Fantastic Metropolis

1. The River (1997)

Directed by Taiwan’s Tsai Ming-Liang, this unsettling film concerning a dysfunctional Taiwanese family living in a crumbling apartment building in Taipei, so estranged from one another that their lives intersect only geographically, is a brilliant narrative that resonates far beyond the limits of its story. Easily the most accomplished film released in this country in 2001.

2. Baran (2001)

Iranian director Majid Majidi’s beautifully achieved character study of a young Iranian man in love with an Afghani refugee who keeps a secret that threatens her life. The best coming-of-age story on film in the last ten years.

3. Amores Perros (2000)

New director Alejandro Iñárritu out-Tarantinos Quentin with this meth-injected trilogy of stories concerning citizens/denizens of Mexico City and their dogs. By turns ultraviolent, funny, and eloquently human. S.P.C.A. members should think twice before viewing it.

4. Himalaya (1999)

The classic cattle-drive western is given a new and gorgeously photographed setting in the Himalayan foothills by first-time director Eric Valli, and details the conflict between the chief herdsman and a young rival during a yak drive.

5. Ghost World (2001)

Terry Zwigoff’s (Crumb) first non-documentary film expands the materials of the underground comic into a kind of American magical realism. Featuring a star-making turn by Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi, who perfects his classic loser shtick.

6. The Pledge (2001)

Sean Penn’s third directing assignment proves a charm and produces that rarest of movie creatures, a quietly intelligent studio film. Based on Friedrich Durrenmat’s novel, it interweaves the story of a serial killer of children and an obsessed detective’s decline into alcoholic dementia. Jack Nicholson’s finest work since the mid-80s.