Sucking Ass in the STL

A friend e-mailed me today, reminding me, “oh shit, the year is almost over, and I have to make a top 10 list for 2007.” Granted, the list I provide for them is a bit preliminary, since living in Saint Louis means seeing films weeks after everyone else has. It sounds better, though, than my poor friend Stewart, whose town in Tennessee isn’t even showing No Country for Old Men. For my benefit, I’m compiling a list of films I need to see (whether I can or not, or whether they have a healthy shot at making the list or not) to make a well-rounded best of 2007 list for the new year. My “actual” best of the year list will come sometime in January.

Margot at the Wedding - dir. Noah Baumbach
The Orphanage [El Orfanato] - dir. Juan Antonio Bayona
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly [Le Scaphandre et le papillon] - dir. Julian Schnabel
Persepolis - dir. Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
The Savages - dir. Tamara Jenkins
Crazy Love - dir. Dan Klores

Redacted - dir. Brian De Palma
Terror’s Advocate [Avocat de la terreur] - dir. Barbet Schroeder
The Darjeeling Limited - dir. Wes Anderson
Enchanted - dir. Bill Kelly
Michael Clayton - dir. Tony Gilroy
Southland Tales - dir. Richard Kelly

Hannah Takes the Stairs - dir. Joe Swanberg
In the Valley of Elah - dir. Paul Haggis
Lust, Caution - dir. Ang Lee
Molière - dir. Laurent Tirard
Once - dir. John Carney
Rescue Dawn - dir. Werner Herzog

Ratatouille - dir. Brad Bird
Manufactured Landscapes - dir. Jennifer Baichwal
Youth Without Youth - dir. Francis Ford Coppola
Sweeney Todd - dir. Tim Burton
There Will Be Blood - dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
Cassandra’s Dream - dir. Woody Allen

Lars and the Real Girl - dir. Craig Gillespie
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - dir. Andrew Dominik
3:10 to Yuma - dir. James Mangold
Atonement - dir. Joe Wright
Juno - dir. Jason Reitman
Descent - dir. Talia Lugacy

Quiet City - dir. Aaron Katz
Ghosts of Cité Soleil - dir. Asger Leth
No End in Sight - dir. Charles Ferguson
The Hottest State - dir. Ethan Hawke
Klimt - dir. Raoul Ruiz
Lady Chatterley - dir. Pascale Ferran

If you can think of any others to add to the list, let me know. And, yeah, I know there ain’t a shot in hell that The Darjeeling Limited will make my list… and it’s just about as likely that I will actually see Cassandra’s Dream... and I want to see Atonement about as much as I want to watch the 2Girls1Cup video again.

As for the short-list of what may make that list, here she is:

Away from Her - dir. Sarah Polley
Black Book - dir. Paul Verhoeven
The Boss of It All - dir. Lars von Trier
The Boys and Girls’ Guide to Getting Down - dir. Paul Sapiano
Bug - dir. William Friedkin
Comedy of Power - dir. Claude Chabrol

Eastern Promises - dir. David Cronenberg
The Exterminating Angels - dir. Jean-Claude Brisseau
Fay Grim - dir. Hal Hartley
Flanders - dir. Bruno Dumont
Golden Door - dir. Emanuele Crialese
Grindhouse - dir. Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino

Joshua - dir. George Ratliff
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - dir. Seath Gordon
No Country for Old Men - dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Ploy - dir. Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Private Property - dir. Joachim Lafosse
Red Road - dir. Andrea Arnold

Sicko - dir. Michael Moore
Snow Cake - dir. Marc Evans [this is only included in case I decide to be really fucking snaky as it’s probably one of the most entertaining (for its sheer awfulness and earnestness in dealing with death and autism) films I saw all year]
Stephanie Daley - dir. Hilary Brougher
Waitress - dir. Adrienne Shelly
Wild Tigers I Have Known - dir. Cam Archer
Zodiac - dir. David Fincher

As for the worst of the year, I'll leave that more of a secret...