Top 10 Films of 2008
A still from the animated documentary, Waltz with Bashir.Hello, dear Cinephiles.
Now, with the insanity of the holidays over, I am finally able to share with you my top ten films of 2008! 'Twas indeed a very full year of memorable cinema, and thus the ranking process was especially difficult this time 'round. Looking at the list of films I managed to catch, either at festivals or during theatrical runs, I narrowed down the choices based on the following criteria (in no particular order): originality of vision; composition and artistic design; achievement in production; entertainment value; story; and social significance.
Really, when it comes down to it, we all know that these kinds of lists are purely subjective. For my own purposes, each film that made the list had to have either moved me emotionally, inspired me as an artist, or compelled me to think critically about a specific topic. Whatever its singular effect, each film has long stayed with me after the credits rolled, lingering in the recesses of my mind, fading into whispers that continue to change and inform the way I see the world.
Now, with the insanity of the holidays over, I am finally able to share with you my top ten films of 2008! 'Twas indeed a very full year of memorable cinema, and thus the ranking process was especially difficult this time 'round. Looking at the list of films I managed to catch, either at festivals or during theatrical runs, I narrowed down the choices based on the following criteria (in no particular order): originality of vision; composition and artistic design; achievement in production; entertainment value; story; and social significance.
Really, when it comes down to it, we all know that these kinds of lists are purely subjective. For my own purposes, each film that made the list had to have either moved me emotionally, inspired me as an artist, or compelled me to think critically about a specific topic. Whatever its singular effect, each film has long stayed with me after the credits rolled, lingering in the recesses of my mind, fading into whispers that continue to change and inform the way I see the world.
1. Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman)
3. L'Huere d'ete (Summer Hours, Olivier Assayas)
4. Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt)
5. Entre les murs (The Class, Laurent Cantet)
6. Milk (Gus Van Sant)
7. Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme)
8. Boy A (John Crowley)
9. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
10. Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle)
It also happens that I saw more than just ten films that I believe deserve mention here. For those of you who care to read on, please find below the other fifteen films that made my top twenty-five!
11. Un conte de Noel (A Christmas Tale, Arnaud Desplechin)
12. Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh)
13. In Bruges (Martin McDonagh)
14. WALL-E (Andrew Stanton)
15. Marina of the Zabbaleen (Engi Wassef)
16. Somers Town (Shane Meadows)
17. Cztery noce z Anna (Four Nights with Anna, Jerzy Skolimowski)
18. The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky)
19. Lat den ratte komma in (Let the Right One In, Tomas Alfredson)
20. Fire Under the Snow (Makoto Sasa)
21. Tulpan (Sergei Dvortsevoy)
21. Frost/Nixon (Ron Howard)
22. Mi vida adentro (My Life Inside, Lucia Gaja)
23. Pray the Devil Back to Hell (Gini Reticker)
24. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher)
25. Idiots and Angels (Bill Plympton)
Films which I am still waiting to see: Le voyage du balloon rouge (Flight of the Red Balloon); Gran Torino; The Reader; Revolutionary Road; Vicky Cristina Barcelona; Chop Shop; Medicine for Melancholy; The Secret of the Grain; Doubt; Ballast; Frozen River; Take Out; In Search of a Midnight Kiss; Afterschool; Hunger; Taxi to the Dark Side; Changeling.
And a few discerning cineastes may be annoyed or even outraged that the following films, which I did see, didn't even make it onto my list: Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman); Burn After Reading (Ethan and Joel Cohen); Pineapple Express (David Gordon Green); En la cuidad de Sylvia (In the City of Sylvia, Jose Luis Guerin); Standard Operating Procedure (Errol Morris); Parlez-moi de la pluie (Let It Rain, Agnes Jaoui); La mujer sin cabeza (The Headless Woman, Lucrecia Martel); A Corte do Norte (The Northern Land, Joao Botelho); Mi guo (Lost Indulgence, Yibai Zhang); and Strangers (Guy Nattiv and Erez Tadmor).
To those people, I say: "Meh." While I am not dismissing any of them as films that shouldn't be considered essential viewing, none of them truly hit me in the gut, heart, or head. To each her own.
1 comments:
After seeing "Summer Hours" this afternoon, Lisa and I would have included it in our lists as well. Truly superb. "Slumdog Millionaire," another recent viewing, however, would place somewhere near the bottom of a revised assessment of 2008. To each her own indeed.
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