I hope my readers will accept my apologies, for disappearing from this space for almost nine months, without even bothering to drop by to post an explanation. The explanation is, of course, that I've been busy and distracted. 2011 has been an exciting year for me.
Easily the most interesting of the many distractions that have kept me away from this blog, for the better part of the year, was, spending several months preparing to do a serious piece of screen acting, in a show that started shooting in October. Words cannot express how deeply honored I am to be appearing in the new James VanBebber movie GATOR GREEN. Anyone who's talked with me about movies, any time in the last several years, knows that Jim is one of my heroes, because I can't discuss the current state of the art, without asserting my opinion that James VanBebber's second feature THE MANSON FAMILY is the best underground/regional movie ever made. I've been one of the many fans eagerly awaiting Jim's next project, and I could not be more proud of being the right man, in the right place, at the right time, to become a part of that project, as a cast member. I could not be more thankful for the opportunity to work with Jim, as an actor; Jim's writing a hell of a character for me to play, and though, as of this writing, I haven't yet seen the stuff we shot in October, I hear I did good.
I guess I should say, before abandoning the subject, that although I'm closely involved with GATOR GREEN, this blog will not become the best place to watch for news, as GATOR GREEN slouches toward completion, nor will it be the first original source for information about any other movies I may happen to take up helping to make. I'm not particularly interested in blogging about my work as a filmmaker, while I'm doing it; if I do, somehow, become more interested, I'll take that up on another blog, somewhere, one that does not yet exist. Though I may mention GATOR GREEN, or other cinematic works-in-progress, in this space, this space exists for me to play the movie critic, in it, and I cannot imagine that I'll cease to try hard to keep this space focused on that writerly "mission." There are, I'm sure, already better pages to keep an eye on, to keep track of Jim VanBebber's progress, than this one, and most likely, there always will be.
(By the way: I'm not now, nor have I ever yet been, posting images or links, on this blog, because I'm too paranoid about the shifting state of the law, pertaining to the posting of borrowed images or links to other pages, to indulge myself, at all. But if anyone reading this wants to go ahead and append relevant links, in the comments section, I think that for now, I can convince myself to pretend that I believe I'm not legally responsible for that "content.")
Because I now have something like two to four weeks, in which to close the subject of The Best Movies I Saw 2009-2011, I'm going to tighten up the (remaining) list, to 39 titles (that's 13 per year, which is how I was doing it before 2009, anyway - I chose 13 movies a year, rather than the traditional 10, because 10 seems to me to be, in this context, an arbitrary number, and 13 is another arbitrary number, pretty close by, that I happen to like better). I'm also going to try to restrain the wordage per title, to some smaller number than what I was blowing on each movie, back in February and March, but, you know, on the subject of limiting word counts, given that I'm the only editor around here, I hesitate to commit myself. I will try to remain committed to blogging at least once a week, and hope I can get through this list in time to "do" a 2012 list about when all the other movie critics do their 2012 "best of" lists. (Don't laugh. I really will try.)
Okay, so here they are, now, clearly ranked and numbered - the 39 BEST MOVIES I SAW, 2009 TO 2011:
39: TARKA THE OTTER (1979) is a remarkably beautiful wildlife movie as narrative drama, that ought to be more widely known and seen. But TARKA THE OTTER has been almost completely forgotten, because while it carries itself, for the most part, like a "family" movie, TARKA sells its BAMBIesque anti-hunting theme, in part, by using imagery so gruesme, that most American parents would be loathe to share it with anyone's children. Hell, this material will disturb most adults: picture, if you will, if BAMBI had been a live action movie, shot like a documentary, using wild and trained animals as actors - this is, in fact, a pretty good thumbnail description of TARKA THE OTTER (which, like BAMBI, is based on a minor literary classic). Now imagine that this "live action BAMBI" includes, not just a frightening hunt sequence that ends with the title character's mother dead, but also, that the sequence includes several lingering shots of the mother's corpse, hanging by its feet, dripping blood, while dramatic music plays, and the animal "lead actor" looks on, whimpering in horror. Now you have an accurate, unexaggerated idea, of where TARKA THE OTTER dares to go. (Seriously - I'm not kidding. Go check out the IMDb users' comments on TARKA THE OTTER; you'll find that most of their authors are there, mostly to express shock and outrage over the portrayal of Tarka's mother's death.) This is not to say that this content is in what I'd say is, generally speaking, bad taste; if you appreciate animal stories, that do not refrain from portraying violence in a straightforward naturalistic fashion, I strongly recommend that you seek out TARKA THE OTTER, as it is the live action close cousin to the animated classics WATERSHIP DOWN and THE PLAGUE DOGS (with which it would make a terrific, if somewhat depressing, double feature). Also, if you're really impressed by movies that use a clever combination of training and trickery to turn various animals into creditable "stars" for use in structured narrative storytelling, you really need to see TARKA THE OTTER; I've never seen another movie of this type, deploy more animals as cast members, counted as individuals or as species, in a narrative so formally complex. It rivals or outshines every established classic in this area, including THE BEAR, which tends to ne the acknowledged masterpiece among fans of animal "acting," (when I can find them, outside my own family, which doesn't happen often).
Okay: I intend to take up this subject, in this space, with #38, in about a week. Wish me luck...!
Good luck. Now get to it. ;-p
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