Best Of 2007, Filmleaf Members' Lists

[oscar jubis]

Well, I've seen Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, 2007's film maudit par excellence. A movie that made only a quarter million dollars at the box office but has generated reams of commentary at the IMDb message boards. It's a cult movie despised by most critics and audiences and loved fiercely by J. Hoberman, Kent Jones, Amy Taubin, and Nathan Lee, among others. I listed the film as "Not Seen Yet" in my Favorite English-Language Films of 2007. Southland Tales is a brilliant, campy, sprawling and often very funny, sci-fi political satire but it's also sometimes silly and incoherent (but isn't Lynch sometimes silly and incoherent?). It's probably too original and distinctive not to give it at least an "honorable mention". I've decided to watch it again in a couple of weeks and see what happens rather than decide its merits based on a single viewing.

[Chris Knipp]

but it's also sometimes silly and incoherent (but isn't Lynch sometimes silly and incoherent?).

No, not at all in the same way. Lynch's incoherent, but not what I'd call silly. Because he gets closer to scary parts of his unconscious. I thought I started a thread on Southland Tales when I saw it in NY. but maybe not. Anyway if you want to see what I had to say it's here. Definitely Richard Kelly is an original and if you like watching Southland Tales it will probably improve on successive viewings as all cult-type films do. However I don't enjoy watching it very much myself. Somebody would have to push me to go and see it again, and then I'd see. I find it somewhat tedious, just not fun for me to watch. But I respect his insanity. I noticed he is one of those given a boost at the indie cinema haven in NYC, the Two Boots Pioneer theater. An autographed poster for Donny Darko is enshrined on its very special wall there. The main weakness for me of Southland Tales compared to Donny Darko is the lack of a character one can really care about. But the political parts may make it interesting to go back and look at in a few years. I hope he doesn't waste a year or two going back and doing a revision of this too, though.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I hope he doesn't waste a year or two going back and doing a revision of this too, though.

The original, longer cut shown at Cannes will likely make it to dvd in the future. Kelly has already shot his next film, The Box, based on a Richard Matheson story that has already been adapted for The Twilight Zone TV series.

[oscar jubis]

Second viewing of Southland Tales reveals added pleasures in minutiae like what's shown on TV or internet screens. There's a news program in which voice-over about the extended version of the Patriot Act passed by the legislature is accompanied by footage of two elephants humping. Jokes and asides like that. I listed the film as the last of the "runner-ups" which means Ratatouille got bumped down to "honorable mention". The partial incoherence of Kelly's film, particularly on first viewing, dilutes or obstructs some of the political and cultural points he wants make, but Southland Tales is still a brave, original piece of work with a lot to say about the USA. Some of which might be incomprehensible to those living elsewhere.

[Chris Knipp]

The little background details in Southland Tales are great. In my review I said, " every scene has so much going on in it, so many farcical brilliant props scattered around, you can feel the strips of cult film forming as you watch. " As I said before, this is a perfect cult movie, and this is just what people need--minutiae cult fanciers can pour over in repeated viewings and compare notes on.

[oscar jubis]

I watched a few of the documentaries I originally listed under "Not Seen Yet" on my Favorite Documentaries list.

I didn't like Kurt Cobain : About A Son. I lost interest in the visuals very quickly and the interviews reveal little I didn't know. There's no music by Nirvana, no confrontation of the often contradictory statements made by Cobain, and no respite from his characteristic cynicism.

I liked Nanking, about the 1936-1937 massacre perpetrated by the Imperial Japan army after they invaded China. I found the reading of actual texts by famous actors who impersonate historical characters quite effective. Film includes archival footage and interviews with Chinese survivors. Compelling material is not always integrated and organized to best effect but Nanking is undeniably powerful.

The 17-years-in-the-making, 152 minutes long, self-financed abortion documentary Lake of Fire is among the best dealing with America's cultural war (Fundamentalists would call it a religious war). Most definitely not for the squeamish as it includes gory pictures of assassinations of medical personnel targeted by "pro-life" fundamentalists and actual abortions being performed for the camera. This b&w film benefits formally from being shot almost entirely on 35 mm and the eye for visual composition of director Tony Kaye (American History X). The content benefits from the impression given by his treatment of the copious material that he has not quite decided where he stands on the issue.

Nanking and Lake of Fire are now included on my Favorite Documentaries 2007 list

[oscar jubis]

Today I watched another very good documentary exhibited theatrically in 2007 and recently released on dvd. It's called THE RAPE OF EUROPA. It concerns World War II from the point of view of the cultural artifacts (art objects, buildings, etc) that were destroyed, stolen, or hidden by Nazi Germany and the Allies during the fighting. It's a totally fresh perspective on the war. The efforts to restore what was destroyed and return what was stolen to their rightful owners (something that's often ambiguous) makes for extremely interesting documentary material. I watched this in class and the reception to the film was uniformly enthusiastic. It's hard to keep up with all the excellent documentaries released every year. I still haven't seen a bunch of docs from last year but I will comment briefly in this space as I get to them.