25 February 2010


Classical and modern architecture butting heads, with Duane Reade worming its way in: typical New York.

13 February 2010

BEST MOVIES OF THE '00s: RECAP

In summary, my top 50 movies of the '00s:

# 50-41
# 40-31
# 30-21
# 20-11
# 10-1

And 50 more that I would have liked to fit into my top 50:

2046
25th HOUR
3-IRON
AMELIE
AWAY FROM HER
THE BEACHES OF AGNES
THE BEST OF YOUTH
THE BRAND UPON THE BRAIN!
THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT
CHILDREN OF MEN
DANCER IN THE DARK
DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT
DIG!
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
DOUBLE DARE
ELEPHANT
FANTASTIC MR. FOX
FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON
THE GLEANERS AND I
GOODBYE DRAGON INN
GRIZZLY MAN
THE HOST
I'M NOT THERE
IN THE LOOP
THE INCREDIBLES
INLAND EMPIRE
LAWLESS HEART
LILYA 4 EVER
LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF
MOOLAADE
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
NOT ONE LESS
PERSEPOLIS
REPRISE
REQUIEM
REVANCHE
THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD
A SERIOUS MAN
SHORTBUS
SIDEWAYS
THE SLEEPY TIME GAL
SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR
SPELLBOUND
THE STATION AGENT
TROPICAL MALADY
THE VISITOR
VOLVER
THE WAYWARD CLOUD
THE WIND WILL CARRY US
WONDER BOYS

12 February 2010

TOP FIFTY MOVIES OF THE '00s: # 10-1



10. C.R.A.Z.Y.

Zac: "I want to be like everyone else."
Madame Chose: "Thank God, you never will."



9. YI YI

A three-hour familial tapestry and a meditation on mortality, urban alienation and human kindness that I'd call epic if it did not primarily focus on something so intimate and ordinary as the passage of time.



8. IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE

Wong Kar Wai's best film is a deceptively simple tale of a romance that’s never acted upon, told with such longing and restraint that it leaves me insatiably swooned and devastated every time I see it.



7. DUCK SEASON

This minimalist black-and-white gem, a Mexican film about four characters who spend a Sunday afternoon together reminds me why I value small-scale, little-seen independent films so much.



6. ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW

Richard: "I want to be swept off my feet, you know? I want my children to have magical powers. I am prepared for amazing things to happen. I can handle it."



5. Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN

What's most remarkable about Alfonso Cuaron's funny, raunchy, pathos-laced road-trip movie is how both the camera and the narrator keep pulling away from the main three characters, giving the viewer thrilling glimpses of an expansive world: a film is not necessarily a vacuum.



4. THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Daniel Plainview: "Aren't you a healer, and a vessel for the holy spirit? When are you coming over to make my son hear again? CAN'T YOU DO THAT?"



3. BEAU TRAVAIL

Honor, ritual, imbalance, jealousy, tension... and release.



2. MULHOLLAND DR.

Coco: "Honey, you're a good kid, but what you're telling me is a load of horse puckey, even though it comes from a good place. "



1. THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS

[Royal tells his children of his impending divorce]
Richie: "Is it because of us?"
Royal: "Well, of course, certain sacrifices had to be made as a result of having children. But heavens, no."

A few years ago, I wrote some notes on this film for the Brattle Theatre here.

11 February 2010

TOP FIFTY MOVIES OF THE '00s: # 20-11



20. 49 UP

This seventh installment of Michael Apted's monumental series (which profiles the same dozen people once every seven years) may be the first to explore in depth the long-term effects of having one's entire life on display.



19. SPIRITED AWAY

Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece, a fable about a girl stuck in a surreal, Oz-type fantasy world, brims with wit, grace, and a delightful, all-ages appeal that never condescends to its audience.



18. GOSFORD PARK

Morris Weissman: "How do you manage to put up with these people?"
Ivor Novello: "Well, you forget, I make my living impersonating them."



17. LOST IN TRANSLATION

Bill Murray at his rumpled, melancholic best, Scarlet Johannson when she seemed like the slyest actress of her generation (before she settled for less), and Sofia Coppola suggesting how much richer a life could become just for having known someone, if only fleetingly.



16. WAKING LIFE

Boat Car Guy: "The idea is to remain in a state of constant departure while always arriving."



15. FAR FROM HEAVEN

Raymond: "Here is to being the only one."



14. STILL WALKING

Instead of shocking revelations or artificial resolutions, this fully-realized family portrait only finds beauty in its simplicity, and it's enough.



13. BEFORE SUNSET

Celine: "I was having this awful nightmare that I was 32. And then I woke up and I was 23. So relieved. And then I woke up for real, and I was 32."



12. THE RETURN

A slowly waking dream where the intense emotional journey's cumulative pull far outweighs any literal outcome.



11. CACHE

Michael Haneke's look (in every sense of the word) at a bourgeois couple being watched by an unknown assailant eventually reveals itself as an allegory about social responsibility and guilt--and perhaps this decade's finest, most original thriller.

10 February 2010

TOP FIFTY MOVIES OF THE '00s: # 30-21



30. MY WINNIPEG

Guy Maddin had an incredible run this decade, from the insane short THE HEART OF THE WORLD to this alluring "docu-fantasia" hybrid that critiques and celebrates his hometown like no one else could.



29. JUDY BERLIN

A low budget, black-and-white fable about a day in the life of a sleepy Long Island suburb--the type of little indie film that now seems lost to a cherished, almost mysterious, long-ago era.



28. DONNIE DARKO

Kitty Farmer: "Rose, I don't know if you realize what an opportunity this is for our daughters. This has been a dream of Samantha's and all of ours for a long time! I made her lead dancer! (pause) Sometimes, I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!"



27. GHOST WORLD

Seymour: "Well, I have to admit that things are really starting to look up for me since my life turned to shit."



26. MAN ON WIRE

Philippe Petit’s 1974 tightrope walk across the World Trade Center was an extraordinary stunt and a breathtaking work of art; James Marsh's documentation/reconstruction of it unavoidably comes across as a requiem that doesn't even need to mention 9/11 to get its point subtly across.



25. PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE

Barry: "I have a love in my life. It makes me stronger than anything you can imagine."



24. SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK

Constructed much like a warehouse full of one secret compartment after another, Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut is an absolutely terrifying comedy and one that requires multiple viewings--I'm looking forward to them.



23. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

Oskar: "Are you really twelve?"
Eli: "Yes. It's just I've been twelve for a very long time."



22. WHAT TIME IS IT THERE?

Another auteur with a great decade of work, Tsai Ming-Liang's best film is a variation on what he does in every film, but with a magnificent structure full of symmetry and echoes between twin narratives and a beautiful payoff at the end.



21. AMERICAN SPLENDOR

"Real" Harvey Pekar: "If you think reading comics about your life seems strange, try watching a play about it. God only knows how I'll feel when I see this movie."

09 February 2010

TOP FIFTY MOVIES OF THE '00s: # 40-31



40. DOGVILLE

This played theaters at the same time as THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST: just imagine a world where millions lined up to see Lars von Trier's perceptive, droll study of self-awareness, cruelty and revenge instead of Mel Gibson's crucifixion porn.



39. BEST IN SHOW

Christy Cummings: "The heart and the soul, which was what my mom did, that was her role, she was there for the unconditional love and it worked for my family, you know... until mom committed suicide in '81."



38. HALF NELSON

With an unlikely protagonist (a good teacher who is also a drug addict), co-directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden take the frustration of the age and transform it into a poetic, unflinching study of how we find redemption through the support of others.



37. THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU

Steve Zissou: "Are you finding what you were looking for... out here with me? I hope so."



36. 35 SHOTS OF RUM

Claire Denis closes out an impressive decade of films with what may be her most likable one, a gloss on Ozu's LATE SPRING that communicates less through words or a plot than it does via small gestures and a hypnotic, evocative style and sense of place.



35. CLEAN

Maggie Cheung's apparent swan song as an actress was this delicately executed study of drug addiction and recovery (directed by her ex-husband) that had the uncommon insight simply not to demean its lead for being a junkie.



34. TARNATION

An autobiographical psychological portrait, a cinematic hallucinogenic, the ultimate underground non-fiction film. I feared that it would spawn numerous lesser imitations; five years on, I still haven't seen anything else remotely like it.



33. TALK TO HER

I debated between including this and VOLVER, for both have strong, unique narratives. But while the latter film works because of a typically fabulous Almodovar female ensemble, this one holds a special place in the director's filmography as a poignant study of loyalty between two male friends.



32. HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH

Hansel's Mom: "To be free, one must give up a part of oneself. "



31. 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS

Two college-aged women attempt to secure an illegal abortion in Communist Romania in this painfully realistic (but at times darkly funny!) thriller that examines the contours of a friendship against a social backdrop it neither entirely condemns nor commends.

08 February 2010

TOP FIFTY MOVIES OF THE '00s: # 50-41

I began watching new films at an all-consuming pace at the turn of this decade (the years leading up to it were spent in grad school mostly trying to catch up on everything that came before). I estimate I've seen anywhere from 750-1000 movies that came out this decade, so you imagine how excruciating the process was of picking my fifty favorites.

All of what follows is essential viewing for anyone who claims they love movies - obviously, no one will feel the same as I do about every last one, but they're all worth a look. And, since I've written about most of these in my year-end top tens, I've either included very brief summations of or memorable quotes from each one.



50. MORVERN CALLAR

Lanna: "Where are we going?"
Morvern Callar: "Somewhere beautiful."



49. HAPPINESS OF THE KATIKURIS

I've already used these words to describe Takashi Miike's hard-to-describe film, and I'll use them again: a delightful cross between a slasher film and a musical episode of The Love Boat--with a few sequences in claymation.



48. THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS

Brian Kuh: "If anybody wants to see, there's a Donkey Kong kill screen coming up."



47. MYSTERIOUS SKIN

With a depth rarely seen in any of his other work, Gregg Araki adapts Scott Heim's novel about pedophilia and growing up gay in small town Kansas, and the film has more to say on either subject than any other I can think of.



46. OUR SONG

Rarely does a fictional film so effortlessly simulate the day-to-day rhythms of real life to the point where viewers feel as if they are eavesdropping in on the characters rather than watching performances.



45. THE HURT LOCKER

Staff Sergeant William James: "This box is full of stuff that almost killed me."



44. THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE

This surreal slice of animation brims with intelligence, clever sight gags, and most importantly, a beaming heart (albeit one that's more than a little warped).



43. THE SQUID AND THE WHALE

Sophie: "My Father said you had a weak handshake, which is a sign of indecision."
Walt: "His hands are so huge. I couldn't get a good grip."



42. BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS

Terence McDonagh: "What are these iguanas doing on my coffee table?"



41. RAISING VICTOR VARGAS

Peter Sollett's unexpected gem about a Dominican-American family in lower Manhattan would make a superb double feature with OUR SONG (see # 46) for the way it creates drama without any artiface or calculation.