SF Notes: Sight & Sound, Mar 2008

Soul Food movies?

Report on Sundance by Tom Charity; "The high-profile disappointments came thick and fast: Mark Pellington's egregious HENRY POOLE IS HERE found God in a waterstain...."

Other films of interest

Report on Sundance by Tom Charity; "Jonathan Levine's THE WACKNESS is a superior example...of the quirky, dysfunctional family/coming-of-age comedy with which Sundance has become synonymous.... Two dramatic competition entries stood out in sharp relief from the rest. BALLAST and SUGAR both draw inspiration from European realist cinema - the Dardennes and Ken Loach - to focus on marginalised figures coping with the prospect of continued poverty and struggle. SUGAR is no more a conventional sports movie than HALF NELSON was a typical tribute to an inspirational teacher. Young Dominican hopeful Miguel Santo is brought to the US for a tryout with the (fictional) Kansas City Knights, an induction that involves a spell in the minor leagues in rural Iowa. Even tempo and quiet observational style... BALLAST is even better. Explores the after-effects of the death of a storekeeper on his twin brother, who ran the store with him, his estranged wife and teenage son. The movie is constantly unexpected, starting with its pared-down dialogue and tight, Bressonian performance.... "

Apr 18: Ben X

BEN X is at the Granville 7 through May 1.

Darrell Manson is a fellow FFCC writer, who was part of the Ecumenical Jury at the Montreal Film Festival. They selected BEN X for their prize, and Darrell lists it as his favourite - and if I'm not mistaken, his "most spiritually significant" - film of 2007. It opens here in late April. Here's part of Darrel's Hollywood Jesus review;

At the World Film Festival in Montreal, this film was seen by an audience for the first time. That screening was followed by a very exuberant standing ovation—far more enthusiastic than the applause that followed other films. This is indeed a rare film that combines all the elements that can make a film great—an engaging story, interesting twists and shifts, insight into the human condition and deeper meanings of life. The festival jury recognized Ben X by giving it a share of the top prize, the Grand Prix of the Americas. It was also voted the most popular film by the public.

And here's the PSA;

BEN X, Belgian director Nic Balthazar's portrait of a mildly autistic boy bullied at school, received standing ovations at both of its screenings at the 2007 Montreal World Film Festival, where it received the Audience Award, the Ecumenical Prize and shared the juried Grand Prix of Americas. It also received the Black Pearl Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film at Abu Dhabi, and it was Belgium's official contender for a Best Foreign Film Oscar.

Ben (newcomer Greg Timmermans) is different. He never speaks, except to his mother and to his little brother. He gets high grades, but is viewed as “Frankenstein” and “the Martian” by classmates at the high school he attends. Ben’s only solace is the time he spends playing his favourite online computer game Archlord, where he can be the fearless hero slaying enemies left and right. Ben tries hard to train himself for the real world he lives in. The harsh world of a technical school is for him a daily kind of living hell.

Ben X is a powerful figure in the world of ArchLord. He is everything that the teenage Ben is not. As the horror of being a daily subject to bullying grows, Ben devises a plan. Then Scarlite (Laura Verlinden), the girl he has met in his on-line game, appears in the real-world to point the way. That wasn’t part of the plan... Together, they concoct the ultimate end-game.

Using an exciting mixture of virtual reality, live-action and docudrama, Balthazar creates a riveting portrait of autism and its deep impact on both the autistic person and their families and community.

BEN X marks Nic Balthazar’s film directorial debut. It is adapted from his 2002 novel ‘Niets was alles wat hij zei’ (‘Nothing Was All He Said’) and his hugely successful stage play, which were both inspired by actual events – the suicide of a mildly autistic Belgian student who was virtually harassed to death.

BEN X also includes an example of technological innovation. It is the first film in which a director works in cyberspace with virtual actors. In the role-playing computer game ArchLord by Codemasters, a number of scenes were shot online with several gamers playing entire scenes with virtual characters on the basis of directives given by the director. These scenes were subsequently integrated into the live-action film images.

*

BEN X, Belgian director Nic Balthazar's portrait of a mildly autistic boy bullied at school, received standing ovations at both of its screenings at the 2007 Montreal World Film Festival, where it received the Audience Award, the Ecumenical Prize and shared the juried Grand Prix of Americas. It also received the Black Pearl Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film at Abu Dhabi, and it was Belgium's official contender for a Best Foreign Film Oscar.

Ben (newcomer Greg Timmermans) is different. He never speaks, except to his mother and to his little brother. He gets high grades, but is viewed as “Frankenstein” and “the Martian” by classmates at the high school he attends. Ben’s only solace is the time he spends playing his favourite online computer game Archlord, where he can be the fearless hero slaying enemies left and right. Ben tries hard to train himself for the real world he lives in. The harsh world of a technical school is for him a daily kind of living hell.

Ben X is a powerful figure in the world of ArchLord. He is everything that the teenage Ben is not. As the horror of being a daily subject to bullying grows, Ben devises a plan. Then Scarlite (Laura Verlinden), the girl he has met in his on-line game, appears in the real-world to point the way. That wasn’t part of the plan... Together, they concoct the ultimate end-game.

Using an exciting mixture of virtual reality, live-action and docudrama, Balthazar creates a riveting portrait of autism and its deep impact on both the autistic person and their families and community.

BEN X marks Nic Balthazar’s film directorial debut. It is adapted from his 2002 novel ‘Niets was alles wat hij zei’ (‘Nothing Was All He Said’) and his hugely successful stage play, which were both inspired by actual events – the suicide of a mildly autistic Belgian student who was virtually harassed to death.

BEN X also includes an example of technological innovation. It is the first film in which a director works in cyberspace with virtual actors. In the role-playing computer game ArchLord by Codemasters, a number of scenes were shot online with several gamers playing entire scenes with virtual characters on the basis of directives given by the director. These scenes were subsequently integrated into the live-action film images.

A&F 100 Nominees, 2008

Over at the Arts & Faith discussion board back in 2004 we created a list of 100 Spiritually Significant Films. In 2005 Alan Thomas took that over from me, then repeated the process in 2006. He skipped 2007, but now the nominations are open for another run at the whole process.

Folks at A&F have put forward an immense number of nominees to be considered in this year's voting. It's a fascinating compendium of films that some (probably Christian) film buff somewhere finds "spiritually significant." I'm going to flag the ones that, on first pass through, would be most likely to get my votes. See how close we come to a hundred.

And if all this is something you want to get in on, just hop over to Arts & Faith, become a member (it's ultra-cheap), and cast your votes!

2008 Nominees
(my first-round picks in bold, my "nah" titles in italics)

Adam's Apples

The Addiction

After Life

Amadeus

Amistad

Andrei Rublev

The Apostle

The Apu Trilogy

L'Argent

Autumn in New York

Babel

Babette's Feast

Au Hasard Balthazar

Becket

Being There
Sure a guy walks on water, but that doesn't make him a Christ figure. Faith is the target, not the point.

The Believer

The Best Years of Our Lives

The Bicycle Thief

The Big Kahuna
Tackles spiritual things, and I could add it to my list. But at the moment, the fact that I think the film doesn't play fair keeps it from being a first round pick for me.

Black Narcissus

Black Robe

Blade Runner
I'm closer to considering this than I used to be. Certainly has lots of religious references layered in.

The Blood of Jesus (aka The Glory Road)

Breaking The Waves

Bruce Almighty

Chariots of Fire

Children of Men

People find Nativity resonances, but that falls so far short of the spiritual significance of the novel it's based on, I just can't get excited. Would The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe seem quite so spiritually significant if you took out that lion character?

A Christmas Carol

Citizen Kane

Greatest film ever made, many say. I have yet to succumb to its glories, but intend to give it another run. S'pose it could be considered a cinematic gloss on "What profiteth a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul."  So maybe I'll come around.

Close-Up (aka Nema-ye Nazdik)

The Color of Paradise

Cries and Whispers

Crimes And Misdemeanors

Cry, the Beloved Country

The Da Vinci Code

Can't take the ideas seriously, can't take the film seriously.

Day of Wrath

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Definite Christ symbolism, but - for all its rep - really cheesy fifties sci-fi corn.

Days of Heaven

Dead Man Walking

Death: A Love Story

The Decalogue

Dersu Uzala

Devil's Playground

The Diary of a Country Priest

Distant (aka Uzak)

Dogma

Dogville

La Dolce Vita
Have tried watching it twice, don't get too far.  Jesus hanging from the copter is potent. Need to see the whole thing to know if it oughta rank, though, or if the fuss about it as a religious film is just because there was such slim pickin's back in the sixties.

Donnie Darko

Downfall

Dream of Light

East of Eden

The Elephant Man

Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

This keeps getting nominated, even voted for, but nobody anywhere's even tried to reply to my request that they make the case that there's something distinctly spiritual about the film. Clever film about either the persistence or impermanence of romantic love, but where's the God stuff, or even ethical stuff?

Europa '51
Probably belongs on my list, but I've not yet seen it.

The Exorcist
Believe it or not, the book was a significant influence on my early Christian life.  But it's been 25 years, and I've not yet seen the film, so for now...

Faust

Fearless

Fiddler on the Roof

Field of Dreams

Fight Club
Maybe almost. I think the ending diminishes the film, but even that is reaching for something spiritual, maybe Pauline?

Le Fils (aka The Son)
Absolutely. But where's L'Enfant?!?!?!!!!!  Guess I needed to have nominated it.  Too bad this year's noms came along when my attention was demanded elsewhere.

The Fisher King

At one time, I would have said so.  But rewatching it more recently, the film didn't wear well for me.

Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus

The Flowers of St. Francis (aka Francesco, giullare di Dio)

Forgiveness

The Fountain

The Godfather (trilogy)
Under consideration. Not for the Catholicism, which I'm afraid just feels cultural to me. But certainly a powerful, even mythic tale of the compromise and loss of a human soul.

Godspell

Golgotha

The Good Son

The Gospel According to Matthew (aka Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo)

The Gospel of John

The Grapes of Wrath

Grave of the Fireflies (aka Hotaru no haka)

The Green Mile

Groundhog Day

Hannah and Her Sisters

He Who Must Die (aka Celui qui doit mourir)
Sure want to see this.

Heaven

Hell House
Basically an "Aren't Those Christians Freaks?" show, though the glimpses of real faith (and maybe even a miracle?) are fascinating.

The Hiding Place

Hotel Rwanda

Very fine movie, but I don't see the specifically spiritual referent. And if we list all the films that have a conscience about atrocities as being spiritually significant...

I Heart Huckabees
Sophomoric philosophical goofing around.

Ikiru (aka To Live)

In America

Half of a terrific movie, but it loses its nerve and therefore its significance.

In Your Hands (aka Forbrydelser)

The Iron Giant

It's A Wonderful Life

Jalsaghar (aka The Music Room)

Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring

Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus of Montreal

Jesus of Nazareth

The Jeweller's Shop (aka La Bottega dell'orefice)

Joyeux Noel (aka Merry Christmas)

Koyaanisqatsi (aka Life Out of Balance)
Need to see this.

Kundun

The Last Temptation Of Christ

Late Spring (aka Banshun)

Life is Beautiful

I know this is deeply affecting and spiritual to many. But I find it maudlin, way too far across the line into sentiment and wishful thinking. 

Life of Brian

Lilies of the Field

The Lord of the Rings trilogy

Lost in Translation

Good film. A moral choice is made - or an immoral one not made - but that's not enough to put it into this category for me.

Luther

Magnolia
As spiritually significant as they get.  My #2 favourite film.

Make Way for Tomorrow

A Man Escaped (aka Un condamne a mort s'est echappe ou Le vent souffle ou il veut)

A Man for All Seasons

The Man Who Planted Trees (aka L'Homme qui plantait des arbres)

The Man Without A Past (aka Mies vailla menneisyytta)

The Matrix
I know, it ends up salvation by violent mayhem, which doesn't sit so well with this pacifist. But the first half potently evoked my own experience of spiritual awakening.

Meet John Doe

Millions

The Miracle Maker 

The Mirror (aka Zerkalo)

Les Miserables

Les Miserables du vingtieme siecle

The Mission

Molokai: The Story of Father Damien

A Moment of Innocence (aka Nun va Goldoon)

Mosquito Coast
Another film that makes obvious attacks on Christians. So how is it, then, spiritual?

Most (aka The Bridge)

The Motorcycle Diaries (aka Diarios de motocicleta)

The first steps in a young man's journey toward militant atheist Marxism?  I don't get it. Sure he liked lepers, but am I the only person who found the whole swim across the river climax kind of melodramatic and dumb?

My Night at Maud's (aka Ma nuit chez Maud)
A near miss for me. Definite spiritual conundrum, embodied in a believable human experience. And faith front and centre, in a way that was especially rare in the film's time period.  Ultimately, I think it only misses my first round nod because it doesn't particularly engage or affect me.

Nazarin

The New World
Jeffrey Overstreet almost persuades me: the second half is certainly all about authentic Christian faith, about conversion, all sorts of good stuff.  And what feels like gross film-making ineptitude to me (but transcendent artistry to Jeff) grated on me less my last time through. Closer to making the cut than previously.

The Night Of The Hunter
A classic. But the style held me at arm's length, and I bailed out not all that far in.  Deserves repeated tries.

The Night (aka La Notte)

Nights of Cabiria (aka Le Notti di Cabiria)
Need to see it.  By rep, quite possible candidate.

Nostalghia

Not of This World (aka Fuori dal mondo)

Not One Less (aka Yi ge dou bu neng shao)

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

On The Waterfront

Open City (aka Roma, citta aperta)

Ordet (aka The Word)

Pan's Labyrinth (aka El Laberinto del fauno)
Huge spiritual impact, for me.

Paradise Road

The Passion of Joan of Arc (aka La Passion De Jeanne D'arc)

The Passion Of The Christ

Perceval (aka Perceval le Gallois)

The Perfect Stranger

Peter and Paul

Pickpocket
Need to see this. Definite contender, I suspect.

Places in the Heart
That final scene is spiritually significant, 100%.  But I'm not sure that ought to haul the whole film into contention.

Ponette

The Prince Of Egypt

La Promesse
Terrific film. Just doesn't have quite the direct connection to things I would consider quite so directly spiritual as L'Enfant or The Son.

The Purple Rose of Cairo

Quiz Show

Huh?  Ethical stuff, I guess? 

Rashomon

Red Beard (aka Akahige)

Repentance (aka Monanieba)
Really curious to see this glasnost flick. Rare for a Russian film to deal directly with Christian elements.

Requiem for a Dream

The River

Romero

Rosetta
See La Promesse.

The Sacrifice (aka Offret - Sacrificatio)

Saints and Soldiers

Sansho the Bailiff (aka Sanshô dayû)

Saved!

Say Amen, Somebody

Schindler's List

Secrets & Lies
Need to see this again.  It was a top twenty favourite when I saw it when it was released, but I don't remember a specifically spiritual/religious angle.  Probably just my blurry memory.

The Seventh Seal (aka Det Sjunde Inseglet)

Shadowlands

The Shawshank Redemption

Shoah

Signs

Definitely tackles spiritual themes, but in such a dumb way.

The Silence (aka Tystnaden)

The Sixth Sense

Sling Blade

Solaris (aka Solyaris)
Need to see this.  Very likely for my list, unless I have the averse reaction I had to STALKER. 

The Song of Bernadette

Songs From the Second Floor 

Sophie's Choice

One of the great, devastating moral conundrums. But not quite exactly spiritual, to me.

The Sound of Music

A nuns on the run does not a spiritual classic make.

Spirited Away (aka Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi)

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

Stalker

Stars in My Crown

Stevie

The Straight Story

Stromboli

Summer / The Green Ray (aka Le Rayon vert)
Need to see this.  A likely contender.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

The Sweet Hereafter

Tales of Ugetsu (aka Ugetsu monogatari)

Mythic for sure. Religious to some, yes. But it's not a religion I'm attuned to, so for me, makes no spiritual connection

A Taste of Cherry 

The Ten Commandments

Tender Mercies
As spiritually significant as they get. My #1 favourite film.

Therese

The Third Miracle

13 Conversations About One Thing
Its detractors say not, but I can't see how one can overlook the Ecclesiastes themes - and Ecclesiastes is these days pretty much my Number One Bible Book.  But I think if you order the splintered narratives and look real carefully at the choice/action/consequence logic of the story, it goes well beyond that to assert some pretty powerful things about grace, providence, and the life of faith. 

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Three Colors Trilogy 

To End All Wars

Decidedly religious.  Too religious, there's the problem. It's all message, all worldview assertion.  

To Kill a Mockingbird

Tokyo Story (aka Tokyo Monogatari)
Sublime film, and I don't doubt that it is spiritual.  But its spirituality is unknown to me, and I don't pick up the resonances with my own faith.  Not that it would have to toe the Christian line, but what it evokes in me I don't specifically connect with my spiritualit.

 
Touching the Void

Gripping story.  Spiritual?

The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Trial of Joan of Arc (aka Proces de Jeanne d'Arc)

The Trip to Bountiful

The Truman Show

I can make the argument about it spiritual facets, but truth be told, it still doesn't powerfully connect with me.  A little too head-oriented, a little too commercial a gloss.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Awe and wonder are evoked, sure - but they're distinctly meant NOT to be religious awe and wonder.  Jeez, Arthur C. Clarke was the Richard Dawkin of his day - he figures we Christian types are deluded, for goodness sake!  And 2001 is a bit of a manifesto along those lines.  You see this a spiritual, you need to know you're reading very much against the grain.  

Unforgiven

The United States of Leland

Vanya on 42nd Street

The Virgin Spring

Waking Life

Werckmeister Harmonies

The Wicker Man

Number One is serious about spirituality, sure enough. But it ain't no spirituality I can celebrate, I must say.  The whole human sacrifice thing I find just a bit problematic.

Wild Strawberries 

The Wind Will Carry Us

Wings of Desire

Winter Light

Wit

Witness

The Year Of Living Dangerously

Yi Yi: A One and a Two

Zelig

Very funny. And it's got a rabbi in it...

Apr 23: Opening, Henry Poole Is Here

As Soul Food Movie pal Jason points out, bit of a "Halo" vibe to this one...

May 6 - Jun 12: Bruce Marchfelder, History Of Cinema

Bruce Marchfelder is offering a film history course at Corpus Christi on the UBC campus, May 6 - June 12. Highly recommended. Click here for details.

Jun 5-12: SILENT LIGHT Plays VanCity!

At last! The Carlos Reygadas film we've been awaiting for months is on its way. (Here's a link to the earlier post. SILENT LIGHT will play the Vancity Theatre June 5-12.

Here's the VanCity blurb;

SILENT LIGHT
Mexico, France, Germany, Netherlands, 2007, 126 min, 35mm
Directed By: Carlos Reygadas
Cast: Elizabeth Fehr, Jacobo Klassen, Maria Pankratz, Miriam Toews, Cornelio Wall, Peter Wall
This film is not rated. No children under 18.
VANCOUVER PREMIERE // VANCITY THEATRE EXCLUSIVE FIRST RUN

Winner of the 2007 Cannes Jury Prize and five Golden Ariels (the Mexican film awards) including best film and director, Carlos Reygadas’ controversial opus opens our eyes to a world never seen before on film: the Mexican Mennonite community in the northern Chihuahua province. The story is human interaction at its most elemental: devoted father Johan, happily married to Esther (Winnipeg Mennonite author Miriam Toews, one of a cast of non-professionals) has a crisis of faith when he is attracted to another woman. Reygadas situates his film square in the transcendental tradition of Bresson and Dreyer, and doesn’t compromise an inch in offering up a haunting, visionary work that cements him as one of contemporary cinema’s most unique artists.

“Stunningly beautiful…the admirably unpredictable Reygadas has made the world’s first talking picture in the medieval German Plautdietsch dialect. Even more than the director’s previous films, including his 2005 black comedy Battle in Heaven, Silent Light is a behavioral experiment. Everything is monumentally deliberate, from the human interactions to the stolidly bucolic representation of Mennonite domesticity to the extraordinary, widescreen landscape shots that bracket the action. Oscillating between the sacred and the profane, Reygadas’ elemental tale of love and betrayal is part ethnographic documentary and part 16th-century psychodrama, with an obvious debt to Carl Theodor Dreyer. Was Reygadas looking for the appropriate environment for a Dreyer remake—or did Dreyer’s Ordet present the most ‘natural’ scenario for a Mennonite passion play?”  J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

THE VISITOR: New film from STATION AGENT director!

Thomas McCarthy directed THE STATION AGENT, which is much loved around these parts.  His new film, THE VISITOR, opened in limited release April 11, and goes into wider release in the States April 18.  We'll keep our eyes open for its Vancouver run. 

Definitely avoid viewing the trailer. Looks like it tells at least three quarters of the story. Darn I hate that.

Apr 2-9: 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days

The Palme d'Or winner is coming soon, for a one-week run at the VanCity. #12 on the Movie City News critic poll. (And hey: once I've seen it, I'll have seen all of the top 22 MCN picks. Cool.) Closes two days before BELLA opens, another of the abortion-themed films of 2007.

4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS & 2 DAYS
April 2-9

Weds 7:00pm, Thurs 8:45pm, Fri 7:00pm, Sat 8:45pm, Sun 7:00pm, Mon 8:45pm, Tues 7:00pm, Weds 8:45pm

Romania 2007 // Director: Cristian Mungiu // 113 min // 35mm

Buy tickets for 4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days.

There are too many awards and accolades to list for the most acclaimed foreign film of 2007, but it began with the Cannes Palme d'Or and continued through year-end top-ten lists. Cristian Mungiu's intensely gripping and immaculately shot story of the procurement of an illegal abortion in communist-era Romania deserves to be seen on the widescreen if you missed it at last year's VIFF.
"Harrowing and brilliantly acted... Generates almost unbearable suspense."—The New York Times

This film is not rated. No children under 18.

Apr 11: BELLA opens in Vancouver

People - including people closely involved with the film - have been tying this film to a strong pro life campaign, and following a PASSION OF THE CHRIST church marketing plan.  But word is, the film is plenty good standing on its own, and is less agenda-driven than the promotional context might suggest. (Just to be clear, I'm not commenting on this particular agenda. I'm only suggesting that when agendas drive films, the film usually stink). BELLA did very well at TIFF, and distribution is through regular channels.  Here's the press release;

BELLA WILL OPEN IN VANCOUVER ON APRIL 11, 2008

BELLA, winner of the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, stars Latino heartthrob Eduardo Verástegui (Chasing Papi) as José, a strikingly handsome and charming young soccer star on the rise – when a tragic accident cuts his career short and changes his life. Now a cook in his brother’s restaurant, José retreats from the world until Nina (Tammy Blanchard, The Good Shepherd, Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows), a beautiful waitress struggling to make it in New York City, discovers something about herself that she’s unprepared for. In one irreversible moment, a simple act of kindness brings them together and turns an ordinary day into an unforgettable experience. Before the day is through, José must confront his haunted past to show Nina how the healing power of love can help her embrace the future. Inspired by true events, BELLA is a heartwarming story about friendship, family and our capacity for love in the face of the unexpected.

BELLA, the feature directorial debut from Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, became “the fall’s biggest surprise” according to the Wall Street Journal and finished the year as one of the top 10 highest grossing independent films of 2007.

NOW PLAYING: Soul Food Movies onscreen in Vancouver

Just got back from U2 3D at the IMAX theatre downtown.  Now there's an Easter film: listened to 40 on the drive home, I've Eastered.  "I will sing, sing a new song..."  (Not that 40 is in the film, just so you know. With Or Without You closes the concert, so I left the theatre with another near-Biblical phrase running through my head, "And you give yourself away, and you give, and you give, and you give yourself away..."

The movie I've been telling everybody to see is IN BRUGES, which is at the Scotiabank Theatre (damn, I can hardly bring myself to type that: I can't recommend a movie without advertising a fucking bank?!).  The movie's as crude and crass as that sentence, funny as hell, and ends up serious soul food.  I've already seen it twice, in the theatre: I don't do that too often.

ATONEMENT is at Denham Place at 9:10 each night: doesn't completely work, but the opening is complex and well-observed, and what follows has stayed with me and won my admiration in retrospect, though it didn't play well for me while watching.  THE DIVING BELL & THE BUTTERFLY is the most thoroughly cinematic film of 2007, made from an unfilmable memoir: so much for words like "impossible" and "can't" and "wouldn't work."  NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and THERE WILL BE BLOOD hang in there, both stories that tell tough truth in portraying real evil (though I wish the gospel had been something but a sham in the latter: still, should have expected - nobody who makes movies has much time for healing evangelists except maybe Robert Duvall).  

Of course, the soul food feast is at the video stores these days, INTO THE WILD chief among them.  They say IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH does more than just reference David and Goliath in the title, and the flawed apocalyptic actioner I AM LEGEND, which goes out of its way to name-check God. GONE BABY GONE works its way to one heck of an ethical dilemma, I haven't seen AUGUST RUSH - has a pretty "not-quite-bit-almost-straight-to-video" vibe, but I guess it's set in or around a storefront church? Docs: IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON invokes wonder and even some capital-T Transcendence, while LAKE OF FIRE looks at Roe v Wade, church v abortion stuff.  And then there's THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD and I'M NOT THERE, cinematic masterpieces that may or may not contain traces of soul food.  And Danny Boyle's SUNSHINE got overlooked, but I was sad to see it vanish before I could see it: I'll let you know what I think when I get round to it, hopefully soon. And of course it's become obligatory to see JUNO and ONCE, two big-hearted small films that have ended up with huge word of mouth bordering on hype: don't let that put you off, they're terrific little movies, just let them be what they are and enjoy.  Oh, and LARS & THE REAL GIRL belongs on that list as well.

Funny Games: Haneke a Puritan?

One film I don't think I'll be able to bring myself to see is Michael Haneke's new English language remake of his gruesome European original FUNNY GAMES. But I'm almost tempted - almost - after reading this excerpt from a Gabriel McKee article, posted by Peter Chattaway;

The real reason it makes so much sense for Haneke to remake this film, then, is that its attitude toward sin is so thoroughly Puritan. The film essentially adapts Matthew 5:28 to a different sin: “Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” Jesus states. Haneke is basically saying: “Anyone who watches Saw IV has already committed murder in his heart.” He makes the case for a direct link between watching torture porn and being complacent to real torture, if not actually committing it.

For a thoroughly progressive filmgoer who is nonetheless a big Dirty Harry fan, that can be a tough pill to swallow. But it’s not exactly a new argument: after all, the early Christian church objected to the theater as much as the gladiatorial arena. . . .
It’s difficult to look at a film like Funny Games in the traditional terms of a film review, or even a casual discussion. You can’t really like or dislike a movie like this; it doesn’t work that way. In that regard, it’s similar to another recent film that is both about the depiction of violence and an example of it, a film that similarly seeks to make its audience complicit in the brutality onscreen: Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ. As with Gibson’s film, there are those who will hate Funny Games, but that’s generally because they’re looking at it as a movie among other movies. Ebert is onto something when he states that “this isn’t a movie, it’s a thesis,” but by that token it’s difficult to discuss in the terms of a movie review. Its goals and its methods are entirely elsewhere. But it’s not exactly a thesis—it’s a sermon. Haneke admonishes us to hate sin; unfortunately for him it’s a sin that most of us Dirty Harry fans aren’t willing to give up.

Gabriel McKee, Religion Dispatches, March 17

Faith & Film Critics Circle: Best of 2007

The votes are tallied, and here are our results. FFCC members whose names you might know include Rob Johnston, Catherine Barsotti, Peter Chattaway, Jeffrey Overstreet, Matt Page, Steven Greydanus and moi - among others.

Most Significant Exploration of Spiritual Themes: Into Great Silence
"Into Great Silence offers an implicit challenge, not so much to the trappings of modernity — modern technology crops up here and there in the monks’ world, occasionally to humorous effect — as to the spiritual disconnectedness and social fragmentation of a world in decay, to the postmodern incapacity for commitment and sacrifice, to the dissonance and haphazardness of life as we know it. It is not for us, perhaps, this life, yet it isn’t something irrelevant or unrelated either. The silence of the monks has something to say to us, if we have ears to hear." Steven D. Greydanus, Decent Films Guide
Other nominations:
•After the Wedding
•Amazing Grace
•Atonement
•Into the Wild
•Lars and the Real Girl

Best Narrative Film: There Will Be Blood
Other nominations:
•The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
•The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
•Lars and the Real Girl
•No Country for Old Men

Best Documentary: Into Great Silence
Other nominations:
•The Devil Came on Horseback
•In the Shadow of the Moon
•The King of Kong
•No End in Sight

Best Film for the Whole Family: Ratatouille
Other nominations:
•The Bridge to Terabithia
•Dan in Real Life
•Enchanted
•In the Shadow of the Moon

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood
Other nominations:
•Brad Bird – Ratatouille
•Joel and Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
•Todd Haynes – I’m Not There
•Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Performance by an Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
Other nominations:
•Christian Bale – Rescue Dawn
•Russell Crowe – 3:10 to Yuma
•Johnny Depp – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
•Ryan Gosling – Lars and the Real Girl

Best Performance by an Actress: Ellen Page – Juno
Other nominations:
•Amy Adams – Enchanted
•Julie Christie – Away from Her
•Marion Cotillard – La Vie en Rose
•Laura Linney – The Savages

Best Performance by a Child: Saoirse Ronan – Atonement
Other nominations:
•Dillon Freasier – There Will Be Blood
•AnnaSophia Robb – The Bridge to Terabithia
•Ed Sanders – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
•Thomas Turgoose – This Is England

Best Supporting Performance by an Actor (tie): Casey Affleck – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and Javier Bardem – No Country for Old Men
Other nominations:
•Paul Dano – There Will Be Blood
•Philip Seymour Hoffman – Charlie Wilson’s War
•Hal Holbrook – Into the Wild

Best Supporting Performance by an Actress (tie): Cate Blanchett – I’m Not There
Jennifer Garner – Juno
Other nominations:
•Emily Mortimer – Lars and the Real Girl
•Amy Ryan – Gone Baby Gone
•Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton

Best Ensemble Cast: Lars and the Real Girl
Other nominations:
•The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
•I’m Not There
•Juno
•Michael Clayton

Best Cinematography: Robert Elswit – There Will Be Blood
Other nominations:
•Roger Deakins – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
•Roger Deakins – No Country for Old Men
•Eric Gautier – Into the Wild
•Janusz Kaminski – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody – Juno
Other nominations:
•Brad Bird (et al.) – Ratatouille
•Todd Haynes & Oren Moverman – I’m Not There
•Anders Thomas Jensen & Susanne Bier – After the Wedding
•Nancy Oliver – Lars and the Real Girl

Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
Other nominations:
•Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard – Gone Baby Gone
•Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood
•Andrew Dominik – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
•Ronald Harwood – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
•Sooni Taraporevala – The Namesake

Best Original Score: Dario Marianelli – Atonement
Other nominations:
•Klaus Badelt – Rescue Dawn
•Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
•Michael Giacchino – Ratatouille
•Jonny Greenwood – There Will Be Blood
•Philip Sheppard – In the Shadow of the Moon

FFCC Nominees for 2007

The Film & Faith Critics Circle is in the final round of voting on the films of 2007. Hey, we don't believe in rushing things, okay?

Here are our nominees. The winners will be announced sometime next week.

Most Significant Exploration of Spiritual Themes
After the Wedding
Amazing Grace
Atonement
Into Great Silence
Into the Wild
Lars and the Real Girl

Best Narrative Film
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Lars and the Real Girl
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Documentary
The Devil Came on Horseback
In the Shadow of the Moon
Into Great Silence
The King of Kong
No End in Sight

Best Film for the Whole Family
The Bridge to Terabithia
Dan in Real Life
Enchanted
In the Shadow of the Moon
Ratatouille

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood
Brad Bird – Ratatouille
Joel and Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
Todd Haynes – I’m Not There
Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Performance by an Actor
Christian Bale – Rescue Dawn
Russell Crowe – 3:10 to Yuma
Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Ryan Gosling – Lars and the Real Girl

Best Performance by an Actress
Amy Adams – Enchanted
Julie Christie – Away from Her
Marion Cotillard – La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney – The Savages
Ellen Page – Juno

Best Performance by a Child
Dillon Freasier – There Will Be Blood
AnnaSophia Robb – The Bridge to Terabithia
Saoirse Ronan – Atonement
Ed Sanders – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Thomas Turgoose – This Is England

Best Supporting Performance by an Actor
Casey Affleck – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem – No Country for Old Men
Paul Dano – There Will Be Blood
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook – Into the Wild

Best Supporting Performance by an Actress
Cate Blanchett – I’m Not There
Jennifer Garner – Juno
Emily Mortimer – Lars and the Real Girl
Amy Ryan – Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton

Best Ensemble Cast
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
I’m Not There
Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton

Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Roger Deakins – No Country for Old Men
Robert Elswit – There Will Be Blood
Eric Gautier – Into the Wild
Janusz Kaminski – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Original Screenplay
Brad Bird (et al.) – Ratatouille
Diablo Cody – Juno
Todd Haynes & Oren Moverman – I’m Not There
Anders Thomas Jensen & Susanne Bier – After the Wedding
Nancy Oliver – Lars and the Real Girl

Best Adapted Screenplay
Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard – Gone Baby Gone
Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood
Joel and Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
Andrew Dominik – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Ronald Harwood – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Sooni Taraporevala – The Namesake

Best Original Score
Klaus Badelt – Rescue Dawn
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Michael Giacchino – Ratatouille
Jonny Greenwood – There Will Be Blood
Dario Marianelli – Atonement
Philip Sheppard – In the Shadow of the Moon

NOW PLAYING

Still completely immersed in A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS and a trillion other things at PT. But need to mention a few highly commended films that are playing now, and won't be here forever. So, quick and dirty...

PERSEPOLIS and THE BAND'S VISIT are both in town, I think at the Fifth Avenue [PTC comments that they're actually at Tinseltown. thanks, Peter], and this from a fellow afficionado...

Greetings Movie Fans!

Here's a "Must See" for everyone's list - Up the Yangtze. I saw it yesterday and it was a marvelous trip. Narratively spare, visually beautiful and entirely rich in human experiences. Wow. There was a too brief
Q & A with director Yung Chang which made it even more interesting. Check it out:

http://www.uptheyangtze.com

It's at the Ridge.

PS Is BE KIND, REWIND showing here yet? The trailer caught my fancy, and Steven Greydanus gives it a decent review at CT Movies; "If I had to put Be Kind Rewind in a box, which is emphatically not where any Gondry film belongs, I might be tempted to call it Lars and the Real Girl by way of Bowfinger—the latter for its comic guerrilla filmmaking, but the former for its similarity of spirit, its gentle absurdism in an ode to benevolence and community togetherness."

Bella opening in Vancouver, first March weekend

"7 Movies That Subvert"

Okay, if it was 1978, and Missio Dei church already existed, I would have moved to Minneapolis instead of Vancouver. The winters and distance from the ocean notwithstanding. At least, as far as I can tell from a website.

But that's not the point. (Whatever the point may have been that I ended up making.) Point is, my friend Dan Williams sent me a link to a blog and website where Jesus looks and sounds like Che Guevara (if he'd lived long enough to accept Jesus, become a pacifist and move into a Downtown East Side monastery), they use words like praxis and doxis and manifest, they post poetry, satire (?!) and movie recommendations as well as Jacques Ellul pdfs. A cultural mash-up for God. www.jesusmanifesto.

The point being, Dan linked me a post called "7 Movies That Subvert," and it's really a terrific little piece. As far as the intro goes, this guy's right on target with how Jesus worked, and how art works, and how movies can work. As far as his movie picks, what an eclectic, fascinating handful! Including;my #3 favourite of all time, an under-seen recent film with a huge conscience and compassion and even some nods to God, another widely-seen recent film that was hugely appreciated but under-appreciated by me, a longtime favourite and Soul Food classic, one film I really don't like but almost every other Christian does, a fine flick that never gets mentioned in "spiritually significant cinema" conversations but which is a terrific companion piece to FIGHT CLUB which does, and - probably the main reason my movie-and-theology pal sent me the link - a film that affected my spirit so deeply I went out immediately and tracked down the script of the play it was based on, and put it in my current season - in spite of the fact that there are other PT folks who just don't see the grace at all, and would rather we not do the darn thing at all. I'll let you read the post (partially edited here, but I encourage you to link to the original site for the whole article and a whole lot more) and see if you can match those descriptors with the titles in Mark Van Steenwyk's original post.

7 Flicks that Subvert
Written by Mark Van Steenwyk : January 16, 2008

The other day, someone asked me if I knew of any movies that demonstrate the radical nature of the Gospel....

When Jesus started preaching, he didn’t jump into philosophical arguments or a list of propositions. Usually, he raised cognitive dissonance by challenging his listeners’ perceptions or he used provocative parables or he acted in ways that upset common sensibilities.

When it comes to challenging perceptions, telling provocative stories, and upsetting common sensibilities, films can sometimes [go] further (and deeper) than cleverly written works of non-fiction or thoughtful arguments.
And so, I offer my list of seven flicks that subvert conventional wisdom and help bridge towards a kingdom vision:

To End All Wars: Allied prisoners-of-war in a WWII Japanese prison camp attempt to love their enemies.
The Mission: A Jesuit missionary in South America struggles against colonialism while a Portuguese convert grapples with his own violent nature. This film raises painful questions about the history of missions and the relationship between church and state.

Children of Men: This film demonstrates the human capacity for marginalizing “the other.” In its bleak portrayal of growing human despair, glimpses of hope are all the more poignant.

Maria Full of Grace: A gritty story of an illegal immigrant’s journey to the United States. The film gives a fairly objective perspective on illegal immigration and the drug trade.

The Woodsman: A sympathetic take on the life of a child molester trying to make a new life after he is released from prison. This film forced me to ask myself, “how do I show love to one of the ‘least of these’ if he is guilty of hurting the ‘least of these’ himself?”

Network: Upon discovering that he is going to be fired after decades as a news anchor, an aging anchorman announces to viewers that he commit suicide during his last broadcast. Seeing that it helps ratings, greedy execs exploit the anchorman’s devolving emotional state in front of millions of viewers. This satire from 1976 holds up fairly well as a critique of the exploitative nature of modern media.

Dogville: A woman on the run is grudgingly accepted by a cautious secluded town. Their fragile acceptance is shattered as hospitality gives way to human nature. This film (which reminds a LOT of the writings of Flannery O’Conner) is an excellent exploration of hospitality and grace in America.

Working backwards... DOGVILLE is one of the reigning triumvirate of my favourite films. I've tried writing about it, but haven't managed to more than flounder around amongst the endless strengths and complexities of this highly confrontational, explicitly theatrical piece of soul-disturbing, theology-disrupting provocation by Lars von Trier. So I got no link for you on the Muttburg Movie. Some day. NETWORK is a late-seventies classic that I invoke in my Soul Food rantings about FIGHT CLUB. THE WOODSMAN is next up in my Pacific Theatre season, the edgy installment in our "PT Goes To The Movies" series - in the lineage of GRACE, PRODIGAL SON, ESPRESSO and HOSPITALITY SUITE, you'd best fasten your seat belts. I'm not sure whether MARIA FULL OF GRACE uses Catholic imagery for irony or to invoke transcendence...

(that's not a communion wafer)

...but I tend toward the latter, and it sounds like Mr Van Steenwyk is convinced of it: there's certainly a measure of grace in the film, and plenty of compassion alongside its political fury. Only the first third of CHILDREN OF MEN really worked for me - once it devolved into a chase movie, I just couldn't help thinking of APOCALYPTO or the climax of THE LOVE BUG - but among Soul Food Cinephiles, that's admittedly a minority opinion, and it's clearly got the social conscience that stirs the maker of this estimable seven-movie list. And for all its intentions not to be merely a piece of propaganda (so enticingly celebrated in a Books & Culture piece by Eric Metaxas), TO END ALL WARS was a disappointment to me - it seemed thoroughly a piece of propaganda, an intentional explication of a worldview rather than a story where the audience is left to do its own interpreting and theologizing. Again, though, a minority opinion on my part.

A terrific fistful of films, fascinating choices: you could do worse than to head for a well-stocked video shop with this list in hand. And for a few movies more, check out the original blog post for titles suggested by readers; PAN'S LABYRINTH, JOE DIRT (somebody else recommended this, can't remember who), BABEL, tv series JOHN FROM CINCINNATTI (my buddy John Cody is a huge fan, even though he's not from Cincinnatti), BABETTE'S FEAST, BROTHER SUN SISTER MOON, THE SOUND OF MUSIC (yup - the poster writes "Admittedly, the movie/play takes liberties with the true story, but the truth is the Von Trapps had the courage to do what most did not: leave. See this movie again with a different perspective."), THE KILLING FIELDS, SALAAM BOMBAY, TENDER MERCIES (my #1 favourite of all time), MAN ON FIRE, THE TAKE, ROMERO (Soul Food through and through), MAGNOLIA (my #2 favourite of all time), TSOTSI, THE LIVES OF OTHERS, PRISONER OF THE MOUNTAINS.

First film that comes to my mind when Mark writes about "movies that demonstrate the radical nature of the Gospel," that raise cognitive dissonance by challenging our perceptions, telling provocative stories and upsetting common sensibilities... ADAM'S APPLES - my favourite film of 2007, and finally available for purchase! God bless filmmovement.com. And then I think of SON OF MAN, the South African Jesus movie that rocked Sundance a year ago but failed to pick up a distributor - I suspect American distributors figured their so-called "faith market" would be too politically conservative for so incendiary a film. Shame on them. But - finally! - it's set for an Easter release in the UK, and the DVD will supposedly be available soon!

Critical Consensus: 1998-2007

Each year for the past decade, somebody or other tallies up a pile of critics' year-end lists as a way of ranking the previous year's films. Now, there's no good way to combine those lists to come up with a critical ranking for the whole decade: for example, who knows, maybe the top six films this year are better than any other single film since Citizen Kane.

But still.

So I went back and determined for each year what percent of critical votes were received by each Top 35 film since 1998, then ranked them by that percentage. Here's what we get;

1 . No Country For Old Men, 2007 ( 11.92% ) # 1
2 . Sideways, 2004 ( 11.44% ) # 1
3 . Saving Private Ryan, 1998 ( 10.83% ) # 1
4 . Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, 2000 ( 10.66% ) # 1
5 . Lost In Translation, 2003 ( 10.65% ) # 1
6 . Brokeback Mountain, 2005 ( 10.55% ) # 1
7 . Lord Of The Rings: Return of the King, 2003 ( 9.67% ) # 2
8 . Far From Heaven, 2002 ( 9.44% ) # 1
9 . United 93, 2006 ( 9.06% ) # 1
10 . American Beauty, 1999 ( 9.03% ) # 1
11 . Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring, 2001 ( 8.78% ) # 1
12 . The Queen, 2006 ( 8.76% ) # 2
13 . Being John Malkovich, 1999 ( 8.75% ) # 2
14 . A History of Violence, 2005 ( 8.72% ) # 2
15 . The Departed, 2006 ( 8.56% ) # 3
16 . Mulholland Drive, 2001 ( 8.35% ) # 4
17 . Eternal Sunshine, 2004 ( 8.31% ) # 2
18 . Y Tu Mama Tambien, 2002 ( 8.20% ) # 2
19 . The Truman Show, 1998 ( 7.73% ) # 2
20 . Mystic River, 2003 ( 7.67% ) # 3
21 . Million Dollar Baby, 2004 ( 7.55% ) # 3
22 . Talk To Her, 2002 ( 7.51% ) # 3
23 . Adaptation, 2002 ( 7.31% ) # 4
24 . American Splendor, 2003 ( 7.30% ) # 4
25 . Capote, 2005 ( 7.18% ) # 3
26 . You Can Count On Me, 2000 ( 7.06% ) # 2
27 . Shakespeare In Love, 1998 ( 7.04% ) # 3
28 . There Will Be Blood, 2007 ( 7.02% ) # 2
29 . About Schmidt, 2002 ( 6.74% ) # 5
30 . Finding Nemo, 2003 ( 6.73% ) # 5
31 . The Aviator, 2004 ( 6.63% ) # 4
32 . Moulin Rouge, 2001 ( 6.62% ) # 5
33 . In The Bedroom, 2001 ( 6.33% ) # 6
34 . Traffic, 2000 ( 6.05% ) # 3
35 . Happiness, 1998 ( 5.99% ) # 4
36 . Almost Famous, 2000 ( 5.82% ) # 4
37 . Zodiac, 2007 ( 5.80% ) # 3
38 . Election, 1999 ( 5.76% ) # 3
39 . Black Hawk Down, 2001 ( 5.76% ) # 4
40 . Before Sunset, 2004 ( 5.71% ) # 5
41 . Letters From Iwo Jima, 2006 ( 5.64% ) # 4
42 . Pan's Labyrinth, 2006 ( 5.62% ) # 5
43 . The Royal Tenenbaum, 2001 ( 5.61% ) # 6
44 . Punch-Drunk Love, 2002 ( 5.54% ) # 6
45 . The Straight Story, 1999 ( 5.53% ) # 4
46 . The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, 2007 ( 5.50% ) # 4
47 . The Incredibles, 2004 ( 5.36% ) # 6
48 . The Butcher Boy, 1998 ( 5.18% ) # 5
49 . Spirited Away, 2002 ( 5.12% ) # 7
50 . Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers, 2002 ( 5.10% ) # 8
51 . Once, 2007 ( 4.90% ) # 5
52 . Borat, 2006 ( 4.89% ) # 6
53 . Good Night and Good Luck, 2005 ( 4.84% ) # 4
54 . The Squid & The Whale, 2005 ( 4.80% ) # 5
55 . Crash, 2005 ( 4.78% ) # 6
56 . King Kong, 2005 ( 4.70% ) # 7
57 . Juno, 2007 ( 4.65% ) # 6
58 . The Insider, 1999 ( 4.61% ) # 5
59 . Little Miss Sunshine, 2006 ( 4.54% ) # 7
60 . Wonder Boys, 2000 ( 4.46% ) # 5
61 . Dancer In The Dark, 2000 ( 4.43% ) # 6
62 . In America, 2003 ( 4.42% ) # 6
63 . Out Of Sight, 1998 ( 4.40% ) # 6
64 . Munich, 2005 ( 4.37% ) # 8
65 . Life Is Beautiful, 1998 ( 4.35% ) # 7
66 . Gods And Monsters, 1998 ( 4.22% ) # 8
67 . Waking Life, 2001 ( 4.17% ) # 9
68 . Atonement, 2007 ( 4.16% ) # 7
69 . Capturing the Friedmans, 2003 ( 4.10% ) # 7
70 . Boys Don't Cry, 1999 ( 4.09% ) # 6
71 . The Gangs Of New York, 2002 ( 4.08% ) # 9
72 . Master and Commander, 2003 ( 4.02% ) # 8
73 . Into The Wild, 2007 ( 4.00% ) # 8
74 . Yi Yi (A One And A Two...), 2000 ( 3.93% ) # 7
75 . Toy Story 2, 1999 ( 3.92% ) # 7
76 . Shrek, 2001 ( 3.88% ) # 8
77 . Grizzly Man, 2005 ( 3.88% ) # 9
78 . Erin Brockovich, 2000 ( 3.82% ) # 8
79 . All About My Mother, 1999 ( 3.82% ) # 8
80 . Magnolia, 1999 ( 3.78% ) # 9
81 . Kinsey, 2004 ( 3.77% ) # 7
82 . Babel, 2006 ( 3.77% ) # 8
83 . Three Kings, 1999 ( 3.71% ) # 10
84 . Ratatouille, 2007 ( 3.69% ) # 9
85 . Topsy-Turvy, 1999 ( 3.68% ) # 11
86 . Requiem For A Dream , 2000 ( 3.64% ) # 9
87 . The Pianist, 2002 ( 3.63% ) # 10
88 . Little Children, 2006 ( 3.60% ) # 9
89 . A Simple Plan, 1998 ( 3.54% ) # 9
90 . Rushmore, 1998 ( 3.50% ) # 10
91 . The Thin Red Line, 1998 ( 3.43% ) # 11
92 . Children Of Men, 2006 ( 3.39% ) # 10
93 . Away From Her, 2007 ( 3.37% ) # 10
94 . A.I., 2001 ( 3.31% ) # 11
95 . The Assassination of Jesse James, 2007 ( 3.27% ) # 11
96 . Chicken Run, 2000 ( 3.27% ) # 10
97 . Dreamgirls, 2006 ( 3.23% ) # 11
98 . Half Nelson, 2006 ( 3.23% ) # 12
99 . 21 Grams, 2003 ( 3.23% ) # 9
100 . 4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days, 2007 ( 3.22% ) # 12
101 . Sweeney Todd, 2007 ( 3.20% ) # 13
102 . Gladiator, 2000 ( 3.20% ) # 11
103 . 2046, 2005 ( 3.19% ) # 10
104 . Kill Bill 1 , 2003 ( 3.18% ) # 10
105 . I'm Not There, 2007 ( 3.17% ) # 14
106 . Hotel Rwanda, 2004 ( 3.17% ) # 8
107 . House of The Flying Daggers, 2004 ( 3.15% ) # 9
108 . City of God, 2003 ( 3.14% ) # 11
109 . Fahrenheit 9/11, 2004 ( 3.06% ) # 10
110 . Beau Travail, 2000 ( 3.04% ) # 12
111 . Bowling For Columbine, 2002 ( 3.04% ) # 11
112 . Ghost World, 2001 ( 3.02% ) # 12
113 . Eyes Wide Shut, 1999 ( 3.02% ) # 12
114 . Hero, 2004 ( 3.01% ) # 11
115 . Fireworks (Hana-Bi), 1998 ( 3.00% ) # 12
116 . Michael Clayton, 2007 ( 3.00% ) # 15
117 . Cold Mountain, 2003 ( 2.98% ) # 12
118 . Maria Full Of Grace, 2004 ( 2.93% ) # 12
119 . Fast Runner (Atanarjuat), 2002 ( 2.93% ) # 12
120 . The Limey, 1999 ( 2.91% ) # 13
121 . The Celebration, 1998 ( 2.89% ) # 13
122 . Lantana, 2001 ( 2.88% ) # 12
123 . Croupier, 2000 ( 2.87% ) # 13
124 . Volver, 2006 ( 2.87% ) # 13
125 . Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, 2007 ( 2.81% ) # 16
126 . Flags of our Fathers, 2006 ( 2.81% ) # 14
127 . High Fidelity, 2000 ( 2.81% ) # 14
128 . Finding Neverland, 2004 ( 2.79% ) # 13
129 . The Constant Gardener, 2005 ( 2.78% ) # 11
130 . The Talented Mr. Ripley, 1999 ( 2.76% ) # 14
131 . The Matrix, 1999 ( 2.75% ) # 15
132 . Army Of Shadows , 2006 ( 2.75% ) # 15
133 . In The Mood For Love, 2001 ( 2.73% ) # 12
134 . Monster's Ball, 2001 ( 2.73% ) # 12
135 . Amores Perros, 2001 ( 2.73% ) # 13
136 . Run Lola Run , 1999 ( 2.71% ) # 16
137 . Bad Education, 2004 ( 2.71% ) # 14
138 . The Hours, 2002 ( 2.70% ) # 13
139 . The Station Agent, 2003 ( 2.68% ) # 13
140 . Elephant, 2003 ( 2.68% ) # 13
141 . Fight Club, 1999 ( 2.68% ) # 17
142 . Cache, 2005 ( 2.67% ) # 12
143 . The Death of Mr Lazarescu, 2006 ( 2.63% ) # 16
144 . O Brother Where Art Thou?, 2000 ( 2.62% ) # 15
145 . Eastern Promises, 2007 ( 2.60% ) # 17
146 . The House Of Mirth , 2000 ( 2.59% ) # 16
147 . South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, 1999 ( 2.52% ) # 18
148 . Match Point, 2005 ( 2.47% ) # 13
149 . Amelie , 2001 ( 2.45% ) # 15
150 . Sexy Beast, 2001 ( 2.45% ) # 15
151 . Spider-Man 2, 2004 ( 2.42% ) # 15
152 . Ray, 2004 ( 2.40% ) # 16
153 . There's Something About Mary , 1998 ( 2.39% ) # 14
154 . Bulworth, 1998 ( 2.38% ) # 15
155 . House of Sand & Fog, 2003 ( 2.38% ) # 15
156 . Buffalo 66, 1998 ( 2.36% ) # 16
157 . Syriana, 2005 ( 2.33% ) # 14
158 . The Blair Witch Project, 1999 ( 2.33% ) # 19
159 . The Tailor of Panama, 2001 ( 2.30% ) # 17
160 . Together, 2001 ( 2.30% ) # 17
161 . The Sixth Sense, 1999 ( 2.27% ) # 20
162 . Minority Report, 2002 ( 2.26% ) # 14
163 . Whale Rider, 2003 ( 2.25% ) # 16
164 . Chicago, 2002 ( 2.22% ) # 15
165 . Fog of War, 2003 ( 2.20% ) # 17
166 . Billy Elliot, 2000 ( 2.18% ) # 17
167 . Vera Drake, 2004 ( 2.18% ) # 17
168 . A Very Long Engagement, 2004 ( 2.18% ) # 18
169 . The Man Who Wasn't There, 2001 ( 2.16% ) # 19
170 . Spellbound, 2003 ( 2.16% ) # 18
171 . Kings & Queens, 2005 ( 2.15% ) # 15
172 . About A Boy, 2002 ( 2.15% ) # 16
173 . The Motorcycle Diaries, 2004 ( 2.14% ) # 19
174 . Nurse Betty, 2000 ( 2.14% ) # 18
175 . L'Enfant, 2006 ( 2.09% ) # 17
176 . The Dreamlife Of Angels, 1999 ( 2.09% ) # 21
177 . The New World, 2005 ( 2.08% ) # 16
178 . Pleasantville, 1998 ( 2.07% ) # 17
179 . Collateral, 2004 ( 2.06% ) # 20
180 . Before Night Falls, 2000 ( 2.05% ) # 19
181 . Kill Bill 2, 2004 ( 2.05% ) # 21
182 . The Wind Will Carry Us, 2000 ( 2.05% ) # 20
183 . Elizabeth, 1998 ( 2.04% ) # 18
184 . Seabiscuit, 2003 ( 2.00% ) # 19
185 . A Prairie Home Companion, 2006 ( 1.99% ) # 18
186 . Lives Of Others, 2007 ( 1.94% ) # 18
187 . The Bourne Ultimatum, 2007 ( 1.91% ) # 19
188 . The Iron Giant, 1999 ( 1.88% ) # 22
189 . Donnie Darko, 2001 ( 1.87% ) # 20
190 . The Gleaners and I, 2001 ( 1.87% ) # 20
191 . Ali, 2001 ( 1.87% ) # 21
192 . The Virgin Suicides, 2000 ( 1.86% ) # 21
193 . The Opposite Of Sex, 1998 ( 1.85% ) # 19
194 . Time Out, 2002 ( 1.84% ) # 17
195 . Quills , 2000 ( 1.82% ) # 22
196 . Casino Royale, 2006 ( 1.80% ) # 19
197 . The Savages, 2007 ( 1.79% ) # 20
198 . The School of Rock, 2003 ( 1.79% ) # 20
199 . Cast Away, 2000 ( 1.78% ) # 23
200 . The Taste Of Cherry, 1998 ( 1.77% ) # 20

If you want a look at the various year-end lists, here are the links;
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998

And here are the lists for the preceding three years;
1997
1996
1995

Critical Consensus: The Films Of 2007 (MCN)

Probably the last update of the Movie City News year-end tally, compiling 252 critics' "Best Of 2007" lists (posted Jan 6 2008). The number in brackets indicates the number of points received for each film. (The green movies I've not seen yet.)

1 No Country For Old Men ( 1239.5 ) *
2 There Will Be Blood ( 729.5 ) *
3 Zodiac ( 603 )
4 Diving Bell & The Butterfly ( 571.5 ) **
5 Once ( 509.5 ) **
6 Juno ( 483.5 ) **
7 Atonement ( 432.5 ) *
8 Into The Wild ( 416 ) **
9 Ratatouille ( 384 ) *
10 Away From Her ( 350 ) *

11 Assassination of Jesse James ( 340.5 ) **
12 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days ( 335 )
13 Sweeney Todd ( 333 )
14 I'm Not There ( 330 ) **
15 Michael Clayton ( 312 ) **
16 Before The Devil Knows You're Dead ( 292.5 ) *
17 Eastern Promises ( 270 )
18 Lives Of Others ( 202 ) *
19 Bourne Ultimatum ( 199 )
20 Savages ( 186.5 )

21 Knocked Up ( 182.5 ) *
22 Persepolis ( 181 )
23 No End In Sight ( 169.5 )
24 Host ( 146 )
25 Syndromes and a Century ( 132 )
26 Gone Baby Gone ( 127.5 ) **
27 Killer of Sheep ( 126.5 )
28 American Gangster ( 115 )
29 Superbad ( 114.5 )
30 Grindhouse ( 104 )

31 Hairspray ( 101.5 )
32 Darjeeling Limited ( 99 )
33 Black Book ( 98 )
34 King of Kong ( 93 )
35 Sicko ( 88 )
36 3:10 To Yuma ( 86 )
37 Offside ( 79 )
38 Lars & The Real Girl ( 69.5 ) *
39 Hot Fuzz ( 69 )
40 Control ( 64 )

41 Charlie Wilson's War ( 63 )
41 Rescue Dawn ( 63 )
43 Lake Of Fire ( 61 )
44 Margot at the Wedding ( 60.5 )
45 Across the Universe ( 59 ) **
46 Wind That Shakes The Barley ( 58 )
47 300 ( 57.5 )
48 Enchanted ( 55 )
49 Southland Tales ( 54 )
50 In The Valley Of Elah ( 53 )

51 Breach ( 51 )
52 After The Wedding ( 50 ) **
52 Private Fears In Public Places ( 50 )
54 12:08 East of Bucharest ( 48 )
54 La Vie En Rose ( 48 )
56 Orphanage ( 47 )
57 Kite Runner ( 44 )
58 Lookout ( 43.5 )
59 Lust, Caution ( 43 )
60 Talk To Me ( 41 )

61 Lady Chatterley ( 39 )
61 Regular Lovers ( 39 )
63 Waitress ( 38.5 )
64 This Is England ( 38 ) **

And here's my current list of favourites, for what it's worth. Quite a year: those first seven are all unqualifiedly superb films, (well, #4 is qualifiedly superb, but when it was good, it was very very good), and right down through #17 or 18 would be solid Top Ten picks most any other year. And that's with Zodiac, 4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days, 12:08 East of Bucharest, Persepolis, Killer Of Sheep and The Lookout yet to be seen.

1 Adam's Apples
2 Into The Wild
3 Juno
4 Across The Universe
5 Assassination of Jesse James
6 I'm Not There
7 Diving Bell & The Butterfly
8 Once
9 This Is England
10 Gone Baby Gone

11 After The Wedding
12 The Lives Of Others
13 Michael Clayton
14 There Will Be Blood
15 You Told Me, You Love Me
16 No Country For Old Men
17 Lars & The Real Girl
18 Into Great Silence
19 Black Snake Moan
20 Ratatouille

21 Atonement
22 Amazing Grace
23 You, The Living
24 Knocked Up
25 Jindabyne
26 Aura
27 Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
28 Away From Her
29 Secret Sunshine

Kevin Smith on A Man For All Seasons

How very odd. When called on to choose his favorite film, the potty-mouthed director of rude little movies like CLERKS and DOGMA chooses the story of Saint Thomas More. Well, there are reasons.

This New York Times article by Rick Lyman is the 12th in a series of discussions with noted directors, actors, screenwriters, cinematographers and others in the film industry. In each article, a filmmaker selects and discusses a movie that has personal meaning. Previous articles focused on Quentin Tarantino, Janusz Kaminski, Ron Howard, Curtis Hanson, Kevin Costner, Steven Soderbergh, Ang Lee, Wolfgang Petersen, Harvey Weinstein, Michael Bay and Julianne Moore. The articles have been gathered into a book, "Watching Movies."

WORDS, words, words. They come spilling out of ''A Man for All Seasons'' in great torrents that spin and swell into rapids, a furious river of words. And Paul Scofield wraps his dour face and deep-timbred voice around Robert Bolt's dialogue with such satisfying, calculated calibration.

Kevin Smith laughed and nodded his head. ''This language, it's so great,'' he said, leaning back again in a swivel chair in his baby-blue bungalow on the CBS Studio Center lot, where he is finishing the editing on ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,'' his latest sex-and-drugs comedy.

In one scene, Mr. Scofield, playing the soon-to-be-martyred Sir Thomas More in Henry VIII's England, argues with his sanctimonious son-in-law over the importance of laws. Will Roper, the son-in-law, wants to cut down any laws that get in the way of defeating the devil's work.

''And when the last law was cut down and the devil turned round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast -- man's laws, not God's -- and if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?'' Mr. Scofield pauses for just a beat. ''Yes,'' he continues, ''I give the devil benefit of law for my own safety's sake.''

Mr. Smith's comfortably cluttered bungalow is a stone's throw from Ventura Boulevard and just across a concrete canal from the fenced-in compound where production is under way on the latest installment of the network's ''Big Brother'' reality series. People on the lot have been warned to steer clear of the compound and not tell anyone where it is. It's a big secret.

''The dialogue in this movie -- it pops, you know,'' Mr. Smith said, snapping his fingers. ''Back and forth and back and forth. And let's face it, this is a movie that's pretty much all dialogue.''

To Mr. Smith, that's the greatest pleasure, seeing how dramatic momentum can come not from action but from the interplay of words and ideas. ''Actually, that's what I try to do in my movies,'' he said. ''That's all I'm good at. I don't even think I try to do it; it's just the only thing I can do. I'm terrible at action, but pretty decent at dialogue. And I always thought that this movie had a lot to do with why I write the way I write. Because this is such a definitive film for me. Lord knows, I love popcorn movies as much as the next guy. The 'Star Wars' films were a huge part of my life. But this is one of the first movies that introduced me to the notion of dialogue and character and nothing else really needing to happen.''

Mr. Smith, 30, knows he might seem an uneasy fit for the director Fred Zinnemann's dense drama of ideas and intellectual heroism. Beginning with ''Clerks'' (1994), a witty and ragtag story about young men working dead-end jobs in a New Jersey strip mall, Mr. Smith has earned a reputation for a kind of cheerful, pop-infused vulgarity that snaps with self-deprecating wit. But while he stresses that he does not claim to be the equal of either Zinnemann or Bolt, he does feel a kind of kinship between their work and his quick-bantering comedies of male immaturity, which reside, as he puts it, in a world of jokes about genitalia and flatulence.

'' 'A Man for All Seasons' has some beautiful scenes in it, but it is not a visually stunning film,'' Mr. Smith said. ''I only wish I were talented enough to pull off a really talky film that's not visually stunning but still gets the job done. All the flicks I've done, people are always going, 'Wow, he's not a really good visual stylist -- his films tend to be about dialogue.' Well, this film is all about dialogue, too, but nobody ever calls Zinnemann on the fact that it's not visually popping because he's so skillful that he's able to tell the story in a way that, despite all the dialogue, it doesn't feel static. I wish I could do that.''

Thanks to Sister Theresa

The short, thick, bearded Mr. Smith is familiar to moviegoers for the small parts he plays in his own films. (In his latest one, he is the wordless Silent Bob to his co-star Jason Mewes's motormouth Jay.) And as he moved through the suite of offices and into the editing room to watch ''A Man for All Seasons,'' he looked very much like Silent Bob, right down to the doleful eyes and the backward baseball cap. Once in the editing room, the door closed and the DVD slid into the bank of technical gizmos, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and began to snap it loudly on his forearm.

''Why this movie?'' he asked as he watched the credits roll. ''It's been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. The first time I saw it was when I was about 13. It would have been 1983. I watched it because I was going to a Catholic school in Jersey at the time, Our Lady of Perpetual Help. I had this teacher, Sister Theresa, who was great, and Thomas More was her favorite saint and she loved this movie. For our eighth-grade production one year, she did an adaptation of Bolt's stage play for us to perform. She chopped out a lot, but we still put it on. I played Cromwell. She picked a guy in the class to play Henry VIII because he had red hair. She was kind of fanatical about the details.''

Sister Theresa encouraged her class to watch the film when it was broadcast on a local television station, to introduce them to the story and prepare for the class production. ''I watched it and I just fell in love with it in general,'' Mr. Smith said. ''Even though it was on television and interrupted by commercials, it knocked me out. I don't know why Sister Theresa loved it so much. I think it had something to do with the integrity of More. He wasn't one of these fanatical kind of martyrs who wanted to die on the sword. He was a lawyer and tried like mad to get out of dying but in the end found no way that didn't involve violating his faith. But for me, I loved it just because it was so well-spoken and yet incredibly spiritual at the same time. Here's a dude who held one of the highest offices in England at the time but was still able to maintain his faith.''

Mr. Smith said his family had just bought its first videocassette recorder, and he made a copy of ''A Man for All Seasons'' and watched it at least 10 more times in the next weeks. ''It got to the point where my parents were, like, 'C'mon, move on, watch something else,' '' Mr. Smith said. ''But I didn't want to. It was the language. It was the story. It was being 13 years old and admiring somebody who was able to go down for God. Maybe I even felt I could identify with Thomas More a bit. I can appreciate the way More's mind worked, how he was able to juggle the two worlds of the spiritual and the everyday. I mean, it's easy to say we don't want to sin, but it's very hard not to sin. Here's a dude who found a way to do it, to walk the line.''

Since then, Mr. Smith said, he has watched the film frequently, often pressing it on some of his young friends. ''I must have seen 'A Man for All Seasons' 50 times, literally,'' he said. ''Probably more than any other movie. When 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' came out, I saw it 25 times in the theaters. I just kept going and going. But this movie I've seen at least twice as many times. This movie is like porn for somebody who loves language.''

When he is asked, as he often is by young fans, to name his favorite films, Mr. Smith says he always cites the same five: Steven Spielberg's ''Jaws,'' Martin Scorsese's ''Last Temptation of Christ,'' Oliver Stone's ''J.F.K.,'' Spike Lee's ''Do the Right Thing'' and ''A Man for All Seasons.'' For this article, he said, he chose to watch the Zinnemann film both because of its profound impact on him and because he thinks it is the least seen and least remembered of his favorites.

Six Academy Awards

''Nobody ever talks about it anymore, and it's such a great movie,'' he continued. ''Very few people even seem to know what this movie is about. You say the title and people go, 'What's that about?' Yet it won six Academy Awards, including best picture, best director and best actor. I guess it's just not sexy enough to be remembered fondly.''

During a trip to England, Mr. Smith said, he took time out to visit all the sites related to Thomas More, from the Tower of London to Hampton Court and More's own estate in Chelsea. He wishes someone would write a book about the making of the film, but he's not hopeful. In a way, the movie has become too obscure to generate such treatment.

''Are there really any good men anymore?'' Mr. Smith asked. ''When you hold somebody like Thomas More up, I don't know, 9 times out of 10, maybe 9 1/2 times out of 10, people will always take the easier route. And Thomas More didn't. Partly, it was an issue of faith, but it was also an issue of character. In terms of films, there are very few characters like Thomas More anymore. Everyone is an antihero now.''

Verbal Jousting Matches

The story of Sir Thomas More's battle to satisfy the desires of his petulant king without betraying the demands of his own faith is played, in ''A Man for All Seasons,'' as a kind of grand verbal jousting match. Mr. Scofield's More is so deeply intelligent and nimble that he seems, at first, to be more than a match for the self-serving careerists and aristocratic pragmatists who surround him.

''Absolutely, it's about smart people playing mind games with each other, but it's never obviously or overtly clever, like in an Aaron Sorkin TV show,'' Mr. Smith said. ''If you watch something like 'West Wing,' everyone is so smart, so incredibly clever, it seems like they're all trying so hard. Here, it seems so effortless, so much more natural.''

The crisis comes when More is appointed chancellor and asked by the king to acquiesce in the separation of the English church from Rome. The king wants his first marriage declared null, largely because it has produced no male heir, but more immediately because he wants to marry Anne Boleyn. The pope has refused to grant a divorce or annul the marriage, so Henry wants to be declared the supreme authority over the church in England so he can overrule the pontiff. More's faith does not allow him to go along, even though almost everyone around him, including his best friend, the Duke of Norfolk (Nigel Davenport), and his beloved daughter, Meg (Susannah York), urge him simply to hold his nose and go along. Why not? Everyone else is. Why lose your position, your fortune and your life over such a thing?

In the end, More devises an ingenious strategy. Under English law, he cannot be convicted of treason if he simply remains silent on the subject. In the end, the only way the king's prosecutor, Cromwell, can snare More is by having another witness, an ambitious snipe named Richard Rich (John Hurt), lie under oath that More has uttered treasonous statements. ''I am a dead man,'' More tells the church tribunal. ''You have your will of me.'' And he goes under the ax.

Mr. Smith is the kind of film enthusiast who likes to pepper his ordinary conversation with quotations from his favorite movies. Usually, he said, since many of his favorite films are also well known, people get the references and laugh along with him. '' 'A Man for All Seasons' is a movie that I quote incessantly, but unfortunately, not many people have seen it, so most of my quotes fall on deaf ears,'' he said.

Nor does he see it getting any more popular. ''You try to get a teenager to sit down and watch this movie,'' Mr. Smith said. ''I've tried. It's not easy.''

He tried showing it to Mr. Mewes, his frequent co-star. ''That was catastrophic,'' Mr. Smith said. Even Mr. Smith's wife, Jennifer Schwalbach, who is also an actress, had trouble understanding More's dilemma. ''She's, like, 'What an idiot More was, to die for that,' '' Mr. Smith said.

He partly attributes this attitude to the world's loss of tolerance for the lone, principled stand -- especially when it involves an issue of faith. An audience weaned on prime-time fare has little appetite for More's brand of moral rigidity.

''I think we predominantly have a filmgoing audience that was raised on television,'' Mr. Smith said. ''We like our stuff quick and poppy. We have such a short attention span -- very MTV. Today, if this film were even made, it would clearly be an independent film. It would clearly appeal to a small, select audience.''

Mr. Smith kept up a fairly steady stream of comments as the film unfolded. Sometimes, it was little more than a word. ''Wonderful,'' he'd say after a particularly compelling moment, or ''Look at that.'' The one word he used most often was genius, after a particularly sublime acting moment, either from Mr. Scofield or from Robert Shaw, who plays the king.

''Paul Scofield is just so amazing in this movie,'' he said. ''He's one of those actors who makes me wish I was a more serious filmmaker so I could work with him. But I don't really have a lot of parts for Paul Scofield.''

Not Much Scenery-Gnawing
Mr. Scofield's performance in ''A Man for All Seasons'' stands out for several reasons, Mr. Smith said. One is the overplaying by some of the other performers. Compared with Orson Welles's scenery-chewing as Cardinal Wolsey or Wendy Hiller's pickle-faced turn as More's wife, Mr. Scofield's lead performance is a masterpiece of quiet, thoughtful, underplayed eloquence.

''He is so subtle,'' Mr. Smith said. ''He can communicate such disdain without ever uttering a cross word or going over the top. For instance, he never says outright that he hates Cromwell. But it's always in his voice. You can hear it back there.''

By the time Mr. Smith first saw ''A Man for All Seasons,'' he already knew Robert Shaw, largely for playing Quint in ''Jaws.'' It was a revelation to hear him tear into Bolt's dialogue and to preen his way through this short but decisive role. ''It was kind of, 'Oh, my God, it's Captain Quint as Henry VIII,' '' he said.

Shaw's performance, which played the king as a kind of gleefully self-satisfied adolescent, has more than a little ham in it, too. But in his case, at least, it fits the part, Mr. Smith said. ''It chews the scenery in a different way than Welles did because he's playing a far more colorful character, so it fits,'' he said. ''Look how he paces back and forth as he talks. It's what children do when they're being petulant. You know it's a great performance because he comes into the movie for one major scene, steals the movie for about 10 minutes, and then he's gone. But he's so good that he kind of hangs over the rest of the movie. In a way, he's like the shark in 'Jaws.' People talk about him long before he shows up and then, boom, there's Henry.''

Beating Actors to the Punch
While watching the film, Mr. Smith frequently anticipates his favorite bits of dialogue. Often, he would say the line aloud just before the actor. ''You're very free with my daughter's hand, Roper,'' Mr. Smith would say, just moments before Mr. Scofield utters the line. Or, ''I trust I make myself obscure,'' just moments before More uses the line to explain his strategy to Norfolk.

Most of the time, though, Mr. Smith was content simply to issue an alert. ''Here comes a good line,'' he'd say. And then he'd glance over to gauge the reaction to it.

When Mr. Smith notes something in Zinnemann's direction, it usually involves either some subtle editing choice or the lack of visual razzle-dazzle. (''There are a lot of highs and wides in this movie, but there are no big pullbacks or big directing moments. It's way too understated for that.'')

In the crucial scene between More and the king, for instance, long portions of the sequence are played entirely on Shaw's face, even while Mr. Scofield is speaking -- partly because it is his big scene, but also because it's a kind of visual echo of the way everyone responds to the king's presence. He immediately becomes the center of attention.

When Meg approaches her father and says she is worried he will be imprisoned for his stance, More grabs his own cloak and responds, ''This is not the stuff of which martyrs are made.'' Mr. Smith laughed out loud, but a little sadly. ''Oh, you are so wrong, Thomas,'' he said. ''Probably the only time he really was wrong.''

In Shaw's second and final scene in the film, he is singing to his new beloved, Anne Boleyn (played by a bright-eyed and flirtatious Vanessa Redgrave). He spots a figure across the room that looks to him, and to us, like Thomas More, and hopes that it is indeed his chancellor returned to announce a change of heart. ''Thomas! Thomas!'' the king cries as he strides across the room.

''Watch this,'' Mr. Smith said. ''This is such an interesting choice. Look how long Zinnemann waited to play the reveal.''

We see the other man begin to turn, but the camera cuts back to the king's face before we know whether the other man is actually More. By the time we cut back to him, he has bowed low and his face is hidden. He begins to rise, but the camera cuts again just before his face is revealed, and we watch Shaw's reaction -- delight melting into disappointment as the man turns out to be someone other than More.

''Zinnemann holds out so we get the reveal after the turn and the bow, so basically you see it on Henry's face,'' Mr. Smith said. ''Such an interesting choice. This way, it really becomes so much more about Shaw's performance. My guess is that it was an editing decision, like somebody in that editing room really dug Shaw's performance and realized that if they cut it this way that his performance would become the punch line.''

'A Weird Choice'
Only once does Mr. Smith have a quibble with Zinnemann's direction. It comes in a scene in which More is awakened in his prison cell by a guard carrying a torch. The camera shows the sleeping More's face, then cuts to show the torch approaching. The flickering light is out of focus, as if seen through sleepy eyes. The camera then cuts back to Mr. Scofield, whose eyes open, and back again to the torch, which gradually comes into focus.

''I always thought this was a weird choice,'' Mr. Smith said. ''They do that first point-of-view shot of the torch, like it's More looking at it as he wakes up, but then they cut back to him and his eyes are still closed. The sequence is wrong. How can you have a point-of-view shot of More looking at the torch if he hasn't opened his eyes yet? It doesn't feel right. But it's a minor quibble in an otherwise flawless film.''

As surprised as he is that so few people have seen ''A Man for All Seasons,'' Mr. Smith is just as surprised that Zinnemann rarely turns up on the lists of the top directors.

''He's not one of these directors who you drop his name and people go, oh, that's so Zinnemann-esque,'' he said. ''He's wonderful, and this movie is proof positive, but he doesn't have the enduring reputation that he deserves.''

For Mr. Smith, Zinnemann's delicate touch is best exemplified in the crucial scene between More and the king. ''Just watch this, where they're sitting on a bench and talking,'' Mr. Smith said. ''There's a lot of tension in the scene because we know that the king wants More to go along with his new marriage and we know that More won't. But mostly, it's just these two guys talking to one another for 10 minutes. And as they sit on the bench, there is the slowest of slow dolly movements as the camera gradually moves closer to them. You have to watch the edges of the frame to even see it, it's so gradual. There, can you see it? Wow. It's so slow. But somehow, because of it, the scene does not feel in the least bit static. Genius.''

In the climactic scene of More's trial before an ecclesiastical tribunal, Mr. Smith notes again and again the director's restrained approach. More is frequently shot from behind, often little more than a small figure in the middle distance. For historical accuracy, Zinnemann also places neither the king nor More's family in the courtroom with him.

''Imagine how much drama you could cull from cutting to them in any given scene,'' Mr. Smith said. ''I always thought that was really brave. It would have been so easy to play the family card and have these reaction shots of his wife and daughter, tearful and worried. That's how they do it in most courtroom scenes, right? But Zinnemann doesn't do it at all. It's just More and the court, that's it. It's so powerful and restrained. It's all about the language and the arguments.''

Different Things to Die For

Mr. Smith draws a distinction in his mind between ''A Man for All Seasons'' and another film based on a play, Arthur Miller's ''Crucible.'' Both are about people who lose their lives over a matter of principle, but it is the issue of religion and faith that sets More's story apart for Mr. Smith.

''My feeling is that there are two kinds of people in the world, 'Man for All Seasons' people and 'Crucible' people, and the difference is what they are willing to die for,'' Mr. Smith said. ''In 'The Crucible,' John Proctor gives his life because he doesn't want to stain his name; he doesn't want to be known as a witch, which is just a handle that someone wants to hang on him. So his martyrdom doesn't really impress me. It's never as dramatically interesting as Thomas More, who lays down his life for his soul. It's not about his identity; it's about his soul. Even Norfolk and Meg tell him: 'Just sign the oath, what difference does it make? Say it with your mouth but renounce it in your head.' That's when More gives that great speech about how you are holding your soul in your hands like sand, and if you begin to open your fingers, even just a little bit, it all begins to spill out.''

In fact, Mr. Smith said, he's not sure that people without faith are really able to appreciate ''A Man for All Seasons'' as deeply as he does.

''It's such an inaccessible movie, in one sense, for people who don't believe in God,'' he said. ''Because the whole time they're watching it, they're thinking More is an idiot. Just take the oath. Why not? But everything comes back to God with Thomas More. He could easily take the oath, but he won't because he feels it would violate his relationship to his God. His vision of himself is based on that relationship. That's so different from John Proctor. In this day and age, try to make a movie about a guy who stands up for what he believes based on his relationship to God. I'm telling you, very few people will turn out.''

He added, ''I speak from experience.''

Mr. Smith is talking about ''Dogma,'' the comedy he made in 1999 with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as a pair of renegade angels in New Jersey. It was the director's first real attempt to deal with some of the issues of faith that followed him from his Catholic upbringing, and it caused a brief furor when some religious groups criticized it during its production and just before its release. Once those groups saw that he was attempting to be thoughtful about the subject, the furor subsided, Mr. Smith said.

Has Mr. Smith ever thought of embracing Thomas More head on, eschewing the comedy and doing a flat-out drama?

''You know, there's always the temptation,'' he said. ''But I think I'm too young and insecure at this point to give it a shot. Because if you're not 100 percent sure of yourself, you end up making something like 'Interiors' -- you know, that Woody Allen movie? And it has a lot to do about perception. People perceive you as one thing. But believe me, there is many a time I have thought about doing something dramatic. Something with some humor in it, but not jokes. I always thought if I did it, it would be a courtroom drama. I love courtroom drama. But there it is; it's language again. What's a courtroom, after all, but a bunch of people standing around talking?''