7 Masterpieces of the '00s You've Likely Never Seen
· Musician (2007)
Chicago filmmaker Daniel Kraus launched his Work series of documentaries with 2004's Sheriff, a weirdly sublime shadow job looking at the daily routines of a North Carolina lawman. Three years later Kraus returned with this headscratcher following workaholic jazz composer and performer Ken Vandermark. Of course, the idea of observing people at their jobs -- and in fact diagramming entire institutions from the molecular level of their employees -- has long been the province of Frederick Wiseman. But Kraus's apparent ability to catch Vandermark from any given angle whether he's booking shows, writing music, playing a concert or simply living in his own restless head (not to mention a run-time around a third of what the average Wiseman epic runs) makes Musician all the more intensely intimate and expressive. Alternatively, Kraus's real genius may lay in the selection of his subjects; he's currently working on Professor and Preacher.
· The Living Wake (2007)
After his 2002 breakthrough in Rodger Dodger and before his 2009 leading-man twofer of Adventureland and Zombieland, Jesse Eisenberg populated a fistful of indies that landed in various pockets of industry obscurity. They're all worth seeing, including The Education of Charlie Banks, The Hunting Party and, most of all, the beautiful, hilarious The Living Wake. Adapting his one-man show, Mike O'Connell stars as K. Roth Binew, a self-aggrandizing and possibly insane ne'er-do-well storyteller diagnosed with only 24 hours to live. Pedaled through the golden autumn by his rickshaw-driving manservant Miles (Eisenberg), Binew sets about staging a "living wake" attended by everyone he ever knew -- as if they believe his illness or would mourn his loss anyway. It's a fantasy, it's a romp, it's a bittersweet drama, and more than anything, it's a criminally underseen classic whose '07 festival run ended without a theatrical distributor or even, as of this writing, a DVD release. This, even despite Eisenberg's hot streak. So find it when you can.
Subscribe to the new Movieline on YouTube
Comments
I saw two of the seven. Do I get anything? Ken Park is gutsy and quite remarkable. I saw it at a film festival where Clark appeared for a Q & A. The entire Pusher Trilogy is a work of genius. I can't recommend it enough. Better than anything American filmmakers turned out in the past 10 years.
I got Ken Park off Amazon (from some Russian dealer or something--probs illegal, so I hope you don't believe I actually did this) and I've been recommending it to people ever since, although it is quite odd, and the opening scene kinda scares the crap out of me.
I've seen 3 of the 7 films listed. Agreed that "Best of Youth" is damn near close to a masterpiece. For a while Sundance Channel was running it as it was originally seen in Italy -- as a miniseries. Watched it then and it still held up on the smaller screen.
"Pusher III" was also a very good movie, but I would recommend seeing all three films in the trilogy back to back for the full effect.
Have to disagree strongly with "Talent Given Us", though. I found it very painful to sit through -- something close to a vanity production. Couldn't believe the same director made "Starting Out in the Evening."
Maybe it's not obscure enough to make your list but my favorite film from the last decade was "The Lives of Others"
I scrape in with a measly 1/7.
But that was for Zombie Honeymoon, which was pretty good, especially for Tracy Coogan. I do hope she makes more movies that are more widely seen.
My top 5 favorite zombie films in no particular order are Dawn of the Dead (1978 original), Fulci's Zombie, Revenge of the Loving Dead, Dead Snow, and Zombie Holocaust. As you can tell, I'm a fan of Italian horror. Love the classic 80s gut munchers. Day of the Dead (again, the original!) is one of my favorites too.