The 1987 Mini-List

[knives]

Though fortunately it looks like I won’t need to watch part 3.

[domino harvey]

Because my mom has somehow seen all of these movies, I know from her that they just say he has plastic surgery in the third one to glide over the absence of the only reason anyone would ever watch these movies

[knives]

The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On is really brilliant and comes across as a great corrective to the experience of watching Joshua Oppenheimer’s laborious features. Though Japan seems particularly adept at this sort of confrontation of national guilt such as with some of Imamura’s documentaries or even Under the Flag of the Rising Sun. Where Hara really differentiates things is the dynamic figure at the center. By centering on loved ones his peers created some distance that they themselves share (which for one last potshot Oppenheimer went to an extreme on to have an exotic perspective) whereas Okuzaki is coming from a place of first hand experience and trauma. This leads to an additional conflict between Hara and Okuzaki that I found very compelling. The film realizes each man is using the other and is incredibly snappy for it.

Also this comes together with a sense that there will never be a perfect witness or enough information. The stain is permanent enough that the army will never truly be naked.

[the preacher]

Please add Macu, la mujer del policía, one of the top Venezuelan movies. Sorry, no English subs available AFAIK.

[swo17]

Added, thanks

[swo17]

The Key (Ebrahim Forouzesh)

Many is the horror film that milks suspense from the unearned ineptness of its characters. But what if your protagonist can't help it, being only four years old? Then even the smallest obstacles, like a locked door or a lit oven, can serve as monstrous foes.

Water Pulu 1869 1896 (Ivan Ladislav Galeta)

Impressionistically hazy rendering of a water polo match from the point of view of the ball, which never leaves the center of the frame. Stream it at the director's YouTube channel.

The Black Tower (John Smith)

Does anyone else see something like an obelisk blocking out the view of the clouds in this image? I didn't at first but now I can't stop seeing it. Everywhere I look.

Wall (Takashi Itō)

I think most of Itō's films that I've recommended before have been kind of dark or ominous, but this one's just pure fun, a little like an Al Jarnow film or a Peter Gabriel video. The camera zooms in and out, left and right, around a building and within a photograph of that building that flicker back and forth until nothing means anything anymore.

Steps
Imagine (Zbigniew Rybczyński)

If you only watch like 5 Rybczyński shorts from this decade, these should certainly be two of them. Steps (excerpt here) follows an American tour group that enters the Odessa Steps sequence from Battleship Potemkin(!) with some inventive, endearingly cheesy video editing and meaty social commentary. And Imagine gives Lennon's song a fittingly iconic music video about the circle of life, in perhaps Rybczyński's most subtle and elegant work. But if you don't want subtle, I'm also quite partial to his maximalist video for Supertramp's I'm Begging You

[knives]

Imagine is such a good video. Everyone should run and see it. I’ve watched it like three times during this month and I don’t even like the song.

[brundlefly]

Encouraging everyone with interests in New Chinese Cinema to search out Chen Kaige's King of the Children. Will certainly be my number 1 pick. And may be, for my money, the best Chinese film ever. Tony Rayns wrote quite a nice short book about it too.

Glad you mentioned this as I'd logged my disc as 1988 per imdb. I think I'm as resistant to inspirational teacher movies as knives, and there are a slew of middling-to-miserable American ones on the horizon. Though I'm looking forward to revisiting Stand and Deliver, a theater screening of which was the only field trip my AP calc class ever took.

So much more to see here, though, and cultural context added. (The Diskino disc doesn’t translate the final character the teacher writes on the chalkboard, but does have Rayns talking about the film for more than forty minutes.) The landscapes can be both breathtaking and smothering, and I love how the negative space of the decisive, eccentric horizon lines translates to the stiff, awkward overhang of the school roof – how it hides the teacher’s face, makes him choose to either bow or breach it. Happy I finally watched this.
*
re: conflicting dates: since there was some confusion last decade about Dariush Mehrjui’s The Cycle, thought it good to mention that this is the eligible year for a different Iranian movie about paying medical bills, Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s The Cyclist, as imdb and Letterboxd have it as 1989. Excellent film about systems that breed stunts and systems built around stunts, sadly forever relevant (not just because the main character is an Afghan refugee). I think about it every time I see a GoFundMe link going round.

Steps
Imagine (Zbigniew Rybczyński)
If you only watch like 5 Rybczyński shorts from this decade, these should certainly be two of them. Steps (excerpt here) follows an American tour group that enters the Odessa Steps sequence from Battleship Potemkin(!) with some inventive, endearingly cheesy video editing and meaty social commentary.

And if you treasure fun coincidences, like there being three owl movies this year and at least three featuring hiccups from the last, this is a fine thing to play before watching The Untouchables.
*
A tough call for a last-minute watch, and it may be too close to my heart and head for me to see it clearly, but if you have a couple patient hours there’s an English-subbed copy of Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s disarming, disorienting Anantaram on YouTube.

[swo17]

there being three owl movies this year and at least three featuring hiccups from the last

What are the hiccup films? And what's the third owl film after Chabrol and Ruiz? Sadly Marker's magnum owlus is a couple years away

[brundlefly]

there being three owl movies this year and at least three featuring hiccups from the last

What are the hiccup films? And what's the third owl film after Chabrol and Ruiz? Sadly Marker's magnum owlus is a couple years away

Michele Soavi's StageFright has the third owl. Or one-third of an owl?

1986 had Benigni in Down by Law, Mauvais Sang's hotel clerk, and Maciej Ćwiek's short "Video-Disc" (which I don't see streaming, but is in the Anthology of Polish Experimental Animation set). That one loops respiratory sounds into a nine-way split-screen rhythm section the way YouTubers would later.

When Judith Hearne started hiccuping in church, I was like, sorry, no, we're doing owls now.

[swo17]

ELIGIBLE TITLES FOR 1987

VOTE THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30

Please post in this thread if you think anything needs to change about the list of eligible titles.

Reminder that lists are due today

[TMDaines]

I thought this was already on there, but could you add A Child's Christmas in Wales (1987): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172238/ and I will submit!

[swo17]

Added

[TMDaines]

Added

Cheers, submitted!

[brundlefly]

And thank you swo for leaving in the glitch that let me vote for Border Radio ten times.

[swo17]

The 1987 List



##. Film (Director) points/votes(top 5 placements, aka likely votes in decade list)/highest ranking

01. Broadcast News (James L. Brooks) 239/12(7)/1(x3)
02. خانه دوست کجاست [Khane-ye dust kojast] [Where Is the Friend's Home?] (Abbas Kiarostami) 227/11(7)/1(x3)
03. 4 Aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle (Éric Rohmer) 184/10(5)/3
04. Der Himmel über Berlin [Wings of Desire] (Wim Wenders) 168/8(5)/1(x2)
05. Housekeeping (Bill Forsyth) 159/10(3)/1
06. Radio Days (Woody Allen) 157/10(4)/2(x2)
07. Matewan (John Sayles) 150/9(2)/1
08. L'Ami de mon amie [My Girlfriend's Boyfriend] (Éric Rohmer) 142/7(3)/1
09. Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick) 128/8(3)/2
10. Au revoir les enfants (Louis Malle) 121/8(1)/1
11. House of Games (David Mamet) 107/8(1)/2
12. Le Cri du hibou [The Cry of the Owl] (Claude Chabrol) 106/7(2)/2
13. Raising Arizona (Joel & Ethan Coen) 105/6(3)/3(x2)
14. The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner) 99/6/8(x3)
15. King Lear (Jean-Luc Godard) 86/6(1)/3
16. RoboCop (Paul Verhoeven) 83/6(1)/2
17. The Last Emperor (Bernardo Bertolucci) 82/4(2)/2
18. The Dead (John Huston) 81/5(1)/1
(tie) Sous le soleil de Satan [Under the Sun of Satan] (Maurice Pialat) 81/5(1)/4
20. Withnail & I (Bruce Robinson) 80/5(2)/4(x2)
21. Ishtar (Elaine May) 74/6(2)/4
22. 孩子王 [Hai zi wang] [King of the Children] (Chen Kaige) 69/5(2)/1
23. 胭脂扣 [Yim ji kau] [Rouge] (Stanley Kwan) 61/5/7
(tie) ゆきゆきて、神軍 [Yuki yukite shingun] [The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On] (Kazuo Hara) 61/6(1)/5
25. Hope and Glory (John Boorman) 60/5/7
26. Opera (Dario Argento) 59/4/6(x2)
27. Empire of the Sun (Steven Spielberg) 58/3(1)/4
28. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (Todd Haynes) 56/3(2)/2
29. Masques (Claude Chabrol) 52/5/8
30. The Dante Quartet (Stan Brakhage) 51/5/9
31. マルサの女 [Marusa no onna] [A Taxing Woman] (Jūzō Itami) 49/4(2)/4
(tie) Moonstruck (Norman Jewison) 49/4(1)/5
33. Babettes gæstebud [Babette's Feast] (Gabriel Axel) 47/2(2)/2
34. Pelle erobreren [Pelle erövraren] [Pelle the Conqueror] (Bille August) 46/3/8
35. Angustia [Anguish] (Bigas Luna) 44/2(1)/2
36. The Untouchables (Brian De Palma) 41/3(1)/1
(tie) The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (Jack Clayton) 41/3(1)/5
38. Made in Heaven (Alan Rudolph) 40/3(1)/4
39. Nadine (Robert Benton) 38/2/7(x2)
40. کلید [Kelid] [The Key] (Ebrahim Forouzesh) 37/2(1)/3
41. Making Mr. Right (Susan Seidelman) 34/2(1)/1
42. Yeelen (Souleymane Cissé) 33/2(1)/5
43. 尼羅河的女兒 [Ni luo he de nu er] [Daughter of the Nile] (Hou Hsiao-hsien) 31/2(1)/3
44. Evil Dead II (Sam Raimi) 30/2/7
(tie) The Black Tower (John Smith) 30/3/13(x2)
46. Intervista (Federico Fellini) 29/2/7
47. Πρωινή περίπολος [Proini peripolos] [Morning Patrol] (Nikos Nikolaidis) 27/3/11
48. Soigne ta droite [Keep Your Right Up!] (Jean-Luc Godard) 26/2/9
49. मिर्च मसाला [Mirch Masala] [Hot Spice] (Ketan Mehta) 24/2/7
50. Walker (Alex Cox) 23/3/11
(tie) La Chouette aveugle [The Blind Owl] (Raúl Ruiz) 23/3/13
(tie) The Lost Boys (Joel Schumacher) 23/3/15

ALSO-RANS

Swimming to Cambodia (Jonathan Demme) 22/2/10
The Stepfather (Joseph Ruben) 21/2/12
Någonting har hänt [Something Happened] (Roy Andersson) 20/2/10
Near Dark (Kathryn Bigelow) 19/2/8
Steps (Zbigniew Rybczyński) 19/2/9
Napló szerelmeimnek [Diary for My Lovers] (Márta Mészáros) 18/2/11
Tin Men (Barry Levinson) 15/2/12
The Witches of Eastwick (George Miller) 15/2/18

The Belly of an Architect (Peter Greenaway) 13/2/15
The Last of England (Derek Jarman) 12/2/19
女衒 [Zegen] (Shōhei Imamura) 11/2/19
Moments Without Proper Names (Gordon Parks) 10/2/20
東方禿鷹 [Dung fong tuk ying] [Eastern Condors] (Sammo Hung) 10/2/20
Imagine (Zbigniew Rybczyński) 9/2/19

ORPHANS

Film (Director) highest ranking

China Girl (Abel Ferrara) 16
അനന്തരം [Anantaram] [Monologue] (Adoor Gopalakrishnan) 2
Une flamme dans mon cœur [A Flame in My Heart] (Alain Tanner) 6
Angel Heart (Alan Parker) 11
Straight to Hell (Alex Cox) 17
Fleetwood Mac: Everywhere (Alex Proyas) 17
George Michael: Faith (Andy Morahan) 20
Depeche Mode: Behind the Wheel (Anton Corbijn) 18
Echo & the Bunnymen: Lips Like Sugar (Anton Corbijn) 19
Barfly (Barbet Schroeder) 14
U2: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Barry Devlin) 14
Good Morning, Vietnam (Barry Levinson) 9
La Passion Béatrice [Béatrice] (Bertrand Tavernier) 13
Summer School (Carl Reiner) 20
Adventures in Babysitting (Chris Columbus) 14
Tall Dwarfs: Turning Brown and Torn in Two (Chris Knox) 23
Little Dorrit (Christine Edzard) 13
中華戰士 [Zhong hua zhan shi] [Magnificent Warriors] (David Chung) 14
Prince: U Got the Look (David Hogan) 22
84 Charing Cross Road (David Jones) 4
Wish You Were Here (David Leland) 8
Pet Shop Boys: It's a Sin (Derek Jarman) 23
A Child's Christmas in Wales (Don McBrearty) 9
White of the Eye (Donald Cammell) 7
Pet Shop Boys: What Have I Done to Deserve This? (Eric Watson) 24
Lunga vita alla signora! [Long Live the Lady!] (Ermanno Olmi) 15
Ab ovo – Homoknyomok [Traces of Sand] (Ferenc Cakó) 11
Clandestinos (Fernando Pérez) 19
Roxanne (Fred Schepisi) 10
L'Homme qui plantait des arbres [The Man Who Planted Trees] (Frédéric Back) 12
George Harrison: Got My Mind Set on You (Gary Weis) 25
High Tide (Gillian Armstrong) 3
The Kitchen Toto (Harry Hook) 14
A計劃續集 [A gai wak xu ji] [Project A Part II] (Jackie Chan) 4
Maurice (James Ivory) 18
Closed Jeans (Jean-Luc Godard) 19
Der Tod des Empedokles [The Death of Empedocles] (Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet) 12
Street Smart (Jerry Schatzberg) 20
Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter) 23
The Living Daylights (John Glen) 21
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (John Hughes) 13
The Fourth Protocol (John Mackenzie) 25
Predator (John McTiernan) 13
El bosque animado [The Enchanted Forest] (José Luis Cuerda) 6
The Whales of August (Lindsay Anderson) 7
秋天的童話 [Chau tin dik tung wa] [An Autumn's Tale] (Mabel Cheung) 4
நாயகன் [Nayakan] [Hero] (Mani Ratnam) 12
Świadkowie [Witnesses] (Marcel Łoziński) 6
U2: Where the Streets Have No Name (Meiert Avis) 15
Ground Zero (Michael Pattinson & Bruce Myles) 18
عرس الجليل [Urs al-jalil] [A Wedding in Galilee] (Michel Khleifi) 11
Deliria [Stage Fright] (Michele Soavi) 8
بايسيكلران [Bicycleran] [The Cyclist] (Mohsen Makhmalbāf) 16
Alaya (Nathaniel Dorsky) 9
Очи чёрные [Oci ciornie] [Dark Eyes] (Nikita Mikhalkov) 7
森の伝説 [Mori no densetsu] [Legend of the Forest] (Osamu Tezuka) 1
Miami Connection (Park Woo-sang) 8
I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (Patricia Rozema) 9
Landscape (for Manon) (Peter B. Hutton) 5
Resan [The Journey] (Peter Watkins) 21
New Order: True Faith (Philippe Decouflé) 21
Cry Freedom (Richard Attenborough) 16
Lethal Weapon (Richard Donner) 3
龍虎風雲 [Lung foo fung wan] [City on Fire] (Ringo Lam) 15
Beyond Therapy (Robert Altman) 21
Hollywood Shuffle (Robert Townsend) 20
No Way Out (Roger Donaldson) 10
電柱小僧の冒険 [Denchū kozō no bōken] [The Adventures of Electric Rod Boy] (Shinya Tsukamoto) 19
Macu, la mujer del policía [Macu, the Policeman's Wife] (Solveig Hoogesteijn) 17
Kindering (Stan Brakhage) 8
Prick Up Your Ears (Stephen Frears) 5
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (Stephen Frears) 24
Peter Gabriel: Big Time (Stephen R. Johnson) 25
The Cure: Just Like Heaven (Tim Pope) 16
Five Corners (Tony Bill) 24
Extreme Prejudice (Walter Hill) 24
稻草人 [Dao cao ren] [Strawman] (Wang Tong) 21
Cobra Verde (Werner Herzog) 4
芙蓉镇 [Fu rong zhen] [Hibiscus Town] (Xie Jin) 13

17 lists submitted

[domino harvey]

Thanks swo! This was a great year, the best of the decade

[therewillbeblus]

It's also the year where my top ten most resembles the forum's.. Thanks swo!

1. Broadcast News
2. Where is the Friend’s Home?
3. King Lear
4. Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle
5. Radio Days
6. Anguish
7. Nadine
8. Under the Sun of Satan
9. My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend
10. Wings of Desire

Totally missed Cry of the Owl - would've made my top ten

[domino harvey]

I think I was the one voting for it as number two... if not, it was close to that

[knives]

Thanks for the hard work. Also, Dom I might have been the number 2 placer.

Thanks swo! This was a great year, the best of the decade

Seriously, I feel like I did some good watching, but going over that orphans list I feel like I could do another year on this year with what I’ve missed.

[swo17]

Totally missed Cry of the Owl - would've made my top ten

In your defense, this is the first time owls have been mentioned in the thread

[therewillbeblus]

Way to make me cry

[ryannichols7]

I always load up the back half of my list with the music videos and think it's funny I'm usually the only one who does, but also I probably should be hitting that many films to vote for, too. I have to say I forgot how much of a forum favorite Broadcast News is, which is awesome considering its original Criterion tease (at the time) was met with the usual "what Becker or Turrell favorite" is this by some members, which is insane to think about now. I'm very happy we all love Housekeeping this much, cause it was a revelation for me to see it. this is also my favorite year of the decade, these are remarkably strong movies, and there's still some I didn't have time to get to this month that I'll hit before the decade vote, and will try and write up my thoughts on some others

01. Wings of Desire
02. Housekeeping
03. Daughter of the Nile
04. Withnail and I
05. The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On
06. Where is the Friend's Home?
07. Intervista
08. The Princess Bride
09. Rouge
10. Broadcast News
11. Diary for My Lovers
12. The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

[brundlefly]

Thanks for the hard work. Also, Dom I might have been the number 2 placer.

Thanks swo! This was a great year, the best of the decade

Seriously, I feel like I did some good watching, but going over that orphans list I feel like I could do another year on this year with what I’ve missed.

My feeling as well. Only got to a fraction of what I meant to watch or re-watch, but had I done omissions would instead become painful cuts.

1. Where is the Friend's Home?
2. Anantaram
3. Housekeeping
4. Winds of Desire
5. Yeelen
6. Matewan
7. Raising Arizona
8. RoboCop
9. The Cry of the Owl
10. The Dead