The cinema thread

[mass]

rewatching rengoku eroica

[mass]

the statement is pretty bold but i can't think of an american film from the last 20 years that's much better. maybe something by david lynch. or belly.

i know it's cliche but come on... goodfellas (even though i find it extremely overrated in the scope that people consider it a. one of the greatest ever and b. scorsese's best)? actually i'm not even sure what else has come out in the lsat 20 years (i'm terrible with numbers) but there is no way kids is on anyone's objective list.

[laughed]

i think aka was referring to gummo.....and in the case of critics - yeah, the reviews were pretty bad - like "worst movie of all time"...kids didn't get the greatest reviews either. I think greenaway sums up how i feel about scorsese the best-







My favorite piece of video/film of all-time....been that way for years, will always will be, although his new work is incredible...

[klangspiel]

nice list klang.....but not even an honorable mention for kieslowski?!

well, my list is limited to films from the noughties ('00s), and kieslowski's last films were from the '90s. if i had included the 90s, the list would have been very different (a sokurov film would surely have been in the top 15) and much much longer in length.

admittedly i'm not a fan of kieslowski's work (the made-for-tv dekalog was cool though). him and lynch are the two big names that rarely appeal to me. the one krzysztof that i do like is zanussi, who i think is the superior of the two krysztofs :). terribly underrated. come to think of it, i don't know why i didn't include zanussi's persona non grata in the list. or for that matter any of the wider spread of polish cinema - zulawski, majewski, szulkin, rosa, koterski, kolski, dumała (great animator), holland spring to mind. and since we're in eastern europe, the recent wave of romanian cinema deserves a mention as well - mungiu, puiu, porumboiu, mitulescu, et al.

peter watkins's la commune (paris, 1871) is another great film from the '00s i forgot to list for some unknown reason. easily top 10-ish.

[Fade to Black]

klangspiel, I really wished I'd heard of and/or am able to see 3/4 of your list.

my top 5 of the past 20 years, no order would probably be

1. Bad Lieutenant
2. Punch Drunk Love
3. Y Tu Mama Tambien
4. Cache
5. Days of Being Wild

am never good at these list things, run out of steam before long

[doldrums]

well, my list is limited to films from the noughties ('00s), and kieslowski's last films were from the '90s. if i had included the 90s, the list would have been very different (a sokurov film would surely have been in the top 15) and much much longer in length.

There are several films I havent seen on your list though the ones I have I agree with. One that came to mind which you didnt include was sokurov's Russian Ark...but i am no sokurov authority.

[laughed]

ah, yes, i forgot you didn't reach back to the 90s on your list...
i also used the criteria of only one film per director.
i also took into consideration the impact the film had on me at the moment. For example, most of my films are from the 90s and this is when i first started getting into film/video, so the impact that I felt for these films is much greater than recent films. I don't understand why exactly that is - why i am not as effected/affected by film as I was when I was younger - because I can now look at say a recent Kiarostami work and understand and feel that is indeed a better film than a Boogie Nights, but the impact, for lack of a better word, is not as strong as it was when I was younger. I feel the same way about music for some reason as well. I think if I have more time I will make a definitive list based on new criteria.

[klangspiel]

^ on a whim, i'd say the two films from the 90s that made the most impact on me were hirokazu koreeda's maboroshi no hikari and sokurov's mother and son. impactual not just cinematically, but on an experiential level as well.

4. Cache

great film. was quite indifferent to haneke before, but that film made me a convert.

There are several films I havent seen on your list though the ones I have I agree with. One that came to mind which you didnt include was sokurov's Russian Ark...but i am no sokurov authority.

not too big on sokurov's output from this decade. they just seem somewhat formulaic after awhile. i did enjoy russian ark though. these days, i think his genius isn't found in feature lenghts but the more personal and intimate pieces produced with video - notably the series of "elegies" as he regards them. gorgeous sumptuous bodies of work. highly lyrical stuff, and dare i say, groundbreaking as well. a good example is a humble life (one of three of his oriental elegies), or elegy of a voyage.

here's another film from the 2000s that i think is great - theo angelopoulos's the weeping meadow. was reminded of it when i was doing some house-cleaning and found the dvd stashed amongst books. a beautiful scene from the movie:

[laughed]

Don't think this has been mentioned and I just found out about the
passing of Werner Schroeter....

[TadaoAndo]

Good to see Kiarostami, Haneke, Godard, Tarkovsky etc. are appreciated. For anyone who hasn't seen it, I would really recommend "In This World" by Michael Winterbottom and the work of Derek Jarman.

[TadaoAndo]

Also, if you're into Iranian cinema check out the work of Abolfazl Jalili. It's similar to Kiarostami but perhaps less abstract.

[laughed]

Good to see Kiarostami, Haneke, Godard, Tarkovsky etc. are appreciated. For anyone who hasn't seen it, I would really recommend "In This World" by Michael Winterbottom and the work of Derek Jarman.

Winterbottom's I Want You is my favorite film, really because Slawomir Idziak made it a great film with his camera work - he also worked with Kieslowski.
Had the chance to work on Winterbottom's 9 Songs.
Didn't do much but did get to meet him. Nice guy, decent filmmaker...think he makes films for the young boys and girls benefits though if you catch my drift.

[Faust]

Saw Full Metal Jacket for the Nth time. One of those films that I can watch over and over again.

[sam_tem]

altered states - another "drug movie" full of the usual tropes and cliches, but a fun trip none the less. admittedly i thought it started off really well, but as the plot dissolved into nonsense i just went along for the ride.

ride with the devil - beautiful cinematography and costumes but unfortunately this movie is scripted and scored to play too much of our emotions and just falls flat. doesn't help that the main actor went on to become spider-man either.

the fugitive kind - marlan brando in good form, but talk about a hollow movie. i can understand why criterion would like to release these movies as they certainly deserve a good dvd treatment more than most, but these are a ways off from what one would typically consider criterion-worthy films.

Climates - continuing the iranian film talk. i don't want to bother to go too much into it as it's an expertly crafted film that was very enjoyable to watch, but i just wish there was more taking place that would make someone want to watch it more than once.

[TadaoAndo]

Winterbottom's I Want You is my favorite film, really because Slawomir Idziak made it a great film with his camera work - he also worked with Kieslowski.
Had the chance to work on Winterbottom's 9 Songs.
Didn't do much but did get to meet him. Nice guy, decent filmmaker...think he makes films for the young boys and girls benefits though if you catch my drift.

Do you mean he's patronizing, or exploitative?