“Menace II Society” (1993)
The career path of Albert and Allen Hughes has been, for want of a better phrase, pretty wild. The brotherly duo directed both the Vietnam-era black crime flick “Dead Presidents” as well as the lurid, gory Jack the Ripper yarn “From Hell.” One of them was jumped by Tupac Shakur while shooting a music video; one of them directed, um, “Broken City.” And yet there’s a reason people got so excited about these guys way back in the ’90s, and that reason is “Menace II Society.” Although the movie superficially shares its DNA with many of the other “hood dramas” that were prevalent at the time (think “Juice,” “Boyz N The Hood,” etc.), “Menace II Society” plays more like a horror movie than a youthful tale of urban struggle. Ignore the period-appropriate gangster rap on the soundtrack, the outdated fashion cues and the occasionally ponderous, “Goodfellas”-esque voiceover, and “Menace” is simply an honest, unflinching look at young men who are casually, sometimes even arrogantly immoral in their pursuit of surface pleasures. The movie’s depiction of Watts, Los Angeles, in the early ’90s rightly makes the community resemble a blighted, corpse-strewn war zone (it’s calmed down somewhat in recent years) and the film’s young stars Tyrin Turner and Larenz Tate convincingly evoke the confusion and desperation of young men growing up in a world without options. For foreign audiences curious as to how American cinema reflects the quality of life in its under-served cities, “Menace” acts less like a friendly wake-up call and more like a cold, stinging slap to the face.
“Heavy” (1995)
James Mangold is mostly known for making competently assembled and occasionally even compelling Hollywood product like “Walk The Line,” “3:10 To Yuma” and “Cop Land.” And yet Mangold’s touching, understated debut “Heavy” seems like the work of a different filmmaker entirely, and it’s enough to make you wonder how his career would have turned out if he had followed this path instead of a more nakedly commercial one. “Heavy” is the tender and observant story of Victor (Pruitt Taylor Vince), a sad, overweight man who works a dead-end job at a roadside diner in upstate New York. Victor’s humdrum life changes when a luminous new waitress named Callie (a young Liv Tyler) starts picking up shifts, though his amorous feelings for the girl are complicated considerably by the fact that she’s already got a boyfriend. The film was showered with accolades upon its release, including a three-and-a-half star review from Roger Ebert, as well as some major recognition out of both Cannes and Sundance. Mangold has made other very good movies in the years since his debut and he will probably continue to do so, but there’s something about the fragile humanism of “Heavy” that digs deep into your soul and makes you wonder if he’s capable of summoning this kind of magic again.
“Safe” (1995)
Director Todd Haynes is no stranger to Cannes, having played both his glam rock-indebted debut “Velvet Goldmine” there as well as last year’s “Carol,” to much acclaim. And yet it’s his 1995 picture “Safe” that may have made the biggest impression when it played at Director’s Fortnight. Haynes would go on to refine his style and expand his scope with the Douglas Sirk-indebted, impressionistic melodrama of “Far From Heaven” as well as the lacerating social critique of “Carol,” but “Safe” is, without question, his most disquieting film. A raw and wounded look at a San Fernando Valley housewife (Julianne Moore in an early star-making turn) whose domestic routine is thrown violently out of order after she’s diagnosed with multiple chemical sensitivity disorder, “Safe” is anything but. Utilizing understated performances and quietly explosive camerawork, Haynes crafts an unflinching yet somehow sympathetic look at a woman battling the repressions of a male-dominated society along with her own inner demons. The result is nothing less than electric. Haynes, who himself was born in the sprawling suburban flatlands of the Valley, was still finding his voice when he made “Safe,” and while the end result may not be as polished or audience-friendly as his more recent work, it might just stand as his most vital film.
“The Virgin Suicides” (1999)
Skeptics had every reason to sneer upon first hearing back in 1999 that Sofia Coppola, the daughter of Francis previously best known for her much-discussed cameo in her father’s third “Godfather” movie, had helmed her first feature. But she proved herself — not only is that a reductive way to look at art in general, but Coppola turned out to be quite the storyteller in her own right, and “The Virgin Suicides” may just be her finest hour (apologies to “Lost In Translation” fans). An achingly tender and deeply sad look at the loss of innocence experienced by a close-knit group of lustful sisters in an otherwise placid American suburb, “The Virgin Suicides” examines many of the themes that have preoccupied Coppola throughout her career, including youth, alienation, fractured family bonds and the pains of being pure of heart. As Coppola’s films received greater acclaim over the years, her worlds became more luxuriant, hermetic, sealed-off – in other words, more removed from the reality of most people, resulting in the fascinating and frustrating likes of “Marie Antoinette” and “Somewhere.” The Virgin Suicides,” however, is its own beautiful, brooding thing: a haunted mosaic of memory and regret, bolstered by an ensemble of incredible actors, a first-rate soundtrack including songs by Heart and Air, and the sumptuous cinematography of the great Edward Lachman.
“Girlfight” (2000)
God bless John Sayles: In a town where integrity is sadly just another buzz word thrown around willy-nilly, Sayles is the kind of guy who will step in to finance a novice filmmaker’s debut feature once the original financier backs out. That’s pretty much exactly what happened with 2000’s “Girlfight” and like its protagonist, Karyn Kusama’s debut feature is tough, smart and deserving of your respect, regardless of whether or not you like it. The film is also largely responsible for introducing the moviegoing public to Michelle Rodriguez, who has never been as fierce or sympathetic as she was as aspiring Brooklyn brawler Diana Guzman (Kusama wrote the screenplay after herself learning how to box). The movie went on to pick up a special Award of the Youth at Cannes and Kusama has gone on to direct a few other movies as well, including this year’s excellent “The Invitation.” In its way, “Girlfight” is a neat encapsulation of everything that’s vital about independent cinema: It focuses on character over cheap melodrama and is seemingly allergic to pretense. Above all, it’s a real story about real people — and one that will knock the wind out of you.