Monthly Archives: August 2019

T.A. Manchester’s BLEED AMERICAN

I reviewed T.A. Manchester’s Bleed American for Cine-File Chicago ahead of its Chicago Premiere next week. I’m posting the review in its entirety below.

bleed

T.A. Manchester’s BLEED AMERICAN (New American)

Classic Cinemas (1022 Lake Street, Oak Park) – Thursday, 7pm

A film about disaffected youth in the tradition of Jonathan Kaplan’s OVER THE EDGE, Tim Hunter’s RIVER’S EDGE, and Larry Clark’s KIDS, but given a refreshingly Midwestern (specifically northern Indiana) Trump-era spin, T.A. Manchester’s impressive second feature as writer/director is as raw as an open wound. In a concise 75 minutes, Manchester follows a group of blue-collar teens living without parental guidance in trailers and drab apartments in a bleak stretch of the Rust Belt as they alternately attempt to forge meaningful emotional and sexual bonds with one another, goof off, party and, ultimately, just eke out a daily existence. The main focus is on Larson (Jarret Maier), a lanky, brooding young man who struggles to play a paternal role to his confused younger siblings, LJ (Austin Holloway) and Lex (Madison Wolters), in the wake of their mother’s chronic illness and father’s absence, and the film’s narrative aimlessness is an apt reflection of the characters’ rudderless lives. It’s an assured piece of filmmaking shot in a gritty, quasi-documentary style: Manchester and cinematographer Mario Quintana are especially resourceful using wide-angle lenses in cramped spaces, and one dialogue scene in a car is a virtuoso piece of mise en scene. There’s plenty of talent lurking in the ensemble cast too but the female characters are given short shrift by being defined primarily for how they stir feelings in male counterparts with considerably more screen time. This is regrettable since Elizabeth Stam and Emily Eruraviel are compelling performers who tend to steal the scenes they’re in; but BLEED AMERICAN is, on the whole, a potent American indie about youth today that marks Manchester as a filmmaker to watch. Manchester, producer John Matzler, cinematographer Mario Quintana, and several cast members in person. (2019, 75 min, DCP Digital) MGS

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My Student Tomato-Meter: 2019 Edition

soup bath

The Fall semester just began, which means it’s that time of year when I post my updated “student tomato-meter” showing the aggregated results of the ratings — on a scale from one-to-10 — that my students have given to every movie I’ve shown in my film studies classes dating back to the Spring 2009 semester. I’ve now taught 124 classes and shown a total of 504 unique movies. Below is a list of all the films I’ve screened to date, presented in chronological order by release date, along with the average ratings given by my students. My goal as a teacher is to show at least one movie by every great director who ever lived. Please scan the list below and feel free tell me in the comments section who you think I might be missing.

Les Vampires (Feuillade, France, 1915-16) – 7
Sherlock Holmes (Berthelet, USA, 1915) – 4.3
Broken Blossoms (Griffith, USA, 1919) – 5.9
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wiene, Germany, 1920) – 6.9
Within Our Gates (Micheaux, USA, 1920) – 6.7
The Golem (Wegener/Boese, Germany, 1920) – 6
The Phantom Carriage (Sjostrom, Sweden, 1921) – 7.4
Nosferatu (Murnau, Germany, 1922) – 6.8
Safety Last! (Newmeyer/Taylor, 1923) – 8.4
Our Hospitality (Keaton, USA, 1923) – 8.2
Greed (Von Stroheim, USA, 1923) – 6.9
Coeur Fidele (Epstein, France, 1923) – 5.2
Sherlock Jr. (Keaton, USA, 1924) – 8
The Hands of Orlac (Wiene, Germany, 1924) – 6.2
Waxworks (Leni, Germany, 1924) – 5.1
The Freshman (Newmeyer/Taylor, USA, 1925) – 8.3
Seven Chances (Keaton, USA, 1925) – 8.2
The Gold Rush (Chaplin, USA, 1925) – 8.1
The Navigator (Keaton, USA, 1925) – 8.1
The Last Laugh (Murnau, Germany, 1925) – 6.6
Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, Soviet Union, 1925) – 5.1
The General (Keaton, USA, 1926) – 8.3
Faust (Murnau, Germany, 1926) – 6.9
Secrets of a Soul (Pabst, Germany, 1926) – 6.6
Sunrise (Murnau, USA, 1927) – 7
Metropolis (Lang, Germany, 1927) – 6.6
Hindle Wakes (Elvey, UK, 1927) – 6.6
The End of St. Petersburg (Pudovkin, Soviet Union, 1927) – 5
The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty (Shub, Soviet Union, 1927) – 4
The Docks of New York (Von Sternberg, USA, 1928) – 8.4
Speedy (Wilde, USA, 1928) – 7.5
The Crowd (Vidor, USA, 1928) – 7.4
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, France, 1928) – 7
Lonesome (Fejos, USA, 1928) – 6.7
A Cottage on Dartmoor (Asquith, UK, 1929) – 8.3
Lucky Star (Borzage, USA, 1929) – 8.1
Asphalt (May, Germany, 1929) – 6.8
Man with the Movie Camera (Vertov, Soviet Union, 1929) – 6.2
City Girl (Murnau, USA, 1930) – 6.7
L’age D’or (Bunuel, France, 1930) – 6.6
People on Sunday (Siodmak/Ulmer, Germany, 1930) – 5.2
Earth (Dovzhenko, Soviet Union, 1930) – 3.6
City Lights (Chaplin, USA, 1931) – 8.5
M (Lang, Germany, 1931) – 8
Madchen in Uniform (Sagan/Froelich, Germany, 1931) – 7.1
Freaks (Browning, USA, 1932) – 7.2
Vampyr (Dreyer, Denmark/Germany, 1932) – 6.9
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Lang, Germany, 1933) – 7.6
Duck Soup (McCarey, USA, 1933) – 6.8
It Happened One Night (Capra, USA, 1934) – 8.5
The Goddess (Wu, China, 1934) – 7.6
L’atalante (Vigo, France, 1934) – 6.8
Top Hat (Sandrich, USA, 1935) – 8.6
My Man Godfrey (La Cava, USA, 1936) – 8.5
Modern Times (Chaplin, USA, 1936) – 8
Redes (Muriel/Zinneman, Mexico, 1936) – 6.9
The Awful Truth (McCarey, USA, 1937) – 8.3
Grand Illusion (Renoir, France, 1937) – 7
Bringing Up Baby (Hawks, USA, 1938) – 8.2
The Lady Vanishes (Hitchcock, UK, 1938) – 8.1
Holiday (Cukor, USA, 1938) – 7.9
Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstein, Soviet Union, 1938) – 5
Midnight (Liesen, USA, 1939) – 8.7
The Roaring Twenties (Walsh, USA, 1939) – 8.2
Only Angels Have Wings (Hawks, USA, 1939) – 8.2
Stagecoach (Ford, USA, 1939) – 7.7
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (Mizoguchi, Japan, 1939) – 7.4
The Rules of the Game (Renoir, France, 1939) – 7
His Girl Friday (Hawks, USA, 1940) – 8.3
The Grapes of Wrath (Ford, USA, 1940) – 7.9
The Shop Around the Corner (Lubitsch, USA, 1940) – 7.4
The Lady Eve (Sturges, USA, 1941) – 8.2
Citizen Kane (Welles, USA, 1941) – 8
How Green Was My Valley (Ford, USA, 1941) – 7.8
The Strawberry Blonde (Walsh, USA, 1941) – 7.6
The Maltese Falcon (Huston, USA, 1941) – 6.9
Casablanca (Curtiz, USA, 1942) – 8.4
The Palm Beach Story (Sturges, USA, 1942) – 7.5
Aniki Bobo (De Oliveira, Portugal, 1942) – 7.2
Cat People (Tourneur, USA, 1942) – 6
The More the Merrier (Stevens, USA, 1943) – 8.3
I Walked with a Zombie (Tourneur, USA, 1943) – 6
Ossessione (Visconti, Italy, 1943) – 5.2
Meet Me in St. Louis (Minnelli, 1944) – 8.2
Double Indemnity (Wilder, USA, 1944) – 8.1
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (Sturges, USA, 1944) – 8
To Have and Have Not (Hawks, USA, 1944) – 7.5
Murder My Sweet (Dmytryk, USA, 1944) – 7
Brief Encounter (Lean, UK, 1945) – 7.8
Detour (Ulmer, USA, 1945) – 7.3
Rome, Open City (Rossellini, Italy, 1945) – 7.2
Notorious (Hitchcock, USA, 1946) – 8.5
The Best Years of Our Lives (Wyler, USA, 1946) – 8.4
My Darling Clementine (Ford, USA, 1946) – 7.5
The Big Sleep (Hawks, USA, 1946) – 6
Dead Reckoning (Cromwell, USA, 1947) – 8.2
Body and Soul (Rossen, USA, 1947) – 7.6
Out of the Past (Tourneur, USA, 1947) – 7.6
The Lady from Shanghai (Welles, USA, 1947) – 7.5
Pursued (Walsh, USA, 1947) – 7.1
Black Narcissus (Powell/Pressburger, UK, 1947) – 7.1
La Perla (Fernandez, Mexico, 1947) – 6.5
Letter from an Unknown Woman (Ophuls, USA, 1948) – 8.8
Rope (Hitchcock, USA, 1948) – 8.7
The Red Shoes (Powell/Pressburger, UK, 1948) – 8.3
Bicycle Thieves (de Sica, Italy 1948) – 7.9
Call Northside 777 (Hathaway, USA, 1948) – 7.5
Germany Year Zero (Rossellini, Italy/Germany, 1948) – 7.5
Fort Apache (Ford, USA, 1948) – 7.5
Spring in a Small Town (Fei, China, 1948) – 6.7
A Letter to Three Wives (Mankiewicz, USA, 1949) – 8.4
White Heat (Walsh, USA, 1949) – 8.3
The Third Man (Reed, UK, 1949) – 8
Jour de Fete (Tati, France, 1949) – 7.8
On the Town (Donen/Kelly, USA, 1949) – 7.4
Late Spring (Ozu, Japan, 1949) – 7.2
Sunset Boulevard (Wilder, USA, 1950) – 8.8
Los Olvidados (Bunuel, Mexico, 1950) – 7.6
Devil’s Doorway (Mann, USA, 1950) – 7.3
Union Station (Mate, USA, 1950) – 7.3
Stromboli (Rossellini, Italy, 1950) – 6.3
The African Queen (Huston, USA, 1951) – 8.3
An American in Paris (Minnelli, USA, 1951) – 8.2
On Dangerous Ground (Ray, USA, 1951) – 7.5
Singin’ in the Rain (Donen/Kelly, USA, 1952) – 9
Umberto D. (De Sica, Italy, 1952) – 6.8
The Big Heat (Lang, USA, 1953) – 8.5
Pickup on South Street (Fuller, USA, 1953) – 8.2
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Hawks, USA, 1953) – 8.2
Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (Tati, France, 1953) – 8.1
The Band Wagon (Minnelli, USA, 1953) – 7.9
Strangers on a Train (Hitchcock, USA, 1953) – 7.8
The Hitch-Hiker (Lupino, USA, 1953) – 7.7
City That Never Sleeps (Auer, USA, 1953) – 7.3
The Naked Spur (Mann, USA, 1953) – 7
Tokyo Story (Ozu, Japan, 1953) – 6.7
Ugetsu (Mizoguchi, Japan, 1953) – 6.7
Rear Window (Hitchcock, USA, 1954) – 8.8
Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, Japan, 1954) – 8.3
French Cancan (Renoir, France, 1954) – 8.2
Sansho the Bailiff (Mizoguchi, Japan, 1954) – 7
The Night of the Hunter (Laughton, 1955) – 9.1
All That Heaven Allows (Sirk, USA, 1955) – 8
Artists and Models (Tashlin, USA, 1955) – 7.8
Kiss Me Deadly (Aldrich, USA, 1955) – 7.2
Pather Panchali (Ray, India, 1955) – 6.4
A Man Escaped (Bresson, France, 1956) – 8.1
The Searchers (John Ford, USA, 1956) – 7.4
Bigger Than Life (N. Ray, USA, 1956) – 6.8
Aparajito (Ray, India, 1956) – 6.6
An Affair to Remember (McCarey, USA, 1957) – 8
Vertigo (Hitchcock, USA, 1958) – 8.8
Some Came Running (Minnelli, USA, 1958) – 7.9
Mon Oncle (Tati, France, 1958) – 7.9
Big Deal on Madonna Street (Monicelli, Italy, 1958) – 7.7
Touch of Evil (Welles, USA, 1958) – 7.5
Cairo Station (Chahine, Egypt, 1958) – 7
Ashes and Diamonds (Wajda, Poland, 1958) – 7
Throne of Blood (Kurosawa, Japan, 1958) – 5.9
Some Like It Hot (Wilder, USA, 1959) – 9
Anatomy of a Murder (Preminger, USA, 1959) – 8.9
North By Northwest (Hitchcock, USA, 1959) – 8.7
The 400 Blows (Truffaut, France, 1959) – 8.3
Rio Bravo (Hawks, USA, 1959) – 8
Pickpocket (Bresson, France, 1959) – 7.3
Hiroshima Mon Amour (Resnais, France, 1959) – 6.8
Psycho (Hitchcock, USA, 1960) – 8.7
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Naruse, Japan, 1960) – 8.1
Les Bonnes Femmes (Chabrol, France, 1960) – 8
Eyes Without a Face (Franju, France, 1960) – 7.7
Breathless (Godard, France, 1960) – 7.7
Accatone (Pasolini, Italy, 1960) – 7.6
L’avventura (Antonioni, Italy, 1960) – 7.4
Shoot the Piano Player (Truffaut, France, 1960) – 7.1
The Housemaid (Kim, S. Korea, 1960) – 7
Viridiana (Bunuel, Spain, 1961) – 7.4
Chronicle of a Summer (Rouch/Morin, France, 1961) – 6.9
Last Year at Marienbad (Resnais, France, 1961) – 6.8
The Ladies Man (Lewis, USA, 1962) – 8.3
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Ford, USA, 1962) – 8.3
Cleo from 5 to 7 (Varda, France, 1962) – 7.4
Vivre sa Vie (Godard, France, 1962) – 7.2
Le Doulos (Melville, France, 1962) – 7.1
Jules and Jim (Truffaut, France 1962) – 5.5
Shock Corridor (Fuller, USA, 1963) – 8.4
The Nutty Professor (Lewis, USA, 1963) – 8.4
The Executioner (Berlanga, Spain, 1963) – 8.1
Contempt (Godard, France, 1963) – 7.7
Black Sabbath (Bava, Italy, 1963) – 7.1
Le Joli Mai (Marker, France, 1963) – 6.8
8 1/2 (Fellini, Italy, 1963) – 6.5
Onibaba (Shindo, Japan, 1964) – 8
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Demy, France, 1964) – 7.7
Band of Outsiders (Godard, France, 1964) – 7.4
Dry Sumer (Erksan, Turkey, 1964) – 7.4
Pierrot le Fou (Godard, France, 1965) – 8.3
Repulsion (Polanski, UK, 1965) – 7.4
Mickey One (Penn, USA, 1965) – 6.9
Alphaville (Godard, France, 1965) – 6
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Leone, Italy, 1966) – 8.8
Black Girl (Sembene, Senegal, 1967) – 7.8
Daisies (Chytilova, Czechoslovakia, 1966) – 7.2
Point Blank (Boorman, USA, 1966) – 7
The Pornographers (Imamura, Japan, 1966) – 6.9
Persona (Bergman, Sweden, 1966) – 6.4
The Graduate (Nichols, USA, 1967) – 8.8
The Young Girls of Rochefort (Demy, France, 1967) – 8.6
Play Time (Tati, France, 1967) – 8.2
The Firemen’s Ball (Forman, Czechoslovakia, 1967) – 8
Le Samourai (Melville, France, 1967) – 7.9
Branded to Kill (Suzuki, Japan, 1967) – 7.8
Bonnie and Clyde (Penn, USA, 1967) – 7.5
Don’t Look Back (Pennebaker, USA, 1967) – 7.4
La Collectionneuse (Rohmer, France, 1967) – 7
David Holzman’s Diary (McBride, USA, 1967) – 6.9
Dragon Inn (Hu, Taiwan, 1967) – 6.5
Rosemary’s Baby (Polanski, USA, 1968) – 8.3
Night of the Living Dead (Romero, USA, 1958) – 7.8
High School (Wiseman, USA, 1968) – 7.7
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, USA, 1968) – 7.6
Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (Straub/Huillet, Germany, 1968) – 5.3
The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah, USA, 1969) – 8.1
The Unfaithful Wife (Chabrol, France, 1969) – 7.9
My Night at Maud’s (Rohmer, France, 1969) – 7.8
Inquiring Nuns (Quinn, USA, 1969) – 7.1
Medium Cool (Wexler, USA, 1969) – 7
Antonio das Mortes (Rocha, Brazil, 1969) – 5.2
The Red Circle (Melville, France, 1970) – 8.4
Le Boucher (Chabrol, France, 1970) – 7.5
La Rupture (Chabrol, France, 1970) – 7
Wanda (Loden, USA, 1970) – 6
The Emigrants (Troell, Sweden, 1971) – 8.8
A New Leaf (May, USA, 1971) – 8.2
Two-Lane Blacktop (Hellman, USA, 1971) – 7.7
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Altman, USA, 1971) – 6.9
Minnie and Moskowitz (Cassavetes, USA, 1971) – 5.2
The Godfather (Coppola, USA, 1972) – 9.4
The New Land (Troell, Sweden, 1972) – 8.8
Love in the Afternoon (Rohmer, France, 1972) – 7.8
Solaris (Tarkovsky, Russia, 1972) – 6.9
The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks (Shickel, USA, 1973)
American Graffiti (Lucas, USA, 1973) – 8.8
The Exorcist (Friedkin, USA, 1973) – 8.1
The Long Goodbye (Altman, USA, 1973) – 8
The Sting (Hill, USA, 1973) – 7.9
Badlands (Malick, 1973) – 7.6
The Mother and the Whore (Eustache, France, 1973) – 7.4
The Spirit of the Beehive (Erice, 1973) – 7.4
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Fassbinder, Germany, 1973) – 7.2
Touki Bouki (Mambety, Senegal, 1973) – 6.8
Blazing Saddles (Brooks, USA, 1974) – 8.4
Chinatown (Polanski, USA, 1974) – 8.2
Black Christmas (Clark, Canada, 1974) – 8.2
Young Frankenstein (Brooks, USA, 1974) – 7.6
Celine and Julie Go Boating (Rivette, France, 1974) – 6.8
The Irony of Fate: Or Enjoy Your Bath! (Ryazanov, Russia, 1975) – 8.5
Cooley High (Schultz, USA, 1975) – 8
Night Moves (Penn, USA, 1975) – 7.4
Grey Gardens (Maysles/Maysles, USA, 1975) – 4.2
Insiang (Brocka, Philippines, 1976) – 8.7
Taxi Driver (Scorsese, USA, 1976) – 8.2
In the Realm of the Senses (Oshima, Japan, 1976) – 6.9
Mikey and Nicky (May, USA, 1976) – 6.4
Annie Hall (Allen, USA, 1977) – 6.6
House (Obayashi, Japan, 1977) – 6.4
One Way Boogie Woogie (Benning, USA, 1977) – 5
A Wedding (Altman, USA, 1978) – 8.4
Halloween (Carpenter, USA, 1978) – 8.3
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Lau, Hong Kong, 1978) – 8.3
Dawn of the Dead (Romero, USA, 1978) – 7.8
Days of Heaven (Malick, USA, 1978) – 7.3
Killer of Sheep (Burnett, USA, 1979) – 7.8
The Blues Brothers (Landis, USA, 1980) – 8.9
Raging Bull (Scorsese, USA, 1980) – 8.3
The Shining (Kubrick, USA, 1980) – 8.2
Melvin and Howard (Demme, USA, 1980) – 7
Popeye (Altman, USA, 1980) – 5.2
Thief (Mann, USA, 1981) – 8.5
An American Werewolf in London (Landis, USA/UK, 1981) – 8.3
Body Heat (Kasdan, USA, 1981) – 8
Possession (Zulawski, France/Germany, 1981) – 7.9
The Road Warrior (Miller, Australia, 1981) – 7.5
Trances (El Maanouni, Morocco, 1981) – 6.2
The Thing (Carpenter, USA, 1982) – 8
Blade Runner (Scott, USA, 1982) – 7.6
The Slumber Party Massacre (Jones, USA, 1982) – 6.8
Rock in Reykjavik (Fridriksson, Iceland, 1982) – 6.3
A Nos Amours (Pialat, France, 1983) – 8.5
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (Oshima, Japan, 1983) – 8
Sans Soleil (Marker, France, 1983) – 6.2
Stranger Than Paradise (Jarmusch, USA, 1984) – 6.2
Vagabond (Varda, France, 1985) – 7.4
After Hours (Scorsese, USA, 1985) – 6.7
The Fly (Cronenberg, Canada/USA, 1986) – 8
Bad Blood (Carax, France, 1986) – 7.1
The Green Ray (Rohmer, France, 1986) – 6.1
The Dead (Huston, USA/UK, 1987) – 7.8
The Thin Blue Line (Morris, USA, 1988) – 7.7
A Short Film About Love (Kieslowski, Poland, 1988) – 7.7
Time of the Gypsies (Kusturica, Yugoslavia, 1988) – 7
A Short Film About Killing (Kieslowski, Poland, 1988) – 6.9
Drugstore Cowboy (Van Sant, USA, 1989) – 8.2
Do the Right Thing (Lee, USA, 1989) – 7.6
Goodfellas (Scorsese, USA, 1990) – 9
King of New York (Ferrara, USA, 1990) – 8.9
House Party (Hudlin, USA, 1990) – 6.7
Defending Your Life (Brooks, USA, 1991) – 8.5
To Sleep with Anger (Burnett, USA, 1991) – 8.4
The Lovers on the Bridge (Carax, France, 1991) – 8
Close-Up (Kiarostami, Iran, 1991) – 7.6
Slacker (Linklater, USA, 1991) – 7
Basic Instinct (Verhoeven, USA, 1992) – 9
Unforgiven (Eastwood, USA, 1992) – 8.6
Deep Cover (Duke, USA, 1992) – 8.3
The Player (Altman, USA, 1992) – 8.2
Candyman (Rose, USA, 1992) – 7.3
The Long Day Closes (Davies, UK, 1992) – 4.7
The Fugitive (Davis, USA 1993) – 9
The Piano (Campion, New Zealand, 1993) – 8.4
Dazed and Confused (Linklater, USA, 1993) – 8.4
Groundhog Day (Ramis, USA, 1993) – 8.4
Sonatine (Kitano, Japan, 1993) – 8.3
Menace II Society (Hughes/Hughes, USA, 1993) – 8.3
Matinee (Dante, USA, 1993) – 8.2
Naked (Leigh, UK, 1993) – 6.3
The Bride With White Hair (Yu, Hong Kong, 1993) – 5.1
Hoop Dreams (James, USA, 1994) – 8.1
Chungking Express (Wong, Hong Kong, 1994) – 8
The Last Seduction (Dahl, USA, 1994) – 7.2
Wild Reeds (Techine, France, 1994) – 7.1
Ed Wood (Burton, USA, 1994) – 6.8
Devil in a Blue Dress (Franklin, USA, 1995) – 8.5
The Bridges of Madison County (Eastwood, USA, 1995) – 8.2
Dead Man (Jarmsuch, USA, 1995) – 8.1
The Typewriter, the Rifle and the Movie Camera (Simon, USA, 1996)
Irma Vep (Assayas, France, 1996) – 7.2
A Moment of Innocence (Makhmalbaf, Iran, 1996) – 5.8
Jackie Brown (Tarantino, USA, 1997) – 9.2
L.A. Confidential (Hanson, USA, 1997) – 8.8
Cure (Kurosawa, Japan, 1997) – 8.2
Lost Highway (Lynch, USA, 1997) – 8
Happy Together (Wong, Hong Kong, 1997) – 7
Taste of Cherry (Kiarostami, Iran, 1997) – 7.2
The Mirror (Panahi, Iran, 1997) – 5.1
The Big Lebowski (Coen/Coen, USA, 1998) – 8.7
The Last Days of Disco (Stillman, USA, 1998) – 8.4
Shattered Image (Ruiz, USA, 1998) – 6.9
The Bird People in China (Miike, Japan, 1998) – 6.6
The Hole (Tsai, Taiwan, 1998) – 5.8
Dead or Alive (Miike, Japan, 1999)
Office Space (Judge, USA, 1999) – 8.4
Peppermint Candy (Lee, S. Korea, 1999) – 8.2
Ravenous (Bird, UK/USA, 1999) – 8
Nowhere to Hide (Lee, S. Korea, 1999) – 7.6
Audition (Miike, Japan, 1999) – 7.5
Beau Travail (Denis, France/Djibouti, 1999) – 7.2
JSA: Joint Security Area (Park, S. Korea, 2000) – 8.6
High Fidelity (Frears, USA, 2000) – 8.5
Yi Yi (Yang, Taiwan, 2000) – 8.4
La Captive (Akerman, France, 2000) – 8
Dancer in the Dark (Von Trier, Denmark/Sweden, 2000) – 7.8
The Day I Became a Woman (Meshkini, Iran, 2000) – 7.6
In the Mood for Love (Wong, Hong Kong, 2000) – 7.4
Needing You (To/Wai, Hong Kong, 2000) – 7.1
Sexy Beast (Glazer, UK, 2000) – 6.9
Italian for Beginners (Scherfig, Denmark, 2000) – 6.4
The Gleaners and I (Varda, France, 2000) – 5.4
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (Gowariker, India, 2000) – 9
The Devil’s Backbone (Del Toro, Spain/Mexico, 2001) – 8.6
Failan (Song, S. Korea, 2001) – 8.2
Mulholland Dr. (Lynch, USA, 2001) – 7.9
Avalon (Oshii, Japan/Poland, 2001) – 7.9
Fat Girl (Breillat, France, 2001) – 7
What Time Is It There? (Tsai, Taiwan, 2001) – 6.6
The Tracker (De Heer, Australia, 2002) – 7.9
Infernal Affairs (Lau/Mak, Hong Kong, 2002) – 7.8
Bollywood/Hollywood (Mehta, Canada/India, 2002) – 7.6
Far From Heaven (Haynes, USA, 2002) – 7.6
Distant (Ceylan, Turkey, 2002) – 5
Memories of Murder (Bong, S. Korea, 2003) – 8.8
Oldboy (Park, S. Korea, 2003) – 8.6
A Tale of Two Sisters (Kim, S. Korea, 2003) – 7.8
Save the Green Planet (Jang, S. Korea, 2003) – 6.9
Before Sunset (Linklater, USA/France, 2004) – 8.9
3-Iron (Kim, S. Korea, 2004) – 8.8
Moolade (Sembene, Senegal, 2004) – 8.1
The Island of Black Mor (Laguionie, France, 2004) – 8.1
The Holy Girl (Martel, Argentina, 2004) – 6.9
Dumplings (Chan, Hong Kong, 2004) – 6.4
Ten Skies (Benning, USA, 2004) – 4.1
A History of Violence (Cronenberg, Canada/USA, 2005) – 8.5
Grizzly Man (Herzog, USA, 2005) – 8.1
The Proposition (Hillcoat, Australia, 2005) – 8.1
The Ice Harvest (Raimis, USA, 2005) – 7.8
Three Times (Hou, Taiwan, 2005) – 7.5
Pan’s Labyrinth (Del Toro, Spain, 2006) – 9.3
The Host (Bong, S. Korea, 2006) – 8.9
Once (Carney, UK, 2006) – 8.8
Shaun of the Dead (Wright, UK, 2006) – 8.5
Black Book (Verhoeven, Holland, 2006) – 8.4
Offside (Panahi, Iran, 2006) – 8.3
A Scanner Darkly (Linklater, USA, 2006) – 8
Woman on the Beach (Hong, S. Korea, 2006) – 7.1
12:08 East of Bucharest (Poromboiu, Romania, 2006) – 6.6
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Dominik, USA, 2007) 9.6
Zodiac (Fincher, USA, 2007) – 9.1
Eastern Promises (Cronenberg, Canada/UK, 2007) – 8.7
My Winnipeg (Maddin, Canada, 2007) – 6.3
Let the Right One In (Alfredson, Sweden, 2008) – 8.7
35 Shots of Rum (Denis, France, 2008) – 7.8
Me and Orson Welles (Linklater, USA, 2008) – 7.6
Happy-Go-Lucky (Leigh, UK, 2008) – 7.2
The Headless Woman (Martel, Argentina, 2008) – 6.1
The Hurt Locker (Bigelow, USA, 2008) – 9.4
3 Idiots (Hirani, India, 2009) – 8.5
The House of the Devil (West, USA, 2009) – 8.1
Change Nothing (Costa, Portugal/France, 2009) – 6
Shutter Island (Scorsese, USA, 2010) – 9.5
The Social Network (Fincher, USA, 2010) – 8.5
Certified Copy (Kiarostami, Italy/France, 2010) – 8.5
Another Year (Leigh, UK, 2010) – 8.1
The Ghost Writer (Polanski, Germany/France, 2010) – 8.02
The Hunter (Pitts, Iran, 2010) – 6.75
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Weerasethakul, Thailand, 2010) – 6.6
Audrey the Trainwreck (Ross, USA, 2010) – 6.4
Bernie (Linklater, USA, 2011) – 8.9
The Skin I Live In (Amodovar, Spain, 2011) – 8.6
Drive (Refn, USA, 2011) – 8.1
Life Without Principle (To, Hong Kong, 2011) – 7.9
Midnight in Paris (Allen, USA/France, 2011) – 7.7
Le Havre (Kaurismaki, France/Finland, 2011) – 7.6
Mildred Pierce (Haynes, USA, 2011) – 7.5
This Is Not a Film (Panahi, Iran, 2011) – 7.1
Sleeping Sickness (Kohler, Germany, 2011) – 6.6
Twenty Cigarettes (Benning, USA, 2011) – 4.6
Zero Dark Thirty (Bigelow, USA, 2012) – 8.9
Frances Ha (Baumbach, USA, 2012) – 8.7
Silver Linings Playbook (Russell, USA, 2012) – 8.4
Holy Motors (Carax, France, 2012) – 8.3
Spring Breakers (Korine, USA, 2012) – 8.3
Dormant Beauty (Bellocchio, Italy, 2012) – 8.1
Barbara (Petzold, Germany, 2012) – 8
Empire Builder (Swanberg, USA, 2012) – 7.7
The Master (Anderson, USA, 2012) – 7.6
Cosmopolis (Cronenberg, Canada/Germany, 2012) – 7
The Unspeakable Act (Sallit, USA, 2012) – 6.9
A Fuckload of Scotch Tape (Grant, USA, 2012) – 6.8
Neighboring Sounds (Mendonca, Brazil, 2012) – 6.4
Tabu (Gomes, Portugal, 2012) – 6
Shoals (Bass, USA, 2012) – 5.7
Snowpiercer (Bong, S. Korea, 2013) – 9.4
Stoker (Park, USA, 2013) – 8.9
Nymphomaniac (Von Trier, Denmark/Germany, 2013) – 8.5
About Time (Curtis, UK, 2013) – 8.5
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Takahata, Japan, 2013) – 8.2
The Grandmaster (Wong, Hong Kong/China, 2013) – 8.2
Top of the Lake (Campion/Davis, New Zealand, 2013) – 8.1
Upstream Color (Carruth, USA, 2013) – 8.1
Before Midnight (Linklater, USA, 2013) – 8
A Touch of Sin (Jia, China, 2013) – 7.9
The Wind Rises (Miyazaki, Japan, 2013) – 7.8
Jimmy P. (Desplechin, France/USA, 2013) – 7.7
Under the Skin (Glazer, UK, 2013) – 7.3
Black Box (Cone, USA, 2013) – 7.2
Gloria (Lelio, Chile, 2013) – 7.2
Contracted (England, USA, 2013) – 7
Only Lovers Left Alive (Jarmusch, USA, 2013) – 6.3
Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater (Klinger, USA, 2013) – 6.1
Stranger By the Lake (Guiraudie, France, 2013) – 5.7
The Girls on Liberty Street (Rangel, USA, 2013) – 5.5
Boyhood (Linklater, USA, 2014) – 9.4
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Anderson, USA, 2014) – 8.9
Actress (Greene, USA, 2014) – 8.3
Inherent Vice (Anderson, USA, 2014) – 8.3
Li’l Quinquin (Dumont, France, 2014) – 7.9
The Babadook (Kent, Australia, 2014) – 7.7
Goodbye to Language (Godard, France, 2014) – 7.6
Heaven Knows What (Safdie/Safdie, USA, 2014) – 7.5
Buzzard (Potrykus, USA, 2014) – 6.7
Wild Canaries (Levine, USA, 2014) – 6.3
Cool Apocalypse (Smith, USA, 2015)
Brooklyn (Crowley, UK, 2015) – 8.3
Thao’s Library (Van Meter, 2015) – 8.2
Mustang (Erguven, Turkey, 2015) – 8.2
Right Now, Wrong Then (Hong, S. Korea, 2015) – 8.1
Timbuktu (Sissako, Mauritania/Mali, 2015) – 7.6
Bloomin Mud Shuffle (Ross, USA, 2015) – 7.5
Tangerine (Baker, USA, 2015) – 7.5
Malaria (Shahbazi, Iran, 2016) – 8.8
The Wailing (Na, S. Korea, 2016) – 8.5
Donald Cried (Avedisian, USA, 2016) – 8.5
The Lost City of Z (Gray, USA/UK, 2016) – 7.9
Toni Erdmann (Ade, Germany, 2016) – 7.6
Aquarius (Mendonca, Brazil, 2016) – 6.6
Porto (Klinger, USA/Portugal, 2016) – 6.1
Mercury in Retrograde (Smith, USA, 2017)
Good Time (Safdie/Safdie, USA, 2017) – 8.8
Faces Places (Varda/JR, 2017) – 8.6
Signature Move (Reeder, USA, 2017) – 7.6
The Other Side of Hope (Kaurismaki, Finland, 2017) – 6.9
Rendezvous in Chicago (Smith, USA, 2018)
Burning (Lee, S. Korea, 2018) – 8
Madeline’s Madeline (Decker, USA, 2018) – 7.6
Future Language: The Dimensions of Von LMO (Felker, USA, 2018) – 7


The Last Ten Movies I Saw

1. In the Land of Lost Angels (Mashbat)
2. Where’d You Go, Bernadette? (Linklater)
3. The Day After (Hong)
4. Bitter Money (Wang)
5. Three Sisters (Wang)
6. Mercury in Retrograde (Smith)
7. Mulholland Drive (Lynch)
8. Good Time (Safdie/Safdie)
9. Paris is Burning (Livingston)
10. Holy Motors (Carax)


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