Translated material
From the forest to the pine tree
The best foreign films of domestic film distribution 2006
Perhaps the current top ten films of domestic film distribution are the most subjective and controversial in many years. As usual, it is compiled based on the results of theatrical release from January to December - one-time festival screenings and video distribution do not count. Hence the presence of several very important films dated last year; they reached our cinemas only in 2006, but without them the film list would be decidedly incomplete. That’s why the list doesn’t include many of this year’s films that will clearly qualify for, say, an Oscar and have already been named the best of the year by overseas professionals, but their turn will come when they become available to our viewers in all their glory. However, there is no particular hope for the Oscar pool - in one of his recent interviews, Quentin Tarantino defined the state of affairs very precisely: “I don’t tend to omit popular films of the year, but this year seems to be really full of boring films. All this junk that gets nominated for a Golden Globe. It feels like they all have the same commercial and they all have the same kind, soul-warming music in the spirit of Aaron Copeland.” Couldn't have said it better. In fact, this year there is no undisputed leader film, the impressions of which would outweigh, as in previous years, everything else like “Kill Bill”, “Oldboy” or “The Last Days”. But despite all the bleak picture, we still managed, although not without difficulty, to select ten films that it would have been an unforgivable mistake to miss in the past year. Not all of them will go down in cinema history (as, incidentally, most of the films won by prestigious awards and winners of numerous festivals will not go down there), but in any case it makes sense to get acquainted with them. Each of them has something that has not yet been seen in cinema (or was, but a very long time ago and has managed to be forgotten). The films are mostly genre films, at times not quite comfortable to watch, but nevertheless... The rating is compiled without places - the films in the top ten are arranged according to the frequency of their release on our movie screens.“Kiss Bang Bang” (USA, 2005, Shane Black). The directorial debut of the best Hollywood action screenwriter of the 80s and 90s (“Lethal Weapon”, “The Last Boy Scout”, “The Long Kiss Goodnight”) - a cider film, a highly carbonated and intoxicating “black detective” inside out, a comedy about the cut off fingers and the unbreakable connection between life and art. A daring, but at the same time intelligent spectacle for those who can equally enjoy Val Kilmer in the role of the Gay Detective and epigraphs from Raymond Chandler.
"Matador" (USA, 2006, Richard Shepard). A very funny, but at the same time serious film about the relationships of people who have not lost their taste for life on the gullies of a midlife crisis, and, perhaps, one of the very few films about hired killers, where the deadly craft invariably remains behind the scenes. But the main thing here is the incredible benefit performance of Pierce Brosnan, who convincingly proved that few can compare with him in the ability to make fun of himself. And even when he appears on the screen not in a 007 tuxedo but in a cheerleader costume, this absolutely does not change anything. Dos margaritas, per favor!
“Hostel” (USA, 2006, Eli Roth). A scary and moralizing film about the underbelly of European tourism, filmed under the direction of Quentin Tarantino. One of the few truly innovative films of this year, which set a fundamentally new level for the genre. But it’s also a completely didactic statement: there are things that are better never to do with anyone or anywhere. And if you unharness yourself and, disregarding decency, take up the tug, then climb into the back. Even if it is the body of a corpse truck, crusted with blood. And she takes you where you don’t want to go.
“Run Without Looking Back” (USA, 2006, Wayne Kramer). Little noticed on both sides of the Atlantic, but an absolutely delightful film in which, like in a blender, a crime drama, an intense thriller, a horror film, a high-octane action film and visual psychedelia a la Tony Scott were mixed. In search of a very important pistol, the main character (Paul Walker, who seems to have hit the ground and turned from a little-thought-out handsome guy into quite a big actor) goes through all the circles of urban hell. Adrenaline rush. Plus, one of the best opening credits in recent memory.
"Antibodies" (Germany, 2005, Christian Alvert). A theological thriller that took a long time to reach our screens, but has not lost its inner power, it is a worthy German answer to “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Seven.” But in fact, if you can compare it with anything, it’s with Clive Lewis’s “The Chronicles of Narnia”: for those for whom Sunday school has been replaced by movie shows, the movie speaks about the most important thing - albeit in an unusual, shocking form. But this does not affect the result - the catharsis that occurs closer to the end is real. The spirit breathes wherever it wants.
“Love and Cigarettes” (USA, 2005, John Turturro). An amazing social musical, staged by the wonderful actor Turturro (who also showed himself to be a top-class director) about representatives of the working class of modern one-story America - rude, incredibly funny, accurate and touching to the point of a lump in the throat. Filigree roles by James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet and Christopher Walken, an eternal story about love, infidelity, death and bad habits. And also a record number of synonyms for modern cinema, denoting certain parts of the human body and methods of connecting them.
“The Return of Superman” (USA, 2006, Bryan Singer). Of all the commercial blockbusters this year, the new screen incarnation of the Man of Steel is the project that was most criticized by all and sundry, did not live up to commercial expectations, was unreasonably long, but at the same time, paradoxically, the most pleasing to the eye. A very cozy, safe and escapist comic book film, which looks at least fresh and attractive against the backdrop of countless and, indeed, rather boring dystopias. And at the most it’s simply great. And Kevin Spacey as the villain Luther is something completely special.
"SPL" (Hong Kong, 2006, Wilson Yip). A film that has revived what is perhaps the most hopeless and incapable of surprising genre in recent times - the Hong Kong crime film. Beautiful to the point of hurting the eyes, incredibly cruel, sometimes just as brutally sentimental, not allowing you to rest for a second and a superstar (Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Sammo Hung) police story. No prisoners are taken, random witnesses are not spared, and the happy ending is quite relative. And with all this, quite Wongkarwa-like lighting solutions and melancholic “scenes by the sea” in the spirit of Takeshi Kitano.
“Children of Men” (USA-UK, 2006, Alfonso Cuaron). If you approach the topic with your mind and heart, then a real miracle can emerge from dystopia. The story about the last days of human civilization, which suddenly found hope for revival, may cause certain criticism in ideological terms (at times the declared ideas are too unambiguous and naive), but as far as the purely visual “look of the future” and the skill of filming are concerned, there is nothing beyond the past it wasn't even close to a year. Star Clive Owen didn't play Bond this year, but The Child is at least an equal replacement.
“Casino Royale” (USA, 2006, Martin Campbell). Agent 007 (for the first time in this role, the incredible Daniel Craig) simply could not become like this under any circumstances, but he did. Hardened, devoid of the usual glamorous gloss, having lost almost all traditional gadgets, and at the same time making a champion’s leap from the expensive kitschy ghetto of mass culture into the realm of real serious cinema. James Bond looks more like Jason Bourne here, which is great. And there are many masters of shaking, but not mixing, even without him.