Animatrix, The Sea, Dirt, and Yossi & Jagger

Animatrix, The Sea, Dirt, and Yossi & Jagger: An anime approach to The Matrix; a magnificent Icelandic family saga from the guy who wrote and directed 101 Reykjavik; an interesting look at the lives of an undocumented Salvadoran family living and working in New York City; and the story of a love affair between two officers in the Israeli army. (Seen May 31, 2003, at SIFF.)

Hukkle, American Splendor, Sudeste, and The Three Marias

Hukkle, American Splendor, Sudeste, and The Three Marias: A wordless "magic picture" set in rural Hungary; an innovative biography of comics writer (and star) Harvey Pekar that combines actors and the real people they're portraying; a slow-moving Argentine story set on a river; and a stylish but empty Brazilian revenge fantasy. (Seen May 30, 2003, at SIFF.)

Buffalo Soldiers, H, The Lover, and War

Buffalo Soldiers, H, The Lover, and War: An unreleased satire about scams and corruption on a U.S. Army base in Germany as the Cold War is ending; a not-very-original South Korean thriller; a melancholy theatrical consideration of infidelity in Minsk; and a commercial Russian look at the situation in Chechnya. (Seen May 28, 2003, at SIFF.)

Julie Walking Home, Respiro. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, and So Close

Julie Walking Home, Respiro. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, and So Close: A good movie too overstuffed with "ishoos" to be great; a beautiful Italian movie that's needs more "ishoos," a magnificent documentary about the attempted April 2002 against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez; and a heaping helping of Hong Kong girl-on-girl ass-kicking. (Seen May 27, 2003, at SIFF.)

A Great Wonder, The Education of Gore Vidal, The Other Side of the Bed, and Doing Time

A Great Wonder, The Education of Gore Vidal, The Other Side of the Bed, and Doing Time: A fascinating documentary about three of the "Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan" and their journey to resettlement in Seattle; a dull documentary about a charming, erudite chap; a fun Spanish bedroom romp—complete with singing and dancing; and a quirky series of vignettes about life in a regimented Japanese prison. (Seen May 26, 2003, at SIFF.)

Angela, L'Auberge Espagnole, and The Magdalene Sisters

Angela, L'Auberge Espagnole, and The Magdalene Sisters: The Sicilian drug mafia from a woman's perspective; a Euro-version of The Real World, except much, much better; and a mind-blowingly intense Irish movie about a corrupt Catholic system that turned "wayward girls" into slave laborers. (Seen May 25, 2003, at SIFF.)

Invisible Children, Owning Mahowny, and When the Cat's Away

Invisible Children, Owning Mahowny, and When the Cat's Away: A great Colombian film about three 8-year-old boys' attempts to make themselves invisible; a Canadian movie in which Philip Seymour Hoffman channels a Toronto bank manager who embezzled more than C$10 in the early 1980s, and a cool French movie about finding community among the uncool and unhip of Paris. (Seen May 24, 2003, at SIFF.)

Under Another Sky and Autumn Spring

Under Another Sky and Autumn Spring: An Algerian film about a weak man in a dangerous place and a Czech movie about growing old without growing up. (Seen May 23, 2003, at SIFF.)

The Dancer Upstairs

The Dancer Upstairs: Javier Bardem is brilliant, and John Malkovich deserves praise for attempting such an ambitious project for his first directing gig, but the movie's a mess. Whoever decided to hire some of the world's best Spanish-speaking actors (with a lovely Italian here and there) and make them work in English needs their head boiling. A 130-minute ad for the wonders of subtitling.

The Man Without a Past

The Man Without a Past: A very spare film—absurd and heart-warming without driving viewers for their hankies. Watching Finnish movies is like watching Iranian movies: I enjoy the experience, but I’m intensely aware that I’m having an iceberg experience—at least 75 percent of the movie’s meaning and symbolism is lost on me. Still, definitely worth a viewing. (Seen May 4, 2003.)

The Good Thief

The Good Thief: A damned good heist movie about copies, lost lives and looks, and risking it all. (Seen April 20, 2003.)

Some Films I Forgot To Mention

The 25th Hour, Quai des Orfèvres, The Pianist, Morvern Callar, The Quiet American, Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary, Nowhere in Africa: A heart-grabber, a fascinating piece of film history, a classic, a story of the inner life, a flashback to another era, a mesmerizing documentary, and a rambling but interesting story about the search for a place to call home. (Seen Jan. 29, March 4, March 9, March 11, March 15 (two movies), and April 12, respectively.)

Rivers and Tides

Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time: Amazing art, a fascinating artist, and "artspeak" that didn't make me want to hurl. (Seen Jan. 12 and March 29, 2003.)

Oscars at War

Oh, it was Oscar in wartime, all serious and sombre and with no red carpet, but it was still the Oscars.

BAFTA Film Awards: The British Oscars

A quick response to the British Oscars that we watched in preference to the Grammys, which I suppose is evidence that I value movies more than music.

1. Although in theory I dislike Stephen Fry, in practice he’s a bloody good presenter/raconteur/wit. When Meryl Streep was reading Charlie Kaufman’s bizarre acceptance speech and misread “I’d like to spank—I’m sorry, I’d like to thank Spike Jonze,” it took a very quick mind to quip, “Thank goodness it wasn’t William Jones.” (But can we stop pretending that Donald Kaufman exists? “Neither Charlie nor Donald are here to accept it?” Puh-lease) He kept the proceedings fair zinging along, too.

2. Pedro Almodóvar is the master of puzzling poetics. Like his mystifying speech when he won the best foreign-language Oscar for All About My Mother, even when the English was correct and even though his accent has improved, what he said sounded very poetic—moonlight, darkness, Iraq, captain—but didn’t make a whole heap of sense.

3. The acting challenge of the night seemed to be for U.S. actors not to give away their personal feelings when Pedro, Gael García Bernal, and Saul Zaentz made their anti-war comments. Meryl Streep and Jennifer Connelly were particularly effective at transmitting “blank face.”

4. The BBC zoomed right in on the “losers,” and I swear there was more openly displayed disappointment on display than you get at U.S. awards shows.

5. It might be a good idea to trim the number of ancient presenters. Lord Attenborough might be the chairman of the academy, but when he repeatedly referred to the potential winner of the Carl Foreman Award as “he” or said the winner would be able to use the cash payment to fund “his” next project, he seemed unaware that one of the nominees was a “she” who’d be using it for “her” next project. Surprise, surprise, the woman didn’t win. Michael Caine wasn’t that bad, but it was puzzling to see him reading her nomination script from a big piece of paper. (Last-minute changes? TelePrompTer anxiety?)

6. For an irrational reason (perhaps Billy Elliott-related), I have taken against Stephen Daldry, who always seemed to have a naff look on his face whenever the camera pointed at him. Consequently, I took an evil pleasure in Philip Glass referring to him throughout his acceptance speech as “Michael Daldry.”

7. Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Salma Hayek, Nicole Kidman: Bless! Oh, OK, and Catherine Zeta-Jones too.

Adaptation, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Hours, Chicago

Adaptation (U.S.), Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (N.Z.), The Hours (U.S.), Chicago (U.S.): A victim of high expectations after the director/writer's last collaboration; a sweeping narrative that won me over despite a lack of characters I could care about; an acting-lovers' dream; an overrated razzle-dazzle 'em.

Bend It Like Beckham

Bend It Like Beckham (U.K.): Lots of "ish-shoes," most of them deftly handled, in this Indian girl self-actualizes through soccer movie. A feel-good fiesta, an uplift-athon. (Seen Feb. 20, 2003.)

City of God and Gaza Strip

City of God (Brazil) and Gaza Strip (U.S.): What happens when the system is so corrupt that lives have no value? Kids become killers. (Seen Feb. 2, 2003 and Feb. 3, 2003.)

What To Do in Case of Fire

What To Do in Case of Fire (Germany): Six former members of an ‘80s commune/radical AV club reunite at their old squat when a bomb they planted more than a decade ago explodes and they scramble to retrieve an incriminating piece of evidence from police custody. After the initial setup, the film veers between a daft comedy caper and a serious examination of the triumph of capitalism. At the end, they conclude that the fight is no longer between left and right but rather between the winners and the poor slobs who refused to sell out, whichever side they used to be on. (Seen Jan. 5, 2003.)

Intacto

Intacto (Spain): What makes some people especially lucky—Holocaust survivors, the people who walk away from plane or car crashes while everyone else dies? Can you control your luck? Can you take away someone else’s good fortune? Is there a difference between luck and fearlessness? Intacto asks these questions and answers them in a thrilling series of competitions where lucky men and women test their fortune. Spanish cinema at its best—and that's really saying something. (Seen Jan. 5, 2003.)

Gangs of New York

Gangs of New York: I blame myself for not liking it—all that knife-play made me nervous—but in the end it struck me as a "an epic that had been shrunk into a tiny capsule, but there was nothing to soak it in to allow it to balloon up to an impressive size."

My Movies of 2002

A ten-best list that goes to 11, some honorable mentions, my movie events of the year, and the worst film I saw in 2002.

Nicholas Nickleby

Nicholas Nickleby: A decent costume drama sabotaged by one bad hire. Charlie Hunnam, who plays the eponymous hero, may be a handsome devil, but he can't handle the lines.

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Rabbit-Proof Fence: A deftly handled bit of agit-prop, with incredible performances from the three young Aboriginal women who are on-screen for most of the movie's 94 minutes.

Real Women Have Curves

Real Women Have Curves: Don't let the title put you off, this is a great movie that's so real it's shocking.

Far From Heaven

Far From Heaven: Julianne Moore is magnificent in Todd Haynes' hommage to Douglas Sirk, but in the end it’s more like a museum exhibit of a “1950s household, social issues included” than a slice of real life.

El Crimen del Padre Amaro

El Crimen del Padre Amaro: A priest gives in to the temptations of the flesh, as the bourgeouis world goes to hell in a cesta.

Frida

Frida: A relatively faithful retelling of Frida Kahlo’s life story, with some decent acting, a lot of business in the directing—some of it successful, and a smattering of bisexual thrills.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Better than the first Harry Potter movie, but still too determined to provide a literal reproduction of the book. The cast, a roll call of the great genre actors of the last quarter-century, is criminally underused.

A Director Speaks

Director Steven Woodcock responded to my notes on Between Two Women in this You Say Tomato posting.

Bowling for Columbine

Bowling for Columbine: Michael Moore's documentary asks important questions, and its heart's definitely in the right place, but be warned: The propaganda is slathered on with a trowel rather than a precision instrument.

Sir: Just a Normal Guy

Sir: Just a Normal Guy: A fascinating documentary about an female-to-male transition.

Harold's Home Movies

Harold's Home Movies: A heartbreaking look at the history of San Francisco and its gay and lesbian community seen through one man's home movies.

Between Two Women

Between Two Women: A romantic period piece with a fabulous turn by Barbara Marten.

The Rules of Attraction

The Rules of Attraction: An intelligently directed guy movie.

Some Movies That I've Seen Since Sept. 29, 2002

Hell House
Barbershop
Skins
Punch-Drunk Love
Eight Women