A LIST WITH [OCCASIONAL] ANNOTATIONS
[Originally posted, in a slightly different version, on my
BLOG.]
Needless to say, everything here should be approached as a "work in progress" until, well, about this time next year. It'll be months – indeed, possibly twelve of them – before I'm able to put together a genuine, bona fide list for 2004; that's why this one's so all over the place; so disturbingly limited to America in its focus; so
short. [Five favourites and three honourable mentions thus far; not even a top ten!] To be honest, I actually toyed with publishing my list for 2003 instead of this one; at least that one's closer to being "finished," so to speak. These things can never
really be "finished". But that's all part of the pain...uh,
fun of writing them.
Enjoy.
BEST FILM OF 2004
Before Sunset (d. Richard Linklater)
RUNNERS-UP
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (d. Michel Gondry)
I ♥ Huckabees (d. David O. Russell)
The Ister (d. Daniel Barison & David Ross)The best and most significant Australian feature of the year thus far [and I don't see a better one coming along, to be honest] has been The Ister, and I make this judgment based on both the quality of the film itself and on its importance to Australian filmmaking. http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/04/33/killing_the_gatekeeper.html]LINK[/url]
Samaria (d. Kim Ki-duk)
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (d. Adam McKay)[A] film that finds itself going off on so many tangents and indulging itself in so many digressions ... that, even though it misses it a lot of marks, one can't help but feel that there's something inspired going on here, on a level of absolute purity and unadulterated idiocy... LINK
The Cow-Goat Song (d. Cameron Edser)A short claymation by a South Australian high school student that wipes the floor with last year's good-but-not-great Harvey Krumpet (d. Adam Elliot, 2003) in terms of comic absurdity [if not forced poignancy or production values]. The general bizarreness that felt so calculated in Krumpet comes much more naturally to Cow-Goat, which is over in a minute-and-a-half and doesn't outstay its welcome: "Cows make great lovers/they're quite well endowed/there's no better night/than a night with a cow!" Indeed.
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (d. Brad Siberling)It's Potter without magic, souped-up on psychosis and absurdity, with a more-than-liberal dash of Dickensian darkness. LINK
YET TO SEE (A PARTIAL & VERY INCOMPLETE LIST)
The Aviator (d. Martin Scorsese)
Bad Education (d. Pedro Almodóvar)
Café Lumière (d. Hou Hsiao-hsien)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (d. Wes Anderson)
Moolaadé (d. Ousmane Sembene)
Notre musique (d. Jean-Luc Godard)
Sideways (d. Alexander Payne)
Vera Drake (d. Mike Leigh)
BEST RETROSPECTIVE & FESTIVAL SCREENINGS (NON-2004; INCLUDING SHORTS)
11 x 14 (d. James Benning, 1977)11 x 14 . . . was, quite simply put [and remember that I'm not experimental cinema's most overt supporter], a masterwork. LINK
Crimson Gold (d. Jafar Panahi, 2003)I [am] reminded again of the 'global cinema' argument, and ultimately feel that Crimson Gold . . . is able to work on two separate levels – on one level it works as a work of art that's particularly relevant to Iranians . . . and on a second level it works as a work of art that's far beyond any idea of nationality. The film speaks loudly and clearly to anyone from anywhere, and it does it remarkably well. LINK
The Last Uncounted Village (d. Sharam Alidi, 2002)
The Story of the Weeping Camel (d. Byambasuren Davaa & Luigi Falorni, 2003)
Two Cars, One Night (d. Taika Cohen, 2003)
Best DVD Releases
The Battle of Algiers (d. Gillo Pontecorvo, 1965) (Criterion Collection)
"John Cassavetes – Five Films"
(Criterion Collection)
"Seinfeld" – Seasons 1-3
(Columbia Tri-Star)
Dennis Potter's "The Singing Detective"
(d. John Amiel, 1986) (Roadshow Entertainment)
Slacker (d. Richard Linklater, 1991) (Criterion Collection)
Une femme est une femme (d. Jean-Luc Godard, 1961) (Criterion Collection)
Videodrome (d. David Cronenberg, 1983) (Criterion Collection)
Best Performances
Jim Carrey in
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events &
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindCarrey's body, as ever, is one of the most interesting, intriguing and remarkably versatile things that cinema audiences have the profound privilege to see on screen nowadays. Carrey's body, like the film Lemony Snicket's, is a hive of infinite possibilities. LINK
Natalie Portman in
Garden State (d. Zach Braff)
Geoffrey Rush in
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (d. Stephen Hopkins)
Jason Schwartzman & Mark Whalberg in
I ♥ Huckabees
Kate Winslet in
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
PERSONAL REVELATION(S) OF A YOUNG CINÉPHILE
NOTE: In other words, films, filmmakers, critics and other events that I discovered or experienced for the first time in 2004 and which had the greatest impact on me as both a cinéphile and a filmmaker.
My first film festival experience
LINK
The film criticism of Jonathan Rosenbaum
Adrian Martin's "Mise en scène is Dead: The Expressive, the Excessive, the Technical and the Stylish" & "There's a Million Stories, and a Million Ways to Get There from Here"
LINK
William D. Routt's "L'Evidence"
LINK
Movie Mutations: The Changing Face of World Cinephilia by Jonathan Rosenbaum & Adrian Martin (eds.)
E-mail conversations with filmmaker David Lowery
LINK
Playtime (d. Jacques Tati, 1967)
Jean-Luc Godard
Jim Jarmusch
John Cassavetes
Richard Linklater
BIGGEST PERSONAL LETDOWN(S)
The Bourne Supremacy (d. Paul Greengrass)
Ocean's 12 (d. Steven Soderbergh)It's very hard to write an opening sentence for what's ultimately going to be a negative review of Ocean's 12 when you're fan of both the original remake [oxymoron?] and of Soderbergh in general. In the end, you're ultimately forced to write one like the one that you just read: one that's as smugly self-reflexive as the film you're about to attack. LINK
YAWN
Kill Bill Vol. 2 (d. Quentin Tarantino)
The Passion of the Christ (d. Mel Gibson)
Somersault (d. Cate Shortland)
AND IN CONCLUSION...
"You're going to miss your plane."
"I know."
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