More Film Favorites of 1988

“Pelle the Conqueror”--Danish film maker Bille August’s bleakly beautiful adaptation of the first part of Martin Andersen Nexo’s four-part 1906-10 Danish novel combines a great agrarian epic, exposing the stark, seemingly eternal inequity between master and servant, and a remarkably tender father-and son relationship. Max Von Sydow crowns his career as the worn father; young Pelle Hvenegard has the title role.

“Little Dorrit”--In her mesmerizing six-hour adaptation of the Dickens novel, Christine Edzard manages to bring alive an entire society, that of mid-19th Century London, and also unfold her story from two different points of view while advancing its plot. The look and feel of the period is impeccable, and so are an array of performances, starting with Alec Guinness’ feckless Sir William Dorrit, simultaneously gentle and pompous as he rules over a debtor’s prison.

“Tequila Sunrise”--Writer-director Robert Towne draws upon his wry Chandleresque view of Los Angeles, as he did in his script for “Chinatown,” to define a keenly observed contemporary tale of timeless moral ambiguity. The smartest, most stylish--and thoughtful--Hollywood movie of the year stars Mel Gibson, in a disturbingly complex and equivocal portrayal of a drug dealer, an easy charmer trying to go straight, but the real hero is Kurt Russell’s cop, who discovers himself in response to the plight of Gibson, his pal from high school days; caught in the middle is chic restaurateur Michelle Pfeiffer.

“Tucker”--The All-American energy of go-for-broke innovative car designer Preston Tucker, played with exuberance by Jeff Bridges, is well-nigh irresistible. So is this film, with its clear parallels to its maker Francis Coppola’s own career and its concern for the systematic stifling of imagination in corporate America.

“Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie”--Marcel Ophuls gives fresh life to the Holocaust documentary by turning detective. He investigates the murky and complicated life of the sadistic Gestapo chief known as the “Butcher of Lyon” as he once again probes the queasy French conscience in regard to the Occupation. Not even Dickens could have come up with a more vivid and varied cast of real-life characters; Ophuls leaves us freshly aware of how anti-Communist paranoia combined with anti-Semitism allowed Barbie to go free for so long.

“Dead Ringers”--Never has David Cronenberg managed to express human nature’s darkest impulses with such style and conviction as in this icy but compelling tale of brilliant twin gynecologists (played by Jeremy Irons in a stunning dual performance), whose symbiotic relationship carries within it the seeds of extravagant destruction. It’s a rare instance of incipient morbidity transcended by insight and panache.

“Boyfriends and Girlfriends”--Perhaps the most elegant and affectionate of Eric Rohmer’s contemplations of contemporary urban love, as two mismated couples gradually sort themselves out. Also a coolly amusing consideration of life in a starkly designed, upwardly mobile high-rise community.

“Babette’s Feast”--Gabriel Axel’s warm, exquisite rendering of an Isak Dinesen fable took the best foreign film Oscar for 1987. The film was a special triumph for Stephane Audran, who plays a French refugee who repays the kindness of two pious and elderly Danish sisters with an astonishing and transcendent gesture.

“Bird”--Clint Eastwood’s moody, understated rendering of the life of jazz legend Charlie Parker, played with such truth and pain by Forest Whitaker, brings a rare distinction to the film biography. No less impressive is Diane Venora as the smart, distinctive and free-spirited Chan Parker.

“The Thin Blue Line”--In his taxing, fascinating film Errol Morris builds a powerful case against Texas-style justice while attempting to bring to the documentary form an ultra-cool neo- film noir look and mood. The result is an experiment in nonfiction screen narrative that not only yielded Morris’ characteristic darkly amusing observation of bizarre Americana but also has actually brought about the promise of a fresh trial for the film’s central figure.