John Waters Top 10 List: Fairy Tales, 3D Sex, Tasteful Trangression
Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 6:00PM 
John Waters with Patty Hearst at the "Carol" premiereAh one of our favorite bad taste good --no... singular taste traditions of year-end end look backs has arrived: the annual John Waters Top Ten List at ArtForum. Though the Baltimore film icon hasn't made a feature film in over ten years he still says active as a celebrity for which we thank him. Try and imagine the world without him; we never want to!
His top ten lists generally contain at least one or two titles we haven't even heard of (rare for us don'cha know) and that's true again with #1 and #9 right here. They're also always a mix of smart, beautiful, queer, and head scratching choices -- I'm sorry but Love is NOT a good movie even if it does contain, as John Waters raves, "heterosexual rimming -- in 3D!"
John Waters 2015 Top Ten List
01 HELMUT BERGER, ACTOR (Andreas Horvath)
02 CINDERELLA (Kenneth Branagh)
Yes, you heard me, Cinderella. I fucking love this Disney film.
03 THE FORBIDDEN ROOM (Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson)
04 TOM AT THE FARM (Xavier Dolan)
05 MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (George Miller)
06 CAROL (Todd Haynes)
Maybe the only way to be transgressive these days is to be shockingly tasteful. This Lana Turner–meets–Audrey Hepburn lipstick-lesbian melodrama is so old-fashioned I felt like I was one year old after watching it. That’s almost reborn.
07 THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL (Marielle Heller)
08 TANGERINE (Sean Baker)
09 FLY COLT FLY: LEGEND OF THE BAREFOOT BANDIT (Adam Gray and Andrew Gray)
10 LOVE (Gaspar Noé)
when will Xavier Dolan movies ever get on a respectable US release schedule? Tom at the Farm an excellent 2013 movie was only just released in the states in 2015
His commentary is always great fun -- his take on Xavier Dolan's tense grief thriller Tom at the Farm is especially John Waters but hugely spoiler-filled -- so go read if it you're so inclined.
Reader Comments (10)
Helmut Berger, Actor sounds like a deeply upsetting documentary, especially if one was a fan of Berger's work (and looks) before 1975.
paul -- are there any life forms with eyes that AREN'T fans of his pre-75 looks?
Iknowright?
"Maybe the only way to be transgressive these days is to be shockingly tasteful." Wise man. I'm sure Almodóvar agrees.
Xavier Dolan's breakthrough happens next year with the release of his French language Marion Cotillard vehicle. Hopefully she have the all time record for most nominations for foreign language performances at the Academy.
And in March he'll be shooting his welcome back Oscar vehicles for Sarandon and Bates. These living legends deserve at least an additional nomination and in the case of Bates a second win to solidify her film legacy.
Right!!!
I think Dolan directing the Adele video was the best advertisiment for his immense talents , he has a 'name' now so I think his future projects will get much more attention.
Hot damn, Helmut Berger was gorgeous!
*checks to see if Tangerine is there*
Yep, all is good.
He would love Noé. *shudders*
Why do I feel like I interpreted Tom At The Farm completely differently to everyone else - I understood (SPOILERS) that Francis was so in love with his brother (but not sexually), so scared of being alone with his own demons, that he was almost willing himself to be gay to keep his brother, and subsequently Tom At The Farm. That he wasn't sexually attracted to Tom but kept trying to force himself to be made the whole thing all the more heartbreaking.
Dare I say that calling it a movie about a closeted gay is a little reductive?