Post by Miles Morales on Aug 2, 2020 16:58:04 GMT
#35
“Jesus, I approve of you as the only cool man besides Kurt Cobain”
Love Exposure
2008 ~ Sion Sono
134 points from 6 ballots
Highest Placement: #1 on 1 ballot
If a singular complaint can be lodged against Sono as an artist, it's that his idiosyncrasies can occasionally offset what is always the core of his films: deeply felt passion, often concocted as social commentary in disguise. Yet the film where he most succeeds in showing his absolute vision, in every auteur-y way that the cahiers initially defined, is one filled to the brim with so many contradictory whatsits that it's a wonder there's any emotion left by the end of the nearly four hour journey. Yet those brave travellers who stick out the bicurious cult leaders and the pantie-shot experts and about a million other things are rewarded with what is, at the end of the day, a very small story about two people bonding and overcoming their trauma. There may be more interesting Sonos out there, but there are none as incredible as this one.
#34
“Anybody interested in grabbing a couple of burgers and hittin’ the cemetery?”
The Royal Tenenbaums
2001 ~ Wes Anderson
139 points from 11 ballots
Highest Placement: #2 on 1 ballot
Even his biggest detractors would agree that Wes Anderson, in this era of cinema especially, has one of the most unique presence. And that isn't just because of the style of production. His stories are structured in a way where it's driven by its weird, yet all-too-familiar sense of humor, yet at its core the people are simply human. They make mistakes, and the best we could do to mend the mistakes is to try to take the right step. Anderson knows these people are flawed and isn't afraid to show it, maybe in a condescending way sometimes, but that's highly warranted. Yet he never makes us look down on them. The Royal Tenenbaums reflects these tendencies of his the best.
The story revolves revolves around Royal Tenenbaum, played masterfully by Gene Hackman in one of the most memorable swan songs one could ask for. He tries to reconnect with his family when he hears that his wife, Estelle (Angelica Huston), who he has been separated form for many years but never divorced, has found a new suitor, by saying that he is sick and so getting reunited with them. His three kids were all considered geniuses and masters in their respective fields and now, due to Royal's utter negligence towards them, they all have broken away from their past selves, now becoming neurotic and bitter to various extents. They all have problems and traumas of their own. But the movie doesn't begrudge them of their problems. It shows them sympathetically because we know that in our own ways we've all been there. The ensemble is amazing, we never for a second see them as the popular actors with name recognition, we see them as the Tenenbeums, and without them the movie might fall honestly. The humor is also very smart, in the way all Wes Anderson films are. It has an uncomfortable sense to it, but it rather helps as a device to make it feel even more immersive. This is the movie which cemented Wes Anderson as the artistic voice he is today, and for good reason too. It doesn't try to be cool or edgy like many films from filmmakers this early in their careers try to make. Anderson shows a maturity in his filmmaking already, and it shows, nothing feels like a trope, it all feels organic, and that is a big feat for a film made as if it is in a world where New York wishes to be candyland.
It doesn't have to try to be cool. It is cool.
The story revolves revolves around Royal Tenenbaum, played masterfully by Gene Hackman in one of the most memorable swan songs one could ask for. He tries to reconnect with his family when he hears that his wife, Estelle (Angelica Huston), who he has been separated form for many years but never divorced, has found a new suitor, by saying that he is sick and so getting reunited with them. His three kids were all considered geniuses and masters in their respective fields and now, due to Royal's utter negligence towards them, they all have broken away from their past selves, now becoming neurotic and bitter to various extents. They all have problems and traumas of their own. But the movie doesn't begrudge them of their problems. It shows them sympathetically because we know that in our own ways we've all been there. The ensemble is amazing, we never for a second see them as the popular actors with name recognition, we see them as the Tenenbeums, and without them the movie might fall honestly. The humor is also very smart, in the way all Wes Anderson films are. It has an uncomfortable sense to it, but it rather helps as a device to make it feel even more immersive. This is the movie which cemented Wes Anderson as the artistic voice he is today, and for good reason too. It doesn't try to be cool or edgy like many films from filmmakers this early in their careers try to make. Anderson shows a maturity in his filmmaking already, and it shows, nothing feels like a trope, it all feels organic, and that is a big feat for a film made as if it is in a world where New York wishes to be candyland.
It doesn't have to try to be cool. It is cool.
#33
“He remembers those vanished years. As though looking through a dusty window pane, the past is something he could see, but not touch. And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct.”
In the Mood For Love
2000 ~ Wong Kar-wai
142 points from 12 ballots
Highest Placement: #4 on 2 ballots
The more you attempt to write your own fiction, the more you gain a deeper appreciation for the special details that make the fiction you love so great. Nowhere is this more true than for Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love, a film so quiet in tone and so tastefully restrained in its storytelling that it lives and dies by its details. Take the two central characters, for example, who have far fewer lines than the typical starring roles get, whose lives are shown to us rather than told to us. Look at how much we come to learn about Mr. Chow simply because of his secret interest in writing martial arts serials, that he is a man full of desire and passion yet hesitant to act on them. Or how intimately we come to understand Mrs. Chan, from the fact that she dresses-up in a new cheongsam dress every day, despite "not doing anything." From this brilliant, lifelike character detail blossoms a full image of a character so full of longing, so ready for a new and extraordinary experience yet unable to reach out and grab that satisfaction. Throughout In the Mood for Love, it's the small, human touches that come to speak the loudest in this taciturn film. One where all of its enchanting moods and painful emotions are expressed in the graceful, fleeting gestures, in the expressive, repeated music cues, and in the stunningly composed, enchantingly-colored images that linger in the mind so long after.
#32
“Take comfort in knowing you never had a choice.”
Collateral
2004 ~ Michael Mann
143 points from 12 ballots
Highest Placement: #6 on 2 ballots
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? And if a hitman dies sitting alone on a train, will anyone give a shit?
To me, this is a movie about fate. Early in the film, Max doesn’t notice Vincent standing outside his cab. Vincent turns around to move on to the next cab before Max notices him and calls him back. A small moment, but on re-watches it’s both funny and eye-opening to see how close all the events of the film were to not even happening.
To me, this is a movie about fate. Early in the film, Max doesn’t notice Vincent standing outside his cab. Vincent turns around to move on to the next cab before Max notices him and calls him back. A small moment, but on re-watches it’s both funny and eye-opening to see how close all the events of the film were to not even happening.
#31
“Revenge is never a straight line. It's a forest, And like a forest it's easy to lose your way... To get lost... To forget where you came in.”
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
2003 ~ Quentin Tarantino
146 points from 12 ballots
Highest Placement: #2 on 1 ballot
When Quentin quotes “Revenge is a dish best served cold,” he chooses to credit it to the Klingons.
Kill Bill exists outside the rest of his filmography. He’s in the blessed “Movie World” here, and he makes sure to cement that in real quick. Many cinephiles credit Pulp Fiction or Inglourious Basterds as Tarantino’s magnum opuses, and much of that lies in those projects’ respective dialogue-driven scripts. Kill Bill is a completely different showcase of Tarantino’s strengths: that of the visceral director.
Based on conjecture, Kill Bill is the film of which Quentin is most proud, especially as a director. During the editing process, word has it he watched the Go-Go fight over and over again, fully aware it was his greatest moment as a visual filmmaker.
I submit that Kill Bill (in its entirety) is Quentin’s greatest film, and it comes from the realization that this great enfant terrible is not a PTA or a Hitchcock or a Spike Lee. He’s a crazy, coked-out schlock lover. And his gift is transmitting that love in ways we’ve never seen before. A lot of people look down on Kill Bill. I think it’s the purest, most exhilarating and fully TARANTINO film he’s ever given us. Kill Bill feels like cinema as DRUG EXPERIENCE, with all that the capitalization entails. Each chapter is another line, or hit, or shot of pure unhinged movie-making. Roger Ebert described it as a young savant powering through Flight of the Bumblebees, and that the film meant “nothing at all except the skill and humor of its making.”
That meaning gets filled in with its second chapter, the all-together slower and more humane Vol. 2. But there’s something undeniably thrilling about the 111 min extravaganza that came to theaters after the six year wait between QT-directed projects. It’s a shot to the head, a slash to the Achilles, and a smash to the skull. Oh, and then there’s randomly an incredible ten-minute long anime sequence. Welcome back to the world of Quentin Tarantino...
Kill Bill exists outside the rest of his filmography. He’s in the blessed “Movie World” here, and he makes sure to cement that in real quick. Many cinephiles credit Pulp Fiction or Inglourious Basterds as Tarantino’s magnum opuses, and much of that lies in those projects’ respective dialogue-driven scripts. Kill Bill is a completely different showcase of Tarantino’s strengths: that of the visceral director.
Based on conjecture, Kill Bill is the film of which Quentin is most proud, especially as a director. During the editing process, word has it he watched the Go-Go fight over and over again, fully aware it was his greatest moment as a visual filmmaker.
I submit that Kill Bill (in its entirety) is Quentin’s greatest film, and it comes from the realization that this great enfant terrible is not a PTA or a Hitchcock or a Spike Lee. He’s a crazy, coked-out schlock lover. And his gift is transmitting that love in ways we’ve never seen before. A lot of people look down on Kill Bill. I think it’s the purest, most exhilarating and fully TARANTINO film he’s ever given us. Kill Bill feels like cinema as DRUG EXPERIENCE, with all that the capitalization entails. Each chapter is another line, or hit, or shot of pure unhinged movie-making. Roger Ebert described it as a young savant powering through Flight of the Bumblebees, and that the film meant “nothing at all except the skill and humor of its making.”
That meaning gets filled in with its second chapter, the all-together slower and more humane Vol. 2. But there’s something undeniably thrilling about the 111 min extravaganza that came to theaters after the six year wait between QT-directed projects. It’s a shot to the head, a slash to the Achilles, and a smash to the skull. Oh, and then there’s randomly an incredible ten-minute long anime sequence. Welcome back to the world of Quentin Tarantino...