Wow... having seen every episode of this sitcom (at least twice!), I have to say... well, what else is there to say about this music video by the band Pistol Youth, except... wow? Genius and disturbing in equal dosages.
23 January 2009
14 January 2009
THE BEST FILMS OF 2008
This was not such a great year for film – I saw three of my top five in Toronto in 2007. However, I've never had so much difficulty choosing a number one film: I like the top two almost equally, but when it comes to ranking personal taste, I don’t believe in ties.
THE TOP TEN:
1. MAN ON WIRE
Philippe Petit’s 1974 tightrope walk across the World Trade Center could’ve easily made for a better-than-average cable TV documentary, but director James Marsh knew this extraordinary story was too good for that. With its unforgettable protagonist, quirky accomplices, marvelous archival footage and possibly the least cheesy reenactments ever, this is both an artful heist film and a celebratory document of a phenomenal stunt that was also a breathtaking work of art. But the film’s real power derives from it being just as much a requiem – although Marsh never directly references 9/11, the haunting presence of the Twin Towers themselves never lets you forget what was lost.
2. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
From TWILIGHT to TRUE BLOOD, it seemed like vampires were everywhere in pop culture this year; this Swedish import offered a recognizable but fairly innovative take on the legend and managed the neat feat of a being a tender, coming-of-age love story and a bloody horror film. Set in an early-‘80s Stockholm suburb and centered on a shy, tormented 12-year-old boy and his new, oddly androgynous neighbor (who confesses to having been “12 for a long time”), Tomas Alfredson’s debut feature mixes genres with an uncommon assurance and does not hit one wrong note.
3. 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS
Two college-aged women trying to secure an illegal abortion in Communist Romania doesn’t exactly sound like a fun time at the cinema (it wouldn’t make an ideal date film), but for all its bleakness and utter discomfort, Cristian Mungiu’s Cannes winner is, in a strange way, kind of fun. It gains considerable momentum from its construction as a thriller as it examines the contours of a friendship against a social backdrop it neither entirely condemns nor commends; its generous helping of black humor is also far more evident once it’s over.
4. MY WINNIPEG
I should just automatically reserve a spot for Guy Maddin on my top ten every year he makes a new feature – he’s the most original filmmaker at work today. With this strange, charming documentary/fantasy/essay hybrid, he cements his reputation as one of the best. For all its wildly imaginative tales of frozen horses, man pageants and “psychic possibilities”, this is Maddin’s most accessible, personal work and if that wasn’t enough, you have the added attraction of the glorious, irascible 86-year-old Ann Savage in her final role as Maddin’s mother.
5. THE VISITOR
When I first saw it over a year ago, I feared that Thomas McCarthy’s intelligent little film would never find an audience. Its account of a gloomy widower (Richard Jenkins in one the year’s best performances) obtaining a new lease on life via the immigrant couple he befriends could have been rendered in broad, sentimental terms; instead, the story is told with nuance and restraint, even as it evolves from a bittersweet character study into an impassioned critique of American policy toward foreigners post-9/11. That it did find a sizable audience is enough to restore my faith in film distribution.
6. REPRISE
The Norwegian TRAINSPOTTING, only with mental illness and existential despair in place of the heroin and booze? Perhaps. Joachim Trier’s film is far from unique in how it revels in the ebullience of having an entire adulthood ahead of one's self, but it’s the rare one that considers all the anxieties and uncertainties that come with the territory; that it does so with detached wisdom and grace keeps it from feeling contrived.
7. FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON
Inspired by Albert Lamorisse's classic 1956 short THE RED BALLOON, Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-Hsien seeks Paris as a thoughtful tourist would, freshly viewing the city’s day-to-day rhythms with the same sense of discovery found in his Asian films. Emphasizing textures and title-referencing motifs that subtly surface throughout, he’s created his most engaging, affable work to date without compromising his poetic approach.
8. SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK
In his directorial debut, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman burrows even further down his own rabbit hole, forging a universe nearly brought to the brink of collapse by its art/life collisions and mind-blowing meta-references. Fortunately, it’s never less than a fascinating place to inhabit, aided by a brave performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman and a stellar, mostly female supporting cast. An absolutely terrifying comedy, it also resonates more profoundly than any of Kaufman’s previous efforts – especially with repeated viewings.
9. HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
Only Mike Leigh could devise a heroine like Poppy (the magnificent Sally Hawkins), an eternally optimistic London schoolteacher whom, in a lesser director’s hands, would come off as infuriating and abrasive. But, for all her whimsy and light, she’s one of his most intricate creations, and much more than she appears on the surface. Although a little pokey, this comparatively lighthearted Leigh film is as full of substance as his best work, and Hawkins’ scenes with her hotheaded driving instructor (Eddie Marsan) are an unusual, beguiling cross between screwball comedy and kitchen sink realism.
10. STILL LIFE
For years I’ve tried to figure out what the fuss with critically-adored Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke was all about: whereas his past films, although full of great ideas, somehow always lost their grasp along the way, this one stays afloat from beginning to end. A beautiful meditation on the Three Gorges Dam, it examines a small village that was destroyed by the project through the eyes of two characters who return to seek out displaced family members. The gorgeous, languid camerawork is a huge part of the appeal, but STILL LIFE is more than just a pretty travelogue – it documents a historical moment, and via its two stories, the human cost of it.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
WALL-E
The first half is simply genius; if the more conventional remainder sustained its weird poetry, the whole thing might have been my favorite film of the year.
CHRIS AND DON: A LOVE STORY
A documentary about the writer Chris Isherwood and his lover Don Bachardy and an illuminating portrait of any long-term relationship, gay or otherwise.
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Werner Herzog goes to Antarctica (some filmmaker had to) and he finds pure shimmering beauty in its extreme icy terrain – not to mention a woman who can fold herself up inside a suitcase.
I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG
Kristin Scott Thomas mesmerizes as a woman just released from a fifteen-year prison sentence in this unsentimental French drama that puts THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION to shame.
THE UNIVERSE OF KEITH HARING
With its one-of-a-kind subject having died so young, this is a vital document that aptly shows how Haring’s contributions to the art world continue to astound and inspire.
CHOP SHOP
BALLAST
Both Ramim Bahrani’s film about a young street orphan working in the vast junkyard next to Shea Stadium and Lance Hammer’s mournful character study in rural Mississippi are deeply indebted to Italian Neorealism; both also feel more honest and original than most of what screened at the indieplexes this year.
THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS
With a perfect meshing of story and style, this Canadian feature starring Ellen Page establishes a new creative standard for what one can accomplish with digital video.
MILK
Gus Van Sant makes an agreeable return to mainstream filmmaking with this biopic, but it’s an unexpectedly lithe, likable Sean Penn that really impresses in the titular role.
BILLY THE KID
Billy, a 15-year-old teenager in rural Maine, isn’t especially unique or exceptional, but after watching Jennifer Venditti’s perceptive, at times heartbreaking documentary, you’ll never forget him.
ALEXANDRA
Opera diva Galina Vishnevskaya anchors Aleksandr Sokurov’s anti-war film with a towering, tour de force display of tenacity and motherhood.
THE PRINCESS OF NEBRASKA
It will forever be known as the first feature film to have its premiere on Youtube, but this quite moving little experiment is not merely director Wayne Wang’s long-awaited return to form, but also an artistic breakthrough.
ALSO RECOMMENDED:
AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR
THE AXE IN THE ATTIC
THE BAND'S VISIT
BURN AFTER READING
A CHRISTMAS TALE
DOUBT
THE EDGE OF HEAVEN
FROZEN RIVER
JELLYFISH
LOVE SONGS
MISTER FOE
MISTER LONELY
PAGEANT
PARANOID PARK
RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
SONG SUNG BLUE
SURFWISE
TOWELHEAD
WATER LILIES
THE WITNESSES
XXY
THE TOP TEN:
1. MAN ON WIRE
Philippe Petit’s 1974 tightrope walk across the World Trade Center could’ve easily made for a better-than-average cable TV documentary, but director James Marsh knew this extraordinary story was too good for that. With its unforgettable protagonist, quirky accomplices, marvelous archival footage and possibly the least cheesy reenactments ever, this is both an artful heist film and a celebratory document of a phenomenal stunt that was also a breathtaking work of art. But the film’s real power derives from it being just as much a requiem – although Marsh never directly references 9/11, the haunting presence of the Twin Towers themselves never lets you forget what was lost.
2. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
From TWILIGHT to TRUE BLOOD, it seemed like vampires were everywhere in pop culture this year; this Swedish import offered a recognizable but fairly innovative take on the legend and managed the neat feat of a being a tender, coming-of-age love story and a bloody horror film. Set in an early-‘80s Stockholm suburb and centered on a shy, tormented 12-year-old boy and his new, oddly androgynous neighbor (who confesses to having been “12 for a long time”), Tomas Alfredson’s debut feature mixes genres with an uncommon assurance and does not hit one wrong note.
3. 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS
Two college-aged women trying to secure an illegal abortion in Communist Romania doesn’t exactly sound like a fun time at the cinema (it wouldn’t make an ideal date film), but for all its bleakness and utter discomfort, Cristian Mungiu’s Cannes winner is, in a strange way, kind of fun. It gains considerable momentum from its construction as a thriller as it examines the contours of a friendship against a social backdrop it neither entirely condemns nor commends; its generous helping of black humor is also far more evident once it’s over.
4. MY WINNIPEG
I should just automatically reserve a spot for Guy Maddin on my top ten every year he makes a new feature – he’s the most original filmmaker at work today. With this strange, charming documentary/fantasy/essay hybrid, he cements his reputation as one of the best. For all its wildly imaginative tales of frozen horses, man pageants and “psychic possibilities”, this is Maddin’s most accessible, personal work and if that wasn’t enough, you have the added attraction of the glorious, irascible 86-year-old Ann Savage in her final role as Maddin’s mother.
5. THE VISITOR
When I first saw it over a year ago, I feared that Thomas McCarthy’s intelligent little film would never find an audience. Its account of a gloomy widower (Richard Jenkins in one the year’s best performances) obtaining a new lease on life via the immigrant couple he befriends could have been rendered in broad, sentimental terms; instead, the story is told with nuance and restraint, even as it evolves from a bittersweet character study into an impassioned critique of American policy toward foreigners post-9/11. That it did find a sizable audience is enough to restore my faith in film distribution.
6. REPRISE
The Norwegian TRAINSPOTTING, only with mental illness and existential despair in place of the heroin and booze? Perhaps. Joachim Trier’s film is far from unique in how it revels in the ebullience of having an entire adulthood ahead of one's self, but it’s the rare one that considers all the anxieties and uncertainties that come with the territory; that it does so with detached wisdom and grace keeps it from feeling contrived.
7. FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON
Inspired by Albert Lamorisse's classic 1956 short THE RED BALLOON, Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-Hsien seeks Paris as a thoughtful tourist would, freshly viewing the city’s day-to-day rhythms with the same sense of discovery found in his Asian films. Emphasizing textures and title-referencing motifs that subtly surface throughout, he’s created his most engaging, affable work to date without compromising his poetic approach.
8. SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK
In his directorial debut, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman burrows even further down his own rabbit hole, forging a universe nearly brought to the brink of collapse by its art/life collisions and mind-blowing meta-references. Fortunately, it’s never less than a fascinating place to inhabit, aided by a brave performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman and a stellar, mostly female supporting cast. An absolutely terrifying comedy, it also resonates more profoundly than any of Kaufman’s previous efforts – especially with repeated viewings.
9. HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
Only Mike Leigh could devise a heroine like Poppy (the magnificent Sally Hawkins), an eternally optimistic London schoolteacher whom, in a lesser director’s hands, would come off as infuriating and abrasive. But, for all her whimsy and light, she’s one of his most intricate creations, and much more than she appears on the surface. Although a little pokey, this comparatively lighthearted Leigh film is as full of substance as his best work, and Hawkins’ scenes with her hotheaded driving instructor (Eddie Marsan) are an unusual, beguiling cross between screwball comedy and kitchen sink realism.
10. STILL LIFE
For years I’ve tried to figure out what the fuss with critically-adored Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke was all about: whereas his past films, although full of great ideas, somehow always lost their grasp along the way, this one stays afloat from beginning to end. A beautiful meditation on the Three Gorges Dam, it examines a small village that was destroyed by the project through the eyes of two characters who return to seek out displaced family members. The gorgeous, languid camerawork is a huge part of the appeal, but STILL LIFE is more than just a pretty travelogue – it documents a historical moment, and via its two stories, the human cost of it.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
WALL-E
The first half is simply genius; if the more conventional remainder sustained its weird poetry, the whole thing might have been my favorite film of the year.
CHRIS AND DON: A LOVE STORY
A documentary about the writer Chris Isherwood and his lover Don Bachardy and an illuminating portrait of any long-term relationship, gay or otherwise.
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Werner Herzog goes to Antarctica (some filmmaker had to) and he finds pure shimmering beauty in its extreme icy terrain – not to mention a woman who can fold herself up inside a suitcase.
I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG
Kristin Scott Thomas mesmerizes as a woman just released from a fifteen-year prison sentence in this unsentimental French drama that puts THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION to shame.
THE UNIVERSE OF KEITH HARING
With its one-of-a-kind subject having died so young, this is a vital document that aptly shows how Haring’s contributions to the art world continue to astound and inspire.
CHOP SHOP
BALLAST
Both Ramim Bahrani’s film about a young street orphan working in the vast junkyard next to Shea Stadium and Lance Hammer’s mournful character study in rural Mississippi are deeply indebted to Italian Neorealism; both also feel more honest and original than most of what screened at the indieplexes this year.
THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS
With a perfect meshing of story and style, this Canadian feature starring Ellen Page establishes a new creative standard for what one can accomplish with digital video.
MILK
Gus Van Sant makes an agreeable return to mainstream filmmaking with this biopic, but it’s an unexpectedly lithe, likable Sean Penn that really impresses in the titular role.
BILLY THE KID
Billy, a 15-year-old teenager in rural Maine, isn’t especially unique or exceptional, but after watching Jennifer Venditti’s perceptive, at times heartbreaking documentary, you’ll never forget him.
ALEXANDRA
Opera diva Galina Vishnevskaya anchors Aleksandr Sokurov’s anti-war film with a towering, tour de force display of tenacity and motherhood.
THE PRINCESS OF NEBRASKA
It will forever be known as the first feature film to have its premiere on Youtube, but this quite moving little experiment is not merely director Wayne Wang’s long-awaited return to form, but also an artistic breakthrough.
ALSO RECOMMENDED:
AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR
THE AXE IN THE ATTIC
THE BAND'S VISIT
BURN AFTER READING
A CHRISTMAS TALE
DOUBT
THE EDGE OF HEAVEN
FROZEN RIVER
JELLYFISH
LOVE SONGS
MISTER FOE
MISTER LONELY
PAGEANT
PARANOID PARK
RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
SONG SUNG BLUE
SURFWISE
TOWELHEAD
WATER LILIES
THE WITNESSES
XXY
06 January 2009
2008 BOOKLIST
A tradition I began last year, here's a rundown of what I read in 2008, followed by a few observations:
1. Watching TV, Harry Castleman and Walter J. Podrazik
2. The Water-Method Man, John Irving
3. Shakespeare: The World as Stage, Bill Bryson
4. George Mills, Stanley Elkin
5. Bangkok 8, John Burdett
6. Last Night at the Lobster, Stewart O'Nan
7. My Life in France, Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme
8. The Complete Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
9. Physical Evidence: Selected Film Criticism, Kent Jones
10. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Haruki Murakami
11. You Are Here, Daniel MacIvor
12. Derek Jarman: A Biography, Tony Peake*
13. Pieces of Soap, Elkin
14. Fear of Music: The 261 Greatest Albums Since Punk and Disco, Garry Mulholland
15. Rock On: An Office Power Ballad, Dan Kennedy
16. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
17. We Disappear, Scott Heim
18. The Pythons Autobiography, Monty Python
19. Polaroids From the Dead, Douglas Coupland
20. The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Gary Shteyngart
21. Skinny Legs and All, Tom Robbins*
22. When You Are Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris
23. Norwegian Wood, Murakami
24. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, Jennifer 8 Lee
25. A Wolf At the Table, Augusten Burroughs
26. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bryson
27. The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup, Susan Orlean
28. In the City of Shy Hunters, Tom Spanbauer
29. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
30. Sign 'O' The Times (33 1/3), Michaelangelo Matos
31. A Spot of Bother, Mark Haddon
32. But Enough About Me, Jancee Dunn
33. If You're Feeling Sinister (33 1/3), Scott Plagenhoef
34. Now It's Time to Say Goodbye, Dale Peck*
35. A Cinema of Loneliness, Robert Phillip Kolker
36. Selected Stories, Alice Munro
37. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Murakami
38. Downtown Owl, Chuck Klosterman
39. Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste (33 1/3), Carl Wilson
40. Bridge of Sighs, Richard Russo
41. The Sweet Hereafter, Russell Banks
42. Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin, Shopsin with Carolynn Carreno
43. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen*
44. The Yacoubian Building, Alaa Al Aswany
*re-read
To break it down by genre, I read eighteen novels, two biographies, eight memoirs (including one that is also a graphic novel and another that is also a cookbook), four collections of essays, two collections of short stories, one play and nine other nonfiction books (three of which are part of this series).
I also re-read four books that I first picked up five-to-ten years ago. Tony Peake's superlative Jarman biography was specifically revisited for this project; the other three were fat, sprawling novels that meant a lot to me the first time around. I enjoyed revisiting all three, but the Jonathan Franzen book held up best, perhaps because I first read the other two months after finishing grad school - a particularly impressionable time for me.
This year, I made a conscious effort to read a diverse selection of authors and not get bogged down in devouring one writer's oeuvre (as I did with Bill Bryson in 2006-07). While a part of me wanted to check one Haruki Murakami book after another out of the library, I showed some restraint and read only three.
The longest book I read was a wonderful 600+ page compilation of Alice Munro short stories; the most difficult read by far was Stanley Elkin's dense but occasionally genius George Mills (with the "Sloosha's Crossin' An' Ev'rythin' After" section of Cloud Atlas a close second); the breeziest read was Jancee Dunn's account of writing for Rolling Stone - winning and entertaining but not fluffy; the biggest disappointment was Augusten Burroughs' shark-jumping book-long complaint about how his daddy didn't love him; the best surprise was Carl Wilson's gleeful, fascinating deconstruction of Celine Dion.
My five favorites from this list: #7 (rarely has such an infectious, engaging real-life personality ever translated so well on the page), #16 (like six novels for the price of one, only it really is one novel, and the echoes and connections within are astonishing), #20 (a wickedly funny debut that reads like a Gen-X Woody Allen crossed with Nabokov), #28 (an original, dazzling achievement that's even better than my favorite book from last year), and #40 (similar in theme and approach to the author's past work, but far more accomplished and affecting than his somewhat overrated Pulitzer winner.)
1. Watching TV, Harry Castleman and Walter J. Podrazik
2. The Water-Method Man, John Irving
3. Shakespeare: The World as Stage, Bill Bryson
4. George Mills, Stanley Elkin
5. Bangkok 8, John Burdett
6. Last Night at the Lobster, Stewart O'Nan
7. My Life in France, Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme
8. The Complete Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
9. Physical Evidence: Selected Film Criticism, Kent Jones
10. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Haruki Murakami
11. You Are Here, Daniel MacIvor
12. Derek Jarman: A Biography, Tony Peake*
13. Pieces of Soap, Elkin
14. Fear of Music: The 261 Greatest Albums Since Punk and Disco, Garry Mulholland
15. Rock On: An Office Power Ballad, Dan Kennedy
16. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
17. We Disappear, Scott Heim
18. The Pythons Autobiography, Monty Python
19. Polaroids From the Dead, Douglas Coupland
20. The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Gary Shteyngart
21. Skinny Legs and All, Tom Robbins*
22. When You Are Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris
23. Norwegian Wood, Murakami
24. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, Jennifer 8 Lee
25. A Wolf At the Table, Augusten Burroughs
26. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bryson
27. The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup, Susan Orlean
28. In the City of Shy Hunters, Tom Spanbauer
29. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
30. Sign 'O' The Times (33 1/3), Michaelangelo Matos
31. A Spot of Bother, Mark Haddon
32. But Enough About Me, Jancee Dunn
33. If You're Feeling Sinister (33 1/3), Scott Plagenhoef
34. Now It's Time to Say Goodbye, Dale Peck*
35. A Cinema of Loneliness, Robert Phillip Kolker
36. Selected Stories, Alice Munro
37. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Murakami
38. Downtown Owl, Chuck Klosterman
39. Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste (33 1/3), Carl Wilson
40. Bridge of Sighs, Richard Russo
41. The Sweet Hereafter, Russell Banks
42. Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin, Shopsin with Carolynn Carreno
43. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen*
44. The Yacoubian Building, Alaa Al Aswany
*re-read
To break it down by genre, I read eighteen novels, two biographies, eight memoirs (including one that is also a graphic novel and another that is also a cookbook), four collections of essays, two collections of short stories, one play and nine other nonfiction books (three of which are part of this series).
I also re-read four books that I first picked up five-to-ten years ago. Tony Peake's superlative Jarman biography was specifically revisited for this project; the other three were fat, sprawling novels that meant a lot to me the first time around. I enjoyed revisiting all three, but the Jonathan Franzen book held up best, perhaps because I first read the other two months after finishing grad school - a particularly impressionable time for me.
This year, I made a conscious effort to read a diverse selection of authors and not get bogged down in devouring one writer's oeuvre (as I did with Bill Bryson in 2006-07). While a part of me wanted to check one Haruki Murakami book after another out of the library, I showed some restraint and read only three.
The longest book I read was a wonderful 600+ page compilation of Alice Munro short stories; the most difficult read by far was Stanley Elkin's dense but occasionally genius George Mills (with the "Sloosha's Crossin' An' Ev'rythin' After" section of Cloud Atlas a close second); the breeziest read was Jancee Dunn's account of writing for Rolling Stone - winning and entertaining but not fluffy; the biggest disappointment was Augusten Burroughs' shark-jumping book-long complaint about how his daddy didn't love him; the best surprise was Carl Wilson's gleeful, fascinating deconstruction of Celine Dion.
My five favorites from this list: #7 (rarely has such an infectious, engaging real-life personality ever translated so well on the page), #16 (like six novels for the price of one, only it really is one novel, and the echoes and connections within are astonishing), #20 (a wickedly funny debut that reads like a Gen-X Woody Allen crossed with Nabokov), #28 (an original, dazzling achievement that's even better than my favorite book from last year), and #40 (similar in theme and approach to the author's past work, but far more accomplished and affecting than his somewhat overrated Pulitzer winner.)
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