USCCB - (Film and Broadcasting) - Ten Best List for the Year 1994

Ten Best List for the Year 1994

Eat Drink Man Woman -- Three grown daughters weather unexpected romances while living under the roof of their stoic, long-widowed Taiwanese father (Sihung Lung) who expresses his love for them by cooking extraordinarily elaborate gourmet meals. Director Ang Lee offers a sumptuous plate of satisfying interlocking stories with full-bodied characters in a narrative richly seasoned with subtle humor and a benevolent view of the human condition. Subtitles. Fleeting bedroom scene. A-III-adults (Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America) 1994
Forrest Gump -- Inspired by the faith his mother (Sally Field) has in him, a slow-witted Southerner (Tom Hanks) becomes a football All-American, Vietnam hero and millionaire entrepreneur, despite intermittent rejection by his troubled, lifelong friend and sweetheart (Robin Wright). Director Robert Zemeckis' big-hearted love story cleverly incorporates gimmicks into the narrative without ever losing focus on the emotional and spiritual development of the title character. A few discreet bedroom scenes, some intense battlefield violence, fleeting drug use and an instance of rough language. A-III-adults (PG-13) 1994
Germinal Evocative French adaptation of Emile Zola's novel about the inhuman working conditions of 19th-century coal miners who decide on a strike (led by Gerard Depardieu) when their meager wages are cut, but with hunger, soldiers and scab labor undercutting their resolve, some return to work only to be trapped when the mine is flooded by an anarchist (Laurent Terzieff). Director Claude Berri's sprawling, large-scale production dramatically re-creates the historical period, portraying its oppressive social injustices from the perspective of an impoverished worker's family and their struggle for elemental human rights and some modest measure of human dignity. Subtitles. Restrained depiction of labor violence, including soldiers firing on civilians and the castration of a dead body, casual sexual relationships and brief nudity. A-III-adults (R) 1994
Hoop Dreams -- Engrossing documentary follows two black youths from Chicago's inner city whose hopes of playing professional basketball sustain them through four years of high school, one in a local public school and the other in a suburban Catholic school, with the self-confidence of each buffeted by difficulties and disappointments, until graduation brings them athletic scholarships to different colleges but the same uncertain future. Filmmakers Steve James, Frederick Marx and Peter Gilbert capture the excitment of high school basketball competition while showing some of its pressures on young players aspiring to become professional athletes, though what enriches the film's nearly three-hour length is its intimate portrait of the disadvantaged youths, their families and friends, struggling with the blighted realities of a ghetto environment and their limited opportunities to escape it. Unwed teen parenthood, drug references and instances of profanity and rough language. A-II-adults and adolescents (PG-13) 1994
La Scorta -- Compelling Italian drama focusing on four government bodyguards (led by Enrico Lo Verso) assigned to protect a crusading judge (Carlo Cecchi) from the bullets of Mafia hitmen while he investigates a case that implicates corrupt officials in his own department who will stop at nothing to have him silenced. Director Ricky Tognazzi puts in human terms the price being paid by brave individuals in the arduous effort to crush generations of mob-related activities in Sicily. Subtitles. Brief violence, much menace and intermittent rough language. A-III-adults (Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America) 1994
The Lion King -- Animated tale of an African lion cub (voice of Jonathan Taylor Thomas) who, led to believe he caused the death of his royal father (voice of James Earl Jones), runs away in shame, enabling his evil uncle (voice of Jeremy Irons) to assume the throne until he returns a full-grown lion (voice of Matthew Broderick) to discover the truth and reclaim the kingdom. Directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff combine stunning animation with deft comic touches and stirring musical numbers for an evocative allegorical story of a young lion coming of age and learning to assume responsibility as an adult leader. Some intense moments. A-I-general patronage (G) 1994
Quiz Show -- Fact-based retelling of the late 1950's television scandal in which quiz contestants are fed answers beforehand until a disgruntled loser (John Turturro) spills the beans to a Congressional investigator (Rob Morrow) about the show's corrupt producer (David Paymer) and a much-admired winner (Ralph Fiennes) who reluctantly confess to betraying the public trust while the network and sponsor escape official blame. Producer-director Robert Redford dramatically captures the contrasting personalities involved and the manner in which basic ethical considerations got shoved aside in favor of personal and corporate greed. Questions of moral integrity and minimal rough language. A-II-adults and adolescents (PG-13) 1994
Sunday's Children -- Beneath a family's seemingly idyllic summer vacation in the Swedish countryside of the 1920s are simmering tensions, especially between an 8-year-old boy (Henrik Linnros) and the volatile minister-father (Thommy Berggren) he both idolizes and fears. Scripted by Ingmar Bergman and directed by his son, Daniel, the autobiographical drama exquisitely captures the fine details of daily life in a bygone era while providing insights about the lifelong effects a parent's behavior can have on his offspring. Subtitles. Familial tensions, some violence, including a suicide, brief nudity and occasional profanity. A-III-adults (Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America) 1994
Vanya on 42nd Street -- Playwright David Mamet's stripped-down version of "Uncle Vanya," Anton Chekhov's 1899 play about the troubled relations within a Russian family living on a poor country estate, is performed under Andre Gregory's direction in a rehearsal held in a once-grand, now-dilapidated Broadway theatre. Helping give a contemporary edge to the work's themes of regret and hope, director Louis Malle shifts between the real world and the theatrical, showing the company off stage as well as on, thereby capturing the transformation of the actors into the play's characters, notably Wallace Shawn's embittered Vanya, Larry Pine's idealistic doctor and Brooke Smith as Vanya's yearning niece. Domestic tensions and romantic complications. A-II-adults and adolescents (PG) 1994
The War -- Affecting anti-war parable set in 1970 rural Mississippi where a guilt-ridden Vietnam vet (Kevin Costner) encourages his young son and daughter (Elijah Wood and Lexi Randall) to befriend rather than fight neighborhood bullies bent on taking over their prized treehouse. Handsomely shot and delicately acted, director Jon Avnet connects the children's increasingly physical skirmishes with the wartime experiences of the emotionally scarred father but the movie suffers from the script's stridently preachy tone as the two children learn valuable life lessons from caring parents. Flashbacks of battlefield violence, escalating juvenile violence and menace as well as minimal profanity. A-II-adults and adolescents (PG-13) 1994