2000s List Discussion and Suggestions (Lists Project Vol. 2)

[John Cope]

Although an extremely polarizing figure, let us not forget Larry Clark’s finest cinematic achievement Bully. The acting is superb as is the gut wrenching authenticity evoked throughout the film. Nick Stahl couldn’t be any scarier. This will place high on my list. Any other admirers?

Absolutely. I love it as well; in fact, I just happened to have watched it just recently and was reminded of how good it was. Certainly my favorite thing Clark has done (though his contribution to Destricted is fascinating and the best of that set, along with Barney's Hoist). That final scene in the courtroom and the title cards at the end never, ever fail to send a well earned chill down my spine (while at the same time being funny as hell). And though Clark's choice of appropriate songs for his scores is always spot on, this selection is particularly strong and complementary.

Continuing my tradition of adding a few more worthy titles each time out, here's a couple more I came up with: Almereyda's extraordinary Hamlet 2000 (which is simply transcendent in my opinion) and the Wachowski's equally glorious Speed Racer. Time will vindicate that one. Oh, and lest we forget another truly transformative cinematic experience: Gordon/Parreno's Zidane.

Meanwhile, underrated as hell: Rob Schmidt's Crime and Punishment in Suburbia.

[domino harvey]

Another film that will place high on my list is Wet Hot American Summer. I know there are many Stella/State fans on this board. Let’s all rally behind this pitch perfect comedy.

It'll probably make my Top 20

[domino harvey]

You Can Count on Me – The most astute film about adult sibling relationships that I’ve seen this decade, and still Laura Linney’s best performance. If you avoided this one because it looked like a Lifetime movie-of-the-week (and you could hardly be blamed, given the way that it was promoted at the time), then do try to catch it this round.

A tremendous film that will definitely be charting nicely on my list. Linney and Ruffalo are so goddamn wonderful. If it wasn't for Julia Roberts, she'd have won the Oscar she earned.

[life_boy]

I better get in this thing early so someone may actually take my recommendation this time.

My major swap of the decade will be the stream-of-consciousness mythological fever dream clay animation Prometheus' Garden (Bruce Bickford, 2008) [Trailer]. [It may technically be an 80's film, completed in 1988, but I don't think it was screened publicly until 2008...that's how it lists on imdb and what the press material for the film state so I'll be voting for it as a 00's film, per the List Project rules.] The film isn’t something that I really describe, I just watch it and live in that space for a little while before I’m scared out by what I experience. Thankfully its only 28 minutes long. I had seen the also wonderful documentary about Bickford, Monster Road (Brett Ingram, 2004) and was on the lookout for a full Bickford piece when I caught this at a festival in North Carolina (looks like Ingram has helped get some of Bickford’s work out of the basement). Some may know of Bickford through his connection with Frank Zappa (clay sequences in Baby Snakes were Bickford's work). Prometheus' Garden is available on DVD (Netflix has it) and should be sought out by anyone interested in experimental animation, Zappa or hell, cinema in general! (Now there's no excuse!)

Other films worth mentioning:
King of the Jews (Jay Rosenblatt, 2000) -- Rosenblatt ties cultural perception and religious identity into a transcendent package.
Bright Leaves (Ross McElwee, 2003) -- McElwee deconstructs two industries and his family history. I know zedz has to have this somewhere on his shortlist. Is there anyone else out there?
The World (Jia Zhangke, 2004) –- I was completely floored by Jia’s exploration of fabrication and emotional tourism. Looks like there’s already some support for it, which is great.
Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola, 2006) -- My Hollywood-ish film of the decade. The death of Hollywood aristocracy told as the death of French aristocracy.
Don't Kill the Weatherman! (Martha Colburn, 2007) -- A great apocalyptic horror comedy (musical?) about environmental moralism and conquering the landscapes of pop cultural iconography. I guess. You can tease out plenty and still be left with a tangle of yarn of images and soundscapes, so I'll just let it be. This is the only Colburn I've been able to see in full so it will have to surrogate for the rest of her 00's work, which, from the excerpts I've seen, looks just as magical and infuriating.

And it really is a shame about the ineligibility of YouTube videos because apart from Tsai, I honestly think I would be hard-pressed to name a funnier 00's comedy than Fish Race (David L. Andrews, 2007). [I'll go ahead and throw my hat in to organize a "best of YouTube lol" vote, if I can garner any interest.]

[zedz]

And it really is a shame about the ineligibility of YouTube videos because apart from Tsai, I honestly think I would be hard-pressed to name a funnier 00's comedy than Fish Race (David L. Andrews, 2007). [I'll go ahead and throw my hat in to organize a "best of YouTube lol" vote, if I can garner any interest.]

Rather than going to the trouble of organising a vote, maybe we should just initiate a "YouTube Recommendations" thread in the Miscellaneous Forum?

[mikeohhh]

You Can Count on Me – The most astute film about adult sibling relationships that I’ve seen this decade, and still Laura Linney’s best performance. If you avoided this one because it looked like a Lifetime movie-of-the-week (and you could hardly be blamed, given the way that it was promoted at the time), then do try to catch it this round.

A tremendous film that will definitely be charting nicely on my list. Linney and Ruffalo are so goddamn wonderful. If it wasn't for Julia Roberts, she'd have won the Oscar she earned.

What is it about Laura Linney that makes her the number one go-to sister (not sista) in Hollywood? YCCOM is indeed wonderful, as is The Savages, which hit a bit stronger for me. I've been blessed not having had a major tragedy as a youngster like Linney and Ruffalo, but I've watched my mother and her siblings deal with the burdens of parents needing advanced care; it's really only a matter of time before my paternal grandparents reach that stage, and thinking about my parents getting old and my sisters and I having to take care of them is one of my biggest anxieties that my future holds. It doesn't help that Philip Seymour Hoffman is my filmic doppelganger and, now that I think about it, there are actresses who look less like my oldest sister than Laura Linney.

[mikeohhh]

Oh, and I have actually seen You Can Count On Me on the Lifetime network.

[Dr Amicus]

I'll echo the praise for both The Best of Youth and Power of Nightmares - they'll be on my list (barring a LOT of extremely good films being caught between now and Jan). A few that haven't been mentioned that almost certainly will also be making my list:

Last Orders (Schepisi, 2001) - Where did this film go? An extraordinary cast on top form in a model adaptation of a damn fine book there should have been awards galore. I've long been an admirer of Schepisi for his Scope compositions (I have a soft spot for IQ), but this might well be my favourite of his films. That the first Harry Potter film got a BAFTA nomination for Best British Film over this is one of the great mysteries.

A Long Weekend in Pest and Buda (Makk, 2003) - Overshadowed by Love, this is nevertheless one of the gems uncovered by Second Run. Echoes of the earlier film add to the feelings of loss and confusion of the main characters.

Open Range (Costner, 2003) - Costner's best film (by far) to date. Costner, Duvall and Bening all give fine performances, the supporting cast is good and there is a superb gunfight at the end. It may not break new ground in the genre, but acts as a joyful summation of it.

Offside (Panahi, 2006) - Various Iranian girls try and sneak into a football stadium to watch the national team in a World Cup qualifier. Funny and pointed in its politics, but rarely didactic - my choice for best Iranian film of the decade (although I'm a bit behind...)

Ten Canoes (de Heer, 2006) - Myth and bodily humour combine to produce a subtle deflation of earnestness (a vaguely portentous opening leads to a fart joke) and a celebration of the wonders of stories. An all Aboriginal cast - and a total refusal of noble savage cliches (along with fart jokes).

Blame it on Fidel (Julie Gavras, 2006) - Overly serious 60s radicals as seen by their long suffering daughter (apparently semi-autobiographical - the director is Costa-Gavras's daughter). Sympathetic to both sides - and not afraid to poke fun at the extremes of either - their is something of Renoir's humanism in the film.

A Prairie Home Companion (Altman, 2006) - Gosford Park is my favourite Altman of the decade, but this comes close. Amongst its many pleasures is the wonderful Bad Jokes song sequence.

Just a brief summary - quite willing to argue in more detail later (ie when not at work!)

Oh yes - my swapsie for the decade is La Antena (mentioned in my earlier post).

[zedz]

I agree that Linney was excellent in You Can Count on Me, but I found the film itself a bit underwhelming. This did, however, remind me of her very different turn in Terence Davies' magnificent House of Mirth, which will probably be making my list (I wasn't that impressed with Time and the City).

And I was sure it would have been mentioned by now (maybe it has been?), but one overlooked gem that this forum truffled up a few years back and which deserves consideration is Mamet's Spartan (I actually would have put money on this being the first swapsie to be nominated after The Baxter). I also find State and Main pretty funny, a much more effective update of Preston Sturges and other screwballists than most of the Coens' efforts in the same vein.

[tavernier]

Last Orders (Schepisi, 2001) - Where did this film go? An extraordinary cast on top form in a model adaptation of a damn fine book there should have been awards galore. I've long been an admirer of Schepisi for his Scope compositions (I have a soft spot for IQ), but this might well be my favourite of his films. That the first Harry Potter film got a BAFTA nomination for Best British Film over this is one of the great mysteries.

A Long Weekend in Pest and Buda (Makk, 2003) - Overshadowed by Love, this is nevertheless one of the gems uncovered by Second Run. Echoes of the earlier film add to the feelings of loss and confusion of the main characters.

Nice work....I had forgotten about both of these gems, and they'll certainly make my list!

[ptatler]

one overlooked gem that this forum truffled up a few years back and which deserves consideration is Mamet's Spartan

I hereby second this Swapsie.

I've been lazily putting together a post listing my underdogs and Mamet's HEIST, STATE & MAIN, and -- especially -- SPARTAN are all well worth a look. I'm tepid on REDBELT but might have to rewatch it.

Also in this post (which I may never finish in time) I extol the virtues of THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES. So: grain of salt.

[zedz]

Since we seem to be getting lotsa swapsies this time around, I've attempted to keep track of them in the initial post of this thread. Let me know if anything's amiss in the list, and keep posting here on your own nominees and viewing of others' nominees. I'll try to keep up, but PM me if I miss something on the master list.

A reminder that this is all about swapping films, not just making idle recommendations, so you have a moral obligation to watch the nominated film of anybody participating in the system who watches your nominated film.

So, for example, since I've seen the films nominated by LQ, ptatler, swo17, Tom Hagen, reno dakota, jonp72 and life_boy, that's seven viewings of Who's Camus, Anyway? that I'm owed! And if anybody wants to force me to watch their favourite neglected film, all they have to do is watch the Yanagimachi and report back here. (Surely it's only a matter of time until this system is exploted for sadistic thrills.)

And, in the spirit of the venture, reports back on those films:
The Gleaners and I - A great documentary. I love Varda's discursive, personal style in her later works, but my favourite film of hers from the 00s is Ydessa, the Bears & etc.
The Aura - Impressive and moody thriller (a riff on Antonioni's The Passenger), with some excellent sound design. I didn't think the twisty plot actually held together on closer inspection, though.
Stevie - I find this one intriguing at a meta-level, since it skirts various documentary ethics issues, and fascinating as a subject, but less impressive as a piece of filmmaking.
You, the Living - As noted above, a masterpiece and definite inclusion on my list. I like this much more than Songs from the second Floor, so if that didn't appeal, you should still give this a spin.
Fog of War / Standard Operating Procedure - I liked both of these, but didn't think either was up to the invention of Morris' 80s / 90s work. Unlike most, I had no issue with the 'recreations' of SOP, since they were so obviously not 'recreations'.
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada - I can see the appeal of this, but it's really not my cup of dirt. Well enough made, but the significance of every plot and character element was too pointedly telegraphed for my taste.
Moolade - A great, elegantly stripped back film, but I don't know if it will make my top 50. I think Sissako's Bamako is ahead of it in the queue. Both films sound hopelessly didactic on paper but play much more nuanced on the screen.
Prometheus' Garden - As life_boy indicated, a deep journey into somebody else's troubled id. I don't think Monster Road is that great a documentary, but Bickford is a fascinating subject. The imdb release date of 2008 is absolutely, definitely wrong, however, since I saw the film in a public screening in 2004, alongside the documentary.

[Murdoch]

Seeing as I proposed a swapsie (Ozon's Under the Sand) I'll give my feedback on other swapsies I've seen:

I enjoyed Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada as one of the better westerns of this decade (even though there are very few to choose from), and a good updating of classic Western themes to contemporary xenophobia and border disputes. Jones is a great lead for these types of films, he wears the somber look of a weathered Texan very well and his contemplative gazes allow for the audience to remain pensive about what they are viewing instead of passive. I thought Barry Pepper's character was underwritten, and it may have been the actors limitations, but his transformation from the beginning to the end seemed more the screenplay trying to hammer home its themes than a natural progression of his character. While this didn't blow me away, I think it will grow on me and I'll give it a solid recommendation to anyone interested.

Stevie was a pretty devastating film, I think the shock of the crimes on his family as well as the filmmakers themselves increase how horrific his actions were. It's interesting to see a doc that accidentally finds itself in the middle of something so tragic, and I think that this feeling of being caught off-guard is what drives the film. It's a good documentary, but I'll agree with zedz that as a piece of filmmaking it is not as interesting, and is carried by the weight of its subject.

Alright, hope to see a few more swapsies, but will probably not be able to for a while.

[colinr0380]

Dr Amicus, I agree on Open Range - a very unflashy and 'classic' Western that is less concerned with the historical period itself (as in Dances With Wolves) than relationships between the characters involving a life of isolated roaming against the possibility of love but also being tied down to one community. There's also a nice generational divide between Duvall (and even Gambon's baddie) to Costner and then to his younger protege. I'm not sure that it is original but it feels like the definition of a 'solid' Western, of which far too few are made. It's also a sign that Costner could reign himself in from making every film an overblown epic (though I like Dances With Wolves and even enjoyed Waterworld. The Postman was the true disaster - I suffered through the whole 190 minutes of that film and in particular the sickly sweet ending of that film could have been irritating and patronising in the extreme if it hadn't simultaneously been very funny!)

I caught both Dr Amicus' swapsie La Antena and the film zedz mentions, El Aura, in that recent season of Argentinian films on Film4 (along with La Cienaga and Glue). I liked both but did find them stretched a little too thinly for their lengthy running times (over two hours for each). Films that are very reliant on atmospherics run the risk of becoming wearying over that time, and while I felt La Antena was full of stunning images I wonder if it could have been more even more impactful at 80 minutes or so. Both La Antena and El Aura spent a long time setting up their worlds or going over information in minute detail that most of the audience would not have needed to have had spelt out to them. Around the middle section, forty or fifty minutes in, I think both films suddenly spark to life and become quite thrilling (I especially liked the flying escape in La Antena and the point at which the up to then disparate pieces begin to fall inexorably into place in El Aura), but I feel they are damaged by both an overly leisurely build up and relatively conventional endings within their respective genres. I should note here though that I have not yet revisited the films beyond my initial viewing, so they have not yet had a chance to grow on me. In the end I found La Cienaga the most successful film of the season, similarly leisurely paced but it did not have a padded out feel to its family drama.

I really liked Fabián Bielinsky’s earlier film Nine Queens though, and while I think this film was the more fully successful, El Aura felt a lot larger in scope and with a more ambitious approach to the way the material was handled. The confidence tricks and difficulty of ever truly knowing other person’s motivations and personality (something that was handled well in Following) become whether you can take over another person’s life and if your own knowledge of the bluff you are performing can have consequences, both internal and external, and can taint even your happy moments. (It’s not just The Passenger, but also perhaps Naked Tango in that sense!)

So while I felt the film was not exactly original, it certainly made me feel that Belinsky died far too soon and with potentially his best film still ahead of him.

Oh and if we’re going to do the best YouTube videos, let me nominate my favourite music video of the decade (and if we do the Shorts List again some time I’ve love to be able to vote for it) for an Autechre track. Bleakly beautiful, it is perfectly edited – even the wind hitting the microphone feels right! Very Ballardian!

[zedz]

Oh and if we’re going to do the best YouTube videos, let me nominate my favourite music video of the decade (and if we do the Shorts List again some time I’ve love to be able to vote for it) for an Autechre track. Bleakly beautiful, it is perfectly edited – even the wind hitting the microphone feels right! Very Ballardian!

You can indeed vote for music videos.

[puxzkkx]

I want to make a big fat FYC for Nobuhiro Yamashita's Linda Linda Linda. There's nothing hugely innovative about it, but I do think its one of the most deceptively simple, moving and memorable coming-of-age stories I've seen in recent memory. The magic in it is the way you feel you know the characters as closely as they know each other by the end of the film - and those shots of the empty school at the end are both joyous and heartbreaking and confirm the film as what it really is - a meditation on coming-of-age and the transience of youth that has a lot in common with Ozu and Kinoshita, deeply set in the "mono no aware" aesthetic. It really does deserve deeper analysis than it probably gets by most of the people that watch it. Such a special film. Unfortunately I doubt I'll find anyone who loves it as much as I do.

Also, if you're looking at music videos, let me FYC the very well-cut, visually expressive, fun, textured and interesting video for "Paparazzi" by Lady GaGa (its directed by the director of "Spun").

As far as 'El Aura' goes, I think its quite effective as a crime-thriller but utterly and completely conventional. The performances are pretty good, though.

Also, I'm FYCing Ryuichi Hiroki's magnificent Vibrator, a really intimate, special romance that reflects the inner thoughts and moods of the main characters more compellingly and clearly than most films I've seen. Although I think the way Hiroki does this might turn some viewers off, I was moved deeply and charmed as well. There's a late scene, set in a hotel bathroom, that just wowed me with its lucidity, humanity and emotion...

[knives]

I suppose we should talk about the white elephant of Revanche. I can't be the only one on the board to have seen it, and it would be humorous for another high profile new Criterion not to even make the bottom feeder. Barring I see thirty great films by January I'll have this on my list. (even if I was less then impressed with the first half)

[Dr Amicus]

I caught both Dr Amicus' swapsie La Antena and the film zedz mentions, El Aura, in that recent season of Argentinian films on Film4 (along with La Cienaga and Glue). I liked both but did find them stretched a little too thinly for their lengthy running times (over two hours for each). Films that are very reliant on atmospherics run the risk of becoming wearying over that time, and while I felt La Antena was full of stunning images I wonder if it could have been more even more impactful at 80 minutes or so.

La Antena is actually 99 mins (according to IMDb, and that seems about right). I can see where you're coming from, but my initial viewing was on a big screen (the IFC in Dublin) and that left me so overwhelmed with the parade of striking imagery that any further critical view was pushed out. A later viewing with our film society let me concentrate on the narrative and allegorical aspects - which are more straightforward than the imagery might suggest (the basic plot would not be out of place in a superhero blockbuster), but somehow that feels right. Perhaps more like a fever dream fairy tale...

[Michael Kerpan]

Linda Linda Linda is certainly the film I simply _enjoy_ most from this decade. And I have been shilling for it (without compensation) ever since the (unsubbed) Japanese DVD came out (ages ago). ;~}

I actually feel this is has more in common with the films of Hiroshi Shimizu than with Ozu or Kinoshita. Yamashita's Gentle Breeze in the Village is almost as lovely as LLL. Naoko Ogigami is a young woman director who also strikes me as as showing signs of influence by Shimizu (even more than that of Kaurismaki, who she clearly admires). Her Seagull Diner (Kamome shokudo) was actualy set in (and shot in) Helsinki. I still have yet to make up my mind whether I like this or her subsequent film Megane (Eyeglasses) more. The latter is set on one of Japan's southernost islands -- and very much evokes the feel of Shimizu's Ornamental Harpin (Kanzashi).

[colinr0380]

My mistake Dr Amicus - I forgot to factor out the twenty minutes or so of mood shattering adverts during the Film4 TV showing! It is certainly a film I'd like to revisit again, so maybe it will grow on me as I see it more.

[puxzkkx]

Linda Linda Linda is certainly the film I simply _enjoy_ most from this decade. And I have been shilling for it (without compensation) ever since the (unsubbed) Japanese DVD came out (ages ago). ;~}

I actually feel this is has more in common with the films of Hiroshi Shimizu than with Ozu or Kinoshita. Yamashita's Gentle Breeze in the Village is almost as lovely as LLL. Naoko Ogigami is a young woman director who also strikes me as as showing signs of influence by Shimizu (even more than that of Kaurismaki, who she clearly admires). Her Seagull Diner (Kamome shokudo) was actualy set in (and shot in) Helsinki. I still have yet to make up my mind whether I like this or her subsequent film Megane (Eyeglasses) more. The latter is set on one of Japan's southernost islands -- and very much evokes the feel of Shimizu's Ornamental Harpin (Kanzashi).

Yay for LLL love! I love A Gentle Breeze in the Village as well - I'm actually in the middle of rewatching it right now! Kaho's performance has grown on me this time around. It's full of lovely moments but I think its altogether a bit more conventional, sentimental and less meaningful than LLL. But Yamashita is a director I'm definitely looking forward to see make more films, coming of age seems to be his forte.

For Bae Du-na fans (she's great) it'd pay off to see Jeong Jae-eun's magnificent "Take Care of My Cat", another beautiful piece about coming of age and moving on, albeit a darker, sadder, more pessimistic one.

I've been trying to see Megane for ages. I saw it on the Foreign section of the entertainment system on an international flight once, but for some stupid reason didn't watch it then.

[Michael Kerpan]

Before I was a shill for LLL, I was a shill for Take Care of My Cat. In fact, I do believe I worked harder to promote TCoMC than its American distributor did. ;~}

I think, in the end, TCoMC is optimistic (rather in the fashion of Naruse's Lightning). Unfortunately Jeong's subsequent film (called The Aggressives) got almost no love or attention -- despite being a pretty fine film -- effectively ending her directing career (I guess she mainly just teaches now).

The Japanese DVD of Megane does have English subtitles -- and is a quite lavish set.

Yamashita's Matsugane Potshot Affair didn't turn out too well.

A lot of really fine low-key Japanese films from this decade will be out of the running -- due to the lack of any English-subbed versions.

For those wanting a Japanese "home drama" that's a bit different -- there is Daihachi Yoshida's "Funuke: Show A Little Love, You Losers". I am very surprised that this extremely savage (but funny) look at "the Japanese family" has not gotten more attention in the West. At least here, however, there is a passable subbed HK DVD. In my mind, vastly better than Morita's Family Game. (Funuke reminds me a good deal of some of Kon Ichikawa great films like Crowded Streetcar).

[colinr0380]

Funuke was released in Britain a couple of months ago by Third Window Films. Unfortunately the disc is still in my 'to watch' pile at the moment so I can't comment on the quality, but here is a DVD Times review of the disc.

[GringoTex]

SWAPSIE ALERT:

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada - This was everything No Country for Old Men was supposed to be and a very clever reworking of Lonesome Dove. I wish Jones would retire from acting and just make Texas films.

reno dakota owes me a Drama/Mex viewing.

[reno dakota]

I owe a lot of people a lot of things, Tex, but I will definitely be watching Drama/Mex as soon as I can. It's at the top of my Netflix queue as we speak.