tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91623798334468116892024-03-08T02:46:50.687-08:00No Awarenessnoawarenesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505298009912249912noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162379833446811689.post-83773629617069815982010-05-09T13:20:00.000-07:002010-05-10T09:52:48.373-07:00Reviews : February 2010<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>It's been a long time coming. Here are my film reviews... for February!<br />
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<i>Anvil! The Story of Anvil </i>(2008, dir. Sacha Gervasi)<br />
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A documentary about the 80s band Anvil, who for whatever reasons never achieved commercial success. While the other metal bands that surrounded them went on to have long and lucrative careers, Anvil sank quickly into obscurity. This documentary opens with now middle-aged lead singer, 'Lips', working a shift at his day job as a delivery man for a catering service. We follow the now strictly part-time band as they embark on a badly-organised tour, following up with a self-funded album recording predictably ignored by every major record label, as the guys are continually struck down at each turn.<br />
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The actual filmmaking is nothing to write home about, and is quite naive in places; for example, toward the end of the film some good news is recieved - hopeful strings swell in the background and we get a shot of some flowers. Groan. However, what the director does manage to do is get plenty of candid footage of these bold, interesting, and funny real-life characters as they struggle in the face of adversity. The human interest is so strong that I could freely recommend this film to anyone.<br />
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<i>Barrier</i> (1966, dir. Jerzy Skolimowski)<br />
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This is one of my favourites from February; a highly tongue-in-cheek Polish film that draws strongly on its nouvelle vague contemporaries while at the same time incorporating some of the atmosphere and style of 1930 surrealism, most notably I think, Cocteau's <i>Blood of a Poet</i>.<br />
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The film begins with a group of medical students playing a kind of balancing game to win a pot of money. The winner decides not to share out his winnings and leaves the wander the streets, stumbling into an unconnected series of strange adventures, during which he meets a female tram driver whom he attempts to woo. The meandering narrative, wandering of the streets, and casual boy-girl dynamics are all typically new wave. The episodic and often comedic nature of some of the urban scenes even reminded me of Louis Malle's <i>Zazie dans le metro</i>. The cinematography however is exciting and varied. Some scenes are shot in stagey, contained spaces or shallow tableau (Cocteau), whereas at other times Skolimowski really innovates in terms of space and movement. There is no one style on offer, more a mixture of different ideas, all executed with great skill.<br />
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The final thing to mention is the soundtrack, which has a really nice set instrumental pop-jazz type tunes that bring things together. The overall experience is very charming.<br />
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<i>Blind Shaft</i> (2003, dir Li Yang)<br />
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<i>Blind Shaft</i> is a very straightforward realist drama about two Chinese men who make a living out of scamming mining companies: they take a drifting labourer under their wing and pretend that he's family, murder him, fake an accidental shaft collapse, and collect the compensation money. We are never told anything explicit about the characters and there is no forced exposition, we merely enter their world and follow a series of events. It's quite a neorealist film in this respect, minimal on performance and dialogue, although the focus on what there is of a plot remains tight throughout. I found it a really enjoyable, emotional, and worthy film. Recommended.<br />
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<i>Valerie and Her Week of Wonders</i> (1970, dir. Jaromil Jirez)<br />
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A Czech fairytale movie with more folk story tropes than you can shake a stick at - grandmas, wizards, vampiricism, magic talismans, and the overarching and ever-present threat of incest (be it accidental or otherwise). Throw in some girls kissing on each other, great costuming, and some of the most picaresque village settings of all time, and you have an entertaining, if fairly loose and predictable, film - although to be fair it's all about the aesthetics, and if you like... this kind of thing, then you'll love... this.<br />
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<i>Powaqqatsi</i> (1988, dir. Godfrey Reggio)<br />
<i>Naqoyqatsi</i> (2002, dir. Godfrey Reggio)<br />
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I love <i>Koyaanisqatsi</i>, the non-narrative non-verbal blockbuster of 1982. I recently got the second and third films in the 'qatsi' trilogy on DVD and was looking forward to them a great deal. <i>Powaqqatsi</i> I enjoyed very much at the time, although casting my mind back there's very little to differentiate it from the first film. The opening scene is fantastic and features the best music of the film, however from there on in it's arguably <i>Koyaanisqatsi redux</i> - the same cinematic techniques applied to different peoples and environments. Overall I don't think that Philip Glass's soundtrack for this or the third film come close to that of <i>Koyaanisqatsi</i>, now so iconic, but could it ever hope to?<br />
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<i>Naqoyqatsi</i>, visually, is a grand departure from the first two films. Unfortunately a great portion of it sucks. After watching it I was shocked to discover it was made in 2002. Two-thousand-and-two! It looks like it was made in 1992 with leftover footage from <i>Lawnmower Man</i>! Equations and Pi symbols fly toward the screen through a wireframe tunnel, just like you'd see in an educational programme timer-recorded off TV at 2 o' clock in the morning by an enterprising secondary school science teacher. There are some worthy attempts to innovate using split screen techniques but it's of limited effect. A few scenes achieve a sense of eerieness and alienation from hyperreality, which I think is partially what Reggio was aiming for, but do that for 86 minutes you run the risk of estranging your audience - do so unsucessfully and you run the risk of boring them. Although this review was mostly negative, I didn't hate <i>Naqoyqatsi</i>, I found it at least interesting as an experiment. I'm just mournful of an opportunity squandered.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i40.tinypic.com/v2vaqu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://i40.tinypic.com/v2vaqu.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><blockquote style="text-align: center;">"Guys, I just spilled coffee on my Amiga and accidentally made <i>Naqoyqatsi</i>."</blockquote><br />
<i>The Wayward Cloud</i> (2005, dir. Tsai Ming-liang)<br />
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In my limited experience (1998's <i>The Hole</i>, and now this film) the world of Tsai Ming-liang is a unique place, a discomforting but somewhat magical world of dark and cramped urban spaces, inhabited by a handful of lonely and/or misguided people, occaisionally brought to life by the injection of vivid colour and nostalgic 50s musical song and dance numbers. There is also a pervasive obsession with water. This film follows the adventures of a Taiwanese porn stud named Hsiao-Kang and what happens when he crosses paths with a girl named Shiang-chyi with whom he falls in love. It is important to say at this point that Hsiao-Kang and Shiang-chyi are both reoccuring characters in Tsai's universe. Both the character dynamics and the use of ensemble players in recurring roles is comparable to Wong Kar-wai; however, this is where comparisons to the familiar end.<br />
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Taipei is suffering a water shortage, which leads directly to the skyrocketing popularity of the relatively cheap watermeon. This iconic and colourful fruit replaces water as the basic element of life. This is the visual leit-motif and gimmick through which the less important scenes and story mechanics operate. The real theme that Tsai tackles is sex and it's role in human relationships, as either an obstacle or aid in making a romantic connection and overcoming loneliness. He specifically addresses the kind of sexuality seen in and inspired by pornography. He takes an open yet negative attitude towards sex in general - this is admitted by the man himself as he nervously giggles his way through the DVD bonus interview, explaining the influence of his own loneliness and the attitudes towards sexuality and pornography in the media in Taiwan.<br />
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Speaking for myself, I think the stand-out scene must be the opening one, which is a doctor-and-nurse themed cinematic porn sequence in which a piece of watermelon stands in for the woman's genitals. You might need to re-read that sentence but there's nothing more I can do to better describe it. It does however neatly describe the film's twisted sense of humour and approach to sex, which becomes increasingly darker and leads to quite a shocking (but still blackly comic) final scene in which the hero and heroine are romantically united through an unconscious Japanese porn starlet proxy.<br />
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As with Tsai's <i>The Hole</i>, a very similar film to this, I could appreciate the cinematic skill and wild originality in the movie yet I didn't immediately connect with the experience and came away unenthused and a little depressed. I'm impressed though how haunting his movies are and the images he creates really do leave a lasting impression, not because of shock value but because of robust artistic merit. The more I think about <i>The Wayward Cloud</i> the more I like it, and I know I'll go back to it again.<br />
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<i>Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire</i> (2009, dir. Lee Daniels)<br />
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<i>Precious</i>, or to give it its full original title, <i>Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire Based on the Life of Sapphire by Sapphire</i>, is a film which through its promotional material intrigued me, both for its striking lead actress and the involvement of Oprah Winfrey. It is a fairly predictable and heavy-handed Inspirational Story (TM) about an illiterate inner-city teen who gets pregnant by her father and is regularly physically and mentally abused by her mother. Spoiler: She is strong and overcomes her circumstances. One notable thing about the film is the heavy use of tacky special effects and techniques: the fantasy sequences are just downright awful (for example, Precious imagines that she is a movie star and everyone loves her) but at one point she looks through a photo album and the pictures come to life and start talking to her! In her imagination! All of these layered tricks early on put me in mind of a really, really shit version of <i>Citizen Kane</i>.<br />
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Another thing to note is that the lead actress, Gabourey Sidibe, is actually given very little to do other than scowl and mumble her way through most of the film. By the time she gets two or three minutes of a real performance opportunity she has already been overshadowed by the truly brilliant Mo'Nique, who without a doubt deserved her 2010 Oscar win for her role here. Overall though the film is standard fare - its more atrocious moments balanced single-handedly by the strength of Mo'Nique's late game Oscar-bait revelation.<br />
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<i>The Life of David Gale</i> (2003, dir. Alan Parker)<br />
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I watch a lot of films for bad reasons. Occisionally I will get it in my head that I need to see something I know will be unexceptional at best. I watched <i>The Life of David Gale</i> because it appeared in a YouTube video of spoilers, addressing a list of films with unexpected or twist endings. My mind was later made up to see it when I discovered that Laura Linney was in it, an actress who has become part of an in-joke for me and a friend. Anyway - this movie is bad. The main problem is that the entire plot, including the supposed twist, is made totally obvious from the half-hour mark onwards. You then have to watch Kate Winslet run around for another whole hour misinterpreting obvious clues and generally being the most incompetent human being on the planet while you weep openly for Kevin Spacey's career.<br />
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<i>Land of Plenty</i> (2004, dir. Wim Wenders)<br />
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The pitch: Jen from <i>Dawson's Creek</i> has just returned to the US from Israel and checks into a homeless shelter run by Bunk from <i>The Wire</i>. Meanwhile, Dennis Quaid rolls around town in a van trying to prevent the next 9/11 by spying on people and being a bit racist. Don't see this.<br />
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<i>Back to Normandy </i>(2007, dir. Nicholas Philibert)<br />
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Thirty years ago, director Nicholas Philibert worked as an assistant to René Allio on the film <i>I, Pierre Riviere</i>. In <i>Back to Normandy</i> he returns to the rural French village where they scouted shooting locations and enlisted the local townspeople into playing all the main roles. He interviews some people who relate their experiences. We see some bales of hay. He shows some clips from the film. He ponders Allio's ow<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">n experience. He shows a pig being killed on a farm. Then he tracks down the elusive lead actor from </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Pierre Rivière</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">, </span>who turns up to meet two of the other old actors. They say hello to each other and walk around a bit.<br />
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It was crushingly dull and massive disappointment for me when taking into consideration (a) how good the film this documentary is based on is, and (b) how lovely Philibert's observational doc <i>Être et avoir</i> was. This film has absolutely no focus, it meanders and rambles and comes up with nothing of substance to show for it all.noawarenesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505298009912249912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9162379833446811689.post-85088923166635725492010-02-21T13:47:00.000-08:002010-02-22T15:33:29.194-08:00My Top 20 Films of the Last Decade<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br />
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<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Spike Jonze (director), Charlie Kaufman (writer)</span></strong><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Charlie Kaufman was asked to adapt a book called <i>The Orchid Thief</i> into a screenplay. The film he wrote is about a fictional Charlie Kaufman attempting to adapt a book called <i>The Orchid Thief</i> into a screenplay, struggling, and resorting to writing a screenplay about himself and his attempt to adapt a book called <i>The Orchid Thief</i> 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">19. Jumeogi unda (2005)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Crying Fist</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ryoo Seung-wan (director, writer)</span></strong><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's languishing here at #19 but there's no way I could shake off <i>Crying Fist.</i> 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">18. Cha no aji (2004)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The Taste of Tea</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ishii Katsuhito (director, writer)</span></strong><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of my favourite films which didn't make it onto this list, <i>Happiness of the Katakuris</i> (directed by Miike Takashi), is an absurd Japanese comedy-musical based around an extended family who run a guest house in the mountains. <i>The Taste of Tea</i> is also a surreal comedy and reminds me of <i>Katakuris</i> 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, <i>Taste of Tea</i> 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">17. Donnie Darko (2001)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"></span></span></strong><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Original theatrical cut)</span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Richard Kelly (director, writer)</span></strong><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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 <i>Donnie Darko</i> 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">16. Import/Export (2007)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ulrich Seidl (director, co-writer)</span></strong><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">15. Zodiac (2007)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">David Fincher (director)</span></strong><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">14. Primer (2004)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Shaun Carruth (director, writer)</span></strong><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A triumph of hard science fiction and micro-budget filmmaking, and the best time travel film ever made. FACT. <i>La jetée</i>, you got owned, becausewhile you were busy concentrating on emotions, and memories, and other lame shit like that, <i>Primer</i> put a time machine inside another time machine. This film wrinkled my brain.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">13. There Will Be Blood (2007)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paul Thomas Anderson (director, writer)</span></strong><br />
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<div align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://i48.tinypic.com/16k8752.jpg" /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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 <i>There Will Be Blood</i> onto this list. You don't need me to tell you what I do with your milkshake, do you?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">12. Salinui chueok (2003)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Memories of Murder</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bong Joon-ho (director, co-writer)</span></strong><br />
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<div align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://i48.tinypic.com/2eel9b4.jpg" /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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 <i>Zodiac</i> 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).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">11. La pianiste (2001)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The Piano Teacher</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Michael Haneke (director, writer)</span></strong><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">10. A Serious Man (2009)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Joel & Ethan Coen (co-directors, co-writers)</span></strong><br />
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<div align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://i46.tinypic.com/xbbn6s.jpg" /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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 <i>A Serious Man</i> among my favourites of the decade. I'm a huge Coen Brothers fan and since they got back on the horse with the awesome <i>No Country For Old Men</i>, every new project of theirs has been something to get excited about. <i>A Serious Man</i> combines the Coens' trademark wit and characterisation with the warm yet brooding cinematic atmoshpere of <i>No Country</i> to create a brilliant existentialist black comedy. This goy loved it from beginning to end.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">9. Tokyo Godfathers (2003)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kon Satoshi (co-director, writer)</span></strong><br />
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<div align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://i49.tinypic.com/nybpeg.jpg" /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A totally charming Christmas movie from the same director and animation studio better known for mind-benders like <i>Perfect Blue</i>, <i>Paprika</i>, and the inspired TV series <i>Paranoia Agent</i>. 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.</span><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">8. Children of Men (2006)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alfonso Cuarón (director, co-writer)</span></strong><br />
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<div align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://i45.tinypic.com/4h9udd.jpg" /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'll admit that what boosts <i>Children of Men</i> 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">7. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)</span></span></strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wes Anderson (director, co-writer)</span></strong></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div align="center"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://i50.tinypic.com/30ark9e.jpg" /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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 <i>Tenenbaums</i> manages to be more polished than <i>Bottle Rocket</i> while being somewhat less strained than all his others.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">6. Vozvrashchenie (2003)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The Return</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Andrei Zvyagintsev (director, co-writer)</span></strong><br />
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<div align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://i47.tinypic.com/10n9thu.jpg" /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">5. Bin-jip (2004)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">3-Iron</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kim Ki-duk (director, writer)</span></strong><br />
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<div align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://i45.tinypic.com/2ir57gk.jpg" /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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 <i>3-Iron</i> 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).</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Aside from the originality of the story and script, what makes me like <i>3-Iron</i> 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. <i>3-Iron</i> 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">4. Moolaadé (2004)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ousmane Sembène (director, writer)</span></strong><br />
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<div align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://i48.tinypic.com/2me4hfo.jpg" /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Moolaadé</i> 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">3. Boksuneun naui geot (2002)</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Park Chan-wook (director, co-writer)</span></strong><br />
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<div align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://i45.tinypic.com/t014yo.jpg" /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Without thinking too much about it I could easily say there are many films from this decade better than <i>Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance</i>. 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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Certain things about <i>Mr. Vengeance</i> 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 </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Extreme"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'Asia Extreme'</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. What's left is incredibly unique and exciting.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">2. Werckmeister harmóniák (2000)</span></span></strong><br />
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<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Béla Tarr (co-director, co-writer)</span></strong><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DAT CINEMATOGRAPHY.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span><br />
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<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">1. Caché (2005) Hidden</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Michael Haneke (director, writer)</span></strong><br />
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<div align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img src="http://i50.tinypic.com/a2zp5x.jpg" /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">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.</span><br />
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</span></div></div>noawarenesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10505298009912249912noreply@blogger.com1