1990s List Discussion and Suggestions (Lists Project Vol. 2)

[Michael Kerpan]

but two of them are skewed in the same unusual direction

Are you (half) talking about me? ;~}

BTW -- Anyone who wants to borrow an unsubbed copy of my much loved Ohikkoshi (Shinji Somai's master work), drop me a note.

[domino harvey]

Can someone compile the swapsies? These are the ones I remember off the top of my head:

Domino Harvey: Dick or Miami Blues
Tom Hagen: Bringing Out the Dead
Swo17: Your Friends and Neighbors
GringoTex: Texasville or the Thing Called Love
Zedz: A Brighter Summer Day (Unavailable)
Tojoed: Theo and Vincent

[swo17]

I should point out that, while my swapsie still applies, I selected it at the beginning of the project as an old favorite that I figured few would have seen. My #1 pick for the decade by some margin is Miller's Crossing, a film I find difficult to describe in anything less than a long string of hyperbolic adjectives. As my time now is short, I will settle for just one: perfect.

Also, my likely #2 pick is secretly hidden somewhere in this post! (Can you find it?)

Re: Brighter Summer Day's unavailability, I believe someone earlier in the thread said something to the effect that they would make it their life's mission to see that anyone who wanted to get their hands on it could. I might also be able to help in this respect, as well as for a few Iranian films (Kiarostami's And Life Goes On/Life and Nothing More and Through the Olive Trees, Makhmalbaf's Moment of Innocence). PM me if interested.

Finally, on the off chance that anyone has not yet seen the Dardenne brothers' La promesse, um, what are you waiting for?

[tojoed]

..short, I will settle for just one: perfect.
Also, my likely #2 pick is secretly hidden somewhere in this post! (Can you find it?)

Blimey. So you're a big fan of Christopher Mander's Perfect? A short film.

[swo17]

Woah, that was so secret even I didn't know about it. Guess again...it's kind of way out in left field.

[LQ]

it's kind of way out in left field

If, say, your post is a 'field', and your avatar is occupying the area to the left of the text...

Couldn't be Rushmore, could it?
I'm trying to think outside the (text) box here...

[swo17]

Um, it could be, yes...

[domino harvey]

I can't be bothered to find the proper clues, but it's Blame It On the Bellboy, isn't it

[mikeohhh]

L'eau froide is quite a picture. Is it music rights issues that keep it from receiving a R1 release?

Also, can't wait for A Brighter Summer Day on Criterion.

[zedz]

Rewatched Jia's Xiao Wu for the first time since it came out. On release, I thought it was pretty good (especially the clever final shot), and certainly significant, but it didn't blow me away. Of course, at the time I assumed it was a particularly ballsy student film from someone we'd never hear from again.

A couple of years later, Platform did blow me away, and I figured that some day I'd need to reassess his debut. And now Jia's been anointed by The New Yorker as THE Chinese director of the new century (fair enough) I doubt that I'm alone.

To my surprise, that first impression still stands. It's a solid, bold film, but the long-shot, long-take aesthetic of Platform isn't really there yet, and the tension between guerilla neorealism and Bressonian gestural detail isn't particularly resolved. There are lots of close-ups of the protagonist's hands, but this trope is simultaneously overused and underdeveloped (it sort of fizzles out, ultimately) and it's (sorry) heavy-handed in a films whose strengths and observational and documentary.

That final shot is still the smartest thing in the movie: a great way to turn the problems of unofficial filming in real places into an aesthetic advantage.

[Gregory]

I like Edward Yang very much.

[mikeohhh]

I guess I was just thinking in my mind how silly it is to pay third parties for bootlegs of unavailable films when there is a much simpler method of acquiring seemingly out-of-reach films, but I suppose there are people on this very board who have a vested interest in their DVDs NOT appearing as torrents, so I'll edit my post if you edit your quote, Gregory.

[swo17]

Just for the record, when I said "I might be able to help" regarding a few unavailable films, it was not my intention to charge people for bootlegs.

[mikeohhh]

Just for the record, when I said "I might be able to help" regarding a few unavailable films, it was not my intention to charge people for bootlegs.

oh i realize that you are young and technologically capable. It was just a general observation from reading the board for many years.

[swo17]

And now Jia's been anointed by The New Yorker as THE Chinese director of the new century (fair enough) I doubt that I'm alone.

Didn't you get the memo zedz? Jia's got nothing on that new Will Ferrell movie.

Also, I was surprised to notice that you do not appear to have mentioned Time Indefinite one time in this thread. This seems like essential viewing for everyone here but domino.

[zedz]

Also, I was surprised to notice that you do not appear to have mentioned Time Indefinite one time in this thread. This seems like essential viewing for everyone here but domino.

I thought I had, but it must have been at the tail end of the 80s discussion thread. Yes, quite essential, but it helps a lot if you've seen Sherman's March first, since it's something of a dark twin to it (and you might as well throw in Backyard and Charleen while you're at it).

Other probable inclusions on my list that I might not have mentioned:

Goodbye, South, Goodbye - It's getting so crowded in there that this great anti-gangster film has taken on a synechdochic (?) relationship to Hou's entire 90s output. When I first saw this, it was like his second coming. I found The Puppetmaster rather a letdown after A City of Sadness, and Good Men, Good Women didn't quite live up to its structural ambitions, but this film was sublime from the start (or nearly the start - from that rapturous train shot, at least) and I went back to see it at its second and last local screening just to experience its transporting travelling shots again. Flowers of Shanghai is another masterpiece, but I think it'll be edged out of my top 50.

The Hole - Tsai's most Beckettian and funniest film, and the greatest musical of the 90s. That first Grace Chang number was probably my greatest WTF moviegoing moment of the decade. Gesundheit!

The Wrong Trousers - Probably Aardman's creative peak, when it was still a cottage industry, albeit one on the brink of global conquest. Probably the funniest action movie of the decade: if only all chase scenes had the wit and imagination of this film's climax.

Jacquot de Nantes - I only caught up with this film recently, in a drop-dead-gorgeous new print, and I found it to have a beautiful and creative approach to the 'problem' of film biography. The period reconstructions are excellent examples of the standard approach, but it's the additional layers that Varda adds that make it unique: the recreations of Demy's first films (supervised by Demy), the playful citations from Demy's features, and above all the tender footage of the dying Demy, hovering over the final testament he hasn't the strength to write himself.

[domino harvey]

The Wrong Trousers - Probably Aardman's creative peak, when it was still a cottage industry, albeit one on the brink of global conquest. Probably the funniest action movie of the decade: if only all chase scenes had the wit and imagination of this film's climax.

It is astonishingly good. So good that in comparison I've been thoroughly disappointed by everything else Aardman has put out, including the dreadful feature.

[swo17]

Which is the one with the penguin? That one was always my favorite.

[domino harvey]

And we have a quorum

[zedz]

Which is the one with the penguin? That one was always my favorite.

Spoiler

Spoiler alert!

I think you mean "chicken".

[Murdoch]

That bird scared the hell out of me, when Gromit was in the trash can and it looked straight at him I got the chills.

[ptatler]

Finally caught up with a lock for my list (BITTER MOON) and one I respected but probably won't place in my top fifty (DESIGNATED MOURNER).

[Floyd]

Figured since it is closing down on the list thing I'd throw some of my favorites out there that maybe haven't been discussed. Glad to see a lot of good words for TO SLEEP WITH ANGER as that will be high on my list.

A trio of great documentaries from Frederick Wiseman in BELFAST, MAINE with ZOO and PUBLIC HOUSING.
One of my favorite Woody Allen films which to me is just a wonderful combination of love and cinema (or maybe that is love of cinema) MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY.
Aki Kaurismaki's also great trio BOHEMIAN LIFE, DRIFTING CLOUDS and THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL.

5 OTHERS
AMERICAN MOVIE (Chris Smith)
SURE FIRE (Jon Jost)
AMARILLO BY MORNING (Spike Jonze)
EVERY LITTLE THING (Nicolas Philibert)
DESERET (James Benning)

Still need to watch Wiseman's LA COMEDIE FRANCAISE and BALLET they might just make it also.

[Gregory]

One of my favorite Woody Allen films which to me is just a wonderful combination of love and cinema (or maybe that is love of cinema) MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY...

AMARILLO BY MORNING (Spike Jonze)

Still need to watch Wiseman's LA COMEDIE FRANCAISE and BALLET they might just make it also.

Amarillo By Morning is outstanding and will definitely make my list. Earlier I considered listing it for swap (even though it won't be at the very top of my list) because it would make me happy to see it rank somewhere on the final list. But after my attempt to drum up interest in Bille August's Zappa last time around was a dismal failure, I didn't bother. [Takes break from writing post to go sulk] But what the hell, I might as well throw it in as a late entry. It's a good choice at this stage because it's only 30 minutes. The Spike Jonze set is available used on Amazon at real bargain prices, too.

Manhattan Murder Mystery is good, but my choice will be Bullets Over Broadway. Last year I was filling in the few remaining Allen films I'd never gotten around to seeing and I was amazed at how great this one was. I'd never heard anyone rave about this one before, but I think it's the best thing he did in the decade between Crimes and Misdemeanors and Sweet and Lowdown. It's a shame the DVD presents it in a soft, non-anamorphic transfer.

Haven't decided what to do about Wiseman. I thought High School II was fascinating paired with High School, but Zoo and Public Housing are also great. I still haven't had the chance to see Belfast, Maine, but have heard very good things.

[zedz]

Progress Report:

I've had five lists submitted so far, and they've been all over the place, making for a completely insane current top 10. Basically, any film that fared relatively well on any two lists is in there, including a couple of films I (and I'm sure many others) never expected to see at all.

No director appears more than once, but one production company is there three times. Three times in the top four, no less. The list is half American, 30% Asian and one fifth European. I reckon the current number one (by a comfy margin) has only got a fifty-fifty chance of making the final top fifty, and there's only one title there that I'd bet any sum of money on still being in the top ten at the end of this exercise.