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Edition · 1992
The Year in Film · 1992

Best of 1992

The films that defined 1992 — ranked by IMDb score.


These films defined 1992 — the year's highest-rated releases, ranked by IMDb score. Some are awards bait, some are popcorn fare, some quietly snuck in under the radar. All earned their place on the list.

  1. 01.
    Thevar Magan

    Thevar Magan

    1992·Dir. Bharathan·160 min·8.7

    London-educated Saktivelu returns to India and wants to open a chain of restaurants in Chennai. His father, however, wishes that he would stay back and help the villagers.

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  2. 02.
    Baraka

    Baraka

    1992·Dir. Ron Fricke·97 min·8.5

    A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

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  3. 03.
    Yoddha

    Yoddha

    1992·Dir. Sangeeth Sivan·149 min·8.4

    Fate brings a young man from rural Kerala to be the protector of a young Lama in Nepal, who is being chased by a dangerous cult.

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  4. 04.
    We Are Not Angels

    We Are Not Angels

    1992·Dir. Srđan Dragojević·98 min·8.3

    Angel and the devil fight for the soul of a Belgrade playboy who made a young girl pregnant.

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  5. 05.
    Reservoir Dogs

    Reservoir Dogs

    1992·Dir. Quentin Tarantino·99 min·8.3

    A botched robbery indicates a police informant, and the pressure mounts in the aftermath at a warehouse. Crime begets violence as the survivors -- veteran Mr. White, newcomer Mr. Orange, psychopathic parolee Mr. Blonde, bickering weasel Mr. Pink and Nice Guy Eddie -- unravel.

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  6. 06.
    Unforgiven

    Unforgiven

    1992·Dir. Clint Eastwood·130 min·8.2

    William Munny is a retired, once-ruthless killer turned gentle widower and hog farmer. To help support his two motherless children, he accepts one last bounty-hunter mission to find the men who brutalized a prostitute. Joined by his former partner and a cocky greenhorn, he takes on a corrupt sheriff.

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  7. 07.
    Roja

    Roja

    1992·Dir. Mani Ratnam·137 min·8.1

    Roja, a simple girl from a village in Tamil Nadu, makes desperate efforts to find her husband, Rishi, after he is kidnapped by militants during a secret undercover mission in Kashmir.

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  8. 08.
    Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar

    Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar

    1992·Dir. Mansoor Khan·174 min·8.1

    Sanjay, a carefree young man, experiences mental and physical transformation to compete in an inter-collegiate bicycle race after his elder brother is unable to participate due to an injury.

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  9. 09.
    Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media

    Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media

    1992·Dir. Peter Wintonick·167 min·8.1

    A film about the noted American linguist/political dissident and his warning about corporate media's role in modern propaganda.

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  10. 10.
    Scent of a Woman

    Scent of a Woman

    1992·Dir. Martin Brest·156 min·8.0

    Charlie Simms is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, a cantankerous middle-aged man who lives with his niece and her family.

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  11. 11.
    Aladdin

    Aladdin

    1992·Dir. John Musker·91 min·8.0

    In the boorish city of Agrabah, kind-hearted street urchin Aladdin and Princess Jasmine fall in love, although she can only marry a prince. He and power-hungry Grand Vizier Jafar vie for a magic lamp that can fulfill their wishes.

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  12. 12.
    Lessons of Darkness

    Lessons of Darkness

    1992·Dir. Werner Herzog·54 min·8.0

    Shortly after the Gulf War, oil fires were raging all through Kuwait. In the week before this sea of fire would be extinguished, Werner Herzog filmed this apocalyptic landscape with its murky skies, scorched earth and capricious flames.

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  13. 13.
    Life, and Nothing More…

    Life, and Nothing More…

    1992·Dir. Abbas Kiarostami·95 min·7.9

    After the earthquake of Guilan, a film director and his son travel to the devastated area to search for the actors from the movie the director made there a few years previously. In their search, they see how people who have lost everything in the earthquake still have hope and try to live life to the fullest.

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  14. 14.
    Tito and Me

    Tito and Me

    1992·Dir. Goran Marković·104 min·7.9

    At his school, 10-year-old Zoran wins the competition for the best essay about Tito. His reward is participation in the march "Revolutionary trails" to Tito's hometown of Kumrovec.

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  15. 15.
    The Muppet Christmas Carol

    The Muppet Christmas Carol

    1992·Dir. Brian Henson·86 min·7.8

    A retelling of the classic Dickens tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, miser extraordinaire. He is held accountable for his dastardly ways during night-time visitations by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

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  16. 16.
    A Few Good Men

    A Few Good Men

    1992·Dir. Rob Reiner·138 min·7.8

    When cocky military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, are assigned to a murder case, they uncover a hazing ritual that could implicate high-ranking officials such as shady Col. Nathan Jessep.

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  17. 17.
    Porco Rosso

    Porco Rosso

    1992·Dir. Hayao Miyazaki·93 min·7.7

    In Italy in the 1930s, sky pirates in biplanes terrorize wealthy cruise ships as they sail the Adriatic Sea. The only pilot brave enough to stop the scourge is the mysterious Porco Rosso, a former World War I flying ace who was somehow turned into a pig during the war. As he prepares to battle the pirate crew's American ace, Porco Rosso enlists the help of spunky girl mechanic Fio Piccolo and his longtime friend Madame Gina.

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  18. 18.
    Hard Boiled

    Hard Boiled

    1992·Dir. John Woo·126 min·7.7

    A cop who loses his partner in a shoot-out with gun smugglers goes on a mission to catch them. In order to get closer to the leaders of the ring he joins forces with an undercover cop who's working as a gangster hitman. They use all means of excessive force to find them.

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  19. 19.
    Malcolm X

    Malcolm X

    1992·Dir. Spike Lee·202 min·7.7

    A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.

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  20. 20.
    Glengarry Glen Ross

    Glengarry Glen Ross

    1992·Dir. James Foley·100 min·7.6

    Times are tough at Premiere Properties. Shelley "the machine" Levene and Dave Moss are veteran salesmen, but only Ricky Roma is on a hot streak. The new Glengarry sales leads could turn everything around, but the front office is holding them back until these "losers" prove themselves. Then someone decides to take matters into his own hands, stealing the Glengarry leads and leaving everyone wondering who did it.

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  21. 21.
    Psy

    Psy

    1992·Dir. Władysław Pasikowski·104 min·7.6

    In good old days Franz Maurer and his partners from secret police used to live like kings. Now, they all must adapt to new post-communist environment where they are scorned and losing all the privileges. Some, like Franz, are like ordinary police fighting against drug dealers. But Franz would soon find that some of his friends are on the other side.

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  22. 22.
    La Vie de Bohème

    La Vie de Bohème

    1992·Dir. Aki Kaurismäki·103 min·7.6

    Three penniless artists become friends in modern-day Paris: Rodolfo, an Albanian painter with no visa, Marcel, a playwright and magazine editor with no publisher, and Schaunard, a post-modernist composer of execrable noise.

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  23. 23.
    The Last of the Mohicans

    The Last of the Mohicans

    1992·Dir. Michael Mann·112 min·7.6

    In war-torn colonial America, in the midst of a bloody battle between British, the French and Native American allies, the aristocratic daughter of a British Colonel and her party are captured by a group of Huron warriors. Fortunately, a group of three Mohican trappers comes to their rescue.

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  24. 24.
    My Cousin Vinny

    My Cousin Vinny

    1992·Dir. Jonathan Lynn·120 min·7.6

    Two carefree pals traveling through rural Alabama on their way back to college are mistakenly arrested and charged with murder. Fortunately, one of them has a cousin who's a lawyer - Vincent Gambini, a former auto mechanic from Brooklyn who has just passed his bar exam after his sixth try. When he arrives with his leather-clad girlfriend to try his first case, it's a real shock - for him and the Deep South!

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  25. 25.
    The Player

    The Player

    1992·Dir. Robert Altman·124 min·7.5

    A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?

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  26. 26.
    The Story of Qiu Ju

    The Story of Qiu Ju

    1992·Dir. Zhang Yimou·100 min·7.5

    When her husband is kicked in the groin by the village head, Qiu Ju, a peasant woman, despite her pregnancy, travels to a nearby town, and later a big city to deal with its bureaucrats and find justice.

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  27. 27.
    Chaplin

    Chaplin

    1992·Dir. Richard Attenborough·145 min·7.5

    An aged Charlie Chaplin narrates his life to his autobiography's editor, including his rise to wealth and comedic fame from poverty, his turbulent personal life and his run-ins with the FBI.

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  28. 28.
    A Heart in Winter

    A Heart in Winter

    1992·Dir. Claude Sautet·105 min·7.5

    Beautiful violin virtuoso Camille has two obsessions: the music of Ravel, and a friend of her husband's who crafts violins. But his heart seems to be as cold as her playing is passionate.

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  29. 29.
    For a Lost Soldier

    For a Lost Soldier

    1992·Dir. Roeland Kerbosch·92 min·7.5

    In the occupied Netherlands near the end of WWII, a young teenager, Jeroen Boman (Maarten Smit) is sent to the Dutch countryside to avoid the war in Amsterdam. While living with his adopted family, Jeroen meets and becomes friends with a Canadian soldier named Walt Cook, who is stationed at the same town he is staying at. Joroen and Walt spend a lot of time playing around and eventually a romantic relationship develops between them. The boy’s sexual curiosity leads him to have a sexual experience with Walt, an encounter that is shown with some vague detail but without actually showing any nudity, even though sexual intimacy between the two of them is implied. Overall, the movie handles this difficult subject with an elegant style and feeling, without having the adult-child relationship overwhelm the viewer and thus allowing the movie to be seen as just a wartime relationship between two people that marks an important time in a young boy’s life.

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  30. 30.
    Husbands and Wives

    Husbands and Wives

    1992·Dir. Woody Allen·108 min·7.5

    When their best friends announce that they're separating, a professor and his wife discover the faults in their own marriage.

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  31. 31.
    A League of Their Own

    A League of Their Own

    1992·Dir. Penny Marshall·128 min·7.4

    As America's stock of athletic young men is depleted during World War II, a professional all-female baseball league springs up in the Midwest, funded by publicity-hungry candy maker Walter Harvey. Competitive sisters Dottie Hinson and Kit Keller spar with each other, scout Ernie Capadino and grumpy has-been coach Jimmy Dugan on their way to fame.

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  32. 32.
    Of Mice and Men

    Of Mice and Men

    1992·Dir. Gary Sinise·110 min·7.4

    Two drifters, one a gentle but slow giant, try to make money working the fields during the Depression so they can fulfill their dreams.

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  33. 33.
    Bram Stoker's Dracula

    Bram Stoker's Dracula

    1992·Dir. Francis Ford Coppola·128 min·7.4

    Count Dracula, a 15th-century prince, is condemned to live off the blood of the living for eternity. Young lawyer Jonathan Harker is sent to Dracula's castle to finalise a land deal, but when the Count sees a photo of Harker's fiancée, Mina, the spitting image of his dead wife, he imprisons him and sets off for London to track her down.

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  34. 34.
    Noises Off...

    Noises Off...

    1992·Dir. Peter Bogdanovich·103 min·7.4

    Hired to helm an Americanized take on a British play, director Lloyd Fellowes does his best to control an eccentric group of stage actors. With a star actress quickly passing her prime, a male lead with no confidence, and a bit actor that's rarely sober, chaos ensues in the lead up to a Broadway premiere.

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  35. 35.
    Man Bites Dog

    Man Bites Dog

    1992·Dir. Rémy Belvaux·96 min·7.4

    The activities of rampaging, indiscriminate serial killer Ben are recorded by a willingly complicit documentary team, who eventually become his accomplices and active participants. Ben provides casual commentary on the nature of his work and arbitrary musings on topics of interest to him, such as music or the conditions of low-income housing, and even goes so far as to introduce the documentary crew to his family. But their reckless indulgences soon get the better of them.

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  36. 36.
    Army of Darkness

    Army of Darkness

    1992·Dir. Sam Raimi·81 min·7.4

    Ash, a handsome, shotgun-toting, chainsaw-armed department store clerk, is time warped backwards into England's Dark Ages, where he romances a beauty and faces legions of the undead.

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  37. 37.
    Braindead

    Braindead

    1992·Dir. Peter Jackson·103 min·7.4

    When a Sumatran rat-monkey bites Lionel Cosgrove's mother, she's transformed into a zombie and begins killing (and transforming) the entire town while Lionel races to keep things under control.

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  38. 38.
    Lorenzo's Oil

    Lorenzo's Oil

    1992·Dir. George Miller·135 min·7.3

    Augusto and Michaela Odone are dealt a cruel blow by fate when their five-year-old son Lorenzo is diagnosed with a rare and incurable disease. But the Odones' persistence and faith leads to an unorthodox cure which saves their boy and re-writes medical history.

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  39. 39.
    Howards End

    Howards End

    1992·Dir. James Ivory·142 min·7.3

    A saga of class relations and changing times in an Edwardian England on the brink of modernity, the film centers on liberal Margaret Schlegel, who, along with her sister Helen, becomes involved with two couples: wealthy, conservative industrialist Henry Wilcox and his wife Ruth, and the downwardly mobile working-class Leonard Bast and his mistress Jackie.

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  40. 40.
    Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

    Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

    1992·Dir. David Lynch·135 min·7.3

    In the questionable town of Deer Meadow, Washington, FBI Agent Desmond inexplicably disappears while hunting for the man who murdered a teen girl. The killer is never apprehended, and, after experiencing dark visions and supernatural encounters, Agent Dale Cooper chillingly predicts that the culprit will claim another life. Meanwhile, in the more cozy town of Twin Peaks, hedonistic beauty Laura Palmer hangs with lowlifes and seems destined for a grisly fate.

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— End of Chapter —