Lists, awards and shorts.

Always one of the more interesting collections of top tens, Artforum's is now up: John Waters (his top of the tops is Tarnation; "scarily original"), Amy Taubin (Before Sunset; "a perfect movie"), James Quandt (The World; "Baudrillard goes to Beijing"), Chrissie Iles (Five; "masterpiece") and Jonathan Romney (Innocence; "echoes of Buñuel, Balthus, Borowczyk and Angela Carter"). Now if only Frieze could get that recent issue with Romney's piece on mainstream cinema's appropriation of avant techniques up some day.

IndieWIRE editor Eugene Hernandez: "For this final look at IDFA '04 we offer a highly subjective list of just fifteen films. We've assembled a sampling of the best films we saw, alongside a few that had attendees buzzing and debating during the event. They are presented here in alphabetical order." Brian Brooks snaps the pix. Also at iW: Led by Ken Chen this week, the Reverse Shot team takes on House of Flying Daggers.

Movie City News lists the winners of the Gotham Awards; Sideways, which Craig Phillips is giving more thought to lately, won best feature; Jonathan Demme's The Agronomist took best doc and Maria Full of Grace did quite well, scoring two "Breakthrough" awards, one each for director Joshua Marston and actor Catalina Sandino Moreno.

iW's Hernandez parses the full list and adds that the "greatest drama of the evening" came as Dan Talbot of New Yorker Films "boldly ignored tele-prompting and read from a lengthy text in accepting his award, detailing the history of his own career and thanking many people, all live on television.... [T]he extended remarks had planners scrambling, but planners wisely let Talbot speak uninterrupted."

Anthony Kaufman adds that the speech showed "what independent film is really about: it's not about awards ceremonies, celebrities, or miniature portions of haute-cuisine - it's about a crotchety, old, white die-hard liberal championing the works of African filmmaking luminary Ousmeme Sembene and stumping for a system in the US akin to France's tax on film tickets that goes to fund indie filmmakers. Too bad so few people were listening." But if the comments following that entry are any indication, some are, and they like what they're hearing, too. James Israel's got photos of the post-ceremony festivities.

Back at MCN, Leonard Klady considers the Indie Spirit Awards "The guidelines the IFP give its selection committee have historically created more problems than they have resolved. The budget of a movie for instance should reflect 'an economy of means.' It's one of those euphemisms that translate into: what the market perception will bear."

Park Chan-wook's Old Boy did very well indeed at the Korean Film Society's Critics Choice Awards. Via Mack at Twitch, where Todd has the first image from Park's Sympathy for a Lady.

Meanwhile, at Koreanfilm.org, two new reviews: Adam Hartzell on Im Kwon-taek's The Genealogy, an important aspect of which is the "mutual respect conveyed towards a Japanese," and Darcy Paquet on Park Kwang-su's Chilsu and Mansu, "a bold attempt" in its day "to mix popular and political cinema."

For Filmmaker, Danny Schlechter writes about the making of his WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception: "Only independent film offered the promise of a platform that could document and challenge the betrayal of journalism I was detailing."

George Fasel on Notre Musique: "I wouldn’t be surprised to see the old fire-breathing Godard back on the ramparts, but this latest work reveals dimensions of his thinking, and of himself, that represent a very satisfying New New Godard."

Filmbrain on Fear and Trembling: "Regardless of whether or not you find the film racist, offensive, or simply exaggerated for comic effect, it is the dependency on and overuse of voiceover that ultimately destroys it."

The cinetrix descends on Manhattan and catches Days of Being Wild: "When it ended, the cinetrix drifted into the lobby, still rapt by the slumberland sensuousness that only the best movies can immerse you in."

Simon Hattenstone spends some time with Al Pacino and neither of them ever gets around to saying much of anything, really. Emma Brockes, on the other hand, manages to well and truly piss off Tracey Emin, who returns the favor.

Also in the Guardian: Blue state, red state. Cheech and Chong are planning their first movie in 20 years, so John Patterson pays them a visit; he also explains to British readers back home what in the world it is about Kinsey that has so many US right-wingers riled up. Plus: Andrew Pulver introduces the young and the restless of the British film industry.

"'Christmas with the Kranks will be my last movie.' she says, as casually as if she was asking, 'One lump or two?'" Tiffany Rose passes on the bad news from Jamie Lee Curtis, doubly cruel, considering her choice for a swan song. Also in the Independent: Matthew Sweet interviews Neve Campbell, Roger Clarke tells how that Dance of Death scene at the end of The Seventh Seal came about and Geoffrey Macnab previews a Robert Hamer retrospective at the National Film Theatre in London: "After the peak of Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), arguably the greatest Ealing comedy of all, it was a long, slow slide downwards."

Henry Rollins, film critic? Why not. Henry's Film Corner premieres tomorrow on IFC.

Wendy Mitchell announces the launch of the iVillage Daily Blabber: "Watch your back, Ted Casablanca!"

Online viewing tip. Evan Mather: "Drawing upon the Korean penchant for elaborate public art, 'A Fool's Errand' documents the construction of a recent installation by artists to celebrate the season of Lent and the temporal nature of decay."

Posted by dwhudson at December 3, 2004 12:22 PM