Another year, another AFI fest over. I have to say, AFI really has done a swell job with their 2012 lineup, gathering a heady list of titles from this year's more renowned fests, giving Los Angeles first dibs at stuff only screened at Berlin, Sundance, Venice, Toronto, and Cannes. Needless to say, I caught quite a few of these titles already at Toronto and Sundance, HOWEVER, AFI managed to get a few things that neither of those festivals were able to program. I had a great fest this year, and I've seen everything scheduled at AFI but 12 titles. My top 15-20 film choices were just excellent cinemagoing experiences, and I saw some of the best films I've seen all year, including Leos Carax's amazing Holy Motors, and Ulrich Seidl's Paradise: Faith. Not to mention, I've made a few new cinematic discoveries, including Sean Baker, Joan Canijo, Radu Jude, Rodney Ascher, and Miguel Gomes---I'm new to all of them and I will most definitely be seeking out anything they have their names on. I was a bit disappointed with some titles (I really think Barbara should have taken top prize in Berlin, not Caesar Must Die), and I was a bit disappointed with new works from masters like Sally Potter and Ken Loach. I was staunchly opposed to blatantly manipulative crowdpleasers, like this year's Australian hit, The Sapphires, and what happened to be one of the worst films of the fest, a pedantic and ridiculous documentary about Christian teens in a small town (how gloweringly banal), called Only the Young, took home the audience prize in the Breakthrough section---a fact that only alarms me. Despite the annoying distinction of mass appeal, I do enjoy and appreciate AFI fest!
1. Holy Motors - Dir. Leos Carax (France) Special Screenings
2. Paradise: Faith – Dir. Ulrich Seidl (Austria) World Cinema
3. After Lucia – Dir. Michel Franco (Mexico) World Cinema
4. Starlet – Dir. Sean Baker (US) Young Americans
5. Blood of My Blood (Portugal) World Cinema
6. Everybody In Our Family – Dir. Radu Jude (Romania) World Cinema
7. Room 237 – Rodney Ascher (US) Special Screenings
8. Our Children – Dir. Joachim Lafosse (Belgium) World Cinema
9. Tabu – Dir. Miguel Gomes (Portugal) World Cinema
10. Pieta – Dir. Kim Ki-Duk (South Korea) World Cinema
Best of the Rest:
11. West of Memphis – Dir. Amy Berg (US) Special Screenings
12. The Impossible – Dir. Juan Antonio Bayona (US) Special Screenings
13. A Royal Affair – Dir. Nikolaj Arcel (Denmark) World Cinema
14. Sun Don’t Shine – Dir. Amy Seimetz (US) Young Americans
15. Kid – Dir. Fien Troch (Belgium) Breakthrough
16. War Witch – Dir. Kim Nguyen (Canada) World Cinema
17. On the Road – Dir. Walter Salles (US) Gala Screenings
18. A Hijacking – Dir. Tobias Lindholm (Denmark) New Auteurs
19. Clip – Dir. Maja Milos (Serbia) New Auteurs
20. The Silver Linings Playbook – Dir. David O. Russell (US) Special Screenings
21. Antiviral – Dir. Brandon Cronenberg (Canada) New Auteurs
22. Kon-Tiki – Dir. Joachim Ronning & Espen Sandberg (Norway) World Cinema
23. The Last Step – Dir. Ali Mossafa (Iran) Breakthrough
24. Wrong – Dir. Quentin Dupieux (US) World Cinema
25. Here and There – Dir. Antonio Mendez Esparza (Mexico) New Auteurs
Of Interest:
26. Quartet – Dir. Dustin Hoffman (UK) Special Screenings
27. Ginger and Rosa – Dir. Sally Potter (UK) Special Screenings
28. Somebody Up There Likes Me – Dir. Bob Byington (US) Young Americans
29. Tey – Dir. Alain Gomis (Senegal) World Cinema
30. Caesar Must Die – Dir. Paolo & Vittoria Taviani (Italy) World Cinema
31. Electrick Children – Dir. Rebecca Thomas (US) Young Americans
32. Nairobi Half Life – Dir. David Tosh Gitonga (Kenya) Breakthrough
33. The Angels’ Share – Dir. Ken Loach (UK) World Cinema
34. Eat Sleep Die – Dir. Gabriela Pichler (Sweden) New Auteurs
Pass:
35. The Sapphires – Dir. Wayne Blair (Australia) World Cinema
36. The International Sign For Choking – Dir. Zach Weintraub (US) Young Americans
37. Ape – Dir. Joel Potrykus (US) Young Americans
38. Oh Boy – Dir. Jan-Ole Gerster (Germany) Breakthrough
Strongly Disliked:
39. The Most Fun I’ve Ever Had With My Pants On – Dir. Drew Denny (US) Breakthrough
40. Not In Tel Aviv – Dir. Nonny Geffen (Israel) New Auteurs
41. Only the Young – Dir. Elizabeth Mims & Jason Tippet (US) Breakthrough
Previously Screened:
Rust and Bone – Dir. Jacques Audiard (France) TIFF 2012
Amour – Dir. Michael Haneke (France/Austria) TIFF 2012
Barbara – Dir. Christian Petzold (Germany) TIFF 2012
Berberian Sound Studio – Dir. Peter Strickland (UK) TIFF 2012
Beyond the Hills – Dir. Cristian Mungiu (Romania) TIFF 2012
The Hunt – Dir. Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark) TIFF 2012
In Another Country – Dir. Hong Sang-soo (South Korea) TIFF 2012
Laurence Anyways – Dir. Xavier Dolan (France/Canada) TIFF 2012
Like Someone In Love – Dir. Abbas Kiarastami (France/Japan) TIFF 2012
Paradise: Love – Dir. Ulrich Seidl (Austria) TIFF 2012
Post Tenebras Lux – Dir. Carlos Reygadas (Mexico) TIFF 2012
Reality – Dir. Matteo Garrone (Italy) TIFF 2012
Something In the Air – Dir. Olivier Assayas (France) TIFF 2012
White Elephant – Dir. Pablo Trapero (Argentina) TIFF 2012
Zaytoun – Dir. Eran Riklis (Israel) TIFF 2012
In the Fog – Dir. Sergei Loznitsa (Russia) TIFF 2012
Simon Killer – Dir. Antonio Campos (US) Sundance 2012
Kid-Thing – Dir. David Zellner (US) Sundance 2012
The ABCs of Death – Dir. Various (US) TIFF 2012
Come Out and Play – Dir. Makinov (Mexico) TIFF 2012
Here Comes the Devil – Dir. Adrian Garcia Bogliano (Mexico) TIFF 2012
John Dies at the End – Dir. Don Coscarelli (US) Sundance 2012
