Another Year Older ...

The 18th of July is my birthday, and to mark its occasion this year I thought I would look at few of the films that came out the year I was born: 1990.

While not as stellar a year as 1939 or 1959, 1990 does have a several great films, a few of which I watched recently and really enjoyed. So here they are:

An Angel at My Table

Jane Campion's biographical film follows the life of New Zealand writer Janet Frame, spanning from her childhood to her success as a writer. Based on three different memoirs by Frame, three different actresses play her at different stages of her life; all sporting the same bright, frizzy orange hair. The film, like its subject, is quiet, yet very sympathetic to Frame and her life, and finds moments of humour among the pain.

Edward Scissorhands

This was the first Tim Burton film I saw, and it is still my favourite of his. The story is a lovely modern fairytale with a sweet performance by Johnny Depp as the titular Edward, and a wonderfully constructed world of pastel suburbia and a gothic oddness.

Goodfellas

I am generally left cold by gangster films, finding all the wealth and crime unalluring. But Scorsese is a master of the genre, and from the opening scene you are thrown into this high octane world of drugs, guns and money. You know how it is going to end, with the American Dream turning into a nightmare, but the length of the film allows you to get to know these people and understand why they do what they do.

Misery

Lots of elements work so well in Reiner's film, from the script, the production design, the cinematography, to James Caan's performance. But what makes the film so good is Kathy Bates' Annie Wilkes, one of the best villians in any horror film. She manages to be convincingly kind, then too kind, then terrifying with her sudden outbursts of anger. Authors beware: don't tick off your fans!

Metropolitan

Whit Stillman's film could easily have been pretenious nonsense, being set among the upper-class New York college students home for deb ball season. But the wry humour and affection Stillman has for these adolescent adults is clear and smooths any irritation. For a film that is largely people sitting in ornate rooms talking, it manages to be very cinematic and lovely to look at, with a melancholic nostalgia for the fleeting closeness of these friends.

Jacob's Ladder

This is a film I need to watch again. Its plot follows three different time periods: the Vietnam War, Jacob's current life working in a post office and living with girlfriend Jezzie, and his previous family and memories of his dead son. Things start to get strange when demonic beings start appearing in his life with Jezzie, leading Jacob to try and discover what is going on (as fellow soldiers in his platoon in Vietnam are experiencing the same thing). When you finally discover what is going on, it completely alters everything you've just seen, and shows how wonder film it at manipulating time.

Have I missed anything? Was your birth year a great year for film?