1998 Poll 2.0

[karl]

Two Russian movies about how awful Russia is. You probably have to have spent some time in the region to fully appreciate 'em, and my Ukrainian better-75% can appreciate both better than I. KHRUSTALYOV, which I've finally seen, is as excellent as everyone says it is. Makes Muratova at her most madcap seem almost serene in comparison. My one minor quibble is that German throws too much at the viewer for two and a half hours, and it can weary. But still, yeah, great film. Shahnazarov's can't really compete, but its picture of the sad last days of the Yeltsin era looks pretty accurate. Cripes, and I think living in USA is depressing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY5SB7JtmfA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2fPbdJcVns

[rischka]

what a dense film. and increasingly disturbing in the last half.



i appreciate the palette of winter on this very hot day



after awhile i stopped making screenshots there's just too much going on here



all very beautiful and also disgusting like only german could do it

[rischka]

a man wanders in search of ghosts in tanner's requiem, a lovely small film about his love for lisbon and pessoa

[rischka]

Does anyone else watch movies around here? I think I have a couple more 98s here somewhere

[sally]

would definitely be watching more movies if the insane cretins near my house would stop hammering for one second. that said, I'm more excited about 1969....

[Curtis, baby]

coraci/sandler collabs absolutely ran shit this yr

The Cruise (Bennett Miller)
The Wedding Singer (Frank Coraci)

The Waterboy (Frank Coraci)
Histoire(s) du Cinema (Jean-Luc Godard)

Song of Avignon (Jonas Mekas)
The Bird People in China (Takashi Miike)

The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick)
Rushmore (Wes Anderson)

Passing On (Mike Hoolboom)
Eternity and a Day (Theo Angelopoulos)

[flip]

Does anyone else watch movies around here?

i watched a couple of 1998 movies yesterday, both hbo films i think -- the pentagon wars, a based-on-a-true-story satire of the absurdity of america's military industrial complex, with a very early viola davis alongside kelsey grammar, who was much better in the role than i would have guessed he'd be. richard schiff is also in it. it was ridiculous and pretty funny, and i liked it a fair bit. also watched always outnumbered, with laurence fishburne, cicely tyson, bill duke and others, about an impoverished ex-con trying to make his way, much more serious drama, directed by the prolific michael apted who was the wrong person for the job, it feels more like street theater than the actual street, and the steamy saxophone music during the backalley chase scenes made no sense. would not really recommend except for the cast.

[rischka]

thx i feel less lonely now and i will watch buffalo 66 since it's too hot to go outside



great now i want to kill vincent gallo again

[Mario Gaborovic]

"WE'RE A COUPLE THAT DOESN'T TOUCH ONE ANOTHER. WE LIKE EACH OTHER, WE LIKE EACH OTHER AND WE SPEND TIME TOGETHER. WE JUST DON'T TOUCH ONE ANOTHER."

[rischka]

it was funny. and pathetic. and isn't that her car? why doesn't she leave??




he KIDNAPPED her. maybe she's imaginary. he doesn't seem stable

[greennui]

Can't find any films from '98 that excites me, ticking off films that have gathered dust on my harddrive instead.

[St. Gloede]

Can't find any films from '98 that excites me, ticking off films that have gathered dust on my harddrive instead.

What kind of films generally excite you? Maybe we can help.

[Angel]

Bajo California: El límite del tiempo (Under California: The Limit of Time)
Beshkempir (The Adopted Son)
Boodan yaa naboodan (To Be or Not to Be)
Conte d'automne (Autumn Tale)
Dark City
De Poolse bruid (The Polish Bride)
Gemide (On Board)
Kanzô sensei (Dr. Akagi)
Meschugge (The Giraffe)
Palwolui Keuriseumaseu (Christmas in August)
Pièces d'identités (Pieces of Identity)
Primary Colors
Return to Paradise
The Mask of Zorro
The Negotiator
Under solen (Under the Sun)
Vampires
Waking Ned
West Beyrouth. À l'abri les enfants (West Beirut)
Zugvögel - ... einmal nach Inari (Train Birds)

Deliberately excluded (IMDb/Lbxd/TSPDT/S&S top 500):
American History X
Arak el-balah
Buffalo '66
Central do Brasil
Crna macka, beli macor
Festen
Hai shang hua
Her Sey Çok Güzel Olacak
Histoire(s) du cinéma
La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Mia aioniotita kai mia mera
Rushmore
Saving Private Ryan
The Big Lebowski
The Thin Red Line
The Truman Show
Wandafuru raifu

To see before the deadline:
La parola amore esiste

Wanted:
Arak el-balah
Vremya tantsora

[greennui]

Can't find any films from '98 that excites me, ticking off films that have gathered dust on my harddrive instead.

What kind of films generally excite you? Maybe we can help.

Hard to pinpoint, something along the lines of my 90's favs I guess.

https://letterboxd.com/greennui/list/a- ... avourites/

[St. Gloede]

Can't find any films from '98 that excites me, ticking off films that have gathered dust on my harddrive instead.

What kind of films generally excite you? Maybe we can help.

Hard to pinpoint, something along the lines of my 90's favs I guess.

https://letterboxd.com/greennui/list/a- ... avourites/

Really interesting list of favourites, I see that you are especially drawn to minimalism and dialogue driven dramas, and their flipside, more bold, over the top, provocative and efforts (the more experimental the better?), with not that much else breaking through, especially recently.

Given these preferences I'm almost surprised mot to see Dong /The Hole by Tsai on your list, hitting both minimalism and the rougher off-the-cuffs surreal touches you seem to enjoy.

A more obscure recommendation is Beautiful Sunday by Tetsuya Nakashima. He would become more of a maximalist as his career continued, but he started in minimalism, and this is a quirky, bizarre little film that at least should leave an impression.

I assume you have seen An Autumn Tale and After Life, but if not these should be must sees for you.

Shunji Iwai's April Story could also be of interest, though it will likely not become a favourite.

As for something a bit rougher a round the edges and just a touch unhinged, Jancso did the bizarre comedy The Lord's Lantern in Budapest, and Chytilová did Traps. Neither on my list, but peculiar films that may hit home with you.

[rischka]

i really enjoyed secret defense it's like an anti-thriller



sandrine bonnaire always looks so cool



ok i think i'm done - revised list manana

[Lencho of the Apes]

There's a rather neat "poet's documentary" on yout about a Hmong tribe in backwoods Thailand called From The Forest Of Tigers And Spirits -- it's sorta like if you assigned an AI the task of making a Weerasethakul movie. Less than an hour...

[rischka]

how to find on youtube

apparently many video games have tigers and 'poet's documentary' presents its own challenge

google's search gets worse and worse

[Lencho of the Apes]

"From the Forest of Tigers and Sprits (1998) - English subtitle" Maybe it was the typo that buggered up your search.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-PxojRndq8

[rischka]

THANK YOU

[greennui]

Can't find any films from '98 that excites me, ticking off films that have gathered dust on my harddrive instead.

What kind of films generally excite you? Maybe we can help.

Hard to pinpoint, something along the lines of my 90's favs I guess.

https://letterboxd.com/greennui/list/a- ... avourites/

Really interesting list of favourites, I see that you are especially drawn to minimalism and dialogue driven dramas, and their flipside, more bold, over the top, provocative and efforts (the more experimental the better?), with not that much else breaking through, especially recently.

Given these preferences I'm almost surprised mot to see Dong /The Hole by Tsai on your list, hitting both minimalism and the rougher off-the-cuffs surreal touches you seem to enjoy.

A more obscure recommendation is Beautiful Sunday by Tetsuya Nakashima. He would become more of a maximalist as his career continued, but he started in minimalism, and this is a quirky, bizarre little film that at least should leave an impression.

I assume you have seen An Autumn Tale and After Life, but if not these should be must sees for you.

Shunji Iwai's April Story could also be of interest, though it will likely not become a favourite.

As for something a bit rougher a round the edges and just a touch unhinged, Jancso did the bizarre comedy The Lord's Lantern in Budapest, and Chytilová did Traps. Neither on my list, but peculiar films that may hit home with you.

Thanksss

[sally]

Can't find any films from '98 that excites me, ticking off films that have gathered dust on my harddrive instead.

if we're playing the shout at greennui game, he should at least watch https://letterboxd.com/film/haru-island ... -solitary/ it's 40 mins of loved up tove jansson and her partner's sea-splashed home movies in their insanely isolated island in the empty empty sea, i loved it.

[greennui]

Can't find any films from '98 that excites me, ticking off films that have gathered dust on my harddrive instead.

if we're playing the shout at greennui game, he should at least watch https://letterboxd.com/film/haru-island ... -solitary/ it's 40 mins of loved up tove jansson and her partner's sea-splashed home movies in their insanely isolated island in the empty empty sea, i loved it.

Neat, Jansson being a swedish speaker makes it even more cozy.

[rischka]

on vimeo with english subs!

edit: i love this soo much ♥

[nrh]

wait, how did i not know that existed? jannon's been one of my favorite writers for years...

[Mario Gaborovic]

I'll just post Buffalo 66 as the sole ballot and no other films would get any points from me because it deserves to top them all. So, if the minimum of 1 is allowed, this shall be:

Tier 1:
Buffalo 66

The world is cruel all around but there's plenty of great folks here and there, you just have to notice them and don't lose hope.

[rischka]

that's why we're still here i expect

un abrazo. also, don't kidnap anyone


a hero never dies - johnnie to
dil se - mani ratnam
terminus paradis - lucien pintilie
the last days of disco - whit stillman
haru, island of the solitary - cedarstrom/tanner

flowers of shanghai - hou hsiao-hsien
common people - xiaowen zhou
inquietude - manoel oliveira
dr. akagi - shohei imamura
secret defense - jacques rivette

the shoe - laila pakalniņa
khrustyalov, my car - aleksey german
the hole - tsai ming-liang
day of the full moon - karen shaknazarov
beshkempir - aktan arym kubat

szenvedély - györgy fehér
falkens oga - mikael kristersson
life on earth - abderrahmane sissako
a voz e o vazio: a vez de vassourinha - carlos adriano
dutch harbor - king/moya

i also loved the forest of tigers and spirits! in fact i think 'poet's documentary' might be my favorite genre ♥

[rischka]

Watching the one Karl linked at the top - what a trip i'm adding it too

[sally]

1998 is author central, there's also hugo santiago's (non-) maurice blanchot film and a manuel mozos one about josé cardoso pires (never read and after this doc, not that bothered to try)

[ofrene]

Anxiety
Histoire(s) du cinéma
Secret Defense
The Hole

After Life
An Autumn Tale
Christmas in August
Flowers of Shanghai

License to Live
Places in Cities
Serpent’s Path
The Apple

A Hero Never Dies
Babe: Pig in the City
Eyes of the Spider
The Big Lebowski