My Top Films of 2005

2005 saw another year of declining sales of foreign films and shrinking attendance for art house flicks, although the DVD sales for the same categories actually increased by a few decimal points. American media did not have much interest in films as an art form. Rather, films are entertainment machines where sequels and fantasies rule. Don’t be surprised if you never heard most of the films in my list. Some of them have not been released at all in this country. I had the luck to catch them in the film festivals, in the precious and splendid Castro theatre, or find them in the pirated DVD bins in China.

Head On, German-Turkey, Fatih Akin, Fatih Akin has matured into a true master after this masterpiece. I cringed in my seat through the film with my heart throbbing and my fist clenching. Love hurts and bleeds, and the despair and the loneliness as culture outsiders are so real. In the end you get so invested in their world that you can only fear the worst. I confess that I fall in love with the lead actress Sibel Kekilli. I googled her as soon as I got home and only uncovered her earlier porn clips, and thus her life-imitating-art stories. Guess how heart-broken I was!

Peacock China, Gu ChangweiAfter the film won the Berlin film festival and became a huge box office inside China, I keep on hoping that this film will be on the radar screen of the American film distributors. No luck so far. Although the film aims to depict a particular period of China (late 70s- early 80) through a family of five, the struggles between the children and the parents are universal and should easily touch on hearts of non-Chinese audience. But since the film is neither an underground film that tried to be subversive nor a Kung Fu epic with technical wonder to woo the West, it probably would never get shown here. Gu could proudly stand in the A-list of Chinese directors after this amazing debut, and I can’t wait for its sequel “Spring Begins”, which recorded a subsequent period (mid-late 80s) I was so familiar with.

Old Boy, South Korea, Chan WooParkSouth Korea has become a formidable entertainment powerhouse whose stars and films are sweeping over Asia and starting to gain their foothold in this side of Pacific. Old Boy is a second installment in Chan's Vengence trilogy. It lays out a plot that is almost impossible to believe but still very logical, with potent power of sentiment and intense visual violence. A perfect example to show that art can shock and entertain, especially when it is innovative, unexpected, and humanistic.

The Return, Russia, Andret ZvyagintsevI stumbled onto this film by accident, and without knowing anything about it actually benefited my viewing experience. What could possibly happen when two boys went out on a fishing trip with a long-absent father? But when tension starts to build you just know that something dreadful would happen. The cinematography and editing give the film such lyrical and mystic touch, and the acting of all three characters is very unforgettable.

The World, China, Jia ChangKeThis is the Jia Changke’s first film ever released officially in China, although he has already become one of the world-renown directors. It did not score well in the domestic market, however. The reasons could be many-folded…but its very bleak ending and suppressive theme probably kept many people away from theatre. Using subtle metaphors, Jia created a story with urgency and poignancy. His real interest still lies in history’s force on the fate of small characters, but this time, he touched the fresh wounds of our national psyche and people do not seem want to be reminded of that.

Walk on Water, Isarel, Eytan FoxTwo years ago I put Yossi & Jager on my top 10 list. This year the director came back with a much stronger film layered with complexity of history, race, politics, and sexuality. Pairing a deeply-troubled Mossad agent with a free-spirited German gay guy Eytan span enough drama that could keep you suspended until the very last minute.

March of Penguin, France, Luc Jacquet Ok I got have one documentary on my list. And undoubtedly I chose a crowd-pleaser this time. French seem to be very good at making films about animals. They managed to be both scientific (not as overly sentimental as Disney) and able to retain enough drama to sustain audience’s emotions.

The Intruder, France, Clare DenisYou either love it or hate it. But during the showing of this film in SF film festival, no one walked out in the entire 2 and half hours. Clare filled the screen with such sensuality and mysterious beckoning. It is about landscape, about weather, about aging and body and flesh, about drifting and travel and culture and everything else. But in the meantime the story has no coherence and sometimes no logic at all. Clare did not want to trick your mind as David Lynch did. She merely provided a framework and let you to imagine the rest.

Broken Flowers, US, Jim Jarmusch A triumphant return for Jim Jarmusch to do another road film with his signature caricature of characters and eccentric humor. I was converted ever since I saw Mystery Train, and I always wondered how he would be able to make another hit after all those earlier classics. Using a mysterious letter as a thread, Broken Flowers engineered a set of seemingly normal but quirky characters who either reinvented themselves or got very bitter. Jarmusch is a quintessencial American artist who is veryt rooted in the country's culture and history. His earlier films placed foreign characters in the most American locales, and this time, he enlisted a variety of personality prototypes to reflect on what kind of people this country have produced.

Carandiru, Brazi, Hector Babenco Like rest of Latin America and following a long left-leaning culture tradition, Brazilian directors excel in making films about marginal and underprivileged people. In Carandiru Babence portrayed a colorful set of characters from the largest prison with simpathy and compassion. After a slow buildup, the final 45 minutes ended in heart-wrenching and intense violence. I