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I Found It At The Movies
I Found It At the Movies: 2007—4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu)
It only seems apt that the two directorial achievements that most impressed me over the last decade are my final two picks of this countdown.
I have long been interested in the idea of an aesthetic that captures the real with methods that are precise and formal. It's a difficult balance to strike, and many films aiming for something more formal end up distancing themselves from reality. Meanwhile, films that want to feel real often end up sacrificing a formal system for something more intimate and immediate.
When I saw Mungiu's film, I was shocked at how well he was able to achieve this balance as I describe it above. His film is one of the most technically complex I have ever seen, yet somehow he is able to insert this approach into something that always feels incredibly real and alive.
April 18th, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>I Found It At the Movies: 2006—L'enfant (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
I saw La promesse and Rosetta in theaters when they first came out and was lukewarm on both. I then ignored the next ten years' worth of Dardenne releases. But finally, after some prodding and encouragement from friends, I caught up with L'enfant (The Child), The Son and Lorna's Silence. I tell you all this to explain how I've done a complete about-face on these directors and now consider their body of work one of the most interesting things going. I haven't gone back and revisited their earlier work yet, but I assume I would have a much more favorable reaction to it now.
April 11th, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 2005—Les amants réguliers (Philippe Garrel)
I love to lose myself in certain movies, particularly those that abandon more traditional time structures and suck you into their temporal vortex. I'm thinking of movies like McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Mother and the Whore and this 2005 entry from Philippe Garrel. I had the good fortune of seeing it in a Parisian theater and remember being transformed for days afterwards.
The first half of the film, the 1968 riot footage, is shot in such an obscure way that it helps plunge the viewer into this other space. By the time we arrive in the more drug-induced part of the film, there's a hazy quality already well-established between film and viewer.
April 4th, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 2004—Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)
A tough year for me to choose. The re-issue of the Samuel Fuller film The Big Red One really blew me away. But I finally gave the year to Clint, as he strikes me as a model of simplicity, modest craftsmanship and intelligence that is so special in today's landscape.
Generally I like more audacious cinema, and I often find myself wowed and inspired by some of the medium's great stylists. But minimalism and simplicity at the height of post-modernism also feels most welcome. I won't deny that this one can be overly sentimental at times. But it also has real heart, three strong performances (Eastwood, Freeman and Swank) and a really nice look.
March 28th, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>I Found It At the Movies: 2003—All the Real Girls (David Gordon Green)
I'm one of those in favor of the auteur theory. I do believe that, in most cases, the best films are made by the best directors and that, in most cases, the directors are the "authors" of their films. However, what I think is perhaps undervalued in this idea are the contributions of some of the great cameramen, composers, editors, art directors and producers. Film is a collaborative medium, and many of the great directors benefit substantially from their relationship with their great collaborators.
Here is a perfect example. There's no doubt in my mind that David Gordon Green is unusually talented. But his cameraman, Tim Orr, is an exceptional talent as well. Just take a look at the work Orr's done with other directors—for example, a film like Raising Victor Vargas—and it's clear that he has a style all his own.
March 21st, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 2002—Funny Ha Ha (Andrew Bujalski)
I first heard about Bujalski after reading a great Amy Taubin piece in Film Comment. When I tracked down Funny Ha Ha shortly thereafter, it really took me by surprise. It was so different from anything else coming out of the indie scene.
Bujalski's film is natural and real, but not at all in the way that someone like Harmony Korine might take on naturalism. There's very little irony here, and the style is unabrasive, observational and remarkably restrained. The camera is often handheld, but it's always moved in a fluid manner, rather than a shaky, aggressive one. Korine and many of his generation wanted to bring the Dogma aesthetic to the states. Bujalski, meanwhile, seems more to be channeling Rohmer and Jean Eustache.
March 14th, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 2001—Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)
One thing people don't discuss all that much when it comes to David Lynch is his relationship to film noir. When I look at the majority of his work—Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, "Twin Peaks," Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Lost Highway, Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire—as much as anything else, I see influences and traces of noir. Sure, he blends different genres, and sure his films challenge us to reconsider the look, feel and sound of noir, but so many elements of noir are present. And I say this as a compliment. After all, noir is the genre I know best, and it's probably the one that got me into loving (and making) film in the first place.
March 7th, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>I Found It At the Movies: 2000—Yi Yi (Edward Yang)
The great art of humanism is alive and well. Well, of course it is, as long as Abbas Kiarostami is still making movies. But this year, for once, it's not an Iranian film that I thought was the most humanist, but rather this entry from late Taiwanese director Edward Yang. Yi Yi has the depth of character of the great Dreyer and Ozu films but with a little less austerity and a little more warmth. It's nothing flashy, just committed, engaged cinema that wants us to look at ourselves and come away with a little more understanding. Yang has a very natural, unobtrusive style that's rigorous without being cold.
February 29th, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 1999—The Insider (Michael Mann)
Starting with The Insider, Michael Mann, already a masterful stylist by this point in his career, began going in a new direction. His films became more abstract, less rooted in cinematic realism and more concerned with forging something completely modern, perhaps even without precedent. Mann has always been interested in filmic vocabulary, but with this next stage he put his experimentation fearlessly at the forefront of his work. Although I still struggle with this later chapter in his career, I can't deny my love for this film.
February 22nd, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 1998—The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick)
It's amazing to think about the career of Terrence Malick. He made two critically acclaimed films—Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978)—then disappeared for twenty years. I'll never forget when I first saw this one. It was at my single favorite theater in all of Los Angeles, the Mann Village Theatre, in the middle of the day. I was up in the balcony, and the film left me completely mesmerized. I'm in the camp (a small one, it seems) that considers The Thin Red Line their favorite of all of Malick's films. Though his style always interests me, I like the way it works best here. It's one of the most visually stunning films I've ever seen. Cinematographer John Toll's colors and Malick's unmatched relationship with nature combine to create an experience that had synapses firing that I never knew existed.
February 15th, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>I Found It At the Movies: 1997—Fireworks (Takeshi Kitano)
I don't know if it's the Virgo in me, but I always prefer simple to complicated. Particularly as our world seems to be getting more and more complex, I want art to strip that complexity away to give us a view of something pure, clean and fairly uncluttered. I want art to be a respite from my daily life. Many of my favorite moviemakers (Bresson, Jarmusch, Rohmer, Dreyer and early Wenders, to name but a few) make films that fall into this category. They are simplifiers, always looking to distill their work to its most basic essence. "What else can I take away?" must be one of the most important questions in their approach. Another moviemaker I'd put into this category is Takeshi Kitano. Like those mentioned above, Kitano keeps things spare and minimal.
February 8th, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 1996—Fargo (Joel and Ethan Coen)
Roger Deakins began his collaboration with the Coen brothers with their 1991 film Barton Fink. Since then, the two directors and the cameraman have proven that they have one of the most vital, important and powerfully artistic relationships in film. All of their collaborations have visual interest, but Fargo remains my favorite of their aesthetic accomplishments. I'm a sucker, as I've mentioned a couple of times now, for snow-covered imagery, and this is a film about as white as any ever made. It's a gorgeously controlled work in terms of its color palette, camerawork and production design. Everything is deliberate and feels unusually cohesive.
February 1st, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 1995—Heat (Michael Mann)
Ask me to choose my favorite post-‘70s crime film, and this is it. Not only is Heat Mann's greatest accomplishment, I also think it's our greatest post-Godfather crime epic. Mann stays true to some of the greatest aspects of classic noir film while still giving the film a modern edge; in doing so, he manages to uphold the noir tradition while moving it forward at the same time. For me, when it comes to updating noir, Heat is the perfect paradigm for a new direction. I simply think it's masterful.
January 25th, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>I Found It At the Movies: 1994—Les roseaux sauvages (André Téchiné)
Fans of Renoir's A Day in the Country take notice! Along with that famous film, this is one of French cinema's most poetic and lyrical pastoral works. Not only is it visually stunning, Les roseaux sauvages (Wild Reeds) is also emotionally devastating. In fact, it captures the complexity of adolescence as well as anything I've ever seen. It's intense, penetrating, nakedly honest and gets at the vulnerability of mid-teens in a remarkably truthful way. This is one of those films where everything seems to have aligned perfectly: The director's sensibility with the material, the casting, the choice of locations—it's simply a staggering accomplishment from Téchiné.
January 18th, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 1993—Carlito's Way (Brian De Palma)
Cinematic from the very get-go. What an opening this movie has: Black and white, slow motion, voiceover and that mournful music, all beginning with an extraordinarily well-choreographed long take that is at once abstract, complex and sensuous. And that's just the moviemaking. At the root of this, one of my favorite crime films of all time, is a theme that affects me deeply: The idea that one mistake may trap you forever. If Carlito had just left Benny Blanco alone, stayed out of his way, everything would have been okay. But he made one blunder, and he could never quite escape it.
January 11th, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 1992—Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood)
When I think about Unforgiven, I simply think of an extremely well-made film. Everything is top shelf: The acting, the writing and the directing. I know there is a critique of violence and a certain moral position taken in the movie, but that doesn't really connect with me all that much. What really gets me here is the theme of friendship and the incredibly moving bond between the characters played by Eastwood and Morgan Freeman. Eastwood is so adult, so patient, so restrained, that he stands out by not standing out. He's carrying on a certain tradition of classical moviemaking, and the further we get away from it, the more of a wonder it is that a non-postmodern work like this was able to gain so much attention.
January 4th, 2012 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>I Found It At the Movies: 1991—My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant)
God, I miss Heath Ledger, Brittany Murphy, Brad Renfro and especially River Phoenix. All were young actors with an incredible amount of talent who American cinema will never quite replace. Phoenix had an elemental presence on screen. He was wise, full of life and had a weight of vulnerability about him that I hadn't seen since Clift or Dean. I always enjoyed his work, never more than in this early Van Sant film. I think I'm on the somewhat unpopular side when it comes to Van Sant. Although I greatly admire his later, more experimental work (Elephant, Gerry, etc.), I definitely prefer some of his other films. I guess I like it when he takes himself a little less seriously, like he does here.
December 28th, 2011 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 1990—Trust (Hal Hartley)
I'll never forget reading the liner notes for Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers album and seeing their music described as "angular." At the time, it seemed a strange word to use, and yet the more I thought about it, the more it seemed apt for their music—and, for that matter, apt for a few other things I've experienced, as well. In fact, it's the best word I can think of to describe Hal Hartley's work. Trust—and some of the other Hartley movies from this period—possesses some of the most unique rhythms and cadences in the history of film. It's almost as if it invented a whole new time signature. The movie doesn't cut when it seems normal to cut. The camera doesn't move when it seems like it should. Everything seems to be just a little bit off. But, at the same time, it all coheres into something that is clearly conceived and purposeful.
December 21st, 2011 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 1989—Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)
Lee’s an interesting director. So much energy and pretty damn prolific. I can’t say I love every one of his films, but there’s a passion that comes through in his work that’s pretty infectious. He’s versatile, a major risk taker and someone who can do comedy just as well as drama. And when it comes to blending genres, he’s about as fearless as they come. Do the Right Thing is one of my favorite of all his films. The way it juxtaposes comedy and drama is as powerful as it is unsettling. In other words, the drama hits hard, and the comedy is laugh out loud funny.
December 14th, 2011 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>I Found It At the Movies: 1988—Bird (Clint Eastwood)
Clint Eastwood—as a director, not an actor—appears on this list three times. And even though I can't say that any of his movies are desert island films for me, I do greatly admire both his formal and business approach. Formally, his work recalls some of my favorite early Hollywood films: They are well-told by a director who makes material, not style, his focus. As for business, he's among the few directors with a system of delivering nearly a film a year. I can't say too much about Bird, as I haven't seen it in many years. But I do remember feeling that it gave me a great sense of what it meant to be a jazz musician in the forties and fifties. It features remarkable performances from Forest Whitaker and Diane Venora and displays an extraordinary patience in the way that it allows its story to unfold.
December 7th, 2011 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 1987—Where is the Friend's Home? (Abbas Kiarostami)
I'll never forget the first time I saw one of Abbas Kiarostami's films. I was living in Caen, France, and Through the Olive Trees was playing at the local arthouse. I use the term “local” loosely, as I didn't have a car that year and sometimes the buses would go on strike, taking away my option of public transportation, too. But I was determined to see the film, so I decided to walk. It was least an hour each way, and I can remember questioning my decision a number of times while in transit. After seeing the final shot of the film, though, I left the theater and began my walk back home in absolute movie nirvana. Kiarostami is up there in a small group of my favorite moviemakers. More than anything, what I love about his work is the way he combines cinematic rigor with deep humanity. His style is simple, disciplined, restrained and—to throw in a culinary descriptive—clean. Meanwhile, the emotional core of his work is deep, honest, probing and insightful.
November 30th, 2011 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 1986—Hoosiers (David Anspaugh)
Hoosiers is my most uncharacteristic choice in this entire countdown and probably the least impressive artistically. But when it comes to sports movies (and sports were pretty much my life for the first eighteen years), this is the one that moves me the most. I don't want to psychoanalyze myself here, but when Jimmy Chitwood says, "There's one other thing: I play, coach stays. He goes, I go," it brings me to tears every time. It's one of film's greatest moments of someone standing up for the underdog, the unconventional, the person who has dared to go against the grain. I've always been physically slight, and as an independent moviemaker, you certainly spend a good deal of time as the underdog. We're all trying to beat the machine on some level, and this is one of those movies that always restores my faith a bit.
November 23rd, 2011 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>I Found It At the Movies: 1985—Year of the Dragon (Michael Cimino)
If being a great director means making people feel good about themselves or providing a sort of fantasy American dream, then Cimino is not very good at all. But if being a great director means using a camera to tell a story and using the frame in as dynamic a way as possible, then Cimino is a master. It's been years since I've seen this film, but off the top of my head I can already recall three scenes that are masterfully directed: A nightclub shootout, the moment following a home invasion and the final set piece. When I say masterful direction, I mean perfect shot selection, purposeful and expressive camera movement and specific editing—all done in a way where the viewer always understands the geography of the scene.
November 16th, 2011 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 1984—Boy Meets Girl (Leos Carax)
The two toughest years for me to choose in this countdown were 1984 and 1986. I simply have too many films from each year that I absolutely love. And, although I can't argue that this Carax film is better than the entries from Rohmer, Leone, Wenders or Jarmusch, it's the film that's had the most profound effect on me. Carax was only 23 when he made Boy Meets Girl, and it shows. It's the kind of film that makes us realize how seldom cinema gives us the opportunity to experience the world of this young a man. It's simply so difficult to make films that it usually takes someone a good bit older to get a feature on screen. Already, with the proliferation of digital tools, we're seeing this change a little. Carax's youthful vulnerability makes us want to see more of it.
November 9th, 2011 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
I Found It At the Movies: 1983—L'argent (Robert Bresson)
If you're a Bob Dylan fan (count me among the many) whose introduction to Dylan came by way of his solo work, there is something almost shocking the first time you hear Dylan accompanied by a band. It’s the same with Bresson and his work in color. By the time I saw L’argent, the director’s last film, I had probably seen six or seven of his others, all in black and white. When Bresson does a film in color, its formal elements take on a different effect, something slightly more psychedelic than austere. However, the emotional impact and transcendental qualities are still very much intact. In fact, my experience in watching L’argent, along with Pickpocket, are the most powerful of any I have had with Bresson's work. As always with the French master, the work sneaks up on you, gets under your skin and leaves you in a different place than any other film.
November 2nd, 2011 | Category: I Found It At The Movies | By Jeffrey Goodman
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