Skandies Decade Best
It’s almost the end of the decade and, as he did in 1999, Mike D’Angelo has asked us Skandie voters to pick our 10 favorite films of the decade and our 10 favorite performances (one category only; male and female, lead and supporting). He’s about halfway through the countdown now at his blog Listen, Eggroll.
Here are my ballots, with the Mike-request proviso that I not give away the point totals. To that same end, I’ve also listed them in alphabetical order, so as not to suggest any order of preference. There’s also links to those among the films and the actors’ films that I’ve written about.
BEST FILMS OF THE 00s
CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS (Andrew Jarecki, USA) — review essay here
THE CHILD (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Belgium) — review essay here
DOGVILLE (Lars von Trier, Denmark) — review essay here
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (Cristian Mungiu, Romania) — TIFF review here; with expansions here and here
GRIZZLY MAN (Werner Herzog, USA) — review essay here
MEMENTO (Christopher Nolan, USA)
LA PIANISTE (Michael Haneke, France/Austria)
SILENT LIGHT (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico) — TIFF review here; with review essay here
SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR (Roy Andersson, Sweden)
TIME OUT (Laurent Cantet, France)
BEST ACTORS OF THE 00s
Bjork, DANCER IN THE DARK — review of the film here
Russell Crowe, CINDERELLA MAN — review of the film here
Ryan Gosling, THE BELIEVER
Olivier Gourmet, THE SON — review of the film here
Isabelle Huppert, LA PIANISTE
Heath Ledger, THE DARK KNIGHT
Maia Morgenstern, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST — review of the film here
Simon Pegg, HOT FUZZ
Aurelien Recoing, TIME OUT
Imelda Staunton, VERA DRAKE — review of the film here
Rightwing Film Geek 
Only two (2!) American films neither of which is by an American, and no American actors! What a snob. Not really. I wouldn’t have gone with Crowe, and know you only did because he’s your favorite current actor. I also think you may like Morgenstern’s performance more than anyone in the world, but every other choice is really solid. I’d have made room for Bill Murray and maybe Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman (all for obvious films) but it’s a really great list. You’ll be the only person who votes for Pegg, but it’s a really inspired choice.
In fact, Hot Fuzz would make my top ten. I haven’t seen Songs From the Second Floor, but look forward to. I feel you probably went with the best Haneke (it is) much like you did with Crowe. I like all of your choices even though my list would be considerably different. The two docs are masterworks. I’m not nearly as big a fan of the brothers Dardenne as you are, but L’enfant is my fav (though wouldn’t make my top ten). I like Memento a lot, but I prefer The Prestige. Nolan still isn’t the director I’d like him to be but I think that he developed significantly from one to the other, and I actually think The Prestige has the better, more ambitious, screenplay. Time Out and Silent Light are obvious, and while I don’t love the Mungiu I definitely get the love. And Dogville is nothing short of von Trier’s best film. So much better than it has any right to be, and maybe the most intelligent film of the young century.
P.S. Do you really only just think Hot Fuzz is about having fun at the movies, or do you agree with me that it is also an anti-utilitarian (socialist/statist/Marxist) parable.
Comment by James | October 12, 2009 |
Correction, Jarecki is an American, and so is him film.
Comment by James | October 12, 2009 |