Introduction:
Hello all. Welcome to Loquacious Kumquat: A Facetious Adventure, a blog devoted to the celebration of cinema. My title is derived from the name of a novel I would write if I had a good idea to flesh out with it and enough time to waste in trying to do so. But alas, I would, for the moment, rather talk/bitch/wax poetic about film, and darling reader, in what I hope to be in the most unpretentious manner I can manage. I will refrain from posting too many pictures of myself, unless of course I ended up being in a movie I felt needed marketing....
Anyhow, that's not a lot about me, but patience, darling reader(s) - (notice I've just made this plural), but I believe in a certain element of mystique....though some that know me may disagree. But once in the public domain, well, you know how these things go, people just can't help but wag their tongues, their fat, lazy tongues. ...In other words, against my initial instinct towards blogging, I am creating this lovely little morsel of a safe zone for cinema to get the word out there about some good shit, for lack of a better word.
I also attempt to introduce people to quality cinema everyday-- I have a GLBT themed film night on Wednesdays, and every other Sunday I host an International Cinema night. And yes, I will share what I think and discredit others. I am being facetious. But to be cruel, I will force the regular attendees of my movie nights to visit my blog to see what the upcoming features will be.
As a first posting after I get done blithering, I thought I would share some thoughts about what MY top several films of 2008 were. It's so hard to keep anything under the number ten, so I stretched a little. And then I have some honorable mentions. I will do my best to insert some pictures in case you get a little bored or groggy, but I promise nothing. It depends on how difficult this will be for me.
Monsieur Bell's Top 15 (+1) of 2008:
16 (the extra): Inside (2008) Now, because I can be anal, this film had to be an extra because it did not get a theater release in the US, but instead went directly to DVD. It premiered at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival on the last night and I was unable to experience it. But after I got my own copy in my hot little hands, there's no way I could leave it off a list of my favorite cinematic experiences from 2008. A simple and wicked little horror film chock full of gore and the stunningly creepy Beatrice Dalle, the film accomplishes what US horror films have neglected to do for the past however many years---be original and be disturbing. After all, isn't that what we ask from a horror film? I mean, I'm all about watching Betsy Palmer chase that androgyne around in the original Friday the 13th, but when you come across something this creepy, you have to spread the love. For those of you who don't know Beatrice Dalle, you're missing out! She shot to fame as the central character in Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1986 drama Betty Blue as the kind of girl I wouldn't curse with any straight man. Other credits include A Woman's Revenge with my gal Isabelle Huppert and the gruesome vampiric-ish drama Trouble Every Day. What I really love about Beatrice is her real-life craziness. In the later 90's she got busted for drugs while filming a crap Abel Ferrara film and so was not allowed back into the country when M. Night Shyamalan wanted her as Bruce Willis' wife in The Sixth Sense. She also married some guy in prison. And also in her native country, she notoriously bitch-slapped a meter maid for giving her a ticket. The closest we get to that is Zsa-Zsa! Anyhow, Alysson Paradis (sister-in-law of Johnny Depp) is the heroine of Inside. The film opens with a horrendous car-crash in which Paradis' husband dies only to leave her alone and very pregnant. Several months later it's Christmas Eve and Paradis will be inducing later on Christmas Day---but much to her chagrin, a mysterious woman terrorizes her inside her home, seemingly desperate to take Paradis' baby. Directed by Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury. If you like the recent outcrop of French horror, like the excellent High Tension, Them, or Sheitan you should check this out. (However, avoid Martys, if it ever is released here. Tripe).
15. The Wrestler (2008) -- Now, I don't know about you, but I love Darren Aronofsky. And yes, I loved The Fountain. I've never been the biggest fan of Mickey Rourke, but I do enjoy Body Heat, Barfly, Angel Heart and yes, Sin City. Perhaps it's the weird relationship he had with Carre Otis, his co-star from Wild Orchid, or how 9 1/2 Weeks hasn't aged well, or how he called someone a faggot and had to publicly apologize. I don't know, but he's messy. However, in The Wrestler, Rourke gives a tremendously powerful performance as a down and out retired professional wrestler in what could otherwise have been a more mediocre film (sorry Aronofsky). While it pales in comparison to Aronofsky's own work (Requiem For A Dream), the film is beautiful to watch, often cathartic and a downright a damn good piece of cinema. Evan Rachel Wood is also excellent as his estranged daughter and Marisa Tomei as the doe-eyed stripper he has a crush on.
14. Jellyfish (2007) -- Directed by Shira Geffen and Etgar Keret, Jellyfish, a film from Israel, is about three different Israeli women whose stories come together to weave an excellent, moving piece of cinema.
13. Baby Mama (2008) -- I told you I would try to be un-pretentious. Here is where I admit I have a slight bias when it comes to cinema -- I love Sigourney Weaver. Though she wasn't in all that much I drooled over this year, 2009 is looking to be excellent for Ms. Weaver. So yes, she appears on this list twice (and in my following 'Honorable Mentions' list. Notice please, dear reader(s) that Vantage Point does not appear on either list. So there. Anyhow, I loved Baby Mama. Sigourney is nice and oogy weird as the very fertile head of a surrogacy agency and who doesn't love Amy Poehler? Everything she does cracks me up. And yes, the ever-so-talented Tina Fey makes me laugh, too. I don't often choose a ton of comedies, just by nature, not that there's anything wrong with laughing. Anyhow, the above-mentioned three ladies made this otherwise by-the-books film comedic gold. I'd take it over Juno any day. Yes, even though Diablo Cody is now famous due to her torrid past as a shameless blogger (that I am not trying to mimic in any way). Baby Mama is directed by Michael McCullers and I doubt anything he helms will ever make my top 15 list again.
12. Transsiberian (2008) -- Directed by Brad Davis, who brought us the excellent creep-fest that was The Machinist, Transsiberian is a fun little thriller that entertains on several levels. Emily Mortimer and Woody Harrelson star as an American couple that get wrapped up in espionage with a wicked little Russian played by Ben Kingsley (excellent here) due to their befriending a strange couple aboard a Transsiberian train from China to Moscow. Kate Mara (Tadpole; Brokeback Mountain) and Spanish hottie Eduardo Noriega (Thesis; Open Your Eyes; Vantage Point; Novo) play the strange couple. Favorite Scene: Mortimer's reaction to Noriega's advances while sight-seeing the ruins of a church outside of a remote village. Chilly indeed.
11. Rachel Getting Married (2008) -- Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs; Philadelphia; Beloved) is an excellent filmmaker and his newest venture is no exception. Written by Sidney Lumet's daughter, Jenny Lumet, Rachel is a snaky little exercise on awful family relationships. Anne Hathaway is awesomely narcissistic and broken down as the recovering family drug addict and deserves all the attention she is getting for her work here. It's nice to see Debra Winger, even though I always though she was a little full of herself. Winger plays the most emotionally distant cinematic mother that I've seen since Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People. Rosemarie DeWitt and "TV on the Radio" lead singer Tunde Adebimpe are also worthy of mention as the referenced bride and groom.
10. Wall-E (2008) -- Yes, maybe it's the bias. Had to Siggy in the top 10, I know you're thinking, your eyes slanting, accusatory. But no matter. Yes, Sigourney is the voice of the computer in Wall-E. As if you didn't know. She looked lovely at the Golden Globes the other night, by the way. Point is, fare like this isn't normally seen by me, but I loved Wall-E. And if you didn't, well maybe you have a heart of stone. Yes, I'd see it again even IF Sigourney Weaver didn't have a small hand in the production.
9. My Winnipeg (2008) -- I LOVE Guy Maddin. He's the best thing out of Canada since Cronenberg. Ever since The Saddest Music in the World, I have been in love with his work. Though I believe his triumph currently stands as Brand Upon the Brain!, his newest effort, My Winnipeg is gloriously strange. Favorite element: Maddin recruited B-noir actress Ann Savage for the film--and she's alive and hilarious. Shame on you if you haven't seen Ann's signature performance in Detour (1945). She's the bitchiest femme fatale besides Stanwyck in Double Indemnity.
8. Milk (2008) -- Besides the gay agenda, Sean Penn is pretty damn good as Harvey Milk. Kudos to Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, and James Franco. It's nice to see Gus Van Sant do something I really want to rant about again, the dirty old man. The film is a pretty standard bio-pic, but nevertheless, it's worth a look and stands out as one of the better films of 2008. Both timely and necessary, I still am waiting for the fictional gay-themed film set in modern times that becomes this celebrated. Maybe I'll have to make it ;).
7. The Last Mistress (2007) -- Catherine Breillat is the most intriguing and downright cinematically vicious female French filmmaker working today. Please please please see Fat Girl (2001) if you haven't. Breillat's new film is a showcase for one of my favorite screen-siren weirdos, Asia Argento. Getting deliciously weird parts in Assayas' recent Boarding Gate and Ferrara's Go Go Tales, Argento has come a long way since she was needlessly exploited a la Sofia Coppola style in her father's trash horror films (I do like some of them, don't get upset). Elegant and heartbreaking, catch this flick to see Asia be awesomely crazy and sexy in Breillat's latest perversion.
6. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) -- Yes, everyone and their dead uncle loves this one. I also did, despite myself. Beautiful piece of work. Kudos Danny Boyle and cast, etc. Enough said.
5. Stuck (2007) -- I'm sad this got so ignored this year. An excellent little thriller that will have you saying "What the fugeezy," over and over again, Stuck is based on the true story of a young woman who hits a homeless man that gets lodged in her windshield. Panicking, she drives on and parks in her garage, leaving the man to die and avoid getting into trouble. Stephen Rea stars as a man having one really bad day and Mena Suvari deliciously plays the dreadlocked specimen of white-trash that knows no bounds in order dispose of the man in her windshield. Excellent film. Directed by Stuart Gordon, who achieved cinematic immortality with his B-horror sci-fi film Re-animator, his latest venture is every bit as deliciously good as the also overlooked Edmond (2005).
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The Top 4 are on the way.........
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