criterionforum.org

ELIGIBLE TITLES FOR 2005

VOTE THROUGH JULY 31

Please post in this thread if you think anything needs to change about the list of eligible titles

Can you please add

Loft (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Red Eye (Wes Craven)
Where the Truth Lies (Atom Egoyan)

I actually have Loft as 2006 and Pulse as 2001 (where it made our top 10). Otherwise added

Excellent year for Asian cinema, which, sadly, except for the biggest titles, feels under-appreciated in these lists. In 2005 there's Hong Sang-soo's best film, A Tale of Cinema; Im Sang-soo's best film, The President's Last Bang; the crazy Tsai Ming-liang watermelon movie; and Apichatpong Weerasethakul's fabulous jungle musical short, "Worldly Desires", all currently on the list.

Not yet on the list are two 2005 Kobayashi Masahiro movies - indeed, it seems none of his films are on the list now. Bashing is short, simple film about the mistreatment of a kidnapped aid worker upon her eventual return to Japan. But Flic is a slow-paced, complex detective story that at times is so bizarre, so bizarrely funny, it pretty much demands you immediate rewatch it to confirm you weren't hallucinating the first time.

Sono Sion's Noriko's Dinner Table - a top-fiver for sure - is on the list, but the same year Sono made what for me, today at least, is the best movie of 2005, Yume no naka e [Into a Dream]. Erratically handheld, roughly edited, outrageous, no budget filmmaking à la Bad Film. Aliens, STDs, a deadpan Japanese production of "Streetcar", and somehow, a tearjerker! Good luck.

Other Asian films of note not on the list: Sabu's Dead Run [Shisso], Chen Kaige's wacky The Promise; and Stanley Kwan's Everlasting Regret (the most William Chang-y (best?) of Kwan's films, not least because Chang designed and edited it).

Non-Asian titles to add: Robinson Devor's delightfully sui generis Police Beat is 2005. And I'd recommend Jim Jennings experimental "Made in Chinatown" if the youtube version you'd likely find were not of such execrable quality.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THESE MATTERS!!!

yoshimori wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2026 2:56 pm Not yet on the list are two 2005 Kobayashi Masahiro movies - indeed, it seems none of his films are on the list now

Feel free to suggest additions beyond his films from this year

Thanks, yoshimori. Can you make recs for 2004, too? [Edit: never mind. Looks like you did!]

I've added all those suggestions plus Kobayashi's Haru's Journey for good measure

Could The Ax (Costa-Gavras) be added.

Done

swo17 wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2026 3:04 pm

yoshimori wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2026 2:56 pm Not yet on the list are two 2005 Kobayashi Masahiro movies - indeed, it seems none of his films are on the list now

Feel free to suggest additions beyond his films from this year

Kobayashi Masahiro was an independent filmmaker who was a bit of a Cannes darling at the turn of the millennium and the half decade afterwards, after which he became a fixture at other European tests (Locarno, Rotterdam, etc). For me, Flic (2005) was the film the made me seek out all previous and subsequent work, none of which, sadly, repeated that success. The best of the rest, for me, are Amazing Story (2003, Kobayashi's entry in the "Perfect Education" pinku series, which includes entries by Wakamatsu, Adachi, Fukasaku Kenta, et al), Rebirth (2007), and Where Are You? (2009) - but none of them are as interesting as the two 2005 films.

yoshimori wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2026 8:42 pm

swo17 wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2026 3:04 pm

yoshimori wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2026 2:56 pm Not yet on the list are two 2005 Kobayashi Masahiro movies - indeed, it seems none of his films are on the list now

Feel free to suggest additions beyond his films from this year

Kobayashi Masahiro was an independent filmmaker who was a bit of a Cannes darling at the turn of the millennium and the half decade afterwards, after which he became a fixture at other European tests (Locarno, Rotterdam, etc). For me, Flic (2005) was the film the made me seek out all previous and subsequent work, none of which, sadly, repeated that success. The best of the rest, for me, are Amazing Story (2003, Kobayashi's entry in the "Perfect Education" pinku series, which includes entries by Wakamatsu, Adachi, Fukasaku Kenta, et al), Rebirth (2007), and Where Are You? (2009) - but none of them are as interesting as the two 2005 films.

Sorry, I somehow missed this post initially, but I've now added all of these films

Please add Oliveira's Espelho Mágico (aka: Magic Mirror).

Added. Are there any other Oliveiras you'd like added from other years?

swo17 wrote: Fri Jun 26, 2026 3:16 am Added. Are there any other Oliveiras you'd like added from other years?

Well, so far so good I think. I suppose there may be a risk of overlooking certain titles like Christopher Coumbus, the Enigma ('07) or, more likely, some of the shorts (e.g. Painéis de São Vicente de Fora - Visão Poética ('10); O Conquistador Conquistado ('12); O Velho do Restelo ('14); Um Século de Energia ('15)). I do think that The Fifth Empire probably should be on the '04 list but I don't want to make an issue of that.

Thanks. Most of those were already there but I've added what wasn't. I put Fifth Empire in 2005 because all I see are a couple of uneventful 2004 festival screenings (no award nominations) before opening wide in 2005. Do you have any other information?

Shorts and experimental recommendations?

denti alligator wrote: Sat Jun 27, 2026 5:31 pm Shorts and experimental recommendations?

I love Jodie Mack's A Joy

denti alligator wrote: Sat Jun 27, 2026 5:31 pm Shorts and experimental recommendations?

Re shorts: You probably know Ruben Östlund's ""Scen nr: 6882 ur mitt liv" ["Autobiographical Scene Number 6882"] and Don Hertzfeldt's "The Meaning of Life" and Apichatpong's "Worldly Desire" (which is kinda long for a short, but the pay-off is pretty fun). If not ...

denti alligator wrote: Sat Jun 27, 2026 5:31 pm Shorts and experimental recommendations?

Besides what others have mentioned:

The Red and the Blue Gods (Ben Russell)
'The Twenty-One Lives of Billy the Kid (Ben Russell)
Outerborough (Bill Morrison) (BFI set)
Rubber Johnny (Chris Cunningham)
Elements (Dariusz Kowalski)
Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise (Ken Jacobs)
Mirror Mechanics (Siegfried A. Fruhauf) (Index Exposed DVD)

And while I'm posting artists' own Vimeo links, here's the aforementioned A Joy

Check out Takeshi Murata's Monster Movie

swo17 wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 4:46 am Rubber Johnny (Chris Cunningham)

I don't normally vote for shorts as I usually have more than enough feature length films to fill up 25 slots, but this is one I just might have to make an exception for.

A few I don't see:

V For Vendetta
George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing
Frontline: The Torture Question
China Blue
13 Tzameti
Waging A Living
Ballets Russes

Since people wouldn't normally vote for a standup routine (myself included), I want to put in a plug for George Carlin's HBO special (probably his best) as it contains probably the greatest 10 minutes of standup ever: Dumb Americans, which has lost none of its punch over 2 decades later.

I have V for Vendetta as 2006. I've added the rest

Thanks!