Dancer in the Dark

Directed by Lars von Trier
2000

Cast: Bjork,Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Peter Stormare, Cara Seymour, Joel Grey, Vincent Paterson, Vladica Kostic, Jean-Marc Barr, Udo Kier, Zeljko Ivanek

Masterpiece or masquerade? Lars von Trier's digicam musical split the critics in two when it debuted at Cannes in 2000. There were those who saw it as a cynical shock-opera from a manipulative charlatan, others wept openly at its scenes of raw emotion and heart-rending intensity. There is, however, no in-between. Dancer in the Dark is that rarest of creatures, a film that dares to push viewers to the limits of their feelings.

In her first and most probably last screen performance (she has foresworn acting after her bruising on-set rows with von Trier), brittle Icelandic chanteuse Björk plays Selma, a Czech immigrant living in a folksy American small town with her young son, Gene. Selma is going blind and so will Gene if she does not arrange an important operation for him. To cover the expense, Selma works every hour she can, cheating on her eye tests so she can keep working at the local factory long after her vision has become too unreliable to work safely. She sublets a house from a local cop, Bill (David Morse), and his wife, Linda (Cara Seymour). When nearly bankrupt Bill asks Selma for a loan, she refuses, but he later returns and steals the money, which she demands back in a furious confrontation. In the ensuing melee, Bill is fatally shot and Selma is arrested and put on trial. Will justice prevail?

Von Trier's passionate, provocative film runs all our emotional resources dry with suspense, giving us occasional flashes into Selma's gold heart and mind with superb song-and-dance numbers she conjures to banish the nightmare (Björk also wrote the score). At some two-and-a-half hours, it's not for lightweights, but anyone bored with today's smug, "ironic" cinema will relish this as an astonishing assault on the senses and a stark reminder of von Trier's uncompromising talent. --Damon Wise

Awards:
2000 Cannes Film Festival Best Actress
2000 Cannes International Film Festival Best Actress
2000 Cannes Film Festival Palme D'or
2000 Cannes International Film Festival Palme d'Or
2000 Cannes Film Festival Best Female Performance
2000 European Film Awards People's Choice Award: Best Actress
2000 European Film Academy Best European Actress
2000 European Film Awards Best European Actress
2000 European Film Awards People's Choice Award Best Director
2000 European Film Academy Best European Film
2000 European Film Awards Best European Film
2000 Jameson People's Choice Award Best European Director
2000 Jameson People's Choice Award Best European Actress
2000 Independent Spirit Award Best Foreign Film
2000 National Board of ReviewBest Musical Performance
2000 National Board of Review

Memento

Directed by Christopher Nolan
2000
Starring Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss

Memento chronicles two separate stories of Leonard (Guy Pearce), a ex-insurance investigator who can no longer build new memories, as he attempts to find the murderer of his wife, which is the last thing he remembers. One story line moves forward in time while the other tells the story backwards revealing more each time. Who are his friends? Who are his enemies? What is the truth?In Leonard's world, the answers to these questions shift and change from second to second. And the more he tries to figure out what is true and real, the deeper he sinks into a multi-layered abyss of uncertainty and surprises.

A real thriller!

2001 Sundance Film Festival Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award Christopher Nolan
2001 Sundance Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award Christopher Nolan
2001 Toronto Film Critics Association Best Screenplay Christopher Nolan
2001 L.A. Film Critics Association Best Screenplay Christopher Nolan
2001 Chicago Film Critics Association Best Screenplay Christopher Nolan
2001 Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Screenplay Christopher Nolan
2001 American Film Institute Best Screenplay Christopher Nolan
2001 Independent Spirit Award Best Director Christopher Nolan
2001 Independent Spirit Award Best Supporting Actress Carrie-Anne Moss
2001 Toronto Film Critics Association Best Picture
2001 Independent Spirit Award Best Picture
2001 National Board of Review#4 Film of the Year
2000 Sundance Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award Christopher Nolan

Il Mare (The Sea, Siworae)

Directed by Lee Hyun-seung
2000
Starring Jun Ji-hyun, Lee Jung-Jae

Il Mare (시월애, Siworae) means 'The Sea' in Italian, and is the name of the seaside house which is the setting of the story. The Korean title, siworae is the Korean pronunciation of Hanja "時越愛," meaning "time-transcending love." The two protagonists both live there two years apart in time, but are able to communicate through a mysterious post box. The film was remade by Warner Brothers starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves and released in 2006 as The Lake House. The movie was also famous for its heavy product placement of Louis Vuitton's Taiga Cassiar Backpack which the main heroine carried with her throughout the entire movie.

Beijing Bicycle

Directed by Wang Xiaoshuai
2000
Starring: Cui Lin,Li Bin, Zhou Xun

A young man from rural China struggles to make good in Beijing in this drama, which suggests an updated and relocated variation on the neorealist classic Ladri di Biciclette. Guei (Cui Lin) is a teenager who arrives in the big city looking for work; he and a handful of other youngsters are hired as bicycle messengers, with their employer giving them new mountain bikes under the condition that they're paid ten yuan for each message they deliver, and the bicycles are theirs once they've made 58 trips. Guei discovers the job is not an easy one, as he deals with the complexity of the huge city, confusion over who gets what message, and the condescending attitude Beijing residents often display toward the new arrivals. Guei is determined to make good and is close to owning his bike when it's stolen; Guei's boss tells him the only way he can keep is job is if he can find the bicycle, which, in a city the size of Beijing, is no easy task. Against all odds, Guei finds the bicycle, but it's now in the hands of Jian (Li Bin), who claims he got it at a second-hand shop and isn't about to give it up. Guei steals the bike back from Jian, but now has to deal with the teenaged tough and his roughneck friends. Shiqisuide Danche was produced as part of a series of films from young Chinese directors called "Tales of Three Cities," co-produced by French and Taiwanese companies. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Awards:
2001 Berlin International Film Festival Piper Heidsieck New Talent Award for Best Actor
2001 Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear - Grand Jury Prize
2000 Berlin Film Festival Outstanding Actor Debut
2000 Berlin International Film Festival Silver Berlin Bear Jury Prize
2000 Berlin Film Festival Silver Berlin Bear Jury Prize
2000 Berlin Film Festival Outstanding Actor Debut

Taboo (Gohatto)

Directed by Nagisa Oshima
Starring: Takeshi Kitano, Ryuhei Matsuda, Shinji Takeda, Tadanobu Asano
2000

After a 13-year absence, partially due to a life-threatening stroke, master filmmaker Nagisa Oshima returns to the silver screen with this revisionist samurai epic. From his first major film, Cruel Story of Youth to his most notorious work Ai no Korrida, Oshima has coupled the political and the sexual in a manner that transgresses all social norms. In this film, Oshima explores homosexuality among the ranks of the much hallowed samurai. The film is set in Kyoto in 1865 during a critical moment of Japanese history--the country's 300-year-long self-imposed isolation was coming to an abrupt halt leading to the end of the Shogunate. In its place came a more internationally-minded government with the Emperor as its nominal head. Feeling both their traditions and their grip on power threatened, samurai militia sprang up throughout the country to fight this foreign encroachment. One such group, the Shinsengumi, is auditioning new recruits at the film's opening. Commander Kondo (Yoichi Sai) and Captain Hijikata (Takeshi Kitano, a renowned filmmaker in his own right) select the ruggedly handsome Tashiro (cult actor Tadanobu Asano) and Kano (Ryuhei Matsuda), an effeminate lad with long locks and a thirst for blood. Worried about the perceived slightness of the latter, Kondo and Hijikata order Kano to perform an execution, which he does with grim aplomb. The lad's androgynous beauty soon raises the general blood pressure of the militia. While Tashiro snuggles up with him nightly, Hijikata, who suspects that something other than manly appreciation is going on between the two neophytes, also seems unduly interested in the youth. This film was screened in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide