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A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs. Director John Krokidas Stars Daniel Radcliffe Dane DeHaan Michael C. Hall. 2. Christopher and His Kind. 2011 1h 30m TV-14.
- Overview
- European cinema
- Australia, New Zealand, and Canada
- Mexico
At the end of the 20th century, the notion of national cinemas had become problematic in many of the traditional film cultures of western Europe. This is not to say that national cinemas had ceased to exist—the situation of France would contradict such an assertion—but that the trends toward international coproduction and toward filmmakers and performers working in different countries and languages had reached a stage where coherent film movements identified with a particular national culture, such as Italian Neorealism, the French New Wave, or New German Cinema, had become difficult to identify or sustain. A film such as Heaven (2002), cowritten by the Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski, with Tom Tykwer from Germany as director, set in Italy and spoken in Italian and English by American and Australian lead actors, seemed the rule rather than the exception. Another example is provided by the German-born director Michael Haneke, whose movies included the Austrian Der siebente Kontinent (1989; The Seventh Continent), the French and German La pianiste (2001: The Piano Teacher), the French Caché (2005), the German Das weisse band: Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009; The White Ribbon), and the French-language Amour (2012). French director Michel Gondry, known in France for La science des rêves (2006; The Science of Sleep), shared a writing Oscar for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), his best-known movie, and also directed the comedies Be Kind Rewind (2008) and The Green Hornet (2011). Even as many countries produced substantial numbers of films, the idea of nationality was exemplified more by singular individuals than by wider groupings.
Among the outstanding figures of European cinema were Pedro Almodóvar of Spain, Manoel de Oliveira of Portugal, Théo Angelopoulos of Greece, Aki Kaurismäki of Finland, and Nanni Moretti of Italy. Almodóvar, who had broken sexual taboos in his early work, entered a mature period of great human subtlety and complexity in the 1990s and 2000s with such works as La flor de mi secreto (1995; The Flower of My Secret), Carne trémula (1997; Live Flesh), Todo sobre mi madre (1999; All About My Mother), Habla con ella (2002; Talk to Her), La mala educación (2004; Bad Education), Volver (2006), La piel que habito (2011; The Skin I Live In), Julieta (2016), and Dolor y gloria (2019; Pain and Glory). Other Spanish filmmakers included Fernando León de Aranoa, director of Los lunes al sol (2002; Mondays in the Sun) and A Perfect Day (2015).
Oliveira—who was born in 1908, made his first films in the 1930s, and was artistically restricted for years by the Portuguese dictatorship—continued to direct until his death at age 106. He had perhaps his most productive period after 1990 with such films as Vale Abraão (1993; Abraham’s Valley) and Viagem ao princípio do mundo (1997; Voyage to the Beginning of the World), the latter starring Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni in his last screen role. Oliveira’s later films included Um filme falado (2003; A Talking Picture), Singularidades de uma rapariga loura (2009; Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl), and O Gebo e a sombra (2012; Gebo and the Shadow).
Angelopoulos, a master of Greek cinema since his first feature film in 1970, made several ambitious works fusing the personal and the historical: To Vlemma tou Odyssea (1995; Ulysses’ Gaze), Mia aeoniotita ke mia mera (1998; Eternity and a Day), and I skoni tou hronou (2008; The Dust of Time). Kaurismäki, one of Europe’s most cosmopolitan filmmakers, returned to Finnish themes in Kauas pilvet karkaavat (1996; Drifting Clouds), Mies vailla menneisyyttä (2002; The Man Without a Past), Laitakaupungin valot (2006; Lights in the Dusk), and Toivon tuolla puolen (2017; The Other Side of Hope). Moretti became a popular figure in Italy by writing, directing, and performing in his own films, of which Caro diario (1993; Dear Diary), La stanza del figlio (2001; The Son’s Room), and Mia madre (2015); My Mother) were exemplary.
At the end of the 20th century, the notion of national cinemas had become problematic in many of the traditional film cultures of western Europe. This is not to say that national cinemas had ceased to exist—the situation of France would contradict such an assertion—but that the trends toward international coproduction and toward filmmakers and performers working in different countries and languages had reached a stage where coherent film movements identified with a particular national culture, such as Italian Neorealism, the French New Wave, or New German Cinema, had become difficult to identify or sustain. A film such as Heaven (2002), cowritten by the Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski, with Tom Tykwer from Germany as director, set in Italy and spoken in Italian and English by American and Australian lead actors, seemed the rule rather than the exception. Another example is provided by the German-born director Michael Haneke, whose movies included the Austrian Der siebente Kontinent (1989; The Seventh Continent), the French and German La pianiste (2001: The Piano Teacher), the French Caché (2005), the German Das weisse band: Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009; The White Ribbon), and the French-language Amour (2012). French director Michel Gondry, known in France for La science des rêves (2006; The Science of Sleep), shared a writing Oscar for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), his best-known movie, and also directed the comedies Be Kind Rewind (2008) and The Green Hornet (2011). Even as many countries produced substantial numbers of films, the idea of nationality was exemplified more by singular individuals than by wider groupings.
Among the outstanding figures of European cinema were Pedro Almodóvar of Spain, Manoel de Oliveira of Portugal, Théo Angelopoulos of Greece, Aki Kaurismäki of Finland, and Nanni Moretti of Italy. Almodóvar, who had broken sexual taboos in his early work, entered a mature period of great human subtlety and complexity in the 1990s and 2000s with such works as La flor de mi secreto (1995; The Flower of My Secret), Carne trémula (1997; Live Flesh), Todo sobre mi madre (1999; All About My Mother), Habla con ella (2002; Talk to Her), La mala educación (2004; Bad Education), Volver (2006), La piel que habito (2011; The Skin I Live In), Julieta (2016), and Dolor y gloria (2019; Pain and Glory). Other Spanish filmmakers included Fernando León de Aranoa, director of Los lunes al sol (2002; Mondays in the Sun) and A Perfect Day (2015).
Oliveira—who was born in 1908, made his first films in the 1930s, and was artistically restricted for years by the Portuguese dictatorship—continued to direct until his death at age 106. He had perhaps his most productive period after 1990 with such films as Vale Abraão (1993; Abraham’s Valley) and Viagem ao princípio do mundo (1997; Voyage to the Beginning of the World), the latter starring Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni in his last screen role. Oliveira’s later films included Um filme falado (2003; A Talking Picture), Singularidades de uma rapariga loura (2009; Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl), and O Gebo e a sombra (2012; Gebo and the Shadow).
Angelopoulos, a master of Greek cinema since his first feature film in 1970, made several ambitious works fusing the personal and the historical: To Vlemma tou Odyssea (1995; Ulysses’ Gaze), Mia aeoniotita ke mia mera (1998; Eternity and a Day), and I skoni tou hronou (2008; The Dust of Time). Kaurismäki, one of Europe’s most cosmopolitan filmmakers, returned to Finnish themes in Kauas pilvet karkaavat (1996; Drifting Clouds), Mies vailla menneisyyttä (2002; The Man Without a Past), Laitakaupungin valot (2006; Lights in the Dusk), and Toivon tuolla puolen (2017; The Other Side of Hope). Moretti became a popular figure in Italy by writing, directing, and performing in his own films, of which Caro diario (1993; Dear Diary), La stanza del figlio (2001; The Son’s Room), and Mia madre (2015); My Mother) were exemplary.
In the late 20th century it sometimes seemed that Australian and New Zealand filmmakers were more active in Hollywood than in their home countries. Many Hollywood blockbusters, with leading actors such as Mel Gibson and prominent directors such as Phillip Noyce, had a strong Australian influence. The most prominent figure to remain outside the Hollywood orbit was Jane Campion, born in New Zealand and based in Australia, whose films included Sweetie (1989), An Angel at My Table (1990), The Piano (1993), The Portrait of a Lady (1996), and Holy Smoke (1999). In New Zealand Peter Jackson made his mark with the horror comedies Bad Taste (1987), Meet the Feebles (1990), Braindead (1992; released in the United States as Dead Alive), and The Frighteners (1996), along with an impressive art film about a 1950s murder case, Heavenly Creatures (1994). He directed one of the most extensive projects in Hollywood’s history, an adaptation of the classic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings by English author J.R.R. Tolkien. All three parts of Tolkien’s trilogy were shot at the same time in New Zealand and later released as The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003). He also cowrote and directed a remake of King Kong (2005).
There were some outstanding Australian filmmakers in the 21st century. Warwick Thornton directed Samson & Delilah (2009) and Sweet Country (2017), both dramas about Aboriginal Australians living in modern Australia. The actress Jennifer Kent’s directorial debut was the popular horror film The Babadook (2014). New Zealand films of note included Niki Caro’s Whale Rider (2002), Brad McGann’s In My Father’s Den (2004), and Roger Donaldson’s The World’s Fastest Indian (2005). Actor-turned-director Taika Waititi found success with Eagle vs Shark (2007), Boy (2010), Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), and Jojo Rabbit (2019).
The situation was the same for English-language filmmakers in Canada, although Hollywood’s lure affected Canadian performers more than directors. Canadian filmmakers of note included Atom Egoyan, whose work in the 1990s and early 21st century included The Adjuster (1991), Exotica (1994), The Sweet Hereafter (1997), Felicia’s Journey (1999), Ararat (2002), and Chloe (2009), and David Cronenberg, who in the same period made Naked Lunch (1991), M. Butterfly (1993), Crash (1996), eXistenZ (1999), Spider (2002), A History of Violence (2005), Eastern Promises (2007), A Dangerous Method (2011), Cosmopolis (2012), and Maps to the Stars (2014).
Canadian filmmakers who emerged in the 21st century included Michael Dowse, director of such comedies as It’s All Gone Pete Tong (2004), What If (2013), Stuber (2019), and Coffee & Kareem (2020). Filmmaking in Quebec, which had gone through a strong period in the 1970s and ’80s, made a lesser impression in the 1990s. Denys Arcand, a key figure of the earlier period with such works as Le Déclin de l’empire américain (1986; The Decline of the American Empire) and Jésus de Montréal (1989; Jesus of Montreal), made Love and Human Remains (1993) and Stardom (2000) in English. His Les Invasions barbares (2003; The Barbarian Invasions) won an Academy Award for best foreign-language film. He went on to direct L’Âge des ténèbres (2007; Days of Darkness), Le Règne de la beauté (2014; An Eye for Beauty), and La Chute de l’empire américain (2018; The Fall of the American Empire). Xavier Dolan arrived on the scene with J’Ai tué ma mère (2009; I Killed My Mother) and Les Amours imagininaires (2010; Heartbeats) and continued with, among others, Laurence Anyways (2012), Mommy (2014), the English-language The Death & Life of John F. Donovan (2019), and Matthias et Maxime (2019; Matthias & Maxime).
Mexican cinema was representative of many national film cultures that had, as it were, one foot in its own language and film traditions and the other connected to influences from and opportunities in Hollywood. The actor Alfonso Arau directed a highly popular film based on a novel written by his wife, Laura Esquivel, Como agua para chocolate (1992;...
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French cinema of the occupation and postwar era produced many fine films ( Marcel Carné ’s Les Enfants du paradis [ The Children of Paradise ], 1945; Jean Cocteau ’s La Belle et la bête [ Beauty and the Beast ], 1946; René Clément’s Jeux interdits [ Forbidden Games ], 1952; Jacques Becker’s Casque d’or [ Golden Helmet ], 1952 ...
Following the switch to talking movies c. 1926/1927, many classic films were remade in the 1930s (and later). These include Alice In Wonderland (1933), Cleopatra (1934), and The Prisoner of Zenda (1937).
In this remarkable decade, French cinema was the envy of the world, and with so many iconic films to choose from it's hard to know where to begin. Here are some of the highlights of French cinema from the 1930s. For a more complete list consult our best films index and complete films index.
A film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City. 10. 3. The Women. A study of the lives and romantic entanglements of various interconnected women. 10. 4. The Blue Angel. 90 Metascore.
Sep 13, 2020 · Les Diaboliques, a masterfully made thriller which seemed to have a direct influence on Hitchcock’s late 50’s shift to push himself to a whole new level of intrigue was moody, dark, tense and ...
