Top Ten season begins with John Waters... as ever
Sunday, December 6, 2020 at 10:46AM by Nathaniel R
Butt Boy - no, really, that's the name of the movie
Infamous former* filmmaker John Waters has released his annual Top Ten List in ArtForum and it's as completely entertaining and performative as ever. He kicks things off with two movies about people putting things into various orifices that don't belong there (Butt Boy and Swallow, the latter of which we've discussed before) and ends with a double-feature of courtroom docu-dramas (Trial of the Chicago 7 and Mangrove) to keep you guessing. You should read it but here are two brief spotlights just for fun...
Spotlight #1 because each year Waters manages to include a film we've never even heard of even though we try to hear of most films that exist
WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE! (Kirill Sokolov)
A blood-drenched, seat-ripping, Tarantino-influenced Russian grindhouse family-revenge comedy that begs one to watch it with other stoned or drunk ticket buyers in a packed movie theater. Sigh. Will this ever happen again?
Spotlight #2 because each year Waters manages to make us eager to see something we've either put off or re-watch something we were only partially into.
TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG (Justin Kurzel)
A gory, insane, homoerotic, historical western featuring a gang of outlaw robbers who sometimes dress in drag just to fuck with the cops’ heads. A truly astonishing, unhinged performance by George MacKay as their leader gives new meaning to the word butch.
* Is it okay to call John Waters a former filmmaker? He used to suggest it was because he couldn't get funding. Which is disheartening. But 16 years after his last feature when he's still a celebrity and the need for content has long-since exploded and people with less name-recognition values have gotten new deals (especially with streamers trying to lure people away from studios in the past 10 years, often successfully) is there really no company that's ever been interested in him? If so, that's A Dirty Shame.
Reader Comments (19)
John Waters should have a series , but with all people feeling offended for anything it's very difficult. I really miss Divine or trashy jokes.
Mr Waters loves cinema and of course for him the weirder the better.
I look forward eagerly each year to his Top 10s, at least they're different , and best of all, have sometimes directed me to films, I would not have heard of otherwise. In recent years, I've been very impressed by The Strange Ones and I, Olga Hepnarova, to name just two, both outstanding and both almost totally ignored by other critics, and I probably wouldn't have seen them otherwise. I'd still love to see the Helmut Berger, Actor, his #1 film of 2015. It sounds like a total hoot, but seems stuck in some distributor limbo.
So far, I've only seen 3 of his top 11, and didn't care for Deerskin or The Trial of the Chicago 7 at all, but was very impressed and appalled by American Murder: The Family Next Door. I really think that the best use of John Waters would be to give him a bi-weekly or monthly 90 minute talk show where he could invite anyone he chose, and let him talk about whatever he wanted.
I just wished he would include the Pixar short "Out", still the most moving film I have seen this year. On my "Best Picture" list so far, Mank, Da 5 Bloods and Javier Fesser's Unfortunate Stories (Historias Lamentables) narrowly surpass Borat Subsequent Moviefilm... also, the fascinating documentary, which I consider "The Celluloid closet 2" called "Disclosure: Trans Lives on Film".
Why hasn't John Waters ever been Jury President at Cannes?
Deerskin is a *TRIP.* I should have guessed that it's dysfunctional fun would make a John Waters list! <3
I hope more people see it.
My boyfriend and I watched BUTT BOY early in quarantine after the NYT rave review it got; we both hated it thoroughly. However, I am a John Waters devotee, and I so wish he’d get off his ass and make another movie. It’s been a long 16 years since A DIRTY SHAME, and that in itself is a dirty shame...
John Waters really deserves an 'Honorary' Academy Award. He's done more for cinema than most of the recipients the Academy gives that award to nowadays.
I would call John Waters "filmmaker/visual artist/provocateur."
I don't like to use "former" unless there's little to no chance it'll ever happen again (former President, former Miss America, former friend etc.) and even then I prefer "erstwhile" "one-time" or "retired" depending on the situation. ;-)
I love John Waters. May he never change and I'd watch whatever he does and I love his taste for classic porn.
Love his list, so fun! And his blurbs are great.
Did you read any other Top 10 lists yet? It's interesting reading all the introductions, critics saying how, despite X,Y,Z, it's still a great year for film. Like, is it really? I don't know. Hard to tell when you have to stream them all at home.
I don't want to be a debbie downer, but I feel there's that big elephant in the room--how do we know what the best films of 2020 really are if we couldn't see most of them in a theater?--and critics are just acting like all is well, more great movies this year than ever before, we streamed them but that doesn't make a difference.
I don't get it.
I loved American Murder: The Family Next Door and George McKay is fantastic in the Kelly Gang.
A sequel of Serial Mom, please! now that is a cult classic.
Joseph -- i haven't read any other top ten lists yet. I actually dont like how early they come out but I get such a kick out of John Waters because he understands it's a performance... or at least it is for people who don't see everything (which he clearly doesn't) and who are more celebrities than film critics. I share your head-scratching about the way the rank and file critics are acting like 'no big deal' about not seeing anything in theaters. I've found the experience very lesser than... watching NOMADLAND for example was so depressing because the whole time i just knew that it would have totally enveloped and transported me if i'd been seeing it on g abig screen in dark room rather than on a somewhat fuzzy screen mirroring on my tv from my laptop with my name printed across the screen.
Joseph and Nathaniel -- While I love the experience of watching a film in the theatre, I've long grown used to experiencing cinematic greatness away from big screens. Unfortunately, a lot of great films never get to Portuguese cinemas. CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME, for instance, went straight to DVD and TV - I never got to watch it big but I could still be enveloped by its wonder.
Sometimes, I wish I could live in a place like New York and have access to most films on the big screen, but I don't, and my love for cinema developed around and through those handicaps. I sometimes feel really down when people keep on insisting that it's impossible to truly experience a movie unless you see it on the big screen with an audience. That's often out of my possibility and apart from some titles screened at Lisbon's Cinemateque, it's not like I can enjoy classics on the big screen. Does that mean one can never know the quality of a film?
I'm sorry if these words sound invalidating of your very honest struggle to enjoy cinema from home. I'm just being painfully sincere and expressing how sometimes those words about everything that's not a giant theatre screen being "lesser than" really makes me feel "like a lesser" than cinephile. As the top ten season arrives, I thought it appropriate to say that I still saw a lot of great cinema in 2020 and, like every year, a lot of that cinema was seen at home. I don't think that makes my (or any other person's) eventual top 10 any less valid because of it or needing on an asterisk mentioning the "elephant in the room".
On another, very different note, BUTT BOY and WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE! are quite inventive pieces of shocking cinema, bloody provocations with great formal technique and a twisted sense of humor. I didn't enjoy them but do appreciate the craft and the willingness to go beyond bad taste.
It's not that cinema can't be enjoyed from home, but when that's literally your only option for months on end, it grows awfully wearying. And surely, there have been films you've thought benefited tremendously from being seen in a theater, no? It's hard to deny the difference, from a phenomenological point of view.
Jonathan -- I'm not denying that it's wearisome to be stuck at home, prevented from experiencing the wonder of cinema on the big screen or any other performing art happening outside the home. However, these conversations often seem to invalidate or deny that one can truly enjoy a film seeing it at home. I know that's not the intention of Nathaniel, of Joseph, or you, but I thought it appropriate to express my conflicting, sometimes painful, feelings about this subject. Another perspective is always good, I feel.
Some films have benefited from theatre watching in my life. That's undeniable. Some have been hurt by it too, mostly because of faulty technology, bad prints, and disruptive audiences. Some have genuinely benefited from the intimacy of a screening at home too.
I've never had the pleasure of watching most of Ingmar Bergman's films on the big screen, but I readily say he's one of my favorite filmmakers. My love for his films isn't dependent on watching them on the big screen, and it isn't invalidated or lesser than because of it. This is probably and mostly my problems with self-esteem and self-worth, but I feel the need to say that I'm not a lesser than cinema lover or Bergman fan because of such limitations.
My intention in writing this wasn't to deny the grandness of the theatre experience or to say it's worthless. That's pointedly false. It's just not the be all end all of appreciating cinema as it sometimes feels like when reading "conversations" like these ones. Also, some people legitimately can't and don't have access to any sort of big-screen experience for a myriad of reasons and must watch movies at home. To indirectly proclaim they'll never fully enjoy a film's merits comes off as sad to me, a bit unfair.
I'm sorry. Sometimes I'm too consumed by my own feelings and vomit these wordy, slightly incoherent, texts unto my keyboard. As said before, I'm just trying to express another perspective, not to say you're wrong for praising the act of watching movies with an audience on the big screen.
Claudio -- i understand what you're saying but trust in the example i used that you would have felt the same. I am honestly shocked that filmmakers are okay with their films being shown the way they often have been this year to critics (i'm not talking about digitally -- that's necessary during quarantine -- i'm talking about how fuzzy some of the technology is and how disruptive some of the watermarking is to prevent piracy. I felt SO BAD for riz ahmed (and myself) while watching Sound of Metal. Because for some of his closeups i couldn't really see the acting because they had chosen to put the watermark in the middle of the screen so i was staring at my own name when for the dramatic impact of his scene i needed to be revelling in his face.
i understand that not everyone has access regularly to big screens as we do (or, rather, did) in NYC but that doesn't mean I can't wish that everyone had that pleasure, rather than denying to myself that it is the most pleasurable way to watch movies (speaking generally of course. some movies do just fine on the small screen)
one reason i love going to festivals is specifically the experience of watching art films hat will NEVER play on big screens (even in NYC or LA) except at festivals. I will never forget watching Roy Andersson's "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" on a behemoth screen in Toronto with a packed house and everyone roaring with laughter. Even in big cities you only really get that experience, outside of the surreal world of film festivals, with action blockbusters or animated films. If i had my way even art films would show on IMAX ;)
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Claudio -- Thanks for your thoughtful response. It is a good reminder that not everyone like me lives in NYC and would normally have access to the theater experience for practically every movie that gets a proper release.
But still, surely we can acknowledge movies that play well in theaters don't necessarily play well at home? I'm not trying to take away the experience for those who don't have the opportunity to go to the theater, but it does seem to me an obvious point, and yet I read all these top 10 lists and rank and file critics keep saying, "They still released great movies this year, it's just a matter of finding them."
Like, maybe, but I tried to stream a lot of these films at home (First Cow, Mank, Beanpole come to mind) and I couldn't get into them. What sucks is that I know if I watched them in a dark, distraction-free theater, where I was FORCED to be quiet, keep my phone away, and pay attention, I would have no choice but sit through the boring, slow, challenging parts, and by the end, I'd probably be rewarded for my patience and end up appreciating the movies.
I just worry that the challenging films are going to suffer the most in a streaming world, because these are the ones best appreciated in a theater. Of course, 'The Dark Knight' is also best appreciated in a theater, but that airs on TBS all the time and it's one of the most rewatchable recent movies. It plays just fine at home. I don't think you can say the same for these challenging films that require the viewer to put in a little work to appreciate them.
For example, I can't tell you how many people I know streamed 'Roma' on Netflix and turned it off after 15 minutes, and then claimed it was overrated pretentious nonsense. They aren't stupid or intellectually inferior. It's just that a film like 'Roma' is best appreciated in a theater.
I think the same can probably apply to 'First Cow' and 'Mank' and 'Beanpole.' And maybe I'm just annoyed that right now, due to COVID-19, my only option to see these films are streaming at home, and I know that will make for a lesser experience, and I know that potentially great cinematic experiences that could have made the year special and memorable will now blur and become just more content I streamed.