Your Top Five Films for This Decade... so far?

[Bruce Allen]

Ahhhh sooo, the five top films of THIS DECADE...

I was thinking along the lines of the past ten years.:waaa:

Let me re-think my tops.

Oh boy. Now we need another thread for past ten years.

btw, Bruce, while I have you here... can i make an "Ask Bruce Allen ANYTHING" thread? I have a bunch of HV20 ideas and questions I want to bounce off you.

tom

Haha, it'd be an honor... although I am already behind in the HV20 department... still need to post my latitude tests! I have no illusions of being in the same league of popularity as David Mullen, though

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

 

[Emanuel A.]

Oh boy. Now we need another thread for past ten years.



Haha, it'd be an honor... although I am already behind in the HV20 department... still need to post my latitude tests! (...) being in the same league of popularity as David Mullen, though

I second that!

;-)

 

[Emanuel A.]

1. LOTR Return of the King
2. Sin City
3. In the Mood for Love
4. Kill Bill Vol. 2
5. 300

BTW Emanuel, I've been meaning to see Climates for a while now, I think I'll buy it off of eBay tonight! absolutely beautiful cinematography.

Have you ever seen Lars Von Trier's The Element of Crime (Forbrydelsens Element) Emanuel?

Since In the Mood for Love was shot in the last century, I'd take it away from this decade but not from my fav list, that's for sure!

Climates is a CineAlta 900 shot and Lars Von Trier's Europa aka Zentropa my fav movie ever, as well. The Element of Crime, LVT's 1st feature where he could have the help of Niels Vørsel (same scriptwiter than Europa/Zentropa) and when he had only 28 years old, it's a pretty style exercise and lesson of efficiency and narrative economy from one of the most interesting contemporary moviemakers. As matter of fact, I could have some touch with him before Breaking the Waves and with his company and Peter Aalbæk Jensen, his partner on Zentropa and producer, and I can just illustrate my finding(s) with a pic already posted here by Sanjin:

It says a lot about who is this man and his craft's policy. Besides, two of his admirers are Spielberg (himself) and Soderberg (not so much surprising though) among many others. I suspect he would be a perfect RED ONE beta tester as famous european director as he actually is. As I could already tell to our good Jim. It would be an unbeatable IBC marketing move. Without mention Venezia/Berlin/Cannes or even Sundance.

 

[Alexander Nikishin]

Since In the Mood for Love was shot in the last century, I'd take it away from this decade but not from my fav list, that's for sure!

Emanuel, a century is 100 years, a decade, 10 years, In the Mood for Love was released in 2001, so it is within this decade. :bleh:

Climates is a CineAlta 900 shot and Lars Von Trier's Europa aka Zentropa my fav movie ever, as well.

I love Europa, when I first saw that film I didn't know who directed it, but as soon as the first 5 minutes passed I thought to myself, is this Lars Von Trier's work? He creates a certain ambiance and sense of pacing in all his films that I find to be genius.

It says a lot about who is this man and his craft's policy. Besides, two of his admirers are Spielberg (himself) and Soderberg (not so much surprising though) among many others. I suspect he would be a perfect RED ONE beta tester as famous european director as he actually is. As I could already tell to our good Jim. It would be an unbeatable IBC marketing move. Without mention Venezia/Berlin/Cannes or even Sundance.

Lars with a RED would be like Lubezki with available light, made for each other.

On another note....does anyone remember an old (Italian I believe) black & white film that stars a beautiful woman (blonde if memory serves me well) and her husband.

They take a trip on a boat and during the trip they meet a young man who competes with the husband for the woman's affection. The man takes a dip into the ocean to find a lost ring and when he does, the young man swoops on the woman. It was very beautifully shot and I haven't been able to find it's name since.

Another awesome foreign film is "Beau travail". If you haven't seen it check it out.

 

[krd]

It says a lot about who is this man and his craft's policy. Besides, two of his admirers are Spielberg (himself) and Soderberg (not so much surprising though) among many others. I suspect he would be a perfect RED ONE beta tester as famous european director as he actually is. As I could already tell to our good Jim. It would be an unbeatable IBC marketing move. Without mention Venezia/Berlin/Cannes or even Sundance.

You might want to think twice about using Lars as a Red beta tester. He began his assault on what Europeans call the "cinema of quality" some years ago with hand-held video (before that was popular) and then further degrading the footage in post ("Breaking the Waves"). Now he puts the camera on a computerized device which randomly sets its position, so that framing choices are arbitrary, no human or intelligent intervention.

Meanwhile, he was working to obliterate the dramatic/literary basis of filmmaking, with intentionally tedious and offensive non-naturalistic works shot in bare studios with chalk lines.

This is a long way from Zentropa, though some might argue the seeds of destruction were already there....

 

[Jeremy Hughes]

1. Revenge of the Sith
2. The Matrix Revolutions
3. Click
4. The Time Machine
5. What the (bleep) do we know?!

Coffee and Cigarettes would be number 6 if I had one.

 

[Jeff Carpenter]

On another note....does anyone remember an old (Italian I believe) black & white film that stars a beautiful woman (blonde if memory serves me well) and her husband.

They take a trip on a boat and during the trip they meet a young man who competes with the husband for the woman's affection. The man takes a dip into the ocean to find a lost ring and when he does, the young man swoops on the woman. It was very beautifully shot and I haven't been able to find it's name since.

Might it be Polanski's debut feature film "Knife in the Water"?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056291/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_in_the_Water_(film))

 

[Jason Murphy]

Here's my list (at least as I see it today), with a number of honorable mentions. Kind of a difficult list to put together, because no one film jumped out and screamed "I'm #1!" at me. Also I'm not including movies that were released in 1999, so no Eyes Wide Shut, which would be up there otherwise.

Beau Travail (Claire Denis, 2000)
The God of Day Had Gone Down Upon Him (Stan Brakhage, 2000)
Eureka (Shinji Aoyama, 2000)
The Son (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2002)
The Intruder (Claire Denis, 2004)

And the honorable mentions (of which there are far too many)...

In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
Spider (David Cronenberg, 2002)
Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001)
Yi Yi (Edward Yang, 2000)
Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr, 2000)
Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa, 2006)
Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay, 2002)
Platform/The World (Jia Zhangke, 2000/2004)
Threnody (Nathaniel Dorsky, 2004)
Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2005)
Elephant (Gus Van Sant, 2003)
Goodbye Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang, 2003)
The Captive (Chantal Akerman, 2000)
Blissfully Yours/Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2002/2006)
Distance (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2001)
The New World (Terrance Malick, 2005)
Devils on the Doorstep (Jiang Wen, 2000)
Punch Drunk Love (P.T. Anderson, 2002)
Solaris (Steven Soderbergh, 2002)
Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)

I realized I could pretty easily make this list out of movies from 2000 alone. That was a good year for movies.

 

[jaadgy akanni]

Punch Drunk Love (P.T. Anderson, 2002)
Solaris (Steven Soderbergh, 2002)
Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007)

Love those last 3. You've got great taste

 

[Sean]

Gotta go with the movies that I continue to watch over and over:

1) 28 Days Later + 28 Weeks Later
2) The Ring
3) A.I.
4) Solaris (Soderbergh's)
5) Brokeback Mountain

 

[Tom Lowe]

Jason, I am embarrassed to say I have not seen any of your top five. Do you think you could do a little writeup on them with maybe one or two photos from each?

 

[Alexander Nikishin]

Might it be Polanski's debut feature film "Knife in the Water"?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056291/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_in_the_Water_(film))

Yes, you're a genius Jeff, thanks!

I've been wanting to watch that film again for a long time now!

 

[Curran Giddens]

It looks like I may have to get my netflix subscription going again. There are lots of movies listed here that I have not seen.... I used to rent movies based on some "other factors" and not for the cinematography.

 

[Friedrich Moser]

Lars Von Trier's Europa aka Zentropa my fav movie ever.

I saw this film when I was studying (German) literature in Salzburg. At that time I wondered a lot about how contemporary literature would have to be told. After having seen the opening sequence of LvT's Europa, I knew: like this.

I am sorry but thinking of the first decade of this century there's no particular film that I would consider gorgeous. Maybe I'm spoiled, though, because of the nineties: Europa, Three Colours-Blue (my fav!), Matrix I, Un lugar en el mundo, Kafka, Tous les matins du monde... I don't know but I think before the FX-invasion the story-telling used to be better. Or is it just that I had been more often to the movies?

Oh yes, one film seen in cinema two years ago blew me away: Darwin's Nightmare. Very very intense! Oscar nominee, European Film Award. Another great one I bought the DVD was War Photographer, Oscar nominee, too.

Cheers, Friedrich

 

[Desert Rune]

So how about best 5 movies you've seen released since 2000?

2000:
Chocolat
Wonder Boys
Billy Elliot
Dancer in the Dark
Memento

2001:
Mullholland Drive
LoTR: Fellowship of the Ring
Moulin Rouge
Gosford Park
Amelie

2002:
The Pianist
Far from Heaven
City of God
Minority Report
The Bourne Identity

2003:
Finding Nemo
Return of the King
Mystic River
Master and Commander
Bad Santa

2004:
Finding Neverland
Hotel Rwanda
Before Sunset
The Incredibles
Shaun of the Dead

2005:
Batman Begins
Crash
March of the Penguins
A History of Violence
Revenge of the Sith

2006:
Pan's Labyrinth
Children of Men
Idiocracy
Casino Royale
Happy Feet

2007:
Transformers
Ratatouille
Bourne Ultimatum
Hot Fuzz
Zodiac

Yeah, you can tell I'm not really into obscure art films. I find them too boring.

 

[Justin Anderson]

Trying to narrow down a list, but I really love
Eternal Sunshine
Lost in Translation
Sideways
Spiderman 2
Pan's Labrynth
Good Night, and Good luck
Memento

 

[Sean]

Damn, wish I'd remembered to add Eternal Sunshine to my list. ;-)

 

[Jason Murphy]

Jason, I am embarrassed to say I have not seen any of your top five. Do you think you could do a little writeup on them with maybe one or two photos from each?

Don't be embarrassed at all. I must have been in a really perverse mood when I posted that top 5 list this morning; they're some pretty damn obscure movies. But with the possible exception of The Intruder (which I love to death, but is probably not quite as strong as some of the honorable mentions), I think I stand by them as my top 5 since 2000. Writeups forthcoming...

 

[Jason Murphy]

The Intruder (Claire Denis, 2004)

Inspired by a French philosopher's essay on identity and heart transplants, The Intruder, which is about as elliptical a movie as you can get and still have a narrative, follows Louis (Michel Subor), an older man, likely ex-KGB, as he travels from his hideaway on the Franco-Swiss border to South East Asia for an illegal black market heart transplant, and from there to Tahiti, where he searches for an illegitimate son he fathered there many years earlier. All the while being stalked both by his own guilt and an enigmatic Russian woman (Ekaterina Golubeva) who wants him to answer for the crimes in his past. In retrospect, not quite sure it's top 5 material since it kind of dissipates towards the end, but it's still amazing.

It's got gorgeous cinematography by Agnes Godard, and an incredible looping driving score by Stuart Staples of the Tindersticks. It's available on DVD from Wellspring.

Louis.

His daughter in-law.

His angel of death.

The open sea...

 

[Jason Murphy]

The God of Day Had Gone Down Upon Him (Stan Brakhage, 2000)

Brakhage (1933-2003) was probably the greatest filmmaker to come out of the American experimental/avant-garde film scene, and The God of Day was the last major photographic work of his 400-odd film career (he hand-painted many abstract films onto 16mm leader from the 1980's on, since he couldn't afford filmstock and lab fees). It's non-narrative, silent, and gorgeously shot on 16mm Kodachrome on a Bolex on the Pacific Northwest coast. It's an intricately edited movie made up mainly of images of the ocean, waves, coastal landscapes and light reflected off water. At the time he shot the movie, Brakhage already had struggles with the cancer that eventually killed him by this time (likely caused by some of the paint dyes he had used in his work), and it's pretty easy to read the film as a lyric meditation on approaching death (and darkness, visual or otherwise).

The God of Day isn't available on DVD (16mm only; it's played here and there occasionally), but some of Brakhage's other films are out on the Criterion Collections "By Brakhage" set. It's excellent stuff, which I would highly recommend to the adventurous viewer.

Edit: More tomorrow. Need sleep.