BEST MOVIES OF 2010 -- so far

[Chris Knipp]

RECOMMENDED US THEATRICAL RELEASES THUS FAR (regularly updated)

As of Dec. 24, 2010.

-Ajami (Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani 2009) DVD
-Alamar (Pedro Gonzalez Rubio 2010) DVD
-American, The (Anton Corbijn 2010) DVD
-Animal Kingdom (David Michôd 2010) DVD
-Anton Chekhov's The Duel (Dover Kosashvili 2009) No DVD yet
-Daddy Longlegs (Josh and Benny Safdie 2009) DVD 2011?
-Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy 2010) DVD
-Eyes Wide Open (Haim Tabakman 2009) DVD
-Father of My Children, The (Le père de mes enfants, Mia Hansen-Løve 2009) DVD
-Fighter, The (David O. Russell 2010) Dec. 2010 release
-Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozner, Peter Raymont 2010) DVD in 2011
-Ghost Writer, The (Roman Polanski 2010) DVD
-Greenberg (Noah Baumbach 2010) DVD
-Mademoiselle Chambon (Stéphane Brizé 2009) DVD
-Making Plans for Léna (Non, ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser, Christophe Honoré 2009) no DVD yet
-Prophet, A (Un prophète, Jacques Audiard 2009) DVD
-Social Network, The (David Fincher 2020) DVD
-Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman, David Levien 2010) DVD release
-Somewhere (Sofia Coppola 2010) Dec. 2010 release
-Terribly Happy (Henrik Ruben Genz 2010) DVD release July 13, 2010
-Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich 2010) DVD
-Welcome (Philippe Lioret 2009) DVD release August 1, 2010
-Winter's Bone (Debra Granik 2010) DVD


This is from a page (http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1533&p=1551#p1551) on my website where I list all the films I've seen in theaters so far this year with links to my reviews of them. The year is now half over. Have there been any great new American movies? Even though TOY STORY 3 was overrated in my view I list it here in recognition that it is well made and moves many people. But for me, THE SOCIAL NETWORK is the real grownups' great American movie of 2010. Brilliantly done, relevant, with wide appeal.

Many of these will be on DVD within a month or two if they aren't already.

*Alamar July 14-20 at Film Forum in NYC. SFFS at Sundance Kabuki in San Francisco from July 20. Making Plans for Lena at Kabuki August 6.

[oscar jubis]

I am glad you posted this list. You inspired me to start my own. Something I had not done this year.Many of the films I have really liked this year are unlikely to get distribution. They include Grandmother (Philippines), Moloch Tropical (Haiti), Crab Trap (Colombia), Eccentricities of a Blond Girl (Portugal) and Medal of Honor (Romania). It is nice to reminisce about these screenings. Who knows if I will get a chance to rewatch any of them. However, City of Life and Death directed by Chuan Lu (the excellent Mountain Patrol) and Nothing Personal (starring Stephen Rea) are likely to be released before the end of the year.

At the moment, my 3 favorite movies distributed in 2010 are:
NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS
FISH TANK
THE MILK OF SORROW ('09 Silver Bear winner finally opens next month)

Just below these in no particular order:
The Wind Journeys (Colombia) Film Movement
Lourdes (Jessica Hausner)
Alamar
Cyrus
The Secret in Their Eyes
Vincere
Chloe
Here & There (Serbia/USA)

I am sure I forgot a title or two.

[Chris Knipp]

My list is only US-released films (though many you could not see in the middle of the country or rural areas). If I listed unreleased ones there would be others. Some of the Rendez-Vous and ND/NF ones, and You Think You're the Prettiest, But You're the Sluttiest (Che Sandoval 2008). If Hadewijch (Bruno Dumont 2010) is a US release I will list that. The Rivette and Resnais ones are coming and you may want to list them; I may take another look at the Resnais, which is coming to the Bay Area soon. NY film buffs love Zhao Dayang's GHOST TOWN and he does show talent but I did not like it. I think it counts as a US release though. There is also LEBANON, the Israeli film, a prizewinner, coming to theaters. I reviewed that as part of the 2009 NYFF.

THE SECRET IN HER EYES didn't especially grab me so I left it off.

FISH TANK is great and I forgot to list it so I've added it to my ongoing list above.

LOURDES makes sense but it leaves me cold so I won't list it.

MILK OF SORROW or PERSIAN CATS I have not seen -- or any of your unreleased favorites. So we compliment each other by seeing and commenting on different things.

NOTHING PERSONAL I've read about but not seen.

[oscar jubis]

I had forgotten Cyrus which has now been added to my previous post. I know you wouldn't want to list it.
But, based on my readings of your reviews, I think you would want to list I am Love, right? I would have to find the time to see it tonight (last day of theatrical run) otherwise I will watch it on disc.

[Chris Knipp]

Right, I would not list CYRUS. I am debating about I AM LOVE. But I would advise seeing it, and if possible, in a theater.

[oscar jubis]

I notice that you included the Banksy doc. Have you seen The Oath and/or Stonewall Upraising? The former is dominated by a fascinatingly ambiguous character. The latter is amazing to me because there is scant photographic record of the historical events depicted and yet the filmmakers manage to create intense drama out of interviews, a few old photos, and very brief recreations.

[Chris Knipp]

Wrote a review (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2808-Film-Comments-Selects-And-New-Directors-New-Films-2010&p=24177#post24177) of THE OATH as part of New Directors/New Films in March. Good material and thought of listing it, but it didn't stand out for me quite as much as Banksy's doc. Ever see Michael Winterbottom's ROAD TO GUANTANAMO (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1795-Michael-Winterbottom-The-Road-to-Guantanamo-%282006%29)?

Have not seen STONEWAL. It opened in Berkeley Friday but I've been under the weather.

Edmund White wrote a pungent piece (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/1969/Content?oid=249199) in 2007 for the weekly The Stranger. I also liked a witty rant (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/appropriate-stupidity/Content?oid=14772) White wrote for that Seattle mag's 'Queer Issue' in 2003, "Appropriate Stupidity,"
Specifically the Gym-Haunting, Dick-Worshipping, Book-Avoiding Sort. . .Once upon a time straights cornered the market on dumbness.

[Johann]

INCEPTION will be the Best Film of the Year.
(just FYI) lol

[oscar jubis]

The early reviews are very positive. The Variety review gives me confidence to predict Inception may well be the best American film of the year (so far) because reviewer Justin Chang is usually reliable. The possibility that a challenging, cerebral movie may be massively popular is very exciting to me.

[oscar jubis]

*I liked THE DARK KNIGHT a lot and loved AVATAR. It was great to feel this way about movies that casual film-goers were discussing. I liked the first hour of THE MATRIX. Then it collapses, as far as I am concerned. I had high hopes for Scorsese's SHUTTER ISLAND but, for me, it was mostly disappointing. Perhaps I will feel the same way about INCEPTION.

*I went to see I AM LOVE today. I will comment on its own thread; probably will react directly to your review as you seem to prefer.

*My 17 year-old son loved TOY STORY 3 and he made me promise to wait until we can see it together.

*Missed the new Jeunet film, MICMACS (whatever that means). Did you see it?

*I remember having mixed feelings about ROAD TO GUANTANAMO. I watched THE OATH twice. I found the enigmatic central character fascinating ( and I still don't know what director Laura Poitras thinks about him (just an observation not a criticism). Heck, I still have not made up my own mind about him. Her previous film, MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY, is more straightforward.

[Chris Knipp]

Sorry, I deleted this post, which was originally before Oscar's last post, to add something: namely that Chang's review is enticing.

Okay, fine, pass the hype. Don't mind if I do. But this thread was my idea of listing the best films you're seen so far this year. . .. I get the point though. No good movies to see? Let's imagine one. Makes sense.


The possibility that a challenging, cerebral movie may be massively popular is very exciting to me.
It's exciting to any of us. Also the idea of simply a good movie that may be massively popular.

It's true, Justin Chang is a good reviewer and he likes INCEPTION. But is he liking the kind of movie I like, in this case? Is MEMENTO meets MATRIX meets DEMONLOVER meets THE DARK KNIGHT my kind of movie?

You never know, but maybe not. To begin with I tend to prefer a film that cost $1.5 million -- or $15 million -- to make rather than $150; all things being equal in behemoth-land, I now tend to prefer one that's 1 1/2 hours long, not 2 1/2. More is not more in blockbusters; it's just longer -- usually too long.

I hope Christopher Nolan's INCEPTION will be coherent enough to be a movie I can discuss. The was true of MATRIX but not of THE DARK KNIGHT, which it was a struggle for me to sit through to the end of and which seemed largely incoherent. After a while I didn't care. It's encouraging that Joseph Gordon-Leavitt is involved. He's an intelligent young actor who's chosen interesting movies to be in. I guess he's the promising new male face this time. Let's hope he survives to make other movies, unlike his Joker predecessor.

Itt's certainly true that Justin Chang's description sounds very appetizing.

[Chris Knipp]

(Response to Oscar's post above.)

I didn't like THE DARK KNIGHT, as I said; almost everybody did though. Ditto AVATAR. But I think some major film buffs I know would not go near either film.

I haven't seen MICMACS. Not a huge Jeunet fan. Wouldn't you say that AVATAR falls down in the second half, like MATRIX? But the MATRIX ideas are fun to talk about; I used MATRIX RELOADED as a starting point for a piece (http://baltimorechronicle.com/jul03_matrix.shtml) about Baudrillard and September 11, 2001.

Well I guess if your son liked TOY STORY 3 then it must be a masterpiece. However unlike your daughter, he has not tried out his reviewing skills in these pages.

There was another small documentary that showed Arabs shifting positions, like the guy in THE OATH. It was in the SFIFF 2008 and it was called RECYCLED. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2265-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2008&postid=20040#post20040) Why should you feel an obligation to "make up your mind" about such a person? Is there some obligation to do up some kind of moral evaluation? Try living through similar circumstances. You survive, that's all. The changes of allegiance of figures like the English Restoration's leading poet (and poet laureate), John Dryden show how people have had to shift with the times to stay alive, and hear their voices heard. I think it's a question of survival. However some are more chameleon-like than others. We like to read stories about them and such heroes are called "picaros."
Of course "mixed feelings" are in order re: THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO -- and for most any Michael Winterbottom film. His stuff is nearly always flawed, but stimulating. I just saw his 24 HOUR PARTY people for the first time. It's by far his highest rated film. Review of Metacritic ratings:

WELCOME TO SARAJEVO (1997) 72
24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE (2001) 85
9 SONGS (2004) 43
ROAD TO GUANTANAMO (2006) 64
TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY (2006) 80
A MIGHTY HEART (2007) 74
THE SHOCK DOCTRINE (2009) XX
THE KILLER INSIDE ME (2010) 53

Actually the quality is pretty even, but people tend to react differently to the material. The sex in 9 SONGS and the sex and the violence in THE KILLER INSIDE ME turned people off big-time. GUANTANAMO is provocative in its denunciation of American War on Terror policies. MIGHTY HEART is a feel-good issue picture. SHANDY is classy, about a literary classic, and probably many film reviewers are of the generation that grew up with the Manchester music celebrated so charmingly in 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE. I am going to watch 9 SONGS now. Had not seen it. When stuff is trashed sometimes one's put off. Funny 24 HOURS PARTY PEOPLE and TRISTRAM SHANDY, which are both openly a shambles, self-reflective, moving in and out of "realism," and incidentally featuring Steve Coogan, did well with critics. You couldn't do a funny, post-modern version of THE KILLER INSIDE ME, or 9 SONGS, so they tanked. Moral: get Steve Coogan back. My conclusion about Michael Winterbottom as a filmmaker: the whole is more than the sum of its parts. I'd like more directors like him, who move around so freely among genres and always stimulate.

[Chris Knipp]

P.s. The odds are (going just by that VARIETY review) that you'll like INCEPTION better than SHUTTER ISLAND. Incidentally, I have yet to see that--its Metacritic rating, incidentally is one point below THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO'S. But I had lots of political reasons to see the latter, whereas no great need to see a mash-up of Fifties melodramas. DiCaprio's presence in INCEPTION might be bad luck for you--or for me. He has not scored so well lately.

[oscar jubis]

[QUOTE=Chris Knipp;24683]Well I guess if your son liked TOY STORY 3 then it must be a masterpiece.
This reads as a sarcastic comment to me. Tell me I'm wrong because sarcasm would be an inappropriate response to my sharing Dylan's love for Toy Story 3 with the readers of this forum.The fact that he wants to watch it again and with me only means I'm going to have to wait until our schedules coincide to check it out.


My conclusion about Michael Winterbottom as a filmmaker: the whole is more than the sum of its parts. I'd like more directors like him, who move around so freely among genres and always stimulate.
He's so versatile I cannot figure out who he is. I have seen all his movies except the two most recent. The ones I liked are: BUTTERFLY KISS,WONDERLAND, A MIGHTY HEART and TRISTRAM SHANDY. Probably in that order of preference.

[Chris Knipp]

Sharing a film that he loves with your son is sacred. I'd never make fun of that. I'd like to discuss the film with him. Can you bring him on board? What I meant was that nobody will convince me TOY STORY 3 is a masterpiece, not even your son. But mine was purely a teasing remark, not sarcastic in the least. I'm impressed that the film appeals to a 17-year-old since Andy is that age. When I was 17 my tastes were very different. They haven't changed much, just new movies have come along. Back when I was your son's age, movies I liked were REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, PICNIC, MARTY, TO CATCH A THIEF, MR. HULOT'S HOLIDAY (an all-time favorite,) RIFIFI (ditto) and THE LADYKILLERS. I did not want to see GUYS AND DOLLS or LADY AND THE TRAMP.

As for Winterbottom, that he can't be typecast is a virtue. Risk-taking is a common thread. Following his passions wherever they lead him. Obviously he is prolific and doesn't hesitate to dive into a new project. It's been noted that most people wouldn't have dared to take on the whole Manchester music scene 1976-1992 at one go. And obviously I think Anton Corbjin's CONTROL about Joy Division and Ian Curtis is a better film; but it does something different, more limited. Winterbottom doesn't fear failure. Tristram Shandy is an impossible book to film. THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO is a provocative and dangerous topic -- to Americans; less so to Brits since the Tipton Three did get out. It's flawed in that it smooths over gaps in the guy's stories.. 9 SONGS contains scene of actual sex so it's sure to be rejected from the mainstream.

I'm sure there is a common thread; several, two of which I've mentioned. but I haven't seen all his films. I see two of your favorites are ones's I've missed, WONDERLAND and BUTTERFLY KISS. A MIGHTY HEART uses documentary again, fictionally, yet seems to me more conventional, but again it's just a subject he came across and couldn't resist, that was important and some thing was Jolie's best performance. Or did that lead to GUANTAMO or vice versa? I forget.

The styles of TRISTRAM SHANDY and 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE are very similar; so is GUANTANAMO, really: self-referential, post-modern pseudo-documentary. BUTTERFLY KISS sounds risk-taking, lurid in the extreme, and unpleasant. Genre-bending. WONDERLAND sounds like it treads on Andrea Arnold territory. Metacritic WONDERLAND 71, BUTTERFLY KISS 61. So WONDERLAND is up there in the critical ratings, the other, not. The subjects may interest you especially. The other ones interest me more, TRISTRAM SHANDY (even though it disappoints me), GUANTANAMO (important to me), 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE (obviously not urgent, since I waited a decade to see it, but I like music scene and band movies). He's out there trying things. A MIGHTY HEART is utterly conventional. Anybody could have done it. Not sure anybody else could have done SHANDY or PARTY PEOPLE. Not sure of course about the ones I haven't seen. Have you seen the ones I've mentioned and just not liked them? Or not seen some of them? I find it hard to catch up. The collective movie blog The Playlist has a recent rundown (http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/06/appreciation-films-of-michael.html) -- they call it an "appreciation" -- of Winterbottom's films that indicates several more I'd have to see to do a complete assessment. But I don't thik an assessment of somebody like this is possible. They say he's like Soderbergh, though with a bit less successful batting average. That's a possible analogy. Better batting average or no, Soderbergh has his share of misfires. But one of his great virtues is his willingness to try different things. One could twist around Salvador Dali's famous remark, "The only difference between a madman and myself is that I am not mad," and say the only difference between Winterbottom and Soderbergh and a hack is that they are not hacks.

Now it's become too late to watch 9 SONGS tonight. But I've enjoyed our exchanges today on this and I AM LOVE. I am stuck at home sick so it gave me pleasantly distracting to do.

[Johann]

I haven't seen too many movies in theatres this year, so I'm sorta out of the loop on what's good or great so far.
I'm jealous you guys get your butts into so many screenings...

As for INCEPTION, I'm really looking forward to it, as it's been two years in the making, and is the next picture for Nolan since The Dark Knight. (and the cinematography looks very very similar..coincidence? I think not). Wally Pfister is a Master director of photography. I love how he works too: he never knows what the shot is going to look like until they are about to do it- it's very loose, very free- it reminded me of Stanley Kubrick saying that he never knew where he would put his camera, that he would just "try and get the most interesting stuff going" and then the shots find themselves.

I think we're all looking for a "GOOD MOVIE" right now. Something with a good story and is told with some skill and impactful images.
Are those movies rarer and rarer or what?

[Chris Knipp]

I've added another title that I didn't think of at first:

Daddy Longlegs (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2838-DADDY-LONGLEGS-%28Josh-and-Benny-Safdie-2009%29[)(Josh and Benny Safdie 2009)

I think these boys could turn out to be more interesting than the Duplass brothers. DADDY LONGLEGS is an obscure film you could probably only see if you were nearby the IFC Center in NYC at the right time, or LA, or Sundance, or BAM.

A unique film I'd like to draw people's attention to. Available via Video On Demand.

After so much discussion of I AM LOVE, I will add it to the list, even though it may not make the final cut of my "Best Foreign" films if what comes out in the fall is good.

[oscar jubis]

[QUOTE=Chris Knipp;24688] I'm impressed that the film appeals to a 17-year-old since Andy is that age. When I was 17 my tastes were very different. They haven't changed much, just new movies have come along. Back when I was your son's age, movies I liked were REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, PICNIC, MARTY, TO CATCH A THIEF, MR. HULOT'S HOLIDAY (an all-time favorite,) RIFIFI (ditto) and THE LADYKILLERS. I did not want to see GUYS AND DOLLS or LADY AND THE TRAMP.
Dylan has fairly wide interest in movies. He absolutely loves GUYS AND DOLLS by the way, and appeared in a stage production of it. He loves the Harry Potter films almost as much as the books. He also loves well-made horror films. The last film he really liked was the very adult drama CHLOE. A film I found utterly absorbing. Something that might sneak into my 2010 list. It's by Egoyan so I am not surprised I like it more than most people.

I see two of your favorites are ones I've missed, WONDERLAND and BUTTERFLY KISS.
Dennis Lim aptly describes WONDERLAND as "a bruised romantic's wary valentine to London life" and compares it to WKW's "ravishing Hong Kong nocturnes". What is absolutely undeniable about BUTTERFLY KISS is Amanda Plummer's fierce performance.

Now it's become too late to watch 9 SONGS tonight. But I've enjoyed our exchanges today on this and I AM LOVE. I am stuck at home sick so it gave me pleasantly distracting to do.
I've enjoyed them too. And I hope you get well soon Chris.

*I missed chances to watch DADDY LONGLEGS. It's clear I wouldn't list I AM LOVE.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for your good wishes.

You didn't answer my question re Winterbottom:
Not sure of course about the ones I haven't seen. Have you seen the ones I've mentioned and just not liked them?

[oscar jubis]

Thanks for your good wishes.

You didn't answer my question re Winterbottom:

WELCOME TO SARAJEVO (1997) 72 :Good movie.

24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE (2001) 85
A print-the-myth, self-aggrandizing approach to rock history but a lot of fun anyway.Dennis Lim was right to write: "As a historical document, 24 Hour Party People may be most meaningful to fans whose epiphanies were experienced at least one remove away -- at a different place or time."

9 SONGS (2004) 43
This movie plain doesn't work but I won't begrudge Winterbottom for experimenting a bit. Watched it in NYC with a sizable crowd who seemed bored by it.

ROAD TO GUANTANAMO (2006) 64
I found it disappointing.I went into detail about its flaws in this forum a few years ago.

TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY (2006) 80
A MIGHTY HEART (2007) 74
I liked these two. I remember defending A Mighty Heart here at Filmleaf. The search engine makes it difficult to find the precise post.

THE SHOCK DOCTRINE (2009) XX
THE KILLER INSIDE ME (2010) 53
I haven't seen them

[Michuk]

Oscar,

If you loved "The Milk of Sorrow" you should definitely see "ALTIPLANO" ( that I reviewed as part of the TOFIFEST coverage: http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2871-TOFIFEST-International-Film-Festival-2010-in-Torun-Poland ) which is starring the same actress, also takes place in Peru, and shares equally unique cinematography, but discusses a completely different problem.

From other movies llisted,
- I loved "Fish Tank", "Eyes Wide Open", "Father of My Children, The" and "Ghost Writer, The"
- "Prophet, A" was interesting but I prefer previous Audiard's films
- " Lourdes" was interesting and discussion-provoking
- so was "Trush Humpers" but that's a film I would not safely recommend to anyone
- I liked "The Killer Inside Me" - a fair movie, very well-directed, but it's not a must-see
- "No one knows about Persian cats" was nice but I just could not ignore the fact it was such a low-budget film with no real actors (reviews it on Filmleaf earlier this year)
- "Alamar" bored me to death
- "Ajami" was way too long and had an amateurish feel I didn't like (think: poor man's Amores Perros but more political)

And from those not mentioned, I also recommend:
- Kynodontas (Dogtooth)
- Tetro
- "10 to 11" (Turkish film)
- Patrice Chéreau's "Persécution"

And I'm seeing INCEPTION tonight :)

[oscar jubis]

Thanks, I will make sure I watch ANTIPLANO when it opens in the US later this year.
Like you, I wasn't all that impressed by AJAMI but I understand why many are quite fond of it.
I liked TETRO but it opened here last year hence not listed in this thread.
I absolutely hated PERSECUTION, especially the protagonist as played by Roman Duris.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for all your comments, Michuk, and I'm glad you're up to speed on all these. Please check inn more often if you can. I second most of what Oscar says. Will watch for Altipiano. Dogtooth has not been shown theatrically here. You are both right about Ajami; it's just interesting for the content, and the circumstances of the filmmaking. Tetro was last year in the US as Oscar says. I saw Persecution as part of Film Comment Selects earlier this year and agree with Oscar on that one, annoying film, annoying Romain Duris. One thing I tend to disagree on is Prophet, by Audiard. His previous films may be more interesting conceptually but it is an ambitious and memorable film, hence every bit as impressive as they are.

I plan to watch Inception now too, but having been sick for the past week I may not get to it the first day as I usually do. Also to see here is The Kids Are All Right, very well reviewed already, which opened in San Francisco last Friday and in the East Bay today.

[oscar jubis]

I added Marco Bellocchio's VINCERE to the list I posted in the previous page. Chris wrote a good piece on it for his NYFF coverage last year. It's a formally lush view of Mussolini and his moment in history from the perspective of his betrayed and unacknowledged first wife and son.

[Chris Knipp]

VINCERE. Did you just see it, Oscar? I wrote a "good piece" on it for the NYFF 2009, but I have not listed it for anything. It's best visually, and for the sound, and is rather operatic. I think Michuk gave it a 7. I don't think it will make the final cut but it is above average certainly and in a generally weak Italian field it stands out, but not on a level of IL DIVO or GOMORRAH (neither of which I particularly love). VINCERE comes off very well on Metacritic (85). Pretty high.

Did you see any of the other Duplass brothers films, Oscar? What did you think of CYRUS? I thought you commented favorably on it here but I don't see that.

[oscar jubis]

I watched VINCERE months ago, but did not spring to mind while writing the post listing the movies I liked this year. Images from the film kind-of popped into my consciousness the way film images tend to do and I remember my enjoyment of it. So I decided to edit the post to include it. I find it to be much more compelling than Il Divo.
I thought the earlier Duplass films were quite forgettable. As I argued in another thread, Cyrus is a good movie. I hope people go see it.

[Chris Knipp]

Where is that other thread where you argued in favor of Cyrus?

[Michuk]

INCEPTION will be the Best Film of the Year.
(just FYI) lol

I just watched "Inception" last night and I've got mixed feelings about it. It is a cleverly constructed, well acted and properly executed piece of cinema. It has its unique climax built by a very powerful score (by Hans Zimmer) and a surprising mix of visual effects and cinematography (Wally Pfister). The weak part of the movie is the story. Don't get me wrong - it's quite an interesting, half-original idea and it shines compared to most modern blockbusters. But it still disappoints. The whole idea seems simply so unreal and the problems so out of touch that I found it very hard to get engaged.

Here is my "first impression" Inception review (http://michuk.filmaster.com/review/is-nolan-the-new-cameron/).

[Chris Knipp]

I'd agree, and am impressed by your photos of the London crowd; not so many to see it here in the East Bay. Haven't seen lines like that since BEING JOHN MALKOVITCH. But tht cinemas has folded.

I only would add that the STORY is a pretty major element. Some of the initial palnning about the dream-invading projects and their purpose seems a little vague.

I'd sum up:

A good cast and clean, elegant look make this story of dream-manipulation the class blockbuster of the summer. Narrowly Hollywood, though, the concept that dreams consist of nothing but action movie sequences.

I have written a review of INCEPTION and you'll find it here (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2879-INCEPTION-%28Christopher-Nolan-2010%29).

[oscar jubis]

By the way, the best movie of 2010 is Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS.

Unlike the digitalized BREATHLESS currently in theaters, this METROPOLIS should be considered a new release. It is 25 minutes longer than any version released previously in the US. That's a significant improvement. The 2008 discovery of this footage in an attic in Buenos Aires is the event of the decade as far as film historians are concerned. This is one of Fritz Lang's undeniable masterpieces, about class conflict in the 21st century, and now we can delight in something damn close to the original 1927 German release.

[Chris Knipp]

Yes, the best movie is always an old one.

I'll see this if I get a chance.

Meanwhile have just seen

INCEPTION
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
THE LOTTERY

Doubtful any of these would wind up being Best Movies candidates.

Have been watching Kurosawa's STRAY DOG. Beautiful abstract sequences better than anything in Chris Doye's cinematography for Wong Kar-wai.

[Johann]

Stray Dog on DVD or in a theatre? Thanks for the comment on Doyle/Wong. Something to think about..

I just picked up the latest issue of Film Comment (Inception cover) and it's excellent, as it's always been.
That magazine is the Standard if you ask me. There's an article (first part of two) about the internet critics vs. the old school print critics and it was interesting to read. I saw myself in the criticism aimed at the online writers. But I defend the use of strong language when I have no one to impress and it suits my point. Plus I'm not paid. If I was a paid critic like these "legit" writers, I'd be cranking out the most astute, erudite and passionate reviews this side of Sight & Sound. But since writers are a dime a dozen, I don't really make an effort to censor myself, just for the fact that sometimes salty language is needed and no word can compare to "fuck". It's the perfect curse word.


Just FYI, in the interview with Christopher Nolan he mentions that a lot of the dream stuff in INCEPTION he just made up, that he doesn't delve too deeply into psychoanalysis at all. His passion for the craft of filmmaking comes through like a freight train in that interview.
AND!
he is producing the next Superman film, The Man of Steel! Warners has found their Superhero Messiah!
Rumours are that the story will be modern, how Superman would fit in with today's world, with the Daily Planet newspaper under threat from the internet. Can you imagine Clark Kent looking for a job at Microsoft because he was downsized?
I also picked up the latest issue of Empire ~INCEPTION cover also~ and there are some hints about the next and final Batman film. Nolan says "one film at a time!" and that the next Bat-film will complete the trilogy, complete the arc he has for the characters. He has denied the villain will be Mr. Freeze or the Penguin. My guess is it will be Catwoman or the Riddler.

[Chris Knipp]

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/9412/bannerzf.jpg

STRAY DOG in a Criterion DVD rented from Netflix. It's particularly the sequence in which the hero is disguised as a deadbeat and walks on the wild side, with montage segments, in which the images are fantastic and gorgeous à la Doyle.

I'm glad you like Film Comment (which Peter used to do the layouts of) because it's the official journal of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which in turn is responsible for my best film experiences of the year. Film Comment's articles aren't usually online and I don't get it, but the essay you mention, by Paul Brunick, "THE LIVING AND THE DEAD: Online versus Old School: time to debunk the myth (Part I)" is available on the FSLC website here. (http://www.filmlinc.com/fcm/ja10/onlinecriticism.htm) As print jorunalism opportunities diminish, more online possibilities emerge. The situation in movie writing isn't any different from what's happening in politics and other fields. People get heard who may not have credentials -- or proper editing. But there are many new voices. I like the writing of Walter Chaw for Film Freak Central. He sometimes uses "fuck." His reviews are very smart, but often angrier than anything in a newspaper, apart from the swear words. He gave THE DARK KNIGHT (http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/screenreviews/darkknight.htm) 4 out of 4; but INCEPTION (http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/screenreviews/inception.htm) he gave 2 our of 4. He's an example of one of the more interesting online critics. Apart from the liveliness of the online film criticism scene that this nice young college boy, Paul Brunick, talks about, the Web allows us unprecedented quick access to most of the film criticism about new movies, and if you acknowledge that reviewers or critics actually make smart observations about the films they review, that makes us all smarter. As well as in touch with each other. But i don't think we need to sell ourselves on what we ourselves are doing.

It's no surprise to me that Nolan relies on his own invention rather than pschycholgical studies for his "dreams" in INCEPTION, but as I've said, the trouble with his "dreams" in the film is they're just action movie sequences, unlike the dreams in other films you can think of. However, INCEPTION is undeniably a beautiful and elegant-looking blockbuster. But remember what Chaw says: it's a Rubik's cube, not a profound study.

I'm afraid I can't get too excited about the upcoming Batman films, though of course I'll have to watch them, especially if Nolan makes them. I'm burdened by the unchangeable fact that my interest in comic books and their stories and characters had waned by the time I reached the age of twelve.

[Johann]

Thanks for the links. It's true that I should link to more stuff that I mention. Chalk it up to laziness...ha ha

Print critics should be able to make the jump to online writing with ease, shouldn't they?
I mean, if you're such a great critic/writer, then I would think adapting your passion to a new medium wouldn't be that hard.
Roger Ebert excels at it, as do many others. Jonathan Rosenbaum is VERY active, with film festivals, facebook, etc.. Love that man.
I've exchanged messages and e-mails with him often. It's great. Facebook has it's downsides, but man, I've chatted with Guy Maddin, E.E. Merhige and Ted Falconi (all friends on there!) and that was not even conceivable ten years ago. I'm amazed at the internet and how it's literally transformed the human race. Bill Gates, you've created the Juggernaut of Juggernauts...

I should also mention that Christopher Nolan said that Heath Ledger was the definitive Joker and that giving the role to another actor just seems wrong. His filmmaking is so streamlined and exciting to me that even if INCEPTION isn't as good as his other films I know I'll still give it up for it.
The trailers tell me that I can suspend belief for whatever images fly by my eyes on it. I love how he crosscuts and it builds and builds..
That's what exciting cinema needs to be: quick, with cuts that mean something, close-ups are rationed (like Kubrick. When Kubrick did a close-up...did it ever mean something) and the music/sound is just AWESOME.
Sound & Vision is what it's all about with Mr. Nolan. He's a true gift to the medium of motion pictures.

[Chris Knipp]

I am fanatical about links. It's possible to live without them but I feel they are helpful, and I want to cross-reference all my writing as much as I can. They are very easy to insert with Filmleaf's new software. You could be lazy and still give us more links, so long as you know how to cut and paste. But do you?

Some print journalists feel alternately threatened by and contemptuous of online criticism. It's not clear why they need to make any "transition" since regular print reviewers' writing is usually archived on the Web. Rosenbaum is retired and Ebert has no other life than movies. I've had exchanges with several directors and journalists and been invited to contribute to other websites including this one due to my IMDb reviews of some years ago. My reviews now appear on a couple other sites besides this one and mine. Being rated as a reviewer for screenings, I have the option of interviewing people. At first I was more interested in accessing political information right after 9/11, but gradually writing movie reviews took over most of my online time because I wanted to be a film critic when I was in my teens. Don't forget that the majority of print reviewers are still not making a living with it.

Why credit Bill Gates? It was the US government. more specifically the Pentagon, that masterminded the Internet. At least that's my understanding. Gates became a billionaire stealing and monopolizing stuff. See Wikipedia, Internet History. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet#History)

[oscar jubis]

*I haven't seen any of the four movies you listed, Chris. There are so many movies being released on a very limited basis. It's impossible to watch everything that seems worth watching. I hope to eventually watch Inception, Despicable Me, Toy Story 3, The Kids are Alright and a few others. It's expensive also. I cannot always afford to go. I have seen some pretty good movies that I don't think you have seen. It's only natural under this distribution system. Jeunet's Micmacs, for instance, is quite charming and richly imagined. Cell 211, which won 8 Spanish Academy awards, is about as good as prison flicks get. Sometimes I miss out on the wide release films because I don't want to miss films like these which stay in theaters very briefly.

*Stray Dog is very good. You are right to take note of the cinematography.

*Print critics, especially youngish ones who write for daily newspapers, often don't have passion for cinema or knowledge of the history of the art form.They may have more of an interest in the stars than the actual movies. They are hired based on writing skills rather than expertise (which the ones doing the hiring don't know how to assess) or passion. On-line critics are enthusiastic film buffs who often have mediocre writing skills.Of course I am generalizing.

[Chris Knipp]

INCEPTION
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
THE LOTTERY


I haven't seen any of the four movies you listed, Chris. There are so many movies being released on a very limited basis. A lot of people will see INCEPTION and pretty many will see THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, since it's so highly praised. THE LOTTERY just opened today and SOUTH OF THE BORDER is in limited rolling out release, but you expressed contempt for it in advance and the intention of avoiding it (I don't see it listed as coming to Florida on their website schedule (http://southoftheborderdoc.com/in-theatres/)). Quite possibly THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT would please you (more than me).

Print critics are perhaps being phased out so no need to generalize about them, but your generalization probably always applied: they were hired as good writers, not passionate cinephiles, and very often might review other things as well as movies.

[Chris Knipp]

The San Francisco Film Society, which puts on the SFIFF, has some theatrical screenings at the Sundance Kabuki, the SFIFF main headquarters at festival time in May. They have a screen ongoingly available there. The first title is new to me; the others are familiar from the SFIFF of this year or Lincoln Center events.




San Francisco, CA -- The Two Escobars (USA 2010), Jeff and Michael Zimbalist's captivating telling of the tragically entwined stories of infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar and star soccer defender Andrés Escobar, opens Friday, August 27 on SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.

Also coming to SFFS Screen

July 30: Alamar Pedro González-Rubio's lovingly made story of the growing bond between a father and son, who are spending a summer together on Mexico's Caribbean coast, demonstrates exquisite poetry and sophisticated craft.

August 6: Making Plans for Lena In Christophe Honoré's latest work a family weekend in the Breton countryside spirals out of control for recent divorcée Lena (Chiara Mastroianni) when her mother invites her ex over without her knowledge in this New Wave-inspired look at a woman on the verge.

August 13: Vengeance Johnnie To's genre-busting gem populated by a hit man turned chef, family men moonlighting as assassins and earnestly official women detectives stars Johnny Hallyday, the iconic French crooner who exudes cool.

August 20: Army of Crime Robert Guédiguian's lush historical drama focuses on a largely overlooked cell of French Resistance fighters-refugees of the antifascist fight throughout Europe, mostly Jews and communists-led by French Armenian poet Missak Manouchian (Simon Abkarian) and his wife Mélinée (Virginie Ledoyen).

September 3: Dogtooth In Yorgos Lanthimos's new drama the matriarch and patriarch of an upper-class Greek family teach their three college-age offspring an alternate language to protect a larger deception.

September 10: Change of Plans Danièle Thompson's light comedy begins as a group of friends and acquaintances gather for dinner, and the atmosphere couldn't be friendlier. Slowly the masks of civility drop and suspicions, jealousies and fears emerge. I have seen all of these but DOGTOOTH and Johnnie To's VENGEANCE. I would like to see them and if I can get over there I'll watch them, but the one-time-only scheduling makes it a bit difficult for me. I think they've already screened ALAMAR post-festival. Unfortunately this is only a trickle compared to the programs continually presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, not to mention the Pacific Film Archive (which however focuses on older films) in Berkeley. This selection seems somewhat random. I like MAKING PLANS FOR LENA and ALAMAR and have heard good things about VENGEANCE and DOGTOOTH, but CHANGE OF PLANS and THE ARMY OF CRIME are not exceptional.

Local screening the new print of Godard's BREATHLESS.

Apropos of my earlier comment in this thread, "The best movie is always an old one," a nice newly restored 1930's cinema near me, the Realto Cerrito, is showing the renewed print of Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 BREATHLESS three times a day for a week or two. I saw it there this week and enjoyed it and found it indeed in a sense has dated little, even though it's quite nostalgic for me to watch it because it shows the Paris I first visited in my youth and the film itself I saw when quite young. I was struck by how beautiful and transparent Jean Seberg was, a person clearly made for the movie camera and possessed of a touching sweet innocence; also by Belmondo's ease and style on screen and how wasp-thin he was in those days. But artistically what struck me this time was the music -- the way themes identify characters and usher sequences in and out, and create a constant rhythm that provides momentum despite the fact that in a sense not all that much is happening. Anyway I'd say this is still a film worth watching and one that young people who haven't seen it ought to make an effort to see, especially in this pristine-looking new print. This was shown in NYC in late May and A.O. Scott wrote a piece (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/movies/23scott.html) in the NY Times about its contemporary relevance. Some local movie schedules incorrectly identify the Rialto Cerrito screening, confusing it with a new and by reports horrible and unpleasant Korean film also called BREATHLESS, but the San Francisco Chronicle acknowledges the revival of the Godard film with a recent brief telephone interview (http://www.sfchron.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/22/NSLP1ECS4K.DTL&type=movies) with Raoul Coutard, the famous cinematographer of the film, by G. Allen Johnson, a Chronicle writer. The newly re-minted Godard BREATHLESS is also showing at the Embarcadero Cinemas in downtown San Francisco.

[oscar jubis]

THE TWO ESCOBARS is produced by sports cable network ESPN. It is part of an excellent series of sports-related documentaries called "30 for 30". I watched it last month. Two others I liked from the series, which deal with subjects I hold dear to my heart, are Billy Corben's The U (about how the U of Miami integrated the city's culture by recruiting local, inner-city kids into the football team and built a sports dynasty during the 80s and 90s) and Run, Ricky, Run, about one of the most unique personalities in the cookie cutter world of professional football.

Do you want me to comment on BREATHLESS here or do we take the discussion to the Breathless thread in the Classic Films section?

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for the background.

By all means put further comments on BREATHLESS on the BREATHLESS thread already established. I was only noting having seen it in connection with my "an old movie is always best" line a couple days ago on this thread, and as another note of films seen this year. I actually had not seen it in a long time, though I have a laser disk of it, and I still have a laser disk player. I notice some good films came out in 1960 and were immediately shown in US theaters, or in NYC anyway. De Sica's TWO WOMEN and Antonioni's L'AVVENTURA are two others. This would already be at your fingertips, but not mine.

The FSLC/Walter Reade series never end and today comes news of "Russellmania" with the director Ken Russell on hand in person every evening.
* The Boy Friend
* The Devils
* Lisztomania
* Mahler
* The Music Lovers
* Savage Messiah
* Tommy
* Valentino
* Women in Love

Russellmania!
July 30 to August 5
Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.

[oscar jubis]

Ken Russell, uh? The "wizard of excess". I saw a lot of his movies at the time of release when they were inappropriate for someone my age. The only two I've dared to watch recently are TOMMY and WOMEN IN LOVE (Glenda Jackson was among the very best actresses of the 60s and 70s). I like these two. Not fair to Russell to comment on the others. There is a strong element of camp in his work. Many find it repellent, perhaps because he marries camp to highbrow subjects, like the lives of famous classical composers. After Lair of the White Worm (1988), he has made only straight-to-video and TV movies. Not a single movie made for theatrical release in 22 years! But he keeps making them. He is 83 now.

[Chris Knipp]

Again thanks for more background. I never liked him; I'm not into camp (one of the ways I'm not a proper gay person). Those two you mention are good though, quite good. I never walk out of a movie I've paid to see but THE DEVILS severely tried that resolve. He has made lost of movies in those 22 years. How can we be sure they aren't as good -- or as bad -- as his previous theatrical releases? I wonder if THE RAINBOW would be good since it's also D.H. Lawrence, and WOMEN IN LOVE was one of his good ones?

[oscar jubis]

THE DEVILS has its fans. I'm with you though. I understand why one would walk out of this movie. Your instincts are probably right regarding THE RAINBOW. You can buy a copy of the DVD at Amazon UK for about $10 including shipping. I probably will buy a copy because it is unlikely to be released in the US.

[Chris Knipp]

I didn't walk out, though. I just wanted to, and came closer than ever before. Of course THE DEVILS has its fans. What doesn't? But seriously, there is an auteurish intensity about Ken Russell's movies that inspires fandom. I wouldn't personally go out and buy a copy of THE RAINBOW in UK format just because it isn't available here and maybe won't ever be; but at one time I was involved enough in the novels of D.H. Lawrence, which I still admire, to do that, and I wonder why I didn't see it in 1989 if it was in theaters here, as IMDb indicates it was; it grossed $444,000. Maybe it was the fact that it didn't come out on video. Unlike now, at that time I watched far more movies on video than in theaters. THE RAINBOW does sound like a must-see if one is interested in film adaptations of famous English novelists.

[oscar jubis]

I perused box office charts at boxofficemojo and found out I've seen a mere FOUR movies in the top 25. Most of what people pay to see does not appeal to me at all. That seems to be the logical conclusion, good or bad. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to watch other movies that apparently interest few. Rosenbaum has written books about how people let the media lead (dictate) them away from certain movies and towards others. Two of the most interesting and enjoyable movies I have seen recently are AGORA and RAAVAN. Their combined box office is just over $1 million nationwide.

AGORA is the new film by Alejandro Amenabar (The Others, The Sea Inside) with Rachel Weisz as a 4th century philosopher and astronomer struggling against the righteous power of the emergent Christians. The recreation of ancient Alexandria and a well-cast Weisz are reason enough to check it out. RAAVAN is an artful, re-imagining of "The Ramayana" by director Mani Ratman (Dil Se, Guru). There are some set pieces in this film that have to be seen to be believed.

[Johann]

I watched ALTERED STATES by Ken Russell last night (he's coming to Toronto to be at the FanExpo at the end of Aug.- I hope to meet him).

I absolutely LOVED Altered States. Brilliant concept and great cinematic imagery is in it. I wish my time wasn't so crimped right now or I'd post a review. (tomorrow? hopefully?)
There were Kubrickian elements in Altered States that should be highlighted. It was made at the same time as Kubrick's The Shining and I think Russell may have been inpsired...maybe not. But it's worth thinking about.
William Hurt is great in his first ever film role.

[oscar jubis]

Triple Oscar-winner Paddy Cheyefsky had his name removed from the credits of ALTERED STATES after he watched the final product. I remember my 19 year-old self loving aspects of it and hating others. My last post got lost at the bottom of last page. It's about AGORA and RAAVAN, two great-looking films lost in the avalanche of Hollywood crap in theaters this summer.

[Chris Knipp]

Oscar Jubis:
Two of the most interesting and enjoyable movies I have seen recently are AGORA and RAAVAN. Their combined box office is just over $1 million nationwide.

AGORA is the new film by Alejandro Amenabar (The Others, The Sea Inside) with Rachel Weisz as a 4th century philosopher and astronomer struggling against the righteous power of the emergent Christians. The recreation of ancient Alexandria and a well-cast Weisz are reason enough to check it out. RAAVAN is an artful, re-imagining of "The Ramayana" by director Mani Ratman (Dil Se, Guru). There are some set pieces in this film that have to be seen to be believed. These new Hindi/Bollywood movies have been shown locally (in the East Bay) this year that I have seen:

3 Idiots (http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1423) (Rajkumar Hirani 2010) R
Khatta Meetha (Priyadarshan 2010) NR
Kites (Anurag Basu 2010) NR
Raavan (Mani Ratnam 2010) NR
Rajneeti (Prakash Jha 2010) NR

Of these, and I think this is by general consent among Indians, only 3 IDIOTS is really an unqualified success and seemed worthy of review. (http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1423) Actually some sequences in RAAVAN are extraordinary but they are not to be believed when they are seen. It is a travesty on the Ramayana. Its attempt to update the classic legend isn't successful. KITES is an attempt at crossover with US sequences and dialogue in Spanish and English. It's terrible, and so is KHATTA MEETHA, a remake of the same director's 1988 film, which purports to be a comedy but is not; the reviews in India are generally unfavorable also. RAJNEETI is about political corruption, as KHATTA MEETHA is about corruption in city government and the construction trade. RAJNEETI is a sort of Hidi GODFATHER. It is confoluted and extremely violent. Parts of it are memorable but it is ultimately incomprehensible and a mess. I recommend 3 IDIOTS to any Bollywood fan or person who wants to try its latest manifestations. I saw only a part of AGORA and it seems interesting, good as Oscar says as a role for the rather earnest Weisz, if a bit stilted. Nice to have a film in theaters that is about ideas.

[oscar jubis]

Thanks for the reply.
I think Raavan is superior to 3 Idiots.
I plan to watch Winter's Bone, Metropolis and Wild Grass this week.
At home: rewatched Broken Blossoms (1919) and The Embalmer (2002, Fassbinder would have been jealous) today. Jarman's Edward II is next (Jarman's best and one of the great "gay films", I remember thinking after a screening in the 90s).

[Chris Knipp]

RAAVAN ought to have been great, but it is not all it should be. The Indians were very disappointed and "skewered" it, according to a Time Magazine article. (http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1999246,00.html). 3 IDIOTS has been generally heralded as one of the best Bollywood comedies of all time, and firmly in a fresh youthful up-to-date genre. I don't know that that is Jarman's "best". Again you lay down the law without justification -- or good reason. It's an interesting piece, and usually ranked with Caravaggio as one of his two best, but not quite successful, rather murky. His Caravaggio is more of a triumph in many areas An interesting, multitalented man. Perhaps his life was his greatest work of art. Which is a renaissance thing. Of course he played a big part in the rise to power of Tilda Swinton, who now reigns supreme in the world of androgynous superstars.

[oscar jubis]

Raavan is not all it should be but I believe what you say about "the general consent among Indians" but I can only go by what my critical faculties produce and that is a firm opinion that Raavan is a film one must see. Manu Ratman revises Bollywood conventions in a modernist, artful manner that cannot please everyone. I understand why 3 Idiots has a deserved large following. But it's Raavan I want to watch again. Just my opinion. Also, I cannot agree with characterizing Edward II as "not quite successful" or "rather murky". I think it is a remarkable film, even more so then Caravaggio. Good points about Jarman's life and Swinton's career.

[Chris Knipp]

http://a.imageshack.us/img28/8820/angelic00cover.jpg

Thanks. Of course, you are entitled to your opinion on RAAVAN; I am simply giving mine, that of my friend whom I watch Hindi films with, and Indian reviewers. Disappointment is my impression of EDWARD II, but as I said, it is ranked with CARAVAGGIO as one of Jarman's two best. I might be wrong on that one and I might take another look since EDWARD II is available to watch online. I like Jarman's Shakespeare sonnets one, THE ANGELIC CONVERSATION. It certainly pushes the gay thing but I didn't mind and I loved hearing good English actors read from Shakespeare's sonnets. I've seen all that's readily available but I'm far from having seen all his work and I'm not sure one could have without having lived in London from the Seventies onward. Certainly an interesting figure especially from the gay point of view. Part of the general artistic ferment and excitement of the Eighties. As young Caravaggio Dexter Fletcher was a voluptuous boy such as maybe only a gay man could have discovered and showcased in such a memorable way. Funny to see him now grown up in a great many roles including gangsterish, tough-guy parts. Along with seeing CARAVAGGIO when it came out for me was the beginning of the gradual realization that the Italian painter was a much greater artist than I had realized. And his reputation has soared generally, which has not hurt the film.

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4876/jarman2.jpg
Dexter Fletcher

[oscar jubis]

Interesting. Thanks. Not so long ago, I found a film site belonging to Jim Clark (http://jclarkmedia.com/film/) who specializes in "GLBT cinema" and includes quite lengthy and insightful reviews of films by Jarman, Pasolini and Fassbinder. In case you are curious, as I was, here's his "Top 10 GLBT Movies":

* Brokeback Mountain & The Wedding Banquet (Ang Lee / 2005 & 1993)
* Edward II (Jarman / 1991)
* Fellini Satyricon (Fellini / 1969)
* Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson / 1994)
* In a Year With 13 Moons (Fassbinder / 1978)
* Maurice (Merchant/Ivory / 1987)
* Mikaël (aka Michael) (Dreyer / 1924)
* My Own Private Idaho (Van Sant / 1991)
* Paris Was A Woman (Schiller / 1995)
* Poison (Haynes / 1991)

[Chris Knipp]

His discussion of EDWARD II the film is quite detailed. I can't comment further now.

[Chris Knipp]

From the website Awards Daily (http://www.awardsdaily.com/2010/06/early-oscar-contenders-for-best-picture/)here are some Oscar nomination guesses. This is just junk really, not highly selective, but again a start. This includes films not yet released. Note absence of GREENBERG. What about THE GHOST WRITER? Kosashvili's ANTON CHEKHOV'S THE DUEL is foreign, but in English, and definitelly one of the finest of the year so far.


Best Picture
Toy Story 3
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
Blue Valentine
Shutter Island
Fair Game
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Another Year (Mike Leigh)
Winter's Bone
Biutiful

Best Actor
Robert Duvall,Get Low
Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception
Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
Michael Douglas, Solitary Man
Leonardo DiCaprio, Shutter Island
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Sean Penn, Fair Game

Best Actress
Annette Bening,The Kids Are All Right
Julianne Moore,The Kids Are All Right
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
Naomi Watts, Fair Game
Lesley Manville, Another Year

Best Supporting Actor
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Jim Broadbent, Another Year

Best Supporting Actress
Marion Cotillard, Inception
Ruth Sheen, Another Year

Best Director
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Doug Liman, Fair Game
Mike Leigh, Another Year
Lisa Cholodenko, The Kid Are All Right
Martin Scorsese, Shutter Island
Debra Granik, Winter's Bone

Upcoming films (also from Awards Daily, (http://www.awardsdaily.com/2010/06/early-oscar-contenders-for-best-picture/) August 2010).

Fair Game (Doug Liman, with Naomi Watts, Sean Penn) About the Valerie Plane outing story
Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance) with Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling; about a failed marriage
The Extra Man (Kevin Kline, Paul Dano), Metacritic 57, but possible nom for Kline?
Eat Pray Love (Ryan Murphy) "Because you just never know. Oprah power. " -- and Julia Roberts power? Aug. 13 relase.
The American (Anton Corbijn) Vintage spy thriller. Corbijn (Control) is an interesting director; this actually looks good "Never underestimate the power of George Clooney." Release Sept.
The Social Network (David Finche). The Facebook story.
Release Oct. 1, I have high hopes. NYFF opener, Sept;
Secretariat (Randall Wallace) Diane Lane, John Malkovitch. Unlikely.
Hereafter (Clint Eastwood; writer Peter Morgan) Matt Damon, Cecile de France, Bryce Dallas Howard. Oct. 22. "A supernatural thriller." Never underestimate Clint.
(Roger Mitchell) Harrison Ford and Rachel MacAdams with Diane Keaton – the news business. (November 12)
Love and Other Drugs (Edward Zwick), Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway. About the pharmaceutical business and a girlfriend with Parkinson's.
Next Three Days (Paul Haggis). Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks. Legal procedural.
The King’s Speech (Tom Hooiper) Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter . About problems of the new king when Edward abdicated to marry Ms. Simpson.
The Fighter "The eagerly anticipated David O. Russell film starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale." (November 26) Lots of trouble getting this one out. Russell is always one to watch.
Tree of Life (Terrence Malick) Brad Pitt. November release. Filmed in Smithville, Texas in 2008. Mystery surrounds this. To be unveiled at the Toronto Festival.
Somewhere (Sofia Coppola) "SC in familiar territory with a young daughter relating to her older father as they try to eke out a normal life at the Chateau Marmont." Dec. 22 release.
True Grit (Coen brothers) Jeff Bridges. Remake. Dec. 25 release. The Coens have done will with Bridges. before.

My comments except where they are in quotes, which are from Awards Daily. I have omitted some.

[Chris Knipp]

From the website Awards Daily (http://www.awardsdaily.com/2010/06/early-oscar-contenders-for-best-picture/)here are some Oscar nomination guesses. This is just junk really, not highly selective, but again a start. This includes films not yet released. Note absence of GREENBERG. Mostly just American films.


Best Picture
Toy Story 3
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
Blue Valentine [see below for details]
Shutter Island
Fair Game [see below]
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Another Year (Mike Leigh)
Winter's Bone
Biutiful (Alejandro González Iñárritu) with Javier Bardem. Debuted at Cannes, and Bardem got the Best Actor award for it there.

Best Actor
Robert Duvall,Get Low
Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception
Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
Michael Douglas, Solitary Man
Leonardo DiCaprio, Shutter Island
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Sean Penn, Fair Game

Best Actress
Annette Bening,The Kids Are All Right
Julianne Moore,The Kids Are All Right
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
Naomi Watts, Fair Game
Lesley Manville, Another Year

Best Supporting Actor
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Jim Broadbent, Another Year

Best Supporting Actress
Marion Cotillard, Inception
Ruth Sheen, Another Year

Best Director
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Doug Liman, Fair Game
Mike Leigh, Another Year
Lisa Cholodenko, The Kid Are All Right
Martin Scorsese, Shutter Island
Debra Granik, Winter's Bone

Upcoming or new films (also from Awards Daily, (http://www.awardsdaily.com/2010/06/early-oscar-contenders-for-best-picture/) August 2010).

Fair Game (Doug Liman, with Naomi Watts, Sean Penn) About the Valerie Plane outing story. Nov 5 limited release.

Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance) with Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling; about a failed marriage. Dec. 31 release.

The Extra Man (Kevin Kline, Paul Dano), Metacritic 57, but possible nom for Kline? Already released.

Eat Pray Love (Ryan Murphy) "Because you just never know. Oprah power. " -- and Julia Roberts power? Aug. 13 relase.

The American (Anton Corbijn) Vintage spy thriller. Corbijn (Control) is an interesting director; this actually looks good "Never underestimate the power of George Clooney." Release Sept. (14?)

The Social Network (David Finche). The Facebook story. I have high hopes. NYFF opener, Sept. Release Oct. 1,

Secretariat (Randall Wallace) Diane Lane, John Malkovitch. Unlikely to win anything? Oct. 8 release date.

Hereafter (Clint Eastwood; writer Peter Morgan) Matt Damon, Cecile de France, Bryce Dallas Howard. Oct. 22. "A supernatural thriller." Never underestimate Clint. Oct. 26 release date.

Morning Glory (Roger Mitchell) Harrison Ford and Rachel MacAdams with Diane Keaton – the news business. (November 12) Unlikely.

Love and Other Drugs (Edward Zwick), Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway. About the pharmaceutical business and a girlfriend with Parkinson's. Weeper appeal? Nov. 24 release date.

Next Three Days (Paul Haggis wrote and directed). Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks. Legal procedural. Nov. 19 release date.

The King’s Speech (Tom Hooiper) Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter . About speech therapy for the new king when Edward abdicated to marry Ms. Simpson. Little, Briish. From a stage play. Nice acting? Weinstein. Release, Nov.?

The Fighter "The eagerly anticipated David O. Russell film starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale." Lots of trouble getting this one out. Russell is always one to watch. Nov. 26 release.

Tree of Life (Terrence Malick) Brad Pitt. November release. Filmed in Smithville, Texas in 2008. Mystery surrounds this. To be unveiled at the Toronto Festival. Nov. release?

Somewhere (Sofia Coppola) "SC in familiar territory with a young daughter relating to her older father as they try to eke out a normal life at the Chateau Marmont." Dec. 22 release.

True Grit (Coen brothers) Jeff Bridges. Remake. The Coens have done will with Bridges. before. Dec. 25 release. Merry Christmas!

My comments except where they are in quotes, which are from Awards Daily. I have omitted some.

Let me add:

Animal Kingdom (David Michôd). Described as an Australian 'Goodfellas.' Metacritic 82. Aug. 13 limited US release.

The Town (Ben Affleck) Ben Affleck, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall. A thief has second thoughts about a heist plan. Set in Boston. Sep. 10 release dae.

[oscar jubis]

It's gon' be fun, man. Thanks.

Lodge Kerrigan is one of my favorite American auteurs. I imagine the reason he has only released two movies (Claire Dolan, Keane) since his groundbreaking debut Clean, Shaven (1993) is his interest in fringe characters and his formal experimentation. I always look forward to his movies with excitement. His new film Rebecca H, about an actress shooting a film in which she plays Grace Slick circa 1967, premiered at Cannes '10. Regrettably, it has no distributor. It's possible Kerrigan has released a film too avant garde to play anywhere except museums that foreground moving-image art, like MOMA. There are a number of filmmakers around the country who are just a little too far from the mainstream to have their films shown theatrically. Nina Menkes is my favorite. Kerrigan seems to be edging in that direction if the Variety review of his Rebecca H is to be trusted.

[Chris Knipp]

Our discussion of KEANE on Filmleaf four years ago can be found here. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1716-Lodge-Kerrigan-s-KEANE)

I gather you would not have been able yet to see Lodge Kerrigan's new one REBECCA H, which debuted at Cannes, l (Un Certain Regard), May 20, 2010.
Kerrigan seems to be edging in that direction if the Variety review of his Rebecca H is to be trusted. I assume you mean "that direction" is the direction of being shown only at museums. KEANE was shown theatrically in NYC and I remember reading reviews of it while there but i missed it then and caught it later on a DVD. The Variety review (http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117942844.html?categoryid=31&cs=1) you refer to by Rob Nelson calls REBECCA H. (RETURN TO THE DOGS) "meticulously dizzying," and concludes the lead paragraph "While it reprises vintage documentary scenes of Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick onstage in 1967 and thus could be said to have a commercial hook, the experimental pic sends even game cineastes down the rabbit hole. Go ask Alice." REECCA H. is set mostly in Paris and features the French film veteran Pascal Greggory, who was in a film we once discussed somewhere, Jacques Doillon's RAJA, (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2756-The-Best-French-Language-Films-of-the-Decade-2000-2009) and many others I've lked, such as GABRIELLE, CONFUSION OF GENDERS. I most recently saw him in Doilon's latest in Paris in April (2010), MARRIAGE À TROIS, the day it opened. Kerrigan's switching to a French setting interests me, despite how off-putting the new film typically sounds.

[oscar jubis]

Thanks for the links, Chris.
Yes, that is what I meant by "that direction", the specialized circuit of places like the Wexner Center in Columbus, OH and other modern art museums with screening rooms. I am convinced it will eventually made available for easy downloading if it there is no better alternative. I see that we discussed Kerrigan before. We've been at this for quite some time, uh?
I like Pascal Greggory too.

[Chris Knipp]

Indeed.

Until recently I hadn't realized Jacques Doillon is rather prolific and well known in France. Some of his films are about kids, but the new one I saw in April, Marriage à trois, is totally different, a sophisticated, talky film like a stage play. So I don't have much of a grasp of who he is (both French and US Wikipedia have only stubs on him) but Ponette remains his best known.

[oscar jubis]

Doillon blames his fringe status on his failing to graduate from high school. I think he means he was outside certain social circles by virtue of class and level of education. He is a kind of self-made director who is on the outside of France's mainstream film industry. Most of his films have only had limited distribution in France and they seldom feature actors of significant fame (his latest appears to be an exception). From my readings: there is a consensus that his main theme is familial discord, from a youth's perspective. I don't know his work to be able to comment. I have only seen Petit Freres, ponette, and Raja (and maybe The 15 year-old Girl, but not sure). I definitely want to see more.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks. I'm not sure I'd put too much store by the idea that Doillon is somehow outside the mainstream. France is a little country kind to minor filmmakers. Doillon is of was married to Jane Birkin, a national figure, the famous wife of Serge Gainsbourg, and he is a professor at the prestigious film school Le Fémis, and you can't get much more insider than that. However, his new film was shown at MK2 Beaubourg, which is one of MK2's film buff venues in Paris like MK2 Hautfeuille, rather than one of the big ones like MK2 Monparnasse or MK2 Nation or St. Germain. But there was a big article about the new film in Le Monde.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks. I'm not sure however that I'd put too much store by the idea that Doillon is somehow outside the mainstream. France is a little country kind to minor filmmakers. Doillon is the son of Jane Birkin, a national figure, the famous wife of Serge Gainsbourg, and he is a professor at the prestigious film school Le Fémis, and you can't get much more insider than that. However, his new film was shown at MK2 Beaubourg, which is one of MK2's film buff venues in Paris like MK2 Hautfeuille, rather than one of the big ones like MK2 Monparnasse or MK2 Nation or St. Germain. But there was a big article about the new film in Le Monde. Besides "familial discord, from a youth's perspective," he has done various films about adult love relationships. I have found a one-page discussion (http://www.cinemapassion.com/filmographie-realisateur-Jacques-DOILLON-895.html) of him on a French film buff website, CinemaPassion. He must have finished high school since he was a philosophy student at the university but he "dropped out to enter the work force." Shortly thereafter he made a stream of films to order for government agencies. He is good, they say, as we might guess, at directing teenagers, but women are another of his big subjects. Far from only directing unknowns he has worked with Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, Béatrice Dalle, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin, Melvil Poupaud, Yvan Attal (Charlotte's husband)l, Jean-Louis Trintignant and André Dussollier, Sandrine Bonnaire, Michel Piccoli, Sabine Azéma, and Agnes Jaoui, besides recently Louis Garrel, Pascal Greggory and Julie Depardieu. Apparently his first big success was The Year 01 in 1973, which starred Gérard Depardieu, Thierry Lhermitte, and Patrice Leconte. I think he is significant, highly regarded, and hard to classify. But there is not enough information about him in either the English or French Wikipedias.

[oscar jubis]

Doillon has not had the same exposure in France and here as other directors of comparable talent who emerged around the same time. I don't know why. In his Petit Freres review, The Chicago Reader's Fred Camper quotes Doillon as saying:"Because I failed high school, I have always been on the fringe". He was almost an unknown to the average film buff (like me) until Ponette. Of course, he was better known in France than abroad. But he had a status similar to Luc Moullet, who was at Cahiers in the 50s, started a career in filmmaking in the 60s but even folks who love the Nouevelle Vague have not seen his films. Obviously you proved Doillon's relative marginality is not related to the actors starring in his films.

[Chris Knipp]

Doillon has not had the same exposure in France and here as other directors of comparable talent who emerged around the same time. That is probably true, though of course "of comparable talent" is a rating open to different interpretations. I've proved Doillon's relative marginality is less marginal, because using a lot of famous actors shows Doillon is fully a member of the French filmmaking community. In what sense then is he marginal? Only in not being seen by a majority of French moviegoers. But that goes for many of the most importand French directors. Mollet, who is seven years older and was on the fringes of the Nouvelle Vague, seems more of a cult figure and a man who has by choice and sensibility worked more on is own.

For details of a French director's life, like Doillon's educational history, The Chicago Reader may not be the best source of information. If Doillon dropped out of high school, as I say he evidently survived to drop out of university later on too, and whether that choice adversely affected his ability to make films seems uncertain. His being on the faculty of Le Fémis again shows him to be a member of the French cinema elite, and in a country where the filmmaking process works differently than in the US, "mainstream" status would mean something different, and perhaps is less important.

But we can agree we need to know more about Doillon. Both directors are quite well known in France at least to people who care about film, and in France that's a relatively large slice of the population. Maybe some day we will be able to sample or watch all the films by all the known directors of the major filmmaking countries. Wouldn't that be nice? Meanwhile, a lot of French films by important directors remain accessible only if you go to Europe or order expensive DVDs not in the US region code and wade through them without subtitles in many cases.

[oscar jubis]

There have been occasional, less than comprehensive Doillon retrospectives in the US. Here's a link the latest one: http://www.fiaf.org/french%20film/winter2009/2009-02-ct-doillon.shtml

"We had the misfortune to come after the New Wave, Because of the New Wave, we remained marginal."
Jacques Doillon

Here's a brief interview on the ocassion of the retrospective: The New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2009/03/notes-on-a-disc.html)

[Chris Knipp]

I wish you'd linked to the Richard Brody piece (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2009/03/notes-on-a-disc.html)in the first place. I don't know why I missed it. So now we know that he declares to have been marginalized (though if that applies to any French director after the New Wave, it doesn't make much sense), and that he has had a hard time getting his films made, with great limitations, but within those, considerable freedom, but now, the TV producers rule, and he finds much less freedom.
And so, between the Advance and Canal Plus, we were able to get some money. Say, 400,000 francs. And, with not enough money to make a film, we made a film.

A certain kind of film, with two or three characters, a small crew. We were very limited. But within these limits, we had remarkable freedom.

Today the system has become an obstacle. Now we’re isolated in a way that we weren’t in the eighties.

It’s a little desperate. In the eighties I made ten films. Despite everything. It wasn’t comfortable, it wasn’t easy, I had to fight. Now the bosses are television, and they all want to make what will work in prime time.
However, we have seen some nice films made in France in recent years for television. Or at least I think so.

[oscar jubis]

I posted the link to Brody piece as soon as I found it. The mammoth sensesofcinema site doesn't have anything on him, which speaks of a certain marginality, at least in the English-language world. The text most widely used to teach French Cinema at American universities, Alan Williams' Republic of Images (Harvard U Press,1992) mentions Doillon in one short paragraph as a "specialist in intimate family dramas" often shown primarily on specialized TV channels. Williams praises him for his "consistent refusal to sensationalize his material".

[Chris Knipp]

As I said neither the US nor the French Wiképedia have much; their articles on Doillon are stubs. There is an English Facebook page being set up on him but it is sketchy so far. There are pages on him in French. Here is another at Ciné-Club here. (http://www.cineclubdecaen.com/realisat/doillon/doillon.htm) Note that they list three interrelated areas his films focus on: "the drama of childhood, the drama of adolescenes, and the drama of sentiment." And the sentimental dramas are the most numerous. Here's the whole passage (NB: very roughly translated) surveying Doillon's work and method, in case it may be of some interest:
In the sentimental drama, the most numerous category, jealousy and manipulation of feelings dominate. This is true among couples married to adulterers: THE WEEPING WOMAN (1979), THE PIRATE (1984), THE TEMPTATION OF ISABELLE (1985), COMEDY (1987), THE REVENGE OF A WOMAN (1990), A MAN OVERBOARD (1993), FROM THE HEART (1994), TOO (LITTLE) LOVE (1997). This is also true for romantic relationships at school, whether undertaken by young peolle -- THE LOVE (187), LOVE (1992), DOWNRIGHT WEST (2001), RAJA (2003), or the relationship of someone older -- MONSIEUR ABEL (1983). Chamber dramas set in hotel rooms are the major device of this genre in Doillon's work.

The dramas of adolescents can be distinguished from the sentimental dramas by the fact that the love relationship is at the same time an initiation and a break with the past. In HANDS IN THE HEAD (1974), THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER (1981), THE PURITAN (1986), THE GIRL OF FIFTEEN (1989) that often comes through a difficult relationship with the father. In YOUNG WERTHER (1993) and THE FIRST MAN (2007) all figures of authority have disappeared.

In Jacques Doillon's dramas of childhood the family has often disappeared, dispersed by war in A BAG OF MARBLES (1975), or death in THE TREE (1982), PONETTE (1996), or social hardships in: THE HUSSY (1979), FAMIILY LOFE (1985), MANGUI (1985), THE LITTLE CRIMINAL (1990) OR LITTLE BROTHERS (1999).

In all three genres dialogue abounds because it is a true means of expression favored by the camera and the concentration of effort into a short period of time. FOR A A YES OR A NO is a confrontation in one scene, with a text by Nathalie Sarraute, André Dusollier and Jean-Louis Trinntignant, which comes across as exemplary of Doillon's "method" as it is illustrated, with greater or lesser variations, in all his films.

Dialogue does not explain the comportment of characters. It sometimes moves the action forward, but not the evolution of the characters. As in a cinema of behavior, it is through studying the characters' behavior that one learns about them. The behavior is not reaslitic….The characters do not talk face to face. Thus in THE LITTLE CRIMINAL his hand is on the wrist of Nathalie's mother, with downcast eyes.

The filmmaker finds out this truth himself cutting his films in sequences of long takes that force his actors -- professional or not, children or adults -- to repeat their performances over multiple takes, to the point of fatigue:

"Emotionally a first take is less interesting than a twelfth! Fatigue makes the guard drop away. I cannot work with an actor who is too guarded." (Positif, April 1998)

This shooting method that often requires 20 or 30 takes but in which only two or three are developed is actually inexpensive. Involving a fixed head-on camera position close to the characters, it's a method that thus comes close to a state of theatrical or psychological confinement.. . .

[oscar jubis]

Thanks, Chris. This is very helpful.

I found the Variety Review of Le Mariage a Trois (http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117942735.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&nid=2562&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+variety%2Fheadlines+%28Variet y+-+Latest+News%29), which is unfavorable and likely to scare away potential US distributors. Any comments?

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks. I hope it is useful. I had not seen the Variety review of the new MARRIAGE A' TROIS. Since it's only two paragraphs I'll quote the main one.
Vet cineaste Jacques Doillon's films ("Raja," "Ponette") have occasionally featured bizarre love triangles and sexual tensions, but his oeuvre reaches new heights of faux-kinky gobbledygook in the low-budget chamber piece "The Three-Way Wedding." With a pitch that could have provoked untold laughter in the hands of a Larry David, pic somberly reveals the ego-tripping, backstabbing and, well, butt-slapping that occurs when two thesps spend a day at the country home of a misanthropic playwright. What ensues is far from enjoyable, and adequate perfs won't carry Doillon's pretentious banter further than French ears. In truth I did not enjoy it. I was disappointed there wasn't more of Louis Garrel but there's even less of him than in MAKING PLANS FOR LENA (Honoré), which I do like. But the cast and the description made it seem obviously the "cinéma d'auteur" opening of the week, so I made an effort to go on my last day in Paris. I wanted to learn, and I still do, and a friend had said Doillon was important. And he still may be. Maybe as Jordan Mintzer of Variety says the "semi-realistic [sic] adolescent characters" are what make the filmmaker's work attractive and without them, we just have some well known actors talking. However, I don't entirely trust Mintzer, and did not feel I entirely caught the tone of this verbose flick. It did have Ibsenesque qualities...

[Chris Knipp]

The "Word a Day" mailings today chose this:

auteur

PRONUNCIATION:
(O-tuhr) (http://wordsmith.org/words/auteur.mp3)

MEANING:
noun: A filmmaker, such as a director, who has a distinct personal style and is involved in all aspects of movie-making, giving a film the unique imprint of the filmmaker.

ETYMOLOGY:
From French auteur (originator or author), from Latin auctor (originator), from augere (to originate, to increase). Some other words derived from the same root are auction, author, and inaugurate, and augment.

USAGE:
"Ang Lee, a Taiwanese director who'd been working as a kind of auteur-for-hire on the US indie circuit for several years suddenly found himself poised to become the next Kurosawa, but -- sad to say -- he blew it off to 'go Hollywood' and make the most regressive career move possible, a comic-book flick."
Giovanni Fazio; Heros at Large; The Japan Times (Tokyo); Aug 13, 2003.

"If we can discern anything from interviews with auteur Mel Gibson, however, The Passion looms as possibly one of the most presumptuous, intelligence-insulting biblical adaptations since The Ten Commandments, a film that managed to depict the exodus of the Jews without ever once referring to them as 'Jews'."
Lynn Coady; The Dolorous Passion of Mad Max; Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Aug 19, 2003.

Explore "auteur" in the Visual (http://www.visualthesaurus.com/landing/?ad=awad&utm_medium=default&utm_campaign=VT&utm_source=awad&w1=auteur)Thesaurus.

Personally I eschew the recommended pronunciation of "oh-TOUR" and say it the French way, "oh-TERR." With a hint of a French R of course. I can't help myself.

[oscar jubis]

Thanks for your auteur post and your comments about Doillon's latest. Perhaps it's better to search for his older titles. I wrote some comments about GREENBERG to which you replied. I have yet to write anything about WILD GRASS, which I watched on Sunday.

For me, it's clearly one of my favorite movies of 2010. Perhaps my favorite even though it had less emotional impact on me than GREENBERG. I simply had a smile from ear to ear watching this delicious movie-movie. I just can't get over how a Master approaching 90 years of age keeps experimenting with the medium rather than attempting to repeat old successes. WILD GRASS may well be Resnais' most surrealist and playful film even though it is not his best. I love Dussolier and Azema together. I love their neurotic and erotic mania and how it contrasts with the passive enabling of the sedate secondary characters. This is so much fun to watch. I love the fake ending which uses the Warner Brothers fanfare, the non-sequitur real ending, the scene-within-a-scene device, the occasional use of an unreliable narrator,...I could keep going. I hope I find the time to rewatch it before it leaves town.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks. Don't know; any of Doillon's films from any period might be of interest.

Howard started a WILD GRASS thread here. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2880-Wild-Grass) I saw it in the NYFF 2009 (you commented that the slate included many of your favorite directors) and reviewed it here. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2644-New-York-Film-Festival-2009&postid=22939#post22939) He gave it a B+ but later commented, "Not the kind of film that really clicks with me though I can admire the artistry. ."

My NYFF 2009 review from last year ends:
The result is far more conventional than those Sixties films, and on the glossy and mainstream side, veering between farce and melodrama. Wild Grass is full of assurance, and engages from the start. It may disappoint viewers in search of something more profound, more meditative, or funnier, but it's still a work of considerable accomplishment and doubtless may reward repeat viewings by devotees.

So there you are. You should see it again and I planned to do so, but I fear it vanished from the Bay Area before I got a chance .

Nyff 2009 comments thread. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2633-Nyff-2009&p=24953#post24953)

[Chris Knipp]

New addition to the year's best list: the Australian David Michôd's debut story of a brutal coming of age amid a criminal family's violent meltdown: ANIMAL KINGDOM. It turned out to be much more subtle, contemporary, and suspenseful than the trailer suggested. Tense from the first few minutes. Review will follow shortly. (August 21, 2010.)

[Chris Knipp]

(August 21, 2010.)

Strong new addition to my year's best list: the Australian David Michôd's ANIMAL KINGDOM. This directorial debut is the story of a brutal coming of age amid a criminal family's meltdown. It also turned out to be much more subtle, contemporary, and suspenseful than the trailer suggested. Tense from the first few minutes and extremely well acted. A review will follow shortly but you can see in general the response is good -- Metacritic 83.

[oscar jubis]

It is interesting that you list five French films among your favorites and none of them is one of my three favorites: Wild Grass, Let it Rain, and Lourdes. I post because I don't think you intended to leave out Let it Rain.

[Chris Knipp]

Of course anything really good has to be listed among the "Best of 2010," but I think I'm looking for exciting new work. THE FATHER OF MY CHILDREN is a great film by a fine, very young director Mia Hansen-Love (29). Honoré (39) and Audiard (57) for me are two of the best "younger" French directors, who keep getting better, as does Hansen-Love. I'll think about LET IT RAIN. However, for me it's old news in two ways. The Bakri-Jaoui genre is charming but very familiar, plus this is something I reviewed (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2339-New-York-Film-Festival-2008&postid=20755#post20755) in 2008. Since I may already have plenty of French entries on my 2010 best lists, I don't have to include LET IT RAIN. I will keep it in mind, though. I'm sure I will delete some of my current items. But not the French ones.

[Chris Knipp]

Seem to have forgotten to add Solondz's LIFE DURING WARTIME, seen and reviewed (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2884-LIFE-DURING-WARTIME-%28Todd-Solondz-2010%29) by me originally as part of the 2009 New York Film Festival, to my Best Movies of 2010 -- so far list. It opened in theaters and got reviews July 23. Here are a couple of critics' comments culled from Metacritic:

Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly
83

In a staring contest with his audience, Solondz never blinks. He picks and picks at the themes that consume him, and he doesn't care who stays and who leaves. Me, I'm rapt.


Todd McCarthy Variety
80


In revisiting his darkly comic 1998 ensembler "Happiness," Todd Solondz may have made his best film with Life During Wartime.

Anthony Lane The New Yorker


For anyone who finds the films of Todd Solondz, like “Happiness” and “Welcome to the Dollhouse,” too acidic on the tongue, his new work, “Life During Wartime,” is to be recommended. Not that it’s an antidote; Solondz will never be meek and mild, and there are spasms of shame and awkwardness here that will make even devoted viewers wince as sharply as ever. But the movie, his best to date. . .

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2010/08/09/100809crci_cinema_lane?currentPage=all#ixzz0xpuyEd x6


Watch for the DVD.

[Chris Knipp]

I'm updating my list and enthusiastically adding THE SOCIAL NETWORK to my Best English Language list and I've separated for English language films from ones in other languages released in the US this year. This is fro the NYFF; of course I'll be making up my Best of the NYFF in a couple weeks when I've seen them all, by Oct 8th.

MY LIST OF BEST FILMS OF 2010 -- SO FAR, Sept. 24, 2010

FOREIGN FILMS
-Ajami (Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani 2009) DVD
-Alamar (Pedro Gonzalez Rubio 2010) DVD
-Eyes Wide Open (Haim Tabakman 2009) First Run Features reportedly will release a DVD
-Father of My Children, The (Le père de mes enfants, Mia Hansen-Løve 2009) DVD
-I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino 2009) finishing in theaters
-Mademoiselle Chambon (Stéphane Brizé 2009)
-Making Plans for Léna (Non, ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser, Christophe Honoré 2009)
-Prophet, A (Un prophète, Jacques Audiard 2009) DVD
-Terribly Happy (Henrik Ruben Genz 2010) DVD
-Welcome (Philippe Lioret 2009) DVD

FILMS IN ENGLISH
-Animal Kingdom (David Michôd 2010), in theaters Aug. 14, 21 ff.
-Anton Chekhov's The Duel (Dover Kosashvili 2009) in theaters
-Daddy Longlegs (Josh and Benny Safdie 2009) VOD
-Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy 2010) in theaters
-Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozner, Peter Raymont 2010) in theaters
-Ghost Writer, The (Roman Polanski 2010) DVD release August 3, 2010
-Greenberg (Noah Baumbach 2010) DVD release July 13, 2010
-Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (Tamra Davis 2010) in theaters August 2010
-Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold 2009) DVD coming
-Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz 2010) in theaters, DVD coming
-Social Network, The (David Fincher 2010) release coming Oct. 1, 2020
-Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman, David Levien 2010) DVD
-Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich 2010) DVD
-Winter's Bone (Debra Granik 2010) in theaters

[Chris Knipp]

The hot end-of-year American releases are upon us and I've recently seen

The King's Speech
Black Swan
Blue Valentine
The Company Men

Coming: Joel and Ethan Coen's True Grit, Russell's The Fighter, and more

Here's my original list entered Sept. 19:

-Ajami (Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani 2009) DVD
-Alamar (Pedro Gonzalez Rubio 2010) DVD, some theaters*
-Animal Kingdom (David Michôd 2010), in theaters Aug. 14, 21 ff.
-Anton Chekhov's The Duel (Dover Kosashvili 2009) in theaters
-Daddy Longlegs (Josh and Benny Safdie 2009) VOD
-Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy 2010) in theaters
-Eyes Wide Open (Haim Tabakman 2009) First Run Features reportedly will release a DVD
-Father of My Children, The (Le père de mes enfants, Mia Hansen-Løve 2009) DVD
-Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold 2009) DVD coming
-Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozner, Peter Raymont 2010) in theaters
-Ghost Writer, The (Roman Polanski 2010) DVD release August 3, 2010
-Greenberg (Noah Baumbach 2010) DVD release July 13, 2010
-I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino 2009) finishing in theaters
-Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (Tamra Davis 2010) in theaters August 2010
-Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz 2010) DVD coming
-Mademoiselle Chambon (Stéphane Brizé 2009)
-Making Plans for Léna (Non, ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser, Christophe Honoré 2009)
-Prophet, A (Un prophète, Jacques Audiard 2009) DVD
-Social Network, The (David Fincher 2010) release coming Oct. 1, 2020
-Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman, David Levien 2010) DVD release September 7, 2010
-Terribly Happy (Henrik Ruben Genz 2010) DVD release July 13, 2010
-Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich 2010) in theaters
-Welcome (Philippe Lioret 2009) DVD release August 1, 2010
-Winter's Bone (Debra Granik 2010) in theaters

Here are some titles coming up on year-end lists that won't go in my top lists:

Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky 2010)
Inception (Christopher Nolan 2010)
Kids Are Alright, The (Lisa Cholodenko 2010)
Lourdes (Jessica Hausner 2009)
Marwencol (Jeff Malmberg 2010)
Please Give (Nicole Holofcener 2010)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright 2010)
Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese 2010)
Wild Grass (Alain Resnais 20

I see Bruno Dumont's Hadewijch and Benjamin Heisenberg's The Robber listed. If that means they are considered 2010 US releases, I might add them because I like both.

No top tens till I've seen all I can of the 2010 US releases.

[Chris Knipp]

The hot end-of-year American releases are upon us and I've recently seen

The King's Speech
Black Swan
Blue Valentine
Rabbit Hole
The Company Men

Coming: Joel and Ethan Coen's True Grit, Russell's The Fighter, and more

Here's my original list entered Sept. 19:

-Ajami (Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani 2009) DVD
-Alamar (Pedro Gonzalez Rubio 2010) DVD, some theaters*
-Animal Kingdom (David Michôd 2010), in theaters Aug. 14, 21 ff.
-Anton Chekhov's The Duel (Dover Kosashvili 2009) in theaters
-Daddy Longlegs (Josh and Benny Safdie 2009) VOD
-Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy 2010) in theaters
-Eyes Wide Open (Haim Tabakman 2009) First Run Features reportedly will release a DVD
-Father of My Children, The (Le père de mes enfants, Mia Hansen-Løve 2009) DVD
-Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold 2009) DVD coming
-Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozner, Peter Raymont 2010) in theaters
-Ghost Writer, The (Roman Polanski 2010) DVD release August 3, 2010
-Greenberg (Noah Baumbach 2010) DVD release July 13, 2010
-I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino 2009) finishing in theaters
-Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (Tamra Davis 2010) in theaters August 2010
-Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz 2010) DVD coming
-Mademoiselle Chambon (Stéphane Brizé 2009)
-Making Plans for Léna (Non, ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser, Christophe Honoré 2009)
-Prophet, A (Un prophète, Jacques Audiard 2009) DVD
-Social Network, The (David Fincher 2010) release coming Oct. 1, 2020
-Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman, David Levien 2010) DVD release September 7, 2010
-Terribly Happy (Henrik Ruben Genz 2010) DVD release July 13, 2010
-Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich 2010) in theaters
-Welcome (Philippe Lioret 2009) DVD release August 1, 2010
-Winter's Bone (Debra Granik 2010) in theaters

Here are some titles coming up on year-end lists that won't go in my top lists:

Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky 2010)
Inception (Christopher Nolan 2010)
Kids Are Alright, The (Lisa Cholodenko 2010)
Lourdes (Jessica Hausner 2009)
Marwencol (Jeff Malmberg 2010)
Please Give (Nicole Holofcener 2010)
Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese 2010)
Wild Grass (Alain Resnais 20

I see Bruno Dumont's Hadewijch and Benjamin Heisenberg's The Robber listed. If that means they are considered 2010 US releases, I might add them because I like both.

No top tens till I've seen all I can of the 2010 US releases.

[Chris Knipp]

FILM COMMENT ANNOUNCES ITS BEST LISTS FOR 2010

Here come the Film Comment lists from the Film Society of Lincoln Center where I report on the NYFF, the Rendez-Vous, and New Directors/New Films. They were announced today (Dec. 17, 2010). It's a compilation of votes from the magazine's staff and contributors and various others adding up to a total of 100, of whom only a dozen or so were named. Most of the unreleased films are NYFF selections this year and the top released choices had Film Comment articles and features. In other words, no surprises, though I find many of the rankings very surprising. Not the top ones, though I still do not think White Material is Claire Denis' best work, though I love her films, in general. Given the source, I've seen most of the films listed, for once. There are only half a dozen I have not seen, not counting a couple new or coming releases I'm about to see (True Grit, I Love You Philip Morris), and these titles bring back a lot of good 2010 movie-viewing memories.

This list announcement on the FSLC website is here. (http://www.filmlinc.com/b/?p=3529)

I notice a movie listed in the top ten by some, Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, isn't mentioned. I might comment more on these lists later when I make my lists or see other lists.

THE COMPLETE FILM COMMENT 2010 BEST-OF FILMS LISTS

RELEASED 2010 [in the US]

1. Carlos Director: Olivier Assayas
2. The Social Network Director: David Fincher
3. White Material Director: Claire Denis
4. The Ghost Writer Director: Roman Polanski
5. A Prophet Director: Jacques Audiard
6. Winter's Bone Director: Debra Granik
7. Inside Job Director: Charles Ferguson
8. Wild Grass Director: Alain Resnais
9. Everyone Else Director: Maren Ade
10. Greenberg Director: Noah Baumbach

Rankings #11 - #20
11. Mother Director: Bong Joon-ho
12. Toy Story 3 Director: Lee Unkrich
13. Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl Director: Manoel de Oliveira
14. Another Year Director: Mike Leigh
15. The Strange Case of Angelica Director: Manoel de Oliveira
16. The Kids Are All Right Director: Lisa Cholodenko
17. Shutter Island Director: Martin Scorsese
18. Around a Small Mountain Director: Jacques Rivette
19. Our Beloved Month of August Director: Miguel Gomes
20. Ne change rien Director: Pedro Costa

Rankings #21 - #30
21. Dogtooth Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
22. I Am Love Director: Luca Guadagnino
23. Sweetgrass Director: Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Ilisa Barbash
24. Black Swan Director: Darren Aronofsky
25. The Father of My Children Director: Mia Hansen-Løve
26. Boxing Gym Director: Frederick Wiseman
27. Secret Sunshine Director: Lee Chang-dong
28. Bluebeard Director: Catherine Breillat
29. Enter the Void Director: Gaspar Noé
30. Inception Director: Christopher Nolan

Rankings #31 - #40
31. Alamar Director: Pedro González-Rubio
32. The Oath Director: Laura Poitras
33. Exit Through the Gift Shop Director: Banksy
34. World on a Wire Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
35. Animal Kingdom Director: David Michôd
36. Vincere Director: Marco Bellocchio
37. Daddy Longlegs Directors: Ben & Joshua Safdie
38. Lourdes Director: Jessica Hausner
39. Life During Wartime Director: Todd Solondz
40. Fish Tank Director: Andrea Arnold

Rankings #41 - #50
41. Please Give Director: Nicole Holofcener
42. True Grit Directors: Joel & Ethan Coen
43. Lebanon Director: Samuel Maoz
44. The King's Speech Director: Tom Hooper
45. I Love You Phillip Morris Directors: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
46. Last Train Home Director: Lixin Fan
47. Blue Valentine Director: Derek Cianfrance
48. Hadewijch Director: Bruno Dumont
49. The Anchorage Directors: Anders Edström & C.W. Winter
50. Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno Directors: Serge Bromberg & Ruxandra Medrea


UNRELEASED 2010

1. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2. Film Socialisme Director:Jean-Luc Godard
3. Poetry Director:Lee Chang-dong
4. Meek's Cutoff Director:Kelly Reichardt
5. Aurora Director:Cristi Puiu
6. Mysteries of Lisbon Director: Raúl Ruiz
7. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu Director: Andrei Ujica
8. The Four Times Director: Michelangelo Frammartino
9. Certified Copy Director: Abbas Kiarostami
10. Tuesday, After Christmas Director: Radu Muntean
11. Oki's Movie Director: Hong Sang-soo
12. Ruhr Director: James Benning
13. I Wish I Knew Director: Jia Zhangke
14. My Joy Director: Sergei Loznitsa
15. Nostalgia for the Light Director: Patricio Guzmán,
16. Robinson in Ruins Director: Patrick Keiller
17. Black Venus Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
18. Of Gods and Men Director: Xavier Beauvois
19. Tabloid Director: Errol Morris
20. The Robber Director: Benjamin Heisenberg

[Chris Knipp]

DECEMBER 2010 U.S. MOVIE RELEASES:

As always, some of the best of the year here. Ones I've already reviewed are starred, ones I think I probably must see are in red.

Friday, December 3
The Warrior's Way 1,622 theaters
* All Good Things ( Andrew Jarecki) Limited
*Black Swan (Darren Arronofsky) 18 theaters
*I Love You Phillip Morris 6 theaters
*Night Catches Us (Tanya Hamilton)
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale Limited
The Assistants 1 theater

Friday, December 10
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 3,555 theaters
* The Tourist (von Donnersmarck) 2,756 theaters
And Everything Is Going Fine (Steven Soderbergh) 1 theater --now seen
Hemingway's Garden of Eden 14 theaters
*The Fighter (David O. Russell) 4 theaters
*The Tempest 5 theaters

Friday, December 17
And Soon the Darkness Limited
*Casino Jack (George Hickenlooper) NY/LA
How Do You Know 2,483 theaters
Tron: Legacy (Joseph Kosinski) 3,451 theaters --now seen
Yogi Bear 3,515 theaters
*Rabbit Hole (John Cameron Mitchell) 5 theaters

Wednesday, December 22
Little Fockers 3,450 theaters
True Grit (Coen brothers) 3,000 theaters -- now seen and reviewed
Country Strong 2 theaters
Somewhere (Sofia Coppola) 7 theaters -- now seen and reviewed
Tees Maar Khan Limited

Friday, December 24
*Hadewijch (Bruno Dument)
* Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-dong)

Saturday, December 25
Gulliver's Travels 2,400 theaters
The Illusionist (Sylvain Chomet) Limited -- now seen and reviewed
The Rebound Limited
*The Company Men (John Wells)

Wednesday, December 29
*Another Year (Mike Leigh) Limited
Biutiful (Gonzales Iñáritu) Limited (LA/NY) -- now seen and reviewed

Saturday, December 31
Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance) -- seen, holding review for release date (now released)

Some of the foreign ones I reviewed quite a while ago as part of a festival. And Everything Is Going Fine is a documentary about the late monologist Spaulding Gray. I didn't know about it till I came back to NYC. The Illusionist by the animation maker of The Triplets of Belleville, I also didn't know about. It concerns Jacques Tati. Javier Bardem's performance in Iñáritu's Biutiful has been described as the best of the year by anyone. My review of Blue Valentine is written but I'm holding it for opening day. I'm not happy with the film, but the performances by Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling are amazing. Why see Tron? To see what millions of people are sitting through at the movies right now. These are all I'm aware of. There are probably some more I don't know about yet. And some of these dates may be wrong. The Company Men was originally listed for January 2011. I hope people get to watch Hadewijch, Secret Sunshine, and Another Year. They're great.

[Chris Knipp]

I've updated the recommended list for DVD availability and added a couple titles.

-Ajami (Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani 2009) DVD
-Alamar (Pedro Gonzalez Rubio 2010) DVD
-American, The (Anton Corbijn 2010) DVD
-Animal Kingdom (David Michôd 2010) DVD
-Anton Chekhov's The Duel (Dover Kosashvili 2009) No DVD yet
-Daddy Longlegs (Josh and Benny Safdie 2009) DVD 2011?
-Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy 2010) DVD
-Eyes Wide Open (Haim Tabakman 2009) DVD
-Father of My Children, The (Le père de mes enfants, Mia Hansen-Løve 2009) DVD
-Fighter, The (David O. Russell 2010) in theaters Dec. 2010
-Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozner, Peter Raymont 2010) DVD in 2011
-Ghost Writer, The (Roman Polanski 2010) DVD
-Greenberg (Noah Baumbach 2010) DVD
-Mademoiselle Chambon (Stéphane Brizé 2009) DVD
-Making Plans for Léna (Non, ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser, Christophe Honoré 2009) no DVD yet
-Prophet, A (Un prophète, Jacques Audiard 2009) DVD
-Social Network, The (David Fincher 2020) DVD
-Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman, David Levien 2010) DVD
-Somewhere (Sofia Coppola 2010) in theaters Dec. 2010
-Terribly Happy (Henrik Ruben Genz 2010) DVD
-Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich 2010) DVD
-Welcome (Philippe Lioret 2009) DVD
-Winter's Bone (Debra Granik 2010) DVD

[Chris Knipp]

The NY Times's three film main film critics published their 2010 Best Lists (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/02/movies/awardsseason/20110102-oscarpicks-feature.html?ref=awardsseason) today, Jan. 2, 2011.

Ten Best Movies, in order:

A.O. Scott
• 127 Hours
• Black Swan
• Carlos
• The Fighter
• Greenberg
• The Kids Are All Right
• Somewhere
• Toy Story 3
• Vincere
• Winter's Bone

Manohla Dargis
• Black Swan
• Boxing Gym
• Carlos
• The Ghost Writer
• Inception
• A Prophet
• The Social Network
• Sweetgrass
• True Grit
• Wild Grass

Stephen Holden
• Another Year
• Carlos
• Inception
• Inside Job
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King's Speech
• My Dog Tulip
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• Winter's Bone

I don't know why Scott went ape over 127 HOURS, but I like Boyle and Franco so I'm fine with it. I don't go along with the enthusiasm for BOXING GYM; Wiseman has his passionate advocates. MY DOG TULIP is a bit out of left field; maybe Holden's a canine fanatic, and loves hand-drawn animation. Otherwise these are very mainstream lists, though they include some items that the mainstream US audience has no chance to see, such as VINCERE, SWEERT GRASS, and CARLOS, which were all in the New York Film Festival in 2009 (the first two) and 2010 (CARLOS), as was ANOTHER YEAR. Mike Leigh's film has had a last-minute US theatrical release in NY and several Calif. locations. It will be rolling out to other parts of the country in Jan. and Feb. 2011. Mike Leigh is at the top of his game; I understand his inclusion here with this warm, humane, specific film. But I've explained my reservations about a certain patness in the construction of his films, particularly this one. CARLOS is the only movie all three critics list. Dargis was quite critical of it earlier but seem to have come around. A bit odd, calling a French TV miniseries a "best movie," but it will be something good to watch on your TV monitor when its US DVD edition comes out. IFC's theatrical releases in 3 and 5 1/2 hour forms has been limited. You can still see it in NYC.

For actors, the three gave their lists of five they think should be the Oscar nominees.

Best Actor: The three pundits choose 5 names, but all include Jesse Eisenberg Edgar Ramirez and James Franco.

Who the heck is Edgar Ramirez? Well, you'll have to see CARLOS and they you'll know, and you'll know why he's on the short list.

Best Actress? Natalie Portman, 3 mentions. Two mentions: Annette Benning & Isabelle Huppert.

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, 3 mentions. Two mentions: Matt Damon and John Hawkes.

Best Supporting Actress: No consensus. Two mentions of Greta Gerwig (of GREENBERG), no other names repeated.

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/2415/51degfwdp3lsl500aa300.jpg

NOTE:

Some recent NYC releases (Dec. 2010-Jan. 2011):

Minoru Hoseda's Summer Wars (Sâma wôzu 2010)
Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine (2007; NYFF 2007)
Manoel de Oliveira's The Strange Case of Angelica (2010; NYFF 2010)
Mike Leigh's Another Year (2010; NYFF 2010)
Claire Denis' White Material (2009; NYFF 2010)

[Chris Knipp]

*I haven't seen any of the four movies you listed, Chris. There are so many movies being released on a very limited basis. It's impossible to watch everything that seems worth watching. I hope to eventually watch Inception, Despicable Me, Toy Story 3, The Kids are Alright and a few others. It's expensive also. I cannot always afford to go. I have seen some pretty good movies that I don't think you have seen. It's only natural under this distribution system. Jeunet's Micmacs, for instance, is quite charming and richly imagined. Cell 211, which won 8 Spanish Academy awards, is about as good as prison flicks get. Sometimes I miss out on the wide release films because I don't want to miss films like these which stay in theaters very briefly.

*Stray Dog is very good. You are right to take note of the cinematography.

*Print critics, especially youngish ones who write for daily newspapers, often don't have passion for cinema or knowledge of the history of the art form.They may have more of an interest in the stars than the actual movies. They are hired based on writing skills rather than expertise (which the ones doing the hiring don't know how to assess) or passion. On-line critics are enthusiastic film buffs who often have mediocre writing skills.Of course I am generalizing.

I finally did see MICMACS but don't find it memorable. I'm not a Jeunet fan; that kind of elaborate mise-en-scène puts me off. I will grant you that it's richly imagined. I haven't seen CELL 211, and as you suggested a number of the limited-release films you got to see in Florida I was unable to see.

[oscar jubis]

Well, it's near impossible to see everything that gets released. And I wonder how many of these critics try to see as many films as you do. I think it is also important to keep in mind that the nature of a film's release (how, when, where and how frequently it is shown) depends on estimated profit potential not perceived artistic value. And that the nature of a film's release affects its ranking in best-of-the-year polls or lists. The main value of polls to me is simply as a guide to which films I should seek out.

What about films that don't get released (in other words, films deemed by the powers that be to have minimal profit potential)? In 2009, I decided not to make a best-of list that excludes them or lists them separately. To do so strikes me as acquiescing to an artificial division based purely on capitalist interests.

Keeping that in mind, I find it interesting to ponder what these polls might say about what the participants value in film. It seems to me, for instance, that the extremely high regard for The Social Network is largely based on the belief that the film reflects "the mood of the age", that it has something profound to say about our culture or society. Otherwise, is it really a better picture than Film Comment #44 The King's Speech? If in fact voters consider a film's contemporaneous social relevance as a variable to consider when assessing a film's artistic value, then I am encouraged by its coronation by polls conducted by Film Comment and IndieWire. However, my experience was that other films, such as Exit Through the Gift Shop, had more to say to me about the current historical moment in our culture than Fincher's fine film.

[Chris Knipp]

I think the big film reviewers almost certainly see more of the regular release films than I do because they get invited to more screenings but I don't know -- yet. If I get to talk to one of the big NY film critics, which could happen at Lincoln Center screenings, I'll ask him or her. As for the issues of releases and distribution you bring up, which have been often discussed by Rosenbaum, they are certainly valid. "Best" lists are I agree useful as checklists of what people will want to try to watch later. A critic who doesn't go to festivals may see fewer of the other films. But a number of the big critics do go to festivals, if not all. Of course in NYC all the big critics see all the NYFF films.

I do not agree that THE KING'S SPEECH is just as good as THE SOCIAL NETWORK. I think the latter has a definite edge because in my view THE SOCIAL NETWORK is more original, THE KING'S SPEECH a grand, beautifully done film, but of a more old-fashioned style. Of course the relevance to today is important; a king's speech defect is hardly a burning issue. But both have universarl relevance -- the scramble to make it big; overcoming personal obstacles -- in both cases or they wouldn't be worth watching. We could argue with the rankings in the FILM COMMENT list. THE KING'S SPEECH might deserve to be higher than #44.

Why do you think EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP is more relevant to today than THE SOCIAL NETWORK?

[Chris Knipp]

I'll post my 2010 MOVIE BEST LISTS shortly.

I have to take some time yet to write a general comment as a preface.

[oscar jubis]

Exit through the Gift Shop gave me a lot to think about. Your question deserves an essay-long answer. For now, I'll just say that two statements made at the beginning resonate throughout the rest of the film.
1) Bansky's proclaiming that Guetta is a more interesting documentary-subject than he is, even though Bansky correctly thinks (but doesn't say until later) that he himself is clearly more talented as both street artist and filmmaker. It is important to think of the reasons why in this culture , at this time, the less-talented Guetta is indeed a more important documentary subject than Bansky.
2) Shepard Fairey's comment about the nature of power and how a person acquires it in our culture. How the illusion of power, or a "perceived power" can be turned into a real thing by manipulating the sources of mass communication.
There are other significant issues in the film, including material about the concept of art and what it's good for and how it relates to other aspects of the culture, and how things acquire value in society, the authorship of cultural products,etc.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks. I see what you mean. EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT shop does give one a lot to think about. And it plays clever tricks on the viewer. Too bad we didn't discuss it at the time when the thread on it was opened here way back when it was in theaters.

[Chris Knipp]

I'll start a new thread with this too so people can put their best lists on a new clean thread.

CHRIS KNIPP'S 2010 BEST MOVIE LISTS

I prefer not to make pronouncements about the general cinematic quality of the year compared to other years. What difference does it make anyway if it was a lousy year if there was one great film? There are still some I need to catch up on, but I think I saw more new movies this year than ever before and yet I don't think it was an outstanding year for releases. Might this be due to economic factors limiting what can get released or even made? I don't know. There are always a few very fine films and a few terrible ones and the majority of them are of average quality, neither very good nor very bad. That's why an evaluation of the year as a whole is such an arbitrary thing. Yet there were still some excellent movies especially in the US Oscar-bait system of year-end releases. And some fine ones early in the year we have to be careful not to forget. My system is to group my favorites in categories, best in English, best foreign, best documentaries, shorhtlisted, etc. but list the films alphabetically without ranking them against each other within the groups. If you make it into the club, you're in and that's enough. But I'll tell you a secret: The Social Network was the selection of the New York Film Festival I was most excited to see, and it's still my favorite more or less mainstream 2010 US release.

In addition to these lists Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance 2010) is worth mention, despite faulty structure, for awesome performances by Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling -- clearly among the edgiest, most convincing work by any film actors this year. It's only because I am rating movies and not individual facets of them that Blue Valentine isn't in these lists. The Company Men is a good serious movie about downsizing and shows John Wells' potential as a writer and director of feature films. There are many other films worth seeing that there's no room for, such as Gaspar Noé's Enter the Void. Of the best films in English, The Ghost Writer, (surprising no doubt to some) Life During Wartime, and above all The Social Network are a real pleasure to watch. The others mostly are not, especially when they depict events as disturbing as a forced amputation, an imploding criminal family, sex with minors, drug addiction, or terminal boredom, but harsh or indigestible experiences make good films. I don't very much like Toy story 3, because the Pixar style and its sentimentality are not to my taste, but I recognize the skill and the humanity that went into this accomplished animated film. There are other good documentaries this year besides those on my list, some I didn't see such as The Tillman Story, The Two Escobars, and Marwencol. I chose ones whose subjects are significant to me. I'd say this was not quite a stellar year for foreign films in the US but then, if a year or so late, there was Audiard's masterful A Prophet. Though I listed Denis' White Material merely as a runner-up, that's only because she's so good I expect more of her. I wish I didn't look so much like a Francophile. Latin America produces a lot of exciting films, but unfortunately not enough of them are released in North America.

(Not ranked.)

FILMS IN ENGLISH
127 Hours (Danny Boyle 2010)
Animal Kingdom (David Michôd 2010)
Fighter, The (David O. Russell 2010)
Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold 2009)
Ghost Writer, The (Roman Polanski 2010)
Greenberg (Noah Baumbach 2010)
Life During Wartime (Todd Solodnz 2010)
Social Network, The (David Fincher 2020)
Somewhere (Sofia Coppola 2010)
Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich 2010)
Winter's Bone (Debra Granik 2010)

BEST FOREIGN
Carlos (Olivier Assayas 2010)
Eyes Wide Open (Haim Tabakman 2009)
The Father of My Children (Le père de mes enfants, Mia Hansen-Løve 2009)
Hadewijch (Bruno Dumont 2009)
Mademoiselle Chambon (Stéphane Brizé 2009)
Making Plans for Léne (Non, ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser, Christophe Honoré 2009)
Mother (Bong Joon-ho 2009)
Prophet, A (Un prophète, Jacques Audiard 2009)
Vincere (Marco Bellocchio 2009)
Welcome (Philippe Lioret 2009)

SHORTLISTED
Ajami (Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani 2009)
American, The (Anton Corbijn 2010)
Anton Chekhov's The Duel (Dover Kosashvili 2009)
Daddy Longlegs (Josh and Benny Safdie 2009)
Hereafter (Clint Eastwood 2010)
King's Speech, The (Tom Hooper 2010)
Rabbit Hole (John Cameron Mitchell 2010)
Solitary Man (Brian Koppelman, David Levien 2010)
Terribly Happy (Henrik Ruben Genz 2010)
White Material (Claire Denis 2009)

BEST DOCUMENTARIES:
Alamar ((Pedro Gonzalez Rubio 2010)
Art of the Steal, The (Don Argott 2010)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy 2010)
Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozner, Peter Raymont 2010)
Inside Job (Charles Ferguson 2010)
Ne Change Rien (Pedro Costa 2010)
Nénette (Nicolas Philibert 2010)
Thorn in the Heart, The (L'Épine dans le coeur, Michel Gondry 2009)
Waiting for Superman (David Guggenheim 2010)
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe (Emily and Sarah Kunstler 2010)

BEST UNRELEASED IN US
Double Hour, The (La doppia ora, Giuseppe Capotondi 2009)
In the Beginning (À l'origine, Xavier Giannoli 2009)
Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux, Xavier Beauvois 2010)
Poetry (Lee Chang-dong 2010)
Post Mortem (Pablo Larraín 2010)
Rapt (Lucas Belvaux 2009)
Robber, The (Der Räuber, Benjamin Heisenberg 2010)
Strange Case of Angelica, The (O Estranho Caso de Angélica, Manoel de Oliveira 2010)
We Are What We Are (Somos lo que hay, Jorge Michel Grau 2010)
You Think You're the Prettiest, But You're the Sluttiest (Te creís la más linda, pero erís la más puta, Che Sandoval 2008)

MOST OVERRATED
Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky 2010)
Boxing Gym (Fred Wiseman 2010)
Inception (Christopher Nolan 2010)
Kids Are All Right, The (Lisa Cholodenko. 2010)
Restrepo (Sebastian Junger, Tim Hetherington 2010)

_________________
©Chris Knipp 2011

[Chris Knipp]

Lists
I will add my list eventually but I think I would rather wait until the end of the month because, unlike you, I haven't seen everything from 2010 that I want to.
When I do publish my list, they will be ranked in order from 1-20. They will also be my choice of my favorites not divided into any categories.
I do understand your desire to do this, however, because you have seen so many more films than I have and it would seem daunting to have to limit it to 20. On the other hand, however, one does not get a clear sense of which films you liked the most when your list consists of 40+ films.. -- HOWARD SCHUMANN



It's unusual for me too to be done so early, but I don't think there are any serous contenders that I haven't seen. I say definitely that my favorite American film of the year is THE SOCIAL NETWORK. I'd definitely say my favorite foreign one is A PROPHET. Beyond that, as I said, if they get into the list, that should be enough, and it's a finicky game to try to rank 10- or 20 or 40 films in order of merit. Would you like to do that with books? With friends? I don't think so. I did see upwards of 250 new movies this year and a lot of them were good, more than I can put in the list. A few stand out, and they are at the top of my lists. But I don't think it's a matter of how many movies one's seen. It's just been a principle of mine for years that I preferred to list groups alphabetically rather than rank every single film into a strict pecking order, which seems to be too arbitrary. There are lots of different approaches to the end of year selection process, many equally valid. Of course my method of having lists for English language, foreign, documentary, and shortlisted allows me to list more movies, but I also did that before I was seeing as many as I am now.

[Howard Schumann]

I fully understand your thinking on this.

[Chris Knipp]

My thinking has been that way for years. However, I might try to make a shorter list and pick my top favorites besides THE SOCIAL NETWORK and A PROPHET.

[Howard Schumann]

My thinking has been that way for years. However, I might try to make a shorter list and pick my top favorites besides THE SOCIAL NETWORK and A PROPHET.

A Prophet was on my list for best films of 2009 as was Mother. I didn't say what I did to try to get you to change anything. I don't. However, from my point of view only, we all make choices in life, either consciously or unconsciously. While we don't rate our friends, we do say "He/she is my best friend" or "He/she is one of my best friends." This means that we have in mind those people we consider close friends ans those we consider "mere acquaintances".

Likewise, I think if anyone asked you what are your favorite fiction and non-fiction books, some titles would immediately come to mind. When I went to New York, I wanted to find out what was considered the best Pizza and the best Hot Pastrami sandwich and I wanted to know others that were considered as perhaps not the very best but worthy of being in a top ten. For me anyway, that's how my mind works. That is why I rate movies from A to D primarily as a way of making a choice about it. I know there are good things and not so good things about a certain film, but having to rate it allows me to sort out in my own mind where I stand and to clarify my own thinking on the film. Also ranking films at the end of the year forces me to make choices of what films really reached me and which did not.

Let me say again. This is my point of view and I am not looking for agreement. I respect the fact that you feel differently.

[Chris Knipp]

you're quite right. It's just that I don't like exactly ranking films in the top ten or twenty. But of course one does have favorite friends and favorite books, and a small handful that matter most.

I am thinking of reformatting or rewording my choices not to please you but for other sites, and because redoing them makes me think.

[Chris Knipp]

The Golden Globes (http://www.goldenglobes.org/) were announced on Sunday, January 15, 2011.


GOLDEN GLOBES 2011, WINNERS AND NOMINEES:

Best Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER
The Social Network (2010)
Other Nominees:
Black Swan (2010)
The Fighter (2010)
Inception (2010)
The King's Speech (2010)

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Other Nominees:
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Burlesque (2010/I)
Red (2010/I)
The Tourist (2010)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER
Colin Firth for The King's Speech (2010)
Other Nominees:
Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network (2010)
James Franco for 127 Hours (2010)
Ryan Gosling for Blue Valentine (2010)
Mark Wahlberg for The Fighter (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER
Natalie Portman for Black Swan (2010)
Other Nominees:
Halle Berry for Frankie and Alice (2010)
Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole (2010)
Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone (2010)
Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine (2010)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
Paul Giamatti for Barney's Version (2010)
Other Nominees:
Johnny Depp for The Tourist (2010)
Johnny Depp for Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Jake Gyllenhaal for Love and Other Drugs (2010)
Kevin Spacey for Casino Jack (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER
Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Other Nominees:
Anne Hathaway for Love and Other Drugs (2010)
Angelina Jolie for The Tourist (2010)
Julianne Moore for The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Emma Stone for Easy A (2010)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
WINNER
Christian Bale for The Fighter (2010)
Other Nominees:
Michael Douglas for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
Andrew Garfield for The Social Network (2010)
Jeremy Renner for The Town (2010)
Geoffrey Rush for The King's Speech (2010)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
WINNER
Melissa Leo for The Fighter (2010)
Other Nominees:
Amy Adams for The Fighter (2010)
Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech (2010)
Mila Kunis for Black Swan (2010)
Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom (2010)

Best Director - Motion Picture
WINNER
David Fincher for The Social Network (2010)
Other Nominees:
Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan (2010)
Tom Hooper for The King's Speech (2010)
Christopher Nolan for Inception (2010)
David O. Russell for The Fighter (2010)

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
WINNER
The Social Network (2010): Aaron Sorkin
Other Nominees:
127 Hours (2010): Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
Inception (2010): Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right (2010): Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko
The King's Speech (2010): David Seidler

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
WINNER
Burlesque (2010/I): Diane Warren("You Haven't Seen The Last of Me")
Other Nominees:
Burlesque (2010/I): Samuel Dixon, Christina Aguilera, Sia Furler("Bound to You")
Country Strong (2010): Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges("Coming Home")
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010): Carrie Underwood, David Hodges, Hillary Lindsey("There's A Place For Us")
Tangled (2010): Alan Menken, Glenn Slater("I See the Light")

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
WINNER
The Social Network (2010): Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Other Nominees:
127 Hours (2010): A.R. Rahman
Alice in Wonderland (2010): Danny Elfman
Inception (2010): Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech (2010): Alexandre Desplat

Best Animated Film
WINNER
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Other Nominees:
Despicable Me (2010)
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
The Illusionist (2010)
Tangled (2010)

Best Foreign Language Film
WINNER
In a Better World (2010)(Denmark)
Other Nominees:
Biutiful (2010)(Mexico/Spain)
The Concert (2009)(France)
The Edge (2010)(Russia)
I Am Love (2009)(Italy)

[oscar jubis]

I have a Top 10 overall list. The same 3 undistributed and 7 distributed films I have listed since the summer. Nothing released since then impressed me enough to make the list. Busy year for me. Just received a commission to write three pieces for a book on French Cinema. It will keep me occupied for the next couple of months. I am reluctant to post list because I missed some films by some of my favorite directors, including Sofia Coppola, Mike Leigh, and Jacques Rivette. However, I watched all the films nominated except 127 Hours.

[oscar jubis]

Best Films of 2010 (in rough preferential order, asterisk denotes undistributed films)

Grandmother (Brillante Mendoza/Phillipines)*
Greenberg (Noah Baumbach/USA)
Shirin (Abbas Kiarostami/Iran)
Sweet Grass (USA)
Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (Damien Chazelle/USA)
Wild Grass (Alain Resnais/France)
The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa/Peru)
Eccentricities of a Blonde Girl (Manoel de Oliveira/Portugal)
Moloch Tropical (Raoul Peck/Haiti)*
The Illusionist (Sylvain Chomet/France)
The Last Summer of Boyita (Julia Solomonoff/Argentina)*
No One Knows about Persian Cats (Bahman Ghobadi/Iran)

Runner-Ups

FISH TANK (UK)
BOXING GYM (USA)
TOY STORY 3 (USA)
THE FIGHTER (USA)
ANOTHER YEAR (UK)
BLUE VALENTINE (USA)
AROUND A SMALL MOUNTAIN (France)
SOMEWHERE (USA)\
ALAMAR (Mexico)
CRAB TRAP (Colombia)*


Highly Recommended
Carlos (uncut version)
Hideaway (France)
Dogtooth (Greece)
City of Life and Death (China)*
Bluebeard (France)
The Wind Journeys (Colombia)
Medal of Honor (Romania)*
The Ghost Writer
Exit through the Gift Shop (USA/UK)
Winter's Bone (USA)
Chloe (Canada/USA)
The King's Speech (UK)
The Social Network (USA)
Everyone Else (Germany)
Secret Sunshine (South Korea)
Women without Men (Iran/Germany)
Mademoiselle Chambon (France)

Not Seen Yet: Inside Job, 127 Hours, Enter the Void, Rabbit Hole,Chekhov's The Duel, Eyes Wide Open.

A look back: The best films of 2009

GOODBYE SOLO (Ramin Bahrani) USA
THE HEADLESS WOMAN (Lucrecia Martel) ARGENTINA
************
LIVERPOOL (Lisandro Alonso) ARGENTINA
PARQUE VIA (Enrique Rivero) MEXICO
THE WHITE RIBBON (Michael Haneke) AUSTRIA/GERMANY
*************
24 CITY (Jia Zhang ke) CHINA
35 SHOTS OF RUM (Claire Denis) FRANCE/GERMANY
HUNGER (Steve McQueen) UK/IRELAND
MUNYURANGABO (Lee Isaac Chang) USA/RWANDA
OF TIME AND THE CITY (Terence Davies) UK

[oscar jubis]

Since I posted my list 3 months ago, I have watched 3 movies released in 2010 which merit inclusion. These include two "miniatures": Sofia Coppola's almost perfect Somewhere, and Rivette's charming and free Around a Small Mountain. The movie that belongs among the very best of the year in my experience is
GUY AND MADELINE ON A PARK BENCH, young American Damien Chazelle's delightful child of Shadows and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

[Chris Knipp]

Glad to see another vote for Somewhere, which as you know has had some very negative reviews as well as positive ones; the Metacritic rating of 67 shows the opposite pulls at work. I had a hard time with Around a Small Mountain but managed to decode it to a considerable extent with a lot of help from a French critic, as you'll see in my Nyff 2009 report. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2644-New-York-Film-Festival-2009&postid=23051#post23051) You are a Rivette fan; I find I am not, though he has tended to grow on me more of late.

I didn't know about Guy and Medeline; it apparently came and went in NYC during one of the times when I was not there, between a NYFF time and a Christmas stay. It was shown at Cinema Village, the small NYTimes review (http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/11/05/movies/05guy.html) shows, so if I'd been there then I'd probably have seen it.

[oscar jubis]

I really appreciate your being fair to Around a Small Mountain especially because you are not a fan of Jacques Rivette. Grossly underexposed in America to say the least, Rivette is. This was even more true last century than this one! It is also strange that perhaps his most enjoyable, representative work, Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974) is not one out of a dozen Rivette films released on DVD. It's the best rated among IMdb voters.

Films like Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench give me hope about the future of cinema and the future of America.

[Chris Knipp]

I respect the Film Society of Lincoln Center and make every effort to understand and appreciate all their or the NYFF jury's choices each year. I'm more neutral about Rivette than in any way opposed. I can enjoy a leisurely meander through his films from time to time. I enjoyed La Belle Noiseuse, Va Savoir. The big French favorite of yours I really have a harder time with is Alain Renais, except for his two early masterpieces, which I love. Guy and Madeleine can be watched on Instant Play on Netfilx right now, you know. I plan on giving it a look.

[oscar jubis]

I'm writing in this "best of 2010" thread because:
I rewatched one of the 39 movies I listed back then: Polanski's political thriller THE GHOST WRITER and
the documentary I listed at #4 overall: SWEET GRASS, about taking sheep to pasture like the protagonists of "Brokeback Mountain", a visually arresting film, is finally going to be released on BluRay (October 2020). A major reason I love this film is that it's spectacular, in the direct meaning of the term. It's compelling in several ways, but primarily visually. So, the sharpness of the Bluray format makes it easier to appreciate in almost all its splendor (you'd have to watch it in a theater to get the full, immersive effect of going up a mountain among the herd). "The Ghost Writer" like Chris Knipp stated, is perfect and classic. I listed it as "highly recommended" but it's one of two films that would be listed higher if I made the list today. The other one is WINTER'S BONE.

[Chris Knipp]

SWEET GRASS was in the 2009 NYFF and reviewed here (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2644-New-York-Film-Festival-2009&s=&postid=22937#post22937) then. That's amusing that you link it to BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. But more important it's an early example of the Harvard ethnographers and anthropologists Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor. It was unusual partly for how different it was from a movie like BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and for its authentic atmosphere that you refer to, with no dialogue and no narration, only the ambient sound, and the bells of the sheep.I have a lot of time, though it's an acquired taste, for this kind of film. It's not a kind of film that's likely to wind up at the cinemplex when it reopens. THE GHOST WRITER - thanks for citing me - I did say it's perfect and masterful but I didn't say it's a classic. That's partly because as I explained people don't pay attention to a well-made film without flashy special effects anymore. As for WINTER'S BONE, I think it has left a mark and may have had an influence. It seems a long time ago now, since when I saw it at the SFIFF then, Jennifer Lawrence was a beautiful unknown, with mainly TV in her CV at that point.

[oscar jubis]

"An old master at work, a classic-style thriller without special effects but fully supplied with excitement, suspense, and memorable scenes."(C.K.)
Not a classic but "classic-style".

[Chris Knipp]

I forgot I'd said "classic-style." I may be wrong, but I was arguing that THE GHOST WRITER won't be acknowledged to be as good as it is, so it won't become - to give the no. 1 meaning I get for "classic" on Google: "judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind." Because it'll be forgotten.

[oscar jubis]

This feeling that a movie I love may be forgotten is what compels me to post, at least some of the time. I also like to keep in touch with you because you do such a good job and because I am quite aware of how time consuming it is to write well. This is especially true as I get older; I must tell you how much I admire your energy; I'm only 59 and I can tell you definitely that writing is slower and requires more effort for me than when we started writing here back in 2002. I agree that THE GHOST WRITER is less famous/popular than many others, even many others in the same genre, and this is a relative matter. Compare the degree to which this film has been forgotten to the case of "Losing Ground", the film directed by a black woman in 1982 which you wrote about today. In my TOP 10 of 2010 , there are a couple of films I consider masterpieces, or nearly so, that may be even more obscure for many reason including their origin. The best film I watched in 2010 is Brilliant Mendoza's "GRANDMOTHER" aka Lola, a film from the Phillipines about two grandmothers finding a way to resolve the violent confrontation between their grandsons when the justice system fails to serve them. There's also THE LAST SUMMER OF LA BOYITA, a coming-of-age from Argentina that deals with issues of gender and identity about as deeply as any film I've seen.

[Chris Knipp]

It was definitely easier to write when I was very young, 20-30, or earlier. However, we're wiser now, aren't we? Writing about films can contribute in some small way to preserving the memory of the films in question, I would also agree. Hopefully one has a fresh angle on some of them too, on occasion.

I reviewed a Brillante Mendoza film in the 2008 NYFF (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2339-New-York-Film-Festival-2008&p=20760#post20760). I think that's all, but I cited a Mike D'Angelo tweet from Cannes 2016:
Mike D'Angelo ‏@gemko
Ma' Rosa (Mendoza): 43. Resisted the effort to push my empathy in one direction. Also, somebody please buy Mendoza a decent camera.

Didn't quite get how you're relating Kathleen Collins to Roman Polanski.

I appreciate your presence and wish other members would check in.

[oscar jubis]

Just saying that there's different degrees of "forgotten", one that may apply to Polanski's film and another that applies to a film directed by Ms. Collins which a lot less people have seen over the years and that you just happen to write about, and bring into my awareness. Thanks.

[Chris Knipp]

You're welcome, my pleasure.

Different types of forgotten, yes. LOSING GROUND is a lot more forgotten than THE GHOST WRITER. The latter is available on six different platforms, and you can watch it right now for free on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-16vKFCmylc
LOSING GROUND is only available on the Criterion Channel, and you have to join up, if only temporarily, to watch it.

Maybe THE GHOST WRITER isn't forgotten at all. It even got back its production cost, apparently. It's just not in the list of great films. Nobody saw LOSING GROUND. Very large difference.