Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Film Favorite films 2006
Posted by Pat Graham on Tue, Jan 2, 2007 at 8:15 PM
No complaints from yours truly about annual year-end lists: for "best" films (though actually I'd call 'em "favorites": like, what do I know about best?--no personalized access to "absolute" levels of excellence, whatever that implies, no internal database that even remotely approximates the many, many options available), books, the arts, whatever ... even pop music, which I know next to nothing about: viva Monica, Jessica, Peter, Miles, et al. So it's more a matter of sponging up what intrepid writers throw out there, comparing notes and following connotative leads, or sometimes just plain dissing ("Omigod no, he can't be listing that!" ... "Whatever was M. Wilmington thinking?")--as a kind of Rorschach sampler, autobiography by implication. Which suggests it's not about content so much as the spirit of selection, where individual quirks can flourish, perform a couple of narcissistic pirouettes. But something like true affection (scare quotes optional) has to be the motor--all things pure to the pure of heart--because if not why bother? So consider this a gift of the talentless, the minuscule contribution of one forever seeker to the ongoing reenchantment of the world. Which somehow captures the the tone of the enterprise, what Diaghilev meant to elicit with his comment to Cocteau: "Etonnez-moi, Jean!" Guess I'm easily astonished, huh? Incidentally, the production still at top is from Vimukthi Jayasundara's The Forsaken Land (number five on my list), an aestheticized reworking (in my opinion) of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Thai landscape enigmas--which puts me in mind too (in terms of figure-ground relations) of some 19th-century Pre-Raphaelite Brit painters: Madox Brown, Holman Hunt, Millais ... postcolonial residue in the grip of the cosmic. Or is that pushing the connotative envelope too far? ----------------------------------
Showing 1-5 of 5
I'm not much of a theater guy and usually wait for films to come out on DVD but I think it is REALLY sad that I have barely heard of any of these films. But what is more sad? The only one I have seen on this list is Miami Vice (via a roommate rental) and it sucked so bad I didn't mind leaving the room MANY times without even thinking of pressing pause. At least now I have a good list of movies to rent now, though so thanks Pat!
josh, it's all in the desperate tropicalia ... or gong li in black sheath, back to camera, framed against varieties of wavelets rippling in different directions--the iconic heart of the film, i think, like a sean scully canvas ... but yeah, colin farrell's hopeless beyond recall ...
what an uncommon and exquisite taste you have! Not one, but two Hou films on the list and one of them on top! Three Burials and Batalla en el cielo instead of Babel! Minor stains (like Caché or that Wenders!) don't harm the quality of the ensemble which includes 2 Chabrols, Téchiné, Oliveira, Ceylan, Miami Vice and a particularly favourite of mine, El aura. Chapeau!
Thanks for sharing! I appreciate the work that goes into it. I'm finalizing mine (I exchange with a friend and post on my blog where maybe a couple more see it) and I AGONIZE over it. Your list made me say this several times: "That does it, I'm definitely renting --- !" I do wish the Reader had plugged Taxidermia when it was at the Fest, but I have only myself to blame for missing it. I'm also surprised you have Battle for Heaven so high, given all I've read about it.
I think the best part of Miami Vice was how Colin Farrell didn't quite have just a mustache. He had stubble to mask it as simply a mustache. And then he also didn't have just a mullet. He had long hair that was pony-tailed to make it seem like a mullet. That and I missed all of the pastels. There should have been more pastels. Haha.
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