BEGINNING on the first Friday of the year with the release of David Fincher's Seven and continuing in subsequent weeks with the opening of Mathieu Kassoivitz's La Haine, Mike Figgis's Leaving Las Vegas and Danny Boyle's Trainspotting, the first two months of 1996 set an almost impossibly high standard for the rest of the year. All four films were tough, intelligent and uncompromised contemporary adult dramas made with strongly individual visual styles.
Given their complete assurance with the medium, it is remarkable that three of those films marked just the second feature film for their directors - Fincher, Kassovitz and Boyle, each marking a quantum leap from their debut pictures - while the fourth marked a comeback for Mike Figgis. Later in the year saw the return to form of directors Joel and Ethan Coen (with Fargo), Lars von Trier (Breaking The Waves), Peter Greenaway (The Pillow Book), Mike Nichols (The Birdcage), Richard Loncraine (Richard III), Ron Shelton (Tin Cup) and Wayne Wang (Smoke).
When it came to paring down my list of favourites to a Top 10 list, many of those films were excluded with regret, as were Jude, Underground, Don't Forget You're Going To Die, Safe, Lone Star, The Confessional and Dead Man Walking. There were even more agonising decisions in selecting the two finest performances of the year from a vintage crop, as I finally opted for the marvellous Susan Sarandon who finally won her Oscar this year at the age of 50, and the truly gifted and chameleon-like Ewan McGregor who is half her age and proved terrifically versatile in Trainspotting, The Pillow Book, Emma and Brassed Off.
Those reluctantly excluded in the process were Liam Neeson (Michael Collins), Sean Penn (Dead Man Walking), Morgan Freeman (Seven), Ian McKellen (Richard III), Christopher Eccleston (Jude), John Lynch and Jacqueline McKenzie (Angel Baby), Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas), Julianne Moore (Safe), Brenda Blethyn (Secrets & Lies), Sharon Stone (Casino), Frances McDormand (Fargo) and Kate Winslet (Jude and Sense And Sensibility).
However, this was also a year which saw a number of notable directors distinctly off form - Martin Scorsese (Casino), Bernardo Bertolucci (Stealing Beauty), Stephen Frears (Mary Reilly), Ridley Scott (White Squall), Spike Lee (Girl 6), John Woo (Broken Arrow), and John Sayles (The Secret Of Roan Inish, although he rebounded with Lone Star). Even worse were Francis Ford Coppola's Jack, Edward Zwick's Courage Under Fire and Barbet Schroeder's Before And After.
Roan Inish was just one of the Irish or Irish-made movies released here this year which failed to live up to expectations, and with a few notable exceptions such as Some Mother's Son, The Van and The Last Of The High Kings, they went largely ignored by Irish cinema audiences. More impressive than any of them was Cathal Black's low-key and accomplished picture of the legacy of deep-rooted Civil War divisions in Korea, which had a solid run at the much-missed Light House.
Which brings me to my film of 1996. In a year when cinemas were dominated by mega-budget but mostly forgettable blockbusters, the epic which transcended all of them and spoke most powerfully to Irish audiences was Neil Jordan's vivid, visceral Michael Collins, the outstanding film in his career to date. Well before it opened - and indeed even before it finished shooting - Jordan's film was subjected to persistent attacks on grounds of historical inaccuracy, and mostly by people who had not seen the film.
Its fortunes abroad have been mixed, particularly in the crucial US market, but Michael Collins went on to become the biggest hit of the year with Irish audiences, and has just replaced Jurassic Park as the all-time Irish box- office champion. It's the first time my film of the year has concurred with the Irish audience's verdict, and even more Unusually, four of my top 10 films are on the Irish box-office top 10 while a fifth, Babe, which opened late last year, was high in my 1995 list of favourites. Maybe there's a message in there somewhere.
Happy New Year.
