Susie Figgis Movies
Saigon: Year of the Cat is a low-budget drama about the fall of Saigon. The film was made for the BBC in 1983. It was one of many television projects that director Stephen Frears (High Fidelity) worked on in the early part of his career. Playwright David Hare (Plenty) wrote the script. Judi Dench plays Barbara Dean, a depressed loan officer working for a British bank in Saigon in 1974. Barbara politely wards off the advances of her Scottish co-worker, Donald (Roger Rees), who does not share her respect for the Vietnamese people. She also avoids getting involved with Frank (Wallace Shawn), an American embassy employee with whom she plays bridge. When she meets Bob (Frederic Forrest), however, she's immediately attracted to him. She soon learns that while Bob poses as a cultural attaché, he actually works for the CIA. When Bob belatedly recognizes her attraction, he opens up to her, and they become lovers. Bob hears from a reliable intelligence source that the North Vietnamese are stepping up their aggression and plan to take Saigon soon. He tries to convince his boss, Jack Ockham (Josef Sommer), and the U.S. ambassador (E.G. Marshall) to prepare for the fall of the city by evacuating the South Vietnamese citizens who have worked most closely with the U.S. government. The ambassador does not want to appear to be abandoning President Thieu's regime. He refuses to credit Bob's report. Meanwhile, as the crisis looms, Barbara is growing despondent because Bob is not spending time with her, and because there's little she can do to help her South Vietnamese friends get out of the country. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judi Dench, Frederic Forrest, (more)
- 1984
- PG
Writer/director Bill Forsyth's follow-up to his best film, Local Hero, is another comic exploration of a man undergoing a personal crisis. In Local Hero, the American played by Peter Riegert finds himself enchanted by the people and ambience of a Scottish village he has been dispatched to purchase for an oil company. In Comfort and Joy, Alan (Bill Paterson) is a Glasgow radio disc jockey whose air name is the chirpy Dickey Bird. After Maddy, his girlfriend (Eleanor David), walks out on him at Christmas, he's spurred to re-evaluate his life. Looking for more meaningful work than spinning pop tunes and offering inane chatter to his geriatric listeners, Alan decides to make a radio documentary. He chances upon a local rivalry between two ice cream companies, who are sabotaging each other's trucks in an effort to monopolize the market. Attracted to Charlotte (C.P. Grogan), the daughter of one of the company owners, Alan finds himself playing peacemaker rather than documentarian. That this cold war takes place in the dead of a bitter Scottish winter is only one of Forsyth's many sly touches. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Paterson, Eleanor David, (more)
Company of Wolves is Little Red Riding Hood for the Alien generation. Sheltered 13-year-old Sarah Patterson, living on the edge of a foreboding woods, is visited by her grandmother Angela Lansbury. The old lady delights in telling Sarah the most horrific stories, usually involving what happens to little girls if they trust wolves--the actual, rather than symbolic kind. Later on, Sarah sets out through the woods to visit her grandmother. She makes the acquaintance of a seductive young huntsman (Micha Bergese), who turns out to be.....well, what big teeth he's got. The ads for Company of Wolves, showing a wolf springing from the open mouth of poor little Sarah Patterson, were warning enough for the faint of heart. Actually, the horror is secondary to the remarkable Grimms-Fairy-Tale ambience which the film successfully sustains from beginning to end. And, in keeping with the original unexpurgated versions of most fairy tales, the sexual subtext is never far from the surface. Director Neil Jordan would further develop some of the subliminal themes in Company of Wolves in his 1994 production Interview with the Vampire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Lansbury, David Warner, (more)
- 1985
- PG
Adapted by Harold Pinter from the novel by Russell Hoban, Turtle Diary stars Glenda Jackson as a famed author/illustrator of children's books. In the midst of her success, Jackson suffers from writer's block. While casting about for new ideas, she makes several visits to the turtle tank at the local aquarium, where she becomes acquainted with shy bookstore clerk Ben Kingsley. From this point on, nothing is in the least predictable. What can one say that's sensible about a plotline that climaxes with a turtle hijacking? Screenwriter Pinter has a cameo role as "Man in Bookshop." Turtle Diary was the maiden effort of United British Artists, a consortium consisting of Glenda Jackson, Harold Pinter, and producer Richard Johnson (who also appears in the film). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenda Jackson, Ben Kingsley, (more)
This '80s follow-up to The Wizard of Oz is based upon two of L. Frank Baum's later Oz books. In Return to Oz (a version that may be a bit too scary for young children), Auntie Em sends Dorothy to a sanitarium where hopefully she will clear her head from all of the "Oz nonsense." This doesn't work, for soon Dorothy manages to return to Oz, but things have definitely changed. She finds her old friends turned to stone and discovers that the awful Nome King has taken over Oz. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, (more)
The rise of teen culture in 1950s Britain provides the backdrop for Julien Temple's unconventional rock musical Absolute Beginners. The film centers on Colin, an 18-year-old with a talent for photography and a fondness for the neon nightlife of British jazz clubs. He also is in love with Crepe Suzette, an impulsive, ambitious young beauty who abandons him after attracting the attention of a powerful fashion designer. Depressed and aimless, Colin turns for help to a flashy ad executive (David Bowie) who promises to make him a star photographer. The former lovers take parallel paths to success, capitalizing on the youth mania gripping the nation. The film's nostalgic yet gently satirical look at teen culture is tempered by a recognition of the era's social tension, particularly a disturbing rise in racism. Despite these serious undertones, however, the film tells its story with a colorful vibrancy reminiscent of both MTV and old Hollywood musicals, filled with such show-stopping numbers as a memorable sequence in which Bowie dances on a giant typewriter. Critical reception was mixed, with some hailing the film's spectacular cinematography and ambitious scope, while others found the mixture of tones and style too inconsistent. The film also drew lukewarm response at the box office, with the memorable soundtrack receiving more attention than the film itself. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie O'Connell, Patsy Kensit, (more)
Bob Hoskins plays George, a tough but basically goodhearted British mob flunky, recently released from prison, where he'd served a term to cover up for his gangster boss (Michael Caine). Still willing to be everyone's doormat, George agrees to act as chauffeur for Simone (Cathy Tyson), a haughty, high-priced call girl. They don't like each other at first, but George begins to fall for her and take a protective interest. She implores him to help her find her only truly friend, a prostitute named Cathy (Kate Hardie). Touched by this devotion, George locates the girl, only to be chagrined to learn that Simone and Cathy are lovers. Hoskins is used and abused by so many people in Mona Lisa that when the worm finally does turn, you feel like cheering--even though it doesn't make him any happier. Director Neil Jordan cowrote this study of underworld mores with David Leland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, (more)
Richard Attenborough directed this dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods (Kevin Kline) is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko (Denzel Washington), a courageous and outspoken black anti-apartheid activist. Woods and his wife Wendy (Penelope Wilton) get to know Biko, and they become friends, until Biko is brutally murdered at the hands of government troops in 1977 for his activities against the country's repression of the black majority population. Donald is shocked and appalled by Biko's murder and determined that the truth about Biko will become known to the world; eventually, Donald and Wendy Woods and their children must leave South Africa (and nearly everything they have) as they spread the word about Biko's life and death to ensure that he did not die in vain. Washington received an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Biko. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Kline, Penelope Wilton, (more)
- 1987
- R
The British Wish You Were Here served as the auspicious film debut for 16-year-old Emily Lloyd. The scene is a British seaside community of the 1950s, where the local adults are shocked and embarrassed by the libertine Lynda (Lloyd), who dresses provocatively, behaves outrageously, and swears like a sailor (her favorite epithet is "Up your bum"). Lynda's mother is dead, and her father has given up trying to do anything with her. She attempts to hold down several jobs, but messes them all up through insolence and carelessness. Excessively promiscuous, Lynda has an affair with a middle-aged friend of her father's. She becomes pregnant, only to use her "fallen" state to gleefully shock and annoy her elders even more. Despite her bravado, there's an underlying sadness about Lynda: the title Wish You Were Here refers to her feelings concerning her late mother. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emily Lloyd, Tom Bell, (more)
The owner of an Irish castle decides to attract visitors by falsely claiming that the building is haunted, only to have a pair of real ancestral spirits start causing trouble in this uneven attempt at fantasy-comedy. The story centers on Jack and Sharon (played by Steve Guttenberg and Beverly D'Angelo), naive American tourists who are initially unimpressed by the owner's attempts at fraud but become more interested in the real ghosts, Mary and Martin (played by Daryl Hannah and Liam Neeson). This is especially true for Jack, who falls in love with the beautiful Mary, despite several centuries' difference in their ages. After the film's initial unsuccessful release, people involved with the production blamed studio interference for damaging director Neil Jordan's original vision, although Jordan is better known as a director of quirky, dark dramas (Mona Lisa, The Crying Game, Interview With a Vampire, The Company of Wolves). For whatever reason, the end result was an awkward, forced comedy that more often than not falls flat, squandering a strong collection of talent. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daryl Hannah, Peter O'Toole, (more)
Cinematographer Chris Menges' first directorial effort, A World Apart was inspired by the lives of South African journalist Ruth First and her daughter Shawn Slovo (who wrote the film's screenplay). Barbara Hershey plays the fictional counterpart to Ms. First, Diana Roth, with Jodhi May as her daughter. Told from the daughter's viewpoint, the film shows us that Diana and her husband Jeroen Krabbe are so busy with their anti-Apartheid political activism that they totally shut May out of their lives. In 1963, Hershey is arrested by the South African police, becoming the first white woman to be held under the infamous 90-day-detention act. Left despondent and suicidal by two separate arrests and by constant harassment from the police, Diana still won't include her daughter in her life until the girl presses the issue in a climactic confrontation. Some critics felt that Shawn Slovo was using A World Apart to settle unresolved issues in her own life: Ruth First was killed under suspicious circumstances in 1982, without ever reconciling with her daughter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Hershey, Jodhi May, (more)
- 1989
- PG13
Master cinematographer Caleb Deschanel is, not unexpectedly, stronger on visuals than substance in his direction of Crusoe (though the camerawork is officially credited to Tom Pinter). The protagonist, played by Aidan Quinn, is a shipwreck victim, just as novelist Daniel Defoe proscribed over two hundred years ago. But this Robinson Crusoe is a child of the late 19th century; moreover, he is no ordinary sailor but an insensitive slave trader. The "Friday" character is divided up amongst several black natives of the island where Crusoe is stranded. Ultimately, Crusoe profits by their example, rather than the other way around. Director Deschanel busies himself with gorgeous scenery (mostly lensed in the Seychelles) and languid sunsets, permitting screenwriters Christopher Logue and Walson Green to pursue the politically correct message of Crusoe without interference. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aidan Quinn, Ade Sapara, (more)
Filmmaker David Leland handled the directing chores on this British drama that stars Liam Neeson as an unemployed Scotsman whose inability to find a job threatens his family's wellbeing. Against his better judgement, Neeson is coerced into a bare-knuckle boxing match. Crossing the Line's supporting cast includes Hugh Grant, Joanne Whaley-Kilmer, Cameron Mitchell, and Billy Connolly. Adapted from a novel by William McIvanney, the film has also been released under the title The Big Man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liam Neeson, Joanne Whalley, (more)
- 1991
- PG
Neil Jordan's lyrical Irish romance takes place in the small seaside town of Bray (near Dublin) and concerns two teenage friends, Jimmy (Niall Byrne) and Rose (Lorraine Pilkington). They spend their days roaming the cobblestone streets and waterlogged piers. To while away the time, Rose and Jimmy make up stories about strangers on the street. One day, while watching people at the train station, a sophisticated and glamorous older woman, Renee Baker (Beverly D'Angelo), stands out so imposingly from the drab townsfolk that Jimmy and Rose decide to follow her, obsessed with knowing everything about her. They follow her to the beach and at last Renee speaks to them. When she looks at Jimmy, he's immediately smitten by this mysterious woman. Rose, who has feelings for Jimmy herself, decides to make him jealous by trying to attract a young lion tamer from a traveling circus. But Jimmy is completely attached to Renee and his desire leads him to fateful consequences. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Beverly D'Angelo, Donal McCann, (more)
In this successful psychological thriller, a reluctant agent of the Irish Republican Army discovers that some people just aren't who you expect them to be. Fergus (Stephen Rea) is an IRA "volunteer" who, despite personal misgivings, takes part in the kidnapping of a black British soldier, Jody (Forest Whitaker), stationed in Northern Ireland. The IRA hopes to use Jody as a bargaining chip to win the release of IRA operatives behind bars, but, while guarding Jody, Fergus becomes fast friends with his prisoner. Jody makes Fergus promise him that if he dies, Fegus will look in on his girlfriend, Dil (Jaye Davidson), and see if she's all right. Jody escapes, and Fergus doesn't have the heart to shoot him; as fate would have it, Jody runs from the woods into a street only to be run over by a British police vehicle, which then flushes out the IRA compound. Fergus escapes to London, where he's wanted by the law for Jody's kidnapping and also by his former girlfriend, IRA operative Jude (Miranda Richardson), who thinks he knows too much to fall into the hands of the British authorities. Good to his word, Fergus tracks down Dil, and soon the two outcasts find themselves entering into a love affair, although Fergus discovers that Dil is not the sort of woman he thought she was. Writer/director Neil Jordan won an Academy Award for his screenplay; the title song, which was a U.K. hit for Dave Berry in 1965, was re-recorded for the film by one-time Culture Club vocalist Boy George with backing by the Pet Shop Boys. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, (more)
- 1993
- NR
Martin Sherman adapted Alice Thomas Ellis' novel for this comedy about a suburban Englishwoman who's about to settle on marriage with her mother-dominated next door neighbor until everyone's comfortable life is disrupted by a visit from her exotic and flamboyant friend Lili (Jeanne Moreau, in a scene-stealing performance). ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Moreau, Joan Plowright, (more)
- 1993
- PG13
Five fables, each set in a different historical era, make up this quirky comedy from director Bill Forsyth. Each tale features Robin Williams as a basically decent but troubled average man named Hector. Beginning with the Bronze Age, where Hector struggles for survival against barbarians, the film proceeds through Roman times, the Middle Ages, and the 16th century, concluding in the present day, where Hector is a divorced father attempting to reconcile with his children. The film clearly intends to draw parallels between these stories in order to illustrate the universal nature of human experience, though the segments themselves vary widely in tone, from broadly comic to philosophically reflective. Additionally, some may find the film's attempts at creating a fantasy atmosphere rather cloying, while others may be charmed by the project's determined oddness and whimsicality. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robin Williams, John Turturro, (more)
Anne Rice's best-selling romantic horror tale about the origins of a centuries-old vampire inspired this popular, atmospheric chiller. One of director Neil Jordan's major Hollywood productions, the film stays close to its source material, retaining the frame of a young reporter (Christian Slater) interviewing a man who claims to be a 200-year-old vampire. The man, Louis (Brad Pitt), shares his story, beginning in 18th-century New Orleans with his first encounters with the charismatic and decadent vampire Lestat (Tom Cruise). Lestat converts Louis to blood-sucking and immortality, but Louis fails to adopt Lestat's cavalier attitude, instead tormenting himself with guilt over his new nature. The two vampires remain deeply, if reluctantly, connected over the years, while becoming intimately involved with others of their kind, including Claudia (Kirsten Dunst), a mature immortal in a young child's body. Fans of the novel raised numerous objections, particularly after Rice initially spoke out against the casting of Cruise as Lestat; further casting difficulties followed the death of River Phoenix, whose role as the interviewer was assumed by Christian Slater. Rice later recanted her objections, and the combination of thrills and gothic romance proved popular with audiences. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, (more)
- 1994
- PG13
Actor William Hurt delivers one of his most acclaimed performances in this drama from Oscar-winning cinematographer-turned-director Chris Menges. Hurt stars as Graham Holt, a repressed Welsh postmaster who lives a reclusive bachelor's existence with his suicidal father (Alfred Lynch), who is in failing health and is still grieving from the recent death of Graham's mother. Knowing that he'll soon be alone, Graham applies to adopt a troubled ten-year-old boy, James (Chris Cleary Miles), whose own painful history mirrors Graham's. Throughout the long adoption process, supervised by wisecracking social worker Debbie (Jane Horrocks), Graham struggles to win James' affection and respect during weekend visits, while the boy dreams of reconciliation with his father, John (Keith Allen), who is currently serving prison time. Graham's father dies, drawing Graham and James closer, and Graham begins to feel like a real father to James. But when John is released, he appears in town with the shocking news that he is afflicted with AIDS -- and cannot care for his son. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Chris Cleary Miles, (more)
Forty-three years after the first screen treatment of Terence Rattigan's play about a teacher facing the end of his career, Albert Finney takes on the role of Mr. Crocker-Harris, the Latin teacher forced into early retirement by a heart condition. After teaching in a public school for twenty years, Crocker-Harris is being put out to pasture in a less stressful job teaching English to foreigners. Meanwhile, his home life is also falling apart: his wife (Greta Scacchi) is having an affair with the American chemistry teacher (Matthew Modine), who nevertheless admires Crocker-Harris for his dignity and decency. Through it all, Crocker-Harris hides his pain behind his stiff British reserve. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Finney, Greta Scacchi, (more)
A misleading title and a different type of performance from Hugh Grant are two of the offbeat features of An Awfully Big Adventure. Virginal theatre fanatic Stella (Georgina Cates), who speaks with her dead mother by phone, joins a theatrical troupe in 1947 England headed by manipulative director Meredith Potter (Grant). Stella quickly falls for Potter, but he doesn't return her affections, driving her into the arms of the troupe's arrogant star, P.L. O'Hara (Alan Rickman). O'Hara eventually takes Stella's virginity, although she secretly remains devoted to Potter. More secrets of the troupe are revealed at the story's climax, although nothing is really resolved to any of the characters' satisfaction. Not quite a satire and not quite a drama, An Awfully Big Adventure is occasionally mean-spirited and frequently dour, which may just be a result of its subject matter. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, (more)
- 1994
- R
Based on a novel by William Boyd (who also wrote the film's screenplay), this darkly witty drama explores the political, social, and sexual gamesmanship of a group of British and African politicians. Morgan Leafy (Colin Friels) is a British diplomat who, for the past three years, has been assigned to the British High Commission of Ninjana, an African nation slowly divesting itself of colonial rule. Leafy is an arrogant and frequently confused alcoholic romantically involved with an African woman named Hazel (Jackie Mofokeng). Arthur Fanshawe (John Lithgow), a new High Commission appointee who wants nothing more than to be promoted and moved out of Africa, brings some interesting news to Leafy: massive reserves of oil have been discovered in Ninjana, and if the British want to reap the full profits of this windfall, they will want to stay on the good side of Sam Adekunle (Louis Gossett Jr.), who in all likelihood will be the next president of Ninjana. However, something of a diplomatic crisis has come up; a native woman was struck by lightning in the courtyard of the High Commission's compound, and the locals insist that she cannot be moved until certain time-honored rituals have been performed. At a loss for advice, Leafy turns to Dr. Alex Murray (Sean Connery), a Scottish doctor who has been in Africa for 23 years and is one of the few people equally at ease with both the British colonials and the natives. However, Leafy doesn't seem so eager to seek out assistance in his romantic problems; while he's involved with Hazel, Leafy also finds himself dallying with Adekunle's wife Celia (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer) and Fanshawe's wife Chloe (Diana Rigg). By the way, don't bother looking for Ninjana on a map -- it doesn't really exist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Friels, Joanne Whalley, (more)
- 1995
- NR
A reflective look at an idealistic young man's involvement in the Spanish Civil War, Land and Freedom combines wartime drama with impassioned political debate. Director Ken Loach, better known for his intimate portraits of working-class British life, begins on familiar turf in the present day, with a teenage girl sorting through the belongings of her recently deceased grandfather. She soon discovers her grandfather's involvement in the Spanish Civil War, and the film then flashes back to the 1930s to tell the story of young Dave Carr, intensely portrayed by Ian Hart. A dedicated young communist, Carr joins an international group of freedom fighters in order to wage the good war against fascism. The experience proves far less heroic than expected, however, as the fighters struggle with poor supplies, a lack of training, and internal discord. The traditional battles and romances of war drama follow, as Carr becomes involved in a tumultuous affair with a fellow fighter, but Loach and screenwriter Jim Allen give equal weight to more philosophical discussions about the nature and fate of socialism. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Hart, Rosana Pastor, (more)
The 18th century Scottish legend of Robert Roy MacGregor comes to life in this stylish adaptation of the swashbuckling novel by Sir Walter Scott. Liam Neeson stars as the title character, a cattle drover and proud head of a Highlands clan who takes a one thousand pound loan from the royal Marquis of Montrose (John Hurt) in order to make a profit on some livestock that will keep his struggling people alive through the coming winter. One of the Marquis' henchmen, wily expert swordsman Archibald Cunningham (Tim Roth) learns of the loan from the nobleman's factor, Killearn (Brian Cox), and steals the money by murdering Rob Roy's best friend MacDonald (Eric Stoltz). Unable to repay the loan and unwilling to give up his land, Rob Roy becomes a fugitive, hunted by none other than Cunningham, who rapes Rob Roy's wife Mary (Jessica Lange). Scotch-British politics come to a boil over the Rob Roy affair, leading to an officially sanctioned showdown between the stoic farmer and Cunningham. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange, (more)
- 1996
- R
Violence and anti-gay prejudice combine to make a heated custody battle all the more ugly in this tense domestic drama. Hannah Wyatt (Joely Richardson) is a single mother who lives with her nine-year-old son Oliver (Sam Bould) and her boyfriend Frank Donally (Jason Flemyng). Hannah was married to Martyn (Martin Donovan), but their relationship ended bitterly when Martyn chose to finally acknowledge his homosexuality and left her to move in with his lover Tom Dixon (Ian Hart). Oliver has suffered several unexplained injuries in recent months, and one day Hannah comes home from work to discover that Frank has severely wounded Oliver's hand when he lashed out with violence over a minor bit of misbehavior. Hannah kicks Frank out of the house, but when he returns -- tearfully begging forgiveness and claiming he'll never hurt Oliver again -- she takes him back. Martyn learns of Frank's violence against his son, and she sues to have full custody of Oliver for the sake of the child's safety. However, Hannah is terrified of both losing her son and being left without a man in her life; she and Frank join forces in court against Martyn, using his homosexuality as their chief weapon against him and trying to poison Oliver's mind with homophobia against his father. Hollow Reed's soundtrack features selections recorded for the film by Elvis Costello, Annie Lennox, and Paul Weller. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Donovan, Joely Richardson, (more)
