The 2003 Mini-List

[swo17]

ELIGIBLE TITLES FOR 2003

VOTE THROUGH MAY 31

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

[therewillbeblus]

Can you please add:

Après vous... (Pierre Salvadori)

[domino harvey]

It’ll prob make my list too, the job interview pantomime is a classic comedy bit. Believe it or not, Paramount put it out on DVD

[swo17]

Added

[mteller]

The drawback of using Criticker to make my lists is that the years don't always align with IMDb. If I'd known West of the Tracks was a 2002 film, I would have voted for it in that thread.

[swo17]

No two sources are going to agree on every film, which is why I highly recommend reviewing each year's eligibility list in these threads to remind yourself of titles you might not have thought of as eligible. You're in luck though for West of the Tracks, as we don't tally votes for 2002 until the end of April.

As a side note, this issue is part of why I start each year's thread a month early, so that people have a chance to think about the upcoming month before voting for the current month, as the vast majority of year discrepancies are just one year apart

[yoshimori]

Some add requests.

These may figure low on my list:
- Aoyama Shinji, "Like a Desperado under the Eaves" in Jeonju Digital Project 2003
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul, The Adventure of Iron Pussy
- Yamashita Nobuhiro, Bakaa no hakobune [No One's Ark] - and Yamashita's Realism Inn [aka Ramblers], also 2003, is one of the year's best, iyam
- Arnaud Desplechin, Léo, en jouant 'Dans la compagnie des hommes'

But this one will surely be a top 5 or 6 on my list:
- Thomas Vinterberg, It's All About Love - for me, Vinterberg's best film by far

Highly recommend Im Sang-soo's A Good Lawyer's Wife to those who haven't seen it, which, for me, edges out Oldboy as the best Korean movie of the year, and, again, the Fensler PSAs.

[Aunt Peg]

Could you please add:

The Cost of Living (Philippe Le Guay)
Fat Pizza (Paul Fenech)
Fear and Trembling (Alain Corneau)
Girls Will Be Girls (Richard Day)
Love Object (Robert Parigi)

[cantinflas]

Fat Pizza (Paul Fenech)

Hah, this is a must, which means we need Take Away added as well. Rose Byrne!

Could these also please be added:

David Blaine: Above the Below (Harmony Korine)
Trailer Town (Giuseppe Andrews)

[domino harvey]

Can you please add American Eunuchs as well? Move over Searching for Paradise, this one has even fewer LB viewers: 11!

Was reminded of an interesting doc I saw on the Sundance Channel probably seven or eight years ago, American Eunuchs (Gian Claudio Guiducci and Franco Sacchi 2003), about men who feel compelled to voluntarily castrate themselves, not always for strictly sexual reasons. It was, as you can imagine, a bizarre examination of fringe sexuality, one coupled with actual surgical footage of the act and a plethora of interviews with both those who've had the procedure done and those who make a living performing the act for others. I still remember one horrifying interview with a man who was showering and felt compelled out of nowhere to tie off and remove his testicles in the moment-- sans anesthesia or any form of preparation. The film took a non-judgmental stance which let its subjects approach something resembling honesty about their predilections and desires, even if ultimately the compelling nature of this urge to commit serious and permanent bodily harm of this nature to yourself remains unknowable to most (including myself). Unfortunately it looks like this was never released in any format and isn't even available on That Site Which Shall Not Be Mentioned. There is a trailer up on YouTube (NSFW) however. It'll make my list, but barring some sort of screening or internet reemergence (maybe one of the internet's many fetish sites is hosting a copy?), it seems almost destined to be an Orphan

[swo17]

All added but I put the Weerasethakul and Parigi in 2004

[The Narrator Returns]

Could you add High School Reunion by Sarah Jacobson? 16 minutes of the funny/sad reminder of how many remain locked in their teenage pathetic cruelty well into adulthood.

[swo17]

Added

[denti alligator]

Can you add Straub-Huillet's Umiliati, The Return of the Prodigal Son, and Incantanti?

[swo17]

Prodigal Son was already there. I've added the other two, although I see conflicting information about the appropriate years being anywhere from 2001 to 2003. I'm inclined to go with straub-huillet.com, which puts all three films in 2002

[denti alligator]

Since there were six number 1 picks for 2002 that got orphaned, maybe those planning to vote want to share any top 3 or 5 picks that they think might be off the beaten track? If I have time, I'll try to check them out. Meanwhile I'm catching up on some films that have been on my watch list for decades, such as The Return.

[John Cope]

Please add Chromiumblue.com You may notice that the IMDB dates for this and its subsequent series are somewhat confused and rearranged but regardless I'm going to just go by the dates given and 2003 covers what was the pilot movie.

[swo17]

I'm not familiar but the limited information I'm seeing suggests this was a 2002 Showtime series from which several compilation films were made, at least one of which aired in 2003. If any of the series aired in 2002, wouldn't the pilot have been no later than 2002? Anyway, I suppose there was a 2003 film with this name, and it's too late to vote for this as a 2002 film, so I guess I'll put it in 2003 for now

[Lowry_Sam]

Since there were six number 1 picks for 2002 that got orphaned, maybe those planning to vote want to share any top 3 or 5 picks that they think might be off the beaten track? If I have time, I'll try to check them out. Meanwhile I'm catching up on some films that have been on my watch list for decades, such as The Return.

Please do! It's going to be on my list & I'm tired of seeing my votes for Russian films end up in the orphans list (and then one definitely not on my list make it in to the top 50...ie. Russian Ark). However, The Return won't be my highest placed Russian film this year, that distinction will go to Sokurov's 2003 release, Father And Son, which is still not on blu-ray, so hopefully a few of you will seek it out.

[Lowry_Sam]

Wow this year is going to be a lot tougher than I thought. My dance card is already full and I'm noticing more films from my IMDb ratings 8 & above that haven't been added this time than for any previous year. IMDB has these as 2003, can you add (or delay to 2004 any and all you can cuz my 2004 is looking sparse by comparison):

The Green Butchers
Facing Windows
Carandiru
The Lost Boys Of Sudan
The Trials Of Henry Kissinger
The Animation Show
2LDK
Bukowski: Born Into This
Tarnation
The Yes Men

Also noticing this seems to be the year of the documentary as I have more in contention than I ever had before even though there's no Michael Moore or Frederick Wiseman this year.

[John Cope]

I'm not familiar but the limited information I'm seeing suggests this was a 2002 Showtime series from which several compilation films were made, at least one of which aired in 2003. If any of the series aired in 2002, wouldn't the pilot have been no later than 2002? Anyway, I suppose there was a 2003 film with this name, and it's too late to vote for this as a 2002 film, so I guess I'll put it in 2003 for now

Yeah, it is all a little confusing. The pilot movie was actually made as a feature but then broken into four half hour long episodes to begin the series. It was later released on video as a complete film. Other video releases were mostly compilations of episodes. I think all this was 2002 as well but I can't be sure at this point and it probably spilled over. Anyway, since the feature is (inexplicably) listed as later than the series on IMDB I just waited to bring it up till now.

However, The Return won't be my highest placed Russian film this year, that distinction will go to Sokurov's 2003 release, Father And Son, which is still not on blu-ray, so hopefully a few of you will seek it out.

I love it too and it will definitely make my list.

[swo17]

IMDB has these as 2003, can you add (or delay to 2004 any and all you can cuz my 2004 is looking sparse by comparison):

The Green Butchers
Facing Windows
Carandiru
The Lost Boys Of Sudan
The Trials Of Henry Kissinger
The Animation Show
2LDK
Bukowski: Born Into This
Tarnation
The Yes Men

All added except for the last two, which were already eligible as 2004 films, and The Trials of Henry Kissinger, which was already eligible as a 2002 film

[denti alligator]

Since there were six number 1 picks for 2002 that got orphaned, maybe those planning to vote want to share any top 3 or 5 picks that they think might be off the beaten track? If I have time, I'll try to check them out. Meanwhile I'm catching up on some films that have been on my watch list for decades, such as The Return.

Please do! It's going to be on my list & I'm tired of seeing my votes for Russian films end up in the orphans list (and then one definitely not on my list make it in to the top 50...ie. Russian Ark). However, The Return won't be my highest placed Russian film this year, that distinction will go to Sokurov's 2003 release, Father And Son, which is still not on blu-ray, so hopefully a few of you will seek it out.

That’s also in my list. I’ve seen Mother and Son (which I love) but not this one. There’s nothing unusual on my list so far, so there’s no point in sharing. My no.1 is predictable and will probably match the final list’s top film.

[yoshimori]

Will also vote for Father & Son, a delightful little film in which, iirc, the eponymous relatives wrestle shirtless around the snow-covered rooftop and are played by actors whose age difference seems to be, like, 4 years.

And will reiterate my to various extents "off the beaten path" picks above: Realism Inn [aka Ramblers], A Good Lawyer's Wife (though that one's probably within stone's throw of the path), the Fensler G.I. Joe remixes, and the wild (and inexplicably hated) It's All About Love.

Alligator teeth wrote:

My no.1 is predictable and will probably match the final list’s top film.

Presumably, and reasonably, Elephant.

[denti alligator]

Not Elephant, though that one will likely be somewhere on the list.