Movies I Recommend

Sweet Stories about People Getting Closer
A
Wedding Banquet, 1993

B
Kolya, 1996 (Czech)
Amelie, 2001 (Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, French)
Mostly Martha, 2002 (Bella Martha, German)
Price Above Rubies, A, 1998
Walk on the Moon, A, 1999



Feminist

A/B+

• Antonia’s Line, 1995 (Dutch)
• Color Purple, The, 1985
• Bagdad Café, 1988
• Japanese Story, 2003
• Lakawanna Blues, 2005
• Snapper, 1994
• Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her, 2000

B

• Brides of Christ (1991, Australian TV series, Hennepin County library)
• Dr. T. and the Women
• Frida, 2002
• House of Flying Daggers, 2004 (Shi Mian Mai Fu, Chinese)
• In the Bedroom, 2001
• Iron Jawed Angels, 2004
• Out of Africa, 1985
• Personal Velocity, 2002
• Picture Bride, 1995
• Real Women Have Curves, 2002
• Searching for Debra Winger, 2002
• Shirley Valentine, 1989
• Stephanie daley (young people and sexuality)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 1991 (a woman decides to save the world)
• Venus Boyz, 2002 (warning explicit sexual content)
• Wanda Sykes (Tongues Untied)
• Watermarks, 2004 (documentary of Austrian Jewish women athletes)
  
  Feel-Good, Uplifting Favorites
  B+
• Elling, 2002 (Norwegian)
• Flawless, 1999
• Good Will Hunting, 1997
• Italian for Beginners, 2000 (Danish and Italian)
• Ma Vie en Rose, 1997 (My Life in Pink, Belgian)

B/B-
Bend it Like Beckham, 2000
Bread and Tulips, 2001 (Italian)

Driving Lessons, 2006

Akeelah and the Bee, 200

Funny
A

Chris Rock HBO Specials (1996: Bring the Pain, 1999: Bigger &Blacker, 2004: Never Scared)

Eddie Izzard HBO Special (1999: Dress to Kill)
John Leguizamo HBO Special (1998: Freak)

B
Hell of a A Day, Reines d’un Jour, 2001 (French)
Best in Show, 2000

Clerks, 1994

Waiting for Guffman, 1997

Social Justice
A/A-

• Chariots of Fire, 1981
• Different for Girls, 1996
• Eyes on the Prize, 1987 (PBS civil rights history documentary series)
• Nothing But a Man (1964)
  

B+

• American Beauty, 1999
• Big Eden, 2002 (LGBT)
• Born Rich, 2003 (class, documentary)
• Brokeback Mountain, 2005
• Devil's Playground (teens)
• Do the Right Thing, 1989
• Far From Heaven, 2002 (LGBT) (warning: harshness)
• Frontline on Racism in the U.S. Military
• Great Debators, The
• Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, 2004 (documentary)
• Kill a Mockingbird, To, 1962
• Lone Star, 1996
• My Beautiful Laundrette, 1985
• Norma Rae, 1979
• Paris is Burning, 1990 (LGBT, documentary)
• To Be and To Have (Etre et Avoir), 2004 (Young People, Educational Change)
• Veronica Guerin, 2003 (integrity)
• Whale Rider, 2003 (Young People, Feminist, Anti-Racism)
• Why We Fight, 2005 (war)
  

B
Beloved, 1998 (slavery) (warning: violence)
Bowling for Columbine, 2002 (Peace, documentary)
Business of Fancy Dancing, The, 2002
Coming Home, 1978 (war, men)
Control Room, 2004 (peace, documentary)
Crash, 2005 (racism)
Dead Man Walking, 1995
Emmanuel's Gift, 2005 (disability)
Fire Next Time, The (Frontline documentary?)
Fog of War, 2003
House of Sand and Fog, 2003 (immigrants, class) (warning: violence at end)

Inconvenient Truth, An
Last Chance for Eden, Part Two, 2003 (racism and sexism dialogue)
Malcolm X , 1992
Manufacturing Consent, 1993 (Noam Chomsky documentary)
Matewan, 1987 (Workers, Anti-Racism) (Ramsey County Library Has) (warning: violence at end)
Men with Guns, 1997 (Hombres armados )
New Americans, The, 2004 (immigrants) (PBS, Ramsey County Library)
Rabbit-Proof Fence, 2002 (Anti-Racism)

Real Bad Arabs
Romero, 1989
Rosewood (warning: violence at end), 1997
Safety of Objects, The, 2001 (class)
Secrets and Lies, 1996 (class)
Super Size Me, 2004 (public health)
Sunset Story, 2003 (elders, documentary)
Take, The, 2004 (class)
Twelve Angry Men, 1975 (integrity)
Weather Underground, The, 2002

Challenging and/or Intense
A

Def Poetry series on HBO

B
Brodre, 2004 (Brothers, Danish)
Decalogue, The, 1989 (Polish)
Glengarry Glen Ross, 1992
Ice Storm, 1997
Sea Inside, The, 2004 (Spanish, right to die)

Good Fluff
A/B+

• Long Kiss Goodnight, The, 1996 (warning: violence)
• Pieces of April, 2002
• Waking Ned Divine, 1998
  

B

Black Stalion, 1979 (stunningly beautiful scenes with horse in surf)
Love Actually, 2003
North by Northwest, 1959
Station Agent, The, 2003
Truly, Madly, Deeply, 1991

Clever, Original, Quirky
A-/B+

• After Life, 1998 (Wandafuru Raifu, Japanese)
• Amadeus, 1984
• Big Night, 1996
• Run, Lola, Run, 1999, (German)
• Sliding Doors, 1998
  

B

Cache, French, 2005
Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys, The, 2002
Dear Frankie, 2004
Gleaners and I, The, 2000 (French, Glaneurs et la glaneuse, Les, environmental)
Harold and Maude, 1971
Local Hero, 1983
Magnolia, 1999
Sidewalk Stories, 1989
Sketches of Frank Gehry, 2006
Spanish Apartment, 2002 (L’Auberge Espagnole, French)
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring, 2003 (Korean)
Starting Over, 1979
Straight Story, The, 1999
Tsotsi, 2005
Vanilla Sky, 2001
Wordplay

Suspense, Engrossing
B+
Runaway Train, 1985

B
Double Indemnity, 1944

Shawshank Rememption, 1994
Sixth Sense, The, 1999

Romance
B+

• For Love of Ivy, 1968
• Mississippi Masala, 1991
• Say Anything, 1989
  

B

• Christmas in the Clouds, 2001
• Patch of Blue, A, 1965
• Saving Face, 2005
• WayWe Were, The, 1973

Sad but Worth It (Avoid when down in the dumps already)
B+

• Away from Her
• Life is Beautiful, 1998 (warning: violence, Italian)
• Lorenzo’s Oil, 1992 (major tear-jerker)
• Man on the Train, 2002 (French, sweet lesson about aging)
• Secret Life of Words, The

B

Burnt by the Sun, 1994 (warning: violence, Russian)
Central Station, 1998
Doe Boy, 2001
Ponette, 1996 (French)
Shindler’s List, 1993
Son’s Room, The, 2001 (La Stanza del figlio, Italian)
Yesterday, 2004 (AIDS)

Movies to Avoid (Regardless of Mood)
Barton Fink, 1991 (disturbing violence)
Better Luck Tomorrow, 2002 (disturbing violence)
Breaking the Waves, 1996 (disturbing violence, Dutch)
Grifters, The, 1990 (violence)
Hillary and Jackie, 1998, (disturbing)
Open Water, 2004 (awful)
Requiem for a Dream, 2000 (disturbing)