Spirited Away

Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)

In the middle of her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and monsters; where humans are changed into animals; and a bathhouse for these creatures.

Mulholland Drive

Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)

After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesic, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.

In this brilliant and unsettling film from master director David Lynch we discover a cornerstone in the history of Cinema just like Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon or his 2001: A Space Odyssey and more recently, Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. This is the work of an auteur that has let himself express pure feelings without really getting into the details of narratives and conventional storytelling grammar. Those personal films have done so much to the media while getting some head scratchers to their viewers. In the same time, those are works of pure unpolished diamonds of directors that knows their audience is wise enough to put the pieces of the puzzles together and digest the mass of images, movements, feelings, and sounds that their work has to offer. It might not be as clear and readable as, let’s say, P.T. Anderson’s masterpiece There Will Be Blood but it is as bold and rich in meanings.

Dogtown and Z-Boys

Dogtown and Z-Boys (Stacy Peralta, 2001)

Just as a bunch of The Beach Boys songs reminds us, California and surfing is the real thing. The History of skateboarding has everything to owe to surfing and its invention is in most part due to a derived product from the wave riding movement. In California a bunch of kids wanted to be the next champions of surfing but had to compensate for the lack of waves in their area with another standing sideways item. It was natural that they go to the four wheeled wood planks to fulfill their needs of sensations.

Artificial Intelligence : AI

Artificial Intelligence : AI (Steven Spielberg, 2001)

A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.

Written by Stanley Kubrick and directed by Steven Spielberg, AI has divided diehard fans of Kubrick and Spielberg aficionados in two distinct camps. Many did not liked the reinterpretation of the Kubrick vision by Spielberg. Being a diehard fan of everything Kubrick, AI isn’t such a disaster as many stated.

Set in the future of our society, mankind has been replacing and fulfilling its needs with artificial humanoids. In a family where the son is ill they decide to substitute their son with David, an artificial boy capable of feelings and especially an endless love towards his mother. However, when the ill son comes back when a cure is found the life of David takes a unexpected turn of events.

Ocean’s Eleven

Ocean’s Eleven (Steven Soderbergh, 2001)

This breezy remake the Rat Pack movie of 1960 starring the new Hollywood Rat Pack of George Clooney as the new Danny Ocean, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Elliott Gould, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Carl Reiner, Andy Garcia, and Julia Roberts. This is clearly an ensemble film where we feel the actors got lots of fun making the movie and interacting with each other. It is easy to feel that Pitt and Clooney are friends in real life.

The story is set in Las Vegas, also called Sin City, the place in North America where you go to have fun and experience every adult excess you want. Don’t forget that want happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. The definition of Las Vegas is very different from the definition of Monte Carlo the setting of superb casino movies in Europe. However, Las Vegas is very unique and it is also represented in Cinema as a place where anyone can get rich and become someone. In the case of Ocean’s Eleven, it is the revenge of Danny Ocean who wants to get the money from Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) the owner of three of the most famous casinos in Las Vegas whilst having an undisclosed idea behind his head.

To execute this mission, Ocean assembles the dream team of impersonators, pickpockets, gamblers, etc. Much like, Soderbergh assembled the dream team any producer or director could have hoped to get together in front of a camera. What a film poster, with all those stars it was a box office sure shot. One of the most interesting thing is the presence of Carl Reiner and Elliott Gould, who were bigger names in their time but also have great roles here. It is interesting because every member of the cast gets a spins at the roulette, to borrow an expression of the milieu. They are also randomly sparse like if while writing the script the put the names at the position of a roulette and that the writers give it a spin to know which character they were going to write for.

Ocean’s Eleven drips coolness and fun and even if it is not someone’s cup of tea to enter into the trend and appreciate this kind of “cool” flick you sure have a fun film. Soderbergh also understood that a film about a big robbery must be centered on everything around the so-called robbery than the actual theft. The plan, the relationship between the characters and the sharpening of the approach are stronger elements of a well constructed script.

Getting over all the coolness and the fun of Ocean’s Eleven, we get a good script that keeps the twists and essentials elements of a contemporary good comedy/crime/thriller. The depiction of Las Vegas in Ocean’s Eleven is very neat and represents the adult Disney Land it is. This is a very fun movie that is more than worth the look.

Waking Life

Waking Life (Richard Linklater, 2001)

Richard Linklater is one of the most versatile directors working out there. He goes from doing a authorist oeuvre like Before Sunrise to a more mainstream film like School of Rock and having success in both cases. This original animated feature made with an uncommon technique of "drawing" over actual shoot footage results in a beautiful, but dreamy, graphical picture.

Apart from being visually stunning this Odyssey of dreams into dreams recalls Luis Bunuel's Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie for its many states of awakening dreams. Waking Life is mostly philosophical and alike Before Sunset/Before Sunrise the story evolves around many conversations. Some of these conversations are set with concrete matters and others just play on the metaphysical level. Waking Life feels like a film essay about life and our perceptions of the present time.

I actually enjoyed most of the film and how the story slowly evolves around the main character. The lower point of the visual effects is that sometimes there are so much movement that it makes you a little dizzy. A must see.

Éloge de l'amour

TSPDT Greatest Films #974 Éloge de l'amour (Jean-Luc Godard, 2001)

Yes another Godard film reviewed at Le Mot du Cinephiliaque! Since the late 1950's Jean-Luc Godard has always made original, uncompromized, and dense films. As you can see with the series of reviews on Le Mot du Cinephiliaque about his films lately, I am trying to figure out the entire filmography from this one of a kind character.


Éloge de l'amour is far from the early films Godard used to make. It's more like a lesson he's telling us through his oeuvre. Told in three parts, Éloge de l'amour is Godard's continuation on his essays about modernity and how the capitalist era led by the imperialism of Americanism has changed lives of people from around the world. With few camera movements and few angles of the same scene Godard let the charaters reflect their lives and identities one the screen. This is what's important and everything else doesn't matter. Because, since the late 1960's Godard has been one of the major figures of the left Maoists, especially with the Dziga Vertov group. The last chapter of his career is indeed named Film socialiste. His 2001 film, Éloge de l'amour is a very hard film to get into and someone who is not acquainted to this genre of film will be lost for a bit. But with some perspective, the film fits perfectly in the "cinéaste's" oeuvre.

When a director makes a political film he always inject his opinion or vision into the film and sometimes the subjectivity of the filmmaker can be annoying, here it is subtler than Godard used to pass his messages. Still, his social oriented vision weights heavy on the "propos" of Éloge de l'amour. One can conclude by saying that the man is still awake and his films still feel fresh as they were back in the 1960's.

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)

Seing a film that has a big aura cult around it always has two inclinations. First, you have the urge to finally watch a film that has so much praise and love. You hear and read so much about that you are already sure to see a nice picture. Cult films, have this blind love about them, the people who defend them will love the film even if its story lacks of structure or if the film has passed the test of time. The second inclination is the fact that all this expectation and good word about a film often disappoint the viewer, like the time I show Pulp Fiction to my girlfriend. I told her so many good things about this film that she was waiting for something that she didn't saw...

Donnie Darko is in my opinion a cult succes for a good but not great film. Half way through the film I didn't knew what to think about it, but at the end when everything unravels and when every pieces of the puzzle fells into its right place I kinda liked what I saw. Even if the ending is a little too heartwhelming in my opinion I think that the bizarre parts of the story get their redemption at the end.

The way I feel about Donnie Darko is like the way I feel about Blue Velvet one of my favortie film of all-time. This is clearly a film about American suburbs and conformism and those are come of the themes aborded in Lynch's film. However, on the metaphorical and symbolism, the 1986 film surpasses by far the one of 2001. By the way, this is not a comparison between the two films because both are very different it's just their atmospheres and settings that feels the same.

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a teenager that has mental problems. He has an imaginary friend he calls Frank, that influence him on doing mischiefs. One day there is a new girl (Jena Malone as Gretchen) in town and he quickly falls in love with her. Their love is mutual, it gives him a stability in his life, but he still has his imaginary friend and it conducts him to the eve of Halloween to an event that will change the life of many people of his town forever. The story is told with intertitles that create a countdown until Halloween. But the viewer don't know what will happen on the trick or treat day. Donnie seems to know what will happen and he dares it very much. Weird and unexplained events populate this story and sometimes it just embarass the viewer that will always get a wrong track on the outcome of the plot. Taken scene by scene the story has many levels and touches many genres. The greatest scene of the film is when we have somekind of an unedited camera movement that pass on every important character of the film with only a sad song (I don't remember his name) that fits perfectly well in that scene.

On the acting side, the Gyllenhaals give good but not great performances, Jake is always over the top and his creepy look is always on the edge of being plain funny. Maggie is ok but her part is more supporting than anything else. I was surprised to see Patrick Swayze and a very good and sexy Producer Drew Barrymore (I would have taken more of her in Darko). Funny thing too a young Seth Rogen as one of the bullies...

For Donnie Darko, I had expectations and I think they were satisfied but not in the way thought they would be. I don't know why I thought Donnie Darko was a cheesier film than what I saw. I liked it but I didn't loved it. I think a second view could give me a better perspective of the whole film as an ensemble. I have to give to Richard Kelly the praise that his scenario is rich and that he knew how to distract his viewer from the way he intend to put him through.

Les meilleurs films de la dernière décennie - 2001

Pour vous faire languir encore plus avant le dévoilement de mon Top 100 des meilleurs films de la décennie qui se terminera en ce 31 décembre 2009 je vais vous présenter le Top 10 de chacune de ses années!

Voici mon Top 10 personnel des 10 meilleurs films de l'année 2001:

1. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)
Un coup de foudre cinématographique! Ce portrait quasi-caricatural d'une famille de génies à l'enfance et qui à l'âge adulte ne peuvent confronter ce qu'ils sont et vivre en tant que Tenenbaum est drôle, touchant, pathétique, prétentieux, charmant et attachant. L'un de mes films préférés de cette décennie.

2. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)
Un néo-noir signé David Lynch. Une expérience en soit, un monument, un chef d'oeuvre surtout Mulholland Dr. est exquis.

3. The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson)
Le premier de la trilogie inspirée des livres de Tolkien. Quand grand budget = qualité, me fait encore croire que certains "blockbusters" sont de bons films!

4. Gosford Park (Robert Altman)
L'un des plus grands maîtres du Cinéma nous démontre que l'enquête et les relations entre les personnages est plus intéressante que la découverte de l'assassin. Un film d'ensemble; du grand Altman!

5. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
Une histoire de Stanley Kubrick tournée par Spielberg. J,aurais préféré que Kubrick l'a tourne lui-même... Repose en paix Stanley ta réputation est assurée!

6. Invincible (Werner Herzog)
Un bon film de Herzog qui sort des sentiers traditionnels du film sur la Seconde Guerre mondiale.

7. Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
Une révolution visuelle contée d'une manière féérique et rafraichissante. Un très beau film avec de très bons acteurs. Mention ici à Mathieu Kassovitz.

8. Ocean's Eleven (Steven Soderbergh)
Un remake fait de main de maître avec un cast tout étoitle!

9. Vanilla Sky (Cameron Crowe)
Un très bon film qui déconstruit la narrative traditionnelle.

10. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
Un vrai visionnaire du film d'animation nous a offert son meilleur film ici!