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READERS' POLL 2002
Either our writers cast a spell on you, or we're all shockingly like-minded. The overwhelming similarity between the readers' and critics' picks causes us to wonder whether 2002 contained a dearth of decent films, or a surfeit of cinematic triumphs. Directorial ambition was in this year, and Bob Arnett of Starkville, MS best summarized the multitude of risk taking auteur projects. "The filmmakers were really trying for something special. But ambition makes up for any minor flaws." More specifically, David Connelly, of Los Angeles CA, noted of The Pianist, "Merging the twin horrors of his life into a single shot of astonishing efficacy, Polanski shows us a pregnant woman screaming as she is hoisted onto an overcrowded railroad car bound for Treblinka. The closest thing to autobiography we may ever see from cinema's great survivor." The filmmakers' personal odysseys, however, were one topic among many addressed by readers whose further comments can be viewed below. And congratulations to this year's winners: David Mallin, Harold Abramowitz, Jeffrey Bivens, and Jennifer Corum. We hope you enjoy your choice of DVDs, courtesy of Criterion and Home Vision. (A number one vote received 10 points, a number two vote 9 points, and so on.)
1. Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, US) 1005 points
2. Talk to Her (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain) 771
3. Y tu mamá también (Alfonso Cuaron, Mexico) 754
4. Adaptation (Spike Jonze, US) 671
5. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, US) 581
6. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, Japan) 491
7. Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese, US) 477
8. Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore, US) 475
9. The Pianist (Roman Polanski, U.K./Poland) 469
10. About Schmidt (Alexander Payne, US) 433
11. The Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk, Canada) 358
12. The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke, Austria/France) 333
13. Minority Report (Steven Spielberg, US) 326
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson, US) 314
15. Time Out (Laurent Cantet, France) 301
16. What Time Is It There? (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan) 253
17. The Hours (Stephen Daldry, US) 250
18. Bloody Sunday (Paul Greengrass, U.K.) 240
19. Femme Fatale (Brian De Palma, US) 239
20. Catch Me If You Can (Steven Spielberg, US) 225
21. Chicago (Rob Marshall, US) 224
22. 25th Hour (Spike Lee, US) 214
23. Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov, Russia) 183
24. In Praise of Love (Jean-Luc Godard, Switzerland) 157
25. Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay, U.K.) 148
26. I'm Going Home (Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/France) 145
27. Solaris (Steven Soderbergh, US) 139
28. 24 Hour Party People (Michael Winterbottom U.K.) 127
29. Rabbit-Proof Fence (Philip Noyce, Australia) 112
30. Spider (David Cronenberg, Canada/U.K.) 99
31. Road to Perdition (Sam Mendes, US) 98
Storytelling (Todd Solondz, US) 98
33. Late Marriage (Dover Kosashvili, Israel) 96
34. The Lady and the Duke (Eric Rohmer, France) 89
Monsoon Wedding (Mira Nair, India) 89
36. The Quiet American (Philip Noyce, US/Australia) 83
37. Igby Goes Down (Burr Steers, US) 78
38. About a Boy (Paul and Chris Weitz, US/U.K.) 77
39. Sunshine State (John Sayles, US) 74
40. The Son's Room (Nanni Moretti, Italy) 73
41. Secretary (Steven Shainberg, US) 71
42. 13 Conversations About One Thing (Jill Sprecher, US) 70
43. Auto Focus (Paul Schrader, US) 68
The Good Girl (Miguel Arteta, US) 68
45. All About Lily Chou-Chou (Shunji Iwai, Japan) 66
46. Heaven (Tom Tykwer, UK/Germany) 64
47. City of God (Fernando Meirelles, Brazil) 63
48. Frida (Julie Taymor, US) 59
Signs (M. Night Shyamalan, US) 59
50. The Cat's Meow (Peter Bogdanovich, US) 56
READERS' COMMENTS
"For me, it's all about the ambition of the filmmaking and whether the film sweeps me into its world. All of the above did that. Punch-Drunk Love, Adaptation, and Gangs of New York had moments and elements I didn't think were working (how many more long, boring, expository tracking shots do I have to sit through???), but I felt the filmmakers were really trying for something special. That ambition certainly makes up for any minor flaws. Each of these films creates its own world with thoroughness and an eye for detail. Hats off to Sam Raimi and Todd Haynes for great "movie" worlds, to Scorsese and Mira Nair for captivating worlds so far away from my own, to Christopher Nolan and Doug Liman for worlds in which thrillers still thrill, and to Pedro Almodóvar, Spike Jonze, and Paul Thomas Anderson for worlds of their own" - Bob Arnett, Starkville, MS
"One can see that women dominated the year in filmˇof course, they paid a price. Self-mutilation (Secretary, The Piano Teacher, Esther Kahn), violence (Morvern Callar, Domestic Violence), and loss and suffering were the norm as primarily male directors ran their heroines through one emotional meat grinder after another. Only Lynne Ramsay had the courage to make the loss of a man central to her protagonist's newfound sense of freedom." - Tom Hall, Brooklyn, NY
"A year in which cinephiles had to sporadically shudder at the depths to which producers will sink to guarantee ticket sales. And that's the indies!" - James Paul Harless, Arlington, VA
FAR FROM HEAVEN
"Those who dismiss Todd Haynes's unique movie as merely a carbon copy of an old Douglas Sirk melodrama are missing the point. While the film takes place in the 1950s, it's much more about the present day than we'd care to admit. Beyond that, Far From Heaven is easily the best love story of the year, overflowing with genuine passion and heart." -Ethan Alter, Brooklyn NY
"Far From Heaven is probably the one film on my Top 10 I'll watch the least over the years, but the artistic kick and bracing intelligence with which Todd Haynes pays homage to Fifties melodrama and examines such past-and-present hot-button topics as homosexuality and racism make it one for the ages." - Brian Skutle, Marietta, GA
"Its stunning cinematography seemed not to be able to adapt to its peculiar surroundings. Todd Haynes blew me away with Safe and Velvet Goldmine, but absolutely flabbergasted me with Far From Heaven." - Timothy Shay
"Seeing at least one clownishly mustachioed TV "critic" rave over Far From Heaven validates Godard's maxim that a great film becomes popular when it is misunderstood." - Bill Weber, Brooklyn, NY
"The acclaim for Haynes's elitist and reactionary Far From Heaven - probably the worst film of my lifetime - reveals that current film culture (critics, academics) is far from adequate in engaging or explicating explicit genuine advances, however large or small. How is it that I, someone who has never attended grad school, know enough about semiotics and movies (and life) to recognize that Far From Heaven, the most acclaimed movie of the year, is complete bullshit? - John Demetry, Erie, PA
TALK TO HER
"Almodóvar is one of our great visual storytellers. The silent film sequence alone is proof that he can hold his own with the masters." - David Connelly, Los Angeles, CA
"Almodóvar at the peak of his Warlockian touch. Ditching the affected cartoonish curlicues of his previous work (All About My Mother excepted), Talk to Her is lean and sharp. His compositional sense is quite perfect, the dove-tailed storylines, the camera placements, Caetano's breathtaking interlude, the string score, a bold color palette, even the black-and-white dream seems unindulgent." - Eric Puls, Chicago, IL
ADAPTATION
"Adaptation - The real pleasure of Adaptation is Nicolas Cage, delivering two of his best performances since dropping out of acting to become the world's unlikeliest action hero. If Cage decides to go back to high-octane action flicks after this, I hope his next project is Donald Kaufman's The Thr3e." - Adam Jahnke, Culver City, CA
"As far as Adaptation's finale is concerned, I don't mind being toyed with, but I like to know the reason for it; the emotional gap between the audience and the characters was too obvious to write off simply as bad scripting, but if it was meant as a joke, I didn't find it funny." - Jeff Jewell, Kentwood, MI
"Adaptation - I don't see why everyone goes on and on about the reflexivity and structure and never once mentions the man-eating crocodiles .ˇ" - Suzanne Scott, Los Angeles, CA
"I almost put Adaptation as my number ten but then I realized how dissatisfied I really was with the ending. And I understand what they were trying to do but I still think it was a cop-out." - Lisa Gibson, Tyngsboro, MA
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© 2003 by The Film Society of Lincoln Center
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