The Best of 1996
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40 titles
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsEmily WatsonStellan SkarsgårdKatrin CartlidgeOilman Jan is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when Jan urges her to have sex with another.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsMelvil PoupaudAmanda LangletGwenaëlle SimonAs a reserved young graduate vacations in a seaside town, he hopes his girlfriend will join him. But he ends up bonding with a local young woman whose female friend is also smitten with him.
- DirectorJulio MedemStarsCarmelo GómezEmma SuárezKarra ElejaldeAngel, an exterminator recently released from a mental hospital, comes to rid a small Spanish town of tiny grubs in the soil. The local wine-making industry has found these pests responsible for giving their product an "earthy" taste that has divided local opinion. While in town, Angel becomes involved with two beautiful and very different women, and impacts their lives on a grand scale. Can either of these women accept the fact that Angel travels with a "ghost" of himself, or that he routinely speaks with the deceased townspeople?
- DirectorCaroline LinkStarsSylvie TestudTatjana TriebHowie SeagoSince the earliest days in her childhood Lara has had a difficult but important task. Both her parents are deaf-mute and Lara has to translate from sign-language to the spoken word and vice versa when her parents want to communicate with other people. Getting older and more mature she becomes interested in music and starts to play clarinet very successfully. However her parents are deaf, they cannot share Lara's musical career. The day comes when Lara has to decide between her parents and her own ambitions.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenGoldie HawnJulia RobertsA New York girl sets her father up with a beautiful woman in a troubled marriage while her stepsister gets engaged.
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsJeremy IronsLiv TylerCarlo CecchiAfter her mother commits suicide, a young woman travels to Italy in search of love, truth and a deeper connection with herself.
- DirectorNeil JordanStarsLiam NeesonAidan QuinnJulia RobertsNeil Jordan's historical biopic of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins, the man who led a guerrilla war against the UK, helped negotiate the creation of the Irish Free State, and led the National Army during the Irish Civil War.
- DirectorAbel FerraraStarsChristopher WalkenChris PennAnnabella SciorraAfter the funeral of one of their own, a criminal family decides to embark on an emotionally unnerving journey in an attempt to exact bloody revenge.
- DirectorPeter GreenawayStarsVivian WuEwan McGregorYoshi OidaA woman with a body-writing fetish seeks to find a combined lover and calligrapher.
- DirectorScott HicksStarsGeoffrey RushArmin Mueller-StahlJustin BrainePianist David Helfgott, driven by his father and teachers, has a breakdown. Years later he returns to the piano, to popular if not critical acclaim.
- DirectorAnthony MinghellaStarsRalph FiennesJuliette BinocheWillem DafoeAt the close of World War II, a young nurse tends to a badly burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsChris CooperElizabeth PeñaStephen MendilloWhen the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.
- DirectorAl PacinoStarsAl PacinoAlec BaldwinKevin SpaceyAl Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJames SpaderHolly HunterElias KoteasAfter getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.
- DirectorAki KaurismäkiStarsKati OutinenKari VäänänenElina SaloThe recession hits a couple in Helsinki.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsWoody HarrelsonCourtney LoveEdward NortonThe story of controversial pornography publisher Larry Flynt, and how he became a defender of free speech.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsJack NicholsonPierce BrosnanSarah Jessica ParkerEarth is invaded by Martians with unbeatable weapons and a cruel sense of humor.
- DirectorClaude NuridsanyMarie PérennouStarsKristin Scott ThomasJacques PerrinA documentary on insect life in meadows and ponds.
- DirectorPatrice LeconteStarsCharles BerlingJean RochefortFanny ArdantTo get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles.
- DirectorCameron CroweStarsTom CruiseCuba Gooding Jr.Renée ZellwegerWhen a sports agent has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent agent with the only athlete who stays with him and his former colleague.
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsDenzel WashingtonMeg RyanLou Diamond PhillipsA U.S. Army officer, despondent about a deadly mistake he made, investigates a female chopper commander's worthiness for the Medal of Honor.
- DirectorMichael WinterbottomStarsChristopher EcclestonKate WinsletLiam CunninghamIn late 1800s England, Jude plans to go to the city and attend university but marries early and becomes a stonemason. When his wife leaves, he moves to the city, where he befriends his liberal cousin Sue.
- DirectorNick CassavetesStarsGena RowlandsMarisa TomeiGérard DepardieuAfter her abusive husband leaves, Monica asks her neighbor to look after her son while she's at work. Mildred's angry daughter's just moved out, so she's happy to have JJ.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsRobert De NiroKevin BaconBrad PittAfter a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized. Thirteen years later, an unexpected random encounter with a former guard gives them a chance for revenge.
- DirectorDanny BoyleStarsEwan McGregorEwen BremnerJonny Lee MillerRenton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.
- DirectorKenneth BranaghStarsKenneth BranaghJulie ChristieDerek JacobiHamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother remarrying the murderer, his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.
- DirectorRobert RodriguezStarsHarvey KeitelGeorge ClooneyJuliette LewisTwo criminals and their hostages unknowingly seek temporary refuge in a truck stop populated by vampires, with chaotic results.
- DirectorBertrand TavernierStarsPhilippe TorretonSamuel Le BihanBernard Le CoqThe war exploits of French captain Conan and his men during World War I and during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.
- DirectorBertrand BlierStarsAnouk GrinbergGérard LanvinValeria Bruni TedeschiIn Lyon, where many are unemployed, Marie is a prostitute who loves her work: she's thoughtful and exuberant toward clients old and young, slim or flabby. One night, a homeless man sleeps in the foyer of her apartment house; she gives him a hot meal, then a place on the floor to sleep by her radiator, then she offers herself. She falls in love, giving him new life, clothes, a place to live. When he grouses that he must bar hop while she uses the flat for her work, she finds them a larger flat. He grows restless, seducing a manicurist and pressing her to prostitution. He's arrested for procuring, so Marie must decide what to do; he, too, must face the consequences of his choices.
- DirectorYvon MarcianoStarsSergio CastellittoMarie TrintignantAnémoneAn illiterate seamstress has a powerful fetish for silk which gets her into trouble. The psychiatrist sent to help her becomes fascinated by her case and when he returns to France from World War One they fall in love, an affair that can only end in tragedy.
- DirectorÉdouard MolinaroStarsFabrice LuchiniManuel BlancSandrine KiberlainThe life story of the titular Beaumarchais, playwright and adventurer, who gets himself into numerous different scrapes and romantic encounters in 18th Century France.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsMatthew McConaugheySandra BullockSamuel L. JacksonIn Canton, Mississippi, a fearless young lawyer and his assistant defend a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his ten-year-old daughter, inciting violent retribution and revenge from the Ku Klux Klan.
- DirectorWes CravenStarsNeve CampbellCourteney CoxDavid ArquetteA year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsWilliam H. MacyFrances McDormandSteve BuscemiMinnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.
- DirectorBilly Bob ThorntonStarsBilly Bob ThorntonDwight YoakamJ.T. WalshKarl Childers, a simple man hospitalized since his childhood murder of his mother and her lover, is released to start a new life in a small town.
- DirectorFrançois OzonStarsFrédéric MangenotLucia SanchezSébastien CharlesIt's summer. Sébastien loves the singer Sheila. Lucia loves boys. And all Luc wants is to get a nice tan...
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsPhilip Baker HallJohn C. ReillyGwyneth PaltrowProfessional gambler Sydney teaches John the tricks of the trade. John does well until he falls for cocktail waitress Clementine.
- DirectorSteve BuscemiStarsSteve BuscemiCarol KaneMark Boone JuniorTommy is an unemployed mechanic who spends most of his time in a bar (Trees Lounge) in a small blue collar town. He seems to always be thinking, "If only X then I could stop drinking".
- DirectorMike LeighStarsTimothy SpallBrenda BlethynPhyllis LoganFollowing the death of her adoptive parents, a successful young black optometrist establishes contact with her biological mother -- a lonely white factory worker living in poverty in East London.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsTom CruiseJon VoightEmmanuelle BéartAn American agent, under false suspicion of disloyalty, must discover and expose the real spy without the help of his organization.