Movies For Music Lovers: 2007 Alternate Version

The one and only... Julie Christie

*****

List making is the junk food of criticism.
-- Paul Schrader

Every year, I compile a top 30. I'm not sure how long I've been at it.
Since around 1993, I would imagine. Titles include features, documen-
taries, and reissues (my favorite release of 2006 was Jean-Pierre Mel-
ville's long-lost Army of Shadows). In other words, I count pretty much
anything film-related, except short subjects and television exclusives.

Then, I sort the remaining non-fiction and archival entries in-
to separate top 10s for a grand total of 50 films. Since 2005,
I've been posting the results (plus commentary) to my blog.
This year, I'm cross-posting an abbreviated version. For the
entire magilla, please click here. The following represents
the top 8.6% of the movies I saw this year.

Links are to my Amazon, Siffblog, and Stranger reviews.

Sam Riley in Control
TOP 10:
1. Away From Her (Sarah Polley)
2. Into the Wild (Sean Penn)
3. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)
4. Daratt (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
5. Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett)
6. Control (Anton Corbijn)
7. Zodiac (David Fincher)
8. Tie: Once (John Carney) / Lady Chatterly (Pascal Ferran)
9. This Is England (Shane Meadows)
10. No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen)

Thomas Turgoose and the gang in This Is England
RUNNERS-UP:
11. INLAND EMPIRE (David Lynch)
12. I'm Not There (Todd Haynes)
13. Talk to Me (Kasi Lemmons)
14. Letters From Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood)
15. I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (Tsai Ming-Liang)
16. Gone Baby Gone (Ben Affleck)
17. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (Sidney Lumet)
18. Le Petit Lieutenant (Xavier Beauvois)
19. Blame It on Fidel! (Julie Gavras)
20. Brand Upon the Brain! (Guy Maddin)

The "real" Bob Dylan...with D.A. Pennebaker
21. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel Von Donnersmark)
22. Black Book (Paul Verhoeven)
23. El Aura (Fabian Bielinsky)
24. Ratatouille (Brad Bird)
25. Red Road (Andrea Arnold)
26. Colossal Youth (Pedro Costa)
27. Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright)
28. Half Moon (Bahman Ghobadi)
29. Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy)
30. Rescue Dawn (Werner Herzog)
Click here for Songs for Swingin' Cineastes

The year's other comeback kid: Charles Burnett
*****
Endnote: Every actor/film/director pictured has some relation to popular
music, including Julie Christie, who once collaborated with Robert Wyatt,
and Charles Burnett, who compiled the richly evocative soundtracks for
Killer of Sheep and My Brother's Wedding (alas, the lack of rights clear-
ances delayed the former by 30 years). All images from the archives.