I thought the White Ribbon was alright, kinda got tired of it by the end. I'm not the biggest Haneke fan, since his films all seem a bit too long; I think he's smart, conceptually his films are great, but I'm not too into watching most of them -- I honestly do really like Code Unknown, the Seventh Continent, and really really love especially 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance., but that's about it. Hated both versions of Funny Games. And I am probably the only person in the world who really doesn't like Cache at all; have sat through it 3 times and just never saw the big deal. *SPOILERS* "oh wow, a mystery that is never solved." Big deal. */SPOILERS* I guess it has to have some merit for me to sit through it 3 times, but I think it was mostly me going, "So, uh, what's the big deal with this movie?" His films often feel gimmicky to me, fun to talk about but not much more. He is a competent director, as far as shot composition, and stuff.. but something always seems to be missing, and he often treads on too-familiar ground in his movies. I think the 3 films I mentioned are his most successful -- the PIano Teacher is, too, but it's not anything I ever want to sit through again. Of all the current big-name directors (as far as the international circuit goes), he's probably the one who compels me the most at least.
.......
I've
really been getting into the films of Philippe Garrel now, I'd say he's my favorite director next to Godard, Kitano, and Jost. You can view his classic Les Hauts Solitudes here:
http://www.ubu.com/film/garrel_solitudes.html and Le Reletateur (which is a 10/10 if I've ever seen one; it's a silent film but NEVER boring, and it's got the most beautiful cinematography for a black and white film EVER) here:
http://www.ubu.com/film/garrel_revelateur.html
He's got a lot of films, most can be found on public torrent sites -- none really have many seeders. I'm getting his rarer films from KG, though my ratio is a bit fucked up. I highly reccomend:
I Can No Longer Hear The Guitar (J'entends plus la guitare)
and
Emergency Kisses
which are both masterpieces. Absolutely some of the best films I've EVER seen. Nico is in a few of his films, if that matters to anyone.
I watched this one last week:
REGULAR LOVERS
which I'd give a 9/10 to, maybe even a 10/10.
So, I'm slowly delving into his work; much of it reminds me of early Godard. Beautiful, energetic.. every shot is composed with care.. truly a genius. If you're interested in someone who is absolutely making some of the purest. most invigorating cinema in the world rgiht now, check him out. He seriously made me go, "FINALLY!" and breathe a breath of fresh air. Besides the always-reliable Takeshi Kitano and Aki Kaurismaki (let's face it, FILM SOCIALISME is a masterpiece but Godard's 88 -- he ain't going to be making too many more films), I can't think of any other directors who really excite me nowadays.. Lumet's dead, Solondz's last film (Life During Wartime) kinda sucked, Gallo takes many many many years between films (though I think BRown Bunny and Buffalo 66 are important, brilliant works). As much as I loved Enter the Void, Noe doesn't thrill me, and I kinda hate Von Trier (aside from Elements of Crime). Even Giuseppe Andrews and Damon Packard retired. I guess I do really like Lukas Moodysson, though (director of Containers, Hole In My Heart) and, of course, Hsiao-Hsien Hou and Katsuhito Ishii, Shinji Ayonami, Ming-Liang Tsai, Abbas Kiarostami, and Atom Egoyan... but that's about it. Where are our Sogo Ishiis, Seijin Suzukis, Sidney Lumets, Antonionis, Bergmans?
EDIT: I guess I should also add Kiyoshi Kurosawa to my list of directors I really like, since Cure, Bright Future, Charisma, and Tokyo Sonata were all really interesting, even though many of his films feel the same; moody, atmospheric, dark, overlong, usually convulated to an insane degree, all ending in a non-reveal. I thought Pen-Ek Retanaruang was onto something with "Invisible Waves" and "Last Life in the Universe" but "Nymph" was one of the worst films i've ever seen... I think Ki-Duk Kim is one of the most consistent directors in the world; I've seen 11 films by him and each one has been dark as hell and brilliant, yet they all feel really really different. For some reason, though, I don't find myself wanting to rewatch any of his films. Also, obviously, JOHNNIE TO is incredible, and anything Milkyway releases is worth paying attention to, since he is constantly reinventing the crime genre, though his last few efforts have felt samey and tired. Most of the best directors come from Asia, it seems, which is how it's always been... (though I used to think Tsukamoto was a leading light in cinema, but Nightmare Detective 1-2 were horrible, Haze was boring bullshit, and Tetsuo 3 is the most disappointing film of the year.) mainstream American cinema is a joke, though there are some underground directors doing some amazing things -- Ronald Bronstein's "FROWNLAND" is one of the best films I've ever seen, and his girlfriend's film "YEAST" is excellent; both feel like really really dark versions of the mumblecore genre (which frustrates me, occasionally, but more often than not, I find myself compelled by many of the films related to it).
I'd say, of all the mumblecore dudes, Andrew Bujalski is the best, FUNNY HA HA/MUTUAL APPRECIATION/BEESWAX are all great films, in completely different ways than most of the other mumblecore dudes, and indie films in general. Gotta love his endings, which always end on some weird note (in the middle of a sentence or whatever).
I guess the saviour of underground American cinema would pretty easily be James Fotopolous, if one were to just judge him by Zero, Back Against the Wall, Christabel, and Migrating Forms -- unfortunately,
that's the only way to judge him, since those are the only films of his that have been released on DVD! Dude has made over 100 films in 11 years (!). I've seen clips of some of his other work, and some of his shorts, and they all look incredible. I think, once more of his stuff comes out, people will really start to stand up and take notice. But, yeah, if you were to ask me the absolute best independant American film of the past decade, BACK AGAINST THE WALL would probably be # 1 (REFLECTIONS OF EVIL would probably be tied with it though). I emailed him recently and he said he has plans to re-release all his films -- thank god! -- as well as FINALLY release some of his other 100 (!) movies. So, look for that... sooner than later, I hope.
All in all, we're living in a really exciting time for underground cinema, especially if you are on torrent sites. DVD's? No. Nope. Nah. DVD companies simply are NOT releasing movies from overseas or indie films as much as they were 10 years ago. My local theatre didn't even have the Bad Lieutenant reboot, for Christ's sakes!