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COMING IN SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004:

David O. Russell interviewed about his new film I Love Huckabees

Amy Taubin on Mike Leigh's Vera Drake

Tarnation, My Architect, and the rise of the therapeutic nonfiction film by Paul Arthur

Chuck Stephens on 50 years of films from Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers' studios

Legendary Austrian avant-garde filmmaker Peter Kubelka's new film Poetry and Truth by Alexander Horwath

The current state of cinephilia by Olaf Möller

The videos of Cameron Jamie by Gary Indiana

FILM COMMENT
March / April 2004

Above: Mystic River

FILM COMMENT'S READERS' POLL: TOP FILMS OF 2003

Kill Bill Vol. 1 (#4)

"As for my top choice, I picked Kill Bill, Vol. 1 because it's the one film to which I've had the most prolonged emotional response. A lot of people will question that statement; I realize that it's the kind of film that will be most thoroughly enjoyed by those who have a long-standing joy of genre films. I also know that it has some harsh violence and situations that will put off many who haven't already been exposed to director Quentin Tarantino's style and substance. I'm not sure what gives me the greater chills: the blistering, should-but-probably-won't-win-an-Oscar performance by Uma Thurman, the camerawork and color schemes, or the soundtrack, filled with unique and inspiring musical choices that help to distill and lovingly accent the images on screen. To say I'm excited about Volume 2 is like saying I had something brief to say about Volume 1." - Steve Norwood, Lewisville TX

"Everything old is new again in Quentin Tarantino's blood-soaked pastiche to blaxploitation, kung fu, and revenge B movies. Uma Thurman's badass heroine is both delirious and invigorating while mixed with a good measure of Peckinpah-esque morality. Bring on Volume 2!" - Mitch Metcalf, Stamford CT

"Yes! Tarantino was released from the carbonite! Then he waited like three more years, ate a bunch of frozen pizza's, had one more box of ding dongs, and then made one of the best Friday Night movies of all time! Tarantino's ode to Chinese Kung Fu flicks and California grind house theaters was better than I ever expected it could possibly be. Uma was not to be fucked with, and neither was the soundtrack. Once again, Quentin has stolen a hundred different ideas from other great filmmakers and somehow ended up owning them." - Bossi Baker, Fayetteville, AR

"Kill Bill will only grow in estimation - with each film, Tarantino expands his references vastly to include elements of world cinema/culture so diverse that he may need to release an 'annotated' version of his films." - Scot West, Iowa City, IA

"It's fascinating to compare the mindless violence of Kill Bill, which didn't leave a scratch on this viewer, to the horrors in Elephant , City of God , and Mystic River . The characters in those films become real for me; they hurt, they bleed. Van Sant, Eastwood, Katia Lund & Fernando Meirelles - they understand violence. Tarantino doesn't. Not yet." - Greg Machlin, New York NY

"2003 saw two films that: (1) featured female lead(s), (2) valued action, atmosphere, and attitude over plot, (3) replaced character depth with exhaustive references to pop culture and/or cult films. That Kill Bill is so critically valued where Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle is reviled speaks only to the fact that the critical establishment places more importance on the reference points of Tarantino's film then they do on McG's. Suffice to say that neither bothers to critique or examine their forebears; both settle for simulation and homage. Charlie's Angels at least has the presence of mind to spoof its excesses and those of the summer tentpole genre, such excesses proving dead weight in the latter Matrixes and Kill Bill." - John Strelow, Los Angeles, CA

"Perhaps the worst thing you could say about Kill Bill is that it isn't even lousy enough to be interesting; nor are his "ideas" in rearranging narrative time structures for effect. (It's film - that's what it's always been useful for). Kill Bill is merely average; remarkable only in the way you might take a moment to stop and watch a pie-eating contest. I guess that in our relativistic and gluttonous culture, the fact that someone out there would be so willing to gorge himself on junk (for Tarantino, it's junky movies) way more than anyone else would is what we are now calling "talent," "pure cinema," "the director as DJ" and other such empty, schlocky terms. Perhaps, but it definitely does not produce art." - Tariq Tapa, Houston TX

American Splendor (#5)

"American Splendor was such a thrill because of its seamless mixing of elements which simply aimed to describe Harvey Pekar the way he would on film. The filmmakers succeed in transmitting Pekar's weird, cranky yet somehow comforting persona."

- Betty Teng, Brooklyn NY

"That American Splendor took Best Picture honors with both the National Society of Film Critics and the Los Angeles Film Critics Assocation leaves me somewhat suspicious that maybe critics are a little over-eager to heap kudos on any American indie that doesn't totally suck." - Josh Timmerman

Elephant (#6)

"Where the hell did the new Gus Van Sant come from? I can't wait to see what he does next." - Jonathan Hoagland, Mountaintop PA

"Van Sant may be stealing pages from lesser known masters, but he manages to bring them into his own in America. Why aren't more filmmakers on these shores going this route, and to such tremendous effect? I guess we all know the answer to that one." - Ivan Zeile, Denver CO

City of God (#7)

"This astonishingly powerful debut feature from Fernando Meirelles really deserved a wider audience. City of God is vibrant, raw and explosive. The slums of Rio De Janeiro circa 1960-1980 are vividly recreated as boyhood friends Benny and Lil Ze rise from petty vandals to become powerful ganglords. Right from the start, City of God pounds with a furious visual energy and a killer soundtrack." - Rob Morton, New York, NY

"While I thought nothing would top the movie event of the year, Kill Bill: Volume 1, for me City of God came out of nowhere. This Scorsesean gangster operatic epic not only hits you on the gut level with its intense display of violent realism, but it's one that also displays its true story through artistic storytelling techniques that seem influenced by Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas." - Judd Taylor, New York NY

"An explosive dose of MTV-inspired hysteria that transcends its visual gloss to achieve great beauty and truth. Director Meirelles's raw and devastating vision of urban hell is, by far, the year's most impressive debut." - Daniel Wible, Glen Mills, PA

"Oh, how I loathed the City of God's hypocrisy, its reliance on whizzbang visuals to thrill all the while insisting - quite obviously, mind you - that guns and gangsta-life are bad, that violence begets violence. Now, were the film to glamorize the violence et al. in such a way as to woo us spectators into this life, were it to show us this life's allure rather than simply blitzing our senses with flashy, impersonal imagery, perhaps then I wouldn't find the film's pretty well-intentioned ethics so dishonest and offensive. What too many filmmakers keep refusing to acknowledge nowadays is that the individualization and Humanization of all things morally abhorrent makes for a much more recognizable and truthful and SCARY reality than presenting some tautological reality in which hoods are just hoods because they're hoods." - Ryan Tracy, Owings Mills, MD

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (#11)

"In this day and age when the planet seems so small, it's difficult to remember an era when there were still lands that hadn't yet been explored. In its best moments, Master and Commander makes you feel as if you are seeing the world for the first time." - Ethan Alter, Brooklyn NY

Spider (#12)

"One of David Cronenberg's best films. Could it be because he didn't write the book or screenplay? The art direction and cinematography help to convey the sense of harrowing sadness and hopelessness. This is so much better than A Beautiful Mind." - Mario DiMaio

"Reality? No clearer case for the cognitive dissonance implicit in searching for it in film has been made. Obsession helps." - Steve Jones

The Fog of War (#13)

"Errol Morris's brilliant documentary will be relevant whenever there is a war being waged in the world. Therefore, it will (sadly) always be relevant. I actually found myself admiring Robert McNamara's candor and remorse, while at the same time asking myself 'why the hell didn't your conscience surface during Vietnam?'" - Mitch Metcalf, Stamford CT

All the Real Girls (#15)

"David Gordon Green is my favorite contemporary film director. He has consistently found new ways to tell stories so far, and made it far more interesting than anything else out there. Yes, he owes a lot to Terrence Malick, but at least he doesn't look like he's going to take a 25 year break in between each film. I don't feel like this film has got the attention that it deserved, and will hopefully be looked at more as time goes on. The best movie of the year." - Bossi Baker, Fayetteville, AR

28 Days Later (#18)

"This is hands down the best straightforward horror movie of the last ten years. It served to remind audiences that horror can and should be played straight. This little gem from Britain managed to get under my skin and stay there throughout the entire 90 minute run time. And best of all, there was none of that winking-at-the-camera bullshit that's plagued nearly every American horror movie released in the wake of Scream." - Chris Olson

Pirates of the Carribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (#19)

"Pirates of the Carribbean was first and foremost a triumph of screenwriting. Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio are truly the unsung heroes of this film, as they were for Mask of Zorro." - Greg Machlin, New York NY

"Had you told me a year ago that I would love a movie based on a Disney theme park ride, much less one produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, I wouldn't have just laughed in your face, I would probably have spit in it as well." - Chris Olson

"No, not a work of art, perhaps, but this gloriously kitsch family film was wittier, sexier, better acted and more entertaining than any of the year's other commercial epics. And yes, that includes Lord of the Rings..." - Guy Lodge, South Africa

School of Rock (#20)

"The absolute funniest movie I saw in 2003 School of Rock's plot is by-the-numbers but the execution is where it's at. Director Richard Linklater strikes just the right balance between indie sensibility and mainstream appeal, never letting things get too cutesie or cloying. You haven't met a group of kids as talented and funny as these since...well, since Spellbound. (What a great double feature that would make!)" - Rob Morton, New York NY

Irreversible (#22)

"By far the most misunderstood film of the year, by critics and audiences alike. A thoroughly unique creation that expertly deals out craft, experimentation, and a complete symbolic thread to relationships that its hard to imagine not liking it. That is, if one can manage to get through the first five minutes, the next fifteen, that nine minute scene, etc.....Memorable? How can one possibly forget this masterpiece?" - Ivan Zeile, Denver CO

"Pretentious, manipulative, and excessive. I loved it, if love is the right word. The camera work is all thrashing savagery, the music apocalyptic dread, the setting the bowels of hell, and the sanity long excreted." - Daniel Wible, Glen Mills, PA

In America (#25)

"Jim Sheridan's In America extended Kaige's Together revelation. He applies, across a canvas of immediate post-9/11, AIDS-era concerns, the truths exposed in Steven Spielberg's films, referencing Saving Private Ryan, E.T., A.I, Amistad, and Minority Report. It represents a new vision of myth and country, faith and democracy." - John Demetry, Erie PA

A Mighty Wind (#27)

"The only time I cried at the movies this year, and it was a Christopher Guest movie starring Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara... which has a fart joke IN THE TITLE!" - Eric Johnson

The Son (#31)

"When I first saw the Dardenne Brothers' technique of putting a camera behind their main character's head and showing us only what their world and perspectives contain (in Rosetta), I thought it seemed limited and artificial. But I changed my mind (by the end of Rosetta) and consequently, I was overwhelmed by the net-like discipline and spareness of The Son. Stripped of everything not essential to his story, the essence (a version of the Buddhist idea that the path to enlightenment involves showing friendliness to one's enemies) comes through like a clarion call." - Jim Faller, E. Elmhurst, NY

"My favorite film of 2003, The Son, is another reason why I feel the Dardenne brothers are the greatest brother filmmaking team ever. No other film (besides Godard's In Praise of Love) moved me to the point that I watched it twice in a row). The immeasurable amount of satisfaction that film gave to me more than makes up for what I believe was a lackluster year in American cinema." - Vince Henriquez

Lilya 4-Ever (#35)

"Practically hidden from the public, but exceptional to most of those who saw it, Lilya 4-Ever creates a buoyant and hopeful feeling from the most dismal and depressing story. Wringing Christian redemption from a sad true story, Moodysson convinces us that innocence is protected by God, evil becoming the meaningless decoration of the gnostic demiurge." - Jim Faller, E. Elmhurst, NY

The Secret Lives of Dentists (#47)

"Never before have I seen a film so knowingly capture the dégringolade of a marriage as The Secret Lives of Dentists. Every action and reaction, every look and every feeling is so firsthandedly lived-through, and so exact is its presentment of how the shit goes down when one from a couple strays that even the source material's heavy-handed, over-stretched Teeth is to Marriage analogy (thankfully only present in the pro-/epi-logues) is excusable." - Ryan Tracy, Owings Mills, MD