I can recall seeing just over 50 films for the year, including videos and first-time screen viewings that I’ve already caught on video. Of these 50+, maybe 25 are first-run releases. That’s not much to come up with a year-end top 10, so I’ve opted for a few 5s.
Top 5 of 1996:
- Haut Bas Fragile
- English Patient
- Dead Man
- Convent
- Big Night
Top 5 of any year (that I saw for the first time and on screen):
- Opening Night (the unsurpassable Cassavetes)
- Tokyo Story (Ozu)
- Satin Slipper (Oliveira)
- Short Film About Killing (Kieslowski)
- Une Femme est Une Femme (Godard) (saw it on video last year but the ‘scope print at the Film Center was a completely different experience)
Top 5 that I wanted to include but which ultimately fell short to varying degrees:
- The Second Time/Land and Freedom (tie)
- 12 Monkeys
- Neon Bible
- Hamlet
- Get on the Bus
Top 5 films that I wish I had missed:
- Stealing Beauty
- Basquiat
- Trainspotting
- Courage Under Fire
- Star Trek: First Contact
Top 5 films that I’m glad I missed (managed to avoid/walk out on):
- ID4/Twister (tie)
- Space Jam
- Ransom
- Striptease
- Nutty Professor
Honorable mentions go to Gold Diggers of 1933, the first film I ever projected, and Maya Deren’s Meshes in the Afternoon, the re-discovery of the year. I saw Meshes years ago, remembered it visually but not by title or filmmaker, and was surprised to see it again in Cobb Hall last winter.
The jury is still out on Flirt, Calendar and Goodbye South, Goodbye. Also, biggest mistake of the year has to be deciding to go see Almodovar’s Flower of my Secret instead of Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Finally, to include video, I have to give a nod to Davies’ Distant Voices, Still Lives as the best of Thursday Nights at Jon’s Place and I must mention Bleu, Blanc, and Rouge, films that seem to thin and yet grow more complex each time I sit down with them.
Best wishes for ‘97. Highlights already within view: Spring quarter at DOC should be full of missed opportunities like Waves and Secrets (for me) and hopefully the Egoyan series; Suburbia and Crash cometh; the series; Hitch and the French New Wave at the Box and Film Center respectively. And who knows what Hollywood releases are bound to capture our imagination. Evita?