Tuesday, December 23, 2008

2008: Michael J. Anderson

The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel)
Tokyo Sonata (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
In the City of Sylvia (José Luis Guerín, 2007)
A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin)
The Duchess of Langeais (Jacques Rivette, 2007)
Fengming: A Chinese Memoir (Wang Bing, 2007)
RR (James Benning, 2007)
Be Kind Rewind (Michel Gondry)
Adrift in Tokyo (Satoshi Miki, 2007)
Chouga (Darezhan Omirbaev, 2007)

Runners-up: Fine, Totally Fine (Yosuke Fujita), Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood), Sarabande (Nathaniel Dorsky), Sparrow (Johnnie To), You, the Living (Roy Andersson, 2007).

Updated (3/15/09): My 2008 only list is now available here, with an English-language version here.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

My favorite films of the year are
Roy Andersson's "You The Living" and Lenny Abrahamson's "Garage".
Peter

Michael J. Anderson said...

Thanks Peter, your recommendations are always more than welcome. I'm not sure that I've heard of "Garage," but from a very brief glance, it definitely sounds well worth my time. Please let me know if there are any other must-sees that Lisa or I missed with our selections.

Next Projection said...

It would seem that I am the only one who didn't enjoy Adrift in Tokyo. I've read nothing but strong reviews of the film, but I just couldn't get into it. I mean I didn't find particularly engaging or funny, but I know you aren't the only one who enjoys it, so I know it's not you. I guess maybe it's me.

Nice to see your inclusion of films like Tokyo Sonata and Redbelt.

Getting a hold of a copy of The Duchess of Langeais has actually proven quite difficult, but I'm going to continue to try.

A wildly unique list you got there. Thanks for the recommendations.

Peter said...

Michael, a couple of other very good films I saw are Henry Hathaway's 1935 film "Peter Ibbetson" and Bob Quinn's "Poitin", which was made in 1977.
Peter