First Time Viewings / 2015

Twenty five, in vaguely preferential order:

Les Fantomes du Chapelier (Claude Chabrol, 1982)
Alice, or the Last Escapade (Claude Chabrol, 1977)
Abigail's Party (Mike Leigh, 1977)
The Last Hunt (Richard Brooks, 1956)
A Geisha (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953)

Greed (Erich von Stroheim, 1924)
La tempestaire (Jean Epstein, 1947)
The Tin Star (Anthony Mann, 1957)
Sabotage (Alfred Hitchcock, 1936)
La signora di tutti (Max Opuhls, 1934)

The Ceremony (Nagisa Oshima, 1971)
Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (Shohei Imamura, 2001)
La signora senza camelie (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1953)
Jour de fete (Jacques Tati, 1948)
Phoenix (Christian Petzold, 2014)

Five Came Back (John Farrow, 1939)
Spontaneous Combustion (Tobe Hooper, 1990)
The Outfit (John Flynn, 1973)
Tomorrow (Joseph Anthony, 1972)
Bay of Angels (Jacques Demy, 1963)

Toni (Jean Renoir, 1935)
The Kindergarten Teacher (Nadav Lapid, 2014)
Schachnovelle aka Brainwashed (Gerd Oswald, 1961)
The Visitors (Elia Kazan, 1972)
Danger: Diabolik (Mario Bava, 1968)

'14

Illness has pretty much sapped any desire I may have had for putting together an end-of-year post more comprehensive than the humble sketch below, which doesn't feel "representative" of very much to me. But it would have felt weird to not post anything in this spot at all, and so the bare minimum amount of thought to justify its existence was put forth. Pivotal first time home viewings were plucked freely from the jumbled memory cloud and may easily have included many more.

5 pivotal first time viewings (16mm/35mm)

Grand Illusion (Renoir '37)
The Loves of Pharaoh (Lubitsch '22)
A Report on the Party and the Guests (J. Nemec '66)
Shutter Interface (Sharits '75)
Third Eye Butterfly (De Hirsch '68)

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5 pivotal first time viewings (home viewing)

Cry Danger (Parrish '51)
Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-dong '07)
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Lang '33)
Travelling Players / Hideko the Bus Conductress (Naruse '40/'41)
Un soir, un train (Delvaux '68)

...and five more:

Im Schatten (Thomas Arslan '10)
Intimidation (Kurahara '60)
Le garcu (Maurice Pialat '95)
Mr. Thank You (Shimizu '36)
Neighbouring Sounds (Filho '12)

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5 favorite new movies seen 2014:

1) The Strange Little Cat (Zurcher)
2) Seventh Code (K. Kurosawa)
3) Night Moves (Reichardt)
4) The Homesman (T.L. Jones)
5) Oculus (Flanagan)

also liked/worth mentioning: Under the Skin (Glazer); Norte, the End of History (Diaz); Maps to the Stars (Cronenberg); The Immigrant (Gray); Snowpiercer (Bong); Coherence (Byrkit); Jauja (Alonso); Proxy (Parker); Black Coal, Thin Ice (Yinan); Particle Fever (Levinson)

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5 film books that I always kept near in '14:

Japanese Film Directors (Audie Bock)
The Material Ghost: Films and Their Medium (Gilberto Perez)
Rio Bravo (Robin Wood)
Films and Feelings (Raymond Durgnat)
A Man With A Camera (Nestor Almendros)

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DVD/Blu-Ray personal highlights:

Bakumatsu Taiyo-Den (Masters of Cinema)
Classe Tous Risques (BFI)
The Complete (Existing) Films of Sadao Yamanaka (Masters of Cinema)
Eric Rohmer l'integrale (Potemkine)
Don Siegel's The Killers (Arrow Academy)
Frank Capra: The Early Collection (TCM)
Ghost Hound: Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks)
Les Blank: Always for Pleasure (Criterion)
Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery (CBS)
Western Union (Koch Media Western Legenden)