The Top Ten Films of 2007, by Pamela Kerpius

1. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (J. Schnabel)
2. Private Fears in Public Places (A. Resnais)
3. Starting Out in the Evening (A. Wagner)
4. Juno (J. Reitman)
5. Eastern Promises (D. Cronenberg)
6. The Man From London (B. Tarr)
7. The Host (B. Joon-ho)
8. Brand Upon the Brain (G. Maddin)
9. The Darjeeling Limited (W. Anderson)
10. Everything I saw from the Pedro Costa retrospective: Down To Earth (1994), Where Lies Your Hidden Smile (2001), and Colossal Youth (2006).

I've already bent the top ten rules by adding two extra in the #10 slot, so whatever, I'm going to push things further by mentioning my love for three more films this year: The Bourne Ultimatum, Sicko, and Once.

There is no fancy footwork or explanations for this year's list; really, these are simply the movies I loved to watch the most. Please (as always) forgive the glaring omissions from my list as well. Many important films have yet to be released in my region, most notably 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, Flight of the Red Balloon, and The Dutchess of Langeais. Additionally, there are a number that I just have not had a chance to see, those are, Ratatouille, There Will Be Blood, Zodiac, Lust, Caution, Michael Clayton, Into The Wild, and a few others.

The Top Ten Films of 2007, by Karen Wang

Our dear contributor Karen Wang is on holiday in China, but spent her last hours in the States running through theatrical screenings and DVDs to get this sucker done. So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Karen's first ever "best of" list, the Top Ten Movies of 2007.


1. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
2. Lust, Caution
3. No Country for Old Men
4. (Tie) Lady Chatterly & Once
5. Golden Door
6. Sweeney Todd
7. This Is England
8. Still Life
9. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
10. The Lives of Others




But that's not all: Karen likes too many more movies to leave them off the VIP list, behold the top 11-20 movies of 2007! Wow!

11. The Business of Being Born
12. Planet B-Boy
13. (Tie) Rocket Science & Lars and the Real Girl
14. Juno
15. (Tie) 2 Days In Paris & Eastern Promises
16. Rescue Dawn
17. The Opportunists
18. The Romance of Astree and Celadon
19. Vivere
20. The King of Kong


Also from Karen:

Please note the omissions: The Devil Came On Horseback; Persepolis; Flight of the Red Balloon; Atonement; The Savages; Sicko; The Orphanage; 3:10 to Yuma; I'm Not There; The Ballad of Esquiel Hernandez; Before the Devil Knows You're Dead; The Darjeeling Limited... I never got a chance to see any of the afore-mentioned films, though I badly wanted to.

Happy Top Ten Season!

Hello Scarlett Cineastes!

It's that season again, when us critics and wanna-be critics make up a list of our favorite movies of the year: TOP TEN 2007 has arrived!

Beginning tomorrow, Sunday, December 30, 2007 critics from Scarlett Cinema, Termite Art, Tativille, Fourteen Seconds, and more (and maybe even Hamblogger) will post their picks. They're sure to be diverse and will inspire plenty of debate!

See you tomorrow and Happy New Year!

New Hollywood Women: Ellen Page in Juno

Juno Opened in Chicago this weekend with immense crowds in tow, even selling out the first Friday night show I hoped to attend. No matter, I pushed on to the late screening, for which it was worth biding my extra 90 minutes of time, if only for Ellen Page's performance in this teen pregnancy and yet-to-come-of-age romance story, and very likely one of the best, if not the best, film of the year.



I have read plenty of reviews about Juno and basically agree with what has already been stated again and again in print, most particularly the script's evolution past its initial cleverness of dialogue that comes to be something more solid and sincere than you'd expect after the first 15 minutes of the show have passed. So to avoid redundancy, I'd rather focus (albeit briefly) on the character of Juno and the actress who plays her, Ellen Page. At the age of twenty (she'll be twenty-one in February 2008), Page has single-handedly ushered in an a new era of Hollywood women, the kind with smarts, and with as much voice and self-assurance as her respectable elders.

In a recent Filmspotting interview with Adam Kempanaar, she humbly accepts comparisons between her and Meryl Streep and Audrey Hepburn, and sites some of her own heroines of the screen like Laura Linney, Sissy Spacek and Kate Winslet; all veteran female actors who are known for their personal integrity. Rarely, if ever, are these the women you'll see on tabloid covers; they are too "normal," and are not the type to thrive in the spotlight alone. (Though an actor's amount of tabloid exploitation is not necessarily a measure of starry-eyes, I'd argue. Angelina Jolie is a good example of one's personal virtue being proliferated in negative terms beyond one's control.)

Regardless of your opinion of these women's films, you'd be hard pressed to cite them in personally or intellectually compromising situations. These are women who know who they are, and who have a distinct separation between themselves and the characters they play--the same of which can be said for a person like Page.

Clearly, as far as this author (and indeed this blog) is concerned, that's an important distinction for a contemporary woman in popular culture to make, and I'd say a rather reassuring one. As Page says herself (in the above Filmspotting interview), her character is someone we haven't seen before, she's "devoid of stereotype." Juno is honest. She is also earnest, funny and smart, but also naive. But naivete be damned, because it's Juno's thoughtfulness and sense of humor that pull her through tough situations (e.g. getting picked on at school, facing her parents with the news of her pregnancy). Juno is a woman with the wherewithal to accept her flaws (of those that are both in and out of her control) and self-confidently growing past them.

If Ellen Page's performance is a peek at was is to come for women's roles in Hollywood, we have a lot to anticipate in 2008, and in years to come.

2008 Golden Globe Nominations

Yesterday, at 8:30 am EST, Hayden Panattiere, Ryan Reynolds, and Quentin Tarantino announced the nominations for the 2008 Golden Globe Awards. The presentation will air live at 8:00 pm EST on NBC, Sunday, January 13th, 2008. Here they are, for better or for worse:

Best Motion Picture - Drama

• American Gangster
• Atonement
• Eastern Promises
• The Great Debaters
• Michael Clayton
• No Country for Old Men
• There Will Be Blood

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

• Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
• Julie Christie - Away from Her
• Jodie Foster - The Brave One
• Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart
• Keira Knightley - Atonement

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

• George Clooney – Michael Clayton
• Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
• James McAvoy – Atonement
• Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises
• Denzel Washington – American Gangster

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

• Across The Universe
• Charlie Wilson's War
• Juno
• Sweeney Todd

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

• Amy Adams – Enchanted
• Nikki Blonsky – Hairspray
• Helena Bonham Carter – Sweeney Todd
• Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose
• Ellen Page – Juno

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

• Johnny Depp – Sweeney Todd
• Ryan Gosling – Lars and the Real Girl
• Tom Hanks – Charlie Wilson's War
• Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Savages
• John C. Reilly – Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

• Cate Blanchett – I'm Not There
• Julia Roberts – Charlie Wilson's War
• Saoirse Ronan – Atonement
• Amy Ryan – Gone Baby Gone
• Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton
  

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

• Casey Affleck – The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
• Javier Bardem – No Country For Old Men
• Philip Seymour Hoffman – Charlie Wilson's War
• John Travolta – Hairspray
• Tom Wilkinson – Michael Clayton

Best Animated Feature Film

• Bee Movie
• Ratatouille
• The Simpsons Movie

Best Foreign Language Film

• 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days (Romania)
• The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (France, United States)
• The Kite Runner (United States)
• Lust, Caution (Taiwan)
• Persepolis (France)

Best Director - Motion Picture

• Tim Burton – Sweeney Todd
• Ethan Coen, Joel Coen – No Country For Old Men
• Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
• Ridley Scott – American Gangster
• Joe Wright – Atonement

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

• Atonement
  Written by Christopher Hampton
• Charlie Wilson's War
  Written by Aaron Sorkin
• The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
  Written by Ronald Harwood
• Juno
  Written by Diablo Cody
• No Country For Old Men
  Written by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Best Original Score - Motion Picture

• Grace Is Gone (Eastwood)
  Composed by Clint Eastwood
• The Kite Runner (Iglesias)
  Composed by Alberto Iglesias
• Atonement (Marianelli)
  Composed by Dario Marianelli
• Eastern Promises (Shore)
  Composed by Howard Shore
• Into The Wild (Vedder, Brook, King)
  Composed by Eddie Vedder, Michael Vedder, Kaki Vedder

Best Original Song - Motion Picture

• "Despedida" – Love In The Time Of Cholera
  Music By: Shakira and Antonio Pinto
  Lyrics By: Shakira
• "Grace Is Gone" – Grace Is Gone
  Music By: Clint Eastwood
  Lyrics By: Carole Bayer Sager
• "Guaranteed" – Into The Wild
  Music & Lyrics By: Eddie Vedder
• "That's How You Know" – Enchanted
  Music By: Alan Menken
  Lyrics By: Stephen Schwartz
• "Walk Hard" – Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
  Music & Lyrics By: Judd Apatow, Kasdan, John C. Reilly and Marshall Crenshaw

Best Television Series - Drama

• Big Love (HBO)
• Damages (FX NETWORK)
• Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
• House (FOX)
• Mad Men (AMC)
• The Tudors (SHOWTIME)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama

• Patricia Arquette – Medium (NBC)
• Glenn Close – Damages (FX NETWORK)
• Minnie Driver – The Riches
• Edie Falco – The Sopranos (HBO)
• Sally Field – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
• Holly Hunter – Saving Grace
• Kyra Sedgwick – The Closer (TNT)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama

• Michael C. Hall – Dexter (SHOWTIME)
• Jon Hamm – Mad Men (AMC)
• Hugh Laurie – House (FOX)
• Bill Paxton – Big Love (HBO)
• Jonathan Rhys Meyers – The Tudors (SHOWTIME)

Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy

• 30 Rock (NBC)
• Californication (SHOWTIME)
• Entourage (HBO)
• Extras (HBO)
• Pushing Daisies (ABC)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical Or Comedy

• Christina Applegate – Samantha Who?
• America Ferrera – Ugly Betty (ABC)
• Tina Fey – 30 Rock (NBC)
• Anna Friel – Pushing Daisies (ABC)
• Mary-Louise Parker – Weeds (SHOWTIME)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy

• Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock (NBC)
• Steve Carell – The Office (NBC)
• David Duchovny – Californication (SHOWTIME)
• Ricky Gervais – Extras (HBO)
• Lee Pace – Pushing Daisies (ABC)

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (HBO)
• The Company (TNT)
• Five Days (HBO)
• Longford (HBO)
• The State Within (BBC AMERIC)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Bryce Dallas Howard – As You Like It
• Queen Latifah – Life Support
• Debra Messing – The Starter Wife
• Sissy Spacek – Pictures Of Hollis Woods
• Ruth Wilson – Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Adam Beach – Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (HBO)
• Ernest Borgnine – A Grandpa For Christmas
• Jim Broadbent – Longford (HBO)
• Jason Isaacs – The State Within (BBC AMERIC)
• James Nesbitt – Jekyll

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Rose Byrne – Damages (FX NETWORK)
• Rachel Griffiths – Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
• Katherine Heigl – Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
• Samantha Morton – Longford (HBO)
• Anna Paquin – Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (HBO)
• Jaime Pressly – My Name Is Earl (NBC)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Ted Danson – Damages (FX NETWORK)
• Kevin Dillon – Entourage (HBO)
• Jeremy Piven – Entourage (HBO)
• Andy Serkis – Longford (HBO)
• William Shatner – Boston Legal
• Donald Sutherland – Dirty Sexy Money (ABC)

Jacques Tourneur: Curse of the Demon (1957)

Tonight Jonathan Rosenbaum concluded his fall film series The Great Transition: World Cinema in the 1950s with an archival screening of Jacques Tourneur's Curse of the Demon (1957). It was a British print that apparently has twelve minutes of extra run-time compared to the U.S. version; the title for the UK print is listed as Curse of the Demon, the U.S. release title is Night of the Demon, but as my viewing companion has brought to my attention, the actual film title during the opening credits read Night of the Demon. So there's a bit of a discrepancy as to which version we watched, U.S. or U.K.? A bit more investigation will resolve this minor question, I am sure.

American psychologist John Holden (Dana Andrews) is on a lecture holiday in London where he is to deliver a paper disproving the existence of paranormal psychology, much to the chagrin of his black magic practicing nemesis Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis). Karswell hexes his foe from across the pond, finally predicting his death that he says will occur three days later; and the story tracks John through the next few days as he becomes more and more persuaded by this very un-scientific course of nature.

In his introduction to the film, Rosenbaum noted that both Tourneur and Dana Andrews were alcoholics and they probably served as each other's enablers during production. He noted a drunken and/or hungover Andrews is visible at certain points and I think he's right. For instance, in one scene between Andrews and his character's love interest Joanna Harrington (Peggy Cummins), he leans over to her with heavy eyes (and with a glass of brandy in hand) and slurs a bit in his delivery. There are more moments like it and in almost all of them there's a bottle of whiskey or brandy in arm's length. Early Method acting? Doubtful.



But the biggest issue surrounding the film is the intrusive role its producer, Hal E. Chester, played in its production. The still image above gets to the heart of the issue: a monster that takes physical form onscreen, to which Tourneur was opposed, and who instead preferred subtle hints of horror (i.e. the most fright is derived from what we don't see) a la Cat People (1942). I agree with Tourneur's sentiment, though I have to admit the visual presence of the monster was terrifying nontheless, and still didn't appear enough to become less frightening over time; and in fact, the model work of the beast and his superimposition into the frame has more depth to it than anything you'll see churned out in CGI today.

With that, the Transition: 1950s comes to an end at the Gene Siskel Film Center. The Spring '08 film series (also hosted by Rosenbaum) begins sometime after the new year, The Great Transition: World Cinema in the 1960s.

Experimental Films of Len Lye

Last Saturday (12/1) Chicago Filmmakers screened 14 shorts from experimental film director Len Lye, providing a rare and wonderful look at the director's oeuvre. Lye (1901-1980) was a pioneer in the experimental film field, employing innovative techniques such as "direct animation," which consists of drawing directly onto the film stock, or etching designs with an array of tools, from ancient Indian arrowheads to modern dental instruments used to scratch the surface of the celluloid. His etchings create a warm, grainy effect; the movies that use this technique have an almost tangible feel, they're not glossy or finished and the interface of the screen dissolves so that the images themselves have the presence of a physical structure.




Tusalava (1929), Lye's first film, is a sequence of black and white dots and caterpillar-like creatures that morph across the screen, but also in a stretched, vertical motion that moves with the direction of the film through the projector.




A Colour Box (1935) is a series of printed dots and splotches of colors. The frame above has the texture of bingo marker ink dot on cardboard and gives you a good sense of the sort of physical texture Lye's images have onscreen. This film was financed by "GPO," the General Post Office in New Zealand that beginning in 1933 had its own film unit; stenciled letters reading "GPO" dance across the screen periodically, as a credit embedded directly into the main text of the film. Kaleidoscope, also released in 1935, is a pattern of stars, spirals, polka-dots, and ball-shaped figures that look like oranges, tennis balls and yin-yang signs. The kaleidoscopic imagery has a kinetic shape dictated by the soundtrack provided by "Dan Baretto and His Cuban Orchestra." It is a reflection of Lye's original artistic intention: "to compose motion, just as musicians compose sound."




The Birth of the Robot (1935) is a primary example of how Lye had many of his films financed through the use of advertising slogans (just as his mutual admirer, filmmaker Oskar Fischinger did, as well.) In Robot's case, the sponsor Shell Oil (which has its own highly-regarded film unit within the corporation since 1934) uses a drop of motor oil to reanimate a stranded motorist in the desert; the drop lubricates the man's brittle outline and he transforms into a robot, now resilient enough to navigate through the dry climate. The financier's final message flashes onto the screen: "The Modern World Needs Modern Lubrication."




Rainbow Dance (1936), is an example of early rotoscoping, wherein a silhouette of a a filmed male figure is superimposed across different (and very colorful) backdrops, many are abstract color "paintings" of world destinations. At the end, the film sponsor's name again dances across the frame: "Post Office Savings Bank."



Trade Tattoo (1937) features dancing flames to a mambo beat; moving lines that resemble converging railroad tracks; and other abstract color figures that mimic the rhythm of the musical beat accompanying it. This film has an actual credit list, noting Jack Ellit as the Music Editor. Again, at film's end a few words pop onto the screen instructing us to "Keep Up The Rhythm."



N. or N.W. (1937) might be my favorite film of the series, a public service announcement from the film's sponsor the General Post Office, reminding citizens of the right way to address an envelope. The film's title "N. or N.W." states the difference in specific street directions; a breakup letter written by a woman never reaches it's intended destination since she addresses it "North" instead of "Northwest," and luckily it doesn't for the lovers reunite and the film ends cleverly, "Yours, The End."



Colour Flight is a sequence of brightly colored shapes and thick strips of color moving through space to a heavy musical beat.




Swinging The Lambeth Walk (1939) is a series of colored dots and circular paint splotches; it also has a picture of something resembling a strip of film (is it an actual piece of film?) with colored sprocket holes that move across the frame.


Musical Poster (1940) is a moving propaganda poster against the Nazi regime reading, "Careful! The enemy is listening to you!" From the Harvard Film Archive: "During World War Two, Lye—adamant that wartime films did not have to be gloomy—made a number of films to assist the war effort. Musical Poster #1 (part of a long tradition of British “poster” films) was not only screened in cinemas but taken to factories and village halls by the Ministry of Information’s traveling film units. The film alerted the public to the risk that German sympathizers might overhear information about the war effort in everyday conversation."


Color Cry (1953) is a sequence of modern color block patterns; burlap textured colored patterns, and once again the image of multi-colored sprocket holes moving across the frame.





Tal Farlow (1980) is another favorite of mine, which consists of a series of white lines on a black background; vertical lines expand, contract and vibrate to a minimal loungy, 60s-sounding string instrument soundtrack, a visual analogy to the movement of sound waves.




Free Radicals (1958) was revised again in 1979, with a minute cut from its running time. It garnered the attention from experimental film master, Stan Brakhage who called it “an almost unbelievably immense masterpiece (a brief epic)” (Source: Harvard Film Archive), and left me with my jaw agape in awe. (The frame at the front of this post wherein the filmmaker scratches his name "Len" directly onto the emulsion, is also a frame taken from Free Radicals.) Lye is noted for being influenced by artist Paul Klee whose art, as he says, invokes "tak[ing] a line for a walk," a simple and apt description of the essense of Lye's Free Radicals.




Particles in Space (1979) was the last film of the night, another colorful expression of untamed movement and sound.

All Len Lye films shown last week at Chicago Filmmakers were on loan from the New Zealand Film Archive and are scheduled for screenings in numerous U.S. cities. As a follow up to the Lye experimental screenings, Chicago Filmmakers will have a showing tonight (Saturday, 12/8) of more experimental shorts from New Zealand from the years 1970-1979. I won't be able to make that screening, so anyone who does make it out for it, enjoy, and please let me know how it went.