My Time Out New York compadres David Fear and Joshua Rothkopf, in addition to 11 other colleagues and friends (Stephen Garrett, Andrew Grant, Aaron Hillis, Kevin B. Lee, Karina Longworth, Maitland McDonagh, Troy Patterson, Nicolas Rapold, Lisa Rosman, Nick Schager and S. James Snyder), have just published our picks and blurbs for the top 50 films of the decade. I don't consider myself a list guy, but it's in the job description so I went really personal with my choices (different day, different rules, sure to be a different list). I'm happy with how it turned out, and that I got to blurb for Abbas Kiarostami's Five Dedicated to Ozu and John Gianvito's The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein in particular. (The latter film is the image you see above.) Click here to read the feature. I've reprinted my ballot submission below, with links to pieces I've written on the films or, in cases where I haven't put pen to paper, to related pieces/other goodies I find particularly inspiring. Hope it all sparks discussion and interest. (KU)
Keith Uhlich's Ballot
- The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein (2001)
- The New World (2005)
- Miami Vice (2006)
- Five Dedicated to Ozu (2003)
- Inland Empire (2006)
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)
- The Sun (2005)
- Youth Without Youth (2007)
- The Limits of Control (2009)
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters (2007)
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8 comments:
Very nice. Just watched "Five" again, and I'm sure already it'll end up somewhere on my decade compilation. Out of curiosity, was this made to be absolutely representational, or weighted for the purposes of larger listmaking? (I'm already racking my head over such things for Slant's list, but either way, I think Mr. Mannjuice is bound to end up at least in the top two.)
Hey Rob. It was weighted in the scoring (#1 top scorer, on down). Josh organized the project and did the tallying. "I just submitted the ballot," I says. And I'm happy several of my choices made it, the Kiarostami and the Gianvito especially.
Lists are fun even if they are arbitrary exercises. You're right, too, with the sentiment that depending on the day my list would probably take on seven different looks, too.
I'm elated to see some of my own personal favorites on there...films like Miami Vice (which my friends are sick and tired of me telling them what a great film it is) and The New World; I'm also glad you put The Limits of Control on there. A film I think deserves a much bigger audience.
Great list, Keith. The one thing I enjoy about these year end lists is not the debate they spark (although sometimes that's fun too), but the way these different lists give me an array of DVD ideas. For instance I haven't even heard of your number one film, but I will certainly seek it out now. That's why I think these lists, even though arbitrary, are still worthwhile.
Definitely, it's The Mad Songs that caught my attention here. Sounds right up my alley and, yet, I'd never heard of it.
I've wanted to see the Gianvito films since Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote about it a few weeks back...unfortunately, my generally amazingly well-stocked DVD rental place has a book by Gianvito, but no films.
I'm curious- how definitive do you consider this list? (For yourself, I mean- how different will this list be next week?)
Keith, what I like about your list is it shows individual taste, a personal aesthetic, rather than the standard film critic groupthink ("Lars Von Trier! Children of Men!")
Sorry for the delay in responding. Been down with a bad flu/cold, so playing catch-up now. I'm particularly happy to see more people aware of Mad Songs—it's a shining example of truly independent cinema, and one that's stuck with me over the years since first seeing it (and also reseeing it).
To answer your question SRP, the list is definitive for this moment, meaning end of year 2009. Barring some unforeseen, I'll stick to it for the other polls I'm contributing to if they ask a decade question. I could see it changing come next year, when we're somewhat removed from the listmaking brouhaha. But as I've looked it over in the days since making it, I've always felt satisfied, so I think that says something.
One regret: I neglected Terence Davies' The House of Mirth, a wonderful film in every respect. Reason being: It slipped my mind. That's what happens with these things, and so I reserve the right to offer a revised list (without reneging on/deleting this one) at some point in the future.
Wasn't House of Mirth a 1999 film? Another film that Rosenbaum turned me on to. First Davies film I saw was Of Time and the City, and I didn't really relate it. But Rosenbaum convinced me to check his stuff out...I was flabbergasted by the man. I expect I'll love Of Time and The City if I saw it now- there was nothing unrelatable about Mirth or Distant Voices, Still Lives.
Looking over the lists surfacing, I'm overwhelmed by just how far I've come this past decade, and how much more I have left to go. I started out this decade as a teenaged cinemaniac, ended it as a 20 something cinephile. These lists are affecting me in the strangest way, getting me to take stock on my life and cinema...
Though 10 is really far too little (I'd feel too honorbound to the ones I know are best, leaving off the less reputable ones that I really love loving).
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