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'ten years ago I was doing bongheads and
playing donkey kong..'
(Owen Wilson, Marley & Me)
Eyes Wide Shut
Stanley Kubrick died in 1999, leaving us
with Eyes Wide Shut. It also happened to be the last film I
watched while in a serious relationship. Alone in a theatre, the day
before the breakup. After that, addiction struck merciless, the amount
of consumed new movies per year steadily growing towards three hundred.
At the same time, social life increased too, transforming the pathetic
loneliness into a hunger for more more more, resulting in falling in
love constantly and getting phenomenal friendships. And then, at the end
of this decade, a peculiar feeling of satisfaction crept up on this
hopeless romantic, who's still alone. It's okay this way, as long as I
keep on dreaming. For many years, even before the internet existed, I've
been writing about movies and depression, two major themes in my life.
It's always been in Dutch though, so many new friends, fans, reviewers
and directors weren't able to passively participate. Starting now that is going
to change. December will be flooded with lists and stories about movies
released from 2000-2009, culminating on the last day of the decade,
with the ultimate Top Ten. Please remember though, I wallow in
subjectiveness. This site is all mine.
Contrary to popular belief I haven't seen ALL movies. In fact, compared
to many professional reviewers I might look like a Hollywood junkie.
Here's my first confession of the provocative yet cozy review: I love
American movies. Even the big budget ones statistically aren't inferior
to well respected arthouse titles. One in about thirty is unforgettable,
that's the same with every niche. I like to watch movies without having
to read subtitles, but that doesn't mean I hate
subtitles. French cinema delivered more than a handful of the best
films, ranging from delicate to revolting. At various filmfestivals a lot of
Scandinavian and Asian masterpieces left an everlasting impression, quite a
few without ever reaching a bigger audience than that single screening.
I've spoken to Belgian, Philippinian and Malaysian directors, more than
often on a personal level. I've seen obscure movies from all around the
world, some of them ended up high on the charts. But still, whenever I
lay down on the couch to immerse in the neverending, wonderful world of
cinema, American feelgood is the most popular choice by far, followed by
raunchy horror. That's just the way I am, it's not so bad, in my humble opinion.
Besides, it always feels useful and exciting to piss off people who take
themselves and life in general way too seriously.
Julien Donkey-Boy
Let's rewind one last time, too far back I mean. Ten years ago, towers were still standing, population had just
reached six billion, Scatman John died and movie fans were treated to
loads of greatness. Unfortunately all of those magnificent or otherwise
interesting films from the excellent year called 1999 will be absent in
a review of the zeroes, the naughts, those years without a name yet. Most notable victim,
sincerely no pun intended, is Lara Belmont,
for her stunning part in Tim Roth's The War Zone.
Comedy will sadly have to do without Office Space, lost
souls will miss Julien Donkey-Boy. Blockbusters won't include The Phantom Menace, but please download
Patrice Leconte's La Fille
sur le Pont right away. The list of omissions, some obvious, some a
little more personal, is endless: Boys Don't Cry, The Straight
Story,
Los Sin Nombre, Phörpa, etcetera, etcetera. Maybe someday there will be a massive nineties
retrospective on this website, but for now
let's just close the curtain and start history on that legendary day,
when the world was supposed to end but it sadly didn't. Computers worldwide
are still active and very much online, perhaps that's not such a bad
thing somehow.
Well, what will December offer? The rules for inclusion are simple:
according to the Internet Movie Database the year of release has to be
200x and I must have seen the movie and liked it (except for the
absolute worst movies, they will be revealed on the last day of
November). Besides that, everything goes. So prepare to be surprised,
even to be shocked at some of my 'choices', probably more embarrassing
for you than for me. I will do my best to explain why I like what I
like, but that's not always easy, often impossible to do with only
words. One thing I know for sure though, and it will be pretty obvious
all over the place: I love movies with all my heart and nothing I ever
write will be enough to fully express this passion. On my soon to be
closed website
kleinedingen.nl I've been presenting month-long end-of-year reviews
for quite some time and the initially chosen though subtly changing
categories seem to cover what I want to say by now. Probably the most
frowned upon missing category will be script/screenplay. For some reason
I've never felt the terrible need to compare the many different stories.
Same goes for musical scores. Best kiss and best poster will jump in
there.
Here's my early new year's resolution/revolution: I'm going to watch
less movies, quantitative. Remember the days as a kid, when almost every
film you saw had to be watched ten times over, known by heart? I want
that back. First step in this painful detox procedure will be to accept
the fact that many films will remain unseen. About a hundred must-sees
are still waiting, but I'm itching to publish the first list. Here are
the best films I will shamefully have not seen:
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1. Dogville
(2003, Lars Von Trier)
2. Suspicious River
(2000, Lynne
Stopkewich)
3. Any Way the Wind Blows
(2003, Tom Barman)
4. Trouble Every Day (2001,
Claire Denis)
5. The Wayward Cloud (2005,
Ming-liang Tsai) |
What a relief.
See you in December.
It will be awesome.
Lara Belmont
'remember, remember..'
(Hugo Weaving, V for
Vendetta)
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