Friday, September 24, 2010

Where O Where.....

Thinking ahead to my eventual Best of 2010 list (publishable somewhere around Jan 1st-ish) I wonder what is going to top it.  There have been some great films so far.  Scorsese's Shutter Island and Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me high among them.  There was also Winter's Bone, I Am Love, The American, even Scott Pilgrim could make the cut.  Certified Copy and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (seen back to back at an NYFF press screening) will not be making their respective US theatrical debuts until early 2011, so they won't be making the cut.  All great films indeed, but where is that one film that truly wows.  That one film that puts all others, no matter how good they may well be, to shame (and I am including the aforementioned 2011 releases in that query).  Last year it was QT and his Inglourious Basterds.  The year before it was Synecdoche, New York and the year before that it was There Will Be Blood (and I'm Not There to boot).  This year.....well this year I am still waiting.

Some probable contenders are as follows.  Sofia Coppola's 4th film, Somewhere (the most likely candidate, but still up for debate).  The Coens' remake of True Grit (hmm, possibly, possibly not).  Julie Taymor's The Tempest (at least visually stunning).  Gaspar Noe's Enter the Void (I'll be seeing it next week, who knows?).  Kelly Reichardt's Meek's Cutoff (hmmmmm...if it even gets a 2010 release).  Still, with no film on the horizon from any of my favourite auteurs (Tarantino, P.T. Anderson, Wong Kar-Wai, Todd Haynes, David Lynch) one must wonder if that No. 1 is ever coming this year.  Am I destined to a year of number two's?  Great, but not the greatest?  Well, here's to surprises.

2 comments:

C. Jerry said...

I also have high expectations for Fincher's THE SOCIAL NETWORK.

Kevyn Knox said...

At first I did not. Though I love Fincher I was less than impressed with Benjamin Button and combining that with wondering how one can make a film on the creation of Facebook, left me somewhat tepid about its chances. But more and more, reading other critics who have already seen the film, I am now very excited.