CriterionForum's Poll of the Best Films of the Aughts

Last July, I posted the results of CriterionForum's user poll of the best films of the 1990s, which placed Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man at the top of the rankings. Last month, they caught up with the 00's, and predictably, it went neck and neck between Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love and David Lynch's Mulholland Drive (like so many others). We'll see how things line up in five or so years. Michael Haneke had the most showings on the list, with four of his films representing; he also has claim to the only official 2009 film to make the list as well. Speaking of '00 lists, I had promised a defense/explanation/overview of my own Decade List a while back. I've begun and abandoned it at least three times, and while I have two people barking up my tree in regard to this (you know who you are, and I do thank you), I thought I'd see if that was still of any interest. I would like to complete it, and I'm probably better suited to do so after spending nearly two months away from it. Let me know. The results of the CriterionForum poll are below.

01. In the Mood for Love, d. Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong/France
02. Mulholland Drive, d. David Lynch, France/USA
03. Yi yi, d. Edward Yang, Taiwan/Japan
04. The Royal Tenenbaums, d. Wes Anderson, USA
05. Punch-Drunk Love, d. Paul Thomas Anderson, USA
06. Werckmeister Harmonies [Werckmeister harmóniák], d. Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky, Hungary/Italy/Germany/France
07. The New World, d. Terrence Malick, USA
08. There Will Be Blood, d. Paul Thomas Anderson, USA
09. Zodiac, d. David Fincher, USA
10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, d. Michel Gondry, USA

11. Spirited Away, d. Hayao Miyazaki, Japan
12. Goodbye, Dragon Inn, d. Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan
13. Caché, d. Michael Haneke, France/Austria/Germany/Italy
14. Dogville, d. Lars von Trier, Denmark/Sweden/Norway/Finland/UK/France/Germany/Netherlands
15. INLAND EMPIRE, d. David Lynch, USA/Poland/France
16. Talk to Her [Hable con ella], d. Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
17. No Country for Old Men, d. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, USA
18. Elephant, d. Gus Van Sant, USA
19. Memories of Murder, d. Bong Joon-ho, South Korea
20. The Intruder [L'intrus], d. Claire Denis, France

21. Platform, d. Jia Zhang-ke, China/Hong Kong/Japan/France
22. Children of Men, d. Alfonso Cuarón, UK/USA/Spain
23. The Son [Le fils], d. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France
24. Before Sunset, d. Richard Linklater, USA
25. Y tu mamá también, d. Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico
26. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, d. Andrew Dominik, USA/Canada
27. Memento, d. Christopher Nolan, USA
28. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile], d. Cristian Mungiu, Romania
29. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, d. Steven Spielberg, USA
30. Grizzly Man, d. Werner Herzog, USA
30. Still Walking, d. Hirokazu Koreeda, Japan

32. 35 Shots of Rum [35 rhums], d. Claire Denis, France/Germany
33. A Christmas Tale [Un conte de Noël], d. Arnaud Desplechin, France
34. Syndromes and a Century, d. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/France/Austria
35. Tropical Malady, d. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/France/Germany/Italy
36. The World, d. Jia Zhang-ke, China/Japan/France
37. A History of Violence, d. David Cronenberg, USA/Germany
37. The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band], d. Michael Haneke, Austria/Germany/France/Italy
39. Summer Hours [L'heure d'été], d. Olivier Assayas, France
40. The Headless Woman [La mujer sin cabeza], d. Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/France/Italy/Spain

41. What Time Is It There?, d. Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan/France
42. Russian Ark, d. Aleksandr Sokurov, Russia/Germany
43. Nobody Knows, d. Hirokazu Koreeda, Japan
44. You the Living [Du levande], d. Roy Andersson, Sweden/Germany/France/Denmark/Norway/Japan
45. La ciénaga, d. Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/France/Spain
46. Millennium Mambo, d. Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan/France
46. The Piano Teacher [La pianiste], d. Michael Haneke, Austria/France
48. Friday Night [Vendredi soir], d. Claire Denis, France
48. The Gleaners & I [Les glaneurs et la glaneuse], d. Agnès Varda, France
50. Lost in Translation, d. Sofia Coppola, USA/Japan
50. Three Times, d. Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan/France

52. 2046, d. Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong/China/France/Germany
53. Let the Right One In [Låt den rätte komma in], d. Tomas Alfredson, Sweden
54. Miami Vice, d. Michael Mann, USA/Germany
55. The Return, d. Andrei Zvyagintsev, Russia
56. The Squid and the Whale, d. Noah Baumbach, USA
57. Lilya 4-ever [Lilja 4-ever], d. Lukas Moodysson, Sweden/Denmark
58. 25th Hour, d. Spike Lee, USA
59. Bad Education [La mala educación], d. Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
60. Amélie [Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain], d. Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France
60. Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, d. Hong Sang-soo, South Korea

62. Adaptation., d. Spike Jonze, USA
63. Code Unknown [Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages], d. Michael Haneke, France/Germany/Romania
64. The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu [Moartea domnului Lăzărescu], d. Cristi Puiu, Romania
65. L'enfant, d. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France
66. The Man Who Wasn't There, d. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, USA/UK
67. In the City of Sylvia [En la ciudad de Sylvia], d. José Luis Guerín, Spain/France
68. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, d. Wes Anderson, USA
69. Antichrist, d. Lars von Trier, Denmark/Germany/France/Sweden/Italy/Poland
69. Birth, d. Jonathan Glazer, USA/Germany

71. WALL•E, d. Andrew Stanton, USA
72. The Hurt Locker, d. Kathryn Bigelow, USA
73. Still Life, d. Jia Zhang-ke, China/Hong Kong
73. Who's Camus Anyway?, d. Mitsuo Yanagimachi, Japan
75. Margot at the Wedding, d. Noah Baumbach, USA
76. Woman Is the Future of Man, d. Hong Sang-soo, South Korea/France
77. Synecdoche, New York, d. Charlie Kaufman, USA
78. demonlover, d. Olivier Assayas, France
79. Kill Bill (Volumes 1 and 2), d. Quentin Tarantino
79. The Man Without a Past [Mies vailla menneisyyttä], d. Aki Kaurismäki, Finland/Germany/France

81. Eureka, d. Shinji Aoyama, Japan/France
82. I'm Not There, d. Todd Haynes, USA/Germany
83. Linda Linda Linda, d. Nobuhiro Yamashita, Japan
84. Paranoid Park, d. Gus Van Sant, France/USA
85. George Washington, d. David Gordon Green, USA
86. Morvern Callar, d. Lynne Ramsay, UK
87. Ghost World, d. Terry Zwigoff, USA/UK/Germany
88. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada [Los tres entierros de Melquiades Estrada], d. Tommy Lee Jones, USA/France
88. Woman on the Beach, d. Hong Sang-soo, South Korea
90. All the Real Girls, d. David Gordon Green, USA

91. Mysterious Skin, d. Gregg Araki, USA/Netherlands
91. Wendy and Lucy, d. Kelly Reichardt, USA
93. Tokyo Sonata, d. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/Netherlands/Hong Kong
94. Pan's Labyrinth [El laberinto del Fauno], d. Guillermo del Toro, Mexico/Spain/USA
95. Brand Upon the Brain!, d. Guy Maddin, Canada/USA
95. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly [Le scaphandre et le papillon], d. Julian Schnabel, France/USA
95. Songs from the Second Floor [Sånger från andra våningen], d. Roy Andersson, Sweden/Norway/Denmark
98. Café Lumière, d. Hou Hsiao-hsien, Japan/Taiwan
98. Innocence, d. Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Belgium/France/UK
98. Pulse, d. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan

Surpringly (or maybe it isn't), only five of the 100 aren't yet on DVD in the US. Though naturally, The White Ribbon and Still Walking are on their way; and Lilya 4-ever, while not for purchase, is available to rent through Netflix, leaving Eureka and In the City of Sylvia as the remaining two.

Good Weekend story: Timmy & Tommy

Comment by a Melbourne Mother:

I read the following article (which, surprisingly, most of my friends seem to have missed) in last Saturday's issue of the Good Weekend magazine. I really enjoyed it and admire both interviewees. However I couldn't help thinking that this article's place was not in a non-Jewish publication but rather in the Jewish News.

What do other AJN Watchers think?

Timmy: I don't make calls on my mobile because I can't afford the bill, but Tommy calls me every day, no matter where he is in the world. Whenever we're on the phone together, he asks how my day is going. It might come up that somebody's kid has been kicked out of school because they can't afford an aide, or a Chabad house [community centre] somewhere has lost their financier. He says, "Well, we can't have that", and he foots the bill for anybody who is needy or struggling. He supports all my causes, all the things that keep me buzzing. I'm a volunteer prison chaplain. I visit the Jewish inmates. We get them kosher food - he pays for that. A lot of them want a Star of David or Jewish books and calendars - he pays for all that, too.

Sometimes I'm on the phone with him and I get a call on the other phone. I say, "Tommy, can you hang on a moment?" He overhears my other conversation, hears somebody who needs something, and he'll chase them. I had the Chabad rabbi from Thailand say to me, "Never in my life has someone chased me to give me money."

One time he knew I was having a poor Lubavitch [an orthodox Hasidic movement] family to dinner. Before we ate, a truckload of cherries, plums, pancakes arrived. He came over and had so much naches [joy] watching them eat. He's just the biggest-hearted guy. I say to him, "Tommy, you've got a heart the size of Texas." He always says, "Did you say I've got an arse the size of Texas?" Most people who have money, they're a bit arrogant, expect people to put them on a pedestal, but Tommy doesn't let a person feel beholden. When he gives, he says, "You're doing me a favour, letting me support the work you're doing." But every time he goes on a big giving spree, he calls a few hours later and says, "You'll never guess, I just got an order from America for a million bucks." It says in the Torah that you get the benefit of tzedakah [giving] in this world as well as in the next. He's a living example.

Tommy is extreme. He's extreme in generosity, extreme in positivity. He's extreme in how he loves life. He's the happiest person I know. And one of the best things is his extreme humour. I need to laugh. I love being happy. One time, I organised a fundraising night for the mikvah and Tommy was one of my comedians. He came dressed as a woman in a black wig, red cocktail waitress top and a gold lame skirt with a thigh-high split. In the audience, one rabbi's wife says to the other rabbi's wife, "That woman's skirt's a bit immodest." The other woman says, "Darling, it's a man." Hilarious. He can make up a song on the spot. He's always making up songs about the mikvah. He decided we should have a mascot, a character, so he comes up with a moose. It's a kosher animal. He got me a plastic moose and makes up this song [to the tune of Macho Man], "Mikvah mikvah moose, I want to be a mikvah moose. We want you, we want you, we want you to be a kosher Jew." He's hilarious.

I introduced him to [his wife] Issy when he was 15, but he was married twice before he eventually married her. He came over after breaking up with the second wife.

He was in tears. He was broken. I couldn't bear it. I made sure he met up with Issy again. I knew they were a match made in heaven. They do go to synagogue but they don't keep the Sabbath strictly like we do. I wish they were more observant but I wouldn't be the one to nudge them. Honestly, they do more good than a lot of observant people. Tommy gives me an amazing backstop of support and friendship. He's my oldest friend. He makes me laugh my head off every day. It's unbelievable. In fact, my whole life is unbelievable because Tommy is in it.

Tommy: Timmy has been at the centre of my life since I was a kid. We grew up in the Jewish community connected to the Temple Beth Israel in St Kilda. We used to go to Sunday school together. She had these dimples, the best smile. The past 20-something years we've been really close and the past 10 years I would speak to her twice a day minimum, maybe six times. It doesn't matter where I am in the world, I ring her every day. What's happening? Who needs help? Who's drowning, who's swimming? She'll say, "I've got a beauty this time, a prisoner, and he's as thin as a rake." I say, "We need to feed him. Go to the Jewish deli, get him some food." I love doing this. This is no burden. Everything I have, all the blessings, come from God. It's not my money; I'm responsible that the money gets used properly. There's no downside. Timmy gives me the opportunity to do my stuff through the work she does.

So many people come through her house she should have revolving doors. She greets them, she feeds them, but how does she feed them? She and her husband can't afford to feed all these people, so I foot the bill. I can't stand to see people not eat. I think that must be Jewish. Also, when you're religious, eating is actually an act of holiness because every time you eat, you say a blessing.

It's holiness but chaos, too. She's always getting herself in trouble. I rang her one day, I said, "What's the matter? You sound stressed." "Stressed! You have no idea," she says. Somehow she's given the wrong instructions to the Yellow Pages about the mikvah listing and a bill has come through for $1600. The guy who owns the mikvah flipped. "Send the bill over," I said. "I'll take care of it."

Another time she's in jail visiting prisoners, she's about to leave and she can't find her car keys. She's got prisoners and warders on hands and knees searching. The prisoners are terrified, they think the place is going to go into lock-down if they don't find her keys. She's worried she won't be able to start her car. The prisoners all say, "I can start your car, no problem."

I tried to set her up in business. I got an art studio in China to paint portraits of rabbis for her to sell. Small problem. The painters used the wrong paint and the rabbis' beards all turn pink. There's always chaos with Timmy. If there's something that sums her up, it's that she not only believes in miracles, she relies on them.

Timmy has married off 15, 16 people. She introduced me to Issy when I was 15. We went out together for nine months. She was my first love. But you go through life, young, stupid. I was married twice in between. I should have known. But, 30-something years later, I hit the jackpot and married my first girlfriend. Why? Because of Timmy. She knew. It was supposed to be the first time. She always wanted us to be together. She's besties with both of us.

I'm a bit of an old business cynic but I do believe people can be good and kind only because of who they are, not because there's something in it for them. That's Timmy. She is full of love. And she has a huge laugh. The laugh arrives 15 minutes before she does. She's the happiest person I know.

The 3rd Annual Saint Louis Qfest

One of the things I have been working on these past two months in assisting in putting together the local gay and lesbian film festival, otherwise known as Qfest which is now in its third year. Qfest picked up where the Saint Louis International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival left off when it ended in 1999. This year's program will feature eleven features (8 features, 3 docs) and four shorts, one of which, Heartland Transplant, was directed by my friend Cody Stokes and played at this year's Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. The festival runs from 28-31 March at the Landmark Tivoli Theatre.

While I haven't seen all of the films screening this year, I can safely recommend three of the ones I have watched. Leo's Room [El cuarto de Leo], the feature debut from Enrique Buchichio, is a compelling, often quite beautiful portrait of two former primary school classmates, who run into one another in their mid-twenties. Leo (Martín Rodríguez), dumped by his "beard," cruises online chat rooms for men; Caro (Cecilia Cósero) spends most of her day in bed, downing anti-depressants. While it doesn't break a whole lot of new ground, Leo's Room does have a number of rich, expressive moments that set it apart from your average coming-out/coming-of-age tale. Leo's Room is part of the 2010 Global Lens Collection.

Haim Tabakman's exceptional Eyes Wide Open, which premiered at Cannes last year in the Un Certain Regard section, follows a taboo love/lust affair between two Orthodox Jews (Zohar Shtrauss, Ran Danker) in Jerusalem. Ella Lemhagen's Patrik, Age 1.5 [Patrik 1,5] takes a farcical premise (a gay couple looking to adopt a baby get stuck with a fifteen-year-old homophobe due to a clerical error) and gives it dramatic weight, aided by two outstanding performances from Gustaf Skarsgård (Stellan's son, Eric from True Blood's brother) and Torkel Petersson (Old Men in New Cars) as the daddies-to-be. Tickets for all the films are now available; check the Cinema Saint Louis website for more information. Hopefully, if you're in the area, I'll see you there. I'll also be posting longer reviews of the three films mentioned above (and maybe a few of the others) closer to the festival date.

Timely Warning for Purim

ATTENTION SHULS, CHABAD HOUSES, RABBIS AND PARENTS !!!

Click to enlarge

Shabbos House??

Things That Happen When You're Away

For the past two months or so, I've taken myself off the radar, cinema-wise, focusing on... well, nothing in particular. This week I've been trying to catch up on all the film/media news I've been missing/ignoring, and Christ, a lot has happened. Here are some of the highlights. Thanks to Jordany, Jason H, Blake and all the sources I culled the material from.

1. New Yorker Films comes back to life after closing its doors a year ago. Does that mean Céline and Julie will hit DVD this year?

2. Michael Haneke scraps the "old age" project he was set to shoot with Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Louis Trintignant.

3. Though rumors had been circulating for a while, I guess the untimely death of you-know-who has shifted Amy Heckerling's focus from a Clueless sequel onto a vampire film (hmm), which will reteam her with Alicia Silverstone.

4. Carlos Reygadas announced his next film, something of an auto-biopic, entitled Post Tenebras Lux. I also overlooked the omnibus film he took part in, Revolución, which commemorated the centennial of the Mexican Revolution. Revolución screened at Berlin last week; the other directors who took part in the film are Mariana Chenillo (Cinco días sin Nora), Fernando Eimbcke (Lake Tahoe), Amat Escalante (Los bastardos), Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo García (Mother and Child), Diego Luna, Gerardo Naranjo (Voy a explotar), Rodrigo Plá (La zona) and Patricia Riggen (La misma luna).

5. Penélope Cruz was tipped as starring in Lars von Trier's upcoming Melancholia, but the rumor was later denied. Too bad she's opting for the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel.

6. Speaking of Lars von Trier and rumors, there was a lot of hoopla over von Trier making a Five Obsctructions-esque dare to Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro to remake Taxi Driver. But that apparently wasn't exactly true either.

7. Mariah Carey wore this outfit.

8. Beautiful, weird mystery and intrigue surround the release of these video teasers, by apparently a well-known pop star. "Christina Aguilera? Kylie Minogue? Little Boots? Röyskopp?" I was asked. "Goldfrapp? Sally Shapiro?" I replied. More speculation here.

9. Three truly exceptional albums hit record stores (or, really, iTunes and the like). And one I'm still confounded about (listen to it here).

10. Lucrecia Martel saw all three of her films on Cinema Tropical's list of the 10 best Latin American films of the decade. I can't say I'm surprised.

In DVD news, Tony Palmer and Frank Zappa's 200 Motels will make its overdue debut on DVD via Palmer through MVD. The release date? April 20, naturally. I was browsing Breaking Glass Pictures' Facebook page and was more than pleased to see that they've picked up the DVD rights to Gabriel Fleming's The Lost Coast, a haunting, outstanding film about four friends over Halloween night in San Francisco. The Lost Coast was previously available as a DVD-R on Amazon; it's still available to watch on Hulu (with commercial breaks) as well as streaming on Netflix (sans commercials). Breaking Glass will release it on 4 May, and it comes highly recommended.

I should also be attending the 7th annual True False Film Festival (which also slipped my mind). It begins on Thursday, and as I live two hours away I figure I may as well. Let me know if I should pay specific attention to anything screening there, as I haven't given the line-up a close examination yet. Another great documentary festival, Big Sky, announced their awards the other day, which you can find here. My good friend Stewart Copeland's new film Let Your Feet Do the Talkin' made its world premiere at Big Sky as well.

Awards at Berlin, 2010

The awards for the 60th Berlin International Film Festival were delivered this afternoon (Sunday in Germany), with the most-talked about award going to Roman Polanski, who claimed a Silver Bear award for Best Director for The Ghost Writer. Like Polanski's Academy Award win, this seems incredibly suspect, something of a lifetime achievement meets "Sorry for all your legal troubles" accolade. I'll still end up watching it, though my faith in his abilities isn't strong these days (I am, however, one of the few who likes Death and the Maiden; however, both Jim Beluschi and Kim Cattrall make it hard to get too amped about this one). The Golden Bear went to Turkish director and playwright Semih Kaplanoğlu's Bal [Honey], the third part of a trilogy entitled Yusuf Üçlemesi, or Yusef's Trilogy, which began with Süt [Milk] and Yumurta [Egg]. Claudia Llosa's La teta asustada [The Milk of Sorrow], now up for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, was last year's top winner. The awards are listed below, including the main jury prizes, as well as those of the Ecumenical Jury, FIPRESCI and the Teddy Jury (given to queer films):

Golden Bear: Bal [Honey], d. Semih Kaplanoğlu, Turkey/Germany
Silver Bear, Jury Grand Prix: Eu când vreau să fluier, fluier [If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle], d. Florin Şerban, Romania
Silver Bear, Best Director: Roman Pokanski, The Ghost Writer
Silver Bear, Best Actress: Shinobu Terajima, Caterpillar
Silver Bear, Best Actor: (tie) Grigori Dobrygin, Sergei Puskepalis, How I Ended This Summer
Silver Bear, Outstanding Artistic Achievement: Pavel Kostomarov, cinematographer, How I Ended This Summer
Silver Bear, Screenplay: Wang Quan'an, Na Jin, Apart Together
Alfred Bauer Prize (given to a work of particular innovation): Eu când vreau să fluier, fluier [If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle], d. Florin Şerban
Best First Feature: Sebbe, d. Babak Najafi, Sweden


FIPRESCI Prizes


- Competition: En familie [A Family], d. Pernille Fischer Christensen, Denmark
- Panorama: Parade, d. Isao Yukisada, Japan
- Forum: El vuelco del cangrejo [Crab Trap], d. Oscar Ruiz Navia, Colombia/France


Prizes of the Ecumenical Jury


- Competition: Bal [Honey], d. Semih Kaplanoğlu
- Panorama: Kawasakiho růže [Kawasaki's Rose], d. Jan Hřebejk, Czech Republic
- Forum: Aisheen (Still Alive in Gaza), d. Nicolas Wadimoff, Switzerland/Quatar


Teddy Awards


- Best Feature Film: The Kids Are All Right, d. Lisa Cholodenko, USA
- Best Documentary: La bocca del lupo [The Mouth of the Wolf], d. Pietro Marcello, Italy
- Best Short Film: The Feast of Stephen, d. James Franco, USA
- Jury Award: Open, d. Jake Yuzna, USA

Nokia Dumps Bryan Boy

Word reached me this morning that Marc Jacobs blogger Bryan Boy has been dumped from Nokia.
Not sure why.
One can only imagine though........