Annual survey of Top-10 films

Press, 18 December 1986, Page 14

Annual survey of Top-10 films

The time has come again to hold our annual Top-10 films-of-the-year survey.

This year has been quiet without any outstanding blockbusters, but surprisingly, there was a continuous flow of lowerkey films that offered something worth while almost every week. I am thinking of the likes of the delightful Comedies of manners, "Room With a View,” “The Shooting Party” and “Dream Child;” the metaphysical conundrums of Nicolas Roeg’s “Eureka;” and the sedate gentility of Tavernier’s “A Sunday in the Country.” Of this year’s Oscar winners, only “Kiss of the Spider Woman” distinguished itself by being totally different. There was nothing much new about “Out of Africa,” while Steven Spielberg’s “The Colour Purple”, surprised most people by winning no awards at' all.

For - my lengthy summary of the films of 1986, see last week’s column. Now, it is the readers’ turn to let me know what their lists of favourite films are.

If possible, name your Top 10 in order, but if you can think of only three, or any number in any order, please let me have those.

All contributions will help put together prehensive review o©the year just ending,

hans petrovic

I would also appreciate any personal comments about individual movies, and any quotes which I publish during the next few weeks will earn their writers a free double-pass ticket to any cinema of their choice in Christchurch.

When submitting your films — including ones not mentioned by me—- — name only those that had their first regular screening at a city cinema during 1986, omitting films which were only shown at film festivals.

Remember, several films may still be released before the end of December. How these will affect the outcome of this survey remains to be seen.

Please send your contributions to: Hans Petrovic, At the Cinema, “The Press,” Private Bag, Christchurch. The results will be published in this column on Tuesday, December 23. (This is not a competition although cinema tickets will be awarded to writers of letters quoted in this column.)