2013 Film Diary
A day-by-day viewing log of my filmwatching habits in 2013, beginning with David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis (2012) and ending with . . .
Three Sisters (2012)
Wang introduced Three Sisters as “a simple film” that “might be too long.” I appreciate his humility (a hallmark of his filmmaking, too), but I think he’s wrong on both counts. There’s nothing simple about this precise assemblage of footage collected during several visits to the girls’ remote farming village, and the length of the film is, in fact, essential to its success.
Favorite Films of the ’90s
Thanks to the AV Club, film nerds everywhere are declaring their favorite films of the 1990s. I spent all of five minutes on mine, which is why they’re alphabetized.
TIFF 2012 – Day 6
Dormant Beauty (Bellocchio), Something in the Air (Assayas), Berberian Sound Studio (Strickland), Nights with Theodore (Betbeder), and The Last Time I Saw Macao (Rodrigues and Guerra da Mata).
TIFF 2012 – Day 5
The Master (Anderson), Once Upon a Time Was I, Veronica (Gomes), Birds (Abrantes), and Viola (Piñeiro).
TIFF 2012 – Day 4
Like Someone in Love (Kiarostami), Far from Vietnam, Tower (Radwanski), and August and After (Dorsky).
TIFF 2012 – Day 3
Gebo and the Shadow (de Oliveira), differently, Molussia (Rey), and Night Across the Street (Ruiz).
TIFF 2012 – Day 2
Barbara (Petzold), Mekong Hotel (Apitchatpong), Big in Vietnam (Diop), Sightseers (Wheatley), Student (Omirbayev), and Wavelengths 1.
TIFF 2012 – Day 1
In Another Country (Hong), Laurence Anyways (Dolan), Argo (Affleck), and Tabu (Gomes).
Anticipating TIFF 2012
My goal in Toronto each year is pretty simple. I typically see about 30 films at the fest, and if I choose the right 30 then for the next twelve months I get to participate in the larger critical conversation about contemporary world cinema, despite living in a midsized city in East Tennessee.
Version 13
I shelved Long Pauses in 2010, soon after my daughter was born, because, frankly, the web had become boring.
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2012)
I expected Ceylan to fill 150 minutes with stunning images; I didn’t expect him to deliver what might be my favorite script of the past decade.
Best Films of 2012
With the latest redesign and relaunch of Long Pauses, I’ve decided to take a different approach. Rather than wait until December, I’m going to rank films as I see them. This is a work in progress.
2012 Film Diary
A day-by-day viewing log of my filmwatching habits in 2012, beginning with Alex Ross Perry’s The Color Wheel (1967) and ending with episode 15 of Mark Cousins’s The Story of Film (2011).
Joanna at Work
The next issue of UT’s alumni magazine, The Torchbearer, will feature Joanna, so I used the photo shoot as an excuse to play with our new Panasonic GH2.
Best Films of 2011
With the latest redesign and relaunch of Long Pauses, I’ve decided to take a different approach. Rather than wait until December, I’m going to rank films as I see them.
2011 Film Diary
A day-by-day viewing log of my filmwatching habits in 2011, beginning with Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouria (1967) and ending with Raul Ruiz’s The Mysteries of Lisbon (2011).
Best Films of 2010
This year, to determine eligibility I’ve decided to follow the “New York commercial release” rule, which means that this list has been culled from the 40 or so films I saw. Honestly, this Top 10 could be shuffled randomly and I’d probably be as satisfied with the results.
2010 TIFF Schedule
Because seeing 30+ films in a week is a perfectly sensible thing to do. List includes highly-anticipated new films by Apichatpong, Gallo, Breillat, Reichardt, Hong, Wiseman, and Godard.