Interesting observation when it comes to how anyone--film critics and moviegoers alike--can seem to muster up their version of what they felt were the best films for the previous year. Because good quality films are such a rare commodity in today's junk food cinema scene, it's easier to rationalize what one would consider a sensible, memorable moviegoing experience. So therefore I, much like my film critical comrades in arms, will produce what I considered the ultimate joy in what the movies had to offer in 1999.
Frank's top 10 films of 1999 were as follows (in alphabetical order):
1. ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER: Pedro Almodovar's lyrical melodrama about the undesirable elements of society who come together in one great big, sensual soap opera. This is an offbeat, provocative tale about Almodovar's continued fascination with subjects he loves sprucing up his movies with: determined women, animated drag queens, elegant young males,etc. Almodovar's films are always vibrantly presented with lively sensual colors and protagonists who show off their flair and flaws so effortlessly. An enriching and intense showcase.
2. AMERICAN BEAUTY: An absolutely tantalizing examination of a middle-aged man and his family going through the motions of a bankruptcy in emotional stability. The comictragic tale of dark dysfunctionalism that underlies the supposedly stable existence of suburbia is mesmerizing in its presentation. Director Sam Mendes draws out the caustically comical and cynically revealing themes about the breakdown of the family unit. This remarkable film has Best Picture written all over it!
3. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT: A surprisingly astute and subtle low budget horror movie that told the simple account of how three student filmmakers disappeared in the Maryland woods never to be found again. Sure, the premise was sketchy. And the film overall was scattershot and put together in amateurish fashion. Its tongue-in-cheek, documentary-style approach was gimmicky at best. But despite all those criticisms, "TBWP" still outclassed the big-budgeted, heavy-handed horror duds that were flung at moviegoers in droves. The film was genuinely scary because of its suggestion of fright, not because of the millions spent on special effects to entice this same ominous feeling. An underdog scarefest that unassumingly became top dog at the box office!
4. BOYS DON'T CRY: A rendering, absorbing story about a Nebraska female who paid the ultimate price for posing as a male only to have her real identity discovered as a female. The consequences for that kind of deceptive behavior defiantly delves into the psyche of this bewildered individual. Hilary Swank, a former obscure TV actress, plays this confused, cross-gendering protagonist will an intense conviction that is both sympathetic and empowering. BOYS DON'T CRY is a riveting, fixating crime drama that has fully realized its dramatic impact.
5. BEING JOHN MALKOVICH: Director Spike Jonze has produced a wonderfully bizarre, unorthodox, and visually perplexing filmmaking style with his frenetic BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. A puppeteer discovers this gateway which leads into the mind of actor John Malkovich. The very thought of controlling an unassuming low key actor such as Malkovich by being in his head is a delicious concept in itself. Jonze's direction of this film is innovative and sharp.
6. COMING APART: Milton Moses Ginsberg's 1969 film COMING APART was rereleased in 1999. It's inevitable that Ginsberg's film will in fact be instantly compared with the late Stanley Kubrick's 1999 wildly uneven and overrated sexual fantasy/odessey EYES WIDE SHUT. In COMING APART, there's a rawness that grabs you and makes you question the dark erotic tendencies that plague these subjects parading around in this audacious, ambiguously arousing sexual drama. Taking the "couch trips" of sorts is the astounding Rip Torn in a vastly underrated performance as a psychiatrist who's sexually active with various offbeat partners willing to partake in his voracious titillating trysts. The tension in COMING APART is purposely spontaneous and carefree in all its sex-oriented candidness. This ia a brash and uniquely vigor film that should be rediscovered by mature audiences who can appreciate a salient, bitingly brisk sexual drama that has its feet planted firmly on the ground.
7. ELECTION: Alexander Payne's blistering and hilariously off-balance satire ELECTION was one of the best sharp-tongued comedies of the young 1999 movie season. Payne, who helmed the equally clever abotion-laced comedy CITIZEN RUTH, sprays ELECTION with the same wry cynical wit and energy that mobilizes this film beyond its ambitious, riotous ribaldry. Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon in an Oscar-calibur performance) is a bright, know-it-all student who seeks the seat of student-council president. High school teacher James McAllister (Matthew Broderick), tired by the peppy disposition of pompous and presumptuous high schoolers, looks to deflate Tracy's bubble. ELECTION gets the vote of confidence it deserves with its raw range of delightfullness and deception. The film tells an all-too-honest tale of high school life in cunning, condescending fashion. The film is a neatly wrapped and humorously warped package with keen sharp performances by Witherpoon and Broderick. Never has a high school comedy been so biting and tragic whilecontributing such an uproarious approach to attacking one's funnybone.
8. THE INSIDER: Michael Mann's pulsating, manic look at the corruption behind a multi-million-dollar tobacco industry's effects to exploit its public and the fed up whistleblower (sure-to-be Oscar nominated Russell Crowe) out to expose them based on these dirty deeds. The film is fast-paced, compelling, and intriguing. THE INSIDER generates its own kind of cutthroat politics with this fascinating, adventurous expose' that never lets up from beginning to end. An outsider can surely appreciate the suspenseful smoke screen provided by THE INSIDER.
9. MAN ON THE MOON: Director Milos Foreman, much like he did with Larry Flynt in THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT, captures the misguided and misunderstood essence of a bombastic soul one never could clearly comprehend beyond reason. In this case, the target is the late comedian/TV personality Andy Kaufman (as played with eerie gusto by Jim Carrey in another Oscar-worthy performance). Kaufman was an instigator of human behavior; he loved to toy around with people's emotions and perceptions. One never knew what to make of Kaufman's illusionary stunts and twisted behavior and the reasons behind what made this peculiar performer tick. Foreman never makes the mistake in trying to capture who the real Andy Kaufman was but instead showcases him as the enigmatic personality he was to those who knew him close and from a far. MAN ON THE MOON is an indelible, higly-spirited homage to an unconventional entertainer who never seemed to be comfortable in his own skin unless he was tinkering with our thought process through the realms of absurd comedy.
10. TWIN FALLS IDAHO: In the refreshingly original and dazzling sensual drama TWIN FALLS IDAHO, identical twin brothers Michael and Mark Polish directed, starred, and co-wrote this risky, sensual story. The Polish brothers play Blake and Francis Falls, Siamese twins who treat themselves to a birthday present in the form of a delicious-looking call girl (model-turned-actress Michele Hicks). At first she is put off by the freaky atmosphere regarding the deformed brothers. Eventually she finds them appealing and against her better judgement, she finds herself unexpectedly falling for twin brother Blake who catures her fancy. This unique twist regarding the confining and restrictive constraints of love is absolutely original. Hypnotic, enthalling and sensationally surreal, the movie begs to defy all the repetitve, self-indulgent Hollywood melodramas that saturate the film market today. TWIN FALLS is deep, quietly disturbing yet mentally alluring in its alarming presentation of its uncompromising love triangle. There's nothing like doubling your pleasure when you have two talented individuals who look the same but provide a different perspective in the way we soak up an intelligent, mature complex love story.
So to recap and list Frank Ochieng's ten best films of 1999:
1.) All About My Mother
2.) American Beauty
3.) The Blair Witch Project
4.) Boys Don't Cry
5.) Being John Malkovich
6.) Coming Apart
7.) Election
8.) The Insider
9.) Man On The Moon
10.) Twin Falls Idaho
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