20. Adaptation. (2002)
Spike Jonze (director), Charlie Kaufman (writer)
Charlie Kaufman was asked to adapt a book called The Orchid Thief into a screenplay. The film he wrote is about a fictional Charlie Kaufman attempting to adapt a book called The Orchid Thief into a screenplay, struggling, and resorting to writing a screenplay about himself and his attempt to adapt a book called The Orchid Thief into a screenplay. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. If that synopsis doesn't turn your mind inside out then I will come and live under your tutelage as you reveal to me the mysteries of the universe.
The film is extremely well-acted by a triumverate of robust screen thespians: Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, and an on-form Nicholas Cage. The real accolades though must go to Kaufman for his delightfully complex and hilarious screenplay which makes the overall experience of watching this movie similar to that of being an 8 year-old at a magic show. Except, instead of rabbits and coloured handkerchiefs, you have postmodernism.
Crying Fist
Ryoo Seung-wan (director, writer)
It's languishing here at #19 but there's no way I could shake off Crying Fist. It's such an honest and pure film. It's a straight up melodrama about two men down on their luck who eventually wind up in the same amateur boxing competition. One is a middle-aged former Olympic silver medallist desperately trying to claw back his dignity and the respect of his wife and children; the other is a young man headed for prison whose family is relentlessly and continuously struck by tragedy.
Two characters you can care about, and you really will care for them both. Every aspect of this film is excellent, and what's more, it's genuinely touching. This is not your average Korean melodrama - it's something special.
The Taste of Tea
Ishii Katsuhito (director, writer)
One of my favourite films which didn't make it onto this list, Happiness of the Katakuris (directed by Miike Takashi), is an absurd Japanese comedy-musical based around an extended family who run a guest house in the mountains. The Taste of Tea is also a surreal comedy and reminds me of Katakuris because it's based around an extended family with some of the same character types: the deadbeat uncle, the eccentric grandpa, and the cute little girl.
However, Taste of Tea is far more contemplative, rewarding, subtle and wide-ranging in its humour. It features the great Asano Tadanobu (IS THAT GUY ALWAYS ON?) and a cast who all give excellent nuanced performances. They're certainly required to, as the film balances its comic absurdism with light-hearted but insightful little dramas for each of its characters.
(Original theatrical cut)
Richard Kelly (director, writer)
I don't want to say much about this film because I have plans for a big Richard Kelly special feature at some point (something no-one else would ever even think about writing which is why this blog will be AWEEESOOOME). What I enjoy about Donnie Darko is how fragmentary and bizzare it is. A quasi-religious science-fiction superhero timetravel fantasy, occupying an 80s teen drama template, incorporating surreal nightmare elements that for me evoke David Lynch.
It became a teen favourite and legitimate 'cult classic' (current IMDB position: #124), yet a vital section of the plot mechanics ('The Philosophy of Time Travel') is never explained, contributing to an experience that's totally and unapologetically oblique. This mystery was eventually exploded by DVD extras including a booklet but this intertextual relationship worked out perfectly - before the Director's Cut came along. I'm already digressing... so let's just move on.
Ulrich Seidl (director, co-writer)
A very impressive realist film that tracks the fortunes of two people migrating in search of work and a better life. Olga, a nurse from Ukraine, travels West. Pauli, an Austrian security guard, goes East. The film covers so much ground, both topically and geographically, that I couldn't begin to give an explanation of what it is really about; but it manages to maintain an incredibly high quality throughout. Speaking of runtime, it does suffer somewhat from being overly long and some of the scenes that drag make you question if they're going against purpose, but overall this is a seriously excellent piece of filmmaking.
David Fincher (director)
This is one long-ass film (162 mins), and one of two police procedurals based on a real serial killer investigation, on this list. It has all the qualities that I like to find in narrative films: some shockingly good photography and art direction (the costumes and location settings particularly), ditto camera direction, strong performances, and realistic (well, at least non-cliché) performances and script. Oh, and uh... murders. It is of course the story of the prolonged investigation into the Zodiac killer.
I've mentioned how good this film looks, and probably the most memorable scene for me is an account of one of Zodiac's killings where he appears, like a vision, to a young couple in the middle of a patch of beautiful sun-drenched countryside. The entire film is at once both pretty and gloomy. It's also gripping... Fincher's veteran mastery of every aspect of production really shines through.
Shaun Carruth (director, writer)
A triumph of hard science fiction and micro-budget filmmaking, and the best time travel film ever made. FACT. La jetée, you got owned, becausewhile you were busy concentrating on emotions, and memories, and other lame shit like that, Primer put a time machine inside another time machine. This film wrinkled my brain.
Paul Thomas Anderson (director, writer)
I don't have anything terribly interesting to say about this film, at least not cinematographically. It's a marvellously subversive combination of tongue-in-cheek humour and petty brutality. Daniel Day-Lewis acts up a fucking storm. The final scene is probably the best thing committed to videogram in the past hundred years and that fact alone pushes There Will Be Blood onto this list. You don't need me to tell you what I do with your milkshake, do you?
Memories of Murder
Bong Joon-ho (director, co-writer)
The second serial killer movie on my list, this one is based on true events in the Gyunggi province of South Korea in 1986. For fans of the subgenre, it's a great non-linear experience, following two immature and corrupt local detectives as they try to deal with the first ever serial killer case their country and culture has ever seen. In part, it's a fascinating portrait of 80s Korea as a fledgling capitalist democracy in the shadow of the U.S, with all the internal oppositions you'd expect to see dealt with.
Again though - just an astoundingly high quality of direction and production from the new Korean school is on display here. Bong's camerawork is so imaginative and self-assured. Having said that, it tops Zodiac chiefly for its originality and killer ending. This is also one of two films on my list featuring the much admired Song Kang-ho (see #3).
The Piano Teacher
Michael Haneke (director, writer)
I don't believe I'll be able to really explain why I like a film so much that is so horrible. It's a combination of two stunning performaces and an unflinching, deep psychological portrait rendered with artistic authority. It really is horrible though. Heartbreaking and demoralising... but it doesn't leave you completely desolate. It remains in your thoughts and over time I think one can come to recognise any work of art, based in such complex emotional tragedy as this is, as a valuable and beautiful thing. Just not the kind of beauty you look directly at.
Joel & Ethan Coen (co-directors, co-writers)
There's always a danger in placing a film you've seen very recently among older favourites, but until I can see it again and reconsider, I'm putting A Serious Man among my favourites of the decade. I'm a huge Coen Brothers fan and since they got back on the horse with the awesome No Country For Old Men, every new project of theirs has been something to get excited about. A Serious Man combines the Coens' trademark wit and characterisation with the warm yet brooding cinematic atmoshpere of No Country to create a brilliant existentialist black comedy. This goy loved it from beginning to end.
Kon Satoshi (co-director, writer)
A totally charming Christmas movie from the same director and animation studio better known for mind-benders like Perfect Blue, Paprika, and the inspired TV series Paranoia Agent. Three homeless misfits find an abandoned baby at Christmas and resolve to track down the parents and find out what went wrong. I think it demands to be watched every yuletide. A wonderful film that fits easily into the canon of Christmas classics that everyone should see.
8. Children of Men (2006)Alfonso Cuarón (director, co-writer)
I'll admit that what boosts Children of Men to the upper echelons of this list (and into the favour of cineastes) are two or three specific instances of bravura filmmaking; long, LONG, unbroken, complex and difficult action takes. They are frankly breathtaking. However, the film doesn't rely on showmanship alone and is a brilliantly gritty (I'm willing to use the word 'gritty', so it must be good) science ficton thriller regardless of those moments.
Performances are solid across the board and while I'm never too sure of Clive Owen, he doesn't offend at all here, and he's the main character. Probably because one is too busy gaping at the unbelievable action scenes. One of its great successes is how it paints a disturbing and totally believable picture of a dystopian near-future Britain, with London as a particular focus, in a manner so eerily recognisable to native people that is at once exciting, gratifying, and a bit scary.
7. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Wes Anderson (director, co-writer)
What other film has Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, both Wilson brothers and Ghostbustin' Bill Murray? None. I'm pretty confident that this is the funniest Wes Anderson film, and to be honest probably the only one deserving a place on this list. I like all of Anderson's films to some extent but Tenenbaums manages to be more polished than Bottle Rocket while being somewhat less strained than all his others.
I like the tightly-authored feel, overblown production design, the many funny digressions and flashbacks, the one-liners, and Ben Stiller. Some sections are brilliantly directed and the selection of pop music is great. Probably the most robust comedy-drama of this decade and one I could watch over and over.
The Return
Andrei Zvyagintsev (director, co-writer)
A simple story about two young brothers and what happens upon the sudden and unexpected return of their estranged father. Absolutely beautiful cinematography and astounding performances, especially from the two boys, Vladimir Garin and Ivan Dobronravov. The film manages to convey the emotional turmoil of childhood; the pain, frustration and fear of being powerless in the face of the world and its revelations. The film achieves everything it sets out to do FLAWLESSLY, and you can say that of very few of even the best works of cinema.
3-Iron
Kim Ki-duk (director, writer)
Kim Ki-duk definitely seems like a rare talent. He's prolific, and while I haven't got around to seeing the majority of his films yet, I'm sure that 3-Iron is a stand-out. It's a perfectly formed film with nothing wasted. Everything falls into place just so, and within a lean and graceful 88 minutes - probably considered short for a feature now (so many contemporary films bloat way past an hour and a half for no good reason).
Aside from the originality of the story and script, what makes me like 3-Iron so much is my reaction to the central romance. I can be as specific as to say that there are more than several non-traditional-East-Asian-romances-with-a-dash-of-magical-realism out there right now which feature unconvincing romances. It's the old problem of two characters falling in love for no apparent reason. 3-Iron could easily have gone this route, and on a repeat viewing I even expect it to, but the aloof sense of humour and the silent depths of these terribly sad characters will always end up pulling at me by the end the movie.
Ousmane Sembène (director, writer)
Moolaadé means protection, and is a kind of magical law invoked by a woman named Colle in a village in Burkino Faso to protect a group of young girls who run away from circumcision. With this one act of defiance she directly challenges the culture of female genital mutilation, taking on both the village patriarchy and the ring of older women in charge of carrying out the 'purification' rituals.
It sounds like a heavy and sombre film, but in fact it is the opposite. Bright, colourful, and full of hope and inspiration. It's unlike anything else and manages to be down-to-earth while never indulging in cynicism for a second.
Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance
Park Chan-wook (director, co-writer)
Without thinking too much about it I could easily say there are many films from this decade better than Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance. I don't think many people hold it in high regard and even fewer would ever claim that it was anything like a masterpiece. That even sounds ridiculous to me, and yet... I do think it's a masterpiece of sorts. A subtle one.
Now, to call a film in which people are stabbed, drown, beaten, eletrocuted, and otherwise inconvenienced '"subtle" might seem stupid. I'm not talking about the immediate content of the film however, but rather the way in which its many elements converge almost unseen to the casual observer to create a real work of brilliance. Narrative complexity and interesting shifts in character and plot. Good acting. Bold but not exhibitive shot direction. Vague, contorted gestures towards genre that never actually coalesce into anything familiar. Stark cinematography that evokes desolation but simultaneously seems to claw at any available geometry or pattern.
Certain things about Mr. Vengeance can seem clunky, unsophisticated, and needlessly cruel or melodramatic; but these are things I can deal with easily when approaching a violent revenge thriller steeped in the culture of 'Asia Extreme'. What's left is incredibly unique and exciting.
Werckmeister Harmonies
Béla Tarr (co-director, co-writer)
DAT CINEMATOGRAPHY.
The direction is flawless, reminding me of Tarkovsky in places, and the images that are rendered in black & white in a world of eternal snow and darkness are just astounding.
1. Caché (2005) Hidden
Michael Haneke (director, writer)
Wow wow wow. Haneke's magnum opus is a surburban thriller that engages the spectator on multiple levels. A French couple recieve a videotape of their own house being filmed from the street. Taking into account the angle and time of day, no-one can figure out how it was made. Later they begin to recieve childlike crayon drawings which are dismissed as unfathomable, yet the husband secretly recognises these images deep in his childhood memories. He is spurred him into an amateur investigation which unfolds in such a way as to create one of the most unbearably tense films I've ever experienced.
The film dives into issues of guilt, both personal and national, but as the drawings and tapes keep coming, also asks the question of how you rationalise the impossible. The only answer is to step outside the film itself; and in this way the film manages to infiltrate a higher reality, which is frankly awesome.
WOW COOL GREAT CONTENT LOVED THIS 10/10
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