FILM MUSINGS: REEL REVIEWS 2007 AT A GLANCE

(This article appeared in the 2007 World Poll of Senses of Cinema.)

2007 was an ordinary year for film viewing and criticism for me, though there were a good number of movies that impressed my æsthetic standards (considering the 236 films that I have seen until 2 January 2008). As always, I shunned big budget Hollywood films, including The Bourne Ultimatum (Paul Greengrass, 2007) and the latest Harry Potter), in favour of arthouse, foreign-language releases. There were some movies that I saw during embassy-sponsored film festivals while a big number were seen on DVD.

Here are the 10 best films that I have seen from January 2007 to 2 January 2008:

Jazireh ahani (pictured, above) (Iron Island, Mohammad Rasoulof, 2005)
This little seen gem by Mohammad Rasoulof is a thematically urgent movie about dictatorship and traditional politics set in a rundown ship. It proves that Iranian cinema isn’t passé after all, despite the booming critical reception for Romanian films in various film festivals.

Offside (Jafar Panahi, 2006)
Jafar Panahi’s latest feature is a blatant critique of gender insensitivity in his home country set during the World Cup qualifying match. The theme may not be new, but Panahi’s gift for well timed humour and drama makes this message movie accessible to everyone.

Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006)
The plot and setting of German filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s critically hailed, Academy Award-winning film resembles mid-1970s American political suspense films like The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974) and The Parallax View (Alan J. Pakula, 1974. The script was braced with well-timed suspense, the plot was unpredictable, and the tone and mood was created and sustained as events unfolded with dramatic tension.

Ren xiao yao (Unknown Pleasures, Jia Zhang-ke, 2002)
Juvenile apathy amidst the changing times in working-class China is the theme of Jia’s critically adored 2002 feature.

The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941)
John Huston’s classic whodunit masterpiece set the tone for the film noir genre. Easily 2007’s Best Classic Film for me.

Journal d’un cure de campagne (Diary of a Country Priest, Robert Bresson, 1951)
Robert Bresson’s masterpiece is an emotionally rich, dramatically tense character study that gave justice to Georges Bernanos’ novel.

Iklimler (Climates, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2006)
Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan cemented his status as a critics’ favourite and a disciple of Michelangelo Antonioni with this Cannes Filmfest 2006 FIPRESCI Prize winner. The narrative recalls the late Italian director’s trilogy of L’Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), and L’Eclisse (1962), while the dramatic and narrative techniques are purely Antonioni, however handed masterfully.

Insiang (Lino Brocka, 1976)
It was in the late 1970s that Philippine cinema reached its third Golden Age, and the late filmmaker first gained immense critical traction and festival exposure with this well acted critique of poverty stricken urban life.

Tony Takitani (Jun Ichikawa, 2004)
Japanese filmmaker Ichikawa’s festival favourite is a masterpiece of cinematic invention without being showy, pretentious, facile, or haughty.

No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007)
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Cormac McCarthy’s novel was brought to life in this genre bending, dramatically pungent film from the movie industry’s masters of cinematic invention. The plot structure and pacing may be wayward at times, but the assured direction and strong performances by Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin make up for such flaws (however obvious).

Best Contemporary Film – Jazireh ahani (Iron Island, Mohammad Rasoulof, 2005)

Best Classic Film – The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, USA)

Most Moving Performances

Male Actor – Ulrich Muhe, Das Leben der Anderen
Female Actors – Julie Christie, Away from Her (Sarah Polley, 2006) and Mona Lisa, Insiang

Outstanding Technical Achievements

Best Direction of a film – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Das Leben der Anderen

Best Writing of a film – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Das Leben der Anderen and Jia Zhang-ke, Ren xiao yao (tied)

The next ten best
Gwoemul (The Host, Joon-ho Bong, 2006)
Il Conformista (The Conformist, Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970)
Meng ying tong nian (Electric Shadows, Xiao Jiang, 2004)
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (Ashutosh Gowariker, 2001)
Hei yan quan (I Don’t Want To Sleep Alone, Tsai Ming-liang, 2006)
La Tourneuse de pages (The Page Turner, Denis Dercourt, 2006)
Zwartboek (Black Book, Paul Verhoeven, 2006)
Les Diaboliques (Diabolique, Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955)
Kamyu nante shiranai (Who’s Camus Anyway?, Mitsuo Yanagimachi, 2005)
Be with Me (Eric Khoo, 2005)

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE, (January 2008 releases that did not make the deadline but are worthy of recognition)
4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Cristian Mungiu, 2007)
Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy, 2007)

OVERRATED FILMS
Coeurs (Private Fears in Public Places, Alain Resnais, 2006)
Juno (Jason Reitman, 2007)
La Môme (La Vie en Rose, Olivier Dahan, 2007)
Sang sattawat (Syndromes and a Century, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006)
There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)

DISAPPOINTMENTS (Considering the critical traction, box-office receipts, film festival(s) reception, and advanced word of mouth)
Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007)
Klass (The Class, Ilmar Raag, 2007)
Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg, 2007)
L’homme de sa vie (The Man of My Life, Zabou Breitman, 2006)
Jiang cheng xia ri (Luxury Car, Wang Chao, 2006)

RANDOM THOUGHTS: THE NINTH CINEMANILA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

I was able to watch 19 films during the recent Cinemanila. On its ninth year, some things have not changed: programming (mostly 2006 releases from various festivals like Berlin, Venice, Cannes, and Toronto), scheduling (the fest's worst aspect), and promotion (print media was maximized to good effect). Strong points this time around were the strong line-up from Cannes last summer (Grand Prize winner "The Edge of Heaven" (pictured, left) won Best Screenplay for writer-director Fatih Akin (Head-On; In July); Special Jury Prize honoree Marjane Satrapi's and Jonathan Parronaud's "Persepolis" received the third place Jury Prize, while Palme d'Or winner "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days" received two consecutive gala screenings on Aug. 15) and the new venue (Gateway Cineplex in Araneta Center, Cubao)-even if I was pissed off with the poor ticket selling process (a viewer has to be there two hours prior to the screening or you will spend the same time before getting a ticket because of the long line) and scheduling (no change in the fest's 9-year existence). Despite the limited films that I've seen, the line-up indeed was rife with intriguing and diverse movies. "Persepolis," Marjane Satrapi's film adaptation of her acclaimed autobiographical novel was a box-office and critical hit - one of this year's best films for me. I was disappointed with Thai auteur Apitchapong Weerasethakul's "Syndromes and a Century," a self-indulgent drama that bored me despite the coherent first half of the plot, and Wang Chao's Cannes 2006 Camera d'Or winner "Luxury Car," a suspense-drama character study about a father and daughter's tragic reunion. From Malaysia comes Yasmin Ahmad's ASEAN Best Film winner (and Berlin 2006 Special Award recipient) "Mukhsin," a conventional coming-of-age drama that has a hallmarks of a traditional Filipino movie (I joked with my friends that Filipino producers should buy the remake rights as soon as possible, given its potential in the market), while Lars von Trier's insufferable and crazy "The Boss Of It All" left me thinking that the Danish auteur has gone into the dogs (seriously) and lost his critical mind. Among the entries that I failed to watch (given my busy office work) were "The Edge of Heaven," Yoji Yamada's (Oscar nominee Twilight Samurai) latest samurai drama "Love and Honor" (ditto), and Francis Ozon's Berlin 2007 entry "Angel". Some ASEAN movies that I missed (due to schedule conflicts) were "Hula Girls," "The Go Master" (I believe it wasn't shown in the festival), and Eytan Fox's (2004's "Walk on Water") "The Bubble". And as always, I hate the idea of having Filipino films competing for awards (word has it that Raya Martin's Lino Brocka Grand Prize for Digital Lokal winner "Autohystoria" was a blunder, based on mostly negative reviews from viewers and critics), and I have reservations with much-hyped films that have sexually graphic ("Irina Palm") ("Ploy") content. To say the least, Cinemanila 2007 is a mixed bag. To say the most, things have not changed for the better.

The Rundown: Reel Reviews 2006 In Excelsis

(This article appeared in the December 2006-February 2007 issue of Senses of Cinema online magazine as part of the online contributors’ Ten Best Films of 2006.)

My busy career as a training director and part-time film reviewer prevented me from breaking 2005’s film viewing record of 217 movies. While I contemplate on the future state of my film viewing habit, I should say that out of 138 films that I have seen (as of today, December 17, 2006) 32 of them are highly recommended.

In my annual best movies list, there is a slot that is reserved for classic cinema (films that were released in the past eight decades). Though I have only seen six of them this year, three ended up in the top 10. There are other awards that were given including the year’s most moving performances, innovative technical awards, and films with significant and intriguing themes and sub-genres.

Here are the ten movies I have seen in 2006 that met my aesthetic standards:

The Apple
Director Samira Makhmalbaf, the daughter of Iranian cinema greats Mohsen (Kandahar, The Cyclist, The Peddler) and Marzieh Meskhini (The Day I Become A Woman) has crafted an intriguing and profound satire on Iranian society.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
Cristi Puiu’s second directorial feature is a thought provoking character study and message movie. It showed that Romanian cinema is alive despite being unknown in the festival circuit.

Sunset Blvd. (Classic Cinema Award)
2006’s best classic film is an outstanding exercise in script writing, acting, and directing, which deserved its status as a Hollywood classic.

Brokeback Mountain
The first openly homosexual romantic drama I have seen that struck me most.

Goodbye, Dragon Inn
Tsai Ming-liang’s ode to movie going echoed my previous forays in watching movies.

Fanny and Alexander
Ingmar Bergman’s personal evocation of his childhood echoed some reverberations of my own parental upbringing.

Cache (a.k.a. Hidden)
Haneke’s mind bending and mysterious psychological thriller sustains its narrative and thematic urgency long after watching it.

Turtles Can Fly
The second Iranian film in my top 10 list is a stunning parable of war and its impact on children.

Loves of a Blonde
Milos Forman’s intelligent pro-feminist film deserved to be a Czech New Wave and world cinema classic.

Three Times
The second Taiwanese film in my ten best of 2006 is an anti-feel good romantic movie. Taiwanese new wave auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien has crafted a thinking person’s love story without being sappy or forced.


MOST MOVING PERFORMANCES OF THE YEAR

BEST ACTOR
Klaus Kinski in Aguirre, The Wrath Of God (Werner Herzog, 1972)

BEST ACTRESS
Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd.


TECHNICAL AWARDS

BEST DIRECTION
Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain

BEST WRITING
Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett for Sunset Blvd.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Raul Perez Cubero, for his classic Hollywood cinema cinematography in You’re the one (una historia de estonces) (Jose Luis Garci, 2000)


WELL CRAFTED FILMS WITH SIGNIFICANT THEMES AND SUB-GENRES

BEST AMERICAN REMAKE OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE

The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006) (A remake of the crime thriller Infernal Affairs, Andrew Lau, 2002)

BEST CLASSIC FILM (tied)
Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
Sunset Blvd.

BEST GAY THEMED FILM (TIED)
Brokeback Mountain
The River (Ming-liang Tsai, 1997)

BEST POLITICALLY INCLINED FILM (tied)
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
The Queen (Stephen Frears, 2006)

BEST DVD RELEASE (tied)
Goodbye, Dragon Inn
13 (Tzameti) (Gela Babluani, 2005)

The following titles also deserve to be recognized in an otherwise limited year for film viewing:
13 (Tzameti)
Aguirre, The Wrath of God
The Departed
Djomeh (Hassan Yektapanah, 2000)
Election 2 (Johnnie To, 2006)
Mother of Mine (Klaus Haro, 2005)
Palais royal! (Valerie Lemercier, 2005)
The Queen
The River
Seven Samurai
Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)
Time (Ki-duk Kim, 2006)
United 93 (Paul Greengrass, 2006)
You’re the One

“CINEMATIC WASTE”: THE FIVE WORST MOVIES OF 2006

BATTLE IN HEAVEN (BATALIA EN EL CIELO)
Carlos Reygadas’ pretentious, dreary character study/satire/critique (whatever it is) was tepidly received in Cannes 2005 (where it competed alongside the far superior The Child, Three Times, and Broken Flowers). His heavy-handed storytelling techniques and uninvolving sex scenes didn’t helped raise audience curiosity or appeal for the film.

THE OMEN
The year’s worst remake is this Julia Stiles’ starrer about… need I say more? The 1976 film wasn’t a classic in the first place (its subject matter is dated now), and there is no logical reason why it should be remade. Acting and writing-wise, The Omen is a shocker (pun intended).

LEMMING
The first French film in my five worst list tried hard to capture Claude Chabrol’s trademark psychological suspense storytelling approach – to no avail. The good looking and talented cast (the two Charlottes of contemporary French cinema – Gainsbourg and Rampling) didn’t save the psychological thriller from being boring.

REINCARNATION
Takashi Shimizu may have reached a career peak with 2002’s Ju-on (The Grudge), but this 2005 film showed his self indulgent, arty filmmaking approach. This isn’t a horror picture; it is simply horrific!

TIRESIA
This film proves that French cinema produces enough cinematic junk like Hollywood. The myth of Tiresia, a Greek god with two sexes was told through tedious pacing, dialogue, and performances (including that of Laurent Lucas, who also starred in Lemming). Is this a philosophical drama, a character study, or an artistic bore? Its lacklustre reception at Cannes in 2003 says it all.