Right, I know I said later in the week - however time being a rather expensive commodity, I might as well share with you the second part of my list as well as the films that made my blood curdle and my brain hemorrhage. Yes, the worst of 2010 follows after the break.
BEST OF 2010 PART 2
11) EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP: To be honest with you I had no hope for Banksy's documentary - in fact I squeezed it in between 2 movies that I knew would be good at the Istanbul Film Festival just so it could not ruin my day - and I was magnificently wrong. 'Exit Through The Gift Shop' ended up being my film of the day. Funny and weird in equal measure, this documentary will amuse, entertain and definitely flummox you. Real or not, it's one hell of an achievement.
12)COLD FISH: Shion Sono's last film 'Love Exposure' made everyone go ga-ga; the raving reviews, the end of year lists - for my money, however, 'Cold Fish' is a far superior film: mature, well-written and with some standout performances (especially from Denden as the murderous fish shop owner) this skewering of Japanese society and its' values is a delightful black comedy with a bleak-as-hell ending. Highly recommend.
13)A SOMEWHAT GENTLE MAN: The plot is nothing new: aged thug gets out of jail and tries to stay on the straight and narrow ; it's Stellan Skarsgard's stellar performance which elevates 'A Somewhat Gentle Man' to a whole new level of comedic masterpiece - the scenes with the landlady have to seen to be believed and the idea of midlife slump has never been explored with more gusto. Terrific on every way.
14)MR. NOBODY: A science fiction fable of the most beautiful kind. I refuse to say anymore. Make sure you see it. The DVD is out in Europe.
15)GAINSBOURG: Joann Sfar shows exactly how engaging, imaginative and original a biopic can be - relying on the charm of its' subject matter, he eschews reality in favour of embellishment whilst still delivering a barbed analysis of what lay behind the singer's cool-as-ice front. Brilliant.
16)THE MISFORTUNATES: Proving that growing up in misery is not necessarily a British trait, this offering from Belgium strikes such a delicate balance between humour and pathos that it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. With pitch-perfect performances from every member of the cast it's not hard to see why it was last year's entry for the country into the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars.
17)I KILLED MY MOTHER: I hate Xavier Dolan. No, I genuinely mean that: he wrote, directed, produced and star in this gentle, slight yet acutely observed treaty on teenage life and his talent is so abundantly evident, it made me infinitely jealous. So his follow-up 'Heartbeats' was not as good, the man clearly is destined for great things. You heard it here first.
18)KOSMOS: Director Reha Erdem delivers yet another masterpiece of mood and setting. His spiritual discourse on the nature of nature and the nature of human beings is a peculiar film: nowhere as accessible as his previous efforts and yet if you are willing to work with it, perhaps the most moving film of 2010. He deserves all the success he receives.
19)AAKROSH/KARTHIK CALLING KARTHIK: Bollywood cinema never receives the praise it deserves - most of the time the films can be laborious and cliched but every once in a while they take a familiar formula and run wild with it. 'AAkrosh' and 'Karthik Calling Karthik' are two such films: one a high momentum thriller with a serious issue at its' heart and the other a psychological thriller - both are well-paced, well-acted and certainly head and shoulders above some of the mainstream titles released this year. I enjoy a good mainstream film as much as the next fellow and wanted to include at least one Bollywood title in my end of year list. Well, these two were both highly entertaining so feeling it to be unfair to discard one, you get two for the price of one.
20) CARLOS: An astonishing achievement for both director Oliver Assayas and actor Edgar Ramirez, 'Carlos' is the sort of epic we don't get anymore. Thoroughly involving with not a single dull moment in its' epic 4 1/2 / 5 hour running time, make sure you see this whilst you still have the chance. A truly brilliant film.
And now the worst 10 of 2010 - shudder.
1) BASEMENT : I refuse to accept that 'Basement' is a film. It is the most despairingly awful piece of crap-making I've encountered this century.
2) SKYLINE : I knew it wouldn't be good. It wasn't. No amount of excuses will ever cover up this crap and pathetic piece of disappointment cobbled together from the leftovers of other science fiction films. A truly hateful piece of cinema.
3) CLASH OF THE TITANS : Dumb, ugly and dumb and ugly and dumb and ugly and dumb and ugly and dumb and ugly. That is all.
4) NEVER LET ME GO : Over-wrought, over-acted and utterly useless, Mark Romanek's poor excuse for a cautionary tale of science and love is utterly, despondently disappointing and disgustingly one-note. Avoid at all costs.
5) 22 BULLETS: Disappointing and boring crime thriller which seems to have all the right ingredients but manages to put them together in the worst possible way together. Boredom should not be possible during what is meant to be a fast-paced crime movie and yet it sucked harder than anyone could imagine.
6) JONAH HEX: Is this really a film? did no one watch this before it was released? If 'Wild, Wild West' and 'Battlefield Earth' had a bastard lovechild who impregnated a cow, the mutant born as a result would be 'Jonah Hex'. Like a punishment sent from God even in its' tiny running time it feels like an eternity.
7)RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE: Seriously, just kill the franchise. Kill it. Sporting the most embarrassing CGI ever put on the silver screen, this atrocious film is perhaps most commendable in the way it managed to get some average reviews. I have no idea what my fellow critics were thinking but I nearly ate my own fist to stop the torment of watching this atrocity.
8)THE KID: A harrowing true story turned into a harrowing film - except the sole aim of the film seems to be harrowing: over-egged and overly melodramatic watching this pile of crap is akin to asking someone to wail at you loudly for a couple of hours.
9) EAT, PRAY, LOVE : Or as I called it 'Please, Kill Me Now'. If Hollywood will not stop producing these cod-spiritual, self-discovery films I might choke to death on my own tongue. At least it'd be less self-indulgent.
10) KIDS ARE ALLRIGHT: Smug, self-satisfied liberal nonsense that only got the notices it did because of the sexual politics. Look under the veneer of bold cinema and what you find is the same old story they've been selling us since Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson in 'Made In America'. I'm sorry but screw you, I ain't buying.
Tuesday 28 December 2010
Monday 27 December 2010
Au Revoir 2010 - Time For The Obligatory Lists
Although generally I abhor end of year lists, it has come to my attention that this year's collection of articles on the subject matter have been unnecessarily pessimistic - it seems as if every year people are clambering all over themselves to declare the year a dud - to say it was one of the worst and how glad they are that it is finally over.
And although most of the time I'd be tempted to keep my mouth shut and just let them rant and foam , this year I feel particularly inspired to sit down and share my very own end of the year list.
One of the trends I noticed at this juncture in time is that even in the best of 2010 discovery lists, people seem to have missed out on a lot of titles.
Now I understand that a lot of films do not receive the sort of promotion or release they deserve - that it can be excessively hard for the general audience to discover certain titles.
However by the same token anyone who calls himself/herself a film critics should be going beyond the efforts of the average audience member: if this is an occupation, then the care and attention bestowed upon it must be fairly high. If 'so-called' critics cannot be relied upon to sift through millions of films and bring forth the discoveries then who on earth is supposed to?
Of all the best of or discovery lists I've read this month, I've only come across a small amount of films which had slipped under the radar - now ~I'd like to think this is because I'm an amazingly adept and very clever follower of news and releases and that I am very good at tracking down movies but in reality the it's merely that the writers have not really looked very deep or tried very hard.
In short 2010 was not a disappointing year for film, it was a disappointing year for critics whose standards have continue to slip.
Without further ado 20 films from 2010 that I adored.
1)AMER (2010): The U.K. cinema release is scheduled for January. The French DVD is available to buy now. It's available on V.O.D. in America. However, whatever method of viewing you choose to encounter 'Amer', the only thing that matters is that you encounter it somehow.
Perhaps the most audacious and experimental debut I've seen for a while, 'Amer' is a n almost silent love letter to perversion written with the lexicon of the gialli of yesteryear. To experience it is to fall in love with cinema all over again - bold, daring and simply beautiful.
2)WE ARE WHAT WE ARE: Jorge Grau's feature debut is a divisive film: for some the dissection of family politics within Mexico's microcosmic societies is one of the most satisfying films of the year whilst others are put off by the deliberate pacing and mood. However you look at it, 'We Are What We Are' is still one of the most significantly off-beat and intriguing films to emerge this year. A definite must-see.
3)RED HILL: From Australia comes the revival of the western. Beautifully shot landscapes, an intriguing plot and the most emotionally harrowing single line in any film this year, 'Red Hill' proves that the western is still alive.
4)A SERBIAN FILM: It's shocking, it's brutal and it's frighteningly well-made. The most controversial film of 2010 certainly has enough shock moments in its' runtime to deserve the bad press - however dig under the surface and what greets you is an heartfelt and primal protest scream as timely and disturbing as any heard from the annals of history.
5)DREAM HOME: Hong Kong Cat III comes of age - in this nifty package not only do we get the usual excess of nudity and elaborate violence but also a scathing satire on Chinese consumerism delivered as brutally as possible. A must-see for anyone who thinks the horror genre is stale.
6)BLACK SWAN: So the script is fairly conventional and the setup familiar - the emotional hysteria Aronosfky captures in his latest masterpiece is nothing short of brilliant: the last twenty minutes take the cinematic excess to a whole new level. Brilliant.
7)LA QUATRE VOLTE: A stunning work in the vein of Depardon's 'Modern Life', 'La Quatre Volte' is a wordless meditation on nature and life. Carefully paced and beautifully slow, if any film can make you appreciate the life around you, this is it.
8)HOW I ENDED THIS SUMMER: From Alexei Popogrebsky comes a tale that is mystifying, frustrating and brilliant in equal measure - the frightening landscape of the Arctic Ocean melds with the already disturbed nature of men creating a menace all too familiar and completely alien at the same time.
9)MY JOY: A terrifying journey into the dark heart of modern Russia, this foray into the violence lurking under the surface of every day life is frightening and enticing in equal measure.
10)THE PEDDLER: The best documentary of 2010, hands down. The subject is cinema - more specifically a man with a cinematic aim - a wandering one-man studio who creates custom features based around the villages he stays - charming, heart-warming and utterly hypnotizing. A wonder, a gem.
PART 2 of the list will be published later on in the week,
And although most of the time I'd be tempted to keep my mouth shut and just let them rant and foam , this year I feel particularly inspired to sit down and share my very own end of the year list.
One of the trends I noticed at this juncture in time is that even in the best of 2010 discovery lists, people seem to have missed out on a lot of titles.
Now I understand that a lot of films do not receive the sort of promotion or release they deserve - that it can be excessively hard for the general audience to discover certain titles.
However by the same token anyone who calls himself/herself a film critics should be going beyond the efforts of the average audience member: if this is an occupation, then the care and attention bestowed upon it must be fairly high. If 'so-called' critics cannot be relied upon to sift through millions of films and bring forth the discoveries then who on earth is supposed to?
Of all the best of or discovery lists I've read this month, I've only come across a small amount of films which had slipped under the radar - now ~I'd like to think this is because I'm an amazingly adept and very clever follower of news and releases and that I am very good at tracking down movies but in reality the it's merely that the writers have not really looked very deep or tried very hard.
In short 2010 was not a disappointing year for film, it was a disappointing year for critics whose standards have continue to slip.
Without further ado 20 films from 2010 that I adored.
1)AMER (2010): The U.K. cinema release is scheduled for January. The French DVD is available to buy now. It's available on V.O.D. in America. However, whatever method of viewing you choose to encounter 'Amer', the only thing that matters is that you encounter it somehow.
Perhaps the most audacious and experimental debut I've seen for a while, 'Amer' is a n almost silent love letter to perversion written with the lexicon of the gialli of yesteryear. To experience it is to fall in love with cinema all over again - bold, daring and simply beautiful.
2)WE ARE WHAT WE ARE: Jorge Grau's feature debut is a divisive film: for some the dissection of family politics within Mexico's microcosmic societies is one of the most satisfying films of the year whilst others are put off by the deliberate pacing and mood. However you look at it, 'We Are What We Are' is still one of the most significantly off-beat and intriguing films to emerge this year. A definite must-see.
3)RED HILL: From Australia comes the revival of the western. Beautifully shot landscapes, an intriguing plot and the most emotionally harrowing single line in any film this year, 'Red Hill' proves that the western is still alive.
4)A SERBIAN FILM: It's shocking, it's brutal and it's frighteningly well-made. The most controversial film of 2010 certainly has enough shock moments in its' runtime to deserve the bad press - however dig under the surface and what greets you is an heartfelt and primal protest scream as timely and disturbing as any heard from the annals of history.
5)DREAM HOME: Hong Kong Cat III comes of age - in this nifty package not only do we get the usual excess of nudity and elaborate violence but also a scathing satire on Chinese consumerism delivered as brutally as possible. A must-see for anyone who thinks the horror genre is stale.
6)BLACK SWAN: So the script is fairly conventional and the setup familiar - the emotional hysteria Aronosfky captures in his latest masterpiece is nothing short of brilliant: the last twenty minutes take the cinematic excess to a whole new level. Brilliant.
7)LA QUATRE VOLTE: A stunning work in the vein of Depardon's 'Modern Life', 'La Quatre Volte' is a wordless meditation on nature and life. Carefully paced and beautifully slow, if any film can make you appreciate the life around you, this is it.
8)HOW I ENDED THIS SUMMER: From Alexei Popogrebsky comes a tale that is mystifying, frustrating and brilliant in equal measure - the frightening landscape of the Arctic Ocean melds with the already disturbed nature of men creating a menace all too familiar and completely alien at the same time.
9)MY JOY: A terrifying journey into the dark heart of modern Russia, this foray into the violence lurking under the surface of every day life is frightening and enticing in equal measure.
10)THE PEDDLER: The best documentary of 2010, hands down. The subject is cinema - more specifically a man with a cinematic aim - a wandering one-man studio who creates custom features based around the villages he stays - charming, heart-warming and utterly hypnotizing. A wonder, a gem.
PART 2 of the list will be published later on in the week,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)