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FILM COMMENT
January/February 2002
20 BEST FILMS OF 2001
(Released theatrically in the US)
GAVIN SMITH
10 best (alphabetical)
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
The Ground (Robert Beavers)
In Praise of Love/The Old Place
(Godard & Mieville, video)
Lift
Millennium Mambo
Moulin Rouge
Mulholland Drive
Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
The Royal Tenenbaums
Waking Life
Experimental
Transitional Objects (Jennifer Montgomery, video); She-Puppet (Peggy Ahwesh, video); Dust (Eric Saks, video);
Hostage: The Bechar Tapes (Walid Raad, video); Slow (Scott Stark, video); Dream Work (for Man Ray) (Peter Tscherkassky)
Shorts:
Asylum (Jason Bolling)
Rejected (Don Hertzfeldt)
Music Videos:
Imitation of Life - REM (Garth Jennings)
Island in the Sun ö Weezer (Spike Jonze)
Lapdance ö N.E.R.D (Diane Martel)
Smooth Criminal ö Alien Ant Farm (Marc Klasfeld)
Best DVD audio commentary:
Tom Green, Freddie Got Fingered
CHRIS CHANG
Top 10
1. Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive: The ability of a human being (an actress playing an actress) to love another (actress playing an actress) so disastrously as to destroy herself; now thatâs entertainment.
2. New York, New York (Ryan Adams, music video): A love song to a lost girl disguised as a love song to a city. Shot on September 7th, the Twin Towers clearly visible in the videoâs background.
3. Werckmeister Harmonies: The apocalypse comes to town in the form of a traveling circus ÷ helmed by Hungarian feel-good genius, Béla Tarr.
4. Mysterious Object at Noon: Exquisite corpse, Thai-style. i.e., the real Storytelling.
5. A.I. or: Automatic Insanity, insofar as film criticism turned into an experimental writerâs workshop in its wake.
6. Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast: This is the guy who played Ghandi?
7. Ghost World: ãDo you really like this?ä ãYeah. I think so.ä ãItâs kind of depressing.ä ãI know.ä
8. Kandahar: A fractured narrative from a fractured landscape with artificial limbs parachuting from the sky.
9. Va savoir: The Golden Coach returns.
10. Donnie Darko: Love, and a severed airplane engine, will tear us apart.
ALICE LOVEJOY
10 best
La Ciénaga
Donnie Darko
Ghost World
I'm Going Home
In the Bedroom
Mulholland Drive
The Royal Tenenbaums
Time Out
Werckmeister Harmonies
What Time Is It There?
Best Performances: The cast of La Cienaga (especially Sofia Bertolottoâs spot-on portrayal of 15-year old Momi).
Most Painful Onscreen Kiss: the moment in Ghost World when Steve Buscemi leans over to awkwardly kiss an entirely unhappy Thora Birch on the cheek, affirming his affection and in the process damning their relationship.
Best Soundtrack: Donnie Darko, even though they replaced INXS with Echo & the Bunnymen.
James Dean Spectacular Demise of an Indie Film Company Award: Shooting Gallery.
(Movies about families in Top 10: 7)
(Movies about adolescents, grown up or not, in Top 10: 4)
KENT JONES
1. The Royal Tenenbaums
2. Waking Life
3. Domestic Violence
4. Loin (André Téchiné)
5. I'm Going Home
6. Mulholland Drive
7. Micro-Garden (Stan Brakhage)
8. Ghost World
9. Moulin Rouge
10. The Man Who Wasn't There
11. Confessions of a Sociopath (Joe Gibbons)
12. Jung
13. Gosford Park
14. Sobibor, October 14, 1943, 4pm
15. Shallow Hal
16. ABC Africa (Abbas Kiarostami)
17. Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis)
18. In the Bedroom
19. Millnennium Mambo
20. What Time Is It There?
© 2002 by The Film Society of Lincoln Center
