1999

1999

8 Episodes

It’s been twenty-five years since cinema bid the twentieth century farewell with an extraordinary batch of films. In retrospect, 1999 was a time of intriguing cross-pollinations between the studios and independents, national and international productions, and high and low culture. Bringing together art-house favorites (BEAU TRAVAIL, GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI), Hollywood hits (GIRL, INTERRUPTED; THE INSIDER), and new cult classics (GO, TRICK), this cinematic time capsule takes us back to the premillennial, pre-smartphone, dial-up moment just before the world as we knew it seemed to change forever.

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1999
  • 1999 Teaser

    Episode 1

  • Beau travail

    Episode 2

    Directed by Claire Denis • 1999 • France
    Starring Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin

    With her ravishingly sensual take on Herman Melville’s “Billy Budd, Sailor,” Claire Denis firmly established herself as one of the great visual tone poets of our time. Amid the azure waters and sunbaked ...

  • Bye Bye Africa

    Episode 3

    Directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun • 1999 • Chad, France
    Starring Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Garba Issa, Aïcha Yelena

    The first feature by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (and the first ever made in Chad) is an autobiographical semidocumentary in which the director plays a version of himself, an African filmmaker...

  • Trick

    Episode 4

    Directed by Jim Fall • 1999 • United States
    Starring Christian Campbell, John Paul Pitoc, Tori Spelling

    The Doris Day–style romantic comedy gets a gay 1990s update in this charming, sweetly sexy tale of two Greenwich Village guys—shy aspiring Broadway composer Gabriel (Christian Campbell) and hu...

  • Buena Vista Social Club

    Episode 5

    Directed by Wim Wenders • 1999 • Germany, United States

    Traveling from the streets of Havana to the stage of Carnegie Hall, this revelatory documentary captures a forgotten generation of Cuba’s brightest musical talents as they enjoy an unexpected encounter with world fame. The veteran vocalists...

  • Following

    Episode 6

    Directed by Christopher Nolan • 1999 • United Kingdom
    Starring Jeremy Theobald, Alex Haw

    Before he became a sensation with the twisty revenge story MEMENTO, Christopher Nolan fashioned this low-budget, 16 mm black-and-white neonoir with comparable precision and cunning. Providing irrefutable evi...

  • Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

    Episode 7

    Directed by Jim Jarmusch • 1999 • United States
    Starring Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Cliff Gorman

    Jim Jarmusch combined his love for the ice-cool crime dramas of Jean-Pierre Melville and Seijun Suzuki with the philosophical dimensions of samurai mythology for an eccentrically postmodern take o...

  • Ratcatcher

    Episode 8

    Directed by Lynne Ramsay • 1999 • United Kingdom
    Starring Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews, William Eadie

    In her breathtaking and assured debut feature, Lynne Ramsay creates a haunting evocation of a troubled Glasgow childhood. Set during Scotland’s national garbage strike of the mid-1970s, RATCAT...