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Though it's against modern thinking, much great art actually looks "awefully familiar." It's just better than anything else in the same style. Some of your choices don't impress me, so that would have left room for Michael Clayton. However, many of your choices seem like excellent ones.
My impressions about Michael Clayton . Perusing reviews, I realize this is a film I would list as "overrated", if I had such a category.
The review that comes closest to matching my opinion was Variety's:
" it zeroes in on this relatively simple premise -- one that will be highly familiar to anybody raised on "Don't trust big corporation" thrillers from the 1970s"
"Still, the stakes in those earlier films felt considerably higher, and the only uncertainty here is not how far the U/North folks will go to protect their interests, but what a cynical soul like Michael will do under the circumstances."
"On the downside, some of the peripheral threads -- especially Michael's relationship with his family, both as an irritated brother and a single dad -- occupy time at the outset but really don't lead anywhere, and the conclusion leaves a few key questions conspicuously unanswered."
The high Metacritic score indicates this is a minority opinion.
Metacritic says
(wide releases currently in theaters)Quote:
92 There Will Be Blood
85 Atonement
83 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
82 Michael Clayton
81 Juno
Yeah, they are all overrated. But you know what? Revivals of older films are even more overrated than the current critical faves. (I'm speaking in general.)
The list below excludes certain films I watched in 2007 that have just been released or will be released in the US during 2008. Among them, the magnificent Chinese film Still Life and the accomplished Argentine film The Custodian. I will use each film's English title and provide the name of the director and country of production to facilitate any research. Runner-Ups are roughly in order of preference but difference in ranking among these films is of no great significance.
TOP 10
1. FICTION (Cesc Gay/Spain)
2. COLOSSAL YOUTH (Pedro Costa/Portugal)
3. BEAUTY IN TROUBLE (Jan Hrebejk/Czech Rep)
4. PARAGUAYAN HAMMOCK (Paz Encina/Paraguay)
5. THE NIGHT OF THE SUNFLOWERS (Sanchez-Cabezudo/Spain)
6. BOG OF BEASTS (Claudio Assis/Brazil)
7. FORBIDDEN TO FORBID (Jorge Duran/Brazil)
** HAPPINESS (Jin-ho Hur/South Korea)
** PEACOCK (Gu Changwei/China)
** A WONDERFUL WORLD (Luis Estrada/Mexico)
RUNNERS UP
THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME (Mamoru Hosoda/Japan)
TUYA'S MARRIAGE (Quanan Wang/China)
A LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN (Jinglei Xu/China)
MEANWHILE (Lerman/Argentina)
GEMINIS (Carri/Argentina)
LIFE CAN BE SO WONDERFUL (Minorikawa/Japan)
HOLE (Martin Ferrara/Spain)
THE OLD GARDEN (Im Sang-soo/S. Korea)
DRAINED (Heitor Dhalia/Brazil)
GOD WILLING (Sweden)
Honorable Mention
Little Red Flowers (China), Fish Dreams (Brazil/Russia), More Than Anything In the World (Mexico), The Journals of Knud Rasmussen (Canada), Satanas (Colombia).
I can'T say much since most of these I have not seen. I don't know how you saw them, which is always a helpful thing to tell people when they are obscure or hard to find films. As you know I did not like Collossal Youth. On the other hand I am impressed by Im Sang-soo and found The Old Garden quite involving (a selection of the NYFF). I also admire Still Life nad was very impressed by it when I saw it in Paris last fall at an MK2 theater. It would help to know the director's previous work, though, as I did and you did; coming to it cold one might not get it. I am also an admirer of the team that made THE JOURNALS OF KNUD RASMUSSEN (also in the NYFF) and ATANARJUAT and I am participating a little in a new website they have set up for indigenous filmmaking where you can view videos. It is ISUMA.TV. They liked what I wrote about THE JOURNALS, said I got what they were tryihg to do better than most of the print reviewers. It's always nice to hear that.
15 of the 26 films listed were shown at The Miami International FF, 2 at the Sarasota FF, three of the four!! Brazilian films at the Miami Brazilian FF, Tuya's Marriage (Golden Bear Berlin '07) at the Fort Lauderdale FF, Geminis at the Ciclo de Cine Argentino, and 4 I watched on import dvd: Peacock, Happiness, Girl Who Leapt, and A Letter from an Unknown Woman.
You also watched Forbidden to Forbid and Fish Dreams, I believe?
Thanks for the thorough answer. Indeed I did watch Proibido proibir; sometimes I remember the original language titles better than the English translations. No I did not watch Fish Dreams ("Brazil/Russia/USA") at the SFIFF; I did watch How Is Your Fish Today ("China/England") however.
I can't find these:
FICTION (Cesc Gay/Spain)
HOLE (Martin Ferrara/Spain)
THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME (Mamoru/Japan)
The name was wrong. It's Mamoru Hosoda. Mamoru is the first name.
PARAGUAYAN HAMMOCK (Encina Paz
Listed as "Paz Encina." Paz is the first name.
LITTLE RED FLOWERS' director is Yuan Zhang or Zhang Yuan in the Chinese form.
Evidently MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD is directed by Andrés León Becker and Javier Solar
And I guess SATANAS is by Andi Baiz. Sometimes if they're unreleased here they might to be hard to find with only the English translation and the country.
Originally posted by Chris Knipp I can't find these:
FICTION (Cesc Gay/Spain)
HOLE (Martin Ferrara/Spain)
Fiction
Hole
It's Mamoru Hosoda. Mamoru is the first name. Encina Paz
Listed as "Paz Encina." Paz is the first name.
Thanks, Chris. Corrections made.
LITTLE RED FLOWERS' director is Yuan Zhang or Zhang Yuan in the Chinese form.
Evidently MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD is directed by Andrés León Becker and Javier Solar.
And I guess SATANAS is by Andi Baiz.
That's right.
I have included five undistributed documentaries including the top 2, Serambi, Septembers, and Mississippi Chicken. Top film is a controversial BBC production not released in US because of cost of obtaining music rights but shown at many festivals. If no production country specified, assume film is American. Films tied at #5 are listed in alphabetical order. Note that the "Not Seen Yet" list is significantly longer than counterparts in fiction lists (list is not truly final because of titles pending viewing).
TOP 10
1. THE TRAP: WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR DREAM OF FREEDOM (Adam Curtis/UK)
2. THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO CINEMA (Sophie Fiennes/UK)
3. THE WAR (Ken Burns)
4. INTO GREAT SILENCE (Philip Groning/Germany)
5. THE CATS OF MIRIKITANI (Linda Hattendorf)
** IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON (David Sington/UK-USA)
** LAKE OF FIRE (Tony Kaye/US)
** MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES (Jennifer Baichwal/Canada)
** NO END IN SIGHT (Charles Ferguson)
** SICKO (Michael Moore)
RUNNERS UP
NANKING (Guttentag-Sturman)
BEYOND HATRED (Olivier Meyrou/France)
TERROR'S ADVOCATE (France-Germany)
FIVE (LONG TAKES DEDICATED TO OZU) (Iran)
BRANDO
THE RAPE OF EUROPA
PROTAGONIST
VAL LEWTON: THE MAN IN THE SHADOWS
RALPH NADER: AN UNREASONABLE MAN
THE BALANDA AND THE BARK CANOES (Australia)
SERAMBI (Indonesia)
CRAZY LOVE
HONORABLE MENTION
Septembers (Spain),THe King of Kong, Mississippi Chicken, Sacco & Vanzetti, Can Mr. Smith Get To Washington Anymore, Made in Los Angeles, My Kid Could Paint That, Zoo, Revolution '67, Steal a Pencil For Me.
Not Seen Yet
State Legislature, West of the Tracks, Joe Strummer:The Future is Unwritten, Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains, Billy the Kid.
As you know I liked Kurt Cobain About a Son and Nanking. Some few of the ones you mention I like and some I think uninteresting. Many I never saw and never even heard of. This reminds me I want to see Terror's Advicate, obvously an important political film.
You ought to see Billy the Kid. Also take a look at my review yesterday of the sandrine Bonnaire documentary about her sister ELLE S'APPELLE SABINE the last of the Rendez-Vous press screenings for this year.
Originally posted by Chris Knipp
As you know I liked Kurt Cobain About a Son and Nanking.
I'll be watching the Cobain doc immediately after the fest ends, and also the widely praised LAKE OF FIRE.
Some few of the ones you mention I like and some I think uninteresting.
Some could surprise you if you give them a chance. I mean, The King of Kong is not about video games. It's about obsession, vanity, and self-validation.
Many I never saw and never even heard of.
Look into them. Obviously I think the top 2 are particularly unique, accomplished, and important. PERVERT'S GUIDE is an absolute must for anyone who really loves cinema and wants to appreciate it from a distinctly novel p.o.v. Mr. Curtis has been called "the BBC's agent provocateur" on Variety and his socio-political-cultural essays are the most radical and thought-provoking films of its kind. I don't know if you got a chance to watch his previous THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES and THE CENTURY OF THE SELF. I think all three are essential viewing.
You ought to see Billy the Kid.
Absolutely. I'll make every possible effort to catch up with all the films "not yet seen".
Also take a look at my review yesterday of the sandrine Bonnaire documentary about her sister ELLE S'APPELLE SABINE
I've been a fan of Bonnaire since Vagabond. Wouldn't dare to miss a chance to watch this doc.
Unfortunately The King of Kong is one of my main points. I have seen it. A documentary that did not convince me of the worthwhileness of its topic. I do not want to know about the people who play those games, even after watching the movie. A waste of time about time-wasters.
I thought so. That's why I used it as an example. I don't care about video games either but it's my 14th favorite doc of 2007 (not as high as some critics would; only 5 other docs placed higher in the Voice/La Times poll of over 100 critics) because it's really about "obsession, vanity and self validation". You seem to disagree.
I do disagree. I think it's overrated.