2004 Year in Review (Part A) | Lists 2004

LUMIÈRE'S 2004
YEAR IN REVIEW:
Lists 2004

Lists are problematic. They're far too precious, for a start – compact, bite-sized odes to "a few of your favourite things", as Julie Andrews will tell you. They also tend to operate on the basis of a finite ranking system, which is where it gets ugly, especially when a big-nosed publication conceives one of those super-sized, all-defining lists; where every shuffled entry in the pack is either too high, too low, or just missing altogether. Of course, here at Lumière, we're an arbitrary, nonchalant bunch that nobody really cares about anyway, so the whole list thing suits us just fine. It forms the guts of our 2004 Year in Review, which you don't have to give a shit about either, but can mull over here...

The Editors

HAVING settled on restricting our top ten to local, theatrical releases only, there came a point in our deliberation – a mutual resignation – that 2004 offered, well, very little to actually choose from. Hollywood, in particular, proved to be as mechanical as ever, rolling off sequels and remakes and no-risk demographic monsters like never before. Most, if not all the best stuff we encountered came via this nation's small pocket of film festivals, and so it seemed only right that we include those special festival films that screened this year, and may never again*. The remainder of this collaborative list consists of regular, general film releases, while excluding those many other festival selections we liked, but will consider in 2005 upon their expectant release.–Tim Wong/David Levinson

(also not considered: films such as School of Rock and Irréversible, which were official theatrical releases in 2004, but snuck into our various Top 10 lists the previous year)

More lists follow...

Alexander Bisley
Lead Film Critic, The Dominion Post

Alistair Kwun

(Wong Kar-wai, HK/China/France/Germany, 2004)
www.wkw2046.com

2. Ethan Mao
(Quentin Lee, Canada/USA, 2004)
www.marginfilms.com/ethanbeta

3. Mysterious Skin
(Gregg Araki, USA, 2004)
www.greggaraki.com

4. Three...Extremes
(Chan/Miike/Park, HK/Japan/Korea, 2004)
www.yesasia.com

5. Head-On
(Fatih Akin, Germany/Turkey, 2004)
www.gegendiewand.de

6. Spider-Man II
(Sam Raimi, USA, 2004)
http://spiderman.sonypictures.com

7. The Return
(Andrei Zvyagintsev, Russia, 2003)
www.kino.com/thereturn

8. Madame Satã
(Karim Ainouz, Brazil/France, 2002)
www2.uol.com.br/madamesata

9. Bad Guy
(Kim Ki-Duk, Korea, 2001)
www.yesasia.com

10. Wild Side
(Sébastien Lifshitz, France, 2004)

5 FILMS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN 2005

1. Café Lumière
(Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan/Japan, 2003)
www.coffeejikou.com

2. Bad Education
(Pedro Almodóvar, Spain, 2004)
www.lamalaeducacion.com

3. Saraband
(Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 2004)

4. Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow
(Theo Angelopoulos, France/Greece/Italy, 2004)

5. The Scarlet Letter
(Daniel H. Byun, Korea, 2004)
www.a-letter.com

Aaron Yap
Film Critic, Sunday-Star Times