What is the best film of 1989?

By IQ Score on TV Intelligentsia, Do the Right Thing (180), Crimes and Misdemeanors (168), A City of Sadness (168), and Sex Lies and Videotape (163) anchor the year. Born on the Fourth of July, Glory, and The Killer round out the canonical entries.

Why is 1989 considered an indie-cinema launching year?

Sex, Lies, and Videotape's 1989 Cannes Palme d'Or win and subsequent commercial success proved indie distribution was commercially viable — the founding text of the Miramax / Sundance era. The American independent film movement's modern institutional architecture (Sundance Institute as a launch venue, Miramax as a distributor, the Cannes-as-international-validation pipeline) was established in 1989.

Which 1989 film is most underrated?

A City of Sadness (Hou Hsiao-hsien's Venice Golden Lion winner) is the most-underrated 1989 film by IQ Score relative to American-distribution cultural-reach. The Taiwanese-cinema breakthrough scored at Masterclass tier (168) but received minimal U.S. theatrical distribution in 1989.

Cinema · 1989 Ranked

Best Films of 1989, Ranked by IQ Score

The year the modern indie movement launched. The films of 1989, ranked by IQ Score.

1989 is the year the modern American independent film movement launched. Sex, Lies, and Videotape won the Cannes Palme d'Or and proved indie distribution was commercially viable — the founding text of the Miramax / Sundance era. Do the Right Thing reset American racial-cinema. Crimes and Misdemeanors is Woody Allen's most-philosophically-direct work.

The structural argument for 1989-as-canonical-year: the simultaneous indie-cinema breakthrough (Sex Lies and Videotape, Sundance's launch year), prestige-Hollywood peak (Glory, Born on the Fourth of July), Hong Kong action peak (The Killer), Taiwanese-cinema breakthrough (A City of Sadness, Hou Hsiao-hsien's Golden Lion winner). The cinema-of-1989 list is among the most-globally-diverse single years in the catalog.

8 titles · ranked by IQ Score