My favorite films of the decade, and a tribute to the dead girl.
sept...@millenicom.com
I listed ... last year? But it is (sadly) timely to bring up one of
the
honorable mentions -- Karen Moncrieff's _The Dead Girl_. The
electric Brittany Murthy plays the titular character, and as everyone
knows she passed away yesterday, barely 32 years old. I haven't
seen too many of her films, as she does mostly comedies
(haven't even seen _Girl Interrupted_). But she comes off as quite
a character in interviews, wild and fiercely intelligent. For my
money,
_The Dead Girl_ is one of the very best American indies I've seen
in the past decade. It is certainly pitch-black in tone, but its
artistry
and humanity makes you want to cheer at the end all the same.
Moncrieff is a Kieslowski enthusiast, and her work is quietly
empathetic and sensitive; a flaw may be the slightly racist overtone
(Murphy's daughter was badly neglected by the Puerto Rican child
care household; it is as though only white grandmothers can do
her justice.) what distinguishes the director though is how well she
works with actors. I could swear the entire cast consisting of
veteran actresses like Tony Colette, Mary Steinbergen, Mary
Beth Hurt, Kerry Washington, and Rose Byrne all did their
career-best work in this ensemble picture. Marcia Gay Harden is
absolute heart-breaking as Murphy's mother. But it is Brittany
Murphy herself and her supercharged, wildly uninhibited performance
that ultimately gives the film its tremendous sense of loss, of a
glorious life cut short. She and her performance here will be
remembered so very fondly.
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The rules and excuses are as before. One film per auteur. Release
date according to that of the country of origin. No sense for me to
do yearly lists, we are so far behind NY and LA where I live. Only
the top 3 are ranked. The Resnais may be eventually be replaced
by _Wild Grass_, if the early press on that holds true.
1. _2046_, Wong Kar-Wai. Finally, the humanistic
masterpiece I knew he is capable of.
2. _Werckmeister Harmonies_, Bela Tarr.
3. _L'Intrus_, Claire Denis.
4. _AI: Artificial Intelligence_, Steven Spielberg.
5. _Coeurs_, Alain Resnais.
6. _Games of Love and Chance_, Abdel Kechiche.
7. _In Praise of Love_, Jean-Luc Godard.
8. _Land of Plenty_, Wim Wenders.
9. _Summer Palace_, Lou Ye.
10. _The Sleepy Time Gal_, Christopher Munch.
11. _The Son_, Dardenne Brothers. Better choreography
than perhaps even _Russian Ark_.
12. _The New World_, Terrence Malick. His new film
coming out next year.
_35 Shots of Rum_ and _In the Mood of Love_ get
bumped; my apologies. I'm probably forgetting a lot
of worthy films. Another honorable mention to
Rebecca Miller's _Personal Velocity_, too.
sept...@millenicom.com
>
> 1. _2046_, Wong Kar-Wai. Finally, the humanistic
> masterpiece I knew he is capable of.
> 2. _Werckmeister Harmonies_, Bela Tarr.
> 3. _L'Intrus_, Claire Denis.
> 4. _AI: Artificial Intelligence_, Steven Spielberg.
> 5. _Coeurs_, Alain Resnais.
> 6. _Games of Love and Chance_, Abdel Kechiche.
> 7. _In Praise of Love_, Jean-Luc Godard.
> 8. _Land of Plenty_, Wim Wenders.
> 9. _Summer Palace_, Lou Ye.
> 10. _The Sleepy Time Gal_, Christopher Munch.
> 11. _The Son_, Dardenne Brothers. Better choreography
> than perhaps even _Russian Ark_.
> 12. _The New World_, Terrence Malick. His new film
> coming out next year.
Another honorable mention: "Battlestar Galactica,"
episodes "Sometimes a Great Notion" and "A Disquiet
Follows my Soul." For a series with more than its share
of bleakness, these hit the absolute nadir of despair --
from which the series rose to life again.
sept...@millenicom.com
There are many more films I like (if not enough to put them on the
"list," but I keep thinking they belong to an earlier decade. I can
only remember those that I own a DVD of unless I really make a
huge effort:
Michael Almereyda: _Hamlet_
Robert Altman: _Gosford Park_. Actually _The Company_ is really close
too.
Wes Anderson: _The Royal Tennenbaums_ (can't believe this was 2001)
Claude Chabrol: _The Comedy of Power_ (the first Chabrol I've loved in
30 years?)
Patrice Chereau: _Gabrielle_ (really eerie and subversive)
Peter Greenaway: _Nightwatching_ (actually watchable, and witty too)
Hal Hartley: _Fay Grim_ ("Possible Films" would have been cheating)
Hou Hsiou-Hsien: _Millenium Mambo_ (tempted to take Binoche in _Red
Balloon_)
Benoit Jacquot: _A Tout de Suite_
Jean-Pierre Jeunot: _A Very Long Engagement_
Neil Jordon: _The Good Thief_
Ken Loach: _Ae Fond Kiss_
_Mulholland Drive_: David Lynch
Eric Rohmer: _Romance of Astree and Celadon_ (no excuse for forgetting
this)
Alan Rudolph: I'll go with ... _Trixie_! (When will _Equinox_ be on
DVD?)
... and _Pitch Black_ by David Twohy for good measure. Probably many
more
but if I don't own it I've forgotten it.
But enough with the mea culpa nonsense and let's get back to _Paris_
and
_Red Cliff_ and _L'Intrus_ soon ...