Am I blogging...or am I pitching my existence?
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| High Concept Am I blogging...or am I pitching my existence? |
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Tuesday, January 03, 2006 The Pitch: It's like Ignorance meets Bliss! Happy New Year, everyone! On the personal front, lots going on but nothing I'm really exactly peeing myself to discuss so I'll wait. I thought it'd be amusing to post my best of list for movies of this year considering I didn't really see that many currently released movies (of the 98 films I saw in 2005, only 28 were released in 2005, and I would say only half of those I caught in the theaters). But that's the great thing about movies: a good one can be the highlight of your year no matter what year it was released.So, in approximately the order I saw them: 1. Croupier (1998): After seeing Clive Owen in Closer, it was obvious I was missing something by not seeing his early indie thriller--plus, it's one of Edi's faves. If you like voiceover narration, this flick about an emotionally disconnected card-dealer who wants to be a writer is the film for you. I definitely feel sorry for Clive having to make third-rate thrillers with Jennifer Aniston after making a little gem like this. Just keep cashing those paychecks, Clive. 2. Meeting People is Easy (1999): This music documentary about Radiohead coming unglued while touring for "Ok, Computer" captures why Radiohead's music is so appealing for me--it's simultaneously present and prescient as the album the band is touring in support of seems to prophesize their resultant paranoid, disquieted and uncomfortable state. Absurdly influential on this year's crappy Nanovel. 3. Kung-Fu Hustle (2004): Probably counts as a 2005 film since it got released in theaters. But I didn't see it in the theater: I saw it on our all-region DVD player at the beginning of April and I loved it. I could turn this entry into a screed against the low levels of public courtesy that make seeing movies in an actual theater a crapshoot, but let's focus on the positive. This comedy by Stephen Chow is an engaging anarchic slapdash frolic where one quickly learns never to second-guess what direction the film will be heading two scenes after the scene one's watching. The less you know about it, the better it gets so I'll shut up about it. But it's a fave. 4. Best of Youth, Parts I and II (2003): Made for Italian television but released theatrically, Best of Youth is a six-hour novel on film, with characters moving through decades of Italian life. Part of the joy is in watching how a single event will change the lives of everyone involved for decades to come. And part of the joy is simply watching, allowing oneself to get swept away by a masterfully-told story. 5. The "Up" Series (1964-): Michael Apted's series of documentaries following the same group of Britishers every seven years offers a lot of the same joys as Best of Youth. Although one of the frightening truths about reality is that it can be much harder to predict than fiction. Having watched all of them (although, hmmm, I stopped listing them after 21 Up, why'd I do that?), Edi and I eagerly await 49 Up which hit Brit TV in 2005 and hopefully will get released here in the U.S. this year. 6. The Wicker Man (1973): An M. Night Shamalyan film decades before there was such a thing, The Wicker Man is the best musical horror movie ever made (I know, lots of competition for the title, right?) which achieves its unique sense of disquiet by maintaining a gently bemused tone perfect for the pagan traditions it explores. I'm really glad I made this list now because I was going to watch the DVD after writing this and realize it's not on my shelf. Fuck, did I loan this to somebody? 7. Pistol Opera (2002): Seijun Suzuki's return to filmmaking, via a very loose remake of his own Branded to Kill, really delighted me (much more than the original, to be honest). Suzuki is obtuse about what his films might mean, but his confident directorial choices tease you to construct and discard any number of theories while viewing. This playful quality--plus the presence of boobies and guns--makes Pistol Opera immenently (re)watchable. 8. Young Adam (2003) & The Machinist (2004) (tie): Neither of these films are perfect, I admit. But David Mackenzie's adaptation of a classic existential Scots novel and Brad Anderson's nouveau-classic thriller have significant charms--gorgeous cinematography, classic scores (particularly The Machinist, which sounds like a Bernard Herrmann score), and a desire to craft complexly ambiguous title characters. I've got to give Young Adam the lead, overall (and not just because I was able to get a used copy for under $5 at Hollywood Video); in the end, The Machinist is just the loveliest episode of The Twilight Zone ever filmed (and possessing, in Christian Bale's dramatic weight loss, one of the most chilling special effects ever filmed). Young Adam stays true to its literary roots and keeps its study of good and evil far away from cheap psychological pulp. And yet, I admit it, The Machinist is very watchable cheap psychological pulp. 9. The Squid and the Whale (2005): Noah Baumbach's tale of divorce among the New York intelligentsia is hilarious and deeply moving--I thought it was like The Royal Tenenbaums with all the bullshit removed. Edi and I kind of saw this one on a lark and I'm so glad we did--I think it's my movie of the year. 10. I don't know, really--maybe another tie for a bunch of far-from perfect flicks that had something so engaging to them they've continued to stay on the brain: Mario Bava's decadent and absurd Danger: Diabolik! was kind of dull when it wasn't being absolutely enthralling; Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain seems to get about as deep as it's going to in the first forty minutes and never does much else, but the cinematography and Heath Ledger's performace are both to die for; I thought Serenity (2005) had some performances and plot points that didn't translate well to the big screen but it also had some great lines and action setpieces; Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Wererabbit (2005) was wonderful but suffered a bit from being a full-length feature. All of them are worth seeing once. Other great bits and pieces: the closing credits to Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) ; Reese Witherspoon's performance in Walk The Line (2005) (although somebody give that woman a sandwich!); David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow in Good Night and Good Luck; the barking dog in The Triplettes of Belleville (2003); Bill Nighy in The Girl in the Cafe (2005); Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers (2005); John Abraham's charismatic villain in Dhoom (2004); the kids in Mad Hot Ballroom (2005); the fake-out in Batman Begins (2005); the over-the-top absurdity of Torque (2004); Mickey Rourke as Marv in Sin City (2005) (as well as the faithfulness of the look and feel of the film to the original comics); Ewan McGregor's double duty in The Island (2005); Lars in Some Kind of Monster (2004); Seu Jorge covering David Bowie's songs in Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). Finally, if you wanted to know what I saw for the year (so you can understand that, say, Kongpote didn't make my list because I didn't see it), you can look here. posted by Jeff Lester | 1:01 PM | |
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