RGA
04-09-2005, 09:16 PM
I decided to post an RGA Recommended Film each week because my film reviewing hobby has been cut back due to a lack of time. So I figure I can post a recommendation each Saturday or Sunday. I might do a few if the mood strikes if the two seem to go together.
I will try(though not hard) to pick films that went under many people's radar - films that were perhaps missed by most mainstream audiences but that are accessible and generally not totally obscure. They won;t necessarily be my all time favorites but obviously films that I think ranked up in the year's best category. I'm a fairly tough critic - with roughly 20 films out of more than 1200 that I've given my top 5 star rating to.
Anyway first up:
Felicia's Journey (1999)-- "A lonely middle-aged catering manager (Bob Hoskins) spends all of his time studying tapes of an eccentric TV chef (Arsinee Khanjian). Meanwhile, a young woman [Felicia] (Elaine Cassidy) is making her way from Ireland to find her boy friend (Peter McDonald), who moved to England to get a job in a lawn-mower factory. On arrival, she makes an early contact with the caterer, who recommends a boarding room to her. Slowly, it is revealed that the caterer has in fact befriended and subsequently abused more than a dozen young women. He, of course, now sets his site on this woman. Much of the story is told in flashbacks, revealing how each of the characters grew to the point where they now find themselves. However, the drama of the character interaction is more important to director, Atom Egoyan, than the potential horror of the situation."
Bob Hoskins gave one of the best performances of the 1990's here and won best Actor at the Canadian Genie Awards.
My rating ****/***** A- (A top ten film of 1999)
Trailer clip when possible
Trailer http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/trailer.html?v_id=180087
I will try(though not hard) to pick films that went under many people's radar - films that were perhaps missed by most mainstream audiences but that are accessible and generally not totally obscure. They won;t necessarily be my all time favorites but obviously films that I think ranked up in the year's best category. I'm a fairly tough critic - with roughly 20 films out of more than 1200 that I've given my top 5 star rating to.
Anyway first up:
Felicia's Journey (1999)-- "A lonely middle-aged catering manager (Bob Hoskins) spends all of his time studying tapes of an eccentric TV chef (Arsinee Khanjian). Meanwhile, a young woman [Felicia] (Elaine Cassidy) is making her way from Ireland to find her boy friend (Peter McDonald), who moved to England to get a job in a lawn-mower factory. On arrival, she makes an early contact with the caterer, who recommends a boarding room to her. Slowly, it is revealed that the caterer has in fact befriended and subsequently abused more than a dozen young women. He, of course, now sets his site on this woman. Much of the story is told in flashbacks, revealing how each of the characters grew to the point where they now find themselves. However, the drama of the character interaction is more important to director, Atom Egoyan, than the potential horror of the situation."
Bob Hoskins gave one of the best performances of the 1990's here and won best Actor at the Canadian Genie Awards.
My rating ****/***** A- (A top ten film of 1999)
Trailer clip when possible
Trailer http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/trailer.html?v_id=180087