Pretentious though it may sound, calling my recommendations a "gift," once again I kept a list of the best films I saw throughout the year, whether on video or in theaters, so that whenever you might get stumped while walking through Blockbuster or browsing your newspaper's schedule of local screenings, you might feel safe enough to blow some cash on something you might not have previously considered for cinematic entertainment.

This year's synopses may be a bit scant, I'm afraid, because I rearranged my priorities during the second half of the year to catch up on some long-unread books, so my memory of these may be a bit foggy. Any film I'd added to my list for which I can remember nothing, however, has been scratched off, because how good could a film be whose details I can no longer recall? (I've appendixed them after the official list - because at the least, you can be assured that they aren't all that bad.)

1997's Best……….Listed in Order Seen.

1. The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Finally saw it, and what a hoot it is. I had always assumed, due to its undying status as cult icon, that it must be, like most cult films, a case of so-bad-it's good, but the production values are startlingly first rate. A lot of work went into this film! I sat stunned, for the most part, before the constant onslaught of songs and intricate sets, and felt mortified over having waited 27 years before being able to testify to the film's greatness. Don't be fooled: shlock it is not. (And Tim Curry is, as they say, out of control.)

2. Stealing Beauty: Director Bernardo Bertolucci paints a cinematic canvas with gorgeous colors and drops equally-gorgeous Liv Tyler in the middle of it. Yes, the rhythm is very Bertolucci (as in, nothing seems to happen for hours, but it's all quite wonderful besides), and it all makes you forget that it's simply about an adolescent girl jetting to Europe for the summer trying to lose her virginity. If you're feeling like luxuriating before a sequence of ravishing and exotic scenery, try this film.

3. Grace of My Heart: It's an absolute travesty that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences paid this film's soundtrack no notice, seeing as the entire movie's about the 1950's and 1960's-era American pop music scene. I special-ordered the CD from my local music store right away, because this movie it cute cute cute. Illeana Douglas plays a Carol Kane-esque songwriter with ambitions as a singer, wrestling with her muse, the pop music industry, and a series of lovers. All amidst the most enchanting songs (which, back in those days, actually told a story). A no-brainer for those who enjoy romance.

4. Slingblade: What lingers the most prominently in memory is this film's performances, from Dwight Yoakam to John Ritter to the project's writer and director and star, Billy Bob Thornton. Thornton's characterization of a mentally-challenged ex-convict initially comes across as somewhat absurd, but he succeeds in growing on you by film's end. The friendship he forges with a young boy either a) makes you nostalgic for those special friendships you had as a kid, or b) makes you wish you'd had such a friendship to begin with. Pretty much a weepie.

5. Topkapi: Peter Ustinov really won an Oscar® for his performance in this? This 1960's film truly qualifies as so-bad-it's-incredible. Everyone means well, but blonde bombshell wanna-be Melina Mercouri (director Jules Dassin's wife) presents both a set of teeth and a command of the English language so mangled that she's hard to take seriously. What impresses, at least for me, is the film's attention to detail of its setting, Istanbul. The jewelry heist is great fun, and actually pretty compelling, but the campy ending reminds you that the whole enterprise is pretty much fluff. Not necessarily a bad thing.

6. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (mutilated version): Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger have lately become my favorite filmmakers, having teamed together in the forties, fifties, and sixties to make a great number of eminently British productions. This particular work, chronicling the youthful rise and ultimate disillusionment in old age of a career military aristocrat through several wars, exemplifies the brilliantly realistic dialogue and affectionate characterizations that pervade P & P's films. I learned only afterward that the version I saw was the sliced-and-diced version released only in America, which was nothing like the original work - and I still loved it. Which is an effective testament, if there ever was one.

7. Scream: Haven't seen the sequel yet, but if it's as good as the first then there may yet be hope for the contemporary slasher-film scene. Who'd'a thunk it possible, that a solid film like this comes along to defy your ages-old and abysmally-low expectations of this genre and thoroughly freak you out along the way. Whoever designed the killer's mask is a twisted soul, and I thoroughly detest that you could buy them for Halloween this year. Way too creepy, seeing my town crawling with carbon copies of this character for a night.

8. Breaking the Waves: Or, Primer in Hand-Held Camera Operation. Lars Von Trier, eminent Danish director, creates a devastating exploration of a conservative Christian community and challenges you to live the question, What Is Faith? In the end you cannot help but mourn the fate of Emily Watson's innocent whore, who may very well have been channeling God's voice and did do as the Lord told her. Waves' theological underpinnings, and its stunning computer-generated chapter headings, all combine for an overwhelming masterpiece. Even with the camera bobbling and tilting all about in everyone's faces.

9. Cranes Are Flying: The USSR of the 50's and 60's set out for a time to out-glamour Hollywood, and here it does a pretty good job. The film's equating Soviet maidens' romantic fidelity to soldiers on the battlefront with the nation's own fortunes in war is a bit heavy-handed, but it's all great to look at. It's a revelation in light of any Soviet cinema you may have seen made since this era - and after the stuff I've had to sit through, I was trying to curb any further intake. Good to see it's not all excruciating.

10. The Red Shoes: This one's another breathtaking Powell/Pressburger creation, and another strike against my dubious grad school experience at NYU, since they couldn't even squeeze this film into my "Dance on Film" class - if not there, then where??? In any case, Shoes follows an incredibly talented dancer torn between the man she loves and the dancing career she needs to feel alive - only in a melodrama such as this would such a choice need to be made. What amazes is the film's central ballet sequence - and I hate ballet! Your point of view of her performance is completely impossible for the theater audience she is ostensibly dancing before, which makes this a perfect example of strictly cinematic dance. One film succeeds in doing what an entire semester of filmed dance could not - namely, get me interested.

11. Lumiere: A must for film buffs, and not necessarily for anyone else. As part of the celebration of cinema's centenary, several esteemed filmmakers worldwide were given a replica of the original Lumiere silent camera, which can shoot only three minutes' worth of film, and we get to see what they conjure. Also interspersed are brief interviews with these directors about their views on film - the French filmmaker's super-arcane responses are a hoot.

12. Touch: I cannot recommend this film enough, and not just because it's by Paul Schrader, fellow Calvin College alumnus. Skeet Ulrich plays a monk given the power to heal the sick. Bridget Fonda finally proves she can act, in a fantastic role as his girlfriend (sounds weird, I know). Christopher Walken is a televangelist who wants to exploit him, Gina Gershon (yum) tried to do the same as a talk-show host, and fundamentalist Christian warrior Tom Arnold entertains his own views on what Skeet should do with his gift. It doesn't sound like much, especially knowing it was adapted from a pulp fiction short story, but the result in Shrader's hands is mature and worthy of greater exposure. Sadly the video jacket design won't help things, making it look dumber than it is, illustrating another case of a distributor mishandling a challenging work.

13. Cabiria: I'd never have thought a silent Italian epic running two-hours-plus would be so interesting. (Even without all the cute guys in togas.) Made circa 1911, and considered the first feature-length film ever made, Cabiria chronicles the adventures and travails of a Babylonian Empire-era slave girl after she escapes being sacrificed to some yucky deity. The sets and attention to historical detail are phenomenal, and the special effects, even today, kick butt. Who needs CGI? Comforting to discover that "classic" doesn't always have to mean "snoozer."

14. Ali: Fear Eats The Soul: Very 70's, very German, very Rainer Werner Fassbinder, all of which equals anything but bubble gum for the eyes. It sounds outrageous, but it absolutely works, this tale of an elderly cleaning lady and a young Moroccan who fall in love. It's a romance, but maybe in the same way that Alien: Resurrection is about family.

15. Don't Look Now: Julie Christie ranks up there on my list of coolest actresses, and she's endearing as ever here. A spooky 70's supernatural pseudo-mystery in which she and her psychic husband Donald Sutherland cope with the death of their daughter while losing themselves in ever-disorienting Venice.

And, ending the year on an epic note,

16. Titanic: It's terribly rare that a big, ultra-hyped Hollywood production such as this doesn't disappoint in some fashion, but this film is solidly mesmerizing. Essentially a crushing history lesson filled with love and loss, Titanic shows you every possible and horrible way one can die on a sinking ship, and by the end the Mushiness Quotient is sky-high. What proves truly surprising is that what is reputed to be the most expensive film ever carries a message that people with money are bad; someone explain that to me. The cross-class love story is affecting, the class analysis is enraging, the exploration of the massive ship is exhausting, and just as you start to tire of it all, enter the iceberg. The script may not offer the most substantial dialogue, but the narrative pacing cannot be equaled. This disaster flick differs from all others in that each and every death you witness does indeed hurt - this is not carnage for thrill's sake. Odds are, such a humane enterprise will be rewarded with truckloads of Oscars®. Anyone care to disagree?

APPENDIX I: Films on the list whose specific merits I can't recall, other than maybe "it was fun" or "it was pretty":

Larks on a String
Jonah Who Will be 25 in the Year 2000
Badlands
East of Eden
North By Northwest

APPENDIX II: Favorite film quote of 1997

"As long as people are still having promiscuous sex with many anonymous partners without protection while at the same time experimenting with mind-expanding drugs in a consequence-free environment, I'll be sound as a pound."

- Austin Powers