In the first half of the year, I saw more great films than I could fit on a Top Ten, but for the sake of discipline, here’s my list, culled from New York theatrical releases from January thru June:
Cherry Blossoms by Doris Dörrie
24 City by Zhang Ke Jia
Adoration by Atom Egoyan
Coraline by Henry Selick
Sleep Dealer by Alex Rivera
12 by Nikita Mikhalkov
Donkey Punch by Oliver Blackburn
Goodbye Solo by Ramin Bahrani
Lemon Tree by Eran Riklis
Hunger by Steve McQueen
The tendency is to forget the first half of the year when we’re making our Top Tens in December!!!
What do you think is the best film so far this year?
03-10-09: Varda runs towards Varick Street, leaving journalists and photographers in her wake.
Agnes Varda is not a shy violet, but she was dressed in purple from head-to-toe when I interviewed her during the “Rendez-Vous with French Cinema” series in March. She was self-posessed, recalcitrant, and somewhat belligerent. When a few of us went outside Film Forum to get photos of her, she dashed through traffic across Houston Street and then ran towards Varick, leaving us behind as she searched for the perfect backdrop (which didn’t exist).
03-10-09: Varda closeup
I interviewed the director on her new film, The Beaches of Agnes, for a magazine and also for a newspaper feature. Did I mention that I think she’s the greatest? I wrote in my feature:
As a rare female filmmaker working since the 1950s, Varda has no counterpart in the United States. She says, “There were other women working in film in France when I began, but I was the first to fight for a new kind of cinema. I pushed other women to join. Now we have more. There are many directors and editors. Not only that, but mixing and sound ladies. I pushed them. I said, ‘Learn! Don’t say it’s difficult for women!’”
I was raised on “Diet for a Small Planet” by Frances Moore Lappé and was a vegetarian for most of my life. “Laurel’s Kitchen” and “The Moosewood Cookbook” had pride of place on our kitchen shelf. There was miso paste in the refrigerator at all times (and there still is, in my home). For personal health reasons, I recently converted to omnivore.
So the food industry has been a topic of interest for me my whole life. I recommend seeing Food, Inc. even if you know a lot about the subject from previous books and films, some of which I mentioned in a previous blog post. The issues need continued support, and there is new information here that’s eye opening.
Why do I think gnarly tomatoes taste better? Uniform, spherical tomatoes, in an unnatural red smack of lab, not farm. So skip those and go for the funniest shape, most mottled color for better odds on a delicious tomato.
Zoe explodes with epilepsy and implodes with heartache in Bradley Rust Gray’s “The Exploding Girl” at BAMcinemaFest.
Granddaughter of Elia Kazan, and daughter of screenwriters Nicholas Kazan and Robin Swicord, the talented actress told me that she doesn’t engage much with her Greek hertiage, but did recently celebrate Greek Easter with its customary dyed-red egg cracking ritual and home baked kourambiedes cookies.
06-25-09: Actress Zoe Kazan inside BAM
At the BAMcinemaFEST last night, I met effervesent Ry Russo-Young, director of “You Won’t Miss Me,” starring Stella Schnabel as a troubled, aspiring actress.
Super 8, Super 16, HD, Digital Video, and Flipcam—proficiently wielded by cinematographer Kitao Sakurai—evoke different psychological states. This could be a primer on wringing moods out of film formats.
06-23-09: Director Ry Russo-Young outside BAM
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