Independent Collections

The members of a British working-class family see their lives starting to come apart as the Nation prepares to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day (named for an anarchist who tried to blow up Parliament) in Michael Winterbottom's drama Wonderland. Eileen (Kika Markham) and Bill (Jack Shepherd) are a married couple with four grown children. Bill has lost his job and is drifting through life, unsure of what to do. He's also having sexual problems with Eileen, who is being driven insane by their noisy neighbors. Neither Bill nor Eileen have seen their son Darren (Enzo Cilenti) for a long time, and his birthday is a heartbreaking experience for them. (Darren, on the other hand, would prefer to celebrate his birthday by spending the night in a hotel with his girlfriend rather than seeing his parents.) Bill and Eileen also have three daughters, Nadia (Gina McKee), Debbie (Shirley Henderson) and Molly (Molly Parker). Nadia works in a cafe and has trouble meeting men; she's signed up with a dating agency, but has yet to meet anyone she likes. Debbie is suddenly a single mother after separating from her drunken lout of a husband. Debbie drowns her sorrows in a series of meaningless one-night-stands, while her husband flies into uncontrollable rages and their son is left with no one to turn to on either side. And while Molly's story seems happy on the surface -- she's soon to give birth to her first child and her husband has done well in kitchen sales -- she's suddenly thrown into instability when she finds her husband has quit his job, without telling her, to follow his dream of becoming a chef. Wonderland received enthusiastic reviews for its ensemble cast when shown at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This Australian drama is based on the life and times of Mark "Chopper" Read, a notorious Aussie criminal who went on to become a best-selling author, publishing nine books about his exploits outside the law. In 1978, Chopper (played by Eric Bana) is serving a 16-year sentence for abducting a judge who was overseeing the trial of his best friend Jimmy (Simon Lyndon). Jimmy and Chopper end up sharing a cell, along with Keithy George (David Field), a crime boss; when a disagreement between Keithy and Chopper escalates into violence, Chopper kills Keithy, leading to retribution from the gangster's mates, who hire Jimmy to do their dirty work. To escape, Chopper forces a friend to cut off one of his ears so he'll be transferred to another prison. Eight years later, Chopper is out of prison and looking for Jimmy in hopes of getting revenge; in the meantime, he's looking to get even with another of his enemies, Neville (Vince Colosimo), and trying to keep his eye on his girlfriend, Tanya (Kate Beahan), who supports herself as a call girl. While the real "Chopper" Read was not directly involved in the production, comic Eric Bana was cast in the lead at Read's suggestion. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Recounting how the West was won through the eyes of a white man raised as a Native American, Arthur Penn's 1970 adaptation of Thomas Berger's satirical novel was a comic yet stinging allegory about the bloody results of American imperialism. As a misguided 20th-century historian listens, 121-year-old Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) narrates the story of being the only white survivor of Custer's Last Stand. White orphan Crabb was adopted by the Cheyenne, renamed "Little Big Man," and raised in the ways of the "Human Beings" by paternal mentor Old Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George), accepting non-conformity and living peacefully with nature. Violently thrust into the white world, Jack meets a righteous preacher (Thayer David) and his wife (Faye Dunaway), tries to be a gunfighter under the tutelage of Wild Bill Hickock (Jeff Corey), and gets married. Returned to the Cheyenne by chance, Jack prefers life as a Human Being. The carnage wreaked by the white man in the Washita massacre and the lethal fallout from the egomania of General George A. Custer (Richard Mulligan) at Little Big Horn, however, show Crabb the horrific implications of Old Lodge Skins' sage observation, "There is an endless supply of White Men, but there has always been a limited number of Human Beings." ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

A wealthy young man wants to wed a painfully ordinary girl, and a few hours with his family will convince anyone why he's doing so in this black comedy. Marty Pascal (Josh Hamilton) is engaged to marry Lesly (Tori Spelling), a dizzy blonde he met when she was working at a doughnut shop, and he bravely decides that it's time she met his family, so he brings her along for Thanksgiving dinner at his mother's house in West Virginia. Bravery is necessary because the Pascals are not an especially healthy or wholesome family. Mother (Genevieve Bujold) explains her philosophy about parenting like so: "You raise cattle; children just happen." In this environment, where refusing your child anything is all but unknown, her youngest son Anthony (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) has grown up to be an overanxious virgin eager to seduce Lesly while Marty's not paying attention. And Marty's twin sister Jackie (Parker Posey), malignily obsessed with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, often re-enacts the murder of JFK using spaghetti sauce for blood (when she can't get ahold of real bullets) and enjoys incestuously seducing Marty (which hardly bothers Mother, who notes that "Jackie's hand was holding Marty's penis when they came out the womb"). The House of Yes was based on the play by Wendy MacLeod; first time director Mark S. Waters (brother of screenwriter Daniel Waters) also adapted the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The true story of a gifted Australian piano prodigy, this biographical drama was nominated for seven Oscars, with actor Geoffrey Rush winning for Best Actor. Rush stars as David Helfgott, a pianist with a history of mental problems. As a fragile boy genius at math, chess, and piano, David is driven hard by his overbearing father (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a tyrant who forbids him to accept a scholarship offered by the great violinist Isaac Stern. Although he studies briefly in London under tutor Cecil Parks (John Gielgud), David has a nervous breakdown after performing Rachmaninoff's daunting "Piano Concerto No. 3" (known as the "Rach 3"). Years later, the adult David keeps up a steady patter of nervous stammering at all times and has been reduced to playing in a bar. Through a friend, he meets astrologer Gillian (Lynn Redgrave), and falls in love with her. With Gillian's help, David embarks down the road to regained fame and mastery of the "Rach 3." The international popularity of Shine caused a sensation leading to a musical tour for Helfgott, whose performances were less adroit than many audiences expected, sparking criticism that writer-director Scott Hicks had exaggerated his subject's talent for dramatic purposes. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

This documentary profiles poet/performance artist Bob Flanagan, who was born with cystic fibrosis. Flanagan explains, with engaging humor, how his obsession with controlled, self-inflicted pain has helped him to deal with his uncontrollable suffering. His philosophy forces one to look at sado-masochism with fresh eyes. The film includes explicit scenes of genital self-mutilation. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Director Chris Smith made this documentary about independent filmmaking which had its world premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. American Movie centers on a low-budget horror-film buff named Mark Borchardt, who grew up on such horror classics as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Night of the Living Dead. Now in his late twenties, he has decided to make the ultimate horror opus in the form of an indie feature entitled Northwestern, the scariest film ever made in his Wisconsin town. Filled with determination and passion (and very little else), this documentary follows Mark for a year and a half in the making of Northwestern. The audience sees Mark fending off creditors, including the IRS, and avoiding child support payments so he can make this direct-to-video flick. His efforts to round up cast and crew are disastrous, as there is nobody in his town who shares his knowledge and passion for moviemaking. Eventually he decides to star in his film and wears a dozen crew members' hats as writer, producer, director, cameraman, editor, and soundman. American Movie follows this man with a dream to his dying uncle's trailer park, where he raises three thousand dollars. Unable to make an entire feature for that price, he scraps the idea in exchange for completing one of his many abandoned short films, Coven, which also premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. The end is a world premiere as satisfying as getting accepted into Sundance. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide

Happy, Texas is a fish-out-of-water comedy about two con men who escape from prison, then pose as gay lovers to hide out in a small Texas town. Mistaken for consultants to the Little Miss Fresh Squeezed Beauty Pageant, Harry (Jeremy Northam) and Wayne (Steve Zahn) go along with the ruse so they can stake out the local bank, owned by Josephine "Joe" McClintock (Ally Walker). The story kicks into high gear as Harry starts falling in love with Joe but cannot let on about his feelings. Also complicating matters is that gay Sheriff Dent (William H. Macy) has the hots for Harry, and Harry must pretend he's interested to keep the cops off his back. Meanwhile, Wayne is getting in touch with his feminine side as he tries his best to teach dance steps and flaming baton twirling to the little girls; he's also lusting after the girls' teacher, Ms. Schaefer (Ileana Douglas). Everything leads up to the big beauty pageant, where the cops are finally on Harry and Wayne's tail. First-time director Mark Illsley received wide media attention for this commercial piece, which sold to Miramax after a very public and intense bidding war. Steve Zahn's performance won him a special acting award at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, where the film premiered in dramatic competition . ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide

Paul Quinn scripted and made his directorial debut with this period drama about middle-aged schoolteacher Kieran Johnson (James Caan), who finds evidence indicating that his real father was an Irish farmer and not a French seaman as he had been told. Since his mute and paralyzed mother offers no answers, he investigates by traveling to an Irish village with his teenage nephew (Jacob Tierney). After this prologue, the film flashes back to the family roots: Kieran's mother Fiona Flynn (Moya Farrelly) back home from convent school, catches the eye of dirt tenant farmer Kieran O'Day (Aidan Quinn). Their romance gets underway despite disapprovals from family and friends. Shown at 1998 film fests (Montreal, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

A Eurythmics-obsessed, small-town Ohio youth comes to terms with his sexual identity and his New Wave fashion sense in this gentle coming-out drama, which is set in 1984. When closeted Sandusky teen Eric (Chris Stafford) and his best friend, Maggie (Tina Holmes), accept summer jobs in food service at the local amusement park, they befriend their lesbian manager, Angie (Lea DeLaria), and a gay college student named Rod (Andersen Gabrych). Sparks fly between the two boys, even as Maggie waits patiently in the wings for Eric's affections. Rod eventually gives Chris the first-time experience he was looking for, then promptly heads back to Ohio State, leaving the younger guy to spend his entire senior year looking for love -- and the perfect bleach job. As Eric's outsider fashions raise eyebrows with his loving parents, he learns that his frustrated pianist mom (Stephanie McVay) is going to have to get a job to help send him to study music in New York. Meanwhile, Eric ventures out to the local gay disco, a hopping joint run by none other than his old boss, Maggie, who shows him the ropes and gives him just enough rope to hang himself. Stung by a meaningless sexual experience and pining away for the otherwise involved Rod, Eric decides to sleep with the saintly Maggie. But he's too open and sensitive to pull a fast one over on her; crestfallen at his rejection and his willingness to toy with her affections, she ends the friendship, leaving Eric to confide in his mother -- and find his place in the gay community. Written by Todd Stephens, directed by David Moreton, and produced by both, Edge of Seventeen was screened as part of the American Spectrum at Sundance in 1999. Stephens would return with the similarly themed Gypsy 83 in 2001. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Comedic documentary filmmaker Michael Moore takes his film crew throughout the U.S. for The Big One, a behind-the-scenes video diary of the promotional tour for his book Downsize This! He appears at several chain bookstores throughout the nation, signing autographs and delivering wicked political commentary to audiences. Along the way, he stops at various small-town parking lots and malls, gathering brief interviews with assorted Americans. Some of his interview subjects include an ex-convict who was hired as cheap labor for TWA airlines while in prison and a group of Borders employees who organize a union. Brief celebrity appearances include Garrison Keillor, Studs Terkel, and Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen. In his typical ambushing fashion, Moore makes several cleverly unexpected visits to people in powerful positions. One attempt finds Moore bringing laid-off working mothers to visit a local government official with the intent of cleaning his office to show that they want a job. In Centralia, IL, Moore visits the Leaf candy company, who plans to move their factories to Mexico, resulting in massive layoffs. The camera crew heads into their administrative offices and attempts to meet with the CEO in witty trademark fashion. Other corporate targets include Johnson Controls, Pillsbury, and, finally, Nike, where CEO Phil Knight grants Moore some dialogue. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

After chronicling various chapters of Irish history in such films as In the Name of the Father and The Field, writer/director Jim Sheridan turns his lens upon his own family's experiences immigrating to the United States in the aptly titled In America. The loosely autobiographical script centers on Johnny (Paddy Considine), a young actor sneaking his wife, Sarah (Samantha Morton), and daughters, Christy and Ariel (real-life sisters Sarah and Emma Bolger, respectively), over the Canadian border in the hopes of jump-starting his career in New York City. They soon find that America is not the land of boundless opportunity, however, as they move into a dank, dilapidated apartment building populated by drug dealers, transients, and thugs. Johnny doesn't snag auditions as easily as he may have hoped, and he and Sarah are forced to take meager jobs after spending their savings on food, rent, and utilities. Still