The (Now-Overrated) ILX Top 100 Films of the 2000s Poll Results

I adore The Piano Teacher and thought Dogville was great, so fuck the haters. The former, particularly, is a beautiful, horrible film. I think Andrew L was on the money about capturing that awful loneliness, and Huppert puts in such a good performance there.

I voted for Piano Teacher too, I remember really liking it (if "like" is a good word for such a movie) when it came out. I haven't seen it since though, and it's perfectly possible that I would find it less impressive at 30 than at 22, because at at that age I appreciated this sort of "raw" cinema more than I do now. But still, I can't remember any other movie ever leaving me with such a strong, guttural feeling of sadness after I'd seen it, and I think that counts for something. So I had to vote for it.

Morbs about 100xposts Lynn Ramsey scheduled to shoot "We Need to Talk About Kevin" this year with Tilda Swinton, but maybe you knew that.

That was my first-place vote, if memory serves.

At this point, I'm glad it showed up at all.

does this mean Blissfully Yours not gonna place?

I loved the first section of Tropical Malady and didn't really understand the second dream-part. It was intriguing, though, enough to make my ballot. One thing that struck me was how loud the outdoor ambient sounds were recorded. It really added something to the atmosphere

i rescreened sideways a few months ago - it's an ok movie that got picked up by some annoying critics as an example of "quality moviemaking for adults" and so got saddled with that bs aura

truly a great film.

I must have been high when I praised Sideways. Horrible movie.

I wish Virginia Madsen's comeback had paid off though.

I know I'm overly antipathetic toward movies that are aggressively OK. I'm over being too concerned by it.

It's the same with people.

I'd be cool with aggressively OK people calling me up more often tbh.

i liked sideways quite a bit and voted for it.

boring movies generally worse than bad movies

xxxp to Eric

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/talktoher.jpg

The last few frames of Talk To Her are heart-stoppingly beautiful.

― N. (nickdastoor)

I'm now in a huge argument with a friend about this film (saw last night). I'm frankly appalled by the rape and the way the film sets up the rapist as a person to sympathize with. Despite the otherwise stunning quality of the film and performances, I had a hard time dealing with the horror of the act in question (and I'm usually pretty relative about morality).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi)

A. is an amazing filmmaker, but one item on his agenda--always--(like John Waters) is gratuitous shock. Intentional bad taste of the sort that isn't really bad taste at all but is, or would be, clearly destructive to society, if it weren't just a movie. The other aspects of his films, lately, have been so lyrical, and successful on an artistic level, that the films trick people into elevating the shock features to the same level as his more "serious" musings. It's very manipulative. But that's okay for an artist, I think.

― Skottie

Talk To Her
Pedro Almodóvar
2002
Spain
(220 points, 10 votes)

wtf does aggressively OK even mean

Wow, Talk to Her is surprisingly low.

ugh

I like Weerasthakul fine, but couldn't honestly feel higher than 60th-80th for TM. He entrances but I'm still not always sure (or even able to guess) in the service of what.

its weird obama is a matador

sideways/napoleon dynamite showing up is making me worried that u bastards are going to vote little miss sunshine into the top 20 and im going to have a seizure

i think it's 'talk to her' where a hot secretary sez something like i just took a huge dump ~

didnt vote for it, but it's a good movie

i just dislike sideways tho, i fucking hate ND

Spencer Chow otm

Am I gonna regret bookmarking this thread?

Thought silent film sequence was by far best thing in Talk to Her, don't honestly remember much else.

I'm now in a huge argument with a friend about this film (saw last night). I'm frankly appalled by the rape and the way the film sets up the rapist as a person to sympathize with. Despite the otherwise stunning quality of the film and performances, I had a hard time dealing with the horror of the act in question (and I'm usually pretty relative about morality).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi)

This is the main reason I can't really deal with Talk to Her, even though most of it is quite good.

This was the comatose-chick one, right?

I thought Talk to Her was good, though I liked Volver more - I also remember very little about Talk to Her. I also thought Manderlay was better than Dogville.

xp - comatose chick one, yes.

lol this was the line i was thinking of - that its just so throw-off makes me <3 it

(Lest we dwell too long, for instance, on Alicia's shock at finding Benigno in her house, her father's receptionist answers the phone and offers this gem: "Oh, hello, Lola. I've just taken an elephant-sized dump." Cut to the next scene.)

Tropical Malady is new to me, looks interesting

He entrances but I'm still not always sure (or even able to guess) in the service of what.

agree but think that's the strength of it. it's refreshing.

I can't remember anything about Talk to Me either.

i remember it being super overrated at the time, i thought it was so-so

I'm now in a huge argument with a friend about this film (saw last night). I'm frankly appalled by the rape and the way the film sets up the rapist as a person to sympathize with.

See, I disagree. We often confuse "sympathize" with "interested in."

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/together-1.jpg

"Together" was so goddamned charming!

― Your body is a spiderland (polyphonic)

Together
Lukas Moodysson
2000
Sweden
(220.5 points, 9 votes, 1 first place)

taking a break for now...

^great screengrab, great movie

Funny -- kid named Tet -- need to see again.

Together is great, yeah! Too bad Moodysson decided he didn't want to do that sort of movies again. Despite the good intentions, Lilya-4-Ever was pretty awful, and from what I've heard his next movie was even worse.

I remember this was really hyped when it came out, but I never got to see it. Anything other than 'charming' or 'great'?

"Together" is on Watch Instantly for Netflix folks who haven't seen it, btw.

^yes, on my list

Glad to see Capturing the Friedmans placed as it was my #1. IMO the DVD of this one is essential, as all the many, many extras just escalate the bafflement. Of course it bears noting that I am obsessed w/the kind of stuff in the extras, such as transcripts of really poorly done, exploitative police interviews w/kids that go on for hours. I mean if they ever made a docu abt the McMartin preschool trial, my head would probably explode.

Everyone I've ever tried to play this for has fallen asleep tho.

Lilya 4-Ever wasn't too bad aside from the ending, but as soon as I sent my ballot I really regretted giving it the two points that I did. That ending killed the movie for me.

xxxpost

Together is ranked exactly right. I liked it a lot but always forget I saw it.

hmm let's see. of the ones so far i think dogville is the only one i voted for. (and it's great, u r all crazy.) i like tropical malady but it's my 3rd-favorite joe film so didn't make the cut. i think together was on my extended shortlist. the piano teacher made me want to punch michael haneke, even though isabelle huppert really is great in it.

It's about a 70s Swedish housewife getting fed up with his husband and moving to a leftist/hippie commune with his kids. It gives a somewhat bemused but alway sympathetic portrait of the sort of people who lived in communes during the 70s.

(x-post to Emily)