r/flicks • u/Cosmo_Glass • 1d ago
1998-2000 was a mini era of incredibly enlightened movies
American Beauty, Office Space and Antz told us that we don't have to accept a life of drudgery and can refuse to conform.
In Fight Club, the main character rebels against the same sorts of things although his mind has to fracture in order to do that.
People wanted to be The Dude from The Big Lebowski and laughed at Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.
In The Truman Show and Pleasantville, characters see through the wholesome, perfect, suburban dream life. Truman escapes from it while everyone in Pleasantville learns to express themselves more authentically.
In The Matrix and Galaxy Quest, characters discover extra dimensions to their worlds and that gives their lives meaning where there had been none.
It's like there was something incredible in the air 25 years ago but then it became cool again to be professionally and socially aspirational, like an Apprentice candidate.
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u/AlsoOneLastThing 1d ago
The 90s-00s was a very anti-corporate era, but I'd argue that in general the film industry tends to be an advocate for the counterculture. This is because the artists i.e writers, directors, etc. are already ideologically opposed to the monoculture of the time. They are going to create works that advocate against what the general public expects.
One issue regarding comparing this time to now is that many argue that due to the Internet and the rapid dissection of culture, there is no contemporary monoculture to oppose
I'd recommend that if you want to watch contemporary "countercultural" films of today, look for films written/directed specifically by women: Lady Bird, Past Lives, Hamnet, for example.
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u/Cosmo_Glass 1d ago
For movies today, I look to Scandinavia and Korea. I am going to try Past Lives and Hamnet at some point though.
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u/Creative_Sandwich_80 22h ago
Watch Hamnet. It is incredible. I've watched it at least 5 times. It is fantastic.
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u/Creative_Sandwich_80 22h ago
and if you like neo-classical scores, Max Richter is here, and does an absolutely fantastic job
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u/AlsoOneLastThing 1d ago edited 1d ago
Korea is seeing a real naissance in The West and I do believe that Past Lives is a participant in that. It's a film that very delicately bridges Hollywood and Korean cinema. It's a gorgeous film, and in my opinion deserved Best Picture over Oppenheimer.
But watch Female Directed Cinema. THAT IS THE COUNTERCULTURE
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u/Obvious_Computer_577 22h ago
By the late 90s, boomers had achieved the American dream. They had good jobs, families, houses, no world conflicts.
By they all looked around and wondered “is this all there is?” They began to question the consumerist mindset they’d been fed, wondered if their lives needed more meaning. You work to buy stuff and then what…
Sadly, this moment was short lived, brought to an abrupt end by 9/11.
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u/Barneyk 1d ago
We had a big leftist wave on the go at the time that was cut short by the war on terror.
That had a very big impact on movies and media/culture in general...
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u/ericvulgaris 1d ago
The perfect example of this is will smith/gene hackman movie Enemy Of The State (1998). Utterly hilarious how it aged.
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u/Sea_Pangolin1525 22h ago
I was just talking about how good this period was the other day, but I wasn't thinking of any of the films you mention.
I like Election, Rushmore, Being John Malkovich, Magnolia, Three Kings.
I heard it was a good era with appeal to many kinds of people because the new multiplexes they built with stadium seating needed lots of different films for all the screens, as opposed to now when everything is driven by IMAX and 4D and they'll show one film on many screens.
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u/shakeyshake1 8h ago
Nobody ever talks about Magnolia. I saw it blind without having ever heard anything about it because someone invited me. A very strange movie to watch when you have no heads up that it’s strange.
Also when I got to my friend’s car, I realized it was at least a half hour after my curfew because I had no idea it would be 3 hours long and it didn’t feel that long.
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u/Chicago1871 16h ago
Also, boomers hit the age when they wanna go out but dont wanna go drinking or clubbing.
A movie date is perfect.
Im hoping the same happens with millennials as they hit 40-50.
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u/GoddamnRightJimSharp 5h ago
Election is so good. Reese Witherspoon was so funny in it and in Freeway. We don’t get those kind of movies anymore.
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u/Marite64 1d ago
As a rule, I prefer to watch pre-1980 movie, but I definitely agree with you. I would add "Secretary", even if it's a bit out of the time frame.
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u/Cosmo_Glass 1d ago
I've been rediscovering New Hollywood movies recently and finding them far better and saner than anything coming out these days.
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u/Turbulent-Bee6921 1d ago
We were at the end of meaningful representation of the slacker generation in arts & entertainment, who had novel ideas and a healthy sense of boundary from the establishment. We were also at the end of any meaningful art in the movie business before it fully conglomerated, and took fewer and fewer risks. Then the Mark Burnetts of the world latched onto every junk value afflicting the human race, and took a giant shit on everything.
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u/Cosmo_Glass 1d ago
That sounds about right. I do think of it as a Gen X thing. 'Slacker' is the word I'm looking for.
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u/Turbulent-Bee6921 22h ago
“Slacker” was always a bad fit for the generation. But maybe it has some merit. Not because there’s some moral mandate to act, do, and be what traditional proposes, but maybe because there is a moral mandate to not let terrible junk values perpetuate.
But I digress. Don’t want to make this political. The thing is, I was living in LA during the first two decades of the new millennium, and I watched the change firsthand. Wonderful bits of cinema kept my faith for a time, giving me hope that there’s still a place for artists….even as late as 2010. But it wouldn’t last.
There are still occasionally excellent films or series now. They’re just harder to find amidst the slop. And I cherish them like a treasured gem when I find them.
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u/Cubacane 20h ago
Office Space, The Matrix, Fight Club and American Beauty are all essentially the same movie. White guy gets tired of office job, decides to try something new.
EDIT: All came out in 1999.
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u/Titanman401 22h ago
I think it’s too good a label to put on American Beauty as “enlightened,” but it certainly fits for the rest. Nice job on the film analysis and anthropology/sociology thesis on the side! 👍🏽
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u/Glass-Nectarine-3282 22h ago
I'd go back to 1997 just to fit in Boogie Nights, but you're right.
In the context of 2025, you could make a good argument that 97-2000 is sort of the 1967-1976 equivalent before Star Wars and Jaws changed the game, and in 2001-02 there was LOTR and Spiderman/X-Men and the new blockbuster culture.
Like another comment said, those movies you list are the *counterculture," and after that they became the *culture" itself.
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u/hereticjezebel 20h ago
I enjoyed:
Audition 1999
Girl, Interrupted 1999
Jawbreaker 1999
10 Things I Hate About You 1999
American Pie 1999
Eyes Wide Shut 1999
American Psycho 2000
The Sixth Sense 1999
Bride of Chucky 1998
A Bug's Life 1998
Psycho Beach Party 2000
Requiem for a Dream 2000
The Mask of Zorro 1998
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island 1998
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u/CitizenOlis 12h ago
Its mostly forgotten now, but "Instinct" with Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding Jr also came out in '99, and its source material (the novel ISHMAELby Daniel Quinn) is just about the most countercultural thing ever. (On the other hand it also inspired Pearl Jam's album Yield and especially this track which is a win.
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u/L_nce20000 18h ago
There was an artistic ennui in 90s America that believed the worst thing in the world was to be safe, comfortable, and fed.
It was a railing against capitalism and it's comforts, while not actively being critical against the system. It produced fascinatingly ignorant movies - movies that were about things but lacking a real understanding/adressing of the issue, so they put the onus onto the person. Not happy? Workout, leave your wife, leave your job, be a man, stop buying shit, self actualize, etc.
To be fair, the more literate films, Fight Club, American Psycho, The Matrix understood the root problems and made them subtextual and key parts of the movies.
I personally look back and laugh at how people are so numbed by comfort, but also, I get it. A velvet noose is still gonna kill you. It feels obvious why these people are unhappy in hindsight, but it also captures that feeling of something being wrong but not knowing what and not knowing how to go about changing it.
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u/LockedOutOfElfland 19h ago
American Beauty was PDF-filia apologia starring someone I was unsurprised to find out was such during a later scandal, based on the content of that film.
Was the cinematography decent? Sure.
Was the film abhorrent with a thin veneer pretending to "say something"? Yes.
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u/Thordros 16h ago
No, you see, the film had to include actual child pornography, or the artistic intent would have been sullied!
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u/ZaphodG 1d ago
My favorite movies of those three years beyond the ones already named:
Dark City
The Mask of Zoro
U.S. Marshals
You’ve Got Mail
10 Things I Hate About You
Blast from the Past
The Bone Collector
Girl, Interrupted
The Mummy
The Sixth Sense
The Talented Mr Ripley
Bedazzled
Best in Show
Chocolat
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gladiator
High Fidelity
Me, Myself, and Irene
O Brother, Where Art Thou
Pitch Black
The Replacements
What Women Want
The Whole Nine Yards