So what was there in 2010 to love? Well amongst the sequels, vanity projects, debunked star vehicles, dour Hollywood 'product', whimsical introverted independents and some timid world cinema 2010 still offered us a bounty of cinema, enough I believe the keep the most jaded of cinephiles happy in the belief that the future of cinema is in good hands and is vital as much as it ever was. Anyway, that's quite enough from me, here are my 10 for 2010:
The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel)
Still Walking (Hirokazu Koreeda)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
White Material (Claire Denis)
A Prophet (Jacques Audiard)
24 City (Jia Zhange)
I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino)
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Werner Herzog)
The Maid (Sebastian Silva)
The Ghost (Roman Polanski)
For the hell of it, here are my films ranked 11 - 20
11) Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos)
12) The Killer Inside Me (Micheal Winterbottom)
13) Wild Grass (Alain Resnais)
14) Mother (Bong Joon-Ho)
15) Breathless (Yang Ik-Joon)
16) Lourdes (Jessica Hausner)
17) Double Take (Johan Grimonprez)
18) Samson and Delilah (Warwick Thornton)
19) Winter's Bone (Debra Granik)
20) Inception (Christopher Nolan)
Ommisions :
The Social Network (Fincher), Another Year (Leigh), Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy), Revanche (Spielmann), Vincere (Bellocchio), The Time That Remains (Suleiman), Ivul (Kotting), Gainsbourg (Sfar), The Illusionist (Chomet), I'm Still Here (Affleck), Enter The Void (Noe),
Police, Adjective (Porumboiu), The Arbor (Barnard), Carlos (Assayas), Monsters (Edwards),
The Kids Are Alright (Cholodenko), We Are What We Are (Grau), Of Gods and Men (Beauvois), Somewhere (Coppola)
The above films will probably change my official top 20 as I slowly catch up with the back log, I will keep a constant reminder of the ranking on my blog sidebar.
Every year since the Lumieres is pretty much still a work in progress...
ReplyDeleteStill Walking was my favourite film of 2008 (I was lucky enough to see it at the Toronto filmfest) and A Prophet, Bad Lieutenant and Headless Woman all count as 2009 films for me (all great though). Headless Woman in particular was a revelation - I've caught up with a bunch more of Martels films and she's a truly remarkable filmmaker. I really dug Uncle Boonmee, I Am Love, Wild Grass, Mother, Inception and Winter's Bone too, so I'll need to find some of the ones on the lists I haven't seen - The Maid has been on my to see list for awhile, but I know nothing about Double Take or Samson and Delilah.
The Illusionist is my favourite of 2010. So wonderful...And bittersweet with extra emphasis on the bitter. Enter The Void and Police Adjective are not films I'll be revisiting any time soon, but certainly were experiences...Social Network was terrific - I wish it would win the Oscar, but I think that's already decided. Another Year, Exit Through The Gift Shop and Revanche are all very solid.
Good to see you back...B-)
Hey Bob,
ReplyDeleteI put my list together in the only way I can keep on top of things, if it was released in a UK cinema that year, then it counts. So, hence Still Walking, what a gorgeous film, and others taking place in 2010 although they were made some years back.
I'm still a novice with Martel's work but ever since The Headless Woman I'm hungry for more, I truly love discovering filmmakers like that. Look forward to your response on The Maid, a truly brilliant film which I should write on soon.
Double Take is a great piece of innovation and documentation concerning Hitchcock, the cold war and doppelgangers, mixed up and edited together, it works a treat. Samson and Delilah is a little Aussie film about a aboriginal teen couple that have to leave their village; it's told with hardly any dialogue and some of the best use of sound I've heard in a long time.
I'm looking forward to getting into the rest of those you mentioned; The Illusionist I've yet to see and will be a 2011 release here and Social Network, if half as good as people have made out, then I'll be a very happy boy.
Thanks for the welcome back Bob, I'm really happy to be back.
Well, Ric, it's quite a prestigious list, and I share your exceeding regard for a great number of these. I have a different method for inclusion in specific years (when the film opened in USA theatres) which some scoff at, but the key is being consistent. Hence, a great work like UNCLE BOONME will count as 2011. The only films of your Top 10 and runners-up list I didn't like are (ironically your #1) THE HEADLESS WOMAN and both MOTHER and DOG TOOTH. But I can never agree with anyone 100% of the time. You have compiled some absolute gems here, including my own #1, LOURDES. I found THE HEADLESS WOMAN as excrutiatingly boring, and a prime example why a number of mumblecore films haven't worked for me. I do, however, repect your regard for it, which many share.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to have you back my friend!!!"
For me, the best film of the year was a tie between CARLOS and THE SOCIAL NETWORK with INCEPTION a close runner-up. Still haven't seen BLACK SWAN yet, though.
ReplyDeleteHey Sam,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like we have a similar system, I make a note of everything released at the cinema (UK of course) in a certain year and I make my list accordingly, actually the past two years have been the only times I been religious about this but it really works for me and now I'm quite addicted to it.
Now, The Headless Woman, that does surprise me, I was left dumbfounded by the whole experience, do you mind telling me what it was you didn't like? Horses for courses and all that but I found the film an experience I would never forget, I was shaking from head to toe by the end. As for Lourdes, a wonderful choice and a spellbinding film which I have to admit sneaked up on me, I was convinced I wasn't quite getting it but by the end dance scene I was totally smitten.
With some classics missed out I'm sure that list will change in the course of the next few months. Great to be back my friend, I've certainly missed all of this!
Hey J.D. Great to see you on here.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Carlos and The Social Network will be the ones to knock a few off that list, along with The Arbor and Another Year. Inception was undoubtly the coolest film at the cinema last year, I felt giddy afterwards and that's no mean feat. Black Swan - which I loved - will be on my 2011 list.
Hey Ric,
ReplyDeleteNice to see you're back. Care for my King Kong review now? (That's okay. I never wrote it).
The Social Network rules.
Thank god! he he he. Thats just reminded me how crazy that project made me.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you though, I feel as if I've just slotted back into place.
I seriously need to watch the Social Network like within the next couple of days.
Hey Sam,
ReplyDeleteOf course I can see you answered my question, please disregard part of my comment.
I can see why some people wouldn't appreciate the feel of something like The Headless Woman, and I have to admit not being a mumblecore fan, but for me it transcended that medium in to something far more intricately unsettling. However Sam, we'll always have differences and it would certainly be boring if we were in total agreement all the time.
Martel and mumblecore? I don't see that at all. I see when people say Antonioni with her latest, but mumblecore not much at all. It's far closer to the Berlin School than mumblecore, I think - cinematographic focus first (or, as Martel says, sound) and matters of acting and dialogue a distant second or third. I would recommend La Cienaga if you enjoyed The Headless Woman. As far as this year goes, I would recommend that you check out The Temptation of St. Tony. It is fantastic, as it is my second favorite of the year. I love any list with iguanas on it, so good work.
ReplyDeleteHi JeanRZEJ, thanks for stopping by and telling Sam how it is, mumblecore indeed. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip on 'The Temptation of St. Tony', I shall keep an eye out for it but it doesn't have a release date in the UK yet, despite playing at the London film festival in October.
I'm ready to delve into Martel's work and La Cienaga has been noted a few times by people now, it's something I'm really looking forward too. I was totally immeresed in The Headless Woman and that use of sound, as you mentioned, felt like it was in the middle of my skull. An excellent film.
Oh definitely, I agree. Iguanas rule.