(UNITED KINGDOM, 1999)
  First staged as a play (written by Terrance Rattigan) in 1946, The Winslow Boy is based on a true life story of 14 year-old Ronnie Winslow, a young cadet who is accused of stealing a five shilling postal note and, as a result, is dismissed from Naval College in Osbourne. Set in World War I Edwardian England, the film follows the Winslow family's efforts to clear their son's name. Ronnie's father, Arthur (Nigel Hawthorne) retains England's top lawyer, Sir Robert Morton (Jeremy Northam) and the trial captures the interest of the entire country. As the trial proceeds, it challenges many long accepted legal notions and sets off a national frenzy which exacts a heavy price on the Winslow family. Nigel Hawthorne (The Madness of King George) gives a brilliantly nuanced performance as Ronnie's father while the rest of this accomplished cast are equally impressive in this moving and captivating film.

"[DIRECTOR DAVID MAMET] EMPLOYS HIS KNACK FOR USING THE CRIME AS A SURFACE DISTRACTION WHILE HIS REAL SUBJECT TAKES FORM AT A BURIED LEVEL." * * * 1/2 - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

(FRANCE, 1998)
  BEST ACTRESS AWARD AT 1999 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
SHARED BY CO-STARS ÉLODIE BOUCHEZ AND NATACHA RÉGNIER

  Erick Zonca's first feature film, The Dreamlife of Angels, was one of the most widely praised films at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Its two leads, Élodie Bouchez and Natacha Régnier, caused a stir with their riveting performances and shared the festival's best actress honours. The film explores a friendship between two solitary young women in northern France who meet on the job at a garment factory. Marie (Régnier), shy and introverted, house-sits for a mother and daughter who are hospitalized after a serious car crash. Isa (Bouchez), outgoing but homeless, strikes up a friendship with Marie and moves in with her. Their sisterly friendship deepens and grows until their divergent personalities begin to take them on separate paths. Marie becomes obsessively drawn to a wealthy, arrogant night club owner while Isa becomes determined to help the hospitalized girl. The two women are both outsiders and, in the end, have very different ways of coping with the growing adversity in the relationship. The Dreamlife of Angels explores the whimsical nature of life and its sometimes cruel ironies in an exquisitely sensitive way that fascinates but is never sentimental.

"THESE ARE THE KIND OF PERFORMANCES THAT RUIN OTHER MOVIES FOR US ... BOUCHEZ AND RÉGNIER HAVE SPARKED A NEARLY BLINDING LIGHT OF PURE BEAUTY" - Elizabeth Weitzman, Film.com

(UK, 1998)
  My Son the Fanatic is a contemporary love story set against a comic clash of generations and cultures. Written by Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Laundrette), a bittersweet tale emerges where Eastern fundamentalism meets Western hedonism over the kitchen table of a Pakistani family in the industrial north of England. Twenty years ago, Parvez (Om Puri), a reserved but amiable taxi driver, emigrated to the west and started driving a cab to provide for his family and ensure a brilliant future for his son, Farid (Akbar Kurtha). Although his clientele is often disreputable, like the local prostitute Bettina (Rachel Griffiths, Hilary and Jackie) and the decadent German businessman Schiz (Stellan Skarsgard, Good Will Hunting), Parvez enjoys relating to the regular customers. Events take a sudden dramatic turn when his son dumps his English fiancée, sells all his possessions and joins a group of religious fanatics led by a high-ranking Muslim priest named Maulvi. Parvez's master plan of assimilation has backfired and his son becomes obsessed with the same cultural identity Parvez left behind. Feeling isolated from his wife and son, he struggles at a crossroads: is he prepared to change his life again? Om Puri's portrait of a middle-aged man who realizes he has been living someone else's life has been acclaimed as both a comic and poignant gem.

"PURI AND GRIFFITHS GIVE RICHLY TEXTURED PERFORMANCES. PURI IMPRESSIVELY SHOWS THE PAIN OF A MAN WHO FEELS USELESS AS HE SEES HIS LIFE COLLAPSING AROUND HIM." **** - Ed Scheid, Box Office Magazine

(U.S., 1999)
  My Life So Far, Hugh Hudson's (Chariots of Fire) first film in a decade, is a coming-of-age story following the life of ten-year-old Fraser Petteigrew in 1927 Scotland. Fraser has been born into a wealthy family who lives on a lush estate owned by the aging Gamma (Rosemary Harris, Hamlet). The manor is filled with erratic and intriguing characters including the boy's father Edward (Colin Firth, Shakespeare in Love) who delights in thinking up oddball inventions, his beautiful and loving - but wronged - mother Moira (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, The Color of Money), his hard-driving, practical and rich Uncle Morris (Malcolm MacDowell, A Clockwork Orange) and his exotic and sophisticated French Aunt Heloise (Irene Jacob, Othello). In addition to Fraser's family, the estate is resplendent with maids, dogs and servants who all make their mark on Fraser. My Life So Far is based on the autobiography of renowned British TV producer and current Royal Opera House director Sir Dennis Forman and chronicles a childhood memory of privileged life in-between-the-wars Britain.

"THE WRY HUMOUR AND COMIC PACING ARE SPOT-ON." **** - Tom Lyons, eye WEEKLY

(Canada/India, 1998)
  This second installment in Deepa Mehta's trilogy, launched by her dazzling success, Fire, is an epic story of love and innocence trapped in a reign of political terror. Set in 1947 Lahore, India, at the dramatic and perilous moment when the country passes from British to self-rule, euphoria and ancient deep divisions intertwine to take India on a tumultous rollercoaster. As England's last set of controls recede, the "caged lion" of old grudges among Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus are set loose. In the midst of this tumult, Lenny, an 8-year-old Parsee girl grows up watching her wealthy, non-partisan family struggle to maintain their neutrality. Lenny's beautiful nanny, Ayah, finds herself the centre of romantic attention from a peace-loving Muslim, Hasaan and the Ice Candy Man (played by popular Hindi star Aamir Khan). Romance, danger, vengeance, love and betrayal in a country ravaged by upheaval, flame to life in this haunting, sensational film.

"MEHTA WOULD SEEM TO BE EVERY BIT AS TALENTED AS ACCLAIMED ELIZABETH DIRECTOR SHEKHAR KAPUR. LIKE ELIZABETH, THIS FILM IS SELDOM WHAT YOU EXPECT ... VERY MUCH WORTH SEEING." - Chris Parry, Filmink Magazine

(U.S./U.K., 1999)
  Oliver Parker's film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's melodramatic comedy brings the world of 1895 London society to life. Lord Arthur Goring (Rupert Everett, A Midsummer Night's Dream) is intent on being a bachelor for the rest of his days. However, the women in his circle of friends see him as the ultimate catch, each trying to tame him, but to no avail. Complications and misunderstandings arise when an old flame, Mrs. Cheveley (Julianne Moore, Boogie Nights) and Mrs. Gertrude Chiltern (Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth) arrive separately, at Arthur's home one evening. Trying to save his dearest friend Sir Robert Chiltern (Jeremy Northam, The Winslow Boy) from losing his seat in office, his wife Gertrude and his high position in society, Arthur must risk losing the one thing he holds most dear to his heart - his bachelorhood! Set in the beautiful Victorian era, the exquisite production design and detailed costumes exquisitely reflect the elegance of the characters and their personalities.

"A WICKED AND IRRESISTIBLE FILM." - David Michael, Filmink Magazine

(France, 1998; subtitled)
  Writer-Director Francis Veber (La Cage aux Folles) serves up "a feast for the senseless" in this irresistible French farce. Every Wednesday night, publisher Pierre Brochant throws a dinner for his friends and guests - the one stipulation being that the invited guests have to be idiots. The one who brings the most outstanding idiot wins a prize. Tonight, Brochant feels sure he will win with his guest François Pignon, an accountant with an extensive collection of matchstick sculptures. Pignon hopes that Brochant will help him achieve his dream of creating a coffee table book featuring matchstick tributes to major world architecture. A bad back forces Brochant to cancel the dinner party, leaving him alone with his intended prey ...

***** - Box Office Magazine