Best films of 2007
My San Francisco film-acquaintance sent me a list of his favorite films of 2007. I responded:
Larry,
I've seen most of those you mention and will include some of them on my list which I post on my LJ. I don't do 10, just a "bunch of the best." My "year" is based on dates of area openings. Some I want to see I haven't gone to yet, such as Atonement. I think my absolute favorite movie of the year was Golden Door (Nuovomondo). I liked This is England and No Country for Old Men a lot. The Wind that Shakes the Barley was strong but diminished by its heavy-handiness and quasi-vitriolic contempt for the British. Grbavica, set in Bosnia, impressed me a good deal with its complex mother-daughter story. The Lives of Others is pure brilliance. I found Into Great Silence overwhelming despite the fact that I am not religious. It could have gone on for three more hours and I would have been riveted. Perhaps it's my seminary background. Miss Potter was very delightful. I liked I'm Not There but only for Cate Blanchett's uncanny take on Dylan. Imagine, Todd Haynes was a student of Michael Silverman at Brown! Amelio's The Missing Star was an astonishing piece of work that needs wider exposure. Add Lady Chatterley, In the Valley of Elah, Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World, Michael Clayton, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, The Kite Runner (great story, though the book was better), The Brave One, 3:10 to Yuma, Sicko, No End in Sight, Sweeney Todd (I look forward to the 1935 version which Joe is sending on homemade disc.) I don't include revivals unless they are mainstream re-issues. The Red Balloon and White Mane fit that bill. If I were to include special revival showings, I would add the "Signore e signore" films in the Italian series I saw at the Boston MFA, especially Stefania Sandrelli in Io La Conoscevo Bene. Superbad? Really? I thought that was a tiresome piece of sophomoric shit. Perhaps André Bazin would disagree. The second most pretentious movie ever made in RI was Evening. The first, though only a few scenes were shot here, was Resnais' Providence.
Gerry
My complete best films of 2007 list, in no order except for the first five:
Golden Door (Nuovomondo)
Atonement
The Lives of Others
Juno
This is England
No Country for Old Men
In the Valley of Elah
Sicko
Grbavica
The Wind that Shakes the Barley
Miss Potter
Charlie Wilson's War
Into Great Silence
The Missing Star
I'm Not There
Michael Clayton
Encounters at the End of the World
Elizabeth: the Golden Age
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
The Brave One
3:10 to Yuma
The Kite Runner
No End in Sight
Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Volver
Notes on a Scandal
Le Petit Lieutenant
After the Wedding
White Mane & The Red Balloon (major revivals)
Larry,
I've seen most of those you mention and will include some of them on my list which I post on my LJ. I don't do 10, just a "bunch of the best." My "year" is based on dates of area openings. Some I want to see I haven't gone to yet, such as Atonement. I think my absolute favorite movie of the year was Golden Door (Nuovomondo). I liked This is England and No Country for Old Men a lot. The Wind that Shakes the Barley was strong but diminished by its heavy-handiness and quasi-vitriolic contempt for the British. Grbavica, set in Bosnia, impressed me a good deal with its complex mother-daughter story. The Lives of Others is pure brilliance. I found Into Great Silence overwhelming despite the fact that I am not religious. It could have gone on for three more hours and I would have been riveted. Perhaps it's my seminary background. Miss Potter was very delightful. I liked I'm Not There but only for Cate Blanchett's uncanny take on Dylan. Imagine, Todd Haynes was a student of Michael Silverman at Brown! Amelio's The Missing Star was an astonishing piece of work that needs wider exposure. Add Lady Chatterley, In the Valley of Elah, Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World, Michael Clayton, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, The Kite Runner (great story, though the book was better), The Brave One, 3:10 to Yuma, Sicko, No End in Sight, Sweeney Todd (I look forward to the 1935 version which Joe is sending on homemade disc.) I don't include revivals unless they are mainstream re-issues. The Red Balloon and White Mane fit that bill. If I were to include special revival showings, I would add the "Signore e signore" films in the Italian series I saw at the Boston MFA, especially Stefania Sandrelli in Io La Conoscevo Bene. Superbad? Really? I thought that was a tiresome piece of sophomoric shit. Perhaps André Bazin would disagree. The second most pretentious movie ever made in RI was Evening. The first, though only a few scenes were shot here, was Resnais' Providence.
Gerry
My complete best films of 2007 list, in no order except for the first five:
Golden Door (Nuovomondo)
Atonement
The Lives of Others
Juno
This is England
No Country for Old Men
In the Valley of Elah
Sicko
Grbavica
The Wind that Shakes the Barley
Miss Potter
Charlie Wilson's War
Into Great Silence
The Missing Star
I'm Not There
Michael Clayton
Encounters at the End of the World
Elizabeth: the Golden Age
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
The Brave One
3:10 to Yuma
The Kite Runner
No End in Sight
Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Volver
Notes on a Scandal
Le Petit Lieutenant
After the Wedding
White Mane & The Red Balloon (major revivals)