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

[swo17]

How about The Best of Youth? I haven't seen it yet, has anyone here?

I have, but if you don't have the attention span to look four posts up, it might not be your kind of movie.

Munyurangabo Well this was a toughy to find, without having to buy.

This is actually available on Netflix Instant Viewing, for those who have that as an option. I think I liked it a bit more than you did, knives, though just it being a very good film sadly does not ensure it a place on my list. At this point, I only have room for glowing, autonomous masterpieces.

[knives]

At this point, I only have room for glowing, autonomous masterpieces.

Yeah, I've been getting the feeling of that too. I almost wish to have seen less films to be able to keep my numerous pet films on the table (i.e. Zodiac and TAoJJbtCRF are off for sure)

[Gregory]

Munyurangabo will make a good showing on my list. I can't think of anything it has in common with City of God (let alone being a "ripoff") other than having teenagers in the lead roles and dealing in one way or another with issues of violence. That comparison would never have occurred to me, personally.

[thirtyframesasecond]

Nanni Moretti's "The Son's Room", anyone?

[knives]

Munyurangabo will make a good showing on my list. I can't think of anything it has in common with City of God (let alone being a "ripoff") other than having teenagers in the lead roles and dealing in one way or another with issues of violence. That comparison would never have occurred to me, personally.

I'll admit to making the oddest comparisons, Rossellini's Pascal reminded me of Darwin, but for me the similarity is the very general idea of of children in a third world environment getting by through difficult means. Inspiration is probably a better word now than ripoff, even though my preconceived notions were such. Anyways I did say I liked it more than City of God.

[Camera Obscura]

I want to include The Christmas Special from "Extras" on my list. Does that one fall within the rules?

[LQ]

I found there to be a humanity and warmth in 35 Rhums that goes beyong anything in Denis' films up to this point

I can't agree more. I saw this the other day and was more moved by it than I have been by any of her others. Such an intuitive, beautiful, and sincerely emotional film. She captures the spaces in between people, the glances, little smiles, body language... in a deeply meaningful way. This most certainly will make my list and I hope that anyone who hasn't seen it yet will search it out.

[life_boy]

The Gleaners and I [owed to LQ]
My first Varda, somehow. I fell for her charms immediately: the spontaneity, the joy, the humanity, the playfulness. I have a friend who had a dream that everyone in the world had a camera with them everywhere they went, making films as they walked to work or school and there were thousands upon thousands of interesting films created as a result. I feel like this film was a step toward realizing that dream.

Mobile Men (2008 short from Stories on Human Rights omnibus)
I don’t want to split the Weerasethakul vote too far, but this short is fantastic and I cannot help but include it in my list (along with at least two of his features). It’s funny to me how I can see several films by a director and then it is the “non-essential film” that suddenly throws them into relief, revealing the masters I have heard they are and have been gleaning bit by bit from what have been deemed their major works. That’s what this film was for my relationship to one of the 00’s most important auteurs: the essential non-essential.
Available online!

Lifeline (2002 short from Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet omnibus)
I saw this purely on zedz undying appreciation for Erice and as usual, zedz knows what he’s talking about. It is a film that is so delicate I feel that if I think to hard about it it will just crumble in my hands. It seems so simple and nearly obvious but is not insincere or ironic and ultimately it is the ease of expression that speaks to me most immediately.
Available online!

Honour of the Knights
A film stripped down to it’s barest essential: a heartbeat.

Electric Dragon 80.000 V
Let me plead with you: if you are considering putting Batman Begins or The Dark Knight on your 00’s list, watch this film first. Does no one know about this film? It seems like the dynamite aesthetic would be cause enough to get people excited but what gets me excited is that it packs an energetic superhero film and a prequel into 55 minutes of screen time. It is also a great comedy.

Virgin Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors
This is a dense and difficult film, structurally unique and interesting. I can understand the love by Hong fans. But a funny thing has happened with each new Hong I see: it looks like I’m going to be the weirdo who tops his Hong list with Woman is the Future of Man. The more Hong I see the more I love that film. Not that it makes this film any lesser: I love the two potential story threads -- is one half his view and the other one hers? Is one the actual events and one the imagining of them (or remembrance of them)?

The Brown Bunny
I was content to never see this film after the widely reported negativity but after being floored by my rewatching of Buffalo ’66 I was anxious to see where Gallo went next. What he has made is a searing poem about the crisis of American masculinity. The images are not informative but emotive and the final sequence has a mystery and power to it that hits on the crux of the crisis: assumed dominance vs. true emotional insecurity. But then again, the whole character of Bud is more than a supposedly simple dichotomy and the whole film is more than a blowjob.

[zedz]

Electric Dragon 80.000 V
Let me plead with you: if you are considering putting Batman Begins or The Dark Knight on your 00’s list, watch this film first. Does no one know about this film? It seems like the dynamite aesthetic would be cause enough to get people excited but what gets me excited is that it packs an energetic superhero film and a prequel into 55 minutes of screen time. It is also a great comedy.

Yes! Best superhero movie ever made. (Not that this is a hotly contested honour.) Utterly kinetic and utterly ridiculous. I'm really going to try to find a space for this in my list, even though I don't like it as much as several of Ishii's 90s features.

Virgin Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors
I love the two potential story threads -- is one half his view and the other one hers? Is one the actual events and one the imagining of them (or remembrance of them)?

Yes and no, as far as I'm concerned. It's all subjective.

[GringoTex]

it looks like I’m going to be the weirdo who tops his Hong list with Woman is the Future of Man.

You won't be alone. I prefer Hong's "neo-realist" stage.

[Michael Kerpan]

I realy like all the recent Hong films (except the one I haven't seen), but as much as I like WITFOM, I love Woman on the Beach more. Recent re-viewings haven't changed my mind at all.

[Murdoch]

I'm of the same mind, WotB unfolded in a very Rohmer-like method - which I suppose was part of its charm for me - and it was shot beautifully, especially the ending scene at the beach. I still can't get that simple jingle that plays in the film every so often out of my head.

I've only seen two Hong films so I'm eager to catch up on him before this list is closed.

[cysiam]

Nobody Knows: What a completely wonderful and heart-shattering film. This was my first Kore-eda and I can't wait to delve into the rest now. It somehow managed to be completely devastating and uplifting, I can't think of another film that's made me feel this way. I loved the shots that linger on small details, like the girls finger with nail polish almost worn off, that give us a sense of just how long the mother has been gone without beating us over the head with that fact.

What should my next one be?

[reno dakota]

What should my next one be?

For the 2000s list, I would recommend Still Walking, which will be available for instant viewing on Netflix next week. But, certainly, you should try to get to Maborosi and After Life at some point.

EDIT: Michael is right--there are no bad or disappointing Kore-eda films, so see as many as you can.

[Michael Kerpan]

cysiam --

I am almost certainly biased -- but I'd say one can't go wrong with any of Kore'eda's films. Each is unique -- and each is wonderful. I consider them all indispensable.

[mikeohhh]

What should my next one be?

For the 2000s list, I would recommend Still Walking, which will be available for instant viewing on Netflix next week.

ooh, thanks for the tip!! I thought I'd miss this one before the deadline.

edit: looks like a few IFC films will be available this was next week including Che and Summer Hours!

[fiddlesticks]

FWIW, Still Walking is sitting at #2 on my 2000s list (having been dislodged from the top spot last night by So Yong Kim's Treeless Mountain), so I certainly encourage you to see it before submitting your own list.

[Michael Kerpan]

Treeless Mountain wouldn't make my top 1000 list. I'm mystified as to why this not very well-made (or believable) film impresses so many (Western) viewers. (I wonder how this was received in Korea -- if it got shown there). (As far as I can tell, neither the writer nor the director knew much about growing up poor in rural Korea).

[fiddlesticks]

To each his own; I thought it was very lovely and moving. BTW the writer and director are one in the same, and she grew up (to age 12) in the town the film was shot and set in. I have no idea whether it ever got a general release in Korea, but it was shown at the 2008 PIFF, where it shared (with Members of the Funeral) the Netpac Award for "best Korean film from either New Currents and Korean Cinema Today sections." Some (other) pretty good films have won this award, including Take Care of My Cat (2001) and The Power of Kangwon Province (1998)

[Michael Kerpan]

I have read articles about the director of Treeless Mountain growing up in LA, and got the impression she spent only a relatively short period of time living with her grandmother in rural Korea. I misread a reference to her cinematographer as being about a script writer.

While the director may have been separated for a while from her own mother (not abandoned) as a pre-teen, this film never rang true for me. The story seemed quite contrived and unbelievable.

Some Netpac winners have been good films, others less so. ;~}

[fiddlesticks]

While the director may have been separated for a while from her own mother (not abandoned) as a pre-teen, this film never rang true for me. The story seemed quite contrived and unbelievable.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but considering this statement and your own well-documented love for Kore-eda, I wonder what you think of the believability of Nobody Knows? I realize that it is a true story (supposedly, elements of Treeless Mountain are autobiographical, too, but that's beside the point), but the premise of Nobody Knows seems much more far-fetched to me than that of Treeless Mountain. Parents dump children on relatives all the time, whereas I think (or hope) they rarely just leave them to fend for themselves with no adult supervision. Personally, I found Treeless Mountain to be completely believable, and in any case I don't consider that to be a necessary condition for loving a film.

[Michael Kerpan]

I found elements of the _story_ in Nobody Knows not especially credible -- but apparently the real events upon which it was based were more extreme. But I found the way Kore'eda _showed_ us the story largely quite convincing. (Even so, this may be my least favorite Kore'eda film -- though I do like it).

I thought the children did a good job in Treeless Mountain (not a great job -- as in Nobody Knows), but I didn't care for the script or the way the film was put together (and it wasn't as visually impressive as Kore'eda's film). The idea was fine -- but the execution struck me as only middling. I found it strange that this and the similarly problematic Way Home (another Korean melodrama about a neglected child) made the same strange (and bone-headed) mistake -- making the grandparents of little children the age that the directors' own grandparents would be.

I know lots of people rave about Treeless Mountain -- and I fully expected to love it -- but it fell flat (for both my wife and myself). On the other hand, we saw O' Horten that same week-end -- and were both quite taken with this (having gone mainly because we had never seen a Norwegian film before).

[fiddlesticks]

I found it strange that this and the similarly problematic Way Home (another Korean melodrama about a neglected child) made the same strange (and bone-headed) mistake -- making the grandparents of little children the age that the directors' own grandparents would be.

My youngest grandparent was 68 years older than me, which may account for why this doesn't bother me, or even get noticed by me. Anyway, I empathize with you; I hate it when a film I fully expect to love falls flat for me. It's happened a lot lately, most recently with Tokyo Sonata. (Like I said, to each his own; not trying to start a new debate, and not trying to discourage anyone from seeing it!) I almost prefer to have low expectations; I'd probably have liked Tokyo Sonata more if I'd expected less.

[mfunk9786]

Defamer did something interesting and tallied films' appearances on a number of best-of-the-decade lists and found that There Will Be Blood won with 12 votes, with the still-overrated Lord of the Rings trilogy and the still-underrated Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tied for second place with 11 votes.

[Michael Kerpan]

I'd probably have liked Tokyo Sonata more if I'd expected less.

I liked this quite a bit -- but found most of the initial laudatory reviews seriously misleading. I saw a quite good typical (at its core) KK movie -- with a slightly different set-up from his norm -- while lots of reviewers trumpeted this as something significantly different from KK's previous work. I didn't really trust the reviews in the first place -- so I wasn't disappointed at all. ;~}