The Movies of 1999

Do you remember 1999? The vibes were peculiar. On the one hand, politicians and pundits talked ceaselessly about “building a bridge to the 21st century” and entering the new millennium (even though technically it wouldn’t start till 2001). On the other hand, fear lurked around all corners, mostly thanks to new technologies. The internet was still a place you wouldn’t dare use your real name, for reasons that were never totally clear. And the much-hyped Y2K bug left a lot of us wondering if society as we knew it was about to end because of faulty computer code, or something. (I recommend the delightful documentary “Time Bomb Y2K” for reliving that weird moment.)

That collective mood — one of hope and fear mashed together — made 1999 an incredible year at the movies. Just look at the list: “Fight Club.” “The Matrix.” “Toy Story 2.” “Eyes Wide Shut.” “Office Space.” “Shakespeare in Love.” “Magnolia.” “The Green Mile.” “The Blair Witch Project.” “Being John Malkovich.” “The Virgin Suicides.”

There’s a feeling of danger in a lot of these movies, alongside a fixation on sex appeal and youthful ennui. You could go down to the movie theater and see a great rom-com like “You’ve Got Mail,” “Runaway Bride” or “Notting Hill,” a teen classic like “10 Things I Hate About You” or “American Pie,” a campy horror adventure like “The Mummy” or a sexy take on a classic novel like “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” which has one of the best casts of all time.

It’s striking to see how many of these movies are still beloved by both audiences and critics. Some of that has to do with eccentric creative visions. In 1999, studios still took chances on very peculiar movies instead of leaning on blandly imagined sequels to rake in megabucks. Yes, unsurprisingly, “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace” ruled the box office. But the No. 2 film of the year was “The Sixth Sense,” from M. Night Shyamalan, which introduced a new and exciting voice through a totally new story.

There are other factors, too: 1999 was an inflection point in the industry, in which venerable masters like Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese were working alongside young upstarts like Paul Thomas Anderson, Spike Jonze, Sofia Coppola and the Wachowskis. And though we weren’t yet living in a world in which everyone carried a high-definition video camera in their pocket, recording technology was becoming cheaper, lighter and more accessible. That meant you could start shooting a movie like “The Blair Witch Project” with a paltry $35,000 in your pocket and turn it into $250 million.

Over on The Times’s Culture desk, we’ve been talking about 1999 all year. Our “Class of 1999” series examines some of the movies, celebrities and ideas that emerged a quarter-century ago, and how they remain significant today. I kicked off the series by writing about how the opening scene in “The Matrix” proved remarkably prescient. My colleague Maya Salam had a fascinating essay on how “The Blair Witch Project” foreshadowed our age of misinformation. Melena Ryzik profiled the breakout star of “The Sixth Sense,” Haley Joel Osment, and his post-child-star career.