Ace in the Hole - MatthewHunt

Jordan's subtle, multi-layered drama remains a gripping emotional journey. Switching from
political to romantic thriller, its second half cleverly mirrors the tensions and power play of the
first. The acting is uniformly excellent: Whitaker is memorable in a brief role, while Rea's
soulfully lugubrious face is put to good use as the vulnerable IRA man. Locales from the
backwoods of Ireland to London's smoky underworld are atmospherically evoked, and Jaye
Davidson is convincingly sexy and inscrutable. A deceptively low-key thriller that gets under
your skin and stays with you.
Liese Spencer
Cul-De-Sac
(Roman Polanski, 1966)
Polanski's quirkiest film flits across several genres with a great deal of ease and grace. Few
other movies can move from broad comedy to violence without losing pace or audience
attention. A career best turn from Donald Pleasence ties things together as Polanski works
out his mild obsession with Beckett, Pinter and US gangster movies.
Cyrano de Bergerac
(Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1990)
A nose is a nose is a nose, so Cyrano (Gerard Depardieu), a witty poet and expert
swordsman, woos the fair Roxanne by love letters, embarrassed by his colossal schnoz. Alas,
she believes the author is his handsome, dull rival. Rappeneau's Oscar-winning adaptation of
Rostand is so compelling that you almost forget the dialogues are in verse.
Dancer in the Dark
(Lars Von Trier, 2000)
Devastating and exhilarating in equal measure, Von Trier shreds our emotions into mince with
this distinctly dreamlike collapse of one woman's American dream. It showcases an
extraordinary tour de force debut by Björk as the innocent east European dreamer who
dances through life as if in a Hollywood musical, until the magic decays alongside her failing
eyesight.
Dangerous Liaisons
(Stephen Frears, 1988)
Christopher Hampton's adaptation of the De Laclos novel about seduction and revenge
among the decadent French aristocracy was elegant, sexy and refined. Glenn Close and
John Malkovich found perhaps the most satisfying roles of their careers as the jaded epicures
who stave off ennui with a sexual wager.
Danton
(Andrzej Wajda, 1983)
Arguably the finest cinematic treatment of the French revolution, from a Polish director fresh
from the Solidarity struggles in his homeland. Gerard Depardieu makes for a suitably
imposing incarnation of the revolutionary ideologue, duelling impressively with Wojciech
Pszoniak's Robespierre.
Dark Star
(John Carpenter, 1974)
Carpenter's genre-savvy dissertation project at UCLA somehow indirectly gave birth to the
sci-fi boom. Here is that boom in a stoner/surfer/hey-mister-spaceman embryo: a brain-dead
mission leader, a pilot who dreams of the Perfect Wave, and history's most mischievous and
menacing Space Hopper. The anti-Silent Running.
Darling
(John Schlesinger, 1965)
Intelligently scripted by Frederic Raphael, this satire of swinging London may seem a little
heavy-handed today, but there's no denying Julie Christie's star power. Gorgeous and
charismatic, she breathes real life and sympathy into her shallow good-time girl.