Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2000
92 films · 92 reviews
A wonderful black comedy.
(Country: Iceland; Year: 2000; Director: Baltasar Kormákur; Writer: Hallgrímur Helgason, Baltasar Kormákur; Stars: Victoria Abril, Hilmir Snaer Gudnason, Hanna Maria Karlsdottir, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Baltasar Kormakur)
Although absurd and gruesome, this Thai film has a wicked sense of humour.
(Country: Thailand; Year: 1999; Director: Pen-ek Ratanaruang; Writer: Pen-ek Ratanaruang; Stars: Lalita Panyopas, Tasanawalai Ongartittichai, Black Phomtong, Sritao, Arun Wannardbodeewong)
It is the journey, not the arrival, that matters.
(Country: UK Norway; Year: 2000; Director: Hans Petter Moland; Writer: Hans Petter Moland, Kristin Amundsen; Stars: Stellan Skarsgard, Lena Headey, Ian Hart, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Hethrington, Louise Goodall)
The quality of the filming is not always superb but the scale and emptiness of the landscape is stunning all the same and the personal interviews remain compulsive viewing.
(Country: Denmark; Year: 1999; Director: Jon Bang Carlsen; Writer: Jon Bang Carlsen)
This film is - sorry, but it has to be said - the dog's bollocks.
(Country: Mexico; Year: 1999; Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu; Writer: Guillermo Arriaga Jordan; Stars: Emilio Echevarria, Gael Garcia Bernal, Goya Toledo, Alvaro Guerrero, Vanessa Bauche, Jorge Salinas, Rodrigo Murray Prisant)
Scenes of torture may turn the stomach, but underlying them is a greater psychological horror.
(Country: Japan; Year: 1999; Director: Miike Takashi; Writer: Daisuke Tengan, based on a story by Ryu Murakami; Stars: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Miyuki Matsuda, Renji Ishibashi, Tetsu Sawaki, Jun Kunimura)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2000; Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky; Writer: Stefan Ruzowitzky; Stars: Franka Potente, Anna Loos, Sebastian Blomberg)
Lee Hall's multi-faceted script manages to open up the story behind the strike, touches on sexuality and expression through art while appearing to be just telling a damn good story.
(Country: UK; Year: 1999; Director: Stephen Daldry; Writer: Lee Hall; Stars: Julie Walters, Gary Lewis, Jamie Bell, Jamie Draven, Jean Heywood, Stuart Wells, Matthew Thomas)
The film-makers deserve credit for even getting the film made at all.
(Country: USA; Year: 1999; Director: Jem Cohen and Peter Sillen; Stars: Benjamin Smoke, Tim Campion, Brian Halloran, Coleman Lewis, Bill Taft)
A fun and enjoyable kids' romp which will certainly keep both youngsters and their parents amused.
(Country: Belgium; Year: 1999; Director: Filip Van Neyghem; Writer: Rudi Van Den Bossche, based on the book by Marc de Bal; Stars: Joren Seldeslachts, Melissa Gorduyn, Mattias Meersmans, Saskia Aelen, Benny Claessens, Warre Borgmans, Els Olaerts, Chris Lomme, Mieke Verheyden, Natalie Meskens)
A funny and attention grabbing portrait of a unique filmmaker.
(Country: UK/USA; Year: 1999; Director: Kevin Macdonald; Stars: Errol Morris, Phillip Glass, Werner Herzog)
(Country: USA; Year: 2000; Director: Sarah Price)
The film is a kind of torture.
(Country: US; Year: 1999; Director: Miguel Arteta; Writer: Mike White; Stars: Mike White, Chris Weitz, Lupe Ontiveros, Beth Colt, Paul Weitz, Maya Rudolph, Mary Wigmore, Paul Sand, Gino Buccola, Annette Murphy, Glory Simon)
As usual, Haneke never lets us forget the artifice of what we are watching.
(Country: France; Year: 2000; Director: Michael Haneke; Writer: Michael Haneke; Stars: Juliette Binoche, Thierry Neuvic, Luminata Gheorghui, Ona Lu Yenke, Helene Diarra)
(Country: UK; Year: 2000; Director: Elliot Hegarty; Writer: Elliot Hegarty; Stars: Ciaran McMenamin, Rick Warden, John Bowe, Simon Sherlock, Georgia Mackenzie, Kay D'Arcy, Patrick Duggan, Tony Bluto, Norman Rodway, Jim Barclay, Paul O'Grady)
So knowingly bad that it transcends naffness and instead attains a perverse brilliance.
(Country: Australia; Year: 2000; Director: Kimble Rendall; Writer: Dave Warner; Stars: Molly Ringwald, Kylie Minogue, Jessica Napier, Simon Bossell, Sarah Kants, Geoff Revell, Frank Roberts, Sam Lewis, Stephen Curry)
Singer's documentary is more a tribute to his friends.
(Country: USA; Year: 2000; Director: Marc Singer; Stars: Marc Singer)
Bjork demonstrates an intuitive talent for acting that breaks your heart.
(Country: Denmark/Sweden; Year: 2000; Director: Lars von Trier; Writer: Lars von Trier; Stars: Bjork, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Peter Stormare, Cara Seymour, Jean-Marc Barr)
A fascinating meditation on the fantastique.
(Country: France; Year: 2000; Director: Lionel Delplanque; Writer: Annabelle Perrichon, Celine Breuil-Japy, Pierre Alain Lods; Stars: Clotilde Courau, Clement Sibony, Alexia Stresi, Vincent Lecoeur, Maud Buquet)
In dwelling on the incidentals, we do get a sense of walking in Van Der Keuken's footsteps; but it also weakens the film.
(Country: France / Netherlands; Year: 2000; Director: Johan van der Keuken; Writer: Johan Van Der Keuken)
An effective, worthwhile film.
(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2000; Director: Karim Traida; Writer: Karim Traida; Stars: Sid Ahmed Agoumi, Mireille Perrier, Jaap Spijkers, Monic Hendrickx, Mahmoub Benyacoub, Rabah Loucif, Said Bouskra, Karim Traida)
A modest, unpretentious film whose heartfelt humanism shines through.
(Country: Iran; Year: 2000; Director: Hassan Yektapanah; Writer: Hassan Yektapanah; Stars: Jalil Nazari, Mahmoud Behraznia, Rashid Akbari)
Road movies are about roads and roads can be long and tiring.
(Country: France; Year: 1999; Director: Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau; Writer: Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau; Stars: Sami Bouajila, Patachou, Ariane Ascaride, Pierre-Loup Rajot, Charly Seergue, Maurice Benichou)
The earrings are an infuriatingly over-used plot device, with each reappearance becoming increasingly predictable.
(Country: France/Italy; Year: 1953; Director: Max Ophuls; Writer: Marcel Achard, Max Ophuls, Annette Wademant, based on the novel by Louise de Vilmorin; Stars: Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, Vittorio De Sica, Jean Debucourt, Jean Galland, Mireille Perrey, Paul Azaïs, Josselin, Hubert Noël, Lia Di Leo, Madeleine Barbulée)
An intriguing film, right up to the end.
(Country: US; Year: 2000; Director: Marc Forster; Writer: Adam Forgash, Catherine Lloyd Burns, Marc Forster; Stars: Radha Mitchell, Megan Mullally, Catherine Lloyd Burns, Jacqueline Heinze, Courtney Watkins, Matt Malloy, Mark Boone Junior, Blake Rossi, Justin Louis, Michele Hicks, Alan Ruck)
A laugh a minute
(Country: USA; Year: 1999; Director: Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato; Stars: Tammy Faye Bakker, Roe Messner, Jim Bakker, Rev. Mel White, Rupaul Charles)
As a short history of a relationship, it has an honesty that cuts through convention.
(Country: France; Year: 1999; Director: Marion Vernoux; Writer: Santiago Amigorena; Stars: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Patrick Dell'Isola, Sergi Lopez and Florence Thomassin)
The music, a sensitive combination of upbeat local music and a subtle score, helps keep a lively pulse to the slow, sympathetic and non-invasive camerawork.
(Country: Brazil; Year: 2000; Director: Andrucha Waddington; Writer: Elena Soarez; Stars: Regina Case, Lima Duarte, Stenio Garcia, Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos, Nilda Spencer)
Unremarkable star-vehicle.
(Country: USA; Year: 1947; Director: Max Ophuls; Stars: Rita Corday, Douglas Fairbanks Jnr, Maria Montez, Nigel Bruce and Milton Owen)
Gloriously dark.
(Country: France; Year: 1999; Director: Philippe Harel; Writer: Philippe Harel, Michel Houellebecq; Stars: Philippe Harel, Jose Garcia, Catherine Mouchet, Cecile Reigher, Philippe Agael, Philippe Bianco)
Bergman's understanding of women has always been his forte, never more so than here.
(Country: Sweden; Year: 2000; Director: Liv Ullmann; Writer: Ingmar Bergman; Stars: Lena Endre, Erland Josephson, Krister Henriksson, Thomas Hanzon, Michelle Gylemo, Juni Dahr, Phillip Zanden, Therese Brunnander, Marie Richardson, Stina Ekblad)
Many questions about the school and the women's wrestling scene remain unanswered.
(Country: UK; Year: 2000; Director: Kim Longinotto, Jano Williams)
This is a film that is made like a documentary, intentionally spontaneous and unformed.
(Country: USA; Year: 2000; Director: David Gordon Green; Writer: David Gordon Green; Stars: Candace Evanofski, Donald Holden, Curtis Cotton III, Eddie Rouse, Damian Jewan Lee, Rachael Handy, Paul Schneider)
A journey to places you'd never go, to see things you'd never expect to find.
(Country: France; Year: 2000; Director: Agnes Varda; Writer: Agnes Varda)
Rodriguez has an intensity Method actors flaunted in the Fifties.
(Country: USA; Year: 2000; Director: Karyn Kusama; Writer: Karyn Kusama; Stars: Michelle Rodriguez, Jaime Tirelli, Paul Calderon, Santiago Douglas, Ray Santiago, Víctor Sierra, Elisa Bocanegra, Shannon Walker Williams, Louis Guss, Herb Lovelle, Thomas Barbour)
Neither scandalous, nor inspiring.
(Country: Japan; Year: 1999; Director: Nagisa Oshima; Writer: Nagisa Oshima; Stars: Takashi Kitano, Ryuhei Matsuda, Shinji Takeda, Tadanobu Asano and Koji Matoba)
An immensely likeable and enjoyable film.
(Country: USA; Year: 1999; Director: Greg Harrison; Writer: Greg Harrison; Stars: Lola Glaudini, Hamish Linklater, Denny Kirkwood, Steve Van Wormer, Rachel True, Mackenzie Firgens, Vincent Riverside, Ari Gold, Angelo Spizzirri, John Digweed)
As usual with big budget sci-fi movies, what is missing are characters that live and breathe.
(Country: US; Year: 2000; Director: Paul Verhoeven; Writer: Andrew W Marlowe; Stars: Elisabeth Shue, Kevin Bacon, Josh Brolin, Kim Dickens, Greg Grunberg, Joey Slotnick, Mary Randle, William Devane, Rhona Mitra, Pablo Espinosa, Margot Rose)
This is a long, slow and supremely well-written film.
(Country: UK; Year: 2000; Director: Terence Davies; Writer: Terence Davies, based on the novel by Edith Wharton; Stars: Gillian Anderson, Eric Stoltz, Dan Aykroyd, Eleanor Bron, Terry Kinney, Laura Linney, Anthony LaPaglia, Jodhi May, Elizabeth McGovern, Eric Stoltz)
Laurent Cantet's low-key documentary-style adds an artless naturalism that offers little in the way of entertainment.
(Country: France; Year: 1999; Director: Laurent Cantet; Writer: Laurent Cantet, Gilles Marchand; Stars: Jalil Lespert, Jean-Claude Vallod, Chantal Barre, Veronique de Pandelaere, Michel Begnez, Lucien Longueville)
Arresting and contemplative.
(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2000; Director: Vivian Chang; Writer: Vivian Chang; Stars: Hsiao Shu-shen, Shu Qi, Elaine Jin, Leon Dai, Tammy Tseng, Hsia Ching-ting, Huang Pin-hsuan. Jack Kao, Chang Kuo-chu, Chia Hsiao-kuo)
Entertaining as blackly comic drama.
(Country: UK/France; Year: 2000; Director: Terence Gross; Writer: Terence Gross; Stars: Toni Collette, Danial Craig, Stephen Tomkinson, Katrin Cartidge, Peter Vaughn, Hugh O'Conner, Helen McCrory)
The film is so subtle and slow and internalised that it crystalises into a thing of beauty.
(Country: France / Hong Kong; Year: 2000; Director: Wong Kar Wai; Writer: Wong Kar Wai; Stars: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, Rebecca Pan, Lai Chen, Siu Ping-lam)
This New Zealand shocker keeps you guessing.
(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2000; Director: Glenn Standring; Writer: Glenn Standring; Stars: Karl Urban, Katie Wolfe, Sally Stockwell, Tony MacIver, Neill Rea, Jonathon Hendry, Peter Daubé, Keelson Henderson, Mel Johnston, Perry Piercy)
Strange but intriguing.
(Country: Taiwan; Year: 1999; Director: Yang Li-chou)
Completely compelling viewing.
(Country: US; Year: 1999; Director: Nonny de la Pena; Writer: Nonny de la Pena; Stars: Melvin Matthews, Stephen Matthews)
A well done if inconsequential film driven by well-written, interesting and realistic characters.
(Country: Poland; Year: 1999; Director: Urszula Urbaniak; Writer: Urszula Urbaniak; Stars: Karoline Dryzner, Ewa Lorska, Adam Woronowicz, Michal Litwiniec, Ewa Dalkowska)
Norton and Stiller are fine with their buddy banter and Stuart Blumberg's script has its moments.
(Country: US; Year: 2000; Director: Edward Norton; Writer: Stuart Blumberg; Stars: Ben Stiller, Edward Norton, Jenna Elfman, Anne Bancroft, Milos Forman, Eli Wallach, Ron Rifkin)
The script, which was partly improvised, is unsentimental and fierce.
(Country: Denmark; Year: 2000; Director: Kristian Levring; Writer: Kristian Levring, Anders Thomas Jensen; Stars: David Bradely, Janet McTeer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Romane Bohringer, Bruce Davison, Miles Anderson, David Calder, Brion James, Peter Kubheka, Vusi Kuene)
Although the bright, snow-covered world is far removed from classic noir, it is the perfect setting to express the cold heart of Hawazaki's wife.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2000; Director: Masahiro Kobayashi; Writer: Masahiro Kobayashi; Stars: Ryo Ishibashi, Nene Ootsuka, Ken Mitsuishi, Takashi Yamamoto)
Debut director Cesc Gay avoids American Pie stupidity and the over-sensitive gay pride approach.
(Country: Spain; Year: 2000; Director: Cesc Gay; Writer: Cesc Gay, Tomas Aragay; Stars: Fernando Ramallo, Jordi Vilches, Marieta Orozco, Esther Nubiola, Cisco Amado)
Surprisingly upbeat.
(Country: USA; Year: 2000; Director: Tod S Lending; Writer: Tod S Lending)
A classic three-tissue melodrama.
(Country: USA; Year: 1948; Director: Max Ophuls; Writer: Howard Koch, Max Ophüls, Stefan Zweig; Stars: Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan, Mady Christians, Marcel Journet, Art Smith, Carol Yorke, Howard Freeman, John Good, Leo B. Pessin, Erskine Sanford, Otto Waldis)
The experiences are achingly real and, thanks mostly to the remarkable performances, acutely touching.
(Country: France; Year: 1999; Director: Noemie Lvovsky; Writer: Noemie Lvovsky; Stars: Magalie Woch, Ingrid Molinier, Julie-Marie Parmentier, Camille Rousselet, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi , Jean-Luc Bideau)
A charming little piece of magical realist whimsy.
(Country: Spain / Cuba / France / Mexico / Germany; Year: 2000; Director: Juan Carlos Tabio; Writer: Juan Carlos Tabio and Arturo Arango)
Jonathan Lipnicki is atypical of child stars in the sense that he can be quite annoying.
(Country: Germany/UK; Year: 2000; Director: Ulrich Edel; Writer: Karey Kirkpatrick, Larry Wilson, based on the novels by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg; Stars: Jonathan Lipnicki, Richard E Grant, Rollo Weeks, Jim Carter, Alice Krige, John Wood)
Pawlkowski has retained the qualities that made Eastern European movies so memorable in the old days.
(Country: UK; Year: 2000; Director: Paul Pawlikowski; Writer: Rowan Joffe; Stars: Dina Korzun, Artyom Strelnikov, Paddy Considine, Steve Perry, Perry Benson, Katie Drinkwater, Dave Bean, Adrian Scarborough, David Auker, Bruce Byron, James Trevelyan)
Max Ophuls' most controversial, if not his greatest work.
(Country: France/Germany; Year: 1955; Director: Max Ophuls; Writer: Annette Wademant, Max Ophuls, Jacques Natanson, Franz Geiger, Claude Heymann, Peter Ustinov, based on the novel La Vie Extraordinaire de Lola Montes by Cecil Saint-Laurent; Stars: Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook, Henri Guisol, Lise Delamare, Paulette Dubost, Oskar Werner, Jean Galland, Will Quadflieg)
Equivalent to easy listening.
(Country: US; Year: 2000; Director: Valerie Breiman; Writer: Valerie Breiman; Stars: Famke Janssen, Jon Favreau, Noah Emmerich, Ann Magnuson, Cheri Oteri, Josh Hopkins, Robert Knepper, Vincent Ventresca, Kristen Zang, David Steinberg, Elimu Nelson)
The writing is sharp and the characterisations of Victor and Anja winning.
(Country: Denmark; Year: 1999; Director: Tomas Villum Jensen; Writer: Soren Frellesen and Dennis Jurgensen; Stars: Robert Hansen, Sofie Lassen-Kahlke, Karl Bille, Mira Wanting, Jonas Gulstorff, Rasmus Albeck, Jocachim Knop)
The characters and story need more depth and pace.
(Country: UK; Year: 2000; Director: Jamie Thraves; Writer: Jamie Thraves; Stars: Aiden Gillen, Kate Ashford, Dean Lennox Kelly, Rupet Proctor, Tobias Menzies, Samantha Powers, Deanna Smiles)
One of the best British films of the year.
(Country: UK; Year: 2000; Director: Marleen Gorris; Writer: Peter Berry, based on a story by Vladimir Nabokov; Stars: John Turturro, Emily Watson, Geraldine James, Stuart Wilson, Christopher Thompson, Fabio Sartor)
A very funny and sweet little picture.
(Country: Croatia; Year: 1999; Director: Vinko Bresan; Writer: Ivo Bresan, Vinko Bresan; Stars: Drazen Kuhn, Linda Begonja, Ivo Gregurevic, Ilija Ivezic, Boris Buzancic, Ljubo Kapor)
Despite the strong personalities chosen, this documentary doesn't seem to possess the same spark which drives its subjects.
(Country: USA; Year: 1999; Director: Michael Apted; Stars: Gertrude Elion, Ashok Gadgil, Michio Kaku, Maja Mataric, Steven Pinker, Karol Sikora, Patricia Chapple Wright)
The sex scene, like so much else in this film, is faintly ludicrous.
(Country: UK; Year: 1999; Director: Mike Figgis; Writer: Helen Cooper, based on the play by August Strindberg; Stars: Peter Mullan, Saffron Burrows, Maria Doyle Kennedy)
A lyrical and tender film.
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2000; Director: Bae Chang-ho; Writer: Bae Chang-ho, Kim Yoo-mee; Stars: Kim Yoo-mee, Kim Myung-kon, Yoon Yoo-sun, Nam Jung-hee)
A romantic comedy that cuts up cliches and scatters them across the mid West.
(Country: US; Year: 1999; Director: Neil LaBute; Writer: John C Richards, James Flamberg; Stars: Morgan Freeman, Renée Zellweger, Chris Rock, Greg Kinnear, Aaron Eckhart, Tia Texada, Crispin Glover, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Allison Janney, Kathleen Wilhoite, Elizabeth Mitchell)
Insightful and conveys his respect and admiration for Tarkovsky.
(Country: France; Year: 1999; Director: Chris Marker; Writer: Chris Marker; Stars: Andrei Tarkovsky)
As a debut feature, it is to be applauded.
(Country: UK; Year: 2000; Director: May Miles Thomas; Writer: May Miles Thomas; Stars: Maureen Carr, Gary Lewis, John Kielty, Archie Lal, Alyson Orr, Johanna Law)
Comic invention rides shotgun on a screenplay that runs wild.
(Country: US; Year: 2000; Director: Joel Coen; Writer: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen; Stars: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Burke Nelson, Holly Hunter, John Goodman)
Shot in an unobtrusive style, the camera lets the girls tell their story themselves.
(Country: US; Year: 1999; Director: Jim McKay; Writer: Jim McKay; Stars: Kerry Washington, Anna Simpson, Melissa Martinez)
Boasting the sort of edgy, quirky slant usually only maintained in short film, it never compromises it's oddness which is a joy.
(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2000; Director: Harry Sinclair; Writer: Harry Sinclair; Stars: Danielle Cormack, Karl Urban, Willa O'Neill, Rangi Motu, Micheal Lawrence, Lawrence Makoare, Chris Graham, Ray Bishop, Toi Iti, Jeram Bhana)
The Ken Loach influence does not mix with the wacky scams and the wacky scams do not appear remotely possible.
(Country: UK; Year: 2000; Director: Mark Herman; Writer: Mark Herman, based on The Season Ticket by Jonathan Tuloch; Stars: Chris Beattie, Greg McLane, Charlie Hardwick, Tim Healy, Roy Hudd, Kevin Whately, Jody Baldwin, Kerry Ann Christiansen, Tracy Whitwell)
Norio Tsuruta, a new director at the helm, retains the elements that made Ring 0's predecessors so popular, from the piercing music to the eerily scary deaths.
(Country: Japan; Year: 2000; Director: Norio Tsuruta; Writer: Koji Suzuki; Stars: Yuki Nakama, Kumiko Aso, Daisuke Ban, Chinami Furuya, Mashami Hashimoto, Kazue Kadokae)
An effective, atmospheric, stylish, very well-made chiller.
(Country: Japan; Year: 1999; Director: Hideo Nakata; Writer: Hiroshi Takahashi; Stars: Miki Najatabu, Kyoko Fukada, Yuko Takeuchi, Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada)
A strangely old-fashioned affair.
(Country: Argentina; Year: 1999; Director: Mercedes Garcia Guevara; Writer: Mercedes Garcia Guevara; Stars: Paola Krum, Juan Palomino, Pablo Cedrón, María José Gabín, Laura Melillo, Inés Baum, Matías Del Pozo, Rafael Alaniz, Luis Alcaíno, Elías Carrasco, Mirta Ceballos)
This is an extraordinary film, not least because it is Japanese and yet feels universal.
(Country: Japan/South Korea; Year: 1998; Director: Hideo Nakata; Writer: Hiroshi Takayashi, based on the novel by Koji Suzuki; Stars: Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Miki Nakatani, Yuko Takeuchi, Hitomi Sato)
As a curiously modern but not particularly emotionally charged curio.
(Country: France; Year: 1950; Director: Max Ophuls; Writer: Louis Ducreux, Kurt Feltz, Jacques Natanson, Max Ophuls, based on the play Reigen by Arthur Schnitzler; Stars: Anton Walbrook, Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Simone Simon, Daniel Gélin, Danielle Darrieux, Fernand Gravey, Odette Joyeux, Jean-Louis Barrault, Isa Miranda, Gérard Philipe)
From a Western viewpoint, this is a vibrant feminist movie, and yet writer/director Moufida Tlatli is telling a story, rather than preaching a gospel.
(Country: France; Year: 2000; Director: Moufida Tlatli; Writer: Nouri Bouzid, Moufida Tlatli; Stars: Rabiaa Ben Abdallah, Sabah Bouzouita, Ghalia Ben Ali, Hend Sabri, Ezzedien Gennoun, Mouna Noureddine)
This is the best looking spy flick you will ever see.
(Country: South Korea; Year: 1999; Director: Kang Je-gyu; Writer: Kang Je-gyu; Stars: Han Suk-kyu, Choi Min-sik, Kim Yoon-jin, Song Kang-ho, Derek Kim)
The clever touches Ophuls brings to his later work barely feature.
(Country: Italy; Year: 1934; Director: Max Ophuls; Writer: Curt Alexander, based on the novel by Salvatore Gotta; Stars: Isa Miranda, Memo Benassi, Friedrich Benfer, Tatyana Pavlova and Nelly Corradi)
The acting performances, without exception, are excellent.
(Country: UK; Year: 1999; Director: Ben Hopkins; Writer: Ben Hopkins (Simon Magus); Thomas Browne, Ben Cheek, and Ben Hopkins (Tomas Katz); Stars: Noah Taylor, Stuart Townsend, Sean McGinley, Rutger Hauer, Ian Holm, Embeth Davidtz. Tomas Katz: Tom Fisher, Ian McNeice)
Simon Cellan Jones's first feature is an interesting TV drama. Cinematically, however, it leaves much to be desired.
(Country: UK; Year: 2000; Director: Simon Cellan Jones; Writer: Joe Penhall; Stars: Daniel Craig, David Morrissey, Kelly Macdonald, Julie Graham, Peter McDonald, Nicholas Palliser, Huss Garbiya, Edward Tudor-Pole, Ashley Walters, Gem Durham, Cate Fowler)
The story keeps you engaged and guessing right to the end.
(Country: South Korea; Year: 1999; Director: Chang Yoon-hyun; Writer: Chang Yoon-hyung, In Eun-ah, Kim Eun-jeong, Kong Su-chang, Shim Hye-weon; Stars: Han Suk-kyu , Shim Eun-ha , Jang Hang-seon, An Seok-hwan, Park Cheol-ho , Yu Jun-sang, Lee Hwan-jun)
Newcomer Lewis McKenzie plays Jimmy with an energy and fire which propels everything.
(Country: UK; Year: 2000; Director: John Hay; Writer: Simon Mayle, John Hay, Rik Carmichael; Stars: Robert Carlyle, Gina McKee, Ray Winstone, Lewis McKenzie, Ben Miller, Jane Lapotaire)
Every frame is exquisitely constructed, every breath measured.
(Country: US; Year: 1999; Director: Rodrigo Garcia; Writer: Rodrigo Garcia; Stars: Glenn Close, Cameron Diaz, Calista Flockhart, Kathy Baker, Holly Hunter, Amy Brenneman)
Within the confines of this technically complex idea, Figgis has created a work of considerable artistic merit.
(Country: US; Year: 2000; Director: Mike Figgis; Writer: Mike Figgis; Stars: Salma Hayek, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Stellan Skarsgard, Saffron Burrows, Kyle MacLachlan, Holly Hunter, Julian Sands)
Beautifully shot, in a near documentary style, by Bahman Ghobaadi, it really draws the viewer into the plight of the many Kurdish families without a homeland.
(Country: Iran; Year: 2000; Director: Bahman Ghobadi; Writer: Bahman Ghobadi; Stars: Nezhad Ekhtiar-Dini, Amaneh Ekhtiar-Dini, Madi Ekhtiar-Dini)
Though the film had its moments - mostly in the deliciously playful nature of Shakespeare's dialogue - it's hard to see it matching the success of other recent adaptations of the Bard.
(Country: USA; Year: 1999; Director: Julie Traynor; Writer: Julie Taymor, based on Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare; Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, James Frain, Angus Macfadyen, Matthew Ryhs, Alan Cumming, Laura Fraser)
At over two hours the film is able to be rather slow-paced, though this irritates in the first half especially.
(Country: Korea; Year: 2000; Director: Hong Sang-soo; Writer: Hong Sang-soo; Stars: Lee Eun-joo, Jung Bo-suk, Moon Sun-keun, Lee Hwang-Ui)
Ozon punctuates the film with some carefully studied compositions.
(Country: France; Year: 2000; Director: Francois Ozon; Writer: Francois Ozon, based on the play by Rainer Werner Fassbinder; Stars: Bernard Girandeau, Ludivine Sagnier, Malik Zidi, Anna Thomson)
It avoids sentimentality and explores layers of damage beneath the surface of family relations.
(Country: US; Year: 2000; Director: Kenneth Lonergan; Writer: Kenneth Lonergan; Stars: Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick, Rory Culkin, Jon Tenney, Gaby Hoffman)
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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