I'm a film student, so I take this all way too seriously. Please, forgive me.
ALEX LAVIN'S 10 FAVORITE MOVIES FROM 2007
no order; all movies with first U.S. distribution in 2007
Bug
Do call it a comeback for director William Friedkin, thanks in part to a shattering performance from Ashley Judd. This claustrophobic, delirious, and finally tragic piece of chamber cinema is an itchy good nightmare.
The Darjeeling Limited
Wes Anderson fine-tunes that inimitable preciosity to deliver his most focused and affecting tale of arrested development yet. Lines like “We haven’t found where we are yet; hey, is that symbolic?” attest to its verve.
Death Proof
Tarantino divides people roughly along lines of moral seriousness. Love or loathe his doses of puerile pop, though, surely his is one of the most beguiling cinematic addresses to the spectator that Hollywood has bankrolled.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
A film ostensibly about real-life vegetable Jean-Dominique Bauby, it’s actually Julian Schnabel and Janusz Kaminski’s pornographically indulgent cine-poem of beautiful, crying French women. If only his paintings were as good.
Eastern Promises
If he’s good enough for Martin Scorsese, then you should love David Cronenberg too. Another classically spare film that’s fun in the way hugging a porcupine must be; the novelty of the encounter distracts from the pain.
Fay Grim
Hal Hartley introduced this at the IFC Center by encouraging us to enjoy our confounding. This most Bresson-ian of American filmmakers’ films sink or float by casting, and Parker Posey steadies the course admirably.
I'm Not There
The carefully judged interplay of ideas and emotions that drives all of Todd Haynes’ work paves the way for the future of American cinema. This is most distinguished for having so assuredly executed its bold central conceit.
No Country for Old Men
There’s something going on in this movie that has to do with the killing of people and the killing of beasts. I don’t know exactly what it is, but go back and see for yourself, the boys know what they’re doing, something’s up.
Southland Tales
This jarring, caustic gambit is both half-baked and overly determined at once. For all the script’s brash ambition, though, it’s the inexplicably dissonant acting that makes this a truly unique and baffling viewing experience.
Zodiac
Another masquerading film. This true-story serial killer manhunt gradually decodes its myriad plot events as an avant-garde meditation on time, verity, and other imaginary concepts underlying human existence.
3 FAVORITE SHORT MOVIES:
The Shock Doctrine
Alfonso Cuaron’s companion to Naomi Klein’s book of the same name; if it ain’t broke, pretend it is and take it.
Western Union: Small Boats
Isaac Julien’s installation about the oft-fatal voyages of refugees from Africa to Sicily is menacingly baroque.
No Part of the Pig Is Wasted
Debut auteur Emma Perret was tellingly taciturn at NYFF about this sublime short; she serves up a lot to chew on.