Top Films by Year
Top Films of 2020
Top Films of 2017
Top Films of 2015
Still Walking – 8
A lovely and endearing portrait of a Japanese family, told with the quiet grace seemingly unique to Japanese filmmakers (although the French A Christmas Tale from last year was similar in many ways). Each character was allowed to develop his or her personality onscreen, and each character had weak points and some strong ones. No […]
Mother – 4
Two hours of watching a very annoying Korean mother trying to protect her mildly retarded son from a murder charge. There was nothing unduly offensive about the story; I just got tired, very early on, of seeing her continually pained, frantic expression on the screen. [SBIFF]
Top Ten Movies 2009
1. The Man Who Loved Yngve. A Norwegian coming-of-age story, a study, much like Juno, of that age when teenage rebellion and angst run up against real-world consequences.
Bran Nue Dae – 6
A cute Aboriginal musical, with many sweet touches and pleasant songs, rather in the spirit of Rocky Horror. Its pedigree as a stage musical was quite obvious, and it would have been more convincing in that venue, I’m sure. (Similarly, the Spike Lee film of Passing Strange, which I saw on Public TV recently, had […]
Crazy Heart – 7
Good music brings so much to a movie, and the original songs by T Bone Burnett and Scott Bruton carried this sucker, along with a bravura, Oscar-worthy performance by…Maggie Gyllenhaal. Jeff Bridges, who is getting so much acclaim, is fine, but I didn’t see a lot of challenge in the role. Without the music, it’s […]