01 May 2009

MayDay: Help Needed

Despite my plans, I didn't end up writing about any of the 2000 films I missed in April, and honestly 'R Xmas was the only first-time viewing that I've written about so far (shame). But with May comes 2002, and at least three of my all-time favorite films will show up, one from Spain, one from Scotland, the other from France. 2002 will also show the first film from my favorite American filmmaker to debut in the '00s. So, as I've been pretty bad about watching films from 2000-2001 that I hadn't seen prior (I promise Yi-yi and Werckmeister Harmonies are coming, though I seem to have nothing enlightening to say about In the Mood for Love... hmmm), I'm enlisting your help to give me the extra push toward, or away from, these 2002 films I have yet to catch. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Aime ton père - dir. Jacob Berger
All or Nothing - dir. Mike Leigh
Amen. - dir. Costa-Gavras
Une part du ciel - dir. Bénédicte Liénard
Heaven - dir. Tom Tykwer
Angel on the Right - dir. Jamshed Usmonov
Twilight Samurai - dir. Yoji Yamada
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - dir. Dai Sijie
Senso '45 - dir. Tinto Brass
El bonaerense - dir. Pablo Trapero
Deux - dir. Werner Schroeter
Marie-Jo et ses deux amours - dir. Robert Guédiguian
Solino - dir. Fatih Akin
Respiro - dir. Emanuele Crialese
Oasis - dir. Lee Chang-dong
On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate - dir. Hong Sang-soo
Une femme de ménage - dir. Claude Berri
Salomé - dir. Carlos Saura
Tycoon - dir. Pavel Lungin
Los lunes al sol [Mondays in the Sun] - dir. Fernando León de Aranoa
O Princípio da Incerteza - dir. Manoel de Oliveira
The Good Thief - dir. Neil Jordan
Au plus près du paradis - dir. Tonie Marshall
Springtime in a Small Town - dir. Tian Zhuangzhuang
Waiting for Happiness - dir. Abderrahmane Sissako

Of course, any other suggestions for 2002 films (check the IMDb if you're not sure of the year, though I'm aware they are definitely not fail proof). I'd like to say the first 2002 film will roll out tonight, but we'll see where the day takes me.

7 comments:

girish said...

Joe, the Hong is my favorite on this list. And I like the Sissako a lot too. Both highly recommended!

reassurance said...

Thanks, Girish!

filmbo said...

Senso '45 is quite good as well, at least for Brass standards.

Heaven is worth your time, though you might find it unwatchable, as many of my friends do. I like it.

And keep me posted about The Good Thief.

-Mike said...

I'll give a big recommendation to The Good Theif. I remember liking it a lot when I saw it, though that was 6 years ago. And I can safely say you can avoid Heaven.
-M

reassurance said...

I find most of Tykwer's stuff close to unwatchable, so I think I'll probably skip that one, though it was based on a screenplay by Kieslowski; for some reason the "sequel" L'Enfer, directed by Danis Tanovic (No Man's Land) starring Emmanuelle Béart (who's probably one of the few actors out there to have starred in two, completely different films with the exact same title), has never been released in the US.

Anonymous said...

Please, watch Bela Tarr, you will be very happy you did. I will not say it is worth your time, that such a lowly utilitarian view. If you love movies, or books, or paintings, or music, even the worst ones enrich you, because every piece you face sharpens your ability to discern in the future between the "good" and the "bad". And Tarr is up there in the Pantheon, it will touch you.

reassurance said...

Thanks everyone for the assistance.

I'm extremely nervous about my viewing of Werckmeister Harmonies as it seems to have sparked a curiosity from certain people as to why I haven't seen it before and what I will have to say about it once I have watched it. On vera...