The 1990s started an upward trend in Cinema led by the
emergence of New Waves of Independent Cinema throughout the world. USA, India,
Argentina and Iran are just a few example nations that had notable surges of
quality cinema. Many celebrated directors made their feature debut in this
1990s such as Jafar Panahi, Jia Zhang-ke, Hong Sang-soo, Park Chan-wook, Tsai
Ming-liang, Bruno Dumont, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes
Anderson, David Fincher, Richard Linklater to name just a few. In addition, the
collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991
meant that cinema from Eastern Europe started to re-emerge.
The 1990s also saw an increase in usage of special effects in
Hollywood films which coupled with the increase of multiplex cinemas changed
cinema and theatrical experience forever. As an example, the decade is
book-ended by Terminator 2 (1991) and The Matrix
(1999), two films whose special effects helped pave the way for current Comic
book films. Almost two decades after Jaws, Steven Spielberg
raised the stakes for summer blockbusters with Jurassic Park (1993).
Interestingly, The Phantom (1996) and Blade (1998)
came out in this decade long before the multiplexes regularly showed Comic book
movies. Then there were the animated Disney movies Aladdin
(1992), The Lion King (1994) and Pixar’s Toy Story
(1995) which opened the floodgates for more animated films to follow. In terms
of both commercial and artistic cinema, the 1990s laid the groundwork for even
better cinema to emerge in the 2000s. In that sense, the 1990s mirrored the
1950s. The 1950s had some brilliant films leading into a stellar 1960s.
Top 30 Films of the 1990s
1. Taste of Cherry (1997, Iran/France, Abbas
Kiarostami)
2. Chungking Express (1994, Hong Kong, Wong Kar-wai)
3. The Stranger (1991, India, Satyajit Ray)
4. Beau
Travail (1999, Claire Denis)
5. Flowers
of Shanghai (1998, Taiwan, Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
6. Satantango (1994, Hungary, Béla Tarr)
7. Dharavi (1992, India, Sudhir Mishra)
8. Maachis (1996, India, Gulzar)
9. The Big Lebowski (1998, USA/UK, Joel
Coen/Ethan Coen)
10. A Summer in La Goulette (1996, Tunisia co-production, Férid
Boughedir)
11. Jo
Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992, India, Mansoor Khan)
12. A
Brighter Summer Day (1991, Taiwan, Edward Yang)
13. The
Wind Will Carry Us (1999, Iran, Abbas Kiarostami)
14. The
White Balloon (1995, Iran, Jafar Panahi)
15. Underground (1995, Yugoslavia, Emir Kusturica)
16. Central
Station (1998, Brazil/France, Walter Salles)
17. Eat
Drink Man Woman (1994, Taiwan, Ang Lee)
18. Dark
City (1998, Australia/USA, Alex Proyas)
19. Is
Raat ki Subah Nahin (1996, India, Sudhir Mishra)
20. Open
Your Eyes (1997, Spain/France/Italy. Alejandro Amenábar)
21. Sarfarosh
(1999, India, John Mathew Matthan)
22. Cure
(1997, Japan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
23. Close-Up
(1990, Iran, Abbas Kiarostami)
24. Hyenas (1992, Senegal, Djibril Diop Mambéty)
25. Bolivia
(1999, Argentina/Holland, Israel Adrián Caetano)
26. Rebels
of the Neon God (1992, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)
27. Eyes
Wide Shut (1999, UK/USA, Stanley Kubrick)
28. The
Matrix (1999, USA/Australia, Lana Wachowski/Lilly Wachowski)
29. Fight
Club (1999, USA, David Fincher)
30. All
About my Mother (1999, Spain, Pedro Almodóvar)
Honourable Mentions:
Casa De Lava (1994,
Portugal/France/Germany, Pedro Costa)
Satya (1998, India, Ram Gopal Varma)
Crane World (1999, Argentina, PabloTrapero)
My Cousin Vinny (1992, USA,
Jonathan Lynn)
Ghost Dog: The Way of the
Samurai (1999, USA co-production, Jim Jarmusch)
Delicatessen (1991, France,
Marc Caro/Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
Rudaali (1993, India, Kalpana
Lajmi)
The Shawshank Redemption
(1994, USA, Frank Darabont)
Good Will Hunting (1997, USA,
Gus Van Sant)
The Game (1997, USA, David
Fincher)
12
Monkeys (1995, USA, Terry Gilliam)
Pulp
Fiction (1994, USA, Quentin Tarantino)
