1997 POLL

Hate to be nit-picky but Tren de sombras was first presented during the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes in May of 1997 (Naomi Kawase won, by the way):
http://www.quinzaine-realisateurs.com/archives/1997
http://www.quinzaine-realisateurs.com/tren-de-sombras-f13752.html

Sure Dmitry, I have adopted the year of first PUBLIC release as a reference. Anyway, everyone is voting Tren de sombras in 1997 so that’s fine with me.

Man, 1997 wasn’t one of my favorite years for film. I had a hard time trying to figure out which films to choose and how to order them since there were so many that I found good or interesting but not really exceptional or that didn’t have as much of an effect on me as they seem to on others. What made it trickier was that many filmmakers I like and admire made films that year, but all of them are works that I don’t appreciate as much as other movies they made, but these films still reveal something more about the directors, so they have some additional value to me for that reason. All in all it was a pretty dour or dark year as well, not a lot of good times to be had from artists nearing the end of a century.

Anyway, out of the roughly 120 films I saw that year these are the ones I liked enough to choose or consider for the poll.

1. Mononoke-hime / Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki)
2. Kyua / Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
3. The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan)
4. Hana-bi / Fireworks (Takeshi Kitano)
5. Unagi / The Eel (Shohei Imamura)
6. Cube (Vincenzo Natali)
7. Chun gwong cha sit / Happy Together (Wong Kar-Wai)
8. Ta’m e guilass / Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami)
9. Al-massir / Destiny (Youssef Chahine)
10. 12 Storeys (Eric Khoo)
11. Faraw! / Mother of the Dunes (Abdoulaye Ascofaré)
12. Men with Guns (John Sayles)
13. Insomnia (Erik Skjoldbjærg)
14. Clockwatchers (Jill Sprecher)
15. Sans Titre (Leos Carax)
16. Addicted to Love (Griffin Dunne)
17. Blood Oranges (Philip Haas)
18. Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (Guy Maddin)
19. Shi wan huo ji / Lifeline (Johnnie To)
20. Face/Off (John Woo)

The ones that missed the cut, but that I like to varying degrees are, in rough order;

Kundun (Martin Scorsese)
The Ice Storm (Ang Lee)
He liu / The River ( Tsai Ming-Liang)
Ayneh / The Mirror (Jafar Panahi)
Perdita Durango (Álex de la Iglesia)
Mat i syn / Mother and Son (Aleksandr Sokurov)
Starship Troopers (Paul Verhoeven)
Wings of the Dove (Iain Softley)
Grosse Pointe Blank (George Armitage)
On connaît la chanson / Same Old Song (Alain Resnais)
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (Hideaki Anno & Kazuya Tsurumaki)
Rooster Workbook (Guy Maddin)
Zookeeper’s Workbook (Guy Maddin)
The Roe’s Room (Lech Majewski)
The Game (David Fincher)
Men in Black (Barry Sonnenfeld)
Fire Down Below (Félix Enríquez Alcalá)
Spice World (Bob Spiers)
Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson)

A few of these also rans, like The River, The Mirror, Same Old Song, and The Ice Storm could easily grow on me over time and move up the list since I respect the directors who made them so much, but right now they pose more problems than pleasures for me. Also, and perhaps somewhat needless to say, judging by some of the other lists, there are quite a few other movies out there that I still need to see from the year. Voyage to the Beginning of the World is one that especially stands out.

1. L.A. Confidential
oh yeah, the opposite of auteur cinema

I’m more comfortable in the classical era but here’s my support for these scarcely mentioned movies:

Box of Moon Light
Face/Off
Four Days in September
Marius and Jeannette
Martín (Hache)
On Guard
Same Old Song
Sans titre
Scream 2
Starship Troopers
The Eel
The Rainmaker

Not seen:

Innocence (I’ll try next week but my schedule is full)
Pickpocket
Ulee’s Gold
Voyage to the Beginning of the World

Haha, Angel…Scream 2? The Rainmaker? Face/Off??? :P

I knew my list was incomplete, hahaha ;)

I still don’t get the Curtis Hanson love…it was as good as Titanic was…which means…not a big deal.

Haha, I’m not saying that Scream 2 is better than Funny Games (certainly not), but it is a lot of fun (“the entire horror genre was destroyed by sequels”) and the ending (“well, I’ll tell you one thing, it’ll make one hell of a movie”) is much more satisfying to me than the ending of, e.g. Taste of Cherry (?!). At least one single vote.

I agree Curtis Hanson is a mediocre director but sometimes the studio system still works…

I can name plenty of George Romero or Jean Rollin films than can surpass Taste of Cherry (no hyperbole here)

But Scream 2? Man….Wes Craven lost it way before the Scream franchise…..

At least one single vote

Actually it’s the second vote for Scream 2, also two votes for terrible Double Team up to now but zero for delicious La femme de chambre du Titanic, sigh.

Unpredictable results, with five films in the lead… and none of them is LA Confidential.

“and none of them is LA Confidential.”

THANKFULLY!!!!

1. Critical Care

Ayneh
gummo
deconstructing harry
The Tango Lesson
kissed
blood and wine
a chief in love

The House (Šarūnas Bartas)
Robinson in Space (Patrick Keiller)
Kisangani Diary (Hubert Sauper)
Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami)
Inside/Out (Rob Tregenza)
A Humble Life (Aleksandr Sokurov)
Pickpocket (Jia Zhangke)
2/Duo (Nobuhiro Suwa)
Bones (Pedro Costa)
Suzaku (Naomi Kawase)
Mother of the Dunes (Abdoulaye Ascofaré)
Level Five (Chris Marker)
The River (Tsai Ming-liang)
Funny Games (Michael Haneke)
Labyrinth of Dreams (Sogo Ishii)

1. Fireworks
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Men Cry Bullets
Chasing Amy
Face/Off
Scream 2

I’ll probably think of more after it’s too late.

If you go back and look at US critic’s lists from 1997 [and I have] you will see a lot of films that were released elsewhere in the world in 1996 or even 1995.
And a good number of films credited in IMDB to 1997 were not released in the US until 1998.
So for someone who lives in the US [and I do] to get an accurate list one needs to consider both scenarios – although history will show top ten lists in the US as being mainly only films actually released in the US in 97.

Boogie Nights
Chronicle of a Disappearance [credited to 96 but released in US in 97]
Gabbeh [credited to 96 but released in US in 97]
Hard Eight [credited to 96 but released in US in 97]
Irma Vep [credited 96 but released in US in 97]
Kundun
Maborosi [credited to 95 but released in US in 97]
Ma Vie Sexual… [credited to 96 but released in US in 97]
La Promesse [credited to 96 but released in US in 97]
Starship Troopers
Temptress Moon [credited to 96 but released in US in 97]
Ulysses’ Gaze [credited to 95 but released in US in 97]
Underground [credited to 95 but released in US in 97]

Films released in 98 that didn’t make my 97 list because I didn’t see them until they came to the US.
Affliction [released limited in Dec 98 and wide in Jan 99 in US]
The Eel [released Aug 98 in US]
Hana-Bi [released Mar 98 in US]
Mother and Son [released Feb 98 in US]
Taste of Cherry [released in Mar 98 in US]

Sorry for being USA distribution-centric but by this year’s end when I make a list of the best of 2010 I cannot include films that I have not seen or cannot have seen due to forthcoming distribution. And I won’t wait to make a best-of list due to that. Neither will most people.

Apparently all my favorite movies are 1996 or 1998.

1. Ma Vie En Rose
Chasing Amy
Princess Mononoke

…and, I’m going to leave it there.

“Sorry for being USA distribution-centric”

It’s OK but for a poll like this, only 1997 officialy released films matter, from regular theatrical showings to festivals so I’m guessing half of what you chose won’t be included ;)

my memory is horrible, but these films spring to mind, in alphabetical order:

1.Hani Bi

The Big Lebowski
The Butcher Boy
Donnie Brasco
The Ice Storm
La Confidential
Princess Mononoke
The Sweet Hereafter
Starship Troopers
Taste Of Cherry

Honorable Mentions: Chasing Amy, Copland, The Blackout(ferrara), Nil By Mouth, Boogie Nights, The Apostle, Deconstructing Harry, Funny Games, Love and Death On Long Island, Mimic

Guilty Pleasures: orgazmo, batman and robin, double team, Hoodlum, U-Turn

I also agree with Dimitris that international release dates should be considered as definitive.

As for Curtis Hanson, some mediocre directors make one or two great films in their career. e.g Glengarry Glen Ross(james Foley). Foley is the living definition of a mediocre studio director. His other films are so ordinary, even bad at worst, that it’s easy to suspect that G.G.R was ghost directed.

“I also agree with Dimitris that international release dates should be considered as definitive.”

They should….no one cares anymore whether Metropolis was released in 1930 in one country after its original release. They care about the original one. Sorry, some things MUST CHANGE!!!!!

Taste of Cherry & Tren de Sombras

1. L.A. Confidential
Princess Mononoke
The Ice Storm
The Sweet Hereafter
Wag The Dog
Jackie Brown
The Fifth Element
The Edge

Okay, just saw Innocence and I can understand the acclaim in his country. I don’t see many citations so you can add one point from me.

1. Taste of Cherry

The Butcher Boy
Lost Highway
Ulee’s Gold
Happy Together
The Full Monty
L.A. Confidential
Ma Vie en Rose
Chasing Amy
The Eel
Good Will Hunting
Hana-bi
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
The River
Irma Vep
Princess Mononoke
Children of Heaven
Men in Black
Jackie Brown

Well, I knew I would forget a few and I did, ‘Orgazmo’ and ‘Austen Powers: International Man Of Mystery.’

Fucking L.A. Confidential man…fucking L.A. Confidential…

It’s not a bad movie, but it’s not God’s greatest gift either. Upper tier of Hollywood shit, though.

Well sure I can take L.A. Confidential than…Good Will Hunting and….Air Force One….

But it’s still L.A. Confidential :P

I like the first two, but who the hell is bringing Air Force One into any serious discussion?

^ Talking about Hollywood, heh…

Well, Air Force One has got only one vote so far… but Good Will Hunting has got 10! and I’m not sure that’s better.

@Matt L: No problem, I’ll take only the eligible films for this game but in this way surely some of your favorites will be lost.

The best thing is that 67 films have got at least three votes, which represents great diversity. I probably won’t have time to publish the final results this weekend, so a few more days to add ballots.

What? Good Will Hunting has 10 votes?

I was right to predict we’d be seeing some usual suspects in the top 20.
Did Titanic snatch anything? Please no….