favorites of 2001

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[i]Originally posted by Chris Knipp [ Some of the best year's end releases don’t make it to northern California where I live till early the next year. The only one of your Ten Best I have any reservations about is ROYAL TENNENBAUMS, which seemed too cute and contrived to me, but of course many discerning individuals liked it. I have still missed CODE UNKNOWN. After seeing LA PIANISTE I definitely want to see it. I have to say I hated THE CIRCLE. Too relentlessly bleak;

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I usually wait until my birthday(3/12) to compile my best lists so I can catch up with films released in NYC and L.A. at the end of the year. These usually make the bulk of my english language list. For instance, all the films in your 2002 lists are good, but tell me, isn't your foreign list significantly stronger? Besides THE BELIEVER, I mean.
ROYAL TENNENBAUMS snuck into my top 10 after a second viewing. It seems to me more ambitious and original than runner ups like Monster's Ball and The Deep End. Your complaints about it are warranted though.
THE CIRCLE is bleak. I just react differently to bleakness: There are people trapped in bleak situations, suffering from all kinds of injustices. I am glad there are filmakers documenting their plight with grace and wit. And I'm sure they appreciate it. I also like how intensely moved I am by many "sad" films. Now, I don't think that bleakness makes a film great. The usually great Todd Solondz released a very bleak, and pretty bad, film this year:Storytelling.I also have great admiration for purely escapist fare such as Lord of the Rings and Amelie.
CODE UNKNOWN has a performance by J. Binoche as strong as I. Huppert's in La Pianiste. Besides, its scope is wider and its themes are more relevant to the average person. I love its novel use of film-within-a-film devices and how the narrative explodes in three directions before coming together again at the end. I think you would like it.

Your system of waiting till March makes sense, I agree. It would be better for me to wait till later to make my best lists. The game may seem a little stale if you wait that long, that’s all. You’re right that my 2002 Best Foreign list is somewhat better than the American Best List, so far. After all the Best Foreign list comes from many countries and several years, and the American one from only the US and this year’s releases. Both lists are tentative, and I’ll knock off some entries if better things come along.

I may have been turned off by the way some Americans idolize Iranian directors excessively. But I want to explain that by “relentlessly bleak,” I meant not just sad, but hopeless. If the characters don’t have a chance, and don’t experience a single happy moment, as in THE CIRCLE, I find that manipulative. But sad is different from bleak. I agree that you should pay attention to how much a film moves you and be suspicious of ones that don't. But "relentlessly bleak" movies precisely can't make me feel sad, because they don't seem real.

This list discussion has made me realize I need to go to out and rent some things I’ve missed, including CODE UNKNOWN and GEORGE WASHINGTON as well as the other foreign films you mention that I haven't seen: THE GLEANERS, CHUNHYANG, DIVIDED WE FALL, and TOGETHER -- none of which I seem to have even heard of other than THE GLEANERS.

ROYAL TENNENBAUMS could easily be better than either THE DEEP END (which I thought totally overrated) and MONSTER’S BALL (which I thought at least somewhat overrated). I’m always willing to revise my opinions and ratings. But no two people (or critics) can pick exactly the same Ten Bests, can they?

After a year or two goes by, not everything I picked for a Best List still seems important. Only a few do.

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Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I’m always willing to revise my opinions and ratings. But no two people (or critics) can pick exactly the same Ten Bests, can they?

After a year or two goes by, not everything I picked for a Best List still seems important. Only a few do. [/B]

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No, they cannot because a person's list reveals his/her individual aesthetic sensibilities. I enjoy figuring out what is it about a film that I respond to, and even more, to step away from my comfort zone and assume the perspective of others like you who appreciate cinema.
For instance, I can tell you that many iranian films remind me of Ray's Apu trilogy and the films of Ozu and Bresson. They seem to find a shortcut to the essence of issues. They strike me as clear-headed without being simple. Censorship restraints force iranian directors to be creative when dealing with sensitive matters. You'll always find something "between the lines", " only hinted at", in a Kiarostami film. This turns me on.
I think I understand your criticism of The Circle. There are moments of whimsy and levity in every life , even the most desperate. Your comments moved me to contrast Circle with DIVIDED WE FALL, which I prefer. A holocaust movie with mucho irony and humor that even manages to show compassion towards nazi collaborators.
I also try to revise my opinion about a film by watching it again. Code Unknown and Memento got better the second time. MULHOLLAND DRIVE kept getting better and better. Some films require at least 2 viewings to unravel: Time Regained, most Godard and Hou-Hsien.

Top 10

1. Apocalypse Now: Redux - Francis Ford Coppola / U.S.

2. Mulholland Drive - David Lynch / U.S.

3. Intimacy - Patrice Chéreau / France-U.K.

(rest alphabetical)

La Ciénaga - Lucrecia Martel / Argentina

Eureka - Shinji Aoyama / Japan

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Peter Jackson / U.S.-New Zealand

Memento - Christopher Nolan / U.S.

One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
(Une Journee d'Andrei Arsenevitch) - Chris Marker / France

The Pledge - Sean Penn / U.S.

Va Savoir - Jacques Rivette / France


Runners-up
(alphabetical order only)

Ameros Perros - Alejandro González Iñárritu / Mexico

Center of the World - Wayne Wang / U.S.

Code Unknown (Code Inconnu) - Michael Haneke / France

The Devil's Backbone (El Espinazo del Diablo)
Guillermo del Toro / Spain-Mexico

In the Mood for Love (Hua yang nian hua)
Wong Kar-wai / Hong Kong

The Man Who Wasn't There - Joel & Ethan Coen / U.S.

No Man's Land - Danis Tanovic / Bosnia-Herzegovina

Tape - Richard Linklater / U.S.

Under the Sand (Sous le Sable) - François Ozon / France

The Vertical Ray of the Sun (Mua he Chieu Thang Dung)
Anh Hung Tran / Vietnam


Honorable Mention
(alphabetical order only)

Bread and Roses - Ken Loach / U.K.

Bully - Larry Clark / U.S.

Children Underground - Edet Belzberg / U.S.

The Circle (Dayereh) - Jafar Panahi / Iran

Fat Girl (À ma soeur!) - Catherine Breillat / France

From Hell - Allen & Albert Hughes / U.S.

Ghost World - Terry Zwigoff / U.S.

Monsters, Inc. - Peter Docter+David Silverman+Lee Unkrich / U.S.

The Tailor of Panama - John Boorman / U.S.

Waking Life - Richard Linklater / U.S.


*All films listed were "officialy distributed" theatrically in the U.S. during the year 2001. (Their eligibility was deemed by me.) Béla Tarr's Werckmeister Harmonies would've made the "Top Ten" if its release was official.

*Re-releases are included in my lists only when films are not in their original form.

Good list as before. I differ as follows:

Agree:
Apocalypse Now REdux
Mulholland Drive
LoR
Memento
Amores Perros
Code Unknown
The Pledge
Va Savoir
Tape
Bully
Ghost World
Waking Life
Monsters, Inc

Haven't seen:
Intimacy
La Cienega
Eureka
One Day in the Life
Center of the World
CHildren Underground

Disagree:
Devil's Backbone
Man Who Wasn't There
No Man's Land
Under the Sand
Vertical Ray of the Sun
The Circle
Fat Girl
From Hell
Tailor of Panama
--there were better.

(Obviously I saw Code Unknown after making my 2001 lists.)

I'm surprised to see Bully get recognition. Although the film was overdone, and exploitative, I thought it represented teenage/high school life better than probably any film I had ever seen. Maybe my friends were just that messed up, who knows?

I'm surprised I didn't see this, and it is a little late, but . . .

1. Mulholland Drive
2. Moulin Rouge
3. The Royal Tenenbaums
4. Vanilla Sky
5. Memento
6. LOTR - The Fellowship of the Ring
7. Amores Perros
8. The Road Home
9. Apocalypse Now Redux (I don't think it counts but . . .)
10. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (pardon me for liking crap)

I like arsaib4's list a lot. Of course, I could nitpick and argue that In the Mood for Love, The Circle and Waking Life are "better" than Intimacy, La Cienaga and Memento. But this is entirely a matter of subjective opinion and a matter of degree. Unless you tell me otherwise, I'll assume you watched The Gleaners and I, Divided We Fall and Gosford Park and concluded they are not among the top 30 for 2001.

wpqx, did you get to watch Open Your Eyes? It's the original that exposes the remake as inferior, especially but not exclusively the character played by Ms. Cameron Diaz.
Still more evidence that Mulholland Drive is a film that a remarkable number and variety of cinephiles absolutely love.

I feel ignorant but I still haven't gotten to see Open Your Eyes. With Vanilla Sky most people loved it or hated it, and I found myself in the first category. Perhaps I just feel that any use of surrealism in a film is worth something, and although a lot of people seem to hate him, I think Tom Cruise is great. I am not in a position to nitpick this version vs. the original, so I'm pleading ignorance.

A good list, wpqx. It has a personality.

I have not seen Open Your Eyes (actually Spanish, no?) but Vanilla Sky genuinely sucked, in my view, perhaps because it was a remake. Tom was trying too hard, perhaps to please Penelope. But I'd have to see Open Your Eyes to see if it was the production or the whole story I dislike. Maybe both though.

(wpqx) 10. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (pardon me for liking crap)

Why apologize? Follow your bliss.

I have to confess I did not see Zhang's The Road Home. I do not absolutely love Mulholland Drive and have tired of Lynch's narrative incoherence+wonderful images, but I acknowledge he is a sugnificant director and this is one of his stronger movies.

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Originally posted by oscar jubis
I like arsaib4's list a lot. Of course, I could nitpick and argue that In the Mood for Love, The Circle and Waking Life are "better" than Intimacy, La Cienaga and Memento. But this is entirely a matter of subjective opinion and a matter of degree. Unless you tell me otherwise, I'll assume you watched The Gleaners and I, Divided We Fall and Gosford Park and concluded they are not among the top 30 for 2001.

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Thanks for your comments. I think it's great that most of the earlier films you mentioned above made both of our lists. Where they finished is even more subjective, as you stated.

Well, when you try to see so many neglected and underappreciated films from all corners of the globe (and I do take pride in that), once in a while you don't end up watching the more celebrated ones like the films from Varda and Altman. I've heard a lot about both The Gleaners and I and Gosford Park and will make time to watch them.

Personally I found Gosford Park disappointing. Generally I'm a huge Robert Altman fan, but perhaps my expectations were too high for this film.

Actually, I've heard that from more than a few people I trust; maybe that was one of the reasons I didn't pursue Gosford Park when it was released. Hopefully it'll play on cable soon.

1. Promises
2. La Cienaga
3. Yi Yi
4. Chunhyang
5. A.I.
6. I'm Going Home
7. Son of the Bride
8. Royal Tenenbaums
9. Beijing Bicycle
10. Donnie Darko
11. L.I.E
12. The Circle.

Thanks for posting your list Howard. I'm assuming that you simply mentioned the best films you saw in 2001. In my case, I've only listed films that were officially distributed in the U.S., so films like Yi Yi and I'm Going Home aren't on my 2001 list.

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Originally posted by arsaib4
Thanks for posting your list Howard. I'm assuming that you simply mentioned the best films you saw in 2001. In my case, I've only listed films that were officially distributed in the U.S., so films like Yi Yi and I'm Going Home aren't on my 2001 list.

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It gets very confusing so more often than not I will go with the IMdb date. I'm Going Home was shown at the New York Film Festival in 2001 but not released theatrically until the following May. The opposite is true for Yi Yi. I ususally list the films in the year that they either had their first theatrical release or DVD release here in Canada, so I could legitimately put Promises and La Cienaga on lists for 2002. So the dates really don't mean too much. You get the general idea that I really liked these films regardless of what year they show up on my list.