2009 - The Year in Review

I'm a bit late with my year in review, largely because of what the past year brought me. Most prominently, I had two close shaves with death. The first was a motorcycle accident in January. It didn't really affect my film-going, though I was home-bound for a week, during which time I couldn't watch any DVDs with sub-titles as my vision was impaired. While I walked out of hospital on the day and was back at work a week later, it would be another four months before I felt confident enough to commute by bicycle, which threw my health campaign behind significantly. My motorcycle was written off and replaced by insurance, though I used my motor scooter for a couple of months.

The second set-back was pneumonia, which I developed just after MIFF, and which I attribute to being run-down. The consequence of that is that there have been very few late nights, hardly any second films at Melbourne Cinémathèque (which normally finishes around 11pm or later) and less late-night blog entries. I bought a new laptop around the same time and I've had all sorts of problems with accessing files. At one stage I thought I'd lost a heap of valuable data, but it was a false scare, thankfully. I'm still not set up where I want to be, but it's do-able and I expect to be there soon.

2009 stats
Before I post my best-of lists, I thought I'd jot down some personal 2009 stats. During the year, I saw 269 films, of which 31 were DVDs, 75 were cinema releases, 97 were retrospective screenings and the rest (66) festival and other special season screenings. Only 88 of these screenings were attended with family or friends; the remaining 181 I watched alone.

Festivals/seasons
Melbourne Cinématheque really is the year-round film festival and accounted for 52 of the films I saw, followed by 35 at MIFF, 11 at the French Film Festival, 9 at La Mirada, 8 for ACMI First Look screenings, 7 for ACMI Australian Perspectives screenings, 6 at the Spanish Film Festival, 4 at each of the ACMI Focus on Girls 247/ and the ACMI Focus on Hopper's America. Other ACMI Focus seasons accounted for another 7 films. Other festivals I attended included the German, Italian and Turkish (3 films each), Jewish, Israeli and Russian (1 each), and various others.

Venues
I saw 110 films at ACMI, 28 at Nova, 18 at the Forum (MIFF), 17 at the Kino, 15 at the Como, 14 at Hoyt's Melbourne Central, 11 at Greater Union (MIFF), 9 at the Sun and 16 other films across 7 other cinemas.

Repeat screenings
I saw two films more than once on the big screen: both Avatar and Inglourious Basterds I saw three times each.

Nominal countries of release
Many films are multi-national productions. My count is based on the primary or first-mentioned country. The top four countries remain pretty much the same as for the last five years: USA (72), France (47), Australia (38) and UK (16), followed by Italy (13), Spain (13), Japan (8), Germany (8, included West and East Germany), Poland (6), Sweden (6), with 50 films from another 25 countries (Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Hong Kong, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey and USSR). That's a total of 34 different countries, more or less my average of the last few years.

Classifications
121 of the films I saw during the year were unclassified. Only 4 had an R-rating, a disappointingly low number and down from 8 the previous year. I suppose this reflects the lack of risk cinemas are taking, or the lack of interest from cinema-goers in risky films, depending on your perspective (and I tend to think that the exhibitors are responding to conservative market demand). 31 were MA, 74 M, 30 PG and 9 G.

Year of release
135 of the films I saw were released in 2008 or 2009 and another 21 from 2000 to 2007.
10 were from the 1990s, 15 from the 1980s, 32 from the 1970s, 33 from the 1960s, 11 from the 1950s, 7 from the 1940s, 4 from the 1920s and 1 from the 1910s.

It's interesting to reflect on the year past, to look over the long list of films seen and pick out the highlights. Each year there are so many special moments, so many special films, for so many different reasons. As usual, I've compiled various lists: cinema releases, festival screenings and retrospective screenings. I'll also list my worst films of the year and those I found over-rated. Voila !

Top 10 cinema releases

• The Limits of Control (Jim Jarmusch, USA/Japan, 2009)
• L'heure d'été (Summer Hours, Olivier Assayas, France, 2008)
• Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, USA/Germany, 2009)
• Samson and Delilah (Warwick Thornton, Australia, 2009)
• The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky, USA, 2008)
• The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, USA, 2008)
• JCVD (Mabrouk el Mechri, Belgium/Luxembourg/France, 2008)
• Revolutionary Road (Sam Mendes, USA/UK, 2008)
• A Serious Man (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, USA/UK/France, 2009)
• Wendy and Lucy (Kelly Reichardt, USA, 2008)
  

Special mention:

• Moon (Duncan Jones, UK, 2009)
• Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood, USA, 2008)
• Avatar 3D (James Cameron, USA, 2009)
• Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze, USA, 2009)

Note that these are not in any particular order, except I'd nominate The Limits of Control as my no. 1, the next four listed as equal second and the rest pretty much tied. As with any list, it's subject to change and any one of a dozen or more films could have easily slipped into the bottom of the list. Most of my top 10 did something special. I'm very fond of Jarmusch's films, but this is the best of his I've seen. Some found it style over substance, though for me the style is the substance. Summer Hours is on the surface a bland French family drama, but sneaks under your skin in a subtle way, capturing emotions in a rare way. Most of what I considered flaws or shortcomings in my initial take of Inglourious Basterds seemed to evaporate on repeat viewings. This might come to be seen as Tarantino's masterpiece in years to come. Samson and Delilah is not just the best Australian film of the year, but the best since 2006's Em 4 Jay by Alkinos Tsilimidos. It's handling of indigenous culture and use of music and sound are simply sublime and unique. The Wrestler has such pathos that is so wound up in the real-life story of its lead and has an ending to die for.

The Hurt Locker is easily the best film of the recent Iraq/Afghanistan conflict, one that takes you on a first-person perspective - the seminal war film of the time. My words about The Wrestler are just as applicable to JCVD, which is basically a black comedy. Revolutionary Road cements in my mind Sam Mendes' insights into the complexity of human relationships, refusing to take the simplistic and populist views that prevail in society. And he does a damn fine job of depicting it on screen.


Top 10 festival screenings

• En la ciudad de Sylvia (In the City of Sylvia, José Luis Guerín, Spain, 2007)
  
• Das Weiße Band (The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke, Austria, 2009)
• Kynodontas (Dogtooth, Giorgos Lanthimos, Greece, 2009)
• Pandora'nin kutusu (Pandora's Box, Yesim Ustaoglu, Turkey/France/Belgium/Germany, 2008)
• Julia (Erick Zonka, France/USA/Mexico/Belgium, 2008)
• La mujer sin cabeza (The Headless Woman, Lucrecia Martel, Argentina, 2008)
• La vie moderne (Modern Life, Raymond Depardon, France, 2008)
• L'instinct de mort (Public Enemy Number One - Part One, Jean-François Richet, France/Canada/Italy, 2008)
  
• L'ennemi public n°1 (Public Enemy Number One - Part Two, Jean-François Richet, France/Canada, 2008)
• Palermo Shooting (Wim Wenders, Germany/France/Italy, 2008)
• Sonbahar (Autumn, Özcan Alper, Turkey/Germany, 2008)

Again, no particular order, though I think I'd nominate Guerín's film as no.1. I missed it at La Mirada film festival but caught it at Melbourne Cinémathèque. The following three come second, followed by the remainder. I love the mystique of a Haneke film, the way he poses more questions than he answers. The White Ribbon was my MIFF favourite. It leaves you thinking about the story and who did or didn't do what for hours or days after. Two films from the Turkish Film Festival made my list and, from memory, there were only eight films programmed. This is a festival to watch out for. Palermo Shooting was poorly received by most, but it resonated with me because of it's handling of the subject of death. I connected not just with the theme, but exposition of the nature of death (personified by the always great Dennis Hopper).

Top 10 new discoveries of old films

• Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1957)
• Léon Morin, prêtre (Leon Morin, Priest, Jean-Pierre Melville, France, 1961)
• Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light, Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1963)
• Cléo de 5 à 7 (Cleo From 5 to 7, Agnès Varda, France/Italy, 1962)
• Le feu follet (Louis Malle, France, 1963)
• Au revoir, les enfants (Goodbye, Children, Louis Malle, France/West Germany, 1987)
• Overlord (Stuart Cooper, UK, 1975)
• Lacombe, Lucien (Louis Malle, France/West Germany/Italy, 1974)
• Zabriskie Point (Michelangelo Antonioni, USA, 1970)
• À bientôt, j'espère (Be Seeing You, Chris Marker, Mario Marret, France, 1968)

Special mention:

• Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Jeanne Dielman, Chantal Akerman, Belgium/France, 1975)
• En construcción (Work in Progress, José Luis Guerín, Spain, 2001)
• Wanda (Barbara Loden, Barbara Loden, USA, 1970)
• Sonnensucher (Sun Seekers, Konrad Wolf, East Germany, 1972)
• Wake in Fright (Ted Kotcheff, Australia/USA, 1971)

The top five above are all sublime masterpieces. The Seventh Seal has haunted me since I saw it shortly after my motorcycle accident. I completely related to Von Sydow's character being stalked by Death. Both Bergman and Malle featured heavily in this list. Malle I discovered for the first time at Melbourne Cinémathèque whereas my appreciation for Bergman has been a slow distillation process. His The Silence almost made the list, a film that left me nonplussed at MIFF a couple of years ago. With each successive Bergman film I've seen, my respect for him and his insights has snowballed, so that when I revisit one of them, I see it with new eyes.

The second five are also brilliant, but I place them just behind the others. But really, with Cinémathèque, there are so many gems to discover from the history of cinema, and this section of the films I see is definitely the strongest.

Top Australian films
My favourite local films were:

• Samson and Delilah (Warwick Thornton, Australia, 2009)
• Mao's Last Dancer (Bruce Beresford, Australia, 2009)
• Mary and Max (Adam Elliot, Australia, 2009)
• Last Ride (Glendyn Ivin, Australia, 2009)
• The Combination (David Field, Australia, 2009)

I won't include Three Blind Mice. Though it was released in 2009, I saw it in 2008 and it was my favourite Australian film that year. A special mention to the Warwick Thornton shorts that screened at the Nova, namely Green Bush (26", 2004), Payback (10", 1996), Mimi (13", 2002) and Nana (6", 2007). Green Bush is my pick of them. While Samson and Delilah revealed Thornton as a hot new talent, these shorts demonstrated that his talent has been brewing for quite some time, awaiting the recognition that culminated in Samson and Delilah
winning the Un certain regarde prize at Cannes and multiple AFI awards.

Worst films of the year

• My Life in Ruins (Donald Petrie, USA/Spain, 2009)
• Dying Breed (Jody Dwyer, Australia, 2008)
• Sherlock Holmes (Guy Ritchie, UK/Australia/USA, 2009)
• The Spirit (Frank Miller, USA, 2008)
• Caos calmo (Quiet Chaos, Antonio Luigi Grimaldi, Italy/UK, 2008)
• Rudi y Cursi (Rudi and Cursi, Carlos Cuarón, Mexico/USA, 2008)
• Lake Mungo (Joel Anderson, Australia, 2008)

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a pretty dumb comedy but funny, because its depictions are based on a reality that those of us who have anything to do with our respective Greek communities will recognise. In my case, the male protagonist mirrored my experience, right down to being vegetarian and I could relate to every scenario. But My Life in Ruins is just a disaster. The writing is poor, the characterisations trite and I found nothing to laugh at, at all. Dying Breed is schlock horror but I found it putrid and it was the first film in quite some time I walked out of half way. Sherlock Holmes? That's not Sherlock Holmes, but rather just another bland action hero film by a mediocre action film-maker.

There must be a strong market for mediocre Italian family drama in this country. And you'd think that's all Italy produces, going by what is distributed locally. I could have walked out of the ridiculously manipulative Quiet Chaos at any time from the five minute mark. Puerile shite.

You'd think the same duo who starred together in one of my favourite Mexican films, by the director of that film, would come up with something a bit better than this. Just because a character is stupid doesn't mean the screenplay should be. With Rudi and Cursi, it is.

Most over-rated films of the year

• Elegy (Isabel Coixet, USA, 2008)
• Two Lovers (James Gray, USA, 2008)
• Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, UK, 2009)

I suppose this last list is contentious, because I'm defying the general trend. Each of these films was lauded but I was completely underwhelmed by them. In fact, Elegy I hated (read my review if you want to know why). Two Lovers simply did nothing for me and I couldn't buy into the story. Fish Tank seemed too derivative for me, a clone of Ken Loach in a genre that even he seems tired of - mind you, I'm kinda over Ken Loach, especially after his MIFF grandstanding.

So, how do I see the year overall? I don't know, it just was. I find it hard to compare one year with another, but looking at my 2008 year in review, I'll give it a try. Good theatrical releases are always the thinnest part of my cinema experience. Overall, 2009 seemed comparable to 2008 in this regard, though my top films in 2008 (Paranoid Park, Transylvania and The Edge of Heaven) were a lot less mainstream than this year's (The Limits of Control, Summer Hours and Inglourious Basterds). Last year, 3 of my top 10 were English-language films compared to 8 this year (or 7 if you exclude Samson and Delilah).

The overall quality of festival screenings seems a little down on 2008 also, by my estimation. 2009 has only a couple of real stand-outs compared to about 6 in 2008. However, the retrospective screenings look much stronger. Even though I missed many Cinémathèque screenings, the number of stand-outs for me roughly doubled compared to 2008.

This kind of talk is somewhat irrelevant. One meal is better than another, but overall as long as we're nourished, does it matter? What's important to me is the exposure to different cultural and artistic experiences, diversity and challenge. I can't really conclude that one year was better than another; overall I'm happy with what I saw. There was a large number of films that did little for me and the challenge for me in 2010 is to be more discriminating and to try to avoid films that are 'just OK'. Let's see what the year brings.

MIFF 2008 Overview

MIFF is over for another year, which brings both sadness and relief. Sadness that we have to wait another year for so many good films that we wish distributors would drip-feed us throughout the year but - with few exceptions - don't. And relief that we can get back to eating and sleeping normally.

My daily 'reviews' were this year more summary/cursory than last year. I make no apology for this to myself or anyone who may happen to read. I just could not put the effort into it that I did last year. Fatigue has really become a health issue for me. There's maybe a dozen films I'd like to write more on, and if the opportunity presents itself I will. If any of those films get a release outside of the festival, I'll be sure to do so.

I saw 42 complete films this year, 2 more than last year. I tried to keep it to 40, the number I saw last year, so I wasn't too much over the mark. That really is about the maximum number of films that I can see and respectfully absorb without burning up (which I got close to yesterday). I also attended another 4 films that I walked out of, not necessarily because they were bad per se, but because they weren't worth staying for and I'd rather get a break or go home and get some sleep. There's a number of other films that I could've walked out of, but didn't. That includes everything in "GIVE IT A MISS" below, and pretty much everything in "MEH".

Were it possible, I'd have been happy to have just seen the "MUST SEE" and "VERY GOOD" films below and nothing else. That would have been extremely satisfying, and I wouldn't be feeling the fatigue I am now.

I managed to see all six of the Romanian Wave feature films, and I found this stream very satisfying. My pick of them is The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, with a special mention to The Paper is Blue. I look forward to seeing anything coming out of Romania by the directors in this stream.

I wanted to see all of the Edward Yang films (except Yi Yi, which I'd already seen) and managed to see all but two of them. I was disappointed that I couldn't fit A Bright Summer's Day in, which is reputed as his masterpiece. I found it interesting to see a number of his films, but at best I found them quietly satisfying without being earth-shattering in any way. I think I'd appreciate them more outside of the festival and maybe Melbourne Cinémathèque may put on a season of his films in the future. My favourite at the festival was A Confucian Confusion.

I found the Ozploitation films fun and added a nice touch of variety to the festival without being profound in any way. Not Quite Hollywood, opening night film, is entertaining rather than insightful, but gives a reason to visit or revisit these early Australian films. Of the three films screening in the Ozploitation stream, my favourite was Road Games (though it's really a thriller rather than an Ozploitation film).

I saw five of the ten films from the Tribute to the Cannes Director's Fortnight stream, but none of them impressed me overly. It's the stream that disappointed me the most.

I saw twelve films from the largest stream, International Panorama. Five of those films made it into my 'MUST SEE' or 'VERY GOOD' list, namely Lorna's Silence, Three Monkeys, Silent Light, Katyn and O' Horten.

I only saw one film from the New Gen stream, The Substitute, which I didn't particularly like. It's an obviously 'made-for-children' film, which is a kind of euphemism for 'be prepared to suspend all your critical and intellectual faculties because we're really dumbing this down'. I think the best children's films are those that don't underestimate a child's intellect, like John Sayle's The Secret of Roan Inish or Ken Loach's Kes. The best film at the festival that I think would suit children (but wasn't available to them) was Tricks. It's about a young boy who thinks a man he sees at the station might be his absent father.

This year I cut back on the number of Neighbourhood Watch films I saw compared to last year as I found there was too much homogeny among them. Of the four I saw, Secret Sunshine was the easy stand-out in this stream, though 24 City and Night and Day were very enjoyable.

Looking at the list of films I saw at MIFF, I have unsurprisingly gravitated towards the social-realist films. There didn't seem to be many 'headline acts', so to speak, this year. I think I could improve my future MIFF experiences by doing a little more research. I found a number of films weren't worthy of the festival (in my opinion, of course) and would prefer to see less quantity and more quality. I think my overall MIFF experience is on a par with last year, though I'd have to revisit my journal for last year to comment more authoritatively.

Last year I collated a list of suggestions for MIFF, and this year I'm doing the same. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to post them and if appropriate, I'll add them to my list.

As a MIFF Member, I thought the priority queue was a great innovation for this year. It certainly enhanced the festival experience for me and I suspect will lead to a rush of new members before next year's festival (perhaps there was one this year).

I thought the addition of the Kino as a venue was good, but it's a pity that MIFF didn't book the Regent, which is a magnificent venue and holds a huge number for the popular sessions. Opening Night at Hamer Hall just wasn't the same and I certainly will not attend opening night there again.

Greater Union has got to have the shittiest cinemas in Melbourne. Seats are broken, and the prime seating locations should be where the staircases are located. With both Hoyts and Village closed in the central CBD, I suppose there's not much choice, but it'd be nice if Greater Union would refurbish them after so many decades.

The festival ads drove me crazy, especially the MIFF ad itself and the Channel 10 Rush and Yalumba ones. You'd think the advertisers would produce a range of ads that would get circulated, so you wouldn't be seeing the same ads session after session. The advertisers really need to review their contracts with the advertising agencies. They were all poor at best.

Lighting is terrible at most venues. The lights often went out just as the audiences were entering the cinemas as the ads were starting. You'd think half-lighting would stay on while the ads are on, as is usual when one attends a cinema. At most of the venues, seating is so tight, so one invariably stood on others and/or was stood on by others in the dark. This was the case at every venue I attended except ACMI.

I thought the daytime programming was an improvement on last year, but could still be better improved. For those like myself who take two weeks off work, some days there was fairly uninspiring choices during business hours. I'd also like to see film start 11am during the week rather than 1pm. I'm sure there'd be sales for an earlier time as I saw sold out sessions at 1pm. An earlier start would enable one to catch a film, take a 2-hour lunch break and then see a 3pm film.

Other Suggestions (feel free to add your own):

• I'd like to see more films programmed for children, and screened on weekdays at 5pm and 7pm.
• The MIFF program would be easier to use if the middle section included the film's stream and the page number the film synopsis is on. This would reduce the film research process from three steps to two.
• Additional screenings of in-demand films without a local release
• Website: the ability to select more than one session's tickets at a time
• Website: the calender could show all events, not just film sessions
• Website: search engine is pathetic and needs improvement
• Website: the ability to associate a pass with a membership number
• I'd be happy to pay say $5 for an A5 size, bound festival guide rather than the free Age liftout
• Website: blue text on black background is terrible. I'd rather black text on white background.
  

Memos to self for next year (feel free to make your own suggestions):

• Make sure you're well-rested before MIFF starts
• Better to see one or two festival films other than the opening night film on opening night
• Take more note of which films won Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, etc at major film festivals like Cannes, as these invariably are the must-see films at the festival
• 40 films is more than enough
• Take home-cooking with me to eat at appropriate times
• Get to bed earlier
  

Here's a repost of my arbitrary classifications of the films I saw:

MUST SEE CINEMA!
Lorna's Silence
Three Monkeys
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
Secret Sunshine
Silent Light

VERY GOOD
The Paper Will be Blue
Katyn
O' Horten

QUIETLY SATISFYING
Tricks
On War
A Confucian Confusion
Occident
Momma's Man
Night and Day
My Marlon and Brando
Mahjong
24 City
12:08 East of Bucharest
Boogie
The Terrorizer

GOOD FUN
Surveillance
Roadgames
Long Weekend
Not Quite Hollywood
My Winnipeg
Dead End Drive-In

OK BUT DISAPPOINTING
The Devil Probably
Fata Morgana
Private Lessons
Taipei Story
Matewan
Fox and His Friends

MEH
Time to Die
Everything is Fine
The Pope's Toilet
Sleepwalking Land
California Dreamin' (Endless)

GIVE IT A MISS
40 x 15: The 40 Years of the Directors' Fortnight
Ashes of Time Redux
The Substitute
Of Time and the City
Lion's Den

WALKOUTS
Xiao Jia Going Home
The Desert Within
La Rabia
Just Anybody

My MIFF film classifications

This is a running list, using completely arbitrary classification, of films I've seen at MIFF 2008.

MUST SEE CINEMA!
Lorna's Silence
Three Monkeys
The Death of Mister Lazarescu
Secret Sunshine
Silent Light

VERY GOOD
The Paper Will be Blue
Katyn
O' Horten

QUIETLY SATISFYING
Tricks
On War
A Confucian Confusion
Occident
Momma's Man
Night and Day
My Marlon and Brando
Mahjong
24 City
12:08 East of Bucharest
Boogie
The Terrorizer

GOOD FUN
Surveillance
Roadgames
Long Weekend
Not Quite Hollywood
My Winnipeg
Dead End Drive-In

OK BUT DISAPPOINTING
The Devil Probably
Fata Morgana
Private Lessons
Taipei Story
Matewan
Fox and His Friends

MEH
Time to Die
Everything is Fine
The Pope's Toilet
Sleepwalking Land
California Dreamin' (Endless)

GIVE IT A MISS
40 x 15: The 40 Years of the Directors' Fortnight
Ashes of Time Redux
The Substitute
Of Time and the City
Lion's Den

WALKOUTS
Xiao Jia Going Home
The Desert Within
La Rabia
Just Anybody

2007 - The Year in Review

2007 was my biggest year of cinema. I don't think numbers adequately tell the story, but I saw more films than any other year (283, compared to 201 in 2006). While US films were once over 50% of the films I'd see in a year, I have succeeded in increasing the proportion that films from elsewhere make up my viewing experience. In 2005, US films made up 53% of the films I saw, in 2006 it was 38% and in 2007 it was 28%. The number of countries that I've seen films from has increased from 12 in 2005 to 34 in 2006 to 41 in 2007. MIFF and the other film festivals have been of enormous help in bringing up that number, which I see as crucial to varying the cultural experience of cinema.

Having taken up French language classes at Alliance Française during the year, I've been making a point of going to as many French films as possible. I tried to weed out the middle-of-the-road comedies and family dramas during the French Film Festival (research has become an important aspect of attending any film festival), and the festival was consequently a great experience for me. The highlights were Private Property and Poison Friends.

It was soon after this that I took up French classes, and now I get free tickets to most of the cinema releases of French films. Even though I hate many of them, I find them good for practicing my listening skills. The downside is that French films unfairly occupy 6 out my 10 worst films of the year, when in reality they're probably no worse than the worst of Hollywood.

I saw 7 French films in 2005 (8% of all films seen that year), 27 (13%) in 2006 and 53 in 2007 (18%).

Interestingly, the films just outside of my worst 10 are not all bad, so I've been reasonably successful in weeding out bad films from my cinema-going. Films that didn't quite make my worst 10 include Perfume: the Story of a Murderer, Sunshine, Breaking and Entering, West and Stranger Than Fiction.

As far as local films, they increased from 20 to 24 over the last year, but 2006 was a much better year for quality. The only standout local for me this year was Kriv Stenders' Boxing Day, though Anna Broinowski's Forbidden Lie$ and Rolf de Heer's Dr. Plonk both were compelling in different ways. Australia produced quite a large number of competent films during 2007, but no others really stood out in particular. Noise had some fantastic aesthetics (namely, the camera work), but majorly flawed in other respects. Both and Home Song Stories and Romulus, My Father were worthy stories, and had strong elements, but neither really excelled as a whole. Maybe the immigrant coming-of-age thing is getting a bit overdone.

In general, new cinema releases were pretty poor this year. Either there's less and less quality making it here, or less being made, or I'm getting more particular. I've made up separate lists for my favourite new releases, festival screenings and retrospective screenings. The strongest list is the retrospectives, all five-star films for me. Festival screenings come next and new releases last.

Looking at my year in review for last year, I see that I achieved half of my goals or more for this year. I've seen roughly the same number of new cinema releases as in 2006, so the increase in films this year has been festival and retrospective screenings. I find myself becoming more and more indifferent to new releases, and more and more selective. As I generally write on anything I see, going to something mediocre is a double burden: first of all enduring something of little or no interest, and then writing about it. Consequently, I have found myself being quite particular about attending media screenings.

ACMI has become a significant feature of my cinema experience. In 2005, I attended only two screenings there (just over 2% of films I saw that year). Last year it was 57 (28%) and this year it was 134 (45%). Melbourne Cinémathèque is only part of the reason. I've been very impressed by some of the seasons that have screened there: my favourites this year were the Focus on Land and Freedom and the Focus on Isabelle Huppert. Interestingly, neither of these were centred on a single director. One focuses on a theme, the other on an actor. Also, a special mention to the Focus seasons for Catherine Breillat (especially Sex is Comedy) and François Ozon. I also enjoyed the La Mirada screenings that ACMI hosted.

At Melbourne Cinémathèque, rediscovering Krzysztof Kieslowski was amazing. I saw the Colours trilogy when they were released in the early 1990s, but on second viewing at Cinémathèque, Blue became my second favourite film of all time, the first serious contender to Lost Highway. Blue's screening with Blind Chance probably equals last year's double of Lost Highway and Eraserhead as my all time favourite double screenings. I've since bought all the available Kieslowski films on DVD. The other highlight was the Czech New Wave season. Actually there were many highlights, but these were my favourite. And Come and See was also a very powerful experience, perhaps my favourite war film of all time.

Some of the cinema highlights for me in 2007 include:

• Getting onto the media list of every distributor except 20th Century Fox. (While Fox's films often don't particularly interest me, I would like to get the release details without having to chase them.)
• Gaining AFCA (Australian Film Critics Association) accreditation
• Staying for the second film at Melbourne Cinémathèque screenings - that's an additional 40 films right there.
  
• Taking two and half weeks off to attend MIFF with a full festival pass. I saw 40 films over 19 days. It was a great experience and I learnt a lot from it. I'm planning to do the same this year, but I'm going to vary the types of films I see. The highlights for me were: Mister Lonely, Inland Empire, The Man From London, Still Life, Shotgun Stories, Beaufort and Snow Angels. The Shohei Imamura retrospective impressed me (I saw all but one), especially A Man Vanishes, Intentions of Murder and Vengeance is Mine.
  
• Meeting fellow bloggers, particularly during MIFF.
• Interviewing Alkinos Tsilimidos, my favourite Australian director. We had two meetings; I've transcribed one but have yet to complete the other. Alkinos is a true auteur with vision, and it disappoints me that the type of films he makes (like Stenders' Boxing Day) don't get the recognition they deserve.
• Getting to various Q&A sessions with directors, writers and actors.
  
• Taking more time researching what to see at festivals
• Being more selective with new cinema releases and with media screenings
  

I don't have any plans for 2008, other than to continue as I have during 2007. I just want to see as many films as practical, of as high a quality as possible and with the greatest diversity available. And to have some kind of balance in my life. Cinema is my favourite art form, but life must have balance. And I wish someone would come forward to fill the vacuum that the closure of the Lumiere has left. I'd fill it myself if someone would fund it.

Lastly, here are my lists for 2007.

Retrospective screenings
This is the strongest list, which is not unsurprising, given that these films span several decades. Other than Three Colours: Blue, the order of the list is fairly arbitrary.

1. Trois couleurs: bleu (Three Colours: Blue, Krzysztof Kieslowski, France, 1993)
2. La double vie de Véronique (The Double Life of Veronique, Krzysztof Kieslowski, France, 1991)
3. Beau travail (Good Work, Claire Denis, France, 1999)
4. Idi i smotri (Come and See, Elem Klimov, USSR, 1985)
5. La séparation (The Separation, Christian Vincent, France, 1994)
6. Le belle noiseuse (Jacques Rivette, France, 1991)
7. Made in Britain (Alan Clarke, UK, 1982)
8. Przypadek (Blind Chance, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Poland, 1981)
9. Family Life (Ken Loach, UK, 1971)
10. The Bellboy (Jerry Lewis, USA, 1960)

Also
Scener ur ett äktenskap (Scenes from a Marriage, Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1973)
Soy Cuba (I Am Cuba, Mikheil Kalatozishvili, USSR, 1964)

Festival screenings

1. Mister Lonely (Harmony Korine, UK, 2007)
2. Nue propriété (Private Property, Joachim Lafosse, Belgium, 2006)
3. The Man From London (Bela Tarr, Hungary, 2007)
4. Sanxia haoren (Still Life, Jia Zhang-Ke, China, 2006)
5. Shotgun Stories (Jeff Nichols, USA, 2007)
6. Beaufort (Joseph Cedar, Israel, 2007)
7. Ma mère (My Mother, Christophe Honoré, France, 2004)
8. Snow Angels (David Gordon Green, Canada, 2007)
9. El violin (The Violin, Francisco Vargas Quevedo, Mexico, 2005)
10. Les amitiés maléfiques (Poison Friends, Emmanuel Bourdieu, France, 2006)

New cinema releases
Mungiu's film is my arthouse favourite of the year. I had to include Lynch's because I think it's such an important work, even if I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much. No Country For Old Men is my favourite mainstream release and Boxing Day was the only Australian film that stood out.

1. 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Cristian Mungiu, Romania, 2007)
2. Inland Empire (David Lynch, USA, 2006)
3. No Country for Old Men (Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, USA, 2007)
4. Boxing Day (Kriv Stenders, Australia, 2007)
5. Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt, USA, 2006)
6. The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky, USA, 2006)
7. Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Germany, 2006)
8. Paris, je t'aime (Various, Liechtenstein, 2006)
9. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg, UK, 2007)
10. Zodiac (David Fincher, USA, 2007)

Top 15 films seen this year:
I find it virtually impossible to rank these in any particular order (other than Three Colours: Blue), so I have listed them in alphabetical order. These are all the films I saw this year that I think deserve 5 stars. A special mention also to Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line, which I watched on DVD.

• 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Cristian Mungiu, Romania, 2007)
• Beau travail (Claire Denis, France, 1999)
• The Bellboy (Jerry Lewis, USA, 1960)
• Le belle noiseuse (Jacques Rivette, France, 1991)
• La double vie de Véronique (The Double Life of Veronique, Krzysztof Kieslowski, France, 1991)
• Family Life (Ken Loach, UK, 1971)
• Idi i smotri (Come and See, Elem Klimov, USSR, 1985)
• Inland Empire (David Lynch, USA, 2006)
• Made in Britain (Alan Clarke, UK, 1982)
• Mister Lonely (Harmony Korine, UK, 2007)
• Nue propriété (Private Property, Joachim Lafosse, Belgium, 2006)
• Przypadek (Blind Chance, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Poland, 1981)
• La séparation (The Separation, Christian Vincent, France, 1994)
• Soy Cuba (I Am Cuba, Mikheil Kalatozishvili, USSR, 1964)
• Trois couleurs: bleu (Three Colours: Blue, Krzysztof Kieslowski, France, 1993)

Worst 10 films
I've only included cinema releases here.

1. Il mio miglior nemico (My Best Enemy, Carlo Verdone, Italy, 2006)
2. Ne le dis à personne (Tell No One, Guillaume Canet, France, 2006)
3. Dream Girls (Bill Condon, USA, 2006)
4. Prête-moi ta main (I Do: How to Get Married and Stay Single, Eric Lartigau, France, 2006)
5. Désaccord parfait (Twice Upon a Time, Antoine de Caunes, France, 2006)
6. Breaking and Entering (Anthony Minghella, UK, 2006)
7. Stranger Than Fiction (Marc Forster, USA, 2006)
8. Fauteuils d'orchestre (Orchestra Seats, Danièle Thompson, France, 2006)
9. Changement d'adresse (Change of Address, Emmanuel Mouret, France, 2006)
10. Coeurs (Private Fears in Public Places, Alain Resnais, France, 2006)
    

Festival worst

• Ich bin die Andere (I Am the Other Woman, Margarethe von Trotta, Germany, 2006)
• Le lièvre de Vatanen (The Year of the Hare, Marc Rivière, Belgium, 2006)
• Mariposa negra (Black Butterfly, Francisco Lombardi, Peru, 2006)

Index of MIFF Reviews

View all reviews (in chronological order as screened, from most recent) OR

Select individual reviews (listed alphabetically):
After Life (Wandâfuru raifu, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 1998)
Alexandra (Aleksandra, Alexander Sokourov, Russia/France, 2007)
The Ballad of Narayama (Narayama bushiko, Shohei Imamura, Japan, 1983)
Beaufort (Joseph Cedar, Israel, 2007)
Belle Toujours (Manoel de Oliveira, Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/France 2006)
Black Rain (Kuroi ame, Shohei Imamura, Japan, 1989)
The Boss of It All (Direktøren for det hele, Lars Von Trier, Denmark, 2006)
Brand Upon the Brain! (Guy Maddin, USA/Canada, 2006)
Breath (Soom, Kim Ki-duk, South Korea, 2007)
Distance (Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 2001)
Dry Season (Daratt, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Chad/France/Belgium/Austria, 2006)
Eijanaika (Shohei Imamura, Japan, 1981)
Fay Grim (Hal Hartley, USA, 2006)
Kidz in da Hood (Förortsungar , Ylva Gustavsson & Ylva Gustavsson, Sweden, 2006)
Half Moon (Niwemang, Bahman Ghobadi, Iran/Iraq/Austria/France, 2006)
Hana (Hana yori mo naho, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 2006)
The Hottest State (Ethan Hawke, 2006)
I am the Other Woman (Ich bin die Andere, Margarethe von Trotta, Germany, 2006)
I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (Hei yan quan, Tsai Ming-Liang, Taiwan/Malaysia/China/France/Austria, 2006)
Inland Empire (David Lynch, USA, 2006)
Intentions of Murder (aka Unholy Desire) (Akai satsui, Shohei Imamura, Japan, 1964)
Maborosi (Maboroshi no hikari, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 1995)
The Man From London (Bela Tarr, France/Germany/Hungary/UK, 2007)
A Man Vanishes (Ningen Johatsu, Shohei Imamura, Japan, 1967)
Mister Lonely (Harmony Korine, UK/France, 2007)
The Monastery (Pernille Rose Grønkjaer, Denmark, 2006)
The Mourning Forest (Mogari no mori, Naomi Kawase, Japan, 2007)
The Night of Truth (La nuit de la vérité, Fanta Régina Nacro, Burkino Faso, 2004)
Nobody Knows (Dare mo shiranai, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 2004)
Remember My Name (Bowen Duffy, 12 min, Australia, 2007)
Savage Grace (Tom Kalin, Spain/USA, 2007)
Shotgun Stories (Jeff Nichols, USA, 2007)
Sicko (Michael Moore, USA, 2007) - opening night film
The Silence (Tystnaden, Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1963)
Snow Angels (David Gordon Green, Canada, 2007)
Still Life (Sanxia haoren, Jia Zhang-Ke, China/Hong Kong, 2006)
Syndromes and a Century (Sang sattawat, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/France/Austria, 2006)
This is England (Shane Meadows, England, 2006) - closing night film
Tuya's Marriage (Tuya de hun shi, Wang Quan'an, China, 2006)
Vengeance is Mine (Fukushû suruwa wareniari , Shohei Imamura, Japan, 1979)
Woman on the Beach (Haebyonui yoin, Hong Sang-soo, South Korea, 2006)

OR select chronologically:
Day 1 pt.1 & pt.2: Wed 25 July
Day 2: Thu 26 July
Day 3: Fri 27 July
Day 4: Sat 28 July
Day 5: Sun 29 July
Day 6: Mon 30 July
Day 7: Tue 31 July
Day 8: Wed 1 August
Day 9: Thu 2 August
Day 10: Fri 3 August
Day 11: Sat 4 August
Day 12: Sun 5 August
Day 13: Mon 6 August
Day 14: Tue 7 August
Day 15: Wed 8 August
Day 16: Thu 9 August
Day 17: Fri 10 August
Day 18: Sat 11 August
Day 19: Sun 12 August

MIFF - Sold Out Sessions

As far as I can ascertain, this is the complete list of films that sold out at MIFF 2007:

• Vitus, 10am Fri 27 July at ACMI
• Still Life, 7.10pm Fri 27 July at the Forum
• Corroboree, 7.20pm Fri 27 July at ACMI
• Savage Grace, 9.15pm Fri 27 July at the Capitol
• Accelerator Program, 3pm Sat 28 July at ACMI
• Exterminating Angels, 9.20pm Fri 27 July at ACMI
• Exit, 7pm Mon 30 July at the Forum
• Buy a Ticket, 9pm Mon 30 July at Greater Union
• Short & Local, 7pm Tue 31 July at Greater Union
• Control, Wed 1 Aug at the Regent
• Words from the City, 9.25pm Thu 2 Aug at ACMI
• The Workshop, 7pm Fri 3 Aug at ACMI
• Teeth, 7pm Fri 3 Aug at the Capitol Theatre
• Manufacturing Dissent: Michael Moore and the Media, 7.15pm Fri 3 Aug at Greater Union
• Dirty Three, 9pm Fri 3 Aug at Greater Union
• September, 9pm Fri 3 Aug at the Capitol
• Billy The Kid, 7.40pm Sat 4 Aug at ACMI
• 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days, 9.15pm Sat 4 Aug at the Forum
• In the Company of Actors, 1pm Sun 5 Aug at Greater Union
• Beyond Our Ken, 3pm Sun 5 Aug at ACMI
• Hana, 3pm Sun 5 Aug at the Forum
• Bella, 5.30pm Sun 5 Aug at the Forum
• The Armstrongs – The Movie, 7.3pm Sun 5 Aug at ACMI
• Inland Empire, 9pm Tue 7 August at ACMI
• I Served the King of England, 7pm Wed 8 Aug at the Forum
• Little Red Flowers, 1pm Thu 9 Aug at ACMI
• Spicks and Specks Trivia Night, 7pm Thu 9 August at the Forum
• I Served the King of England, 7.15pm Thu 9 Aug at the Capitol
• Paprika, 7.30pm Thu 9 Aug at the Forum
• Inland Empire, 9.15pm Thu 9 August at the Forum
• Azur and Asmar, 1pm Fri 10 August at ACMI
• Lagerfeld Confidential, 5pm Fri 10 Aug at the Capitol
• Once, 7pm Fri 10 Aug at ACMI
• Hope, 9pm Fri 10 Aug at ACMI
• The Holy Mountain, 11pm Fri 10 Aug at the Capitol
• Black Sheep, 7.15pm Sat 11 Aug at the Capitol
• Zoo, 9.15pm Sat 11 Aug at ACMI
• Control, 9.20pm Sat 11 Aug at the Forum
• Savage Grace, 3pm Sun 12 Aug at the Forum
• The Man From London, 5pm Sun 12 Aug at the Forum
• 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days, 5.10pm Sun 12 Aug at the Regent
• Scott Walker – 30^th Century Man, 7.30pm Sun 12 Aug at ACMI
• Manufacturing Dissent: Michael Moore and the Media, 7.30pm Sun 12 Aug at ACMI
• This is England, 7.30pm Sun 12 Aug at the Forum (closing night film)