House of Mirth and Movies

Ten Best Films I Saw in November

Justine Smith — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:53:23 +0000

Saw such amazing films this month, hit gold. Not easy to cut some off this list. As always only first time viewings

Wild at Heart (David Lynch)

Raw Deal (Anthony Mann)

Body and Soul (Robert Rossen)

Night Moves (Night Moves)

Juvenile Court (Frederick Wiseman)

City Girl (F.W. Murnau)

Magnolia (P.T. Anderson)

Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog)

Hugo (Martin Scorsese)

Contagion (Steven Soderbergh)

Ten Best Films I saw in October

Justine Smith — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:17:13 +0000

Film fests, horror marathons and school… lots of viewings, lots of great films. Not easy to narrow it down but I made a go at it!

Alucarda (Juan Lopez Moctezuma)

Daughters of Darkness (Harry Kumel)

Don’t Deliver us from Evil (Joel Seria)

Gilda (Charles Vidor)

In the Company of Men (Neil Labute)

Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan)

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

Pitfall (Andre de Toth)

Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)

The Dark Mirror (Robert Siodmak)

Best films I saw in August

Justine Smith — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:41:45 +0000

A little late, but not too late… right?

1. Dogville (Lars Von Trier)

2. Ten (Abbas Kiarostami)

3. The Woman (Lucky McKee)

4. Senna (Asif Kapadia)

5. Nenette et Boni (Claire Denis)

6. Senso (Luchino Visconti)

7. Poetry (Chang-Don Lee)

8. Offside (Jafar Panahi)

9. Bullitt (Peter Yates)

10. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Rupert Wyatt)

Best of July and more!

Justine Smith — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 21:31:50 +0000

I have fallen so behind on my “best of the month” that I won’t even bother posting images. I am posting them largely for my own purposes, especially for when the year finally comes to an end. As per usual, all lists are in alphabetical order.

Best Films I saw in April

Hanna (Joe Wright)

Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright)

Robocop (Paul Verhoeven)

Secret Ceremony (Joseph Losey)

Totally Fucked Up (Greg Araki)

Best Films I saw in May

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu)

Crumb (Terry Zwigoff)

Mysterious Skin (Greg Araki)

The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick)

Un 32 Aout sur Terre (Denis Villeneuve)

Best Films I saw in June

A New Leaf (Elaine May)

C’est pas moi, je le jure! (Philippe Falardeau)

Chloe in the Afternoon (Eric Rohmer)

Terror in a Texas Town (Joseph H. Lewis)

Wet Hot American Summer (David Wain)

My list for the month of July is completely dominated by viewings at Fantasia Film Festival. There is still 6 days left in the festival and a good number of films that I still desperately want to see. The ones here are stand-outs among many other very good films I have seen so far.

Best Films I Saw in July

13 Assassins (Takeshi Miike)

A Lonely Place to Die (Julian Gilbey)

Attack the Block (Joe Cornish)

Bellflower (Evan Glodell)

Simon of the Desert (Luis Bunuel)

Suzanne’s Career (Eric Rohmer)

The Innkeepers (Ti West)

The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke)

The Wicker Tree (Robin Hardy)

Wake in Fright (Ted Kotcheff)

I will also be updating this site more often. Often with text, thoughts or images to accompany more complete articles and reviews on Sound on Sight. Or to keep track of my ideas.

Best of March

Justine Smith — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:19:39 +0000

Elephant (Gus Van Sant)

My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant)

A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson)

The Doom Generation (Greg Araki)

Pump up the Volume (Allan Moyle)

The Most Important Thing Love (Andrjez Zulawski)

The Circle (Jafar Panahi)

JCVD (Mabrouk El Mechri)

Kids (Larry Clark)

The Man with the Golden Arm (Otto Preminger)

8 Best Movies Seen in February

Justine Smith — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 04:24:12 +0000

Bachelor Mother (Garson Kanin)

Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff)

The Godfather Pt. 2 (Francis Ford Coppola)

Gremlins (Joe Dante)

Fright Night (Tom Holland)

Lola Montes (Max Ophuls)

The Moon is Blue (Otto Preminger)

Satiemania (Zdenko Gasparovic)

Ten Best Documentaries of 2010

Justine Smith — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 08:01:00 +0000

Who really cares about Documentaries? Apparently I don’t, none making my top list of 2010. Seems a bit unfair considering how many great ones I saw last year, enough to make a more than serviceable top ten list. Most of these viewings are owing to my soundonsight mates, who think I’m somehow qualified to review these things despite my general ignorance of anything that isn’t based in a fictional reality.

1. Marwencol (Jeff Malmberg)
*2. Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy)
3. Nenette (Nicolas Philibert)
4. Armadillo (Janus Metz Pedersen)
5. Boxing Gym (Frederick Wiseman)
6. Inside Job (Charles Ferguson)
7. Feast of Assumption: The Otero Family Murders (Marc Levitz)
8. A Film Unfinished (Yael Hersonski)
9. Restrepo (Sebastian Junger & Tim Hetherington)
10. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (Anne Sundberg & Ricki Stern)

* for obs reason. We’ll count it as a filmic essay.
** The one 2010 documentary that I still would like to see is Sweetgrass

2010 in Review

Justine Smith — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 00:33:31 +0000

Five Best Films I saw in December

Alphabetical order and First Time Viewings Only

Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky)

Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami)

Code Unknown (Michael Haneke)

Dogtooth (Giorgos Lanthimos)

The Getaway (Sam Peckinpah)

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10 Filmmakers to Explore and Discover in 2010 – Results

Every year I set out to see new and exciting films, I set out a precise plan that I hope to follow… but as you can see, things don’t always work out quite as I’d hope. That being said, I made some definite progress on Resnais, though the majority of those watches were of his shorts. It’s also amazing considering how many hundreds of films I watch, I can’t even put aside the time to watch a single Ruiz, Despleschin, Robbe-Grillet or Hellman. My own fault.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

December 31^st 2009: 1 seen

December 31^st 2010: 4 seen

Gilles Carle

December 31^st 2009: 1 seen

December 31^st 2010: 2 seen

Arnaud Despleschin

December 31^st 2009: 1 seen

December 31^st 2010: 1 seen

Alain Resnais

December 31^st 2009: 1 seen

December 31^st 2010: 8 seen

Alain Robbe-Grillet

December 31^st 2009: 0 seen

December 31^st 2010: 0 seen

Raoul Ruiz

December 31^st 2009: 0 seen

December 31^st 2010: 0 seen

Carl Theodor Dreyer

December 31^st 2009: 2 seen

December 31^st 2010: 3 seen

Jerry Lewis

December 31^st 2009: 0 seen

December 31^st 2010: 1 seen

Monte Hellman

December 31^st 2009: 1 seen

December 31^st 2010: 1 seen

Robert Bresson

December 31^st 2009: 0 seen

December 31^st 2010: 2 seen

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These lists are not necessarily made up from ALL the films I’ve seen this year, for a variety of reasons, I am just using films that have been included in my monthly “5 or 10 best films”. So, I might be missing out in terms of certain performances in particular that were spectacular but were featured in sub-par films.

10 Favourite Female Performances

Barbara Sukowa in The Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)

Faye Wong in 2046 (Wong-Kar Wai)

Harriet Andersson in Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman)

Ingrid Bergman in Autumn Sonata (Ingmar Bergman)

Isabelle Huppert in Violette Noziere (Claude Chabrol)

Juliette Binoche in Cache (Michael Haneke)

Lillian Gish in Way Down East (D.W. Griffith)

Marie-Josee Croze in Maelstrom (Denis Villeneuve)

Nadine Nortier in Mouchette (Robert Bresson)

Vanessa Howards in Girly (Freddie Francis)

10 Favourite Male Performances

Bill Murray in Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis)

Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead II (Sam Raimi)

Elias Koteas in The Adjuster (Atom Egoyan)

Gunnar Bjornstrand in Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman)

Harvey Keitel in Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese)

Jack Lemmon in Missing (Costa-Gavras)

Jean-Nicolas Verrault in Maelstrom (Denis Villeneuve)

John Gilbert in The Big Parade (King Vidor)

Robert Carlyle in Ravenous (Antonia Bird)

Tony Leung in 2046 (Wong-Kar Wai)

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Filmmaker of the Year

Michael Haneke

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Top 20 Films Seen in 2010

20. Sombre (Phillipe Grandrieux)

19. High School (Frederick Wiseman)

18. Code Unknown (Michael Haneke)

17. Beau Travail (Claire Denis)

16. Opera (Dario Argento)

15. Ravenous (Antonia Bird)

14. The Adjuster (Atom Egoyan)

13. Kiss me Deadly (Robert Aldrich)

12. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke)

11. Lazybones (Frank Borzage)

10. Gimme Shelter (Albert Maysles & David Maysles)

9. Cache (Michael Haneke)

8. Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese)

7. The Civil War Trilogy (Robert Enrico)

6. What Have they done to Solange? (Massimo Dallamano)

5. 2046 (Wong Kar-Wai)

4. The Big Parade (King Vidor)

3. Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman)

2. Maelstrom (Denis Villeneuve)

1. The Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)

As you may have guessed, I purposefully omitted 2010 releases. My definite list of favourite films and performances for 2010 releases should be on its way by mid February, when I’ve managed to catch up on foreign flicks and movies I have missed for one reason or another. As well as giving me ample time to write little blurbs.

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Staying with tradition though, here are the filmmakers I hope to be more familiar with by the time 2011 is finished. I am completely unfamiliar with all of these, with exception of Etaix, who I’ve seen a single short from his filmography and Jerzy Kawalerowicz, who directed one of my favourites, Mother Joan of the Angels. If you have any recommendations for starting points, don’t hesitate!

Alezandr Sokurov

Carlos Saura

Jacques Rivette

Jean Epstein

Jerzy Kawalerowicz

Peter Greenaway

Philippe Garrel

Pierre Etaix

Raoul Ruiz

Satyajit Ray

Five Best Films I saw in November

Justine Smith — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 03:09:18 +0000

Great month, it was difficult to narrow it down to just five, but it had to be done. I will be catching up on a lot of 2010 films next month, hopefully there is something good. If you have a darkhorse to recommend, this is the time!

Beau Travail (Claire Denis)

High School (Frederick Wiseman)

Incendies (Denis Villeneuve)

Lazybones (Frank Borzage)

Somewhere (Sofia Coppola)

Ten Best Films I saw in October

Justine Smith — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 03:58:14 +0000

I usually do just five, but I saw 55 films this month, so just five favourites doesn’t seem quite right. I know some people manage this regularly, but I usually average a little under 30. Most of these viewings were horror, but a good number were also new releases and festival viewings. As always, only first time viewings and alphabetical.

Another Year (Mike Leigh)

L’Enfer (Claude Chabrol)

Enter the Dragon (Robert Clouse)

Mouchette (Robert Bresson)

Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon)

Phenomena (Dario Argento)

The Social Network (David Fincher)

Tournee (Mathieu Amalric)

Uncle Boonmee (Joe)

Violette (Claude Chabrol)