Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion

.

JA from MNPP here, doing the 2001 thing, briefly noting a flick from the year that left a bit of an impression on lil' ol' me. Yes, Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko. I can and have - seriously I have, click here to see - list a bunch of reasons why I believe this movie's too cool for school, but it really, the essence, it all boils down you see to that delightful line uttered there above. Sometimes Beth Grant doubts our commitment to Sparkle Motion. Sometimes I doubt our collective commitment to Sparkle Motion.


But then I pop in a cassette tape of "Head Over Heels" by Tears For Fears and I contemplate how exactly one does suck a fuck or what the sex lives of Smurfs are all about or if "feces" means "baby mice" or whether "cellar door" might just be the most beautiful phrase in all of the English language and so I poke my finger into a hole in the eyeball of a metal-faced rabbit-man that represents the fabric of space and time itself and I feel a little more, a little less, complete. Why am I wearing this funny man suit anyway? It's like child-proselytizer Jim Cunningham put it best:

"Is that all the gusta you can musta?"

.

Her First Time.

Jose here with a look back at one of 2001's cinematic gems.

At a time when abortion is still a controversial issue, where the ratio of HIV infections in people under 25 increases by the day and where some systems insist on abstinence as the only form of sexual education; Catherine Breillat's Fat Girl must seem like the devil.

Its idea that people, make that pre-adolescent women, have the right and capacity to make choices about their sexuality sounds shocking now, so imagine how it was eight years ago when the movie was released. Banned by the Ontario Film Review, prohibited in Singapore and left unrated in the United States, the film's themes left audiences and critics baffled, but for all the wrong reasons.

It is not that the movie has things we haven't seen before (although full frontal male nudity continues to be scandalous in this day and age) but that once again Breillat completely de-eroticized sexual acts and gave them cerebral capacities. Sex in her movies isn't a place of unlimited, if frowned upon, pleasure, but a source of utter empowerment or self destruction.

When 12 year old Anaïs (Anaïs Reboux) says

I want my first time to be with someone I don't love

most conservative people would fly away from the movie thinking of ways to prevent their kids from even knowing films like these exist. What they fail to see is that inside their homes, their children are already thinking things like that and like Anaïs they engage in innocent sexual games that help them cope with their transition from children to adults.

When Anaïs creates sexual tension between a pool ladder and a diving board, you know there is more to child's play than what's going on here. But all the other characters in the movie fail to see this and ignore her needs. By the time the film reaches its controversial finale (one of the most ingenious metaphors in contemporary film history) the girl isn't so much of a cautionary tale, as she's an inspiration.

Just because we choose to ignore something doesn't mean it isn't there.
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F&L: do I have to?

first line in the film:

"Come to Los Angeles..."

last image before the credits


Can you guess the movie?
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Birthday Suit (With Bright Yellow Trench)

Today is the 109th anniversary of one Chester Gould the creator of Dick Tracy. Every time Dick Tracy (1990) comes up, I think "you should watch that movie again!" but I never do. I think I'm still mad that Warren Beatty kept cutting away from Madonna's "More" performance... which should've easily been one of the best movie musical numbers of the 90s (sigh). Otherwise I quite like the movie

Trivia Alert! Dick Tracy is one of Oscar's two favorite comic book movies along with The Dark Knight (2008). Their Oscar track was very similar. Dick Tracy had 7 nominations and 3 wins. The Dark Knight had 8 nominations and 2 wins and in mostly the same categories, too.

• Supporting Actor (both, and the only two comic book performances ever nominated*: Al Pacino and Heath Ledger, winner)
  
• Cinematography (both)
  
• Art Direction (both)
  
• Costume Design (Dick Tracy only)
  
• Sound (both)
• Sound Editing (The Dark Knight only, winner)
  
• Original Song (Dick Tracy only, winner)
  
• Make-Up (both, Dick Tracy winner)
• Visual Effects (The Dark Knight only)

Why was there no sequel to 1990's primary-colored hit? Aside from Beatty's periodic Brigadoon-like vanishing it's because the rights are all tied up in legalese. Boo hoo.

Other birthdays for 11/20
1915 Kon Ichikawa, Japanese film director of Oscar nominee The Burmese Harp (1958) and Golden Globe winner Kagi (1959)
1925 Robert F Kennedy, assassinated hero and frequent movie character. I've still never seen Bobby (2006) though, have you?
1927 Estelle Parsons, Oscar winning actress (Bonnie & Clyde). She's still on the road with August: Osage County -- she's in Connecticut right this very second (5 more shows over the next 3 days. Hurry!), DC next month and hits the southwest in January and the midwest in February. I hope you bought your tickets because the show is so worth it. Our post about the casting of the movie is the 2nd most commented on this year (106 comments!). Everybody's got an opinion.
1928 Aleksey Batalov star of Cannes Winner The Cranes Are Flying (1957) -- rent it immediately if you haven't seen it, it's one of the best romantic war dramas ever -- and Oscar winner Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (1980).
1936 Don DeLillo, amazing novelist

1956 Bo Derek 80s icon, famous in swimsuit for "10", infamous in birthday suit for Tarzan the Ape Man and Bolero (right)
1959 Sean Young 80s actress, wildcard. Best remembered in pop culture as the desperate creature who wandered around in a catsuit trying to convince Tim Burton to cast her in Batman Returns. What's less remembered, unfortunately for Young, is that Burton had actually cast her... as Vicki Vale for the first film before an injury sidelined her and Kim Basinger got the part. Even less remembered and also to Young's credit: she definitely had screen presence. See: Blade Runner and No Way Out for proof.
1989 Cody Linley of Hannah Montana and Dancing with the Stars fame, busy creating a filmography composed entirely of ridiculous character names: "Spit McGee", "Mullet Fingers", "Brownie" and "Tough Boy"



* I may be wrong there. It depends on how you define 'comic-book performances'. More in the comments

Directors of the Decade: Brad Bird

Robert here. My initial thought for my series on the directors who shaped the past decade was to combine the Pixar guys into one big entry. Five minutes later I was filled with great shame. How dare I think that just because these men make animated films, they don’t deserve their own entries. It was ghettoization all over again! Sure, Pixar films all tend to have similar themes but that doesn’t mean that the great Pixar directors are interchangeable. Over the next few weeks we’ll take a look at them and see what makes them the same and different. First up: Brad Bird.

Number of Films: Two.
Modern Masterpieces: One. With my apologies to The Incredibles, which is an incredible film, the masterpiece is Ratatouille.
Total Disasters: Not even close.
Better than you remember: If you think either of these could be better, you should probably just stop reading now.
Awards: Best Animated Film Oscar for The Incredibles and Ratatouille. Best Picture nomination for.... oh yeah, nevermind.
Box Office: Both films topped 200 mil. The one without the french name topped 260 mil.
Critical Consensus: Beloved and beloved.
Favorite Actor: John Ratzenberger’s name will likely show up for all the Pixar guys.

Let’s talk about:
Complexity. First off complex relationships. Even more specifically complex family relationships. Now we’re getting somewhere. The difference between Brad Bird films and the other Pixar guys’ films is that the families (or “families”) involved don’t just have to work together to save the day, they have to work together to save themselves. Bird’s films both feature families that are, to one extent or another, broken. So it inevitably follows that the relationships between members of these families would be a frequent topic for the director. But the broken bonds go well beyond the simple you might expect from kiddie fare (which is unfair to say since we know that great animated films aren't just for kids, but in a way it took Pixar to remind us of that this decade) . Sure we want Remy’s father to respect him as an artist, yet he makes good points via the safety of the community. Yes we can empathize with Mr. Incredible’s desire to do superhero work again, but it’s still wrong of him to betray his wife, who herself is thankfully presented as reasonable and not villainous (I’m looking at you American Beauty).

Peter O'Toole provides the voice, Brad Bird provides the perspective

But complexity isn't just limited the relationships. It's everywhere in Bird’s work. Look at his directorial style. Bird throws more camera angles, movements and tricks at his films than his compatriots, all of them purposeful and brilliantly conceived. Bird’s direction isn’t just complexity for its own sake. His camera always empathizes with his characters without drawing any undue attention to itself (Please don’t take this to mean that I consider certain more simplicity-inclined Pixar directors to be inferior. Quite the contrary, I love all of these Pixar movies and find them to be perfect versions of themselves). In fact, Bird’s films require complex direction more than others at work at Pixar Studios. Whereas other films may give us an A, B and possible C storyline, Bird’s just keep piling up the conflict layer upon layer upon layer. So we don’t just get father fish looking for son fish (A story) as son fish tries to get home (B story), we get rat yearns to cook (A) while getting displaced from family (B) while meeting human who needs job (C) and teams up with rat to cook (D) as he develops a romantic relationship with co-worker (E) and may be the rightful heir to a restaurant (F) while rat tries to reconnect with family by potentially sabotaging human (G). All the while a grumpy critic waits and waits for a life-changing dish of ratatouille. Layers. Seriously.

Brad Bird, Mr. Complexity. First on Left.

In another sign of his fascination with complexity, Bird has a greater desire to explore the artistic process within his films than the other Pixar directors. The Incredibles puts its entire story on hold several times as we visit costume-design artist extraordinaire Edna Mode who gives us the lowdown on her own genius. And Ratatouille, which is naturally filled with ruminations on the art of cooking, goes even farther, visualizing the concept of taste and combination of taste in a way that no other film has. Bird loves the mind of the artist, and it shows.

So Brad Bird is Mr. Complexity. And where did this come from? A long history in animation. For most of us Bird entered our radar just this decade with The Incredibles. For the lucky few of us, self not included, who weren’t frightened or off put by the thought of a non-Disney animated film, the introduction was by way of The Iron Giant. But even that was in 1999, just on the cusp of this modern decade. Still if you find yourself watching old episodes of The Simpsons or The Critic (I’m not the only one who still watches old episodes of The Critic am I?) You’ll see his name. He's been doing this for a while. The relentlessly talented Brad Bird finally finding a home at the ever-brilliant Pixar is in retrospect both incredibly obvious and one of the finest developments of the decade. As for the next decade, Bird is working on the live-action earthquake film 1906. due out in 2 years. It’s exciting to see Bird spread his wings and take on something new, but waiting until 2012 for it seems like a bit of cruelty worthy of Syndrome himself.

The Best Opening Scene of 2001?

Robert here. As Nathaniel looks back at 2001, I feel myself wanting to throw in some praise for the best opening scene of the year.

An eclipse is coming and the drunks at the town bar enlist the help of village idiot Valuska to explain it to them. You see, Valuska understands things. And those things that he doesn't understand he finds fascinating and magical. In the world of director Béla Tarr, the most spiritual inquisitive man in the area is quite naturally relegated to village idiot status by those around him.

Werckmeister Harmonies is a fantastic movie and if you find the opening to be fascinating and magical, then you should absolutely seek out the rest of the film. Note the number of shots in this scene, which number a whopping two. And try not to note the bad dubbing, which unfortunately is from the original version (Tarr cast actors for look not language and thus had to dub over them).

F&L: Icy Hot

first line of dialogue

"No ice."

last image before the credits roll

Dancing at the Film Experience

Glenn from Stale Popcorn here to throw in two cents worth of discussion about the year 2001 per Nathaniel's request.


Last week for the year 2000 I discussed a favourite from that year that I felt had been criminally underrated. At least a lot of people have seen that movie for it to be underrated. The 2001 film that I want to shine a light on has been seen by about three people (and a goat).

If you had to ask me what profession has gotten the worst representation in the history of cinema I would probably point to stripping. Oh sure, we all love Showgirls but when paired up with Demi Moore's Striptease, the profession has never quite been the same. Throw in the absurd I Know Who Killed Me starring the ghost of Lindsay Lohan's career, the "all star" Spun and even the dead-boring (if you can believe it) Zombie Strippers and you've got a really bad sub-genre.

One of my favourite movies of 2001, however, is Dancing at the Blue Iguana. It's not great cinema by any means, but it's a fascinating film nonetheless. Principally made as an improvisational drama about the lives of five strippers in Los Angeles its main reason for existing seems to be to give three criminally underused actresses enough space to strut their stuff (in a manner of speaking). Daryl Hannah, Sandra Oh (before Grey's Anatomy stole her) and Jennifer Tilly are the three names you will know and each plays off of their perceived real-life personas. They play the ditzy blonde, smart girl and the loud vixen respectively and I can't tell you just how enjoyable it is to watch them on screen. Just thinking about this movie again makes me wonder what happened to Daryl Hannah's "comeback", Oh's non-TV career (seemingly restricted to cameos) and Jennifer Tilly period.

Sandra Oh gives a performance I rank amongst my five supporting actress finalists for 2001. Just watch as she performs a dance (to Moby's "Porcerlain", so yes it definitely was 2001, wasn't it?) in front of the boyfriend who was unaware of her career and you'll see why. The way her face becomes a literally blank wall with no feeling and expression.


The other reason why I like this movie is its representation of the city of LA. Director Michael Radford (who is currently prepping King Lear with Al Pacino) does a really great job of merging the dingy, grimey and concrete image of the city with the sunny side with its palm-tree lined streets and Melrose Place-esque apartment complexes. If anyone else has seen Dancing at the Blue Iguana then do speak up. I would be incredibly interested in hearing what you think.
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Queer Birthday Suits

Cinematic birthdays for Nov. 19th, this time with lighter loafers.

1889 Clifton Webb, reportedly as out as an actor could be back in the day but Oscar never gave him their top prize. They never give out actors the statue. Sad, but true. Classic films include Oscar favorites like Laura and Three Coins in the Fountain (review) but he's most famous for playing Mr. Belvedere, the uptight gentlemen bachelor of a certain obvious if unspoken persuasion. I saw the first of the three Belvedere films Sitting Pretty (1948) a few years ago and it was quite an... unh... time capsule.
1933 Larry King, asker of inane questions
1942 Calvin Klein makes pretty things
1938 Ted Turner took Jane Fonda away from me (the movies... same thing) ages ago and I've never forgiven him.

1954 Kathleen Quinlan an actress I don't really get
1958 Charlie Kaufman mindbender
1961 Meg Ryan have you ever noticed how people turn on actresses once they hit 40? Especially romantic comedy actresses. I'm not talking about ignoring them but viciously turning on them. It's like 'how dare they age!' This is my theory as to why nobody can ever be nice to Meg Ryan who was always a better actress than people ever gave her credit for being. I realize she hasn't been doing anything close to must-see work for a long while but I'm just sayin'. I'm thinking of Meg Ryan this morning because I've been eager to revisit In the Cut in the wake of Jane Campion's return with Bright Star.
1962 Jodie Foster doesn't make enough movies. I'm done complaining about her fetish for being trapped in small spaces in thrillers. Whatever. Just make movies, Jodie. Even if you must be contained inside of them.
1966 Jason Scott Lee didn't get the career he deserved if you ask me. Or that others would have gotten after Dragon The Bruce Lee Story and Jungle Book.


And 105 years ago, Nathan Leopold (of Leopold and Loeb infamy) was born. Their ghastly "thrill kill" of a teenage boy and the ensuing provocative trial fascinated the press of the day and influenced depictions of crime for years to come. You know how much the movies love to demonize the gays. Of course, in the case of Leopold and Loeb demonization wasn't difficult or uncalled for. The story has been adapted many times but Compulsion (1959) starring Orson Welles, the black and white and very queer Swoon (1992) by Tom Kalin (Savage Grace) and Rope (1948) by Alfred Hitchcock (full write-up here) are the most famous. Any of those are well worth a rental if you haven't seen them.

Snub! The Story of Snub

Each year the Academy's documentary branch finds a new way to enrage film fans everywhere. This year's big casualty: Anvil! The Story of Anvil, the blissfully reviewed heavy metal documentary (my review). That unforgettable music doc's Oscar snub is unsurprising but in a way it only strengthens the movie, adding yet one more pitiable chord of try-try-try never succeed to the engrossing story -- think The Wrestler by way of Spinal Tap if you haven't seen it. Ewwww, I just pitched a movie as two other movies. I am SO sorry. I hate myself right now.

Other big name docs that got the thumbs down: We Live in Public, The September Issue, Tyson and Capitalism: A Love Story. My favorite doc of the year, Prodigal Sons, was not eligible for some sort of funding reason... I'm a little unclear on why.

Here are the 15 finalists that the AMPAS voters actually did love. Five of these will go on to be [drumroll please] ...Oscar Nominees. [cymbal crash]

• The Beaches of Agnes Agnes Varda (yay!)
  
• Burma VJ Anders Ostergaard
• The Cove Louie Psihoyos
• Every Little Step James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo (my review)
• Facing Ali Pete McCormack
• Food, Inc. Robert Kenner
• Garbage Dreams Mai Iskander
• Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders Mark N. Hopkins
• The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
• Mugabe and the White African Andrew Thompson and Lucy Bailey
• Sergio Greg Barker
• Soundtrack for a Revolution Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman
• Under Our Skin Andy Abrahams Wilson
• Valentino The Last Emperor Matt Tyrnauer
• Which Way Home Rebecca Cammisa

I have absolutely nothing to say about the actual semi-finalists because I've seen but one of them. I don't even know what half of them are about. I'll correct that soon. Valentino at least awaits me and I'm anxious to get to it. More on these titles eventually.
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PGA Honors Precious.

Jose here with some award news.



Continuing to establish itself as a front runner in the awards race, Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire, has been chosen by the Producers Guild of America to receive its prestigious Stanley Kramer Award for illuminating provocative social issues in an accessible and elevating fashion.

This award not only confirms the movie will be one of the ten chosen by the PGA for its Producer of the Year award, but bodes well for its chances of getting even more Oscar attention.
The Academy simply loves social issues (remember 2005?) and Kramer (who directed and produced Inherit the Wind and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner among others) was an icon in this aspect, even if the quality of the films he made didn't amount to much artistically.

Stanley's films always talked about things we wanted to ignore. He taught us so much about ourselves and made us think about our values and purpose [and] 'Precious' is truly a film that embraces this philosophy

said Kramer's widow Karen.

This statement might also help appease those who fear old, conservative Academy members will refuse to watch the movie. If their colleague Stanley would've endorsed this, they might as well give it a chance.

Previous winners of the Stanley Kramer Award include:
2008-Milk (Won 2 Oscars, nominated for Best Picture)
2007-The Great Debaters (Golden Globe nominee for Best Picture)
2006-An Inconvenient Truth (Won 2 Oscars including Best Documentary)
2005-Good Night and Good Luck (Nominated for Best Picture Oscar)
2004-Hotel Rwanda (Nominated for 3 Oscars including Best Actor)
2003-In America (Nominated for 3 Oscars including Best Actress)
2002-Antwone Fisher
2001-I Am Sam (Nominated for Best Actor Oscar)

So besides having a thing for Sean Penn and Denzel Washington, the Stanley Kramer award seems to be quite in tune with Oscar's taste huh?

Curio: Wild Things

Alexa from Pop Elegantiarum here. While it's been in theaters for over a month, the influence of Spike Jonze’s interpretation of Where the Wild Things Are is still being felt pretty strongly. I've been enjoying following We Love You So, a collection of the art and style influences on the filmmakers. (Maurice Sendak was only the beginning.) From the influences to the influenced, here are some objects from artists and crafters out there, made in the wake of the film, that I think are pretty rad.


Maybe it's just this fabulous photo, but these pajamas from The LB Gallery look like they leapt off the screen. Oh, and they make them for adults, too.


Elizabeth Caldwell has designed the perfect holiday card for the Wild Things fan, I think.


And Chris over at mamaroots made these journals. You know, for notetaking at that wild rumpus.

Finally, I've been a fan of Nan Lawson's illustrations for awhile, and her Max illustration is one of my new favorites. She's distilled the combined spirit of the book and the film with a few simple strokes. You can buy a print at her etsy shop.

Salt N' Pepa N' Linkerella

mmmmmANGELINA. Mangelina. I'm so curious to see Salt now that Jolie is staring me down from the poster (she does so more intimidatingly there -- the gaze is more benevolent in real life) and I'm reminded that Salt was originally written for a male star. Will we see any telltale signs of that gender-switch in the movie?

Oh link it, link it real good
MovieLine awesome composer Alexandre Desplat doesn't believe in holding his tongue. Doesn't approve of Quentin Tarantino's music
Old Hollywood Hedy Lamarr in ecstacy
Nicks Flick Picks finally gets around to "best actress 2008", both his own and Oscar's, but hot damn it's a good read. Plus: awesome comments section with heated / lucid opinions
In Contention Mélanie Laurent promoted to Lead Actress for Inglourious Basterds campaign
Cinema Blend Katey dives into the Screenplay categories. Cheerleads In the Loop
Cinematical maybe you missed my tweet on the Tim Burton exhibit at MoMA? Here's a whole interview.


C'est La Gêne I can't read French but I can read enough French to know that any post where you admit you saw Batman and Robin six times in the theater is a fun one. For French readers only I suppose.
i09 More Black Cat rumors for Spider-Man 4 and the internet's tendency to freak the hell out over them. It's gotta be that plunging neckline because white-haired heroines don't work out so well onscreen [cough*Gwen Stacey/Storm*cough]
mainly movies a personal top 100 of the decade
Birth of a Notion remembers Ben-Hur today, which happens to be its 50th anniversary

Birthday Suits and a Ballsy Actress

Today's stars! Well not literally today's but November 18th. Get a little history. Celebrate one of these cinematic entities today in whatever way occurs to you.

Senors Gilbert, Hemmings and Infante

1836 W.S. Gilbert of 'Gilbert & Sullivan' legend. If you've never seen Mike Leigh's exceptional biopic of this creative giant, Topsy-Turvy, drop everything right now and do so.
1908 Imogene Coca beloved comic actress, mostly known for TV roles
1917 Pedro Infante Mexico's biggest movie star ever. Here he is singing. Pedro Almodóvar fans will recognize this one immediately



1939 Margaret Atwood, best-selling much-awarded author. Strangely Hollywood doesn't seem to have taken to her in a big way. The Handmaid's Tale (1990) starring Natasha Richardson is one of the few adaptations
1939 Brenda Vaccaro, Midnight Cowgirl and she of one of the oddest Oscar nominations of all time... seriously, have you seen Once Is Not Enough? Here's StinkyLulu's look at that Oscar year.
1941 David Hemmings, actor. Star of Michelangelo Antonioni's riveting Blow-Up (1966). Also: Camelot, Barbarella and Gladiator...
1942 Linda Evans, silver helmeted TV diva, Mrs. Blake Carrington.
1952 Delroy Lindo Spike Lee regular, the voice of "Beta" in Up and fine stage actor -- recently saw him on stage with Garrett Dillahunt.
1953 Alan Moore, eccentric comicbook genius: From Hell, Watchmen, etc...
1960 Kim Wilde ♪ youjustkeepmehanginon
1960 Elizabeth Perkins Weeds has cast a long shadow backwards but remember when she was Wilma Flintstone or Demi Moore's bitchy BFF in About Last Night or Tom Hanks's girl in Big?
1968 Owen Wilson to me he'll always be Hansel. And Eli Cash. (mmmm, The Royal Tenenbaums). That scene where he describes the rules of Whack Bat in Fantastic Mr. Fox is pretty choice, too. "It's real simple..."

Finally, a happy 35th birthday to Chloë Sevigny who has never been shy about wearing suits, birthday or otherwise, in her rampage through fashion and film. It seems strange to me that this actress who debuted in the savage Kids and was no stranger to provocations (Brown Bunny, Boys Don't Cry, Gummo) would end up best known for television work (Big Love) ... but at least her excellence is within a semi subversive TV show.

Next Up: Mr. Nice starring Rhys Ifans and Barry Mundy starring Patrick Wilson without his balls. Won't anyone leave Patrick Wilson's private parts alone? I'm talking to you Kate Winslet, Malin Akerman, Ben Shenkman and especially Ellen Page !!!

F&L: Banter

first line

"Wh--wh--what is this having-a-picnic shit in my car?"

last image before the credit scroll

Can you guess the movie?
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Decade in Review: 2001 Top Ten

What follows is my original top ten list of 2001. We'll discuss each year of the decade over the next month or two (we already did 2000). I do this because I am curious about which films "stick" and which fade and why and maybe you are too? Best year of the decade I think. The top five films would all be valid #1 film choices in some years. New comments are in red.

Note: This list references films released in NYC in 2001, not year of production or year in which they first the hit festival circuit or whatnot.


Runners Up (in descending order): Sexy Beast, Ali, Series 7: The Contenders, The Others, Last Resort and Waking Life. I don't remember loving Ali that much... and more than The Others? I don't remember that at all. I mean Nicole Kidman was the shit TWICE OVER in 2001.

In my round up of the year I also sang the praises of Monsters, Inc, Crazy/Beautiful and Wet Hot American Summer. Even though I listed Monsters, Inc as "underrated" I still didn't have it in the top 16. That was weird, me! I never consider documentaries eligible for the year's top ten. That's a quirk of mine that I can't really defend except for to say that I don't see enough of them to fairly evaluate their merits and I find it nearly impossible to compare their merits to those of narrative features. That said, in 2001 I was wild for The Gleaners and I.

10 No Man's Land
This acclaimed Bosnian film from Danis Tanovic is a startling visceral comedy about the lunacy of war. Let's hope it beats the overpraised (if admittedly enjoyable) Amélie to the foreign language Oscar this year.

I was surprisingly prophetic there though I understand a lot of people are still mad about that underdog win.

09 The Royal Tenenbaums
A film that flirts with greatness and becomes all the more touching by missing the mark. There's one great scene after another in Wes Anderson's fairy tale document on a family of failed geniuses. The film is blessed with a beautiful team-spirit bouquet of fine performances from Paltrow, Hackman, Huston, Glover, and the Wilson brothers. They've got character.

er... I get what I was saying but I'm not so sure this film missed the mark. It's a thing of melancholy beauty and curious singular humor. Anderson's best by a significant margin.

08 In the Bedroom
Todd Field's studied and terrific debut may not be the masterwork some have claimed it to be but it's a damn good film nonetheless. Its most remarkable feature is its honest deceptiveness. You think it's a love story. Bang, It's not. You think it's a thriller. Oops, think again. It's not that the film is lying, but that we are so accustomed to certain plot trajectories that its difficult to see the film's harrowing turns coming or to immediately understand how thoroughly it undermines traditional notions of revenge or catharsis. Bonus points to the cast for illuminating the emptying effects of grief, and the rage of the broken.

Todd Field and Wes Anderson's subsequent films have made me question my love for these on occasion. I can't say that I remember In the Bedroom well but I like what I remember still. That The Tenenbaums is all the way down at #9 only goes to show what a great year 2001 was.

07 Tillsammans (Together)
The sweetest film of the year is also one of the smartest. Lukas Moodyson throws a broken family into a 70s commune and the resulting emotional, personal, romantic, and idealistic collisions that ensue expose, illuminate, and energize all involved. "Feel good" is a term often used to describe manipulative, simple-minded, happy endings and Hollywood-style sugarcoating. Thankfully, this Swedish comedy has neither of those attributes and actually feels good. It uplifts while engaging you both emotionally and intellectually.

Nobody talks about this movie (maybe because Lukas Moodyson's subsequent films have been so brutal as to be deemed unwatchable by some fans of his first movies) and in truth I don't remember it well but I do remember how I felt leaving the theater: marvelous.

06 Gosford Park
No movie this year approaches it in terms of its nimbleness and fluidity in mixing character, theme and wit. Robert Altman's return to form is wildly entertaining.


05 Mulholland Dr.
This, the critical darling of 2001 (OK, In the Bedroom came close) was the year's most familiar complete stranger. We've seen all the Lynchian motifs, images, and characters before but this time, the singular auteur fashioned something new and revelatory out of his used parts. This picture, a grand one, had tremendous "give" in it allowing for multiple correct intrepetations, thereby prompting the most fascinating critical discussions of the year. But all that aside, the truly smart way to watch Lynch's mindfuck is to just let go and give in to its undeniable and nonsensical pull. From the frenetic overexposed jitterbug opening sequence to the final silencing moment, it's undeniably gripping. Just dive into the blue box.

Subsequent years have only strengthened its grip on the imagination, haven't they?

04 Hedwig and the Angry Inch
A triple threat triumph from writer/director/star John Cameron Mitchell. That this unforgettable theatrical experience made such a successful transfer to the screen with its punk edge, subversive charm, and visceral rock spirit intact was the year's happiest little miracle.

03 In the Mood for Love
Wong Kar Wai has outdone himself. The year's most glorious foreign film has the year's best cinematography. It paints a masterful and hypnotic meditation on memory, emotional stasis, and romantic yearning. The luminous coupling of Maggie Cheung as Mrs Chan and Tony Leung Chiu Wai as Mr. Chow astonish: They're as erotic as Mulholland Dr's Nancy Drew lovers without a sex scene, as glamorous as Moulin Rouge!'s doomed bohemians without as many costume changes and in the end they're more emotionally affecting than either of those sensational couplings. Unmissable.

If I had a gazillion dollars I would have this movie projected on my bedroom wall 24/7. Who needs photos, wallpaper, art or paint? Just these visuals on loop, forever.

02 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Pure magic. Peter Jackson's new film sets the bar high. Released just one month prior to it, Harry Potter looks even more factory-like next to it. The Fellowship of the Ring recalls the grandiose Star Wars magic minus the bad acting and none of the eventual dissappointments of an embarassing Episode One. Fellowship is compared to many films but the one it looks prettiest sitting next to is Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. In just two short years, two signature adventure epics for The East and the West have arrived that dwarf everything their genre has offered for years. Both films will likely inspire future filmmakers who are now but starry eyed children discovering the enormous magic of the cinema while watching them for the first time.

01 Moulin Rouge!
It's no secret that I've always adored Bazmark productions. (Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet were also top ten entries in their years.) But Luhrmann and his troupe topped themselves this time. With the final film in his Red Curtain Trilogy celebrating 'real artificiality,' Baz delivered his masterpiece. A lot of ink has been spilt covering Bazmark's divisive musical fantasia and I could certainly spill a lot more, but I think this revolution of a musical sums itself up quite well and accurately in one of its first numbers.

Spectacular! Spectacular!
no words in the vernacular
can describe this great event
you'll be dumb with wonderment.

More than any film in 2001 this film hit my nerve center of cinephilia: I got completely lost in the daring aesthetics, inspired performances, music, dance, and romance. I was stunned, flabbergasted, thrilled, moved, entertained, and drained all at once. When it was over I could only applaud, buy the soundtrack, and return to the theater repeatedly. To paraphrase another song from the film: come what may... come what may.... I will love this film until my dying day.

I wasn't kidding.

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What were your favorite pictures from 2001?
Do they hold up now? Do you agree that 2001 was the best film year of the decade? For the record the films I was not at all crazy about that quite a few other people love include: The Devil's Backbone, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, A Beautiful Mind, Shrek, Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone and Ghost World.
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Exclusive Buzz: Pfeiffer with Pfangs

Rumor Alert!
Or, rather, 'Possiblity Alert'! And one you haven't heard yet. The other evening at a dinner party, I chatted briefly with writer/director Amy Heckerling (of Clueless fame). Since her very last feature I Could Never Be Your Woman starred Michelle Pfeiffer, you know I couldn't resist gushing about my favorite actress. The conversation quickly drifted to Saoirse Ronan, who played Pfeiffer's daughter in that film. Heckerling was very proud to have discovered her (...Woman preceeding Atonement, production-wise) and wouldn't you be?

Leaving the party later, I wished Heckerling well on her new comedy Vamps which should go before cameras in the spring. Remembering me as that weirdly obsessed pfan-guy, Heckerling clasped her hands together in supplication and said 'I hope I get Pfeiffer for it.'

[Collective Pfan Gasp!]

Has an offer gone out? Could Pfeiffer finally have a vampiric role? The movie is still in preproduction with only Kristen Ritter signed. IMDB describes the comedy like so...

Two female vampires in modern-day New York City are faced with daunting romantic possibilities

One assumes with Ritter in the lead that the two vamps are young women... but perhaps Pfeiffer could be a ruling bloodsucker? A vampire queen? Pfeiffer has been leaning towards the wicked and showy supporting bits since her comeback (Hairspray, Stardust) and I know one or one-hundred pfans* who have long fantasized about Michelle sinking her teeth into that sort of role. There's just something about her ferocity. The closest we ever got was her lupine beauty in Wolf.
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If you are new to The Film Experience, please check out some favorite posts from the year or subscribe





*This post is dedicated to my pfellow uber-pfans on the net: Fran, Noelle, and Morrissey
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Birthday Suits: Giant Sized Edition

11/17 ~ Todays special boys and girls. Are you one of them?

Mischa, Marty and Rachel

1897 Frank Fay, aka Mr. Barbara Stanwyck. The theory goes that their troubled marriage was the basis of A Star is Born. That story is so big it's practically it's own franchise. I can't stop thinking about it today: Stanwyck through the lens of Gaynor, Garland, Streisand. Yummy!) Even if it's only an urban LA legend, I love to think about it. Fay, a popular comedic actor, was also the originator of the Harvey role (on stage) before Jimmy Stewart got to it.
1901 Lee Strasberg, the hugely influential acting teacher that helped popularize "The Method" Students included... well, basically a whose who of late 40s / early 50s giants of the silver screen.
1905 Mischa Auer, very tall actor of oversized comic turns. You'll remember him from the blissfully funny My Man Godfrey and best picture winner You Can't Take It With You (discussed right here).

<--- 70s cheesecake (Lauren) and 50s beefcake (Rock)

1925 Rock Hudson, Giant. In more than just the film title way. Did any actor ever have a better name?
1942 Martin Scorsese, auteur. diminutive only in heighth. supersized in acclaim (recently discussed here)
1943 Lauren Hutton Once Bitten by American Gigolo
1944 Danny DeVito actor/director/short funny guy. My personal favorites: The War of the Roses, Romancing the Stone and Living Out Loud
1944 Lorne Michaels SNL guru
1945 Roland Joffé director of The Mission, The Killing Fields and... oops, The Scarlett Letter
1948 Howard Dean just cuz

1958 Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio 80s actress of The Abyss, Scarface and The Color of Money fame. And Maid Marian in the unfortunate... oh, never mind.
1960 RuPaul At 6'7" the giantess of the list. Oh, Ru. You better work... on getting some more big screen cameos. It's been awhile. You also better work on a second season of Drag Race. That was so fun.
1966 Sophie Marceau Mel Gibson's rebound royal in Braveheart.
1978 Rachel McAdams giant movie star possibly hidden inside resistant actress. Or so the theory goes.
1978 Zoe Bell Death Proof's awesome hood ornament.

A Non-Committal Post on Nine

I'm not allowed to talk about it yet. Sorry! Give it a week. I will say I enjoyed (whew) and that I thought Marion Cotillard was best-in-show fantastic ...and with that -- the only note I will share on account of embargo -- I imagine thousands of Cotillard Groupies just went a little slack-jawed given the heated exchanges during Oscar Race '07.

Update: I have also been asked to wait to write about the Q&A as well which featured the entire cast (sans Sophia Loren) -- so that's next week, too. Gazing upon Judi Dench and Daniel Day-Lewis in the same space but especially seeing Nicole Kidman and Penélope Cruz simultaneously (you know how I do) made my head explode.

I am actually typing this with no head. I am headless. The adrenaline in my muscle tissues is moving my fingers and at any moment I cou
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Having a Laugh

Help Wanted

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Recently discovered rough draft for an ad in the back pages of The Verona Beach Herald:

"Nurse position sought - am a highly enthusiastic and expressive candidate. Will treat your charge with great teasing loud smothering adoration until its too late. Due to recent tragic learning experiences on the job I'll not allow the child to ever venture from my sight, not never. Nor to fall in love with no Montagues not never neither. Nor to leave her bedroom ever not never neither.

No references (all deceased)."

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(Musical) Monologue - "Honey you'll hurt yourself"

Jose here with the Monday Monologue.

When thinking of Howard Hawks' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the first image that comes to everyone's mind will be that of Marilyn Monroe performing Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.
People who haven't seen the film know it because it's been reenacted by people like Nicole Kidman, Geri Halliwell, Kylie Minogue and was the base of Madonna's entire Material Girl video. And how could they not homage it when the performance's so damn iconic?

Marilyn knew what it meant to be a showstopper, but within the movie we also find a hidden gem of sorts in Jane Russell's performance. She plays sidekick to Monroe and while it's the blond bombshell getting all the attention, Ms. Rusell knew how to leave a mark of her own.

In what appears to be an inconspicuous number halfway throughout the film- after she's been dealing with lack of luck in love-she enters a gym in a cruise ship where surrounded by a vast number of male specimens she sends her own S.O.S

First she reveals her shortcomings

I can't play tennis,
My golf's a menace
I just can't do the Australian crawl
And I'm no better at volleyball

Then her plea

Ain't there anyone here for love?

She continues strutting among the half naked men as she reveals

I'm apathetic and non athletic
Can't keep up in a marathon
I need some shoulder to lean upon
and a couple of arms to hold me
Ain't there anyone here for love?

What's remarkable about this scene is how Russell plays it like if she's having a ball, while the love-as-a-sport lyrics could literally break your heart.
This kind of performance, sad lyrics-happy tune, would become a standard for artists like Minogue, who delivers happy electropop with lyrics that even heavy rock artists find depressing
(the Australian superstar has also paid homage to this scene in her tours).

But back to Russell, it's only until the end of the song where she has a change of heart, stops underrating herself and actually demands things out of life.

I like big muscles and red corpuscles
I like a beautiful hunk-o-man

The scene ends with Russell finally taking the plunge, quite literally, as she falls into a pool (in what seems like a painful stunt) where all the men have dived. Leaving us with a promise she more than fulfills in the rest of the film.

Complete the Sentence

Before I die I should probably see _______________ or maybe ____________
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First and Last: Births

first and last, now in its second season

first image after the opening credits


last line before the credits roll

"In Spain we stopped being scared a long time ago."

Can you guess the movie?

Congratulations Roger, Lauren and Gordon

Pro: Cinematographer par excellence Gordon Willis, filmmaker Roger Corman and The Look Lauren Bacall all have Oscars now.


Con: We didn't get to see them receiving their long awaited trophies. Stupid Academy, dissing your legends by denying them air time. [No, I'm not going to get over this. I plan to be mad about it until I die, or until they reverse their dumb decision.]
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Birthday Suits: Cougar Town

Celebrating the birthdays cinematic: actors, actresses, and other filmtypes. If it's your big day, a happy one to you as well.

The Penguin and The Secretary

Today's B-Days 11/16
1908 Burgess Meredith two time Oscar nominee. But no, not for the Penguin in Batman: The Movie. Those honors came back to back in his late 60s for Rocky and The Day of the Locust.
1964 Harry Lennix best known for his TV work in shows like Dollhouse and Commander in Chief but he's cut an imposing figure in the movies too (Titus, the Matrix trilogy). But yes Dollhouse was cancelled last week. sigh.
1967 Lisa Bonet mostly retired actress, Huxtable, one of Marisa Tomei's besties
1970 Martha Plimpton. My friends have this thing where they cast the book they've just read for their book club each month. It's their tradition that they have to give 80s teen film star turned ubiquitous Broadway thespian a role in every film. And why not?
1977 Maggie Gyllenhaal incredible actress, give or take, um,... No, I'm not ready to say it. I love you, Maggie!

Two more from Cougar Town! And I don't mean the sitcom (which I enjoy by the way) And I don't mean that as a pejorative either. Italian beauty Valeria Bruni Tedeschi turns 45 today. She's made American films like Munich and A Good Year but remains most vivid in French cinema. Films include: 5x2 (fine work there), Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train, Actrices and Queen Margot. And yes, her boyfriend is ubiquitous French actor/sex symbol Louis Garrel who is 26.

I also want to say a quick word of praise for Missi Pyle, turning 38, who has been an ensemble player in a ton of comedies (Galaxy Quest, Big Fish, Dodgeball, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc) and does a lot of TV guest work. She was recently hilarious as boozy cougar "Charlene" in the long-delayed Spring Breakdown with Amy Poehler and Parker Posey. The movie is not half as funny as the cast list suggests but it has its moments and many of them belong to her. Well done. Missi also just recorded an album with another actress Shawnee Smith (the Saw movies) called Smith & Pyle "It's OK to be happy". Judging by the lyrics and video blogs, they're selling comedy with their country music.
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