July 04, 2005
I always like to put together a '10 Best Films So Far' list at the six month point every year - and this is the first year in a long time I can't legitimately make it past five.
1. Pan With Us (dir. David Russo)
2. Star Wars: Episode III (dir. George Lucas)
3. Me And You And Everyone We Know (dir. Miranda July)
4. 2046 (dir. Wong Kar Wai)
Am I forgetting anything? Technically, Star Wars shouldn't be there, but I wouldn't be true to myself if I didn't include it. But what else? Palindromes, Hirokazu's Nobody Knows and Assisted Living might all tie for fifth place at this point. I could include Sally Potter's Yes, maybe, but I think I should see it again before I pass judgement. I honestly think War Of The Worlds is pretty close to being great, but I don't see it as top ten material. Nine Songs is sort of in the same category. 3-Iron was somewhat disappointing, all things considered. Goodbye Dragon Inn is vastly better than all of these, but it was released last year and I was just late in seeing it.
There's a press screening on Friday for something that I'm sort of counting on to top everything else so far this year. And aside from that, I guess I just need to hold tight and wait to be surprised by something astonishing that isn't The New World, Saraband, The Corpse Bride, Broken Flowers or the Wallace & Gromit movie (which are all safe for passing advance judgement on, correct?).
Ah, hope. I just need to stop making lists.
Posted by David Lowery at July 4, 2005 02:14 AM
Comments
I think so far my list of movies I really love looks like this.
1. Mondovino
2. Anya (In and Out of Focus)
3. Trona
4. A Family Finds Entertainment
5. Mutual Appreciation
Technically I saw "A Family Finds Entertainment" and "Trona" in 2004, but they didn't play anywhere in the US until 2005. I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of right now, but so far it's been a slim year, at least for me.
Posted by: Joe Swanberg at July 4, 2005 08:28 PM
Slim year indeed, but I suppose I shouldn't limit myself to things that have theatrical distribution - especially now that I'm seeing so many wonderful films at festivals.
I'd never heard of Trona, but I just checked out the trailer and was quite intrigued. Looks somewhat Walkabout-ish. I love long shots of beautiful landscape, which this looks like it has plenty of.
Posted by: Ghostboy at July 4, 2005 11:26 PM