My first of the daily posts that I will continue through all 366 days of 2012. Sorry for the brief comments but I am working with about 4 hours of sleep and its getting late, plus I almost missed my deadline and failed to post on the first day!
Since I am not even close to watching all the films of 2011 this list shall be a work-in-progress until then. I go by the films release date and not U.S. theatrical dates. Thus, films like Le quattro volte, Mysteries of Lisbon, Certified Copy, Meek's Cutoff, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, The Sleeping Beauty (Breillat) etc. all would fall on a 2010 list.
THE BEST:
Beats Being Dead (Christian Petzold)
I'm using this specific film to count for all three dreileben films since to me this is the strongest of the three. Beats Being Dead is a wholeheartedly genre outing that at the same time feels as formalistic as an Eisenstein film that is completely stripped down to its basics. So meticulously photographed and paced that the photography moves so beautifully that the images alone with no context would make an incredible avant-garde visual experience.
House of Tolerance (Bertrand Bonello)
Bonello continues his dissection of institutions and society with his latest (in Something Organic marriage, The Pornographer production companies, Tiresia church and mythology, On War society in general, cults, war perhaps his most ambitious film and now brothels). Of course not simply brothels but places of commerce (as they would say in the film). The film's elliptical structure and cinematography continues the exploration of time, and how it is conceived within film, that other filmmakers have explored (Tsai Ming-liang in the way he expands the smallest moments to minutes, Hou Hsiao-hsien being the obvious referenced mentioned by every critic and Bonello himself, Flowers of Shanghai especially which seems to literalize time with its pace and cinematography, even the early film work of Andy Warhol is worth mentioning here). Bonello manages to conceive a world where time seems to be elliptical and slow-burning yet in danger of being exterminated by a cut at any moment.
Melancholia (Lars von Trier)
From its opening images Melancholia engulfs the viewer in the film leading him/her to a breathtaking finale. A wonderful mockery of high society. Living in this society how can people NOT have melancholia? An incredible end of the world journey, where a state of mind is all that is needed for everything to get annihilated .
The Mill and The Cross (Lech Majewski)
One of the most aesthetically innovative films I saw this year. Depth has disappeared in this film (of course, we are in a painting) until the last tracking shot that removes us from the painting.
THE REST:
Kill List (Ben Wheatley)
Part Wicker Man, Part Blair Witch, Part Dexter, Part kitchen sink realism. But of course the film does not just feel like a mere rendition of old material but something completely fresh and original. The sound design and narrative ambiguities are enough to keep the viewer with a constant level of unease and tension throughout the film.
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin)
With this film and Afterschool, Sean Durkin and Antonio Campos have become some of the most exciting and promising filmmakers to emerge in the US in the last few years. This film shifts between past/present effortlessly creating a perfect flow of images and narrative information.
Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)
Jeff Nichols' subtle and precise filmmaking is something rare in American filmmaking and this film is a perfect example of how a subtle film can create a much greater effect than any in-your-face horror or action film.
The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
Even with its problematic thematics, how can I dislike a film that stars Brad Pitt yet shifts into Brakhage like worlds?
Shame (Steve McQueen)
One of the most misread films of the year, especially after reading Andrew Tracy's review (here) and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky's (here). To me, this highly aestheticized horror film about addiction proves to be incredibly powerful and honest.
The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodóvar)
Almodóvar here uses highly naturalist lighting with brilliant rushes of red at some points, which is of course perfectly fitting for his first horror film. A highly disturbing film that seems to hint Almodóvar is pissed off at something. A brilliant play on gender and power.
The films of 2011 that I want to see that most and have not yet:
4:44 Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara)
A Burning Hot Summer (Philippe Garrel)
Century of Birthing (Lav Diaz)
Empire of Evil (George Kuchar)
Outside Satan (Bruno Dumont)
The Return (Nathaniel Dorsky)
Seeking the Monkey King (Ken Jacobs)
The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky)
Twenty Cigarettes (James Benning)
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