R.I.P. Patrice Chéreau: A Great, Under-Appreciated French Filmmaker

One of French cinema's finest directors, Patrice Chéreau, died yesterday at the age of 68. Famous as a writer and director of both the screen and the stage, Chéreau made his film debut in 1975 with The Flesh of the Orchid (La chair de l'orchidée), an adaptation of British mystery author James Hadley Chase's sequel to No Orchids for Miss Blandish. The film starred Charlotte Rampling, Simone Signoret, Edwige Feuillère, Bruno Cremer, and Hugues Quester. Chéreau would subsequently re-team with Signoret in 1978 for his next feature, Judith Therpauve. He would come to prominence in the international film circuit with this third film in 1983, L'homme blessé, a gritty, sexually explicit tale of an eighteen-year-old boy (Jean-Hugues Anglade) and his infatuation with a drug-addicted hustler (Vittorio Mezzogiorno). Premiering in competition at Cannes that year, L'homme blessé launched the career of Anglade, who would work with Chéreau again in Queen Margot and Persécution, and awarded Chéreau and his co-writer Hervé Guibert the César for Best Original Screenplay.

His next film, Hôtel de France—which starred Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Vincent Perez, Marianne Denicourt, Agnès Jaoui, and Bruno Todeschini among others—played in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 1987, followed by Chéreau's participation in the Amnesty International-funded omnibus feature Contre l'oubli (Lest We Forget), alongside Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, Claire Denis, Chantal Akerman, and several others. His best-known film, Queen Margot (La reine Margot), played in competition at Cannes in 1994, winning the Jury Prize as well as the Best Actress prize for Virna Lisi. The lavish, violent costume drama was nominated for an Academy Award for costume design, a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, and received Césars for cinematography, costume design, and for three of its cast members: Isabelle Adjani, Jean-Hugues Anglade, and Lisi.

Chéreau returned to his queer roots in 1998 with the splendid Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train, an ensemble film surrounding the funeral of a beloved painter (Jean-Louis Trintignant). The film also starred Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Vincent Perez, Pascal Greggory, Charles Berling, Bruno Todeschini, Roschdy Zem, and Dominique Blanc. Césars were given to Blanc for Supporting Actress, Éric Gauthier for Cinematography, and Chéreau for Direction. Chéreau made his English-language debut in 2001 with the controversial Intimacy, one of the first mainstream, English-language films in to feature unsimulated sex between its two leads, Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox. The film, which was based on the writings of Hanif Kureishi and also starred Marianne Faithfull and Timothy Spall, won the coveted Golden Bear at the Berlinale. He would again find himself on the award podium at the Berlinale two years later, winning the Best Director prize for his wonderful Son frère. Son frère featured Bruno Todeschini, who had co-starred in several of Chéreau's earlier films, and Éric Caravaca as a pair of estranged brothers who are brought back together when the elder, Thomas (Todeschini), is diagnosed with a deadly disease.

Both of his last two films, Gabrielle and Persécution, would compete at the Venice Film Festival, in 2005 and 2009 respectively. Chéreau and his frequent writing collaborator, Anne-Louise Trividic, adapted Gabrielle from a short story by Joseph Conrad. The film featured Isabelle Huppert and Pascal Greggory as a couple whose seemingly happy marriage dissolved when Huppert leaves Greggory a letter on their tenth anniversary announcing that she's leaving to be with another lover . Chéreau's final film, Persécution, starred Romain Duris as an unhappy man with a distant girlfriend (Charlotte Gainsbourg) whose life gets shaken up by a mysterious stranger (Jean-Hugues Anglade) who claims to be in love with him.

In addition to being a great director of actors, Chéreau, too, acted in a number of notable films, including Andrzej Wajda's Danton, Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans, and Claude Berri's Lucie Aubrac. He also played Napoléon in Youssef Chahine's Adieu Bonaparte and provided the voice of Marcel Proust in Raúl Ruiz's Time Regained (Le temps retrouvé). His last appearance onscreen was in Michael Haneke's Time of the Wolf (Le temps du loup), memorably sparring with his wife, played by Béatrice Dalle.

Though his many accolades may suggest otherwise, I've always felt that Chéreau was rather undervalued in the world of cinema. As a director, Chéreau had a truly uncompromising vision. From the dark tunnels of L'homme blessé, the impossible red bloodshed in Queen Margot, the shadowy interiors of the taken train and its inhabitants in Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train, the sea-swept blueness—literal and otherwise—of Son frère, the grainy floorboards and the stains of sex in Intimacy, and the mood-lit sets of Gabrielle, each of his films burned a deep impression in my memory. All of his films (at least those that I've seen) challenged the audience in unexpected ways, and none of them were the least bit easy to swallow. I admired that about his films, how no matter how prepared I thought I was for what I was about to see, he was always giving me something more, something different, or something unexpected. I'm pretty sure my liking of every single one of his films came in hindsight, or in my inability to shake any of his work for weeks after. His explorations of darkness were always rewarding. He will be missed.

The Decade List: 50 (More) Honorable Mentions

I don't plan on offering realtime stats of the process of elimination I'm going to be going through, but I've officially axed 50 titles from the list that's now sitting at around 165. In previous months' updates, I'd included other honorable mentions that were certainly not going to make the 100, some annotates, some not. You can find them for 2000, 2001, 2002 and an assorted one including films from 2002-2004. These are not what one might assume to be 101-150, as I still have close to 70 more that I need to eliminate before finalizing the 100, but are of some merit nonetheless. Listed alphabetically.

20 Centimeters [20 centímetros], 2005, d. Ramón Salazar, Spain/France
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, 2007, d. Andrew Dominik, USA/Canada
Away from Her, 2006, d. Sarah Polley, Canada
Bad Education [La mala educación], 2004, d. Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
Beeswax, 2009, d. Andrew Bujalski, USA
Before I Forget [Avant que j'oublie], 2007, d. Jacques Nolot, France
The Boss of It All [Direktøren for det hele], 2006, d. Lars von Trier, Denmark/Sweden/Iceland/Italy/France/Norway/Finland/Germany
The Bridge, 2006, d. Eric Steel, USA/UK
Captain Ahab [Capitaine Achab], 2007, d. Philippe Ramos, France/Sweden
The Cats of Mirikitani, 2006, d. Linda Hattendorf, USA

City of God [Cidade de Deus], 2002, d. Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund, Brazil/France
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul [Istanbul hatirasi - Köprüyü geçmek], 2005, d. Fatih Akin, Turkey/Germany
Dave Chappelle's Block Party, 2005, d. Michel Gondry, USA
Enduring Love, 2004, d. Roger Michell, UK
The Exterminating Angels [Les anges exterminateurs], 2006, d. Jean-Claude Brisseau, France
Far from Heaven, 2002, d. Todd Haynes, USA/France
Fast Food Nation, 2006, d. Richard Linklater, USA/UK
The Girlfriend Experience, 2009, d. Steven Soderbergh, USA
Great World of Sound, 2007, d. Craig Zobel, USA
Home, 2008, d. Ursula Meier, Switzerland/France/Belgium

In the Loop, 2009, d. Armando Iannucci, UK
The Incredibles, 2004, d. Brad Bird, USA
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis, 2006, d. Mary Jordan, USA
Jackass Number Two, 2006, d. Jeff Tremaine, USA
The King, 2005, d. James Marsh, UK/USA
Last Life in the Universe, 2003, d. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Thailand/Japan
Man Push Cart, 2005, d. Ramin Bahrani, USA
Manderlay, 2005, d. Lars von Trier, Denmark/Sweden/UK/France/Netherlands/Germany
Milk, 2008, d. Gus Van Sant, USA
Next Door [Naboer], 2005, d. Pål Sletaune, Norway/Sweden/Denmark

Punch-Drunk Love, 2002, d. Paul Thomas Anderson, USA
Quiet City, 2007, d. Aaron Katz, USA
Read My Lips [Sur mes lèvres], 2001, d. Jacques Audiard, France
Rejected, 2000, d. Don Hertzfeldt, USA
Requiem, 2006, d. Hans-Christian Schmid, Germany
Rubber Johnny, 2005, d. Chris Cunningham, UK
Silent Light [Stellet licht], 2007, d. Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Netherlands/Germany
Solaris, 2002, d. Steven Soderbergh, USA
Somersault, 2004, d. Cate Shortland, Australia
Son frère, 2003, d. Patrice Chéreau, France

Starting Out in the Evening, 2007, d. Andrew Wagner, USA
Tetro, 2009, d. Francis Ford Coppola, USA/Italy/Spain/Argentina
Time of the Wolf [Le temps du loup], 2003, d. Michael Haneke, France/Austria/Germany
Times and Winds [Beş vakit], 2006, d. Reha Erdem, Turkey
Vinyan, 2008, d. Fabrice Du Welz, France/Belgium/UK/Australia
Wendy and Lucy, 2008, d. Kelly Reichardt, USA
X2, 2003, d. Bryan Singer, USA/Canada
XXY, 2007, d. Lucía Puenzo, Argentina/France/Spain
Yeast, 2008, d. Mary Bronstein, USA
Yella, 2007, d. Christian Petzold, Germany

New Denis, Rivette, Ferrara, Chéreau, Akin, Sequels to Repo Man, Tetsuo at Venice 09

The official Venice Film Festival line-up was announced today in Italy with some very exciting prospects, not least of which the latest from Claire Denis and Jacques Rivette. The fest will show their national spirit by opening with (groan) Giuseppe Tornatore's latest Baarìa (in other Tornatore news, did you know Miramax remade Everybody's Fine with Robert De Niro, Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore and Kate Beckinsale? It'll be out later this year). A number of the films announced will also screen at this year's Toronto. I suspect Toronto might have been waiting for Venice's announcement to add the final details to their roster. My long-shot of a hope that Sébastien Lifshitz's Plein sud would premiere there didn't happen (its release has also been moved to December in France), but otherwise, 2009 has been a pretty promising year at the big festivals. If that's only by name and/or prestige, I can't say... But can we at least expect an Abel Ferrara/Werner Herzog showdown in Venice this year?

In Competition

- 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup - d. Jacques Rivette - w. Jane Birkin, Sergio Castellitto, Jacques Bonnaffé, André Marcon
- Accident - Cheang Pou-Soi (Dog Bite Dog)
- Baarìa, la porta del vento - d. Giuseppe Tornatore - w. Monica Bellucci, Raoul Bova, Ángela Molina
- Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans - d. Werner Herzog
- Between Two Worlds - Vimukthi Jayasundara (The Foresaken Land)
- Capitalism: A Love Story - d. Michael Moore
- La doppia ora - d. Giuseppe Capotondi (directorial debut) - w. Filippo Timi
- Il grande sogno - d. Michele Placido (Romanzo criminale) - w. Riccardo Scamarcio, Laura Morante
- Lebanon - d. Samuel Maoz
- Life During Wartime - d. Todd Solondz
- Lourdes - d. Jessica Hausner - w. Sylvie Testud, Bruno Todeschini, Léa Seydoux
- Mr. Nobody - d. Jaco van Dormael (Le huitième jour, Toto le héros) - w. Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger, Rhys Ifans
- Persécution - d. Patrice Chéreau - w. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Romain Duris, Jean-Hughes Anglade
- Prince of Tears - Yonfan (Bishonen)
- The Road - d. John Hillcoat (The Proposition) - w. Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Robert Duvall, Michael K. Williams, Molly Parker, Garret Dillahunt
- A Single Man - d. Tom Ford (yes, the designer) - w. Julianne Moore, Colin Firth, Matthew Goode, Gennifer Goodwin
- Soul Kitchen - d. Fatih Akin - w. Birol Ünel, Moritz Bleibtreu
- Lo spazio bianco - d. Francesca Comencini (Visions of Europe) - w. Margherita Buy, Salvatore Cantalupo
- Survival of the Dead - d. George A. Romero - w. Kenneth Welsh, Devon Bostick (really, in competition?)
- Tetsuo: The Bullet Man - d. Shinya Tsukamoto
- The Traveller - Ahmed Maher
- White Material - d. Claire Denis - w. Isabelle Huppert, Isaach De Bankolé, Christopher Lambert, Nicolas Duvauchelle
- Women Without Men - d. Shirin Neshat

Out of Competition

- [REC] 2 - d. Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza
- Anni luce - d. Francesco Maselli (L'amore in città)
- Chengdu, I Love You - d. Fruit Chan, Cui Jian
- The Hole - d. Joe Dante (Gremlins, The 'burbs) - w. Bruce Dern, Teri Polo
- The Informant! - d. Steven Soderbergh
- The Men Who Stare at Goats - d. Grant Heslov (HBO's Unscripted) - w. Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Stephen Lang
- Napoli Napoli Napoli - d. Abel Ferrara
- L'oro di Cuba - d. Giuliano Montaldo (Sacco & Vanzetti)
- Prove per una tragedia Siciliana - d. John Turturro, Roman Paska
- Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story - d. Yousry Nasrallah (La porte du soleil)
- South of the Border - d. Oliver Stone
- Yona Yona Penguin - d. Rintaro (Metropolis)

Midnight Movies

- Brooklyn's Finest - d. Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) - w. Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Lili Taylor, Ellen Barkin, Will Patton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Brian F. O'Byrne
- Delhi-6 - d. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
- Dev D - d. Anurag Kashyap
- Gulaal - d. Anurag Kashyap
- Valhalla Rising - d. Nicolas Winding Refn (the Pusher series) - w. Mads Mikkelsen, Jamie Sives

Horizons

- 1428 - d. Du Haibin (China)
- Adrift - d. Bui Thac Chuyên (Vietnam)
- Buried Secrets - d. Raja Amari (Satin Rouge, Tunisia)
- Il colore delle parole - d. Marco Simon Puccioni (Riparo, Italy)
- Cow - d. Guan Hu (China)
- Crush - d. Pyotr Buslov, Aleksei German Jr., Boris Khlebnikov, Kirill Serebrennikov, Ivan Vrypayev (Russia)
- Engkwentro - d. Pepe Diokno (Philippines)
- Francesca - d. Bobby Paunescu (Romania) - w. Luminita Gheorghiu
- I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You - d. Marcelo Gomes (Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus), Karim Ainouz (Brazil)
- Insolacao - d. Daniela Thomas, Felipe Hirsch (Brazil)
- Io sono l'amore [I Am Love] - d. Luca Guadagnino (Melissa P.) - w. Tilda Swinton
- Judge - Liu Jie (China)
- The Man's Woman and Other Stories - d. Amit Dutta (India)
- Once Upon a Time Proletarian: 12 Tales of a Country - d. Guo Xiaolu (China)
- The One All Alone - d. Frank Scheffer (Netherlands)
- One-Zero - d. Kamla Abou Zekry (Egypt)
- Paraiso - d. Héctor Gálvez (Peru)
- Pepperminta - d. Pipilotti Rist (Switzerland) - w. Sabine Timoteo
- Repo Chick - d. Alex Cox (U.S.)
- Tender Parasites [Zarte Parasiten] - d. Christian Becker, Oliver Schwabe (Germany)
- Toto - d. Peter Schreiner (Austria)
- Tris di donne e abiti nunziali - d. Martina Gedeck (Italy)
- Villalobos - d. Romuald Karmakar (Deutschland 09, Germany)

There were a few more events named, including some stuff from Werner Herzog, Aleksandr Sokurov, Tinto Brass and Phillip Haas. There was also a New Italian Cinema Trends side-bar that I didn't post -- but you can get the titles via Variety. I'll post more when I hear of it.

The Decade List: Some Honorable Mentions for 2001

It's tough making these lists. You want to be as thorough as possible, but who has time to go back and rewatch all of the films they saw during a given year? On one hand, I'd love for some crystal ball to tell me if I'd like The Devil's Backbone as much now as I did when I first saw it in the theatre. On the other hand, if I had such a device, it would spoil the joy of finding out that you were plain wrong in disliking something upon first viewing (that happened to me with Performance). I like to think my taste has improved from when I was 17, but with four exceptions, I haven't seen any of the films I've listed below in at least five years. Alas, I'm still holding out on a couple of films that I will actually sit down and watch again, so by no means is this a definitive list of 2001 Honorable Mentions, but more, the films from 2001 I don't have the time (or desire) to see again. Unless of course, you convince me otherwise. They are not ranked, but I've placed the annotated ones first.

Intimacy - dir. Patrice Chéreau

Before Chloë Sevigny, Kerry Fox became the first legitimate English-speaking actress to perform fellatio onscreen (I didn't come up with that distinction). And, as you may have heard or seen, it's nothing to fuss over (I recall people leaving the theatre once it happened not out of outrage but because they saw what they came to see). Opening with one of my favorite Tindersticks songs, "A Night In," Patrice Chéreau's Intimacy chronicles the no-frills sexual relationship between two adults (Fox and Mark Rylance) with a candid eye. Compared to some of Chéreau's other films, Intimacy, which was the director's first film in English, isn't wholly remarkable, but the leads are wonderful and the cinematography from Éric Neveux, who has worked on a number of films by Arnaud Desplechin and Olivier Assayas, is exquisite.

With: Mary Rylance, Kerry Fox, Marianne Faithfull, Timothy Spall, Susannah Harker, Alastair Galbraith, Philippe Calvario, Fraser Ayres
Screenplay: Annie-Louise Trividic, Patrice Chéreau, based on stories by Hanif Kureishi
Cinematography: Éric Neveux
Country of Origin: France/UK/Germany/Spain
US Distributor: Empire Pictures/Koch Lorber

Premiere: 20 January 2001 (Sundance Film Festival)

Awards: Golden Bear, Silver Bear - Kerry Fox (Berlin International Film Festival)

Vagón fumador [Smokers Only] - dir. Verónica Chen

Certainly one of the lesser examples of the recent artistic surge in Argentina, Smokers Only is admirable in its disposition, even if it's not entirely successful. I actually wrote a paper for a class defending the film's merits (nearly every critic that reviewed the film hated it), but due to a hard drive crash and a stolen "man bag," it has disappeared into the ether. Verónica Chen's later effort Agua from 2006 would officially cross her off my list of exciting new directors to keep an eye out for.

With: Leonardo Brzezicki, Cecilia Bengolea, Adrián Fondari, Carlos Issa, Fernando Moumdjian, Juan Martín Gravina, Adrián Blanco
Screenplay: Verónica Chen
Cinematography: Nicolás Theodossiou
Music: Edgardo Rudnitzky, Chango Spaciuk
Country of Origin: Argentina
US Distributor: Strand Releasing

Premiere: 11 November 2001 (Thessaloniki International Film Festival)
US Premiere: 20 December 2002 (New York City)

Bridget Jones's Diary - dir. Sharon Maguire

Just as 2001 reminded us of the long-forgotten days when we thought we didn't like Penélope Cruz, I was reminded of a time when we thought another actress with an accent aigu in her name: Renée Zellweger. Following her brilliant performance in Neil LaBute's Nurse Betty (which is currently in my rewatch queue), Zellweger defied the naysayers (Brits, mostly) and pulled off a near-flawless British accent as the titular Bridget Jones. Her charm went beyond the expected chicklit/romcom standard, and even placed Hugh Grant against type as Jones' asshole boss. I never saw the sequel, but I seem to remember a friend saying something about Bridget Jones getting thrown into a Thai prison for drug smuggling... and with that, I decided to keep my memories of Bridget pure, even if I'll never be able to do the same for the actress playing her.

With: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent, Celia Imrie, James Faulkner, Shirley Henderson, James Callis, Sally Phillips, Embeth Davidtz
Screenplay: Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies, Richard Curtis, based on the novel by Fielding
Cinematography: Stuart Dryburgh
Music: Patrick Doyle
Country of Origin: UK/France
US Distributor: Miramax Films

Premiere: 4 April 2001 (UK)
US Premiere: 13 April 2001

Awards: Best Actor (Audience Award) - Colin Firth (European Film Awards)

Hotel - dir. Mike Figgis

Taken from my earlier review: Cinema so rarely gives us that beautiful escapist feeling any more (The Transporter 2, which I may write about soon, is a fine example of the contrary), so when a film does, whether it's of high merit or not, one must appreciate it. Mike Figgis' Hotel is one such example. It's like going on a fucking vacation... and not one of those vacations you had to go on with your parents and siblings where you placed license plate games and stayed in the hotel watching TV the whole time. It's more like a vacation to a gorgeous European locale where you don't speak the language and don't really care. Such artistic pretension hasn't shown its face since Peter Greenaway (a fellow Brit). Well, such satisfying pretention, that is. Figgis' Time Code was a digital experiment in which four camera captured real-time action loosely surrounding a Hollywood satire. The feat itself was marvelous, even if the film was deservedly forgotten shortly afterward. He returns to digital experimentation with Hotel, sometimes employing the quad-screen in Time Code, but often using simple split-screens, night vision camera, and the blending of images. American audiences threw their hands up, and the film went hidden for nearly four years until getting a direct-to-video release. There's a lot of fucking stuff going on here, including a British film crew making a tasteless Dogme adaptation of The Duchess of Malfi, an American tabloid whore Charlee Boux (Salma Hayek) making a documentary about the production, a murder subplot, and the hotel staff that appears to be kidnapping people and feeding their bodies to the clientele. All of this sounds like a mess, and it is -- but a rather glorious mess. I purchased Hotel from my work for around 5 dollars (we had plenty of backstock) and found that multiple viewings really don't enchance the film in any way. One would think a film as convoluted as this would do so, but you soon realize that the magic of Hotel is in your initial blindness to its strange and alarming provocations. I have a particular fondness for films that challenge our senses, even if the final result is as messy as my room looks right now, and especially when its teamed with lofty ambition. To make sense of Hotel would be futile, but I can't say it's not worth a shot to allow yourself to just go with it.

With: Rhys Ifans, Saffron Burrows, David Schwimmer, Valentina Cervi, Lucy Liu, Max Beesley, Julian Sands, Salma Hayek, Valeria Golino, John Malkovich, Burt Reynolds, Chiara Mastroianni, Mía Maestro, Ornella Muti, Mark Strong, Jason Isaacs, Danny Huston, Laura Morante, Heathcote Williams, Andrea Di Stefano, Stefania Rocca, Mark Long, Fabrizio Bentivoglio
Screenplay: Mike Figgis, Heathcote Williams, loosely based on the play The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster
Cinematography: Patrick Alexander Stewart
Music: Mike Figgis, Anthony Marinelli
Country of Origin: UK/Italy
US Distributor: MGM

Premiere: 12 September 2001 (Toronto International Film Festival)
US Premiere: 5 June 2002 (Atlanta Film and Video Festival)

The Fluffer - dir. Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland

As I haven't the time to re-watch all of the films I'm spotlighting in the Honorable Mentions section, many of these films have been included as a result of being pleasant surprises as opposed to exceptional films. I'm not sure which category The Fluffer falls in, as I simply remember blindly purchasing a ticket for it and being startled at the fact that it was much better than I would have anticipated any film called The Fluffer could be. The premise is a bit silly: a young film student (Michael Cunio) tries to rent a copy of Citizen Kane, only to find that the video cassette he's rented isn't the Orson Welles classic but a gay porn called Citizen Cum. This "happy accident" leads the ambitious Sean to the LA-based porn studio, where his dream to make it in the film industry is overshadowed by his lust for Citizen Cum's gay-for-pay leading man Johnny Rebel (Scott Gurney). Much to his delight, Sean becomes the porn star's fluffer. The rest of the film concerns Sean's (failed) attempts to rationalize his feelings for Johnny, whose stripper girlfriend (Roxanne Day) has just found out she's pregnant, and the film ends on a strange, elusive note that has stuck with me to this day. It's highly possible that The Fluffer merely worked by exceeding my expectations of American gay cinema (I actually didn't even know the film fell into this category when I bought the ticket), but it's also nice to remember a recent gay flick with something other than just a bad taste in your mouth. Note: The pun wasn't intentional, but I'm leaving it anyway.

With: Michael Cunio, Scott Gurney, Roxanne Day, Deborah Harry, Taylor Negron, Josh Holland, Richard Riehle, Ron Jeremy
Screenplay: Wash Westmoreland
Cinematography: Mark Putnam
Music: John Vaughn, The Bowling Green
Country of Origin: USA
US Distributor: TLA Releasing/First Run Features

Premiere: 11 February 2001 (Berlin International Film Festival)
US Premiere: 25 September 2001 (Portland LGBT Film Festival)

Sugar & Spice - dir. Francine McDougall

It's a shame so many people hate Sugar & Spice, because it's actually rather sharp, even in its diluted version which was so altered by the studio from Lola Williams' original screenplay that she asked to have her name taken off of it. A set of high school cheerleaders plot to rob a bank and, sorry for the "spoiler," get away with it. As the pregnant squad captain Diane, Marley Shelton shows great comic timing, whether using Madonna lyrics as words of wisdom or greeting her reflection every morning with a pep talk, and this would be utilized best in Grindhouse a few years later. It may not be one of the best teen comedies Hollywood has given us, but it's certainly a lot better than you've heard.

With: Marley Shelton, James Marsden, Marla Sokoloff, Mena Suvari, Rachel Blanchard, Melissa George, Alexandra Holden, Sara Marsh, Sean Young, W. Earl Brown
Screenplay: Lona Williams, under the pseudonym Mandy Nelson
Cinematography: Robert Brinkmann
Music: Mark Mothersbaugh
Country of Origin: USA
US Distributor: New Line Cinema

Premiere: 24 January 2001

Wet Hot American Summer - dir. David Wain

Wet Hot American Summer sure was a hoot when it first came out. Subsequent viewings haven't proven as fruitful, and Showalter's bit during the talent show is really tedious. It remains the most successful cinematic foray from the State guys, though The Baxter isn't without its moments.

With: Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Showalter, Marguerite Moreau, Paul Rudd, Michael Ian Black, Christopher Meloni, Molly Shannon, Amy Poehler, Zak Orth, A.D. Miles, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Elizabeth Banks, Marisa Ryan, Gideon Jacobs, Liam Norton, Kevin Sussman
Screenplay: Michael Showalter, David Wain
Cinematography: Ben Weinstein
Music: Theodore Shapiro, Craid Wedren
Country of Origin: USA
US Distributor: USA Films

Premiere: 23 January 2001 (Sundance Film Festival)

Lost & Delirious - dir. Léa Pool

Despite a handful of clichés, Lost & Delirious is probably one of the better girls-at-boarding-school films outside of the exploitation genre.

With: Piper Perabo, Jessica Paré, Mischa Barton, Jackie Burroughs, Graham Greene, Mimi Kuzyk, Luke Kirby, Emily Vancamp
Screenplay: Judith Thompson, based on the novel The Wives of Bath by Susan Swan
Cinematography: Pierre Gil
Music: Yves Chamberland
Country of Origin: Canada
US Distributor: Lions Gate Films

Premiere: 21 January 2001 (Sundance Film Festival)

Awards: Best Cinematography (Genie Awards, Canada); Best Cinematography in Theatrical Feature (Canadian Society of Cinematographers)

Jeepers Creepers - dir. Victor Salva

Like Candyman, Victor Salva's Jeepers Creepers is remarkably scary for its first third, and also like Candyman, it looses its scares when the Boogeyman shows his face.

With: Gina Philips, Justin Long, Jonathan Breck, Patricia Belcher, Eileen Brennan, Brandon Smith, Peggy Sheffield
Screenplay: Victor Salva
Cinematography: Don E. FauntLeRoy
Music: Bennett Salvay
Country of Origin: USA/Germany
US Distributor: United Artists

Premiere: 20 July 2001 (München Fantasy Filmfest)
US Premiere: 31 August 2001

The Royal Tenenbaums - dir. Wes Anderson

With: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Danny Glover, Seymour Cassel, Kumar Pallana, Grant Rosenmeyer, Jonath Meyerson, Alec Baldwin
Screenplay: Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson
Cinematography: Robert Yeoman
Music: Mark Mothersbaugh
Country of Origin: USA
US Distributor: Touchstone Pictures/Criterion

Premiere: 5 October 2001 (New York Film Festival)

Awards: Best Actor, Musical or Comedy - Gene Hackman (Golden Globes)

L'emploi du temps [Time Out] - dir. Laurent Cantet

With: Aurélien Recoing, Karin Viard, Jean-Pierre Mangeot, Serge Livrozet, Monique Mangeot
Screenplay: Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet
Cinematography: Pierre Milon
Music: Jocelyn Pook
Country of Origin: France
US Distributor: Miramax Films

Premiere: 4 September 2001 (Venice Film Festival)
US Premiere: 3 October 2001 (New York Film Festival)

Warm Water Under a Red Bridge - dir. Shohei Imamura

With: Kôji Yakusho, Misa Shimizu, Mitsuko Baisho, Manasaku Fuwa, Isao Natsuyagi, Yukiya Kitamura, Hijiri Kojima
Screenplay: Motofumi Tomikawa, Shohei Imamura, Daisuke Tengan, based on the novel by Yo Henmi
Cinematography: Shigeru Komatsubara
Music: Shinichirô Ikebe
Country of Origin: Japan/France
US Distributor: Cowboy Booking/Home Vision

Premiere: 19 May 2001 (Cannes)
US Premiere: 29 September 2001 (New York Film Festival)

Tape - dir. Richard Linklater

With: Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Uma Thurman
Screenplay: Stephen Belber, based on his play
Cinematography: Maryse Alberti
Country of Origin: USA
US Distributor: Lions Gate Films

Premiere: 26 January 2001 (Sundance Film Festival)

Le peuple migrateur [Winged Migration] - dir. Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzard, Michel Debats

Screenplay: Jean Dorst, Stéphane Durand, Guy Jarry, Jacques Perrin, Francis Roux, from an idea by Valentine Perrin
Cinematography: Olli Barbé, Michel Benjamin, Sylvie Carcedo-Drejou, Laurent Charbonnier, Luc Drion, Laurent Fleutot, Philippe Garguil, Dominique Gentil, Bernard Lutic, Thierry Machado, Stéphane Martin, Fabrice Moindrot, Ernst Sasse, Michel Terrasse, Thierry Thomas
Music: Bruno Coulais
Country of Origin: France/Italy/Germany/Spain/Switzerland
US Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

Premiere: 12 December 2001 (France, Belgium)
US Premiere: 5 April 2001 (Philadelphia International Film Festival)

Awards: Best Editing - Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte (Césars)

El espinazo del diablo [The Devil's Backbone] - dir. Guillermo del Toro

With: Fernando Tielve, Eduardo Noriega, Marisa Paredes, Federico Luppi, Íñigo Garcés, Irene Visedo
Screenplay: Guillermo del Toro, Antonio Trashorras, David Muñoz
Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro
Music: Javier Navarrete
Country of Origin: Spain/Mexico
US Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

Premiere: 20 April 2001 (Spain)
US Premiere: 2 September 2001 (Telluride Film Festival)

Hundstage [Dog Days] - dir. Ulrich Seidl

With: Maria Hofstätter, Alfred Mrva, Erich Finsches, Gerti Lehner, Franziska Weisz, Rene Wanko, Claudia Martini, Victor Rathbone, Christian Bakonyi, Christine Jirku, Viktor Hennemann, Georg Friedrich
Screenplay: Veronika Franz, Ulrich Seidl
Cinematography: Wolfgang Thaler
Country of Origin: Austria
US Distributor: Kino

Premiere: 3 September 2001 (Venice Film Festival)
US Premiere: January 2002 (Sundance Film Festival)

Awards: Grand Special Jury Prize (Venice)

Rain - dir. Christine Jeffs

With: Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki, Sarah Peirse, Marton Csokas, Alistair Browning, Aaron Murphy, David Taylor, Chris Sherwood, Claire Dougan, Alison Routledge
Screenplay: Christine Jeffs, based on the novel by Kristy Gunn
Cinematography: John Toon
Music: Neil Finn, Edmund McWilliams
Country of Origin: New Zealand
US Distributor: First Look

Premiere: 14 May 2001 (Cannes)
US Premiere: 12 January 2002 (Sundance Film Festival)

Awards: Best Actress - Sarah Peirse, Best Juvenile Performer - Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki, Best Supporting Actor - Alistair Browning (New Zealand Film and TV Awards)