griggs's - 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List

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Nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 1994 Academy Awards, "The Wedding Banquet" brought Ang Lee to international prominence in this warm-hearted comedy depicting the farce behind a life led by deception. Wei-Tung and Simon are a gay couple living together in Manhattan.

To deter the suspicions of Wei-Tung's parents, Simon suggests a marriage of convenience between Wei-Tung and Wei-Wei, an immigrant in need of a green card. When Wei-Tung's parents arrive in America insisting upon an elaborate wedding banquet, plans spiral out of control and ultimately threaten every one of Wei-Tung's relationships.

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Ada (Holly Hunter) - mute since birth - her nine year old daughter and her piano arrive to an arranged marriage in the remote bush of nineteenth century New Zealand. Of all her belongings her husband refuses to transport the piano and it is left behind on the beach.

Unable to bear its certain destruction, Ada strikes a bargain with an illiterate tattooed neighbour (Harvey Keitel). She may earn her piano back if she allows him to do certain things while she plays; one black key for every lesson.

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Originally banned in its home country of China, where the director was under close government scrutiny for making the film "without permission", 'The Blue Kite' is one of the most acclaimed and controversial films to come out of the new Chinese cinema, detailing the realities of daily life under

Mao's regime. Tian Zhuangzhuang's touching and humane story is reflected through the experience of young Tietou, following the trials, tribulations and devastation's of a Beijing family as they experience the political and social upheavals in 1950's and 60's China. With two educated parents (a librarian and a school teacher) Tietou's upbringing is one surrounded by the bustle of growing political awareness. His parents, both loyal communist party members, learn that innocent criticism can at once be misinterpreted by the Party as imperialist propaganda, to the detriment of family peace and prosperity. Tietou observes these mounting pressures and the adverse effects of party policy on his family for fifteen years, learning to hold dear the values of his heritage and keep tight reins on the string of the precious blue kite given to him by his loving father.

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Based on the actual memoirs of Li Tien-lu, Taiwan's most celebrated puppeteer and official "national treasure," The Puppetmaster tells the epic tale of one man's struggle against seemingly insurmountable adversary.

Spanning the years from Li's birth in 1909 to the end of Japan's fifty-year occupation of Taiwan in 1945, this remarkable true story captures the puppetmaster's hardships as well as the tragic sweep of this war-torn era. Masterfully directed by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien, the film skillfully weaves Li's recollections with dramatic reenactments of the fateful chapters in his life. The portrait that emerges reflects the emotionally complex state of Chinese society during the first half of the twentieth century.

Jurassic Park takes you to a remote island where an amazing theme park with living dinosaurs is about to turn deadly, as five people must battle to survive among the prehistoric predators.

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Julie (Juliette Binoche) loses her composer husband and their child in a car crash and, though devastated, she tries to make a new start, away from her country house and a would-be lover. But music still surrounds her and she uncovers some unpleasant facts about her husbands life.

Slowly Julie learns to live again, as music and the gift of creativity prove to be a healing force.

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What connects us? Is it our relationships? Proximity? Love, hate, confusion? What draws us together or keeps us apart? In this groundbreaking work, director Robert Altman poses answers to these questions by intricately intertwining the stories of legendary writer Raymond Carver.

'Short Cuts' burst onto the scene in 1993 and set the stage for an entirely new way of thinking about storytelling that has been fully comprehended and embraced by modern filmmakers in recent years. Winning a special award for its ensemble cast at the 1994 Golden Globes, Short Cuts features a seemingly endless dream cast. Never before and not since its release has a single film captured the range of human emotions and interactions like Short Cuts has. You're invited to experience the countless moments that make up these characters' lives at a time and in a place where death is never far away and life is on the tip of everybody's tongue.

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Internationally renowned pianist Glenn Gould had all the marks of genius - blinding talent, a craving for perfection and absolute bullheadedness. In 'Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould', director Francois Girard goes directly to the center of Gould's ideas, his passions and his music.

Using thirty-two elegantly constructed vignettes, which span Gould's life from age four until his untimely death at age fifty, the film achieves the rare balance between play and conceptual rigor. Each of the thirty-two selections dramatizes a variation on the theme of Glenn Gould, depicting the many diverse aspects of his life - from artist to financier, humorist to nature lover, recluse to iconoclast - and the result is a powerful impressionistic mosaic of genius.

Presented in the three chapters, Moretti uses the experience from travelling on his vespa, cruising with his friend around a set of remote islands and consulting series of medical experts to cure his annoying rash in order to find peace so he can finish film.

"Schindler's List" tells the incredible true story of the enigmatic Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust and whose lessons of courage continue to inspire generations.

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Up-and-coming young lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) has just been fired by his prestigious law firm. They say he hasn't got what it takes. Andrew knows it's because he's got AIDS.

Determined to defend his professional reputation, Andrew hires fierce, brilliant personal-injury attorney Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) to sue his former employers for wrongful dismissal. Joe is initially reluctant to take on the case. Although he as grown up knowing the pain of prejudice, he's never had to confront his own prejudices against homosexuality and AIDS...until now. One man is fighting for his reputation, his life and for justice. The other is battling to overcome his own and society's ignorance and fear.

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Although he's handsome and debonair and has many women pilling after him, 32-year old Londoner Charles (Hugh Grant) just can't get himself to commit. And the more he his mates walk down the aisle, the less he wants to tie the knot himself.

But all of that changes when he meets a free-spirited American woman named Carrie (Andie MacDowell). Instantly smitten, Charles begins to pursue her, only to learn that she too is ready to take the plunge... with someone else!

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Two ordinary inner-city Chicago kids dare to reach for the impossible -professional basketball glory - in this epic chronicle of hope and faith.

Filmed over a five-year period, 'Hoop Dreams', by Steve James, Frederick Marx, and Peter Gilbert, follows young Arthur Agee and William Gates and their families as the boys navigate the complex, competitive world of scholastic athletics while dealing with the intense pressures of their home lives and neighbourhoods. This revelatory film continues to educate and inspire viewers, and it is widely considered one of the great works of American nonfiction cinema.

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The movie that started it all...

In two versions, including the extended cut that you've never seen! Miramax Home Entertainment is proud to present this amazing, three-disc special edition that includes two versions of the original indie classic, a killer, brand-new, 90-minute documentary - "Snowball Effect: The Story of Clerks" - and more never-before-seen bonus material than you can shake a salsa shark at!

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Abbas Kiarostami takes metanarrative gamesmanship to masterful new heights in the final instalment of The Koker Trilogy.

Unfolding "behind the scenes" of 'And Life Goes On', this film traces the complications that arise when the romantic misfortune of one of the actors - a young man who pines for the woman cast as his wife, even though, in real life, she will have nothing to do with him - creates turmoil on set and leaves the hapless director caught in the middle. An ineffably lovely, gentle human comedy steeped in the folkways of Iranian village life, 'Through the Olive Trees' peels away layer after layer of artifice as it investigates the elusive, alchemical relationship between cinema and reality.