branagh, Madeline Stowe, Robert Loggia, William Hurt, Blythe Danner, Neil Patrick Harris - USA - Universal
# Something Organic [Quelque chose d’organique] - dir. Bertrand Bonello - with Romane Bohringer, Laurent Lucas - France/Canada - NULL
# Vigo - dir. Julien Temple - with James Frain, Romane Bohringer - France/UK/Japan - UNK
# Whatever * - dir. Susan Skoog - with Liza Weil - Sony

1997

# Anna Karenina * - dir. Bernard Rose - with Sophie Morceau, Sean Bean, Mia Kirshner, Alfred Molina - USA - Warner
# Assassin(s) - dir. Mathieu Kassovitz - with Michel Serrault, Kassovitz - France - UNK
# Chambermaid on the Titanic, The [Femme de chambre du Titanic, La] - dir. J.J. Bigas Luna - with Olivier Martinez, Romane Bohringer, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón - France/Spain/Italy/Germany - Sony
# Friend of the Deceased * - dir. Leonid Boyko, Vyacheslav Krishtofovich - Russia/Ukraine - Sony
# Junk Mail [Budbringeren] * - dir. Pål Sletaune - Norway - Lionsgate
# Kingdom 2, The [Riget 2] - dir. Morten Arnfred, Lars von Trier - Denmark - Koch Lorber

# Kiss or Kill - dir. Bill Bennett - with Matt Day, Frances O’Connor - Australia - Universal
# Lost Highway - dir. David Lynch - with Patricia Arquette, Bill Pullman, Balthazar Getty, Robert Blake - USA/France - Universal
# Lucie Aubrac - dir. Claude Berri - with Carole Bouquet, Patrice Chéreau, Daniel Auteuil - France - USA Films
# Marie Baie des Anges - dir. Manuel Pradal - with Amira Casar, Jamie Harris, Roxane Mesquida - France - Sony
# Nowhere - dir. Gregg Araki - with James Duval, Rachel True, Christina Applegate, Kathleen Robertson, Jordan Ladd, Nathan Bexton, Guillermo Diaz, Jeremy Jordan - USA/France - New Line/Image Entertainment
# Same Old Song [On connaît la chanson] - dir. Alain Resnais - with Sabine Azéma, Lambert Wilson, Jane Birkin, André Dussollier - France/UK/Switzerland - UNK

# Sixth Happiness - dir. Waris Hussein - with Indira Varma - UK - UNK
# Tango Lesson, The - dir. Sally Potter - with Potter - UK/France/Argentina/Netherlands/Germany - Sony
# This World, Then the Fireworks * - dir. Michael Oblowitz - with Billy Zane, Gina Gershon, Sheryl Lee - USA - MGM
# Touch * - dir. Paul Schrader - with Bridget Fonda, Skeet Ulrich, Gina Gershon, Janeane Garofalo, Christopher Walken, Tom Arnold - USA - MGM
# Twentyfourseven - dir. Shane Meadows - with Bob Hoskins - UK - October Films/Universal
# Twin Town - dir. Kevin Allen - with Rhys Ifans, Llyr Evans, Dougray Scott - UK - Universal

1996

# Broken English * - dir. Gregor Nicholas - New Zealand - Sony
# Chef in Love, A - dir. Nana Dzhordzhadze - Georgia/Ukraine/Belgium/France - Sony
# Circle of Passion [aka Never Ever] - dir. Charles Finch - with Sandrine Bonnaire, Jane March, Charles Finch, James Fox, Jean Rochefort, Julian Sands - USA/UK - Lionsgate
# Clubbed to Death (Lola) * - dir. Yolande Zauberman - with Élodie Bouchez, Béatrice Dalle, Roschedy Zem, Alex Descas - France/Netherlands/Portugal
# Des nouvelles du bon Dieu - dir. Didier Le Pêcheur - with Marie Trintignant, Maria de Medeiros, Jean Yanne, Mathieu Kassovitz - France - NULL
# Eighth Day, The [Huitième jour, Le] - dir. Jaco van Dormael - with Daniel Auteuil, Miou-Miou - France - Universal
# Girls Town * - dir. Jim McKay - with Lili Taylor - USA - Universal/October Films

# Hollow Reed * - dir. Angela Pope - with Martin Donovan, Joely Richardson, Ian Hart, Jason Flemyng - UK - UNK
# Illtown * - dir. Nick Gomez - with Michael Rappaport, Lili Taylor, Isaac Hayes, Tony Danza - USA - UNK
# Jerusalem - dir. Bille August - with Max von Sydow, Olympia Dukakis - Sweden/Denmark/Norway/Finland/Iceland - First Look
# Mon homme - dir. Bertrand Blier - with Anouk Grinberg, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Olivier Martinez - France - New Yorker
# Nénette et Boni - dir. Claire Denis - with Grégoire Colin, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Vincent Gallo - France - Strand
# Private Confessions [Enskilda samtal] - dir. Liv Ullmann - with Pernilla August, Max von Sydow - Sweden - Kino

# Self-Made Hero, A [Un héro très discret] - dir. Jacques Audiard - with Mathieu Kassovitz, Sandrine Kiberlain, Anouk Grinberg, Jean-Louis Trintignant - France - Strand
# Some Mother’s Son * - dir. Terry George - with Helen Mirren, Aiden Gillen, John Lynch, Fionnula Flannigan - Ireland - Sony
# subUrbia * - dir. Richard Linklater - with Giovanni Ribisi, Parker Posey, Steve Zahn, Nicky Katt - USA - Warner
# Surviving Picasso * - dir. James Ivory - with Anthony Hopkins, Natascha McElhone, Julianne Moore - USA - Warner
# Thieves [Voleurs, Les] - dir. André Téchiné - with Catherine Deneuve, Daniel Auteuil, Benoît Magimel - France - Sony
# Three Lives and Only One Death [Trois vies et une seule morte] - dir. Raoul Ruiz - with Marcello Mastroianni, Marisa Paredes, Melvil Poupaud, Chiara Mastroianni - France/Portugal - New Yorker
# To Have and to Hold - dir. Jill Hillcoat - with Tchéky Karyo, Rachel Griffiths - Australia - Pathfinder
# When the Cat’s Away [Chacun cherche son chat] - dir. Cédric Klapisch - France - Sony

1995

# Addiction, The - dir. Abel Ferrara - with Lili Taylor, Christopher Walken, Edie Falco, Annabella Sciorra - USA - Universal
# Angus * - dir. Patrick Read Johnson - USA - New Line Cinema
# Augustin - dir. Anne Fontaine - with Maggie Cheung, Thierry Lhermitte - France - Kino
# Beyond Rangoon * - dir. John Boorman - with Patricia Arquette, Frances McDormand - UK/USA - Warner
# Flirt - dir. Hal Hartley - with Parker Posey, Martin Donovan, Bill Sage, Sebastian Koch, Miho Nikaido - USA/Japan - UNK
# Go Now - dir. Michael Winterbottom - with Robert Carlyle, James Nesbitt, Sophie Okonedo, Tony Curran - UK - Universal
# Land and Freedom - dir. Ken Loach - with Ian Hart - UK/Spain/Italy - Gramercy

# Misérables, Les - dir. Claude Leloch - with Jean-Paul Belmondo, Annie Girardot, Jean Marais - France - Warner
# Passion of Darkly Noon, The - dir. Philip Ridley - with Brendan Fraser, Ashley Judd, Viggo Mortensen, Grace Zabriskie - UK/Canada - UNK
# Price of Love, The - dir. David Burton Morris - with Peter Facinelli, Laurel Holloman, Jay R. Ferguson - USA - 20th Century Fox
# Promise, The [Versprechen, Das] - dir. Margarethe von Trotta - Germany/France/Switzerland - New Line/Image Entertainment
# When Night Is Falling - dir. Patricia Rozema - with Henry Czerny, Don McKellar - Canada - Universal
# White Balloon, The - dir. Jafar Panahi - Iran - Universal

1994

# Air Up There, The * - dir. Paul Michael Glaser - with Kevin Bacon - USA - Hollywood/Buena Vista
# Amoureux, Les - dir. Catherine Corsini - with Nathalie Richard, Xavier Beauvois - France - UNK
# Before the Rain * - dir. Milcho Manchevski - with Katrin Cartlidge, Rade Serbedzija, Grégoire Colin - Macedonia/UK/France - Universal
# Cold Water [Eau froide, L‘] - dir. Olivier Assayas - with Virginie Ledoyen - France - NULL
# Creation of Adam - dir. Yuri Pavlov - Russia - Water Bearer Films
# Cremaster Cycle 1-5, The * - dir. Matthew Barney - USA - Palm Pictures

# Joan the Maid: Parts 1-2 [Joan la Pucelle] - dir. Jacques Rivette - with Sandrine Bonnaire - France - Facets
# Ladybird Ladybird - dir. Ken Loach - with Ray Winstone - UK - Sony
# Love and Human Remains - dir. Denys Arcand - with Thomas Gibson, Mia Kirshner - Canada - Sony
# Machine, The [Machine, La] - dir. François Dupeyron - with Gérard Depardieu, Nathalie Baye, Claude Berri - France/Germany - Universal
# Mina Tannenbaum - dir. Martine Dugowson - with Roman Bohringer, Elsa Zylberstein, Jean-Philippe Écoffey, Nils Tavernier - Belgium/France/Netherlands - New Yorker
# Pure Formality [Pura formalità, Una] - dir. Giuseppe Tornatore - with Gérard Depardieu, Roman Polanski - Italy/France - Sony

# Roadracers * - dir. Robert Rodriguez - with David Arquette, Salma Hayek - USA - Dimension
# Six Days, Six Nights [À la folie] - dir. Diane Kurys - with Anne Parrilaud, Béatrice Dalle - France - UNK
# Though the Olive Trees - dir. Abbas Kiarostami - Iran - Miramax
# Tollbooth * - dir. Salomé Breziner - with Fairuza Balk, Seymour Cassel - USA - New Line/Image Entertainment
# Unforgettable Summer, An [Un été inoubliable] - dir. Lucian Pintilie - with Kristin Scott Thomas - Romania/France - New Yorker
# Witch Hunt * - dir. Paul Schrader - with Dennis Hopper, Eric Bogosian, Julian Sands - USA - HBO/Warner

1993

# Arizona Dream - dir. Emir Kustarica - with Johnny Depp - USA/France - Warner
# Baby of Mâcon, The - dir. Peter Greenaway - with Ralph Fiennes, Julia Ormond - UK/Netherlands - NULL
# Bitter Harvest - dir. Duane Clark - with Patsy Kensit, Jennifer Rubin, Stephen Baldwin, Adam Baldwin, M. Emmet Walsh - USA - UNK
# Blue - dir. Derek Jarman - with Jarman, Tilda Swinton, Nigel Terry - UK - Zeitgeist
# Calendar Girl * - dir. John Whitesell - with Jason Priestley - USA - Sony
# Caro diario - dir. Nanni Moretti - with Moretti, Jennifer Beals - Italy/France - New Line/Image Entertainment
# Fiorile - dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani - with Michael Vartan - Italy/Germany/France - Sony

# Germinal - dir. Claude Berri - with Miou-Miou, Gérard Depardieu - Belgium/France/Italy - Sony
# Hélas pour moi - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - with Gérard Depardieu - France/Switzerland - UNK
# Household Saints * - dir. Nancy Savoca - with Tracey Ullmann, Vincent D’Onofrio, Lili Taylor, Illeana Douglas - USA - New Line/Image Entertainment
# King of the Hill * - dir. Steven Soderbergh - with Karen Allen, Jeroen Krabbé, Spalding Gray - USA - Universal
# Latcho Drom - dir. Tony Gatlif - France - New Yorker
# Lie, The [Mensonge] - dir. François Margolin - with Nathalie Baye - France - UNK

# M. Butterfly - dir. David Cronenberg - with Jeremy Irons, John Lone, Barbara Sukowa, Ian Richardson - USA - Warner
# New Life, A [Une nouvelle vie] - dir. Olivier Assayas - France - NULL
# Red Squirrel, The [Ardillo rojo, La] - dir. Julio Medem - with Emma Suárez, Nacho Novo - Spain - UNK
# Ruby in Paradise - dir. Victor Nunez - with Ashley Judd - USA - UNK
# Son of the Shark [Fils du requin, Le] - dir Agnès Merlet - Belgium/Luxembourg/France - Seventh Art
# Super 8½ - dir. Bruce LaBruce - with LaBruce, Scott Thompson, Richard Kern - Canada - Strand
# Wittgenstein - dir. Derek Jarman - UK - Zeitgeist

1992

# 1492: Conquest of Paradise - dir. Ridley Scott - with Gérard Depardieu, Armand Assante, Sigourney Weaver, Loren Dean, Angela Molina, Fernando Rey, Michael Wincott, Tchéky Karyo, Frank Langella, Juan Diego Botto - UK/USA/Spain/France - Paramount
# Accompanist, The [Accompagnatrice, L’] - dir. Claude Miller - with Richard Bohringer, Romane Bohringer - France - Sony
# Best Intentions, The [Goda viljan, Den] - dir. Bille August - with Max von Sydow - Sweden/Denmark - MGM
# Chasing Butterflies [Chasse aux papillons, La] - dir. Otar Iosseliani - France/Italy/Germany - New Yorker
# Desire [aka Salt on Our Skin, The] - dir. Andrew Birkin - with Greta Scacchi, Vincent D’Onofrio, Shirley Henderson, Charles Berling - Germany/Canada/France - UNK
# Dream of Light [Sol del membrillo, El] - dir. Victor Erice - Spain - Facets

# Equinox - dir. Alan Rudolph - with Matthew Modine, Lara Flynn Boyle, Fred Ward, Marisa Tomei, Lori Singer - USA - Sony
# House of Angels [Änglagård] - dir. Colin Nutley - Sweden/Denmark/Norway - Sony
# IP5 - dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix - with Yves Montand, Olivier Martinez - France - UNK
# Jamón, jamón - dir. J.J. Bigas Luna - with Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Jordi Mollà - Spain - UNK
# Luna Park - dir. Pavel Lungin - Russia/France - UNK

# Olivier, Olivier - dir. Agnieszka Holland - with Grégoire Colin, Jean-François Stévenin - France - Sony
# Savage Nights [Nuits fauves, Les] - dir. Cyril Collard - with Collard, Romane Bohringer, Maria Schneider - France - Universal?
# Sophie [Sofie] - dir. Liv Ullmann - Denmark/Sweden/Norway - UNK
# Speak Up! It’s So Dark… [Tala! Det är så mörkt] - dir. Suzanne Osten - Sweden - First Run Features
# Star Time - dir. Alexander Cassini - with Michael St. Gerard - USA - Monarch
# Utz - dir. George Sluizer - with Armin-Mueller Stahl, Brenda Fricker, Peter Riegert, Paul Scofield - Germany/UK/Italy - First Run Features

1991

# Becoming Colette - dir. Danny Huston - with Klaus Maria Brandauer, Virginia Madsen - France/Germany/UK - UNK
# City of Hope * - dir. John Sayles - with Chris Cooper, Angela Bassett, David Strathairn, Gina Gershon - USA - Sony
# Conviction [Condanna, La] - dir. Marco Bellocchio - with Vittorio Mezzogiorno - Italy/France/Switzerland - Wellspring
# Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse * - dir. Fax Bahr, Eleanor Coppola, George Hickenlooper - USA - Paramount
# High Heels [Tacones lejanos] - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - with Victoria Abril, Marisa Paredes - Spain - Miramax
# I Don’t Kiss [J'embrasse pas] - dir. André Téchiné - with Philippe Noiret, Emmanuelle Béart - France - UNK

# Jacquot de Nantes - dir. Agnès Varda - France - Sony
# Johnny Stecchino - dir. Roberto Benigni - with Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi - Italy - New Line Cinema
# Kafka - dir. Steven Soderbergh - with Jeremy Irons, Theresa Russell - USA/France - Miramax
# Life and Nothing More - dir. Abbas Kiarostami - Iran - Facets
# Lovers: A True Story [Amantes] - dir. Vicente Aranda - with Victoria Abril, Jorge Sanz, Maribel Verdú - Spain - Sony?
# Mediterraneo - dir. Gabriele Salvatores - Italy - Miramax/Weinstein Company
# No Skin Off My Ass - dir. Bruce LaBruce - with LaBruce - Canada - Strand
# Ox, The [Oxen] - dir. Sven Nykvist - with Stellan Skarsgård, Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson - Sweden/Norway/Denmark - First Run Features
# Pope Must Die(t), The * - dir. Peter Richardson - with Robbie Coltrane - UK - Miramax
# Prospero’s Books - dir. Peter Greenaway - with John Gielgud, Erland Josephson, Mark Rylance - UK/Netherlands - Miramax

# Sale comme un ange [Dirty Like an Angel] * - dir. Catherine Breillat - with Claude Brasseur, Lio, Nils Tavernier - France - NULL
# Twenty-One - dir. Don Boyd - with Patsy Kensit, Rufus Sewell - UK - UNK
# Until the End of the World [Bis ans Ende der Welt] - dir. Wim Wenders - with Solveig Dommartin, William Hurt, Sam Neill, Max von Sydow, Jeanne Moreau - Germany/France/Australia - Warner
# Voyager [Homo Faber] - dir. Volker Schlöndorff - with Sam Shepard, Julie Delpy, Barbara Sukowa - Germany/France/Greece/UK - Wellspring
# Whore - dir. Ken Russell - with Theresa Russell - USA - Lionsgate
# Zentropa - dir. Lars von Trier - with Jean-Marc Barr, Barbara Sukowa, Udo Kier, Eddie Constantine, Max von Sydow - Denmark - Miramax

1990

# Ages of Lulu, The [Edades du Lulú, Las] - dir. J.J. Bigas Luna - with Francecsa Neri, Javier Bardem - Spain - UNK
# Club Extinction [Dr. M] - dir. Claude Chabrol - with Alan Bates, Jennifer Beals - France/Germany/Italy - Warner
# Crocodiles in Amsterdam [Krokodillen in Amsterdam] - dir. Annette Apon - Netherlands - Water Bearer Films
# Everybody’s Fine [Stanno tutti bene] - dir. Giuseppe Tornatore - Italy - Miramax/Weinstein Company
# Garden, The - dir. Derek Jarman - with Tilda Swinton - UK - UNK
# Hairdresser’s Husband, The [Mari du la coiffeuse, Le] - dir. Patrice Leconte - with Jean Rochefort - France - Paramount

# Life Is Sweet - dir. Mike Leigh - with Jane Horrocks, Jim Broadbent, David Thewlis, Timothy Spall, Stephen Rea - UK - Universal
# May Fools [Milou en mai] - dir. Louis Malle - with Miou-Miou, Michel Piccoli - France/Italy - MGM
# No Fear, No Die [S’en fout la morte] - dir. Claire Denis - with Alex Descas, Isaach De Bankolé, Solveig Dommartin, Jean-Claude Brialy - France/West Germany - Kino
# Nouvelle vague - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - with Alain Delon - France - UNK
# Reflecting Skin, The - dir. Philip Ridley - with Viggo Mortensen - UK/Canada - Miramax
# Riff-Raff - dir. Ken Loach - with Robert Carlyle - UK - New Line/Image Entertainment

# Stan the Flasher - dir. Serge Gainsbourg - with Claude Berri, Aurore Clément, Élodie Bouchez, Richard Bohringer - France - NULL
# Tatie Danielle - dir. Étienne Chatiliez - with Tsilla Chelton, Isabelle Nanty - France - UNK
# Taxi Blues [Taksi-Blyuz] - dir. Pavel Lungin - USSR/France - New Yorker
# Trust - dir. Hal Hartley - with Adrienne Shelly, Martin Donovan, Edie Falco, Bill Sage - USA/UK - New Line/Image Entertainment
# Voice of the Moon, The [Voce della luna, La] - dir. Federico Fellini - with Roberto Benigni - Italy/France - UNK
# Woman’s Revenge, A [Vengeance d’une femme] - dir. Jacques Doillon - with Isabelle Huppert, Béatrice Dalle - France - UNK

M.I.A. for 2008: Part 1, the 2000s

Though it’s only mid-September, the year in DVDs is inching toward a close. Criterion announced their December releases the other day (Two-Lane Blacktop with James Taylor and Warren Oates and a repackaged Ingmar Bergman set which includes Wild Strawberries, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, and The Virgin Spring), and with their lackluster announcement, I can pretty much cross off all of my new-to-DVD hopefuls for 2007. Not that Criterion has the final say on my list, but the month of November seems pretty locked in terms of releases, and I’m not going to hold my breath for December. So, I’ve created a more comprehensive list of titles still missing-in-action on Region 1 USA DVD. The list includes titles I’m aching for (keep in mind that a lot of these titles are Francocentric), some I’ve seen, some that need to be seen, and others that are simply notable and of no interest to me. Here’s hoping for 2008!

Key: NULL - No US Distributor / UNK - Unknown distributor / * (asterisk) - Films, to the best of my knowledge, unavailable anywhere on DVD [Meaning not in the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, etc.; though no asterisk does not guarantee that you can find it with English subtitles; I'm not that in depth]

2007

Grindhouse * - dir. Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, Eli Roth - with Rose McGowan, Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Marley Shelton, Freddy Rodriguez, Zoe Bell - USA - The Weinstein Company [I would say maybe next year the Weinsteins will give us the whole picture, but look how long it’s taking for the integrated Kill Bill set]

2006

Atomised - dir. Oskar Roehler - with Moritz Bleibtreu, Franka Potente, Martina Gedeck - Germany - NULL

Container - dir. Lukas Moodysson - with Jena Malone - Sweden - NULL

Destricted - dir. Marina Abramovic, Matthew Barney, Marco Brambilla, Larry Clark, Gaspar Noé, Richard Prince, Sam Taylor Wood - UK/USA - IFC Films

Drawing Restraint #9 * - dir. Matthew Barney - with Björk and Barney - USA/Japan - IFC Films [Matthew Barney hates DVD]

Invisible Waves - dir. Pen-ek Ratanaruang - with Tadanobu Asano - Thailand/Hong Kong/Netherlands/South Korea - Palm Pictures

Zidane, a 21st Century Portait [Zidane, un portait du 21e siècle] - dir. Douglas Gordon, Philippe Parreno - with Zinédine Zidane - France/Iceland - UNK

2005

Beyond Hatred [Au-delà de la haine] - dir. Olivier Meyrou - France - First Run Features

Cindy: The Doll Is Mine - dir. Bertrand Bonello - with Asia Argento - France - UNK [Short film with Argento as photographer Cindy Sherman from the director of Tiresia]

Hell [Enfer, L'] - dir. Danis Tanovic - with Emmanuelle Béart, Karin Viard, Guillaume Canet - France - NULL [Sequel to Tom Tykwer's Heaven, also based on a screenplay by Kieslowski]

Johanna - dir. Kornél Mundruczó - Hungary - Tartan USA

Mary - dir. Abel Ferrara - with Juliette Binoche, Heather Graham, Matthew Modine, Marion Cotillard, Forrest Whitaker - France/Italy/USA - IFC Films

Sun, The - dir. Alexandr Sokurov - Japan/Russia - NULL

Wayward Cloud, The - dir. Tsai Ming-liang - with Lee Kang-sheng - Taiwan/France - IFC Films

What Is It? * - dir. Crispin Glover - with Glover, Fairuza Balk - USA - Self-distributed

2004

36 Quai des Orfèvres - dir. Olivier Marchal - with Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Depardieu, André Dussollier, Roschdy Zem, Valéria Golino - France - Tartan USA [US remake in pre-production]

Consequences of Love, The - dir. Paolo Sorrentino - Italy - NULL

En attendant le déluge - dir. Damien Odoul - with Odoul, Anna Mouglais - France - NULL

Games People Play: New York * - dir. James Ronald Whitney - USA - Self-distributed

Hole in My Heart, A [Häl I mitt hjärta, Ett] - dir. Lukas Moodysson - Sweden - Red Envelope Entertainment

Life Is a Miracle [Zivot je cudo / Vie est un miracle, La] - dir. Emir Kustarica - Serbia/France - NULL

Process - dir. C.S. Leigh - with Béatrice Dalle, Guillaume Depardieu, Leos Carax - France/UK - NULL

Promised Land - dir. Amos Gitai - with Rosamund Pike, Hanna Schygulla, Anne Parillaud - Israel/France/UK - NULL

2003

Clefs du bagnole, Les - dir. Laurent Baffie - with Baffie, Gérard Depardieu, Yvan Attal, Daniel Auteuil, Edouard Baer, Jean-Marc Barr, Jean-Claude Brialy, Guillaume Canet, Antoine de Caunes, Samuel Le Bihan, Vincent Lindon, Thierry Lhermitte, Vincent Perez, Sophie Marceau, Jamel Debbouze - France - NULL

Errance - dir. Damien Odoul - with Laetitia Castel, Benoît Magimel - France - NULL

Inquiétudes - dir. Gilles Bourdos - with Grégoire Colin - France - NULL

Los Angeles Plays Itself * - dir. Thom Andersen - USA - UNK [Tough bid due to copyright infringements]

Nowhere to Go But Up (aka Happy End) - dir. Amos Kollek - with Audrey Tautou, Jennifer Tilly, Justin Theroux - France/USA - UNK

Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1-3, The - dir. Peter Greenaway - with Jordi Mollà, Debbie Harry, Valentina Cervi, Ornella Muti, Franka Potente, Isabella Rossellini, Gaspard Ulliel - Netherlands/UK - NULL [The first three parts of Greenaway's intended sixteen about his alter-ego Tulse Luper]

2002

17 Times Cécile Cassard [Dix-sept fois Cécile Cassard] - dir. Christophe Honoré - with Béatrice Dalle, Romain Duris, Jeanne Balibar - France - NULL

Adolphe - dir. Benoît Jacquot - with Isabelle Adjani, Stanislas Mehrar, Jean Yanne, Romain Duris - France - NULL

Ken Park - dir. Larry Clark, Edward Lachman - with James Ransone, Tiffany Limos, Amanda Plummer - USA/Netherlands/France - NULL

Lilya 4-ever [Lilja 4-ever] - dir. Lukas Moodysson - Sweden - Red Envelope Entertainment

Open Hearts [Elsker dig for evigt] - dir. Anders Thomas Jensen, Susanne Bier - with Mads Mikkelson, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Paprika Steen - Denmark - Newmarket

Ten Minutes Older: The Cello - dir. Bernardo Bertolucci, Claire Denis, Mike Figgis, Jean-Luc Godard, Jirí Menzel, Michael Radford, Volker Schlöndorff, István Szabó - with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Chiara Mastroianni, Dominic West, Alex Descas, Irm Hermann, Daniel Craig - UK/Germany/France - UNK

Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet - dir. Chen Kaige, Victor Erice, Werner Herzog, Jim Jarmusch, Aki Kaurismäki, Spike Lee, Wim Wenders - with Chloë Sevigny, Amber Tamblyn - UK/Spain/Germany/Finland/Netherlands/China - UNK

Under Another Sky [Chemins de l'oeud, Les] - dir. Gaël Morel - with Nicolas Cazalé, Amira Casar - France/Algeria - NULL

Vie nouvelle, La - dir. Philippe Grandrieux - with Anna Mouglais - France - NULL

War in Paris, The [Guerre à Paris, La] - dir. Yolane Zauberman - with Élodie Bouchez, Jérémie Renier, Grégoire Colin, Jean-Pierre Léaud - France - NULL

2001

Agitator - dir. Takashi Miike - with Miike - Japan - UNK

Being Light - dir. Jean-Marc Barr, Pascal Arnold - with Barr, Romain Duris, Élodie Bouchez - France - NULL

Chop Suey * - dir. Peter Weber - with Weber - USA - Zeitgeist [Auto-potrait/documentary about the photographer]

H Story - dir. Nobuhira Suwa - with Béatrice Dalle - Japan - NULL [Japanese remake of Hiroshima mon amour]

Loin - dir. André Téchiné - with Stéphane Rideau - France - NULL

Mortal Transfer [Mortel transfert] - dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix - with Jean-Hughes Anglade - France/Germany

Roberto Succo - dir. Cédric Kahn - with Isild Le Besco - France - NULL

Some Body * - dir. Henry Barrial - USA - Lot 47

Souffle, Le - dir. Damien Odoul - France - NULL

Telets - dir. Alexandr Sokurov - Russia - Facets

Trouble Every Day - dir. Claire Denis - with Vincent Gallo, Béatrice Dalle, Tricia Vessey, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Alex Descas - France - Lot 47

2000

Angels of the Universe [Englar alheimsins]- dir. Friðrik þor Friðriksson - with Baltasar Kormáker and Hilmir Snær Guðnason - Iceland - NULL

Exhibited, The [Udstillede, De] - dir. Jesper Jargil - with Lars von Trier - Denmark - UNK

Fidelity [Fidélité, La] - dir. Andrzej Zulawski - with Sophie Morceau, Pascal Greggory, Guillaume Canet - France - NULL

Girl on the Bridge, The [Fille sur le pont, La] - dir. Patrice Leconte - with Vanessa Paradis, Daniel Auteuil - France/UK - Paramount

Ivansxtc - dir. Bernard Rose - with Danny Huston, Peter Weller, Valéria Golino - UK/USA - NULL

Last Resort - dir. Pawel Pawlikowski - with Paddy Considine - UK - Shooting Gallery

Pandemonium - dir. Julien Temple - with Samantha Morton, Linus Roache, John Hannah, Andy Serkis - UK/USA - USA Films

Possible Worlds - dir. Robert Lepage - with Tilda Swinton, Tom McCamus - Canada - NULL

Pretend I’m Not Here [Faites comme je n'étais pas là] - dir. Olivier Jahan - with Jérémie Renier, Aurore Clément, Sami Bouajila, Emma de Caunes - France - NULL

Selon Matthieu - dir. Xavier Beauvois - with Benoît Magimel, Nathalie Baye - France - NULL

Time for Drunken Horses, A - dir. Bahman Ghobadi - Iran - Shooting Gallery

Too Much Flesh - dir. Jean-Marc Barr - with Barr, Rosanna Arquette, Élodie Bouchez - France - NULL

Boo!

For undisclosed reasons, Warner Independent has pushed the release of Funny Games to next February, instead of the rumored Halloween and Christmas release dates. Comingsoon.net, the IMDb, and Warner Independent's official site all confirm this... even though the trailer was released just a few days ago. This would likely explain why the film didn't show at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, and perhaps the date has been pushed for consideration at next year's Cannes (Haneke won the best director prize for Caché and the Grand Prix for La pianiste). If anything changes further, I'll be sure you keep you posted.

France et la mort

Private Property (Nue propriété) - dir. Joachim Lafosse - 2006 - France/Belgium

A friend of mine and I have a little ongoing gag that we use to sound more clever than saying “well, that’s obvious.” Our go-to is usually, “that’s like saying Isabelle Huppert is playing frigid!” Other staples include “Louis Garrel shows his cock in that film?” or, the less clever of the bunch, “Tilda Swinton is amazing in that film?” Well, Madame Huppert has decided not to throw us a bone with Private Property, a ravishing Franco-Belge production of a warring family and their house. Huppert plays the mother of adult twins, François (Yannick Renier) and Thierry (Jérémie Renier, real life brothers, though not twins). The three live in the house together, which Huppert’s ex-husband (Patrick Descamps) has left to his sons. Huppert wants to sell to open a bed and breakfast with her Flemish boyfriend (Kris Cuppens), but it appears to only be over stubborn Thierry’s dead body. The family clashes, naturally, as the close-to-the-point-of-homoeroticism twins differ in their parental relations. Private Property runs nearly ninety-five minutes, and for a film to please for nearly ninety-three of them, it’s no small feat. It’s especially French, but hardly maudlin. In fact, Huppert makes her Pascale rather endearing. How many films can you mention where you see Huppert ironing clothes?? Or getting fucked in the back of a jeep? Or yelling at her ex-husband? It would seem that she would do the latter quite often, but as I said before, her usual frigidity makes her more of an interior actress than her volatile roles might suggest. The ending of the film is questionable as it relates to the rest of the wonderful film, as it somewhat succumbs to the notion that French films must end in some sort of ambiguous tragedy. Instead of any of the characters paying for the sins of the rest of the family, Private Property concludes with mistaken agony. For a film to not beg me to fast-forward through it, I’m more than pleased (especially lately).

A Few Days in September (Queleques jours en septembre) - dir. Santiago Amigorena - 2006 - France/Italy/Portugal

I don’t know if I’m in a cinematic rut or if watching so many tepid films has turned me sour, but sitting down a watching an entire film without pause has really not thrilled me lately. As stated above, Private Property had me in rapture for its running length; A Few Days in September kept me in my seat as well, albeit for different reasons. I read a stimulating interview with Juliette Binoche, the famed French actress and Oscar winner for The English Patient, in which she discussed the choice of roles in her rather luxurious career. As a forty something and with the respect she commands, she pretty much has the pick of the lot; she’s fluent in many languages, perhaps more beautiful now than she was at twenty, and literally has directors banging at her door. She said in the interview that she chose A Few Days in September because, for once, she was offered a role in a pseudo-action film where the woman held the gun (a damsel in distress, she certainly is not). One could see also the appeal of A Few Days in September as it considers itself filled with historical importance. The film takes place in France and Italy several days before the attacks of 9/11, depicting a newly-unified Europe in the dawn of Al-Quida terrorism. Binoche escorts two youths (Sara Forestier and Tom Riley) around the streets of Paris and Venice in a search for her former business partner (a surprising Nick Nolte), and father and step-father, respectively, of the two, all while being tailed by a neurotic hitman (a French-speaking John Turturro). A Few Days in September is a bizarre failure that somehow manages to captivate while puzzling. With the exception of the attractive Forestier (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer), the acting is particularly bad. Binoche has become an actress of extreme confidence, and it’s strangely admirable that she’s so self-assure when she seems so misplaced here. Turturro’s performance is weirdly uncomfortable, a hitman who phones his analyst at all hours of the day to discuss his interior confusion. And Riley, a Brit, delivers a shaky American accent (one that rivals the horrible casting of Brits Juliet Stevenson and Kevin Bishop as dorky Americans in Ventura Pons’ Food of Love), though he does have wonderful chemistry with Forestier. It came as no surprise to me, when researching the film, that the director, an Argentine working in France, made his directorial debut with this film (he’d previously co-wrote screenplays for Post-coïtum animal triste, Peut-être, and Ni pour, ni contre (bien au contraire)). He has no idea what to do with his actors, gifted as they may be, nor does he exude an subtleties in dealing with any of his characters and their bonds with one another. Ultimately, A Few Days in September feels more self-important than it does actually important, but I’ve got to hand it to Amigorena for making this mess curiously alluring.

You Kill Me - dir. John Dahl - 2007 - USA

Call me crazy, but when Téa Leoni is the strongest facet of your film, I get a little scared. Coming from John Dahl, the underrated director of The Last Seduction and Joy Ride, I expected more. You Kill Me is the sort of film that you “get” without actually seeing it. The film follows Frank (Ben Kingsley), a Polish-heritage hitman working in the family business in Buffalo who happens to have a drinking problem. His uncle (Philip Baker Hall, who looks more like Kingsley’s brother than uncle) spots the problem and sends him to San Francisco to clean up. Frank doesn’t want to stop drinking, but he understands that if he’s not part of the business, he’ll get axed, literally. So, off to San Francisco he goes, working in a funeral home while half-assed attending AA meetings with his sponsor (Luke Wilson). At the funeral home, he meets brutally honest Leoni, whom he falls for. Dahl’s handling of Frank’s alcoholism is lousy; during the credit sequence, we figure out he has a drinking problem by tossing a bottle of vodka ahead of him as he shovels snow, making a swig from the bottle his prize for getting to the sidewalk. In fact, I’m not sure whether it’s the obvious humor or the timing of it that makes You Kill Me fall flat. In an unfunny bit, Wilson says that AA is a great place to pick up men, which causes Kingsley to respond, “Oh, I’m not gay.” “I’m sure I’ll get over it,” is the response, and maybe the line might have worked if Wilson wasn’t on his typical autopilot. I suppose we’re supposed to be amused when Frank finally gets in front of the AA group and admits that he’s a contract killer. I suppose we’re supposed to be amused by all of this, but instead, You Kill Me is sour and silly, which is never a good combination.

Toronto Wrap-Up

I think I forget every year that Toronto comes around that it isn't a competitive festival like Cannes or Venice. Instead, it's a showcase of films (lots of them; this year the fest screened well over 300). Some awards are given out, including the Audience Award which went to Canadian director David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises (which opened on Friday in New York and Los Angeles, and will be going wider later this week), starring Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, and Vincent Cassel. Annoyingly, Guy Maddin's latest, My Winnipeg, won the best Canadian feature. I'm still puzzled by Maddin's appeal, which I thought diminished shortly after all the film students had their fill with The Saddest Music in the World a few years ago... but Maddin keeps on trucking. The North American film critics have stood by the opinion that the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men is probably their best since Fargo, which gives a lot of hope for its potential Oscar campaign. Could a best picture win for the Coen brothers make us forgive the Oscars for Crash? That's a wallop, so we'll keep our eyes open.

For a change of pace

I don't usually focus on music here on this blog unless it relates directing to cinema, but this year, I made a decision to, if not follow music more closely, at least create a best of the year list from my limited range of listening. I seem to spend so much time with film that I rarely get the chance to actively seek out the latest bands and such. Also, my musical appreciation is not the most broad (by choice) - so, with the exception of the occasional pop album I might throw on the list (remember, Kylie Minogue is supposed to have a new album this year!), my choices this year will likely be as expected by those who know me. For those who don't, here's a rundown of some of the albums that will likely take position come December.

PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Montag - Going Places
Feist - The Reminder
M.I.A. - Kala
Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block
Interpol - Our Love to Admire
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Justice - Cross

There were a number of albums that excited me earlier in the year that have fallen off my playlist: notably Modest Mouse's latest, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. And, as pop tends to do, Hilary Duff's Dignity died shortly after impact (for those not convinced, Duff's album was as close to a Kylie record that anyone has made... which is a compliment). PJ Harvey seems the only sure-bet for making the list, but I thought I'd throw the others out there as well.

CORRECTION: Bad news: it looks as though Kylie's new album won't hit the shelves until February 2008. Imagine a sad face emoticon here.

Harvest Moon

Away from Her - dir. Sarah Polley - 2006 - Canada

When embarking on making a film that focuses on people over the age of 50 (not counting Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, or Susan Sarandon films), an age group often pushed into supporting roles, the word “mature” would almost be essential in critique. Actress Sarah Polley, here directing her first feature film, is in her 20s (as most people reviewing the film will point out) and could have been wholly unfit to create a film about a married couple, together for nearly forty-five years, dealing with the heartbreak of Alzheimer’s. That she chose Away from Her, based on a short story by Alice Munro entitled “The Bear Came over the Mountain,” to be her first film would seemingly require a closer look to determine whether or not “mature” could both describe the film and its subjects.

Thankfully, for us, Polley’s direction is so assured that a closer look would be unnecessary. She handles the movie-of-the-week premise of painful disease and makes Away from Her far more complex. Away from Her is, instead, a film about memory, not losing it but dwelling upon it. As Fiona, Julie Christie is fantastic, a smart woman, living with her husband Grant (Gordon Pinset). As her memory begins to leave her, she makes the decision to go to a home, causing distress and anxiety in her husband, whom she’s never spent more than a month apart in their forty-four years of marriage. When the film chooses to follow the struggle of Grant instead of the pain of Fiona, one might assume a cop-out; however, it’s in this decision that makes Away from Her a poetic piece of cinema and not a Miramax-produced biopic like the awful Iris with Kate Winslet and Judi Dench.

What Polley truly has working for her is that she seems hardly the sentimentalist. The emotions in the film are both authentic and grounded, and the course of events never feels dramatically-fueled, but instead richly realized and naturalistic. The film is cut between Fiona’s attachment to a fellow patient and the memories washing away of her husband and Grant’s pleasing with the patient’s wife (Olympia Dukakis) to allow Fiona and Dukakis’ husband to be together. The answers are never easy, and Polley has the advantage of working with seasoned actors who can pull it off. Though the final Vertigo moment where Fiona recognizes Grant after many failed attempts and the dreadful coffee-shop wench song that closes the film ring loudly as mistakes in an otherwise flawless film, Away from Her may stand as Polley’s finest achievement so far in her career, which is saying a lot coming from someone who’s admired her since she was a pre-teen in Exotica by Atom Egoyan (who also serves as producer here).

Caution, maybe not...

Ang Lee's Lust, Caution has taken the top prize at this year's Venice Film Festival, just three years after he won the top prize for Brokeback Mountain. Brian de Palma won the best director prize for Redacted, and Todd Haynes' I'm Not There and Abdellatif Kechiche's La Graine et le mulet. Babel co-stars Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt took the acting prizes for I'm Not There and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, respectively. You can find the rest of the award winners here at IndieWire.

Yes, There Will Be Blood

Just because I'm obsessed with her, I might as well mention that Béatrice Dalle's new film, À l'intérieur, is having its North American premiere at Toronto during the festival's run. The film is directed by first-timers Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, and is showing in the festival's Midnight Madness program. The film also stars Alysson Paradis, sister of Vanessa, and Nicolas Duvauchelle, husband of Ludivine Sagnier. So if Trouble Every Day wasn't enough blood and Dalle for you, The Weinstein Company will release this early next year.

Despair and the glory of Tilda Swinton

Stephanie Daley - dir. Hilary Brougher - 2006 - USA

I suppose everyone has those actors that will make them watch the dumbest shit just because of their presence. As you probably already know, Parker Posey is one of them (and, yes, I did see Josie and the Pussycats, thank you); well, Tilda Swinton is another. Here, Swinton stars as forensic psychologist with a little bun in her oven. She’s asked to take on the case of the town’s infamous Ski Mom, or the title character played by Amber Tamblyn, who threw her baby in the dumpster after giving birth at three months. The film has a very Atom Egoyan feel, particularly in its wintery setting, reminiscent of The Sweet Hereafter, and like The Sweet Hereafter, the film unfolds in a non-linear fashion, with Swinton and Tamblyn’s sessions being the backbone of the film. As usual, Swinton is phenomenal, an actress who always gives you more than you think is expected of her, from simple glances to astonishing reactions and gestures. She also has this icy beauty about her that makes it quite difficult to take your eyes off. Though she played the Snow Queen in that shitty Chronicles of Narnia film, Swinton still embodies a rich humanity that such “respected” actress (like Nicole Kidman or Jodie Foster, for example) could barely muster. Tamblyn is a surprising match to Swinton, in case you’re wondering; she’s far more gifted an actress than, say, Ellen Page or Evan Rachel Wood. Regrettably, Stephanie Daley falls for the shitty Perfect Murder “meat thermometer motif” (which my father coined, in reference to that dreadful remake of Dial M for Murder, where, in one scene, a seemingly useless meat thermometer is placed annoying in center frame and later used as a murder weapon). Thankfully, it’s subtle ironies and coincidences resonate to a certain level that’s beautifully unexpected.

Funny Ha Ha - dir. Andrew Bujalski - 2002 - USA

Though I hate the genre-label “mumblecore” that’s been coined for Bujalski’s breed of Cassavetes/Woody Allen Jr. cinema, I can safely say that he’s probably one of the most talented young filmmakers working in America today. Funny Ha Ha, his first film, falls slight of his later Mutual Appreciation, which is as close to perfection as any film I’ve seen in the past year, but not grudgingly so. As the lead Marnie (probably not a coincidental nod to Hitchcock), Kate Dollenmayer is hypnotic, a girl both awkward and charming in her own right. Though Bujalski’s characters lives take place at the same time as those of Chicago’s Joe Swanberg (Kissing on the Mouth and LOL), his films exceed Swanberg’s by acknowledging the humor of the characters’ overwhelming despair. Whereas Swanberg is whiney, Bujalski is celebratory in the numbing mind state of the post-collegiate. Every evening is a box of mystery and potential excitement, wandering around the streets of Boston, stumbling across a party of some guys you think are friends of your other friend’s girlfriend, and waking up, miserable, regretful. Watching Bujalski’s films unfold is like a small revelation, finding beauty in the confused path of his characters and allowing their misery to transpire, if only because it makes for brilliant humanity and, sometimes, exquisite comedy.

The Boss of It All (Direktøren for det hele) - dir. Lars Von Trier - 2006 - Denmark/Sweden/Iceland

Office comedies aren’t the hardest to come by, and if you’re like most people I know, you’ll probably judge any one you see on either Office Space or the US Office (if you do either, we probably don’t see eye-to-eye). Not surprisingly, I have a closer affinity to the BBC Office and that Toni Collette/Parker Posey film Clockwatchers, but regardless, an office comedy isn’t simply that when it’s coming from Lars von Trier. I may reprimand him for abandoning his USA Trilogy for this, but I can’t complain too much when he provides me with a film like The Boss of It All. Perpetual “nice-guy” Ravn (Peter Gantzler) hires inept actor Kristoffer (Jens Albinus) to pose as the boss of the law firm he secretly owns to push the blame of the company’s selling off on someone else. Kristoffer, unaware of what’s really going on, serves as the so-called “boss of it all,” interacting with the core members of the staff, clueless to who exactly he’s supposed to be. The film is hilariously high-concept, but the narrator (voiced by Von Trier himself) allows the questionably sincere apology at the end of the film: “Sorry if you expected more or any less…” I think it’s gotten to the point that even when Von Trier isn’t on top of his game (Manderlay), I will still revel devilishly in his sadism. Iben Hjejle (High Fidelity, Mifune), as a woman convinced she can cure “the boss of it all” of his false homosexuality, and Jean-Marc Barr (Dogville, Don’t Let Me Die on a Sunday), as a team member who apparently doesn’t know how to speak Danish, are both wonderful in supporting roles.

Princesas - dir. Fernando León de Aranoa - 2005 - Spain

Other than maybe Pedro Almodóvar, melodrama is not something that contemporary filmmakers can pull off. In Princesas, we get the story of a down-on-her-luck hooker Caye (the phenomenal Candela Peña, of All About My Mother), who’s saving up her money to get a new pair of tits, perhaps in order to compete with the growing number of illegal immigrants selling their ass for half as much. Though she keeps it a secret from her fellow Spanish-bred whores, Caye befriends South American hooker Zulema (Micaela Nevárez), a woman saving up money to bring her mother and young son to Spain. What’s refreshing about Princesas is that it’s what I like to call a sunshine melodrama. The majority of the film takes place during the day, with the sun shining over the area where all the hookers convene. Certainly, awful things happen, but the director handles them lightly, shying away from gratuitous violence and close-up agony. The two women cry a lot, but they do so in a way that makes you wonder if what’s coming over them isn’t just a mixture of emotions and overwhelming confusion. What also makes Princesas so lovely is that the major benefactor in Caye’s dejection (her mobile going off at the most inopportune times) could be completely avoided by one small factor: if she learned how to put her fucking cell-phone on silent. We allow this error to slide, because it provides for the stunning despair of our two exceptional actresses.

Fine Dining

The Last Supper - dir. Stacy Title - 1995 - USA

File this one under “Films You Barely Remember Seeing 10 Years Ago.” I’m not sure what inspired me to revisit The Last Supper, but as I’m thinking of it now, I’m not sure what possessed me to find it in the first place. Perhaps Roger Ebert liked it, or maybe it just looked lonely in the section Blockbuster designated for their single-copy VHS, which is also where I stumbled upon Welcome to the Dollhouse and Freeway. Thus, I visited The Last Supper tonight for nostalgia, I suppose, not that I had a fondness for it the size of Dollhouse or Freeway. The premise was simple and dark, which I liked: five liberal grad students decide to invite right-wingers to Sunday dinner in order to bicker and then poison their guests. Sounds appealing, no? I guess what I didn’t remember was that the film relied entirely on its own, albeit clever, idea. How are intellectual liberals supposed to fight against the powers that oppress them and the world?

The premise is absurd, naturally, but the film is surprisingly gristly enough for thought. It could quite easily fallen into the case of “preaching to their choir,” for how many pro-lifers really would find this a good Friday evening view? Yet when our characters learn the lesson we’re so anxiously anticipating, things don’t end up quite as easy as we may have thought. Perhaps, now, watching it again after just about everyone else has forgotten, it’d be easier to see The Last Supper as an HBO program, as the realms of cinema seem to pale in comparison to the station’s phenomenal programming. The film itself is serialized, as the students invite one bullheaded Republican after another to the dinner feast, and lacks a certain timing (not in its humor) that would have proven far more beneficial to its purpose. Most of the characters exist only as loose sketches of what we all know to be grad students. Courtney B. Vance is the stern black man studying political science. Ron Eldard is the obnoxiously pussy trust fund baby on his way to law school. Jonathan Penner is the art student, who, on more than one occasion, takes the opportunity to show off his divergently sculpted torso. Annabeth Gish is the girly-girl, and Cameron Diaz (easily the strongest of the bunch) is the smart and sexy one. Any college student could probably say they’ve had class with all five before, but seldom could say they “knew” them. I’m not sure the director or the writer knows them any better than a bystander classmate (aside from their predictably liberal leanings)… which leads into my thoughts that The Last Supper would make for a much juicier television program than a film.

I may allow The Last Supper to start a trend in my film viewing, a revisit of those films that so touched me as a preteen on my way to high school. A recent rental of All over Me proved exceptionally beneficial to this feeling of nostalgia that I’m, not craving but, looking toward. Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to writing about that film, but there’s always tomorrow (or next month). I may not get anything out of this non-assignment other than a rekindling of passed feelings, but perhaps the formation of a timeline, as related to my own film history (you can scroll back to sometime last year to see my list of the 100 movies that shaped my appreciation for the art of film). Anyway, I think I’m going to pitch the idea to HBO… and you’ll say you knew me when.

Hell on Earth

I would love to tell you whether Rob Zombie’s sort-of remake of John Carpenter’s horror classic Halloween was worth your time and money. I’d also love to tell you that I had a fun time watching it. But, this just isn’t the case. Instead, I got to endure my all-time worst theatre experience and, for the first time, actually asked for my money back. Rumor has it: the film blows, but would I know? Nope. Such rude distractions of stupid teenagers voicing, at a high volume, what they thought of what was transpiring onscreen and a real-life embodiment of Regina Hall’s Shakespeare in Love death scene in the first Scary Movie (unfortunately without the death) kept me from even processing what little I saw in front of me. Aesthetically, it’s exactly what you’d expect from a Rob Zombie remake; it’s smutty, greasy, and vulgar: a trailer-trash remake of a rather classy and scary original. But that’s all I can say.

I probably should be blaming myself for this fiasco, for I chose seeing a gore-fest on opening night at 9:30 pm at the teenyboppers’ mall instead of seeing Once with a bunch of Jewish old ladies on caffeine at the Landmark theatre. Neither sounded pleasing, but I made my decision, and it was the wrong one. So, I ask now, do people actually go to the theatre to see films any more? Or has the theatre-going experience turned into a $9-entry fee to your own fucking living room? I thought of telling the fifteen-year-old brats behind me that the Weinstein Company would be calling them later for work on the DVD commentary, but I decided a more concise “shut the fuck up” would fare better. Sometimes, I’ve found that the theatre experience can be a wonderful one, all with interruptions. When I saw A History of Violence, the film’s quieter moments were laughably offset by the roaring praise music of The Gospel, which was showing in the big theatre. When I saw Grindhouse, the other theatre patrons seemed to be enjoying the film as much as I was (except for the guy who didn’t get the memo that Planet Terror was only half of the film), and it actually felt nice. Now I wasn’t expecting church silence when going into Halloween, but it became my grudge that expecting common decency was a huge mistake.

I suppose I’m kind of glad that I avoided the crowds with both Neil Jordan’s The Brave One and Paul Greengrass’ The Bourne Ultimatum, two films I would have paid to see if I weren’t assigned to review them before their release. Sure, The Bourne Ultimatum was loud enough in parts that I might not have noticed a couple behind me asking each other who the bad guy was. But still. I guess I’ve learned my lesson the hard way… and I thought going to the DMV was tedious.