My 25 favourite films of this millennium
Submitted by kenji on Thu, 02/03/2005 - 12:10
Tags:
- Mulholland Dr (Lynch, US)
- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, China/Taiwan)
- The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes (Quay bros, UK)
- The Return (Zvyagintsev, Russia)
- Werckmeister Harmonies (Tarr, Hungary)
- Innocence (Hadzihalilovic, France)
- Howl's Moving Castle (Miyazaki, Japan)
- Before Sunset (Linklater, US)
- Regular Lovers (Garrel, France)
- At the Height of Summer (Tran Anh-Hung, Vietnam/France)
- The Wayward Cloud (Tsai Ming-Liang, Taiwan)
- Far from Heaven (Haynes, US)
- Eureka (Aoyama, Japan)
- Dogville (Von Trier, Denmark)
- The New World (Malick, US)
- Into the Wild (Penn, US)
- The Life Aquatic (W. Anderson, US)
- The Weeping Meadow (Angelopoulos, Greece)
- Blissfully Yours (Weerasethakul, Thailand)
- Silent Light (Reygadas, Mexico)
- Take Care of my Cat (Jeong Jae-eun, South Korea)
- Climates (Ceylan, Turkey)
- In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai, China)
- Finding Nemo (Stanton, US)
- Princess Raccoon (Suzuki, Japan)
Author Comments:
Updated again
Good, diverse list here. I haven't seen most of these, but I agree that Mulholland Dr. is one of the best of the new millenium. I've been reluctant to see Dogville because I was afraid it would be too preachy/pretentious; could you tell me a little more about what you thought of it?
Johnny Waco
Well some might say the minimalist theatrical decor is pretentious but i really like it. And some say it's anti-American but i think it's mainly anti-bigotry, distrust of outsiders (immigrants) and hypocrisy. The story itself is straightforward enough, Nicole Kidman is superb (her most touching performance) as the young woman seeking refuge in a rural small town where everything's been fixed in its ways. Excellent lighting too. It will generally appeal more to Left than Right-wingers. It has the courage of its convictions (perhaps a message in there for condescending liberals?).
Of course there's a message in there for condescending liberals -- that's what the Tom Edison character is all about.
And I agree -- fantastic film. (Not to mention thematically malleable. The political interpretation is popular, but I've also seen some extraordinarily persuasive arguments for it as religious allegory a la "Breaking the Waves".)
Sounds intriguing. Yeah, a lot of critics seemed obsessed with the perceived anti-American bias, and that definitely put me off a little bit. I'm glad you didn't think so. What are your thoughts on Kidman turning down the roles in the other films of his planned trilogy? Does it indicate that maybe she was unhappy with Dogville?
Johnny Waco
I think it's indicative of two things:
1) Kidman's got a massively busy schedule, and as such likely can't commit to a shoot like "Manderlay".
2) Lars Von Trier is not a pleasant guy to work with; in fact, to hear testimonials, he's a raging arsehole. A lot of actors who've worked with him don't have the wherewithal for a second go-around. (Hell, he got Bjork to swear off acting completely.)
It's too bad: her performance in Dogville is my favorite Kidman performance.
Springtime in a Small Town: This was a slightly above-average soap opera with no new themes or characters. But the acting was so bad that even I (usually blind to Oriental acting ability, and of course I can't speak Mandarin) could tell it sucked. What did you love about this movie?
Since you list In the Mood for Love, which is 2000, I'm guessing you're counting 2000 films as part of 'this millennium', so I've gotta ask... no love for Requiem for a Dream?
You've seen a lot of movies, and still do. Do you keep a viewing log? Would you? Pretty please with Mizoguchi on top?
I've never kept a proper viewing log, even with Mizo on top. Not sure where to start after all this time- i do mark films i've seen in film guides, and in my chronologically arranged notebook of must-see films, but it would take some doing typing out everything! Anyway, i'll pay more attention to other viewing logs, for ideas.
A little more than a year ago I tried to list every movie I'd seen and did it fairly well, but your list would be much, much longer, I think. I checked 'best films' lists, 'popular films' lists, video collections of relatives, IMDB, Listology lists, and just kept adding every title I remembered seeing. Every now and then I still happen across a title I need to add to the list. Just a few weeks ago I realized the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre wasn't on my list yet.
kenji's back!
I would have been back sooner if i'd had the sense to try google search earlier instead of the French search engine while i'm here in France.