guess this is due for a little bit of an update. still pretty big on bergman, but a major new addition to the roster for me is imamura. saw 'the eel' and 'dr. akagi' in spring '02 and was so impressed that i've been seeking out everything i can find by the guy [which is unfortunately not so much]. anyway it's been rewarding. also rewatched some itami movies and i appreciate him more all the time, particularly for 'minbo', and 'a taxing woman', though 'tampopo' and 'the funeral' are no slouches either, shame the guy killed himself in the prime of his career, a real tragedy in my book...
also time to shuffle around my miyazaki list a little bit maybe, he's a great director but i really love him for his manga, 'kaze no tani no naushikaa', and he's a really interesting guy to boot, that's enough to keep me studying his movies. one that comes to mind more and more is 'princess mononoke'. barring the last three minutes or so i think that's really one of the best movies i've seen, especially after reading and rereading nausicaa and rereading it some more. the transformation of his ideas from the start of that life-changing project [early 80s, starting a couple years before the release of the movie of the same title] to the movie he did after finishing it [mononoke] is a really telling. anyway i could write lots more praise for the the guy, it's odd, i think each of his movie is majorly flawed in some way or another, but i still find myself appreciating them more and more all the time. better just post the darn list now... other than the three mentioned so far, sayles is still going pretty strong, though the only ones of his that i've rewatched in the last year are 'limbo' [the first time i'd seen it since when it first came to my local cinema back when i was in high school, liked it just as much and it was worth rewatching, even rerewatched it the next day after i rented it], and 'men with guns', which i now have a copy of, and is just one of those rare examples of 'near flawless art'. i really love how sayles takes away all the gloss and tells such a painful story of amazing complexity in such plain terms. all substance, and so totally unpretentious.
bergman i havent kept up with as much as i'd like to. i need to see the rest of his filmography and i really want to see the seventh seal again, maybe back to back with wild strawberries, that was one of those movies that i had to sit back when i was about half way through just to take a break, it was so intense and engrosing.
imamura shohei: vengeance is mine [1979], the ballad of narayama [1982], black rain [1989], the pornographers [1966], the eel [1997]. ...dr. akagi [1999].
miyazaki hayao: princess mononoke [1997], laputa [1986], porco rosso [1992], the whale hunt [2001], spirited away [2001], [and an honorable mention to my personal favorite of his animated works, the 1979 tv series, 'future boy conan'.] ....kiki's delivery service [1989], my neighbor totoro [1988], sherlock hound [1984], nausicaa of the valley of wind [1984], panda kopanda [1972] [worth tracking down especially for fans of totoro, miyazaki did storyboards and his early slapstick sensibilities show through a lot here], horus: prince of the sun [1968][actually my favorite anime of all time to boot, again takahata directed, miyazaki cowrote, did storyboards, in-betweens, etc.], lupin III tv series 3 [the last two episodes], castle of cagliostro [1979], koro's day out [2001], heidi: girl of the alps [and the other world masterpiece theater series, spaning the early-mid seventies, takahata directing, miyazaki doing storyboards]...
john sayles: men with guns [1997], matewan [1987], lone star [1996], city of hope [1991], limbo [1999]. ...sunshine state [2002], secret of roan innish [1994], eight men out [1988].
ingmar bergman: the seventh seal [1957], wild strawberries [1957], the magician [1958], persona [1966], smiles of a summer night [1955]. ....cries and whispers [1972], hour of the wolf [1968], a lesson in love [1954], the devil's eye [1960], the magic flute [1975].
juzo itami: tampopo [1986], a taxing woman [1987], minbo [1992], the funeral [1985], taxing woman's return [1988].
here's the old list, if you're that interested in reading the above post that you've made it this far, might be interested in reading this old one.
Originally Posted by linespalsy
1) best director over all: ingmar bergman: wild strawberries, the seventh seal, the magician, the magic flute, cries and whispers.
runners up: ozu yasujiro; werner herzog; buster keaton.
2) best animator: miyazaki hayao: the whale hunt, sen to chihiro, laputa, my neigbor totoro, kiki's delivery service, princess mononoke.
runners up: isao takahata; jan svankmajer; dave fleischer.
3) best surrealist director: jan svankmajer: faust, male games, darkness/light/darkness, death of stalinism in bohemia.
runner up: luis bunuel.
4)best writer/director: john sayles: matewan, men with guns, sunshine state, city of hope, lonestar.
5)best b-movie/cult director: suzuki seijun: tokyo drifer, branded to kill, gate of flesh, fighting elegy, youth of the beast.
runner up: david cronenberg.
Reply to Topic
I have seen it, once upon a time, but having only just realised I'd seen it from your mentioning does not lend it any great credence. From what I recall it was mediocre at best. Not something I care to repeat watching.
)