1999 Reviews
Here are the reviews for the films that were playing at the 1999 World Film Festival. Eventually, I'll put these reviews into their separate categories (such as when they either come to theatres or to video), but until then I hope these help you choose see the diversity of films always presented at the festival.
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Bayside Shakedown (Odoru Dai Sosa Sen) (Japan - 1998) |
Bone Collector, The
(USA - 1999) |
Breaking Out (Vägen
Hut) (Sweden - 1999) |
Chang Jiang: The Great River of China (IMAX) (1999) |
City of Marvels,
The (La Ciudad de los Prodigios) (Spain / France - 1999) |
The Dilettante (La Dilettante) (France - 1999) |
The Dinner (La Cena) (Italy / France - 1998)
Starring: Vittorio Gassman, Fanny Ardant, Giancarlo Giannini
Director: Ettore Scola
Plot: A typical local restaurant on a typical night fills up with regulars, tourists and new clients, each table the center of a burgeoning drama. Even the waiters, cooks, and the hostess are not immune to the stories surrounding them.
Review: With a large cast of famous French and Italian actors in mostly bit parts, the story focuses on each of them briefly but repeatedly to describe how their character's story progresses. From a group of Japanese tourists, to a dysfunctional Italian family, to businessmen and theater actors, The Dinner offers up a large cast of characters and situations. The film is definitely a comedy interspersed with dramatic elements. The comedy part of the film is good, at times both witty, quite funny, and on occasion quite revealing, but the dramatic moments seem a bit forced, and actually slow down the story. Still, it's another fine set piece by director Ettore
Scola, just not to the level of success he's achieved in some of his previous films.
Comedy: 6/10
Entertainment: 7/10
Goya in Bordeaux (Goya en Burdeos)
(Spain / Italy - 1999) |
Legend of 1900 (Leggenda del pianista sull'oceano, La) (Italy - 1998) |
Mansfield Park (USA / UK - 1999) |
The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (USA - 1998) |
My Best Fiend (Mein Liebster Feind) (Germany - 1999) |
The Personals (Zheng Hun Qi Shi) (Taiwan - 1998) |
Postmen in the Mountains (China - 1999) |
Time Regained (Le Temps Retrouvé)
(France / Italy - 1999) |
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