2004 Poll

[Monsieur Arkadin]

When I was in high school I decided to fast forward all the violence and see if the movie had anything to offer besides that. I felt that the answer was "not much". But I too was like 16.
I have to say, I really dig Mel Gibson's decisions to shoot movies in dead/rare languages. Shooting a bible movie in Aramaic is cool as shit, until you realize how much it damaged the performances. I VERY do not speak Aramaic, but I can hear the stilted deliveries through my ignorance. Glad he made that attempt though.

[Angel]

Gegen die Wand (Head-On)

36 Quai des Orfèvres (36th Precinct)
Bab el shams (The Gate of Sun)
Brødre (Brothers)
Clean
Confidences trop intimes (Intimate Strangers)
Crimen ferpecto (The Perfect Crime)
Diarios de motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries)
Finding Neverland
Hellboy
In My Father's Den
Kongekabale (King's Game)
Le chiavi di casa (The Keys to the House)
Maria Full of Grace
San zimske noci (Midwinter Night's Dream)
The Syrian Bride
The Village
Tout un hiver sans feu (One Long Winter Without Fire)
Troy
Vera Drake

Deliberately excluded (IMDb/TSPDT/S&S top 500)
2046
Before Sunset
Bin-jip
Der Untergang
Ebolusyon ng isang pamilyang Pilipino
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
G.O.R.A.
Hauru no ugoku shiro
Hotel Rwanda
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
L'intrus
Mar adentro
Million Dollar Baby
Sideways
Sud pralad
Swades: We, the People
Taegukgi hwinalrimyeo
The Incredibles

To see before the deadline
Atash
Meng ying tong nian
Shwaas
Vento di terra

Wanted
Drum
Strähl

[Angel]

Not to mention cinephile kitties from Turkey...

[Holymanm]

didn't know this was 2004 when i watched it, and it won't be making the list anyway, but...

Collateral (Michael Mann, 2004)



Flat-out childish throughout, and that side plot with the police is the most pointless thing since Citizen Kane II: The Nicaragua Files - but Macho Foxxo sure is great, and gosh darnit if the movie doesn't have a pretty groovy flow to it that just belongs in a much better flick. And great use of subtly different film stock - or filters or focus or lenses or whatever the heck; maybe it's doing all of the above - from one scene, or often one shot, to the next, keeping it anything but boring to look at even for the duration of its obscenely bloated running time. Overall, not the worst Tommy C. movie I've ever seen. That would of course be Cruise Kane: The New Generation.
2.5/5

[rischka]

36 Quai des Orfèvres (36th Precinct)

i have a copy of this if anyone is interested. gonna watch tonight. depardieu trigger warning. well at least (i assume) he's not naked

oh good according to lb this is the french 'heat' (sarcasm font)

[Silga]

36 Quai des Orfèvres (36th Precinct)

I also watched this one for the poll a few days ago.

Expected it to be a little bit different, but it's still a neat, competent thriller. Directed by a former policeman of 12 years - Olivier Marchal.

As for Depardieu, I expected a 'louder' role for him. He's more like a symbol here, rather than a character himself. It is really a Daniel Auteuil film. He's a center figure here and carries a film with emotional attachment that is believable and true to the story.

It's always great to see André Dussollier and Valeria Golino too.

It might make my final list, but not guaranteed as of yet. Already saw some great films this month and just got a copy of Zhangke's The World.

I'm also interested in Marchal's follow up thriller Mr 73 (2008). Again with Daniel Auteuil.

[rischka]

kind of nostalgic as i do believe jean de florette was the first french film i ever saw. it was on pbs



they've changed a bit

[Angel]

36 Quai des Orfèvres (36th Precinct)

I also watched this one for the poll a few days ago.

Expected it to be a little bit different, but it's still a neat, competent thriller. Directed by a former policeman of 12 years - Olivier Marchal.

As for Depardieu, I expected a 'louder' role for him. He's more like a symbol here, rather than a character himself. It is really a Daniel Auteuil film. He's a center figure here and carries a film with emotional attachment that is believable and true to the story.

It's always great to see André Dussollier and Valeria Golino too.

It might make my final list, but not guaranteed as of yet. Already saw some great films this month and just got a copy of Zhangke's The World.

I'm also interested in Marchal's follow up thriller Mr 73 (2008). Again with Daniel Auteuil.

I have not seen MR 73 (a film not released here), but Les Lyonnais is also very good, with strong performances by non-big-stars.

[greennui]

Alexander and Troy weren't that great really...Troy being the more competent product but fair play to Stone for not chickening out with the homoerotic content.

[rischka]

36 quai was pretty good, very slick and overbearing music at points but even depardieu looked as if he cared altho his character coulda been fleshed out more

very dark stuff #ACAB

[rischka]

hell of a week. 'cycling chronicles: landscapes the boy saw' was actually quite soothing!! including even kazuki "the screaming poet" tomokawa

[ofrene]

ending feels a bit rough but liked The World a lot.

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wanna see Filipino Family but too tired to watch 10.5hr movie these day

[greennui]

Most likely won't watch another '04 film before the deadline so here it is:

1. The Sky Turns (Mercedes Alvarez)
Disintegration Loop 1.1 (William Basinski)
The Holy Girl (Lucrecia Martel)
Wolff Von Amerongen: Did He Commit Bankruptcy Offences? (Gerhard Benedikt Friedl)
Chain (Jem Cohen)
Marseille (Angela Schanelec)
The World (Jia Zhangke)
Mysterious Skin (Gregg Araki)
Skagafjördur (Peter Hutton)
Collateral (Michael Mann)
Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Cycling Chronicles: Landscapes the Boy Saw (Kōji Wakamatsu)
The Bridge of Arts (Eugène Green)
The Hand (Wong Kar-wai)
2046 (Wong Kar-wai)
13 Lakes (James Benning)
Head-On (Fatih Akin)
Woman Is the Future of Man (Hong Sang-soo)
Man on Fire (Tony Scott)
Butterfly of Love (Nicolas Provost)

[Holymanm]

wanna see Filipino Family but too tired to watch 10.5hr movie these day

i hear it's only on the 6th viewing that you get the full effect

[Lencho of the Apes]

el cielo gira

That match-cut from the dinosaur statue to the bulldozer was really a thing. Lots of other things in the movie as well, a fine documentary. Thanks to everyone that recommended it and to He or She what didth provide.

You see those villages in their heyday in 1920s Spanish silents -- that Portuguese movie about the werewolf is a pretty close equivalent that a relative lot of people will remember.

Also , on the subject of old stuff in the landscape, this is of tangential interest...
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/drou ... ket-newtab

[ofrene]

i hear it's only on the 6th viewing that you get the full effect

Actually I tried first couple of hours but hard to follow and distinguish who is who.. and gave it up

[dominicano1970]

The Bourne Supremacy (Greengrass)

Clean (Assayas)
Crash (Haggis)
The Gate of Sun (Nasrullah)
House of Flying Daggers (Zhang)
The Intruder (Denis)
The Keys to the House (Amelio)
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (Tarantino)
Kings & Queen (Desplechin)
Million Dollar Baby (Eastwood)
Moolaadé (Sembene)
The Motorcycle Diaries (Salles)
The Sea Inside (Amenabar)
Sideways (Payne)
Silentium (Murnberger)
Spider-Man 2 (Raimi)
3-Iron (Kim)
Vera Drake (Leigh)
The Village (Shyamalan)
Whisky (Stoll, Rebella)

[rischka]

final

tropical malady - weerasethakul
wolff von amerongen - friedl
l'intrus - denis
el cielo gira - alvarez
the holy girl - martel
innocence - hadžihalilović
main hoon na - khan
los muertos - alonso
le pont des arts - green
skagafjördur - hutton
pirated copy - he
yesterday once more - to
throw down - to
cycling chronicles - wakamatsu
triple agent - rohmer

[sally]

i only managed to watch one film for the poll (chased by dreams - pregnant woman oh so wise & mystical puke) as i couldn't find the ruiz and i was going to watch troy but then i read that brad pitt 56 is dating a 27 year old and i can't take him seriously as a human even acting now in anything so final list

le pont des arts - green
wolff von amerongen - friedl
el cielo gira - alvarez
notre musique - godard
skagafjördur - hutton
light is calling - morrison
une visite au louvre - straub/huillet
the face you deserve - gomes
pirated copy - he
marseille - schanelec
woman in the future of man - hong
l'intrus - denis
los muertos - alonso
whisky - rebella/stoll
tulse luper 2 - greenaway
oh! uomo
kings and queen - desplechin
cycling chronicles - wakamatsu

[brian d]

light is calling (morrison)
innocence (hadzihalilovic)
the sky turns (álvarez)
a visit to the louvre (straub/huillet)
the holy girl (martel)
unconscious (oristrell)
skagafjördur (hutton)*
the battle of mohács (jancsó)
los muertos (alonso)
stages of mourning (pucill)
wolff von amerongen (friedl)*

also watched:
evolution of a filipino family (diaz)

didn't get a chance to watch:
manasarovar (kurian)


i'm not sure what to make of lav diaz (says i after having seen only two of his movies). not sure who the intended audience is, but it's not the humble filipinos he's presenting in his films, and i'm not sure it's festival audiences either (maybe i'm wrong about this one), since showing a 10 hour movie at a festival is probably not workable. it's like he exists for the kg/letterboxd/mubi crowd. and yeah, i'm one of them too. but how in the world is a person supposed to be able to really engage with the topics he's presenting if they can't find 10 hours in a month to watch one of his films in the first place, and certainly not a block of 10 hours in a row to watch them all the way through in one sitting?

anyway, the best movie of 2004 is 8 minutes long.

[sally]

oh great, just realised evolution of a filipino family is on mubi. pretty sure i'm not going to watch it in time, dammit, but i would have done. stupid multiple streaming platforms. i think i like lav diaz just because in melancholia they had a conversation about ted hughes.

but light is calling IS hauntingly lovely. my favourite short film

and i found some old screen shots of the faces in the sky turns, i watched it in 2011 apparently

[mesnalty]

Final list, most likely:

1. The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 2: Vaux to the Sea (Greenaway)

The Sky Turns (Alvarez)
Mysterious Skin (Araki)
Primer (Carruth)
Chain (Cohen)
The Face You Deserve (Gomes)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry)
The Bridge of Arts (Green)
Innocence (Hadzihalilovic)
The World (Jia)
Before Sunset (Linklater)
The Garden of Earthly Delights (Majewski)
The Holy Girl (Martel)
Light Is Calling (Morrison)
Butterfly of Love (Provost)
All the Ships at Sea (Sallitt)
Moolaade (Sembene)
Throw Down (To)
Tropical Malady (Weerasethakul)
2046 (Wong)

[Umbugbene]

2004 must be one of my least favorite years for movies.

1. Eros (the Antonioni part only)

El crimen ferpecto (de la Iglesia)
The Bridesmaid (Chabrol)
Pont des Arts (Green)
Howl's Moving Castle (Miyazaki)
Bride & Prejudice (Chadha)
Bad Education (Almodóvar)
The Downfall (Hirschbiegel)

I'm still curious about the Greenaway, Hadžihalilović, Jancsó, Ruiz, Sembene, and Alonso, but haven't had a chance to see them yet. $1M Baby is to me the absolute worst of all Oscar Best Picture winners, and that's saying a lot.

[Silga]

I found the Antonioni's segment from Eros easily the weakest of the three. Soderbergh's one was ok and Wong's was very well made and the one I prefer.

[Umbugbene]

It's not peak Antonioni, but I found the Soderbergh embarrassingly bad and the Wong dull. There just isn't much to choose from for the year, or else I've missed all the good films.

[ofrene]

Throw Down

Tropical Malady
The Sky Turns
Before Sunset
The World
Vera Drake
Collateral
Cinevardaphoto
Bridge of Arts
Birth
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Million Dollar Baby
Tomorrow We Move
The Aviator
The Face You Deserve
Marseille
The Intruder
The Incredibles

[Silga]

Final list:

1. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)

The World (Jia Zhangke)
The Consequences of Love (Paolo Sorrentino)
Bad Education (Pedro Almodóvar)
The Last Farm (Rúnar Rúnarsson)
Howl's Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki)
Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel)
Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore)
Sideways (Alexander Payne)
Birth (Jonathan Glazer)
Ray (Taylor Hackford)
The Aviator (Martin Scorsese)
The Assassination of Richard Nixon (Niels Mueller)
Dawn of the Dead (Zack Snyder)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson)
Ocean's Twelve (Steven Soderbergh)
Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright)
The Bourne Supremacy (Paul Greengrass)
The Ladykillers (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Alfonso Cuarón)

Watched 42 films (23 features and 19 shorts) from 2004 for this poll. Discovered some great films and 7 new films ended up on my final list as compared to the provisional one.

[...]

Final list I guess, cut it down without thinking about it too much, probably not what I pick if I thought about it longer, but don't have the time right now. It'll do, even with too much anime. Dang it.

Clean
Tropical Malady
Innocence
The World
Head On

Paranoia Agent
Kung Fu Hustle
The Case of the Grinning Cat
Moolaade
Triple Agent

The Holy Girl
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Anatomy of Hell
Yesterday Once More
The Hidden Blade

2046
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Samurai Champloo
Sissy-Boy Slap-Party
Ocean's Twelve

[sally]

Watched 42 films (23 features and 19 shorts) from 2004 for this poll.

that's pretty impressive!

[kanafani]

I was going to say I watched zero films from 2004 for this poll, but apparently I watched two by chance. Excellent year!

The Sky Turns (Mercedes Álvarez, 2004)

The Case of the Grinning Cat (Chris Marker, 2004)
Ten Skies (James Benning, 2004)
Pirated Copy (He Jianjun, 2004)
Nothing Ventured (Harun Farocki, 2004)
13 Lakes (James Benning, 2004)
Marseille (Angela Schanelec, 2004)
Evolution of a Filipino Family (Lav Diaz, 2004)
The Intruder (Claire Denis, 2004)
Birth (Jonathan Glazer, 2004)
Kings and Queen (Arnaud Desplechin, 2004)
The World (Jia Zhangke, 2004)
Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembène, 2004)
Venus & Fleur (Emmanuel Mouret, 2004)
Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004)
Woman Is the Future of Man (Hong Sang-soo, 2004)
The Holy Girl (Lucrecia Martel, 2004)
Los muertos (Lisandro Alonso, 2004)
Triple Agent (Éric Rohmer, 2004)
Take Out (Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou, 2004)