ILF top 5 lists 2003

Yeah, should we be concerned about release dates or not?

(See my comment in other thread.)

I guess it depends if we want to make this an actual POLL, or just a list thread. Maybe just a list thread is okay.

Yeah, and obviously I meant that MWAP was released in 2002 in the USA.

The first four are solid; the fifth was a tough decision among three worthy candidates.

1. All the Real Girls (David Gordon Green, U.S.)
2. Lilya 4-Ever (Lukas Moodysson, Sweden)
3. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, U.S.)
4. Spellbound (Jeffrey Blitz, U.S.)
5. Capturing the Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki, U.S.)

i fear ridicule for my own list.

i haven't seen three (3!) of the films on jaymc's list. hope to rectify that soon thanks to dvd.

Hey, there's tons I haven't seen! That's why I haven't been inspired to draw up a list until recently -- I'm still playing catch-up.

Anyway, part of the idea behind this is that I'd just like to get to know people on this board a bit better, and hopefully avoid some of the mudslinging I've been guilty of lately.

So: I promise not to ridicule you!

Don't fear, Ryan! Mine will no doubt change as others post theirs, but something like this (I am cheating a bit because of UK release dates):

1.Man Without A Past (Kaurismaki, Finland)
2.Far From Heaven (Haynes, U.S.)
3.City Of God (Meirelles, Brazil)
4.All The Real Girls (Gordon Green, U.S.)
5.Elephant (Van Sant, U.S.)

Not great, but pretty good. Outsiders: Kill Bill, Spider, Charlie's Angels:Full Throttle, Cold Mountain, Master And Commander, Ten, 28 Days Later, Werckmeister Harmonies.

Eh... I suppose I can go with my very lenient list (anything I happened to see in a theater in its first-run screening in Minneapolis in '03):

Gerry (Gus Van Sant, 02)
Russian Ark (Aleksandr Sokurov, 02)
Ten (Abbas Kiarostami, 02)
La Commune (Paris, 1871) (Peter Watkins, 00)
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (Quentin Tarantino)

I can't remember if Esther Kahn showed in Minneapolis in '03 or '02. Its not being on any of the City Pages critics' list this year seems to point towards the latter, otherwise it would be in slot 2 or 3.

Any number of films that I haven't seen probably would've (and will) change this list. I really want to see Elephant, The Son, Unknown Pleasures, Bus 174, All the Real Girls, Spider, The Company, Stuck on You, Love and Diane, Dogville, and so on and so on....

That's a good list, @d@m. Far From Heaven was my #3 of 2002 (behind 25th Hour and Spirited Away). And Elephant would probably make my top 10.

You still never explained what you meant when you said we don't often agree.

Has Dogville opened anywhere yet?

Hmmm...I've only seen two of those (the same two mentioned in my post above). I've been avoiding Gerry and Russian Ark somewhat, but I should really check them out.

By all accounts, Bus 174 is fantastic.

You still never explained what you meant when you said we don't often agree.

I think we concur often, just not on Lost In Translation (meh) and Big Fish (I kind of enjoyed it.

Yeah, I want to see Gerry, too. I sort of forgot about it for a while.

Maybe to fully appreciate Lost in Translation, you need a drink.

http://www.gothamist.com/images/2003_9_suntorytime.jpg

That single still alone reminds me that no matter how racist, how bourgie, how shallow anyone thinks Translation is, Bill Murray getting an Oscar nomination is an unimpeachibly good thing.

Indeed.

Hear hear!

(x-post!)

He is proof that you can overcome acne scars and general ugliness and earn a really interesting face. Who was it that said, "At 50, everyone has the face that he deserves"?

There you go.

1. Salmer fra kjøkkenet (aka Psalms from the Kitchen)
2. Rok dábla (aka Year of the Devil, released -02 in the Czech Republic)
3. American Splendor
4. Bodysong
5. Good Bye, Lenin!

1. The Man Without A Past
2. Catch Me If You Can
3. City of God
4. Finding Nemo
5. American Splendor

Spielberg and Disney. Eek!

How about people contribute a second Top 5, "The Best Films I Saw For The First Time In 2003 But Weren't Necessarily Made That Year".

In which case it's:

1. The Long Goodbye
2. A Foreign Affair
3. Nashville
4. Grand Illusion
5. Rio Bravo/Ikiru

I haven't seen nearly enough 2003 films to make a list, since I have to wait for a dvd release.

Of the ones I did see, I enjoyed, but may not consider great the following: Lost in Translation, Cabin Fever, American Splendor, May, 28 Days Later, Winged Migration, X2

2003 list

1. all the real girls
2. lost in translation
3. kill bill vol. 1
4. city of god
5. in america

then top 5 that werent released in 2003, but saw for the first time

1. hiroshima mon amour
2. nashville
3. vivre sa vie
4. do the right thing
5. the last picture show
(last year was the first year that i was really into movies and probably bought 140 dvds)

Chuck, you hadn't seen "The Long Goodbye" before 2003???

I know, I know! 'Specially when I borrowed the tape off you for like three years. Needless to say, it's now one of my favourite films ever...

Mine too!

1. Lost In Translation
2. City Of God
3. Memories Of Murder
4. Spellbound
5. The Weather Underground

1. Touching The Void
2. City Of God
3. Master & Commander
4. Lost In Translation
5. Twilight Samurai

Again, though, this is fudged due to release dates : Solaris, Adaptation, Punchdrunk Love, the 25th Hour and Narc were all released in the UK this year and would push this 5 hard....

1. City Of God
2. Spirited Away
3. Werckmeister Harmonies
4. Spider
5. Belleville Rendezvous

No-one's voted for Return Of The King yet! Ned to thread!

I know -- I was just thinking that, too.

I'm not exactly sure if I saw all of these for the first time in '03, but I think so and they appear on my list of favorite films, so they would probably be good candidates for the "favorite old films seen for the first time in '03"...

Jeanne Dielman (1975 Akerman)
Chimes at Midnight (1965 Welles)
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1971 Brakhage)
Marnie (1964 Hitchcock)
God Told Me To (1976 Cohen)

My favorite older films seen for first time in 03 (in no particular order):

Desistfilm (1954, Brakhage)
All that I Desire (1953, Sirk)
Shock Corridor (1963, Fuller)
Mysterious Object At Noon (2000, Weerasethakul)
The Nine Lives Of Thomas Katz (2000, Hopkins)

a missed a lot of films this year. what I saw I liked, except for Swimming Poo.

list of sorts: Finding Nemo, Lost in Translation, Spellbound, Kill Bill. I can't think of a fifth. I don't think Man Without A Past ever played in Berkeley, unfortunately.

Current faves:

1. Lost In Translation
2. The Station Agent
3. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
4. The Cooler
5. Monster (though Elephant, Northfork, and Kill Bill each had a lot of visual/aural appeal)

(I count Love Liza, Bus 174, The Magdalene Sisters, Dirty Pretty Things, Gerry, Spellbound, Winged Migration, Lilja (aka Lilya) 4 Ever, The Son, City of God, Man Without a Past, and 28 Days Later - all movies I have seen on various best of 2003 lists - as 2001-2002 releases, otherwise this would be a lot harder)

I have yet to see Mystic River, The Triplets of Belleville, Cold Mountain, Pieces of April, Big Fish, The Fog of War, the House of Sand and Fog, or several international films (some of which I have yet to hear about I'm sure).

Just saw Capturing the Friedmans today. It would definitely be on my list.

1. Good Bye, Lenin!
2. Kill Bill, Vol. 1
3. Lord of the Rings: ROTK
4. uh...

didn't watch much films last year

Elephant
Finding Nemo
Pirates of the Caribbean
Zatoichi
Internal Affairs Trilogy

*Daddy Daycare
*Kill Bill
*Bruce Almighty
*Spirited Away
*Pirates of the Caribean

I must see Bruce Almighty.

That opened in theaters around here in 2003:

*Kill Bill
*The Good Thief
*Dirty Pretty Things
*25th Hour
*Master and Commander

"Kill Bill"
"Return of the King"
"The Good Thief"
"The Fog of War"
"Bad Santa"

elephant
finding nemo
lost in translation
return of the king
bad santa

it's fairly pedestrian but i think these films had the best mix of art and entertainment.

sub The Shape of Things for M&C on mine.

oh damn, I forgot Elf!

I would just like to mention 2 of the best films of '03

Final Destination 2
and
Old School

I just saw Bus 174 and can now make my top 5 films of 2003 list exclusively non-2003. Put it in where Kill Bill was. It's got the single most astonishing "special effect" I've seen this year.

The Triplets of Belleville
Lilya 4-Ever
Spider
City o' God

What was that "special effect," Eric?

What they did with that slo-mo (morphed?) madness at the end.

I was kind of disappointed by "Spider". It probably was one of the better films last year, but I was expecting so much more out of it. I guess I just felt the nature of the story allowed for a more abstract way of telling the narrative and instead it became fairly typical (the flashbacks, the background story, the "wild strawberries"-esque character viewing their past). Maybe i just shouldn't have set my expectations so high.

I agree with you, Jay. I really enjoyed it, but it narrowly misses my top 10 of 2003. (About to be published - just need to see one more contender.)

The commentary by Cronenberg on the DVD was excellent. One of the better ones I've heard in a while.

I will say that it had some of the best performances of 2003 -- esp. Gabriel Byrne and Miranda Richardson.

STILL have quite seen everything but here goes.

no order:

House of Sand and Fog
Return of the King
Down With Love
Open Range
In America

can anyone tell me what's the deal with Spider and Elephant? i'll really like to know

the standouts from last year:
[i live in a different part of the world so release dates are different]

Le Fils (!!!!!!)
War Photographer
Lilya-4-ever
Man Without A Past