Film in the West: It's Here, Somewhere
October 18, 2005

I was trying to tidy up my list of favorite films of the year, only to realize that I had a bit of a dilemma: Either I have been easily swayed by the Korean film industry, or those in the West are having quite an extraordinary rut.

Admittedly, I haven't seen films like Cinderella Man and Broken Flowers, but I'm not really sure how much of a chance some of these will have considering how overhyped American films can get nowadays. The basic scenario feels like, "Oh my god, a decent film just came out after a hundred horrible ones... This is relatively awesome!" Case in point: Red-Eye, a perfectly adequate thriller by Wes Craven that in a good year would be subpar, but yet this year stands out as one of the better theatrical experiences to date.

Below are the twelve top candidates for the annual "Top 10" list:

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (#1)
Crying First (#2)

A Bittersweet Life
A History of Violence
Batman Begins
Rules of Dating
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Tale of Cinema
The Constant Gardener
The President's Last Bang
This Charming Girl
Wedding Crashers

The first two are fairly accurate, but there's a messier pile below them. Because of my lack of conviction, I have listed them alphabetically instead.

« In Alexandria | Celebrate the Eighth Wonder »

march of the penguins (#1) yeay!