1/31/2006

BITCHFEST '06!

I’ve made it a tradition to complain about Oscar nominations each year, and I’m finding it harder to get too hot and bothered about 'em. C’mon, it’s the Oscars—they’re silly, they’re ephemeral, they give the top award to crap like BRAVEHEART and GLADIATOR. Still, I can’t help but make a few observations. (By the way, I scored a not-bad .775 average with my predictions.)

1. BROKEBACK MOUTAIN is the expected frontrunner (8 nods), and props to CAPOTE, which received a surprising, none-too-shabby five, (as did MUNICH). But A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE wasn’t so fortunate. I expected an Adapted Screenplay nod, but William Hurt for Supporting Actor? He was good, but only onscreen for less than ten minutes. David Cronenberg, Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, even Ashton Holmes (as the son) are more deserving.

2. Just as I predicted, MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA was only honored outside the major categories (Cinematography, Sound Design, Musical Score, etc;). Still, six nominations? It’s in a three-way tie for second-most nominated film with GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK and CRASH.

3. Only three songs for the newly fatuously-titled Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)? And one is from TRANSAMERICA? Even though I’ve never heard it, I’ll be rooting for “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from HUSTLE AND FLOW, if only for its title.

4. Three quality entries for Best Animated Feature? Sweet! And refreshingly, none of ‘em are from Disney.

5. In the tradition of Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, AMERICAN SPLENDOR, and BEFORE SUNSET, one of the year’s best films walks away with one nomination for its screenplay: ladies and gentlemen, I give you THE SQUID AND THE WHALE.

6. In addition to THE SQUID AND THE WHALE’S cast, a few more sorely overlooked actors: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (MYSTERIOUS SKIN), Bruno Ganz (DOWNFALL), Ziyi Zhang (2046), Robin Wright Penn (NINE LIVES), Jeffrey Wright (BROKEN FLOWERS), Romain Duris (THE BEAT MY HEART SKIPPED), Nathalie Press (MY SUMMER OF LOVE), Marilou Berry (LOOK AT ME).

7. This year's slate of Criminally Ignored Films: ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, MYSTERIOUS SKIN, 3-IRON, THE BEST OF YOUTH, TROPICAL MALADY, GRIZZLY MAN, 2046, NOBODY KNOWS, MY SUMMER OF LOVE, CACHE.

8. Finally! Paul Giamatti gets his first-ever nomination (for CINDERELLA MAN), and his over-honored co-star Russell Crowe gets nothin'. Yes!

And, on a somewhat cheerier note, click on the link for this year's Chlotrudis Award Nominations.

1/27/2006

OSCAR NOMINATION PREDICTIONS

I don't know why I bother, since they've become so... predictable. Off the top of my head:

BEST PICTURE: Brokeback Mountain, Crash, Walk The Line, Good Night and Good Luck, Pride and Prejudice

BEST DIRECTOR: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain), Woody Allen (Match Point), George Clooney (Good Night and Good Luck), Steven Spielberg (Munich), David Cronenberg (A History of Violence)

BEST ACTOR: Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain), David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Joaquin Phoenix (Walk The Line), Russell Crowe (Cinderella Man)

BEST ACTRESS: Reese Witherspoon (Walk The Line), Felicity Huffman (Transamerica), Kiera Knightley (Pride and Prejudice), Judi Dench (Mrs. Henderson Presents), Charlize Theron (North Country)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Matt Dillon (Crash), Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain), George Clooney (Syriana), Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man), Don Cheadle (Crash)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Maria Bello (A History of Violence), Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain), Amy Adams (Junebug), Catherine Keener (Capote), Frances McDormand (North Country)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale), Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco (Crash), George Clooney and Grant Heslov (Good Night and Good Luck), Woody Allen (Match Point), Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Dan Futterman (Capote), Larry McMurty and Diana Ossana (Brokeback Mountain), Josh Olson (A History of Violence), Jeffrey Caine (The Constant Gardener), Stephen Gaghan (Syriana)

1/24/2006

LIGHTNING STRIKES... TWICE



Finally available in the U.S. as of today (on the Savoy Jazz label, of all places). The rearranged track listing seriously messes with the original LP's sunrise-to-sunset concept, placing the two singles up front (but thankfully keeping the two final ones in their crucial positions). It also swaps the David Essex duet and the instrumental for three new songs, one of them ("Dream Lover") a lovely gem that could've easily fit on Good Humor. Buy the album on iTunes and you get as bonuses both the David Essex song and a silly little b-side called "You Can Judge a Book By Its Cover".

Still an A+++++

1/21/2006

KRIOFSKE MIX: WE'RE NOT MOVING

April 2003/revised January 2006: CD-R

01. Madness, “Our House”
02. Black Box Recorder, “Straight Life”
03. PJ Harvey, “A Place Called Home”
04. The English Beat, “Mirror In The Bathroom”
05. Tegan and Sara, “Living Room”
06. Alison Moyet, “Hometime”
07. Bjork, “Hidden Place”
08. Everything But the Girl, “My Head Is My Only House Unless It Rains”
09. The Go-Betweens, “Streets of Your Town”
10. Sarah Cracknell, “Home”
11. Hedwig and the Angry Inch, “Wicked Little Town”
12. Simon and Garfunkel, “Homeward Bound”
13. Pet Shop Boys, “Home and Dry”
14. Blur, “Country House”
15. Yo La Tengo, “My Little Corner of the World”
16. Jellyfish, “I Wanna Stay Home”
17. The Smithereens, “House We Used To Live In”
18. XTC, “No Thugs In Our House”
19. Kate Bush, “Get Out of My House”
20. Talking Heads, “Burning Down the House”

I rarely (intentionally) make thematic mixes; this is a notable exception. In early 2003, I acquired my first computer with a CD-RW drive. In embracing this newfangled technology, I began making mixes for practically everyone I knew. One of my two friends from high school that I still kept in touch with had just bought her first house, so this mix was my housewarming gift to her. Three years later, as I look for a new apartment (again), a place I hope to settle down in longer than the usual two-years-or-less, the time feels right to revisit it.

The most obvious song you could probably select for a home-centric mix kicks it off. However, the next track is a tad more subversive, and certainly more indicative of my own feelings about getting married and settling down in the suburbs at a young age (which is exactly what my friend did). The song also gives this mix its title, which Sarah Nixey sings with her inimitable cool irony, but also very defiantly so you're not entirely sure whether she really adores or abhors such an existence.

The rest is a hodgepodge of songs that either have the words “house” or “home” in the title, or reference various rooms, streets, towns, or in Bjork's case, a space whose realm could very well lie beyond the physical, only present in a state of mind or being. Originally, after Yo La Tengo’s cozy rendition of a song once recorded by Donny and Marie Osmond (!), I ran out home-related tracks that I thought my friend would be into, so I fleshed out the disc with unrelated songs I wanted her to hear before concluding, rather sarcastically, with Talking Heads’ biggest hit.

Three years later, I’ve gone back and added four tracks (# 16-19) that fit in thematically. Since I had heard of ‘em back then, I’m not sure why they weren’t included in the first place. Of course, with them, the mix takes a darker turn much sooner, especially XTC’s manic Motown stomp and Kate Bush’s bonkers apocalyptic freakout. In both tracks, the vocalists scream out in fervent anger and desperation (or in Bush’s case, bray like a donkey). Thus, with their inclusion (or warning?), David Byrne’s command to rattle and destroy the foundation, literal or not, doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Maybe I should send a copy of this revision to my friend—after all, she and her husband recently sold their home and bought another one.

1/20/2006

MATCH POINT



For years, Woody Allen has desperately needed to get away from his terminal Upper East Side complacency and try something different, but I never thought he’d go ahead and do it. Actually, this isn’t as much of a radical departure as it first appears. Although Allen clearly recognizes the subtle distinctions between London and New York, he’s still fixated on class and social climbing, only this time he’s pushed it up front and, along with the notion of luck, has made it the crux on which the story hangs.

His protagonist, Chris (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), is a failed Irish tennis pro from a poor background who has relocated to London to work as an instructor at a posh country club. He strikes up a friendship with Tom (Matthew Goode), one of the club’s wealthy clients, and rapidly infiltrates himself into Tom’s social circle, befriending his family and dating his sister, Chloe (an affable Emily Mortimer). Unfortunately, Chris also becomes smitten with Nola (Scarlett Johannson) a failed American actress living in England who turns out to be Tom’s fiancée.

Chris and Nola inevitably start an impulsive, steamy affair, even as one of them gets married and the other is dumped by their respective partners. As complications arise, Chris has to decide between social/financial status and moral responsibility and love (or is that just lust?). The choice he ultimately makes, while not altogether surprising, is genuinely shocking in the way Allen coldly, methodically carries it out. And while Johannson can only do so much with her showy, underdeveloped character, Rhys-Meyers finally proves himself worthy as a leading presence so many years after he first made an impression in VELVET GOLDMINE. Penelope Wilton and Brian Cox also shine as Tom’s perfectly-detailed upper-crust parents.

MATCH POINT has obvious similarities with the director’s last substantial dramatic film, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS. In the latter, Allen tempered a comparable adultery plot with a comedic one in which he cast himself as the protagonist. Although I appreciated the Shakespearian parallels (and comic relief) at the time, in memory, the secondary plot seems glib and distracting, lessening the primary one’s impact. This time, his familiar persona is entirely absent from the proceedings (Chris is definitely not a stand-in for Woody), thus giving us no escape routes. Along with a renewed focus and restraint, it leaves us with a smartly paced thriller that, while occasionally contrived, both involves and haunts to an unexpected degree.

This isn’t anywhere in the league of the man’s best comedies, and his Delusions of Bergman (or in this case, Hitchcock) haven’t vanished, either. But, at the very least, this is an encouraging step away from his recent auto-pilot efforts. Now, if only he could make a funny film this disciplined and affecting. (4/5)

1/13/2006

MY CHLOTRUDIS NOMINATIONS

In lieu of not including these in last week's Best of 2005 report, here's what I nominated for the 12th Annual Chlotrudis Awards:

Best Cast:
ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW
DOWNFALL
WILBY WONDERFUL
HAPPY ENDINGS
BEST OF YOUTH, THE
PALINDROMES

Best Cinematography:
TROPICAL MALADY
DOLLS
2046
CAFÉ LUMIÈRE
3-IRON
KONTROLL
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK

Best Adapted Screenplay:
CAPOTE
MYSTERIOUS SKIN
DOWNFALL
BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
WHERE THE TRUTH LIES

Best Original Screenplay:
ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW
SQUID AND THE WHALE, THE
BEST OF YOUTH, THE
WILBY WONDERFUL
LOOK AT ME
FUNNY HA HA

Best Supporting Actor:
Brandon Ratcliff ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW
George Clooney GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
Callum Keith Rennie WILBY WONDERFUL
Jeffrey Wright BROKEN FLOWERS
Miles Thompson ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW
Owen Kline SQUID AND THE WHALE, THE

Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams JUNEBUG
Ziyi Zhang 2046
Corinna Harfouch DOWNFALL
Jung-ah Yum TALE OF TWO SISTERS, A
Robin Wright Penn NINE LIVES
Catherine Keener CAPOTE
Sandra Oh WILBY WONDERFUL
Michelle Williams BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Best Actor:
Philip Seymour Hoffman CAPOTE
Joseph Gordon-Levitt MYSTERIOUS SKIN
Jeff Daniels SQUID AND THE WHALE, THE
Yuya Yagira NOBODY KNOWS
Bruno Ganz DOWNFALL
David Strathairn GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
Romain Duris BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED
Heath Ledger BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Mathieu Almaric KINGS AND QUEEN

Best Actress:
Nathalie Press MY SUMMER OF LOVE
Dina Korzun FORTY SHADES OF BLUE
Kate Dollenmayer FUNNY HA HA
Marilou Berry LOOK AT ME
Michelle Krusiec SAVING FACE
Ronit Elkabetz OR (MY TREASURE)
Dana Ivgy OR (MY TREASURE)

Best Director:
ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW
MYSTERIOUS SKIN
3-IRON
SQUID AND THE WHALE, THE
2046
TROPICAL MALADY
GRIZZLY MAN

Best Documentary:
DOUBLE DARE
GRIZZLY MAN
LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF
MURDERBALL
WATERMARKS
IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL

Best Movie:
ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW
MYSTERIOUS SKIN
3-IRON
DOWNFALL
SQUID AND THE WHALE, THE
BEST OF YOUTH, THE
TROPICAL MALADY

1/09/2006

NEW YORK DOLL

Few musicians--heck, few people have undergone as radical a transformation as Arthur "Killer" Kane. In the early '70s, he was the bassist for the New York Dolls, a thunderously influential (but never commercially successful) cross-dressing glam rock outfit. Thirty years later, following a long descent into obscurity, alcoholism and recovery, he's a balding, soft spoken Mormon living in California and working as an aide for the religion's Living History Center. NEW YORK DOLL follows Arthur as he reunites with his remaining living band mates for a London music festival in 2004, and it's fascinating to watch him get this rare second chance to be a rock star, if just for one night.

Director Greg Whiteley never condescends or makes fun of Arthur's new lifestyle, and he lets the contrast between the present and the past speak for itself. While I wish he probed a little deeper into why Arthur made such an unlikely religious conversion, you never doubt the sincerity of the man's newfound faith. If you don't know what became of Arthur following the reunion concert, it's best to go into the film not knowing, for it recasts everything in a different light. (4/5)

1/07/2006

THE BEST MOVIES OF 2005

I know, you can't see everything, which is why I'm posting this even though I still have a couple of 2005 films at home to watch. The longer I work at a theater, the more obsessive I'm becoming about what's out there, and what I need to see. As years go, this one was decent. I almost had too many films to put in my top ten, but since I first saw it in July (how fitting), the number-one film has firmly remained in that position. My only eligibility criteria is that a film has had a theatrical run in Boston within the calendar year.

THE TOP TEN




1. ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW
Despite its very nature, whimsy is difficult to pull off without seeming cute, glib, or self-indulgent. In her marvelous, utterly original debut feature, Miranda July depicts a community of lovable, lonely citizens who often seek solace and release through whimsy: a ten-year-old girl dutifully acquires items for her hope chest, an even younger boy half-innocently surfs an internet chat line, an adult performance artist (July herself) conspires to save an unquestionably doomed goldfish. But the beauty in July’s offbeat, delicate comedy lies in how these dreams and desires continually come into play with reason and reality. She makes strong arguments for both sides, and the connections that develop between her subjects carry considerably more weight than you’d expect from a work so steeped in whimsy. She also proves an exemplary director of children: the hilarious “back and forth forever” scene is already a classic.



2. MYSTERIOUS SKIN
Intense and ultimately shattering, Gregg Araki’s first film in six years initially astonishes because it contains a depth you rarely saw in his previous work. In adapting Scott Heim’s ten-year-old novel about pedophilia and growing up gay in small town Kansas, he’s created a film that has more to say on either subject than anything else I can think of. With breakthrough performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt (an impressively long way from THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN!) as a hustler and Brady Corbet as a traumatized young man obsessed with alien abductions, the film expertly, and not unflinchingly, explores the fantasy worlds each boy has constructed. The devastating, sobering final acts may destroy them, but the resulting bond depicted between these two characters is surprising in its poignancy.



3. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
David Cronenberg’s pulp comic adaptation is undeniably violent, but none of the bloodshed is gratuitous, for its bread and butter is not to shock, but to intelligently probe: what makes a man commit a violent act, and more importantly, can one ever escape an inherently violent life? From its suitably creepy opening Hitchcock homage to its powerful, daringly inconclusive dinner table scene at the end, Cronenberg’s film is a startling, intricately plotted thriller that features career-best work from leads Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello, plus a superb supporting cast: Ed Harris and William Hurt have never been scarier.



4. 3-IRON
With each film, Korean director Kim Ki-Duk takes a further leap into uncharted waters. The protagonist here spends his time breaking into people’s homes while they’re away, but doesn't steal anything. Instead, he merely “occupies” them, taking up residence, doing the laundry, fixing broken appliances, and leaving everything in its rightful place. Complications arise when he’s secretly discovered by a woman and her abusive husband. Nearly dialogue-free and with a neat, mystical turn in the narrative two-thirds of the way through, the film approaches pure poetry in its sound design, use of physical space, and fascination with what is seen and what is not always apparent.



5. DOWNFALL
Who’d want to sit through a two hour plus epic about Hitler’s desperate last days? Well, you should, especially when the result is as riveting as Oliver Hirschbiegel's adaptation of the documentary BLIND SPOT: HITLER’S SECRETARY. As Hitler, Bruno Ganz pulls off the seemingly impossible feat of humanizing the crazed dictator while never obscuring his innate evilness. Further aided by a solid ensemble (especially Corinna Harfouch as Mme. Goebbels, carrying the film’s most haunting, wrenching scene), Hirschbiegel's well-paced epic is economical and immediate—no small feat given its subject’s immensity and familiarity.



6. THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
Speaking of economical, at eighty minutes, Noah Baumbach’s autobiographical study of divorce and joint-custody in mid-80s Brooklyn contains not one wasted moment or a superfluous note and ends exactly when it needs to. Jeff Daniels is a revelation as a pompous yet obviously scarred writing professor/failed novelist, and the rest of the primary cast (Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline) keeps him in good company. Baumbach doesn’t necessarily sympathize with his extraordinarily unlikable characters, but through all the sharp dialogue, wit and remarkable attention to detail, he never fails to make their pain present and plausible.



7. DOUBLE DARE
Here’s a documentary that deserves at least half as large of an audience as the one that flocked to MARCH OF THE PENGUINS. It simply profiles Jeannie Epper, the veteran stunt woman whom three decades ago doubled for Lynda Carter in WONDER WOMAN, and Zoe Bell, a New Zealand-native coming off a long stint as Lucy Lawless’ stunt double for XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS. As Bell travels to America to find work, she becomes Epper’s protégé. The friendship they strike up is infectious and genuine, but so is the enthusiasm and obvious affection director Amanda Micheli has for her two subjects.



8. THE BEST OF YOUTH
I debated including this since it was conceived for television, but viewing each half of this six-hour miniseries were two of the most involving and enjoyable experiences I had in a movie theater this year. Marco Tullio Giordana’s familial epic may not break any new ground, but in personalizing thirty-odd years of Italian history, it does so with the gusto and intimacy of well-plotted, generously stuffed novel, aided by a terrific cast and a sublime period soundtrack. As the film’s early idealism gives way to tender (but unsentimental) nostalgia, you can’t help but feel overcome by its cinematic sweep and resounding humaneness.



9. TROPICAL MALADY
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s visually stunning fever dream of a film is a blazingly original head-scratcher. Starting off as a seemingly straightforward, refreshingly matter-of-fact gay romance between a Thai solider and a young man from the provinces, it builds up erotic tension and longing to their absolute breaking points, only to abruptly morph into an experimental, wordless folk tale with the leads recast as mystical, predator/prey figures. Jarring and more than a little obtuse, nonetheless, its phenomenal images have stuck with me almost more than those of any other film on this list.



10. GRIZZLY MAN
Timothy Treadwell, an inimitable cross between Mr. Rogers and Carson Kressley, a figure as excitable and passionate as he was delusional and disturbed, would be a treasure trove for any documentarian, as would the hundred-plus hours of footage he shot living with wild bears in the remote Alaskan wilderness. But only veteran German filmmaker/weirdo Werner Herzog could alchemize them into an endlessly captivating meditation on man’s relationship to nature, and how one man’s unique madness summed up his life’s essence and inevitably caused his downfall.


THE NEXT TEN
(in alphabetical order)

2046
As sequels to monumental films go, Wong Kar-Wai’s long-awaited one to IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE ain’t bad: muddled and overlong, but still a compelling cinematic hall of mirrors.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
A very good adaptation of Annie Proulx’s masterful short story; Heath Ledger gets the Charlize Theron Award for turning in an exceptional performance most would’ve guessed he never had in him.

CAFÉ LUMIERE
Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien pays gentle tribute to Japanese legend Yasujiro Ozu, affectionately capturing the hypnotic, day-to-day rhythms of the latter’s country and, in particular, its subway system.

CAPOTE
The only person rivaling Ledger for the year’s best performance is Philip Seymour Hoffman, who successfully embodies the diminutive author while moving far beyond mere impersonation.

LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF
Instead of spending hundreds on a class, film students/aesthetes should try to track down a copy of Thom Anderson’s idiosyncratic but highly illuminating documentary about the most-photographed city in the world, and what we choose to show and see in a film.

MURDERBALL
The year’s most puzzling box office failure, this remarkably unsentimental study of competitive wheelchair rugby players puts most fictional “inspirational” sports films to shame, both in its emotional tug and absolutely thrilling matches.

MY SUMMER OF LOVE
Somewhere between a teen lesbian romance and an insightful class study, Pawel Pawlikowski’s second feature is like a beguiling fairy-tale come down to earth, with excellent lead performances from Emily Blunt and Nathalie Press, the latter sort of a young Sissy Spacek as re-imagined by Peppermint Patty.

NOBODY KNOWS
Not a Disney-friendly tale of orphaned kids overcoming odds or a finger-wagging societal critique, but something more realistic and effective that plays out a potentially tragic situation with honesty and grace.

WALLACE AND GROMIT: CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT
Stuffed with satire, delightfully bad puns and sight-gags galore, this clever homage to THE WOLF MAN easily lives up to the earlier shorts, while providing great voiceover work for dastardly Ralph Fiennes and heroine Helena Bonham Carter.

WILBY WONDERFUL
Wonderfully sweet ensemble comedy from Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor that paints a detailed, notably cliché-free portrait of a Nova Scotia island community.


TOP FIVE FESTIVAL FILMS

1. C.R.A.Z.Y.
Rivaling July’s film as my favorite of the year, this one-of-a-kind, French Canadian coming-of-age/coming out tale often plays like a dazzling cross between VELVET GOLDMINE and a David Sedaris childhood essay.

2. CLEAN
Scheduled to finally open this April, Oliver Assayas’ study of self-actualization and redemption features his ex-wife Maggie Cheung in a magnificent turn as an aspiring singer/recovering drug addict.

3. CACHE (HIDDEN)
Just missing this year’s deadline (it opens in Boston Jan. 13), Michael Haneke’s ingenuous thriller could very well make my top ten in 2006.

4. SHANGHAI DREAMS
I’m hoping Zhang Yimou eventually goes back to making films like this delightful one from Wang Xiaoshuai, which follows a teenage girl living in a provincial China town in the early ‘80s.

5. TWELVE AND HOLDING
Audacious yet subtle, Michael Cuesta’s follow-up to L.I.E. fully clinches that awkward chasm between childhood and full-blown adolescence, and he gets exceptional performances from his unknown young actors.


TOP FIVE REPERTORY SCREENINGS
in no particular order

THE CONFORMIST
Arguably more innovative and important than THE GODFATHER, Bertolucci’s long unavailable masterpiece popped up both at the Coolidge (as part of a retrospective for Coolidge Award honoree cinematographer Vittorio Storaro) and in a week-long run at the Brattle in all of its spectacular, 35MM glory.

THE WARRIORS
A must-see for anyone who wants a sense of what New York used to look like, circa 1979, and much better (and almost as much fun) as THE APPLE.

THE PASSENGER
Another lost gem, this Antonioni film from 1975 became a surprise hit in its re-release. Easily the filmmaker's most accessible, engaging work, it’s now revelatory as Jack Nicholson’s missing link between CHINATOWN and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST.

DONKEY SKIN
Jacques Demy’s vaguely psychedelic, fractured fairy tale from 1970 has to be seen to be believed—how can you not love a movie where Catherine Deneuve spends half her time walking around with a dead animal draped over her head?

MY GRANDMOTHER
Exceptionally bonkers, long-banned silent-era Soviet satire presented with a live soundtrack from the Beth Custer ensemble. Hardly anyone attended the Coolidge screening in November; thankfully, it’s now available on DVD.


OTHER EXCEPTIONAL FILMS
All of these receive at least 4 stars out of 5 (in alphabetical order).

The Beat My Heart Skipped, Breakfast on Pluto, Broken Flowers, Brothers, Cowards Bend The Knee, The Edukators, Funny Ha Ha, Good Night and Good Luck, Head-On, The Holy Girl, Howl's Moving Castle, In The Realms of the Unreal, Junebug, Kings and Queen, Kontroll, Look At Me, Serenity, A Tale of Two Sisters, Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride, Tony Takitani, Watermarks, The World.