Films 10-1

Posted on March 21, 2012 by filmsecrets

10. Yi yi(2000) Directed by Edward Yang

In his nearly three hour masterpiece, director Edward Yang follows the daily lives of a Taiwanese family in crisis. Following a wedding, the story is set when the grandmother suffers from a stroke and lies unconscious in a coma. Doctor’s orders are for the family to talk to her. In attempt to awaken the grandmother, the family at the same time discovers their own hollow lives as they repeat to her the same prayer-like monologue every day.

Father of the family, NJ, crosses paths with an old first love, and from there on is tormented with thoughts of his life had he not left her years ago. NJ’s wife is distraught by a blank life, and in resolve, goes on leave for a Buddhist retreat. Meanwhile his daughter is caught up in a love triangle with a young man who mirrors her father’s cowardice.

But it’s NJ’s son who best delivers the message that Yang sends throughout the film: live wholeheartedly without looking back. However, therein also lies the dilemma. And so Yang-Yang takes it upon himself to photograph the backs of people’s heads, to reveal they cannot see what’s behind them—an inescapable flaw passed down every generation.

In a discussion with Japanese game mogul, Ota, NJ is told that “people want a magician,” but Ota reminds NJ that there is no magician.

9. Mulholland Dr.(2001) Directed by David Lynch

Endless discussion has been devoted to this multi-genre nightmare on Hollywood and the subconscious of stardom. With each viewing, a bit more of the meaning and symbolism comes to light, leaving the audience with a better or different understanding of Lynch’s intentions.

But to get caught up in the specifics of the symbolism and commentary can be to ignore the mastery of Lynch’s ability to manipulate the atmosphere and mood of his films. Upon first viewing, the first half dozen scenes seem hardly connected in meaning, but unified through tone, slowly unveiling the mystery and tragedy of the jilted, aspiring actress’s psyche.

The second half of the film reestablishes the purpose of the first, feeding details to the audience while remaining captivating and breaking down established plot conventions. In the end we’re left asking for more, almost ready to start over from the beginning and remain in Lynch’s twisted, horrific loop.

8. Regular Lovers (2005) Directed by Philippe Garrel

One of my top cinematic wishes is for the films of Philippe Garrel to become more widely available, particularly those involving Nico. I was lucky enough to see The Birth of Love at the Seoul Cinematheque, but otherwise Regular Lovers is the only Garrel film I’ve had the pleasure of viewing and remains to be the most readily available.

Exquisitely shot in black and white, the film recalls the May 1968 protests in Paris. Rather than focusing exclusively on sexual liberation, the film investigates the time more chronologically, starting with the riots, but more interested in their aftermath.

Garrel is sympathetic towards the youth and their actions, despite their inevitable flaws and at times misguided beliefs. Like Godard’s Masculin feminin, the characters never actually carry out their ideals but use them as a means for creating another niche for themselves in a capitalistic society. Sitting around all day smoking opium may very well be anti-social, but it hardly changes anything for the better.

As such, the film celebrates the revolutionary spirit of the youth, but regrets the ease with which their purpose is derailed. This is a very nostalgic, naturalistic film that belongs in the same breath as the French new wave and other brilliant French films of the 60’s.

7. Distance(2001) Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda

In 1995 the Japanese religious cult Aum released Sarin gas in the Tokyo Subway killing 12 and affecting over a thousand others. Distance follows the aftermath of a similar, fictional cult’s actions which results in the death of 128 people. However, the focus of the film is not on the ideology or historic importance of the disaster, but rather the way it affects the relatives of the perpetrators.

Every year four relatives of the deceased members (two spouses and two siblings) gather at the cult’s former camp site to pray for their loved ones. The group hardly knows one another and spends the day hiking and making small talk, never mentioning their relatives or their misguided actions. When they return to see that their car is missing, they have no choice other than to follow a solo remaining cult member to the cult’s cabin in the woods and stay the night. Here they are finally forced to confront their guilt, sorrow and lack of understanding over their relatives actions.

In a series of chilling and mesmerizing flashbacks each individual ponders the moments leading up to their loved ones eventual departure. In the final third the film picks up pace, throwing in a twist that serves to give the film all the more ambiguity and accentuate the themes of grief and guilt.

As with all of the director’s best work the film forces the viewer to contemplate the motifs in connection with his or her everyday life. How close are we really to our loved ones and why do we feel shame or responsibility for their ideologies or actions? Is the distance between us surmountable? Questions like these permeate Distance, and few are left answered by the film’s well shot and conceived conclusion.

6. Tropical Malady(2004) Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

What begins as a conventional romance suddenly evolves into a mythic parable of love and conquest in this highly original, genre bending work from Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The film is split into two nearly equal parts: the first tracking soldier Keng’s courtship of illiterate farm boy Tong, and the second following Keng in his hunt for a beast that is killing the village’s livestock.

In the opening hour we watch as the two go through the typical acts of flirtation and lust. The contrast between Buddhist rural Thailand and city life is ever present as the two switch back and forth between Tong’s home and the nearby town. In one scene we watch as six doctors absurdly hover over an X-ray of Tong’s pet dog, while in another the two lovers accompany a villager through a dark and cramped temple cave.

It is in the second half where Weerasethakul”s propensity for the audacious and transcendental occurs. As Keng chases the monster into the jungle, a monkey talks to him, warning that the beast will devour his soul. Shots of Keng listening to the surrounding fauna at night are intercut with cave-like paintings and voiceovers recalling the folk tale of a shaman who’s soul is trapped in a tiger. This gives the film a very naturalistic feel as we begin to wonder who is the predator and who is the prey. Beyond that Weerasethakul is focusing on the spiritual nature of love and its power to consume. Few pieces of art have the power to do just that to its viewers with such freshness and creativity as Tropical Malady.

5. Code Unknown(2000) Directed by Michael Haneke

Parisians of diverse backgrounds collide in this exploration of social life in the globalized world. The characters’ lives are revealed through a series of personal, naturalistic vignettes, jumping in and out at seemingly random points in the action. The elliptical editing reflects the way we experience strangers in real life, perceiving others based on their race, actions, economic standing, etc., and quick to judge others without knowing their true characters.

Haneke does well to contrast the tension in these scenes where the characters abrasively and defensively interact with one another as strangers, with those in which they are with family or friends, being themselves at home. There is a strain of fear and uneasiness pervading the public scenes of the film, first introduced through the initial provocative scene, and culminated perfectly in the penultimate scene on the subway— one of the most horrifying, yet truthful moments in cinematic history. Haneke’s films force confrontation with our own social discomfort and anxieties in ways that few others do. And perhaps none of his work does this better than Code Unknown.

4. Khadak(2006) Directed by Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope Woodsworth

An epileptic nomad and his family are forced off their land, into working in a mining town by the government, ostensibly due to a plague affecting their sheep. The young man, Bagi, has increasingly frequent seizures, accompanied by destructive visions and prophetic encounters with an old shaman of his tribe.

This is the basis for Beligian co-directors Brosens and Woodworth’s surreal, poetic masterpiece on industrialization and cultural annihilation. The breathtaking images shift between vast, snow-covered planes and crude mining sites, combined to give a desperate and apocalyptic feeling to the film.

The struggle of Mongolia and the nomadic people is championed through a maze of captivating hallucinations, viewed through the mind of Bagi, as he attempts to save his people with his transcendental powers. Metaphorically rich, Khadak is one of the most original films of its time, leaving plenty to ponder upon repeated viewings.

3. Still Life(2006) Directed by Jia Zhang Ke

Displaced characters and a part of China are sinking under water in Jia Zhang-ke’s Still Life. In the beginning we see a stoic Han Sanming looking over a valley full of water, on the bottom of which his 2,000 year-old home town lies, and above floats a large boat. Han and other characters are victims of some distant entity decomposing the places around them.

The Three Gorges Dam project proves to be the face of this entity. For work, men are swinging hammers into the very walls that were their homes. Their relationships with one another are uncertain as they try to connect with the change of times.

More than sending a message, this film is concerned with painting a world of a China where people survive in the rubble of ancient cities and days are broken up by the toppling of buildings. Scenes are composed of both a bleak reality as well as the vibrant color of life. The complete painting results in a sad and absurd human condition that is alone and wiggling through every moving image. A woman cools herself by standing in front of an oscillating fan. She hangs a single colored shirt on a line to dry, just as a building falsely launches into the sky. A scene of men in white suits spray chemicals over a demolished town is followed by a boy singing about working hard and being true to love.

Jia said that when he sees history, it’s a combination of what really happened as well as his imagination at work. This world is neither true nor false, but rather an observation of simplicity and loss.

2. Goodbye Dragon Inn(2003) Directed by Tsai Ming-liang

A run-down movie theater plays an old martial arts classic with hardly anyone there to see it. Those that occupy the theater are more concerned with finding human connection. The lame ticket lady hobbles around, taking a steamed bun up to the male projectionist only to be disappointed to find him absent.

This is about as far as the plot goes in a film without a single line of dialogue until the 45^th minute. It is pretty clear that the abandoned, leaking theater represents Tsai’s viewpoint that the cinema going experience is disappearing, unable to compete with home theaters and online streaming. So what else is being said in a film with such sparse action?

In an oddly provocative scene Tsai focuses his lens on the lit theater after the film has finished playing and the seats are completely empty for what seems like a couple of minutes. This appears if anything like art for the sake of art, but really it is a challenge from the director for the viewer to not walk out on the film. After all, why go to a film of this ilk and expect explosions, sex, and rapidly developing plots and then leave halfway through without giving the piece any thought? It is this lack of work on the audience’s part that Tsai is lamenting.

Beyond the death of film there is a humorous scene commenting on the awkwardness of those crowded urinals after the film lets out, and a ghost haunting one patron with its stinky feet. There are lots of other layers to peel back, showing us that film can be much more than just a slightly entertaining piece, watched on a notebook to pass the time.

1. What Time is it There(2001) Directed by Tsai Ming-liang

Occupying the top two spots(and another in the top 15) is the holder of the best director currently working title, Malaysian born-Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming-liang. On display in his finest film, are his trademark touches, motifs and magic.

Critics often complain about the pacing and nihilism of Tsai’s films, but because of the dedication and unending detail packed in every shot, I never find myself bored or anxious. He uses space as well Akerman in the 70’s, giving the viewer a peek into the private lives of his desperate characters. Like Jeanne Dielman we enter these characters’ worlds, suffocated by their environment and fighting with them to escape.

Tsai is also a master of lighting, using an array of colors to compliment the mood of his fancied shots of dimly lit interiors and alleyways. This film takes us inside a grieving family’s home, lit only by candles and a fish tank. This is because the wife claims that her husband’s ghost likes as little light as possible. Her desperation and loneliness shifts from tragic to comical as we watch her perform rituals and cook for her deceased husband in hopes that his spirit may return. The balance of humor and forlornness gives the film an absurd appeal, confirming our nihilistic tendencies while planting a small seed of hope, in the utter fascination with human life.

Ghostlike themselves, the three characters drift through their surroundings, hardly interacting with those around them. The wife tries to fight her loneliness with spiritual nonsense. The son changes all of the clocks to Paris time and watches French movies in order to feel closer to the woman he briefly met and fell in love with, who is now in France. Their daily struggles are interwoven masterfully, coming to a climax near the end when all three ultimately try to quell their despair through sexual means. By the end of this scene all three hit rock bottom and the pessimistic worldview is firmly established, only to be completely turned on its head by the breathtaking, ambiguous ending that could only come from a masterful director operating at the peak of his powers.

Films 11-20

Posted on March 19, 2012 by filmsecrets

20. White Material(2009) Directed by Claire Denis.

In an unnamed war-torn African country, a stubborn coffee plantation director, Mari, irrationally stays behind to pursue the completion of her crop, seemingly unconvinced of the severity of the turmoil and conflict around her. Drawn into her determined plan is her uninspired, young adult son, her ex-husband, and the workers she enlists to stay on amid the growing danger.

Denis’s film works on two levels. It’s both an intense character study and an objective narrative focusing on the repercussions of colonialism and the power struggle that ensues. Near the beginning of the film Mari recollects riding through the countryside on her motorbike, spreading her arms out against the wind as an action of freedom and joy. This strong connection to her work and home is what motivates her to put her life on the line to continue her existence amid the increasing chaos engulfing her. But the world she inherits is a fairy tale and it takes acts of violence and terror in front of her own eyes for her to realize this. Mari’s disillusionment reflects the ignorance of the West in its dealing with Africa from afar, not really understanding or feeling what is truly going on from the news clips and condensed articles.

The film is made all the more powerful by the harrowing, startling images of violence and children running around with guns, as well as the chilling, foreboding soundtrack by the Tindersticks. Denis does not convey a specific political agenda, spreading her criticism to all sides of the struggle while remaining sympathetic to Africa’s history and troublesome, immediate future.

19. Still Walking(2008) Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda

Several notable Asian directors of this era have admitted the influence of Ozu on their work, including the likes of Abbas Kiarostami and Hou Hsiao-hsien, who each made a film dedicated to the Japanese master. Perhaps the closest resemblance to Ozu’s work comes from his fellow countrymen, Hirokazu Koreeda, most recognizable in this family drama Still Walking.

The themes of past regrets, generational gaps, and suppressed feelings dominate the interactions at a family gathering for the anniversary of the oldest son’s death. Like Tokyo Story, a lot of the underlying tension is communicated through what is unsaid, slowly revealing itself through the performances, mis en scene and inaction.

The film objectively reflects on the lingering Japanese cultural dynamics, such as the preference for the older son, or the deep feeling of shame for past actions. The parents berate their son Ryota for his new wife, a widow with a child, as a way of making him feel bad about that fact he survived instead of his more beloved older brother Junpei. The mother admits to the man who Junpei saved from drowning that she only invites him to the anniversary each year so that he has to think about it and suffers.

As with most of Ozu’s film there is an ever present sense of remorse over the past, something which in the present comes as a missed opportunity to reconnect with loved ones. Despite these feelings, the characters reflect humanity’s pressing need to move on with life. Koreeda and Ozu are both critical yet understanding of these failed family get- togethers, offering little but a pensive acknowledgement of their existence.

18. Pulse(2001) Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Through a decade of film and art dedicated to the growing sense of loneliness and disconnection in the modern, technological world, no work has confronted this reality with as much gloom and nihilism as Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s pseudo J-horror masterpiece Pulse.

On the surface this is a genre film. The first half strings us along magnificently, creating a mystery and throwing in moments of terror here and there to keep us on our toes. But Kurosawa is much more concerned with the horror of urban alienation and our increasing distance from each other, as suggested by all of the individual acts of suicide and the ensuing disintegration of society in the film’s second half.

Pulse is a technical wonder; the sound and lighting design contribute greatly to the morbid atmosphere and feeling of impending doom. Kurosawa’s macabre tone and chiaroscuro arrangements allow the viewer to infiltrate the dark recesses of the characters’ minds, leaving us shocked, lonely and even a little spooked.

17. Demonlover(2002) Directed by Olivier Assayas

In an era when slow, naturalistic cinema has dominated the international festival circuit, Olivier Assayas delivers a hyper real, fast paced style that revives the wonder of film and its potential for diversity. Demonlover, and its deep, impressionism hasn’t been met with the warmest regard amongst film goers and critics alike, but the key is in looking beyond the confusing plot and focusing more on the themes and dark atmospheres that penetrate through every scene and frame.

The plot involves corporations competing over a new 3-D technology that will improve the quality of their anime sex websites. As the film progresses the storyline descends into kidnapping, blackmail, murder, espionage, rape and torture. None of the characters are likeable. All come off as cold, corporate predators, capable of doing anything if it means moving up in their world. They calmly discuss potential lawsuits over child pornography and worry about the legalities of snuff film.

It seems Assayas has chosen the perfect topic to make his points about the cutthroat nature of the international business world, but also about the way media affects us and our own actions. The main character of the film finds herself committing worse and worse acts as she tries to escape the hideous underworld she has unknowingly entered. This morbid sense of doom is conveyed brilliantly through the dark, modern cityscapes, images of characters shot through glass and the erratic editing. After viewing one of the violent hentai films the businessmen find themselves in a club with women dancing on stage amid streams of neon blurs— an eerie contrast of reality and entertainment. The film thrives on horrific, suggestive scenes like this and will reward patient viewers who approach the work with an open mind.

16. The Weeping Meadow(2004) Directed by Theo Angelopoulos

The first part of a planned trilogy, and to some degree a story based on the life of the director’s mother, spans 30 years, tragically showing the affects of both great wars on the continent and its people. Rife with symbolism and references to Greek classics, the story follows Eleni as she is adopted by a refugee family, marries her foster father, and elopes with her foster brother

The theatrical dialogue, mythic allusions and highly poetical style serve as a means of relating Greece’s recent tragic history with that of its past. This establishes a perfect setting for Angelopoulos to show off his brilliant sets and images, including a flooded village, ominous sheep hanging dead from a tree, and a group of mothers searching in a field full of bodies for their dead sons. There’s enough drama to fill the whole trilogy of films, and yet the overly romantic style perfectly accommodates the sweeping images, overcast skies, and devastating historical process.

15. The World (2004) Directed by Jia Zhang Ke

Urbanization, isolation, globalization, loss of traditional culture etc. etc. It’s no secret what Jia’s primary focus is but each of his films successfully creates its own world and cast of unique characters. In this aptly named film, that world is a theme park with scaled down representations of famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower.

We follow the downtrodden lives of the disenchanted workers at this theme park, eerily shot in the foreground with the monuments hovering over them like the buildings in a Chirico painting or the oil towers in Written on the Wind. The characters live in a nightmare world where they have little choice but to work under meager circumstances and living conditions, all the while watching their homeland and culture disappear. As such their only hope and resort is escape from their daily lives, brilliantly conveyed through the use of cell phone messages being delivered with dreamy, animation sequences.

But even escape is not so easily achieved as the ambiguous ending suggests and the path forward for China and Jia’s characters is as unclear as it was at the end of his last film.

14. Los muertos(2004) Directed by Lisandro Alonso

Recently released from a lengthy prison stint, middle aged murderer Vargas sets off in a boat through the jungle and fishing communities of rural Argentina to return to his home and now adult daughter. Director Alonso seems less concerned with Vargas’s feelings toward his heinous past and successful reintroduction into society than he does with man’s inherent propensity for violence.

The people and places Vargas revisits seem to have changed little, a suggestive comparison to Vargas’s own state and demeanor regarding his crimes and potential for further violence. We see him smoke out a hive of bees for the honeycomb and butcher a wild goat with withdrawn ferocity and precision, which serve as examples of man’s place in the kill or be killed world of survival.

The camera floats along at times focusing on the sky, drifting water, and moving branches, apparently another sign of nature’s indifference. The oft romanticized return to nature in this instance is a warning of man’s inclinations towards dominance and destruction.

13. Climates(2006) Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan

The film opens amidst a set of ruins, tracking a fractious couple on their summer vacation at a small seaside town. Isa takes a series of photos for his thesis while his girlfriend Bahar trudges up a hill to admire the surrounding view. First she laughs when she observes him tripping but then she starts to cry, perhaps reflecting upon the proximity of their relationship’s conclusion.

After an argument at a friends house Bahar cracks up in mad laughter when Isa tries to defuse the situation and make small talk with the host. The film is filled with these little indirect pleas by Bahar, which go misunderstood by Isa, and his meager attempts to coddle her. In this way it slightly mirrors Godard’s Contempt, in that the viewer is left just as uncertain about the characters mindsets as the characters are of each other’s.

The film moves through three seasons, tracking the passage of time and the couple’s inability to let go of their relationship despite its failure. Though Isa travels far to find her, Bahar has a fit of tears every time they meet. One still gets the feeling the couple lacks conviction in their feelings, and are only trying to escape their loneliness. Ceylan leaves most of the details unsaid, opting to let his stunning mis en scene do the talking, yet by the end one still can’t help but feel they’ve witnessed a modern tragedy unfold.

12. In the City of Sylvia(2007) Directed by Jose Luis Guerin

Jean-luc Godard famously said, “All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.” Spanish minimalist Jose Luis Guerin has made the formula even simpler, removing the gun from the equation. Plot is scarce, and instead the movie succeeds as a celebration of women and sunny days in the city.

The film follows a man who has returned to a city after being away for a long time. He sits in bed late at night, lost in deep thought, searching for answers. During the day he sits at cafes and sketches women, seemingly unable to achieve any kind of breakthrough. Finally, he sees a beautiful girl who he thinks he remembers from a previous visit. He follows her through alleys, past trams, and amid the citizens going about their day of work. During this time the viewer gets a peaceful and elegant look at the city, enhanced by the sounds that accompany every little crevice, shop and corner.

The power of the film lies in the wonder of the human mind and how memory, projections and beauty inspire. Just as the protagonist becomes obsessed with a woman he thinks he met six years ago, Guerin is transfixed by the lives and uniqueness of each of the women he films, ultimately bridging a connection to the culture and history of the city. The whole work has a positive and relaxed feel about it, a film bound to be appreciated by travelers, artists and introverts.

11. I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone(2006) Directed by Tsai Ming-liang

Two similar story lines and a couple of odd love triangles that could only come from the mind of Tsai Ming-liang are the basis for his first film shot in his native Malaysia. The crowded, narrow streets and corridors of Kuala Lumpur give us a perfect setting for the director’s favorite themes: loneliness, alienation, and longing in the modern world. And somehow there are images of destitution, desperation and humor often within the same scene.

A wandering foreigner is beaten up by a gang of con-artists and nursed back to health by an immigrant construction worker who falls in love with him. Meanwhile a waitress working at a cafe is forced into caring for the owner’s comatose son. It should be noted that both men receiving care are played by the same actor—a metaphor big enough for its own, separate discussion. The waitress in turn is later sought out by the wanderer, as both search for love despite not speaking the same language.

Characters must first make do with their meager possessions, then go up against all odds to connect with one another, and ultimately find love under the most basic of conditions. This idea is best shown in a scene where the two lovers fight off a poisonous haze engulfing the city by making out in between coughing fits, before finally giving in and breathing through the openings of the man’s pant legs. There are also several scenes of different characters carrying around a flea infested mattress through KL traffic, a comedic injection that is both a celebration of film history and of man’s ability to see the silver lining in life, despite its occasionally, overwhelming obstacles. Though the characters have every possible hardship thrown at them, they fight back and strive to make something out of very little.

Best Films of the 2000’s(Films 50-21)

Aside

Here is a very belated list of the top films from 2000 to 2009. One thing that I find tiresome about most of the lists found online is their attempt to encompass all styles and genres of films. Here we have simply made a list of our favorite 50 films with just a few rules and notes:

No shorts or documentaries
No one film per director rule
imdb release dates

Obviously there are quite a few films we haven’t been able to see due to their lack of availability and time constraints(i.e. Albert Serra’s films), so we just see this list as a jumping off point for more exploration and suggestions.

For films 50-21 the film are simply ranked. The top 20 films (next post) will feature a brief for each film.

50. The Man Without a Past(2002) Directed by Aki Kaurismaki