And, so - here it is, The ten best films of 2004 (from what I've seen, of course):
1. 2046 (Wong Kar-Wai)
It's beautiful, daring, hauntingly romantic, meloncholy and more reason why Wong is this era's Antonioni.
2. Platform (Jia Zhang-ke)
An epic in the greatest sense; Jia fills every frame with something worthy of our time, and never blares its boldness at us. Time passes by without the viewer realizing it, much like real life - and for a film that passes through decades, that's quite a feat.
3. Crimson Gold (Jafar Panahi)
An Iranian take on the theme that made Terrence Malick's Badlands the masterpiece that it is: the corrupting power of class. It may be a bit more obvious - although never glaringly so - Crimson Gold is both a surprise from Panahi, and scriptwriter, the legendary Abbas Kiarostami.
4. The Saddest Music in the World (Guy Maddin)
Something oddball, even for Canadian silent-era fanatic, Guy Maddin. I'm sure you'll hear how wonderfully bizzare Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is (and it is) - but in the 'wonderfully bizarre' category, it can't quite match the zaniness of Saddest Music. A must-see for silent-era (and early talkie) fans, or anyone that can stomach the bizzare.
5. Millenium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
I'm not as familiar with Hou's more modern-day, youth-oriented pieces as I'd like to be - and the techno-throbbing of Millenium Mambo certainly makes me want to investigate them. Sure, the plotline (if you can call it that) of the film won't give you any surprises - but this is a mood piece, and is all about how beautifully and sorrowfully Hou tells it to us.
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
A film that surprisingly didn't really surprise me both times I saw it in the theater - but it's a memory that has only grown in beauty for me. The quirkiness of the infamous screenwriter Charlie Kaufman lost some of its appeal when I discovered Jacques Rivette's 1973 stunner, Celine and Julie Go Boating - which Kaufman's work, consciously or not, owe's a bit to - but the heart that is beneath all of the quirk is what really moves this film.
Article comments
1 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
excellent list, John. i know the horrors of trying to see everything in order for to make the list JUST RIGHT, but it's pretty much impossible. Bad Education has just been released here as part of an almadovar box set (region 2), although its available seperate, too. I'm inclined to purchase it, since although i find his early nonsense most detestable (Pepi Luci Bon with its comedy rape etc, although it gets points for having a pissing-on-womans-head-by-another-woman scene, i guess), but post-Women On The Verge i think he's grown considerably.
I've yet to see 2046, but hope to do so shortly. It's been quite the evasive motherfucker, is what.
Also, Celinie and Julie rules, is what.