Three Gorges Good People (2006)

Still Life (三峡好人) literally translates to Three Gorges Good People. The title is a reference to the Three Gorges dam that is displacing the residents of Fangjie along with the phrase 'good people', which appears in the film as a sort of ironic joke. But Still Life is filled with good people. This is a poetic, beautiful film filled with strange and impactful images that I found deeply moving. Zhao Tao (who I loved so much in Ash Is Purest White) and Han Sanming are wonderful. I am excited to watch them both in Mountains May Depart, which I'll be watching soon since it (like Still Life) is leaving the Criterion Channel at the end of the month.

(As for the Still Life title... I don't get it.)

Water Lilies (2007)

Water Lilies is sweet and earnest and sexy. Adèle Haenel is kind of amazing. She's obviously great in Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu, but she's great in this film too, even though she was obviously much younger when she and Sciamma made Water Lilies.

Incidentally, Naissance des Pieuvres means 'the birth of octopuses', the implications of which strike me as much more sexual than 'water lilies'.

I watched Naissance des Pieuvres on the Criterion Channel. It was just about to get removed from the channel at the end of November, so I snuck in under the wire.

2008 In Review

LOVED
~ ~
1. The Reader
2. The Fall
3. The Wrestler
4. The Class
5. Hunger
6. A Christmas Tale
7. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
8. Slumdog Millionaire
9. Caramel
10. Milk

REALLY LIKED
~ ~
11. Stop-loss
12. Frost/Nixon
13. Burn after Reading
14. Boy A
15. Shelter
16. The Visitor
17. Still Life 18. Cloverfield
19. Love Songs
20. Iron Man
21. The Duchess
22. Kung Fu Panda
23. Changeling
24. Saturn in Opposition
25. Gran Torino
I've Loved You So Long

LIKED
~ ~
The Dark Knight
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Waltz with Bashir
Bolt
Tell No One
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Tropic Thunder
The Witnesses
Water Lilies
Doubt
Sex and the City
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
The Edge of Heaven

LIKED MORE THAN I DISLIKED
~ ~
WALL·E
Let the Right One In
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
No Regret
Frozen River
Synecdoche, New York
Mongol
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Beaufort
Teeth
Reprise
Run Fatboy Run
In Bruges
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Happy-go-lucky
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

BARELY LIKED MORE THAN I DISLIKED
~ ~
Revolutionary Road
Paranoid Park
Hellboy II: the Golden Army
Were the World Mine
Pineapple Express
The Strangers
Cassandra's Dream
Felon

DISLIKED
~ ~
The Counterfeiters
Rachel Getting Married
Defiance
Hamlet 2
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Australia

HATED
~ ~
Funny Games
Wanted

COMPLETE AND TOTAL WASTE OF TIME
~ ~
Dog Tags
Get Smart

My Best Actor Picks for 2008
My Best Actress Picks for 2008
My Supporting Actor Picks for 2008
My Supporting Actress Picks for 2008