1997 poll

[Angel]

Buud Yam

Barbara
Brat (Brother)
Cop Land
Face/Off
Gadjo dilo (The Crazy Stranger)
Insomnia
Le bossu (On Guard)
Martín (Hache)
Moe no suzaku (Suzaku)
O Que é Isso, Companheiro? (Four Days in September)
On connaît la chanson (Same Old Song)
Rosewood
Setouchi munraito serenade (Moonlight Serenade)
Starship Troopers
The Boxer
The Full Monty
The Rainmaker
Titanic
Ulee's Gold

Deliberately excluded (IMDb/TSPDT/S&S top 500)
Bacheha-Ye aseman
Boogie Nights
Chun gwong cha sit
Funny Games
Good Will Hunting
Gummo
He liu
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
L.A. Confidential
La vita è bella
Lost Highway
Mat i syn
Mononoke-hime
Pâfekuto burû
Shin seiki Evangelion Gekijô-ban: Air/Magokoro wo, kimi ni
Ta'm e guilass

To see before the deadline
Comedian Harmonists
Kiss or Kill
Rien ne va plus
Tôkyô yakyoku

Wanted
A, B, C... Manhattan
Char Adhyay
Eau douce
Marion

[Holdrüholoheuho]

poll viewing No9:
GALLIVANT (Andrew Kötting)
https://letterboxd.com/film/gallivant/

it is a travelogue starting at De La Warr Pavilion (Bexhill-on-Sea) following clockwise the UK's coastline.
the main protagonists (besides the author himself) are the filmmaker's grandma Gladys and daughter Eden.


after leaving De La Warr Pavilion, we stumble upon Offa's Dyke and get familiar with the magic word "Sellafield".

https://youtu.be/M5--AVhTJ04
https://youtu.be/YQUC0Yu0jeE
https://youtu.be/cOm9zsGDGGc

then, we hear there is a difference between the coastal & inland dwellers and learn that those best at gurning live in Egremont (Cumbria).

(urban dict.) gurning = the grotesque face a person or creature pulls when they are absolutely fucking pinging.

then, we visit northernmost-north, John o' Groats (learning the phrase "Land's End to John o' Groats") and Cape Wrath specifically.

turning back to the south, we don't miss Clootie well near Cromarty, take part in a Long Sword dance, picnic near Martello tower in Clacton-on-Sea, and meet Jack in the Green (before being back in Bexhill).

and on the way, we can also learn few rhymes.

A sailor went to sea, sea, sea
To see what he could see, see, see
And all that he could see, see, see
Was the bottom of the deep, blue sea, sea, sea.

Linda woz 'ere & now she's gone.
She's left her name to turn you on.
Those that know her know her well.
Those what don't can rot in hell.

A penny loaf to feed the Pope.
A farthing of cheese to choke him.
A gallon of beer to wash it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.

Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn the body of his head.
Then we'd know the Pope is dead.

I'm Dan the potato man.
Find a better if you can.
Another potato like me.
I'm Dan the potato man.

it was a very pleasing journey and this film will be with great pleasure invited to my ballot.

[Lencho of the Apes]

120 Days Of Bottropp was tasteless and very funny, approx. what you'd get if 1970s John Waters had been a postpunk Berliner. I feel like about 80% of the jokes went over my head, but that's okay cuz there were so many of them. And more naked men than I've ever seen in any single movie, because Fassbinder parody.

Rhsnks to Jiri for the rec. Also thanks.

[Holdrüholoheuho]

poll viewing (rewatch) No11:
IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS (Dominic Angerame)
letterboxd says 1995, but imdb (and the film itself too) 1997
https://letterboxd.com/film/in-the-cour ... an-events/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5790796/

i watched several films by Dominic Angerame years ago.
as far as i remember my fav was THE SOUL OF THINGS.
now, for the poll, i rewatched IN THE COURSE OF HUMAN EVENTS and it is a great demolition city symphony (with great industrial music soundtrack). it is certainly gonna be part of my ballot.

https://expcinema.org/site/en/wiki/work ... man-events
After the 1989 quake the city of San Francisco decided to tear down the Embarcadero Freeway once and for all. The climate of dread evoked by PREMONITION is followed by a primitive yet seductive "tableau" of twisted metal. The bulldozers are prehistoric monsters that tear bits of metal and stone from the vulnerable concrete. Angerame films the spectacle in extremely precise shots that surgically unveil our obsession with destruction and technological decline.

"[A]n exquisite black and white surrealist depiction of the Embarcadero Freeway demolition, in which dinosaurlike tractors gnash at an organic tangle of steel reinforcements. ... Inanimate objects and heavy machinery become living metaphors for generation through the director's signature use for high-contrast, time-lapse and double exposure cinematography. Like a moving gallery installation, the 23-minute piece is composed of individual shots so precise and emotionally evocative that each could stand on its own as testimony to Angerame's astounding talent." - Silke Tudor, SF Weekly

[Holdrüholoheuho]

because Fassbinder parody.

yw!
the best mockFassbinder is Eva Mattes.
A MAN LIKE EVA (Radu Gabrea, 1984)
https://letterboxd.com/film/a-man-like-eva/

[lineuphere]

Final list:

Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai)

The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan)
Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami)
Funny Games (Michael Haneke)
The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo)
Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Ossos (Pedro Costa)
Suzaku (Naomi Kawase)
Train of Shadows (José Luis Guerín)
The House (Sharunas Bartas)
La vie de Jésus (Bruno Dumont)
Ma vie en rose (Alain Berliner)
Mother and Son (Aleksandr Sokurov)
The Duo (Mani Ratnam)
Children of Heaven (Majid Majidi)

[Holdrüholoheuho]

poll viewing No12:
KNITTELFELD: A TOWN WITHOUT A HISTORY (Gerhard Benedikt Friedl)
https://letterboxd.com/film/knittelfeld ... t-history/

there are books like "Plotto: The Master Book of All Plots" (by William Wallace Cook)


which seemingly offer to the aspiring scriptwriter all the possible plot twists.

There are over 2,000 unique conflict situations in the book, and each is cross-referenced with designs for how the situation might have started, or where it might go.

but then there are films like KNITTELFELD

hilariously bland footage paired with the gruesome-neverending-hyperbolic story of a murderous family

which go far beyond all the "Plotto's" intricate combinations and diagrams.

[Holdrüholoheuho]

poll viewing No13:
PHILIP JOHNSON: DIARY OF AN ECCENTRIC ARCHITECT (Barbara Wolf)
https://letterboxd.com/film/philip-john ... architect/

a doc about Philip Johnson's experimental houses (on the screencaps below is the "Library") built on his estate in New Canaan, Connecticut.

http://djhuppatz.blogspot.com/2011/02/p ... d-new.html
While the Glass House is an undisputed icon of modernist architecture, the other structures on Johnson’s New Canaan estate are less well known. More than simply a country retreat, Johnson’s estate functioned as a forum for ideas for over fifty years as it grew from an original five acres to forty acres as Johnson bought adjoining properties. Structures on the estate built by Johnson were: the Glass House and Guest House (both 1949), the Lake Pavilion (1962), the Painting Gallery (1965), the Sculpture Gallery (1970), the Library (1984), the Lincoln Kirsten Tower (1985), the Ghost House (1985), and Da Monsta (1994). These various buildings and follies can be seen as an autobiographical map tracing Johnson’s professional life, not only as an architect, but also as a connoisseur, tastemaker, and historian.

[greennui]

Knittelfeld is the John Woo Landscape Suicide.

Titanic (James Cameron) - Rewatch. My first time seeing this since the 90's...I remember it and Moodysson's Show Me Love being released around the same time and becoming the first grown-up films that ended up being a craze at my school. Titanic was a little too romantic for me, much preferred SML's realism, though I was blown away by those Swedish talking immigrants early on in the film that Jack won his ticket from. Now, watching this today...The sinking is still an effective spectacle, makes many recent similar films look like shit, but the film is essentially carried by Leo/Winslet and their chemistry. Their characters and romance were pretty one-note but Winslet was dynamite (Rivette can eff off with those comments) and Leo perfect for the role. Had they miscast any of those two roles then Cameron might as well have had a proper wreck on his hands...and it's the vapid Cameronisms that def end up hobble the film, like the whole long wraparound story with Cameron flaunting his hobby and having Bill Paxton as a stand in for himself.

[rischka]

LOL i saw titanic at the theater only because a friend of mine swore i was gonna love it. she was WRONG

getting knittelfeld now

[Lencho of the Apes]

Office Killer!

If it hadn't been for Greg, I never would have known Cindy Sherman had a thing like this in her. Thanks, G! Probably won't make my ballot, but I'm very glad to have watched it. Particularly recommended to Thoxans, for its Christmas Evil vibe.

[rischka]

the voiceover is a bit much but jazz '34 is a beautiful thing. i think i outgrew altman some years back but jazz probably approximates what he was trying to do, so kudos. this was originally an episode of masterpiece theater which i used to watch, don't know how i missed this one!

THX GREENNUI. just what i needed today

[kanafani]

the voiceover is a bit much but jazz '34 is a beautiful thing. i think i outgrew altman some years back but jazz probably approximates what he was trying to do, so kudos. this was originally an episode of masterpiece theater which i used to watch, don't know how i missed this one!

THX GREENNUI. just what i needed today

Hey come on can’t a guy get credit for anything around here?

[rischka]

OH NO. i'm sorry. THANK YOU KANAFANI THIS WAS A PEAK EXPERIENCE OF MY WEEK, MONTH, YEAR ♥ ♥

i am not sure why i credited the swedish guy

[kanafani]

OH NO. i'm sorry. THANK YOU KANAFANI THIS WAS A PEAK EXPERIENCE OF MY WEEK, MONTH YEAR ♥ ♥

That’s more like it

[rischka]

Watching it again now. Too bad it's 96 on imdb ...

is the altman feature this is connected to any good it has a decent cast

hmmm letterboxd says no. well some people liked it but not flip or broD

so i'm sure i've seen the best part

[greennui]

i am not sure why i credited the swedish guy

u can also credit me for ending the Nagorno-Karabakh war, directing La casa del ángel and developing the Pfizer Vaccine...

[thoxans]

recommended

molly ringwald!? circa '97!?!? in a horror film!?!?!? i'd watch that. is it in the place with the things where we do the stuff?

[Silga]

molly ringwald!? circa '97!?!? in a horror film!?!?!? i'd watch that. is it in the place with the things where we do the stuff?

I've got a copy and can put it in the place. I haven't seen it myself, but just checked and it looks ok.

[rischka]

i am not sure why i credited the swedish guy

u can also credit me for ending the Nagorno-Karabakh war, directing La casa del ángel and developing the Pfizer Vaccine...

you forgot nilsson schmilsson

[Lencho of the Apes]

where we do the stuff

Where we do the stuff is where I always post a watchlist of potential downloads and it's among them mit link.

[...]

If it hadn't been for Greg, I never would have known Cindy Sherman had a thing like this in her.

NRH, I think, is the one who mentioned it here, though I've also seen it because I had to see what Sherman would do with a feature. It could maybe sneak onto the bottom of my list, once I make one, but likely might just miss.

[nrh]

glad anyone is checking out office killer - it would easily be on my list on a year less stacked than this. i do think its reputation is hurt by the fact that everyone knows her early film stills stuff and the viscerally unpleasant work she was making in the late '80s through mid-90s, especially the very horror inflected disasters series and the weird dismembered mannequins of the sex pictures, is kind of forgotten.

[greennui]

Ernest Borgnine on the Bus (Jeff Krulik) - Borgnine goes travelling through the US in a bus and with unbridled enthusiasm tours workplaces/meets people and rambles on about life/his career. A cozy, lo-fi watch, very 90's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esG-h2VEO-Y

[thoxans]

about two-thirds of the way through haneke's the castle, and it's actually quite good. his usual sterility suits the material well. there's even a sense of humor on display! looks like gloede has been the only person to vote for it, while everyone else is voting funny games; but this one (thus far) seems vastly superior imo. we'll see if haneke screws it all up before film's end though...

[rischka]

iruvar is pretty great! mohanlal is very charismatic if nothing like a leading man type. watching aishwarya rai doing bob fosse style jazz numbers in her film debut, the topical link between politics and entertainment and how even great men are compromised by power, mani ratnam clearly one of the best filmmakers working, in india or anywhere else. although there's a disclaimer (none of the characters are based on real people) it's apparently common knowledge that they are based on historical characters, MG Ramachandran, who dominated in tamil films through the 60s-70s, and his friend M Karunanidh, who began his career as a screenwriter. the title 'iruvar' means the duo. both served as chief minister of Tamil Nadu multiple times, growing into bitter rivals. thumbs up and in the list

[nrh]

mohanlal is very charismatic if nothing like a leading man type

he's one of the two biggest stars (mammootty is the other one) in the malayalam film industry! still breaking box office records as he enters his '60s. everything from hard core art house films to huge action movies to some very famous comedies.



but then mgr, who would typically be the most extravagantly made-up actor in any of his films, is probably not the modern idea of leading man material either

[thoxans]

oh snap didn't realize iruvar was a '97. that changes my upcoming viewing schedule entirely! it'll also help increase the total # of mani films i've seen, so maybe we can do a poll for him soon

[rischka]

but then mgr, who would typically be the most extravagantly made-up actor in any of his films, is probably not the modern idea of leading man material either

oh well then, perfect casting

the subs were a little fast and i never managed to adjust them so that was annoying! but not annoying enough to stop watching

[greennui]

I'm done so...final list.

1. The Blackout (Abel Ferrara)

Nowhere (Gregg Araki)
The Hips of John Wayne (Joao Cesar Monteiro)
Knittelfeld – Town Without History (Gerhard Benedikt Friedl)
Lost Highway (David Lynch)
Rosas Danst Rosas (Thierry De Mey)
Frost (Fred Kelemen)
Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon)
The End of Evangelion (Hideaki Anno)
Mysterious Journey (Jordan Belson)
Starship Troopers (Paul Verhoeven)
Study of a River (Peter Hutton)
Two Orphan Vampires (Jean Rollin)
Under the Skin (Carine Adler)
Gummo (Harmony Korine)
Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai)
Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki)
Fireworks (Takeshi Kitano)
Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Ossos (Pedro Costa)