The following films received a *** ½ or **** rating, and are in contention for my 1997 top ten list.


The Bread and the Vase (Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
Breakdown (Jonathan Mostow)
The Eighteenth (Anders Rønnow-Klarlund)
Face/Off (John Woo)
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (Errol Morris)
The Game (David Fincher)
In the Company of Men (Neil LaBute)
Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas)
L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson)
La Promesse (Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne)
Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (Srdjan Dragojevic)
Prisoner of the Mountains (Sergei Bodrov)
Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (Kirby Dick)
The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan)
Un air de famille (Cédric Klapisch)