On my Substack, The Janovsky Report, I’ve counting down the best films of the 1990s, based on the OG Janovsky Report — annual reviews I did back then, circulating it to friends, family and Russell Baker.
I just posted the best five films. There are so many great films on this list, I think of it as golden age of movies. Here are Part I 26-30, Part II (21-25), Part III (16-20), Part IV (11-15). and Part IV (6-10).
Please let me know your thoughts about my rankings in the comments.
5. BABE (1995): More than just a children's film, this inspired tale of a talking pig combines ingenious technology with an exploration of themes like mortality and aspiration. A combination of live footage with animation makes the talking creatures genuinely anthropomorphic. In prior films like Homeward Bound, the animals conversed almost through mental telepathy, as actors' voices seemed like thoughts that other animals could hear. In Babe, the pigs, dogs, horses and ducks truly converse as live action is seamlessly blended with animated fauna. Babe's real triumph, though, is in its use of animals to treat very human themes. Through a talking pig, of all things, Babe explores critical stages of human life, including youthful innocence, separation from parents, growing up, accepting harsh realities of life and death and aspiring to lofty goals, despite those realities.
4. SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER (1993): A very touching film that explores a variety of themes through the true story of Josh Waitzkin, a seven year old chess prodigy proclaimed as the "next Bobby Fischer." Although the film deals in the first instance with a sensitive family's struggles with the wonders and dangers of budding genius, its real strength is that it movingly addresses universal issues as well: What is the nature of winning? Is contempt for your opponent required? How do parents cope with the successes and failures of children? The film develops these themes through a highly intelligent script, effective portrayal of various New York chess haunts and wonderful performances by Max Pomeranc as the Fischer-apparent, Joe Mantegna and Joan Allen as his parents, and Laurence Fishburne as his Washington Square speed-chess mentor. The film effectively concludes that the cost of genius and triumph need not be, as it was with Fischer, madness.
Recent films and series echoing this theme are, of course, Queen’s Gambit, and Whiplash, which also confronts the balance between discipline and humanity.
3. BREAKING THE WAVES: (1996) This unusual and beautiful film by Danish director Lars von Trier is dominated by the transcendent performance of Emily Watson as Bess, a simple, but passionate young woman living in a Scottish seaside town in the 1970's. The film is shot in drab earth tones and the characters wear ugly ‘70's clothes, but Bess’s pure spirit radiates through the coastal gloom. At the beginning of the film, Bess’s passion is purely spiritual, revolving around God and the Church. She is a favorite of the severe elders because of her devotion. Indeed, she carries on a continuing dialogue with God throughout, convincingly playing both roles. But when she marries Jan (Stellan Skarsgard), an oil rig worker, her passion widens to include glorious, carnal love with him. Her religious spirit has been broadened to permit earthly passion as well. After Jan is paralyzed in an accident, Jan tells her that the only way he can keep alive is for Bess to sleep with other men and then describe it to him. Bess, who loves him so profoundly and who holds herself responsible for his condition, sets out to comply with his request, taking her love to the limits of devotion and sacrifice -- a complex mixture of goodness and madness that leaves you haunted and fascinated long after the film.
2. THE USUAL SUSPECTS (1995): An ingenious tour de force, driven by an ensemble of some of the best actors around and a wonderfully clever script. The film has as creative an ending as any recent film, revealing the whole preceding two hours as almost a dream, weaving real events known to the police with the brilliant imagination of a master criminal. We walk out of the theater questioning everything that happened, until we realize that the ending has undermined more than half of what seemed to be true. The cast is terrific: As "Verbal," Kevin Spacey takes his trademark creepy character to a new level. Gabriel Byrne's sinister, brooding crooked ex-cop is even better than his sinister, brooding crook in Miller's Crossing. Stephen Baldwin, Chazz Palmintieri and Benecio Del Toro are also excellent. The concept of Keyser Söze -- a legendary bad guy so menacing that even criminals use him to scare their kids -- is only one of many memorable ideas in the film. It's almost as violent and gabby as Reservoir Dogs, but refreshingly without Quentin Tarentino's comic sadism. As an homage to past gangster films, a stimulating puzzle and a showcase for talented actors, The Usual Suspects is one of the most satisfying films of the decade.
And the Number One Film of the 1990’s is:
1. FARGO: (1996) ): This Coen brothers film does nothing less than bring home the stark, inexplicable contrast between good and evil. All of this in their idiosyncratic style, with echoes of Twin Peaks, and even Prairie Home Companion. In prior films like Barton Fink and Miller's Crossing, the Coens' brilliant exposition and vision ended in cynicism. Here, cynicism is nearly absent as the clash between the forces of blind greed and altruism is clear and dramatic.
The Coen's Barton Fink had some gloriously surreal moments and made the most of John Tuturro's and John Goodman's considerable talents. But the problem with Barton is it sees everyone as a fraud: Barton is supposedly an idealistic playwright who is tormented when Hollywood attempts to force him to write ridiculous commercial pictures. But Barton himself is exposed as nearly as hypocritical as venal Hollywood. His plays idealizing the common man are merely an intellectual's ivory tower idea of what the proletariat is like. When Goodman's common (albeit homicidal) man tries to tell him stories of his actual world, Barton is not interested. You walk out of Barton Fink feeling that everyone is corrupt or blind to reality (except maybe down to earth but murderous regular guys).
By contrast, the moral compass so clearly outlined in Fargo is as striking as the crimson blood so often spilled on the snows of Minnesota. It's unusual for a film to set goals for itself and share them with the audience, but this one does and succeeds. The direction, cinematography and cast are all perfect, especially Frances McDormand’s (pregnant!) police chief and William H. Macy’s pitiful auto dealer. At the beginning of the film, a title tells us that while the characters' names have been changed, the details of a true story are told exactly as they happened to honor the memory of the victims. Whether or not the events did occur exactly as portrayed, the film certainly lives up to its opening title.
And it's so good you don't want it to end.