I'm calling this post My 2011 Recap, as that's what it is. It's not a Best Films of 2011 as I still haven't seen all the new movies I would need to summarize the year in movies, and may not get there for a few months. However, I did want to take some time to do something inspired by Drew’s great post over at The Blue Vial, which is to highlight (out of the over 250 films I saw, with the vast majority of them older releases) several older films that I saw for the first time in 2011 that struck the biggest chord with me, and then also add some other thoughts on my other discoveries throughout the year. Reminder: all the films and performances I highlight in this post were films I saw for the first time.
So, these are the 9 runners-up best pre-2011 films in chronological order:
Magnificent Obsession (1954) – Sirk
Bigger Than Life (1956) – Ray
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) – Wise
Kapo (1959) – Pontecorvo
The Naked Kiss (1964) – Fuller
Love Affair, or The Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (1967) – Makavejev
Shadows in
Close-Up (1990) - Kiarostami
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) – Dominik
And the single greatest film that I saw from all the pre-2011 releases was:
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (2007) – Cristian Mungiu
This Romanian film, set during Ceausescu’s reign and about an attempted illegal abortion, was something I watched early in 2011, prior to blogging in March and I didn’t write a piece on it at the time. I hope to correct this in the future after a second viewing. This film approached perfection for me and is a film I’m still grappling with 10 months later.
On the flipside, here are a few renowned films that I, for whatever reason, did not connect with:
Eraserhead (1977) – Lynch
The Conformist (1970) – Bertolucci
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) - Akerman
Here is a list of the best performances I saw this year:
Best Actress:
Anamaria Marinca – 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (2007) – Mungiu
Michelle Williams – Wendy and Lucy (2008) – Reichardt,Blue Valentine (2010) – Cianfrance
Constance
Kati Outinen – The Match Factory Girl (1990) – Kaurismaki
Allida Valli – Senso (1954) – Visconti
Holly Hunter – Broadcast News (1987) – Brooks
Wendy Hiller – Major Barbara (1941) – Pascal
Barbra Streisand – Funny Girl (1968) – Cukor
Best Actor:
Micky Rourke – The Wrestler (2008) – Aronofsky
Casey Affleck – The Assassination of Jesse James… (2007) – Dominick
Casey Affleck – The Assassination of Jesse James… (2007) – Dominick
Emil Jannings – The Last Command (1928) – Von Sternberg
Robert Ryan – Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) – Wise
Lino Ventura
Hossein Sabzian – Close-Up (1990) – Kiarostami
Volker Spengler – In A Year of 13 Moons (1978) – Fassbinder
Hossein Sabzian – Close-Up (1990) – Kiarostami
Volker Spengler – In A Year of 13 Moons (1978) – Fassbinder
James Mason - Bigger Than Life (1956) - Ray
Director I spent the most time with in 2011:
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
I had seen a few of this German director’s films prior to this year, like Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1973) and The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978), but had begun to realize that one of my largest gaps in my viewing knowledge of film was Fassbinder’s output. These were the 6 films that I saw by Fassbinder this year. (ratings are out of 4 stars)
Effi Briest (1974) - Fassbinder ***
Fox and His Friends (1975) - Fassbinder *** 1/2
In a Year with 13 Moons (1978) - Fassbinder *** 1/2
Lola (1981) - Fassbinder *** 1/2
The American Soldier (1970) - Fassbinder ** 1/2
The Bitter Tears of Petra
One of the oddest things about Fassbinder’s output is the fact that his films for me are nearly always on the cusp of masterpiece status, but he has a tendency to somewhat undermine his own brilliance by throwing in an element or a few scenes that just don’t really work for me, almost on purpose maybe? It’s an oddity that I haven’t quite figured out yet, but I feel like there is more to it, because he was clearly capable of brilliance. I still think Maria Braun is his best film and I still need to see Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) among others. After seeing the six films I did, though, I feel more capable of discussing his work with a shred of intelligence. Among Fassbinder’s greatest auteurist elements I have found, is the fact that many of his stories revolve around the tendency of a certain character to try to destroy another character through love, lack of love, manipulation, or brutality. His stories nearly always couple melodrama with a certain social realism aspect.
Genre Explorations:
Musicals! As I noted here following my involvement in the Wonders in the Dark Top 70 Musicals Countdown, I spent a great deal of time catching up with both my favorite musicals and many I had never seen before. Over 10% of my total viewing in 2011 was spent watching musicals, 28 films in all. I now believe to have a much greater appreciation of musicals and consider myself a big fan of the genre.
Some of my new favorites:
On the Town (1949)
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Funny Girl (1968)
In a somewhat related topic, over the last year, I’ve become a huge fan and proponent of artful melodrama. For whatever reason, the films that I saw from Sirk, Fassbinder, Fuller, Ray, Matarazzo, Visconti, Ophuls and many of the musicals themselves spoke to me from their melodramatic elements.
These were the glories of melodrama for me that I watched in 2011:
(Note that some of these films will see essays from me in the coming weeks)
Magnificent Obsession (1954) – Sirk
Nobody’s Children (1952)/The White Angel (1955) – Matarrazzo
Bigger Than Life (1956) - Ray
The Naked Kiss (1964) – Fuller
Senso (1954) – Visconti
Lola (1981) – Fassbinder
The Earrings of Madame de… (1953) – Ophuls
That’s basically my summary of my 2011 watching movies. Like I said, I hope to have a best films of 2011 in the future to post on after I catch up with the new releases, but in the meantime, if you have a favorite older film you saw this year please share!
