My Top 10 List: Version 1.0
Well, I’m fairly confident that I will not be seeing any 2002 releases between now and January (going to
Gangs of New York on Thursday), so I figure it’s time to make my preliminary Top 10 list (of course, you guys know me, and I can’t just stop at 10) for this year. This is only a preliminary list because many 2002 films (
Adaptation,
Chicago,
25th Hour,
The Hours etc., etc.) will not be released in Madison for a few weeks, or even a few months. So, some time in the future, this list will be superseded, unless every remaining movie from this year, that I haven’t seen, really, really sucks, which I doubt.
For me, 2002 was a fairly good year for the movies, in general, but unlike last year, with
Mulholland Drive, or 1999, with
After Life, no one movie has yet to completely seize my imagination, emotions, and intellect. In fact, the movie that I have penciled in as the top of 2002 so far, has remained in that position since late March. Well, here goes:
Honorable Mentions
Quite a list of films any of which I would heartily recommend:
About a Boy (d. Paul & Chris Weitz),
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (d. Zacharias Kunuk),
Bowling for Columbine (d. Michael Moore),
The Devil’s Backbone (d. Guillermo Del Toro),
Far From Heaven (d. Todd Hayne),
I’m Going Home (d. Manoel De Oliviera),
Kandahar (d. Mohsen Makhmalbaf),
Last Orders (d. Fred Schepisi),
Little Otik (d. Jan Svankmajer),
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (d. Peter Jackson),
Lovely and Amazing (d. Nicole Holofcener),
Manhunt (d. Melanie Middien & Alia Yunis),
Monsoon Wedding (d. Mira Nair),
Panic Room (d. David Fincher),
Punch Drunk Love (d. Paul Thomas Anderson),
Sex and Lucia (d. Julio Medem),
The Son’s Room (d. Nanni Moretti),
Spirited Away (d. Hayao Miyazaki),
24 Hour Party People (d. Michael Winterbottom),
Waterboys (d. Shinobu Yamaguchi), and
What Time Is It There? (d. Tsai Ming-liang).
The Runner’s Up (in alphabetical order):
Bloody Sunday (d. Paul Greengrass)
Late Marriage (d. Dover Koshashvili)
The Lady and the Duke (d. Eric Rohmer)
Minority Report (d. Steven Spielberg)
The Piano Teacher (d. Michael Haneke)
Secretary (d. Steven Shainberg)
Spider Man (d. Sam Raimi)
Time Out (d. Laurent Cantet)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (d. Alfonso Cauron)
And the Current #1 Movie of the Year Is....
The Argentinean movie
La Cienaga (d. Lucretia Martel), which I first saw at the Wisconsin Film Festival. You literally watch a upper-class family decay before your very eyes, sinking under the oppressive weight of the humidity into an incestuous stupor. The atmosphere is so corrupt, that the tragic end doesn’t really feel like much of a surprise. A must see for the atmosphere, as well as some of the most naturalistic performances by children that I’ve seen in a long time.
By the way, if anyone is interested, I think the worst film of the year, by far is Todd Solondz’s
Storytelling (which was actually the first 2002 release I saw); it wrestled its title from the abysmal
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell by virtue, well I don’t know if that is the right word, of its pretentiousness
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