7. “Before Night Falls”
A moving and passionate testament to the power of art and open expression in the face of ideological fascism, Julian Schnabel‘s sophomore directorial effort is both political in its anti-censorship stance (and anti-Castro bearing) and personal in its soulful depiction of the protagonist’s human integrity. Impressionistic and fractured, the picture is also a visually stunning portrait of the life of Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, who paid the price for daring to be openly gay and harboring counter-cultural ideas in his published works during Castro’s revolutionary yet tyrannical regime. Already becoming a star in Spain, ‘Night Falls’ also brought Javier Bardem to wider audiences, and the film featured a show-stopping, double-duty performance by Johnny Depp as a flaming drag queen and a no-nonsense Cuban Lieutenant.
6. “George Washington”
David Gordon Green might be better known now as the guy who directed “Pineapple Express,” but in 2000 when his career was just blooming, he delivered a resplendent, poetic and Malick-ian meditation on childhood set in the decaying urban areas of North Carolina. Eschewing basic narrative for capturing snapshot moments of youth and beauty — Tim Orr‘s textured and contrasty cinematography is superb and Michael Linnen and David Wingo‘s lilting acoustic score is plaintively tender — it’s no wonder that just four years later Terrence Malick himself would ask the young filmmaker to direct the gothic Southern adventure horror “Undertow.” While Green has veered off in several eclectic directions, the lyrical and soulful “George Washington” still proves to be his most absorbing work.
5. “Dancer in the Dark”
While it’s now remembered as the film where Lars Von Trier‘s exacting directorial style drove Björk to declare she would never act again, it needs to be reassesed as one of Von Trier’s most distinct works to date. The film, a daring and moving blend of musical tropes with Bergman-esque tragedy, is a heartbreaking journey through the increasingly drastic and selfless acts of a mother determined to save her son’s sight. Featuring a great soundtrack exclusively written by its star, with inspired and slightly amateur musical numbers, “Dancer In The Dark” moves headlong into to the rare shock ending that will leave you in tears.
4. “Beau Travail”
A great adaptation should take its source story, throw away everything it doesn’t need, and reveal what’s left in a way only the film medium could. French auteur Claire Denis does just this in her reimagining of Melville’s classic, “Billy Budd.” The story, now set in modern day Djibouti, revolves around a French Foreign Legion whose commanding officer (Denis Lavant) cannot come to terms with the physical and moral superiority of one of his men. As one would expect from a contemplative French drama, not a lot is said or done, but the underlying emotionally tacit storm between the characters lurks under every scene, creating an effect of masculine tension that simmers violently. The film sets Benjamin Britten‘s enormous score (taken from his opera adaptation of the same novel) to the every day military drills of the troop, turning routine procedure into choreography. The end result is as much a film as it is a graceful ballet and a slow-moving work of poetry.
