Best of 2008: Dave Filipi, Film/Video Curator

These are my favorites of 2008 that were released in Columbus this year. The first two films are my two favorites of 2008.  The rest are in alphabetical order.

A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin)

My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin)

Desplechin’s film before A Christmas Tale, Kings and Queen, is my favorite film of the decade and one of my three favorites of the past 25 years.  While not up to that level A Christmas Tale is spellbinding in its own way and utilizes many of the same actors including Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric, Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon, and Hippolyte Girardot.  I’m not sure if there is a good point of comparison for Desplechin’s cinema.  One can certainly extract influences from within his films but he is creating a uniquely original body of work and his films really speak to me.  I think the best compliment one can pay Guy Maddin is that his name is being used to describe others’ work: Maddinesque.  What a thrill to sit back and watch his most personal film.

Before I Forget (Jacques Nolot)

Chop Shop (Ramin Bahrani)

Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa)

It is pointless to compare this film to others and others to this film.  Costa is on his own path and it is a shame that so few know his work.  If not for our retrospective in February his films would never have been screened in Columbus.

The Duchess of Langeais (Jacques Rivette)

The Edge of Heaven (Fatih Akin)

Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh)

My Blueberry Nights (Wong Kar-Wai)

There isn’t much to this film.  It’s all atmosphere but Wong is the only filmmaker who can pull something like this off and keep your attention the entire time.

The Orphanage (Juan Antonio Bayona)

I have a very short list of films that truly induce horror in me and this makes it.  It was fun watching it a second time with friends and waiting for them gasp when the most shocking moment of the film arrived.

Paranoid Park (Gus Van Sant)

Secrecy (Robb Moss & Peter Galison)

Secrecy is about the history of the US government’s classified information since the World War II era.  Relying heavily on interviews with those charged with protecting government secrets and those charged with communicating information to the public, it is to the filmmakers’ profound credit that one always have the sense that the subjects were always doing what they thought best for the country.

Vicki Christina Barcelona (Woody Allen)

Sexy and funny, great performances and beautiful locations.  I kept waiting for Cary Grant and Grace Kelly to walk on screen.

WALL-E (Andrew Stanton/Pixar)

No matter what one thinks about Pixar or commercial animation or “family” films, there should be no argument that this film was special.  The first half essentially relies on the purest of filmmaking techniques introduced in the silent era.  And while some of the social criticism introduced in the film’s second half is a bit hypocritical given the corporate source it is quite a mirror to hold up to the vast majority of the people who went to see it.

The Dark Knight/Iron Man (Christopher Nolan/Jon Favreau)

These films share almost nothing in common except their comic book roots, but both prove that it is possible to create good films within the genre when done right.  More multi-layered than Iron Man, Dark Knight was cited by both the right and the left as a justification and indictment of the Bush administration’s terror policy.  And at this point, Heath Ledger doesn’t need another eulogy by someone who never met him but his performances in Brokeback Mountain, I’m Not There and in Dark Knight are a remarkable representation of his range.  Similarly, what lifts Iron Man above the usual genre pitfalls is the performance by Robert Downey Jr.  Iron Man demands almost nothing from its audience.  It is pure entertainment but executed wonderfully.  It’s faithful to its source, has great special effects and perhaps the best onscreen relationship of the year between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts.

Although it wasn’t among my favorites for the year, I echo critic Mike D’Angelo’s comment that the Coen brothers’ Burn After Reading will be the decade’s definitive Hollywood film about the society and culture that gave rise to the W Bush years.

There are a number of great films that I saw in 2008 that haven’t opened in Columbus (or DIDN’T) that may have made the list including: The Flight of the Red Balloon (Hou Hsian-hsien), 35 Shots of Rum (Claire Denis), Hunger (Steve McQueen), Three Monkeys (Nuri Bilge Ceylan), and Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas) (screening January 15 at the Wex) to name a few.

I hesitate to list my favorite Wexner film events of the past year as I can’t be very objective but there are a few that should be noted in a year-end summary:

- Milos Forman’s visit in April to introduce Taking Off during a month-long retrospective of his work.  I think Mr. Forman was truly touched by the audience’s enthusiastic response to his first American film.

- We have had a lot of great filmmakers visit the Wexner Center over the years but I don’t think any excited me more than our September visit from Boston Red Sox great Bill Lee to introduce the documentary about his life High & Outside.  Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Jeanne Moreau, Gus Van Sant?  Yes, great.  But none could tell me how they pitched to Rod Carew.  And I think it is safe to say that anyone who heard Lee talk about baseball, herb, drink, politics, the environment, string theory, and dozens of other topics I’m forgetting will never forget it.

- Our retrospective devoted to Phil Solomon, thoughtfully and enthusiastically organized by assistant curator Chris Stults.  The three-night retrospective of Phil’s shorter works was enhanced with a brief installation of American Falls and Empire in our performance space and it was very rewarding to both artist and curator to see the terrific response the work received.

- Though the attendance was modest, I’m really happy with our four-film retrospective of films directed by Alain Robbe-Grillet in November and December.  Best known for penning Last Year at Marienbad this was a welcome opportunity for all interested to catch up with an almost impossible to see body of work.