These were some of the better American-made films I saw in 1998:

Buffalo 66 by Vincent Gallo

Bulworth by Warren Beatty

The Newton Boys by Richard Linklater

The Farm: Angola, USA by Jonathan Stack and Liz Garbus

Pecker by John Waters

The Velvet Goldmine by Todd Haynes

Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog by Don McGlynn

Wag the Dog by Barry Levinson

The Truman Show by Peter Weir

Celebrity by Woody Allen

Although perhaps the best American film of all was Orson Welles's Touch of Evil, originally made in 1958 and re-released this year.

These were some of the best European, Asian and African films I saw in 1998:

Taste of Cherry by Abbas Kiarostami (Iran)

Dr. Akagi by Shohei Imamura (Japan)

The Apple by Samira Makhmalbaf (Iran)

Green Fish by Lee Chang-Dong (South Korea)

Flowers of Shanghai by Hou Hsiao-hsien (Taiwan)

Killer by Darezhan Omirbaev (Kazakhstan)

My Name is Joe by Ken Loach (Britain)

The Hole by Tsai Ming-liang (Taiwan)

Tu Ridi by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (Italy)

Autumn Tale by Eric Rohmer (France)

The Silence by Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Iran)

Dance of Dust by Abolfazl Jalili (Iran)

Life on Earth by Abderrahmane Sissako (Mali)

The Terrorist by Santosh Sivan (India)

From Today Until Tomorrow by Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet (Germany/France)

See Also:
David Walsh recommends many earlier Hollywood videos
[10 March 1998]