In 1991:
Operation Desert Storm took place;
The Dow Jones closed over 3000 for the first time;
Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to address the US Congress;
Thurgood Marshall retired from the US Supreme Court and Clarence Thomas replaced him;
Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog;
Mike Tyson was arrested and charged with the rape of Desiree Washington;
Tim Berners-Lee released the World Wide Web project to the general public;
The Soviet Union collapsed;
The Ren & Stimpy Show, Doug, and Rugrats premiered on Nickelodeon;
Nirvana’s Nevermind and Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik were released;
Emma Roberts, Ed Sheeran, Bonnie Wright, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sarah Bolger, Tristan Thompson, Jamie Lynn Spears, Luke Kuechly, Travis Scott, Azealia Banks, Zazie Beets, Fetty Wap, Emily Ratajkowski, Max Ehrich, Kawhi Leonard, Mike Trout, Lakeith Stanfield, Evanna Lynch, Dylan O’Brien, Simona Halep, Tyler Posey, Shailene Woodley, Charlie Puth, Da Baby, and Louis Tomlinson were born;
While Red Grange, Dean Jagger, Danny Thomas, Martha Graham, Graham Greene, David Lean, Don Siegel, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Stan Getz, Peggy Ashcroft, Happy Chandler, Jean Arthur, Michael Landon, Lee Remick, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Paul Brown, Harry Reasoner, Frank Capra, Dr. Seuss, Klaus Barbie, Oona O’Neill, Miles Davis, Redd Foxx, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Gene Roddenberry, Irwin Allen, Yves Montand, Tony Richardson, Klaus Kinski, Freddie Mercury, and Ralph Bellamy died.
The following is a list of my ten favorite films released in 1991:
10) 35 Up
Seeing the precocious children from 7 Up in middle age is jarring. Some have a clear view of where their life is headed, some have had their dreams shattered by reality. Many have struggled to escape the yoke of their class. More than a few have already experienced the messiness fo divorce and infidelity.
At this point in the series, it began the transformation from class critique to portraitures of a shared moment in time, becoming imminently more relatable.
The participants are now old friends. We recognize Jackie, Neil, and Symon, and, seeing their receding hairlines, slight stoops, and grey hairs peering over the horizon, we feel better about our own fight against father time.
Each experiencing their own midlife crisis, long time friends Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal), Phil Berquist (Daniel Stern), and Ed Furillo (Bruno Kirby) go on a two week cattle drive from New Mexico to Colorado.
The trail boss, Curly Washburn (Jack Palance), a tough talking older cowboy, who opens up to Mitch before dying from a heart attack. After the two other professional cowboys on the trail abandon them, Phil, Mitch, and Ed band together and finish the drive, gaining the perspective they need to address their personal crises.
It’s a funny film about purpose and stepping outside of your comfort zone. I don’t think Crystal has ever been more charming. Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby are great. I enjoyed the small non-Simpsons appearance by Yeardley Smith as Phil’s mistress. Jeffrey Tambor, Patricia Wettig, David Paymer, Kyle Secor, Helen Slater, and a young Jake Gyllenhaal are all solid.
But the only reason the film is anything other than a light, forgettable comedy is Palance’s electric performance. Skillfully playing against type, he’s phenomenal. He rightfully won the Academy Award and his legendary acceptance speech adds to the aura of the film.
Already a forty year veteran of the film industry, Palance would only appear in a handful of additional films (including the less successful sequel), but for Generation X, this film cemented his legacy and guaranteed the film would have a fond place in the pop culture firmament for some time.
A series of vignettes of people in taxis in different parts of the world.
In Los Angeles, a Hollywood executive (Geena Rowlands) tries to cast her unambitious taxi driver (Winona Ryder).
In New York, an emigrant taxi driver (Armin Mueller-Stahl) has trouble with his car and lets his passenger (Giancarlo Esposito) drive.
In Paris, a driver from the Ivory Coast is harrassed by racist customers.
In Rome, a cabbie (Roberto Benigni) unburdens his sexual history to his passenger priest.
In Helsinki, two drunks pity their unconscious third friend.
Jim Jarmusch can be an acquired taste. His films are unconventional and small in scope, preferring to examine moments of life.
Impeccable acting and finely tuned idiosyncrasies make this a delightful film for me.
7) The Fisher King
After shock jock Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges) inadvertently inspires a mass shooting, he quits his job to work for his girlfriend (Mercedes Ruehl) in a video store. He accidentally meets Parry (Robin Williams) in Central Park and learns Parry’s wife was a victim of the massacre he inspired. After his wife’s death, a delusional Parry dedicated his life to finding the Holy Grail. Guilt stricken, Jack agrees to help Parry in his ludicrous quest. Through their shared experience, the two broken men heal each other.
Director Terry Gilliam is a bridge between David Lynch absurdism and popular culture and his frenetic style made a great showcase for Williams. It’s rare someone upstages Jeff Bridges, but, with this film, Williams announced his genius was more than a fast paced stream of consciousness. Unfortunately, his performance was steamrolled at the Oscars by the career defining work of Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter.
6) Hook
Steven Spielberg’s early escapist output was dismissed by high minded critics as the result of “Peter Pan Syndrome.” These critics realized his immense potential, but felt he refused to attack mature themes, content to let his movies remain popcorn fare instead of serious art.
Spielberg’s answer to this critique was a story of Peter Pan (Robin Williams) as a grown man who’s traded the sense of whimsy and adventure which defined his youth for safety and security in his middle age who is forced to return to Neverland to rescue his kids from a vengeful Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman).
This film was maligned and Spielberg has not spoken kindly of it, but a few critics presciently suggested it would fare better with younger viewers. A lot of what we value as good art is intimately tied to what we experienced in our formative years; it can be difficult to develop an aesthetic value system independent from nostalgia infused affection.
While I admit my bias, I can’t think of this film without smiling: Rufio. Hoffman’s deliciously over the top performance. Blink and you’ll miss them cameos from George Lucas, Carrie Fisher, and Glenn Close. Underrated Bob Hoskins as Smee. Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell. Maggie Smith as an older Wendy.
It’s a little weird Peter married Wendy’s granddaughter. A) It glosses over the possible romantic feelings Wendy may have had for Peter in her own childhood, and B) why the did she wait until her great grandchildren were nearly ten to tell Peter who he really was? In yet another sign of how poorly Hollywood treats middle aged women, a not yet sixty year old Maggie Smith played Peter’s grandmother-in-law.
Ultimately, these are minor quibbles. The movie’s plot is window dressing to explore its theme of work / life balance and Robin Williams is having too much fun playing in Neverland for me to care.
Painting Marianne (Emmanuelle Béart) reinvigorates renowned older artist Édouard Frenhofer (Michel Piccoli), but the long sessions with the nude Marianne create tension in their respective relationships.
Like most of director Jacques Rivette’s films, this movie is in no hurry to get anywhere, but it’s a wonderful, erotic film about art, sensuality, relationships, aging, purpose, and identity and makes a compelling argument that art is a worthwhile and noble pursuit even if it remains unseen.
Septuagenarian Martha keeps her recent cancer diagnosis and imminent death a secret, determined to keep her independence and die with dignity.
Sheila Florence had lung cancer while filming the movie and died within a year of its release. Knowing this adds an additional level of urgency to her performance.
I’m a huge fan of movies about people coming to terms with their mortality; this movie is right in my wheelhouse.
To find a serial killer, Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) interviews the infamous cannibal Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). Lecter and Clarice have an instant rapport. He enjoys playing mind games with her, recognizing her as one of the few people who can match his mental prowess.
Clarice catches Jame Gumb aka Buffalo Bill; Lecter escapes from prison.
Adapted from Thomas Harris’s book series, this is the second big screen version of Hannibal (Brian Cox played him five years earlier), but the only one that matters.
Jonathan Demme’s film was a sensation, one of the rare films to be both a massive critical and commercial success. It penetrated every level of popular culture and Lester’s mask is an iconic part of horror lore (akin to Freddy’s glove or Jason’s mask).
Hopkins had a decent career before, but this changed the trajectory of his life. Foster had already been famous for what felt like an eternity, but this will be one of the first things mentioned in her obituary.
Thirty years later, it’s still the coolest thing about fava beans.
2) The Rapture
Former hedonist and newly converted Christian Sharon (Mimi Rogers) marries Randy (David Duchovny) and has a daughter, Mary. After Randy is murdered, Sharon has a crisis of faith and believes God has called her and her daughter to the desert to await the rapture.
Harsh conditions cause Sharon to hasten their ascendancy to the next life: she murders Mary, but is unable to kill herself for fear this will cause her condemnation.
While she’s incarcerated, the long awaited rapture occurs. Sharon is stuck in an in-between world because she blames God for Mary’s death. A ghostly Mary pleads with her mother to forgive God, but Sharon steadfastly refuses and chooses an eternity in purgatory.
As a child, I was obsessed with signs and omens which I thought portended the apocalypse. As a preteen, when the sunset caused the sky to turn slightly orange, I worried the world was coming to an end. More than a few times, when I was home alone I briefly wondered if the rapture had happened and I was left behind.
While I can relate to Sharon’s obsession, I’d like to think in the intervening years, I’ve tempered my belief, but I still feel the allure of a definitive end.
This movie captures the tension between the “evidence of things unseen” and the evidence of our actual lived in experience and shows how easily someone can lose sight of the truth and allow themselves to do horrendous things in the name of their faith.
It’s a scary possibility, which we see all too often, reinforced by the well known story of Abraham’s aborted sacrifice of Isaac. This story has long puzzled the most devout believers, afraid of the ugly possibilities it offers about the nature of God and our relationship to him. This brutal film asks important questions about the line between devout faith and fanaticism.
1) Barton Fink
Barton Fink (John Turturro) is a celebrated Broadway playwright hired to write Hollywood scripts in the early 1940s. While in California, he stays at the rundown Hotel Earle to maintain his connection with “the common man,” where he meets Charlie (John Goodman), an insurance salesman hiding a dangerous past. Fink dreams of creating important, artistic films, but his boss at Capitol Studios, Jack Lipnick (Michael Lerner), is only interested in making money.
Few actors can boast of working with the Coens, Spike Lee, Adam Sandler, and Michael Bay; John Turturro has been in multiple projects with each of them. He’s an incredible versatile performer and very good as Barton, but this movie belongs to John Goodman’s Charlie. The Coens always bring out the best in him in films such as Raising Arizona (1987), The Big Lebowski (1998), and O Brother Where Art Thou (2000), but this, easily his darkest and most fearless work, is in a different league and leaves an indelible impression.
John Polito (an early Coen favorite), Steve Buscemi, John Mahoney, Tony Shalhoub, and Judy Davis round out the supporting cast.
In the past decade, the Coen brothers have worked to make their films more accessible and mainstream, but this film remains one of their most challenging; the last third of the movie descends into a dream-like Lynchian madness involving a serial killer, a huge fire, a severed head, and a postcard.
Nonetheless, this was immediately recognized as an important film and helped separate the brothers from the glut of quirky, independent filmmakers at the end of the twentieth century. At the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, this under appreciated and misunderstood film became the first to win the Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director awards at the festival.
It’s a funny, insightful parody of the Hollywood studio system at the beginning of World War II and a probing look at the nature of art. Fink is dismayed when he’s assigned to write a film about wrestling because he considers the subject beneath him, but four hundred years ago, Shakespeare’s plays were disdained as low culture entertainment; now, they’re the pinnacle of Western civilization. In five hundred years, will critics be studying the collected works of John Cheever or Full House?