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)
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)
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)
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.
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)
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
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 31st 2009: 1 seen
December 31st 2010: 4 seen
Gilles Carle
December 31st 2009: 1 seen
December 31st 2010: 2 seen
Arnaud Despleschin
December 31st 2009: 1 seen
December 31st 2010: 1 seen
Alain Resnais
December 31st 2009: 1 seen
December 31st 2010: 8 seen
Alain Robbe-Grillet
December 31st 2009: 0 seen
December 31st 2010: 0 seen
Raoul Ruiz
December 31st 2009: 0 seen
December 31st 2010: 0 seen
Carl Theodor Dreyer
December 31st 2009: 2 seen
December 31st 2010: 3 seen
Jerry Lewis
December 31st 2009: 0 seen
December 31st 2010: 1 seen
Monte Hellman
December 31st 2009: 1 seen
December 31st 2010: 1 seen
Robert Bresson
December 31st 2009: 0 seen
December 31st 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
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)
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)
House of Mirth and Movies 
