good start to 1999. amber city was approx. 6 times nicer than i anticipated. (but wow, the 90's look a long time ago now, they might as well be the 70's)
karl wrote: ↑Wed Oct 02, 2019 12:27 am
Color of Paradise (I know Magpies hates this, but I enjoy all of Mr. Majidi's films)
Aksuat (Serik Aprimov)*
* = on Youtube
hah! well, i'm having a straub/huillet on my list, so we're even.
does that mean we've done 1999 before, if you know i hate it? or was it some country poll or something?
and where on youtube is aksuat? i can't find it. at least, not with any eng subs....
I don't know how you can watch that Struab/Hiullet shite! And I know you hate the Majidi cos you rated it 1/2 star on Letterboxd.
Aksuat can be found on Youtube - handy little trick for all movies from countries what use Cyrillic - by going down IMDb and clicking on Also Known As, which brings up "Аксуат". And if you plug that into Youtube, voila:
Ah yes, 1999, the year too many people born in the 80s still swear is the greatest year of all time.
My top 20:
1. Being John Malkovich (1999, Spike Jonze)
2. Todo sobre mi madre / All About My Mother (1999, Pedro Almodóvar)
3. Cremaster 2 (1999, Matthew Barney)
4. Rosetta (1999, Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne)
5. Man on the Moon (1999, Milos Forman)
6. Fight Club (1999, David Fincer)
7. Beau travail (1999, Claire Denis)
8. Sicilia! (1999, Danièle Huillet & Jean-Marie Straub)
9. Audition (1999, Takashi Miike)
10. Magnolia (1999, Paul Thomas Anderson)
11. Toy Story 2 (1999, John Lasseter)
12. eXistenZ (1999, David Cronenberg)
13. Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha (1999, Takashi Miike)
14. La fille sur le pont / The Girl On The Bridge (1999, Patrice Leconte)
15. Bakha satang / Peppermint Candy (1999, Chang-dong Lee)
16. L'humanité (1999, Bruno Dumont)
17. American Beauty (1999, Sam Mendes)
18. Eyes Wide Shut (1999, Stanley Kubrick)
19. The Matrix (1999, The Wachowski Brothers)
20. Sweet and Lowdown (1999, Woody Allen)
Arlington Road
Balkan baroque
Being John Malkovich
Dead or Alive (Miike)
Eyes Wide Shut
Girl on the Bridge
Human Ressources
Jesus' Son
Jin-Roh
Magnolia
Postmen in the Mountains
Ride with the Devil
Sea Song (Reeves)
Taboo (Oshima)
The Arrival (Tscherkassky)
The Wind Will Carry Us
possible contenders
After the Rain
Boys Don't Cry
Bringing Out the Dead
Cousin (Elliot)
Criminal Lovers
Models
Nabbie's Love
Not One Less
Pola X
Pripyat
Sweet and Lowdown
The Ninth Gate
good but no cigar
Deep Blue Sea
eXistenZ
Fight Club
Rosetta
Sleepy Hollow
The 13th Warrior
The Iron Giant
The Mission
The Sixth Sense
The War Zone
Three Kings
not list-worthy
American Beauty
Audition (Miike)
Bowfinger
Buena Vista Social Club
Clouds of May (Ceylan)
Cremaster 2
Fantasia 2000
Felicia's Journey
Ghost Dog
Himalaya
Juha
Man on the Moon
Mifune
Nang Nak
Payback
Running out of TIme
Snow Falling on Cedars
Star Wars Episode
The Blair Witch Project
The End of the Affair
The Green Mile
The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun
The Matrix
The Road Home
The Straight Story
Toy Story 2
Tuvalu
and some 50 others
"I too am a child burned by future experiences, fallen back on myself and already suspecting the certainty that in the end only those will prove benevolent who believe in nothing." – Marran Gosov
St. Gloede wrote: ↑Thu Oct 03, 2019 8:58 pm
Ah yes, 1999, the year too many people born in the 80s still swear is the greatest year of all time.
Also people born in the 90s. I'm convinced that it's because of a different psychological aspect. They preferred those years because they were a lot younger and didn't realize that the world can be garbage, and that it is also full of responsibilities that is hard to uphold. That's why at one point practically every decade is looked at with nostalgia. Soon there will be nostalgia for the 2000s for the same reason. I guarantee it.
When people talk about 1999 being the greatest year of all time, they're usually thinking about a handful of Hollywood hits - The Fight Club and The Matrix, not Belfast, Maine or Beau Travail - making it a pretty meaningless statement. Probably more controversially, I think a similar thing is going on with 1939 (The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, etc.), and that there are other years in the 30s that are deeper. But my 30s viewing is relatively shallow compared to that of a lot of people here, who will have more accurate perspectives on that than me.
I've only ever seen '39 described as "Hollywood's Greatest Year," not globally the greatest year (see Thomas S. Hischak's 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year, Ted Sennett's Hollywood's Golden Year, 1939: A Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration, Mark Viera's Majestic Hollywood: The Greatest Films of 1939, the TCM documentary 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year, etc.) But I'd agree with you that for much of this demographic, Hollywood = global cinema, making 'Hollywood's greatest year' problematically function as if that's synonymous with cinema's greatest year.
not sure what precise relevance this has, but to judge the general cinema-viewing public's impression of various years, i just did a title search on imdb, looking at feature films with 6000+ views, and a 7.5+ user rating for each year of the 1930s. totally arbitrary choices of numbers there. there were 17 films from 1939 that met those thresholds, and no other 1930s year came close to matching that number; second place was 11 films (the average seemed to be about 8 films for a 1930s year, and i checked 1940 and 1950 (my favourite hollywood year) and those had around 13 each). two of those 1939 films were international (at least, i wasn't looking at uk films), la regle du jeu and le jour se leve. only one 1930s year featured three non-english films, so 1939 by my completely arbitrary criteria was quite a good year for international film too, in the perception of the imdb-rating public anyway. the only non-english-language 1930s directors whose films met my imdb thresholds in any year were jean renoir (several times), marcel carne (two or three times), sergei eisenstein, fritz lang (twice), josef von sternberg and jean vigo. so if there is a year in the 1930s that should be especially well-regarded because of the quality of its non-hollywood productions (probably true!), those films still haven't been seen by a wide public.
mesnalty wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 4:15 pm
When people talk about 1999 being the greatest year of all time, they're usually thinking about a handful of Hollywood hits - The Fight Club and The Matrix, not Belfast, Maine or Beau Travail - making it a pretty meaningless statement. Probably more controversially, I think a similar thing is going on with 1939 (The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, etc.), and that there are other years in the 30s that are deeper. But my 30s viewing is relatively shallow compared to that of a lot of people here, who will have more accurate perspectives on that than me.
flip wrote: ↑Fri Oct 04, 2019 5:16 pm
not sure what precise relevance this has, but to judge the general cinema-viewing public's impression of various years, i just did a title search on imdb, looking at feature films with 6000+ views, and a 7.5+ user rating for each year of the 1930s. totally arbitrary choices of numbers there. there were 17 films from 1939 that met those thresholds, and no other 1930s year came close to matching that number; second place was 11 films (the average seemed to be about 8 films for a 1930s year, and i checked 1940 and 1950 (my favourite hollywood year) and those had around 13 each). two of those 1939 films were international (at least, i wasn't looking at uk films), la regle du jeu and le jour se leve. only one 1930s year featured three non-english films, so 1939 by my completely arbitrary criteria was quite a good year for international film too, in the perception of the imdb-rating public anyway. the only non-english-language 1930s directors whose films met my imdb thresholds in any year were jean renoir (several times), marcel carne (two or three times), sergei eisenstein, fritz lang (twice), josef von sternberg and jean vigo. so if there is a year in the 1930s that should be especially well-regarded because of the quality of its non-hollywood productions (probably true!), those films still haven't been seen by a wide public.
Interesting! I probably just underrate a few '39 films relative to most people. And I should have said in my original post that I was thinking of the claim that 1939 was Hollywood's greatest year (in contrast to the idea that 1999 is the greatest year for cinema in general).
It is interesting, '59 is also noted as something of an exceptional year, and I'd add '79 to the list, even near the top, though it seems underappreciated comparatively. '69 I think often gets mentioned as another, but I can't recall '49, '89, or '09 being given the same kind of praise. ('29 obviously was the time of the transition between silents and sound, so it tends to be lumped more on the bad side of the ledger).
This film is a wonderful exercise in style imo. It is like Hammer meets Bava on a king size budget. The set designs and costumes are excellent, and it looks amazing really.
Existenz is a pile of shit imo. Seemed ok at first, but I could barely sit through it when I rewatched it years later. It's just a self indulgent, ugly, lazy, navel gazing exercise from a director who I don't regard that highly anymore. Funny how things change.
Favs of 1999, in no particular order:
The Wind Will Carry Us
Eyes Wide Shut
Kikujiro (only flaw is its length)
Sicilia!
Bringing Out The Dead
Sleep Hollow
Summer of Sam (grew on me, one of Spike's best)
L'humanité
I'd say Fight Club, but I haven't seen it in almost 20 years. Same with The Ninth Gate. Man On The Moon got worse the more I saw it.
This film is a wonderful exercise in style imo. It is like Hammer meets Bava on a king size budget. The set designs and costumes are excellent, and it looks amazing really.
Yes, I'd mostly agree. It's pretty gorgeous, though I think Burton is quite clumsy at times and nowhere near the accomplished stylist Bava was. But Hammer meets Bava is a spot-on description!
I also like the film very much and enjoy it each time.
And I get what you mean with the problems of eXistenZ, but I think that laziness and ugliness is part of what it's telling us and what the film is about. I don't think it's one of Cronenberg's best, but I also like it and enjoy it on some levels. But Jennifer Jason Leigh is a bit wasted and miscast in her part. Her part should have gone to a less talented more shallow actress, I think. Jude Law is perfect.
"I too am a child burned by future experiences, fallen back on myself and already suspecting the certainty that in the end only those will prove benevolent who believe in nothing." – Marran Gosov
My Heart (Bae Chang-ho): Another Korean historical melodrama about the hard luck rural female, this time at turn of XXth century. The film is completely uninterested in anything outside its central drama, and I wished it made a little effort to show what was happening in Korean society at the time a la Im Kwon-taek, who does this sort of thing better. And the score for this is terrible. But the cinematography is excellent and it's effective for what it is. If you're a sucker for Korean melodramas, have the tissues handy.
Topsy Turvy: Here's a picture that takes a lot of time over the historical details. How dreary late Victorian London is! What miserable lives everyone leads! The writer of comic operas doesn't crack a smile the whole picture. A week of nothing but Mike Leigh movies would deter anyone from wanting to live in England. Superbly done, yet... it's a touch dull, innit? Over two and a half hours is a bit much for Mikado.
Darkness and Light (Chang Tso-chi): First reaction - and this remained through most of the film - was Oh gawd, the Taiwan Art Film style once more. Long static shots, few close-ups, non-actors and rather rambling "realism." There were several shots in this that could be straight out of a Hou Hsiao-hsien film. And then there's the Taipei small time criminals scene once more: they smoke a lot, drink a lot, play a lot of mahjong, commit a couple clumsy crimes. And sure enough someone gets killed. It always happens in these films and you can guess the victim here pretty easily. Yet... I don't know how they do it, these Taiwanese films. I watch them impatiently, often tempted a few times to give up as they crawl along, and end up being surprised at how impressed I am with them.
To Be or Not to Be (Kianoush Ayari): An "issue" film. The dying girl's family spends the whole movie trying to convince the family of the chap beaten to death on his wedding day to donate his heart to her. Good, but compared to the year's best Iranian films (the "Winds") in a lower league.
The Young Rebel (Sushant Misra): Watched on a whim cos I liked the screen shots I saw and I don't think I've ever seen a film in the Oriya language. Aimless young man spends most of the movie smoking on rooftops, arguing with dad, strolling on the beach, halfheartedly helping the girl who's fond of him with her guesthouse, and trying to figure out to do with himself until he meets a couple of tourist girls who smoke and get drunk and run around in bikinis and flirt with him, which just blows his poor mind. There's an opportunity to explore the effect that Western tourists have on the locals in the "Developing World" countries that they use for their playgrounds (on their "spiritual quests") but the film, attractive as it is, is rambling and unsatisfying.
Darkness and Light's the only sure bet for the final list.
There is no tyrant like a thoroughpaced reformer. I drink to his own reformation. - Mr. MacBorrowdale, Gryll Grange
This is how films from 1999 fared in our poll of top 100 films of all time (2019 edition):
**THIS IS NOT A BALLOT**
1. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick)
2. The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun (Djibril Diop Mambety)
3. Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami) ....Beau Travail (Claire Denis)
6. My Neighbors the Yamadas (Isao Takahata)
7. Vanaprastham (Shaji.N.Karun)
8. Time Regained (Raul Ruiz) ....The Iron Giant (Brad Bird) ....All About My Mother (Pedro Almodovar) ....Ratcatcher (Lynne Ramsay) ....Rosetta (Dardenne Brothers) ....Incognito (Julie Dash) ....Topsy Turvy (Mike Leigh) ....Farewell, Home Sweet Home (Iosseliani) ....No Love Juice: Rustling in Bed (Yuji Tajiri)
**THIS IS NOT A BALLOT**
It'll be interesting to see how things work out for these 16 films in this poll.
Lencho_of_the_Apes wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 12:37 pm
I didn't expect Buena Vista Social Club to be NPR brunch music. I don't think I have time for Cuban decaf; I may not be able to finish this'n.
Objection! The music in this movie is lovely and does not deserve this snarky remark. With all due respect to señor Lencho etc.
I thought the music of the first half-hour was over-produced and tepid, but it picked up a bit after that, got looser, more soloing, jammier... once the pianist showed up, I was a lot happier.
I watched half the Zeki film last night and can't wait to see the rest today. If it stays this good until the end it'll be a cinch for 1st place on my list.
Which reminds me: I miss Jerry's input. (Why did he leave us? )
The Wind Will Carry Us
Willow and Wind (Mohammad-Ali Talebi)
Herr Zwilling und Frau Zuckermann (Volker Koepp)
Peppermint Candy (Lee Chang-dong)
Darkness and Light (Chang Tso-chi)
Throne of Death (Murali Nair)
Color of Paradise
Sunshine (István Szabó)
Hanele (Karel Kachyňa)
La Lettre (Oliveira)
Ordinary Heroes (Ann Hui)
The Nanny (Marco Bellocchio)
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
Not One Less
Poppoya (Furuhata Yasuo)
The Sound of a Violin in Mỹ Lai (Trần Văn Thủy)
Limbo
My Heart (Bae Chang-ho)
Happy End (Jung Ji-woo)
There is no tyrant like a thoroughpaced reformer. I drink to his own reformation. - Mr. MacBorrowdale, Gryll Grange
