Legend Of The Ten Zings - the 2021 ILX Film Poll Results Thread

https://i.imgur.com/IaRQXwS.jpg

Twenty-six voters. One hundred and seventy-seven films. A second year indoors, but at least cinemas were open for part of it.

No shorts.

No youtubes.

Multiple docos.

woo!

This is an outrage

157 films received votes. Only one comic-book-movie placed.

― dark end of the st. maud (sic), Wednesday, December 15, 2021 2:54 AM (one month ago)

One too many obv

― Max Hamburgers (Eric H.), Wednesday, December 15, 2021 3:42 AM (one month ago)

https://i.imgur.com/wG5O30m.jpg

49= Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
w/d: Radu Jude
RO 2021, fiction / collage / essay
63 points, 2 votes

https://i.imgur.com/wG5O30m.jpg

So disappointed in this not making #1 that I messed up the first post.

In fact, why don't you all go over to forks' ILM rollout and think about what you've done.

Hated this. Ultimately threw it a vote. It’s that kind of year/world.

My estimation of it skyrocketed after seeing Dont Look Up, more or less

Not ready to watch a movie where everyone's wearing masks yet. I might not ever be.

Gotta say, rolling out one result and then peacing for 3+ hours is p funny

Bad luck posting, or loony poll'n.

Not ready to watch a movie where everyone's wearing masks yet. I might not ever be.

― Les hommes de bonbons (cryptosicko)

I wouldn't watch the last 15 mins of Drive My Car!

bad, smug film but worst crime might be being insufferably unfunny.

Gotta say, rolling out one result and then peacing for 3+ hours is p funny the way all rollouts should be done

yeh big fan <3

oh i forgot to vote for this, which means that 'pig' prob won't get the #1 spot like it deserves

*vote in this poll

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn is not a title that makes me hopeful I will like it

finally got a MUBI subscription and watched Days after submitting my ballot, would have put it high on my list

slow roll, i like it

damn, just realized i forgot to vote for pig

you swine

Not ready to watch a movie where everyone's wearing masks yet. I might not ever be.

there go Scream 5’s chances in the 2022 poll

alright, everyone but cryptosicko can have the other half

Bad luck bangin was top five for me

https://i.imgur.com/IRkMJIU.jpg

49= C'mon C'mon
w/d: Mike Mills
USA 2021, digital grey
63 points, 3 votes

ew

I warmed to him after a second viewing of 20th Century Women, but he's too cute for me.

really good movie if you’re not allergic to it like alfred

So you weren't bored with the kid and their interactions? It played like a less quippy Kramer vs. Kramer.

Phoenix's phone relationship with his sister was well done, though.

i found 20th c women a little precious and the subject matter of C'mon C'mon sounds ripe for treacle so it was a skip for me

i thought the kid was really good and the film was among other things a loving observation about how fucked up growing up is

as someone who feels undue guilt when i get frustrated with my cats i loved phoenix dealing with guilt over having yelled at the kid and discussing it with his mom (which i guess plays to your point)

it is a little precious but i didn't really find it overwhelmingly so. i like mills' work generally though

there were a lot of things, for instance the candid irl interviews with the kids as a framing device, that had to grow on me over the course of the film, but they did

it was also my girlfriend's favorite movie of the year but pretty much all of the family stuff hit directly home for her

finally saw the safdies' daddy longlegs and that was my man who isn't a natural father figure cares for children movie of 2021

https://i.imgur.com/oFdi0W6.jpg

that's the stuff

oh I'm sorry, I'll read that again

https://i.imgur.com/JBHEf3G.jpg

48. Gunda
w: Viktor Kosakovskiy, Ainara Vera d: Kosakovskiy
NO 2020, pig doco
64 points, 2 votes, 1 #1

sic on some jokerfied poller runner shit

thought i hadn't heard of Gunda but it's on my watchlist apparently

joker will take three slots on this countdown, at least

you people!

https://i.imgur.com/VGZuYTH.jpg

47. The Beach That Makes You Old
w: M. Night Shyamalan after Lévy & Peeters d: Shyamalan
USA 2021, Super 35 3-perf
66 points, 3 votes

lol

did people like this one? or did they vote for the lolz?

I liked its po-faced absurdity, my first Shyamalan flick in years.

I liked the part where Benedict Cumberbatch went to the beach that makes you old

"Ohhhh....that's where this has been headed."

Yeah, that's how I reacted too. Tonally, it made sense because the mood of the film is odd and doesn't obviously fit the various genres it seems to flirt with — until the end.

I've never met a person who does

lol my wife was in the sherlock fandom so I can assure you that there are legions of straight millenial women with very strong feelings on this matter

The Velvet Underground and Warhol and those few years are so endlessly interesting, _The Velvet Underground_ was my #1 and I thought it could have been better (I like the Warhol American Masters better, for instance).

saw this year, #20 is shameful as in youse should all be ashamed

I'd say the Matrix suffered as much as anything from the weird situation where there's films in cinemas but people are maybe not entirely comfortable going to see them? I might be misremembering but isn't February a little early for the poll, even in normal circumstances?

The Piano 2 Acoustic Boogaloo was my #1. I confess that the only non-english-language film I saw from 2021 was Eva 3+1. Nothing's on the streaming services yet.

M4trix had a simultaneous release on HBO Max, thanks to our beloved parent company, Warner Brothers.

Sure, but it's a film worth seeing in the cinema, is what I was getting at.

40. The Worst Person in the World (Verdens verste menneske)
w/d: Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt d: Trier
NO 2021, Super 35 3-perf
80 points, 3 votes

I finally was able to see this in Washington, DC. How dare the filmmakers use my name? And my life story...okay, not my literal biography, but damn it hit close to home.

I didn't vote in this poll. Not because I forgot, but I remember looking at my Letterboxd stats for 2021 and thinking "Meh."

Watched Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched off Kanopy. Experienced a bit of overload the last 30 minutes, but held my attention most of the way. Reminded me of L.A. Plays Itself, or The Story of Film: kept thinking "That looks great" and "Have to see that" (notwithstanding that culling a great looking and atmospheric 10 second clip from an otherwise mediocre horror film is probably easier than with any other genre). I'm sure it's close to exhaustive, but one thing I thought would have fit perfectly into the Southern Gothic section was a clip from the first season of True Detective.

BUBBLING UNDER:

52. The Kid Detective (Morgan, 61 points from two votes; ranked #18 with 54 points from 3 votes in 2020. Would rank =27 on combined votes.)

53. Judas And The Black Messiah (Hampton, 59 points from 4 votes)

54. The Suicide Squad (Gunn, 58 points from 3 votes)

58. Venom 2: Carnage 1 (Zeck, 56 points from 3 votes)

62. Wrath Of Man (Ritchie, 51 points from 3 votes)

63. Luca (Pixar, 50 points from 3 votes)

Would be cool to see a combined 2020/2021 list to see how those films which fall between two stools are ranked.

the worst person in the world more like the best movie in the world

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Friday, January 21, 2022 7:40 AM (four weeks ago)

would have ranked ten places higher if it had come out here earlier

Just got the chance to see Drive My Car yesterday, certainly would have voted for it and nudged it a bit higher. It's funny how you could write an accurate synopsis of it that would make it sound both ridiculous and drippy, but it plays its dramatic beats so gently that they don't hit like that.

the ones i've seen:

the worst person in the world - not what i was expecting, especially the last chunk of the movie. very well acted but still not sure how much i liked it.
another round - this was fine but didn't really do anything interesting with the premise. i do think the dance at the very end boosts it by leaving you with the best part of the movie fresh in your mind.
no sudden move - cheadle and seimitz were very good, otherwise this was also just fine.
the last duel - i loved this. not subtle at all but it's not really a topic that requires subtlety. incredible action scenes.
bergman island - just saw this, half-expecting to be bored by it, but i loved it. so dreamy and subtle but weirder than you might expect.
malignant - pretty fun
memoria - i liked this a lot and i'm glad they're doing the traveling roadshow thing because i can't imagine being able to give this as much concentration as it demands at home
the matrix resurrections - as someone who is not super-invested in the matrix, i'm glad they went goofy with this one.
tragedy of macbeth - the weird sisters were awesome, i was into the style of it. i know nothing about shakespearean acting but i didn't think washington or macdormand were particularly good in this.
sparks bros - some fun stuff but just too fucking long
the green knight - fucking ruled, need to rewatch it high
barb & star - amazing, the only movie on here i've seen twice
dune - pretty badass. villeneuve's thing works for me, embarrassingly
licorice pizza - weird mishmosh of a movie, some stuff that works really well (primarily the character of alana), a lot of stuff that doesn't
summer of soul - take out everything that wasn't the historical footage and this would've been an A+
velvet underground - i appreciate this as an attempt to make a unique rockumentary. pretty good
pig - not the third best movie of the year but totally enjoyable.
titane - one of those movies i respected more than liked. fiercely original but tbh i think i am too normie for it. the various dance scenes were my favorite parts
power of the dog - i'm not as sold on the performances (outside of smitt-mcphee) as all the awards-givers seem to be, but i appreciate campion's consistent ability to make movies that keep you guessing about where they're going

there's still a lot of stuff i haven't seen yet but i'd probably put bergman island, the green knight, and barb & star as my top 3 of the year.

was peter jackson's get back not eligible?

Get Back received two votes and 49 points.

One thing about The Worst Person in the World, which I saw today (theatre close to half-full--pretty good, I'd say): the scene where Julie visits Aksel in the hospital, Aksel's long monologue about the way he has always organized his life, and how all of that--all the things he ever cared about, and all the things he's collected--is gone. It was, from my perspective, incredibly eloquent, and so word-perfect in describing my own life that, as moved as I was, I also immediately thought "Am I that much of a cliché that Joachim Trier can lay out every last detail of where I am at this precise moment?" I don't know if he (or his co-writer, Eskil Vogt) took that from his own life, or if he's just spent his life around a lot of people like that. The former, I'd like to think, but I wouldn't doubt that it's the latter.

the depiction of aksel is nearly as precise and careful as julie's; he's allowed to be insufferable about his cartoon cat's asshole and also have unusual artistic insight into life and death. he's not a mere asshole or out-of-touch gen xer, even though there are shards of these concepts embedded in him, a great contrast with julie's both specific and general millennial directionlessness

best walking through a city scenes 2021

Totally voting that like top ONE 2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVDjrTWdCm4 btw yeahyeah this is 2 and a half hours long, but why did I put this number one? Kinda this. Fuck my nose is bleeding

need to poll flaneur movies

Aksel's radio interview was really good too--of course thought of Robert Crumb. The one thing I found cheesy was Julie's acid trip: even Mad Men did that better. What was the glammy, Bowie-sounding song halfway through the film? I can't figure out from scanning titles on Tunefind.

i liked the mushroom trip scene, it wasn’t as accurate as midsommar but it gets the gist through imagery, which is that mushrooms at a certain dose will take you through immersion therapy

Todd Rudgren?

That was my first thought, but that's not it. Here, it's used in the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwPR9UeRy4Q

I googled a lyric--Harry Nilsson!

only 2 votes for get back is weird to me. i know the form and subject matter are maybe not popular with the ilx film crew but it's a better movie than a lot of the stuff that made it.

It made my list.

It was my #4

Check the TV poll when it goes up.

Yeah, was gonna say, would've never thought of thinking of it as a movie.

I would have given The White Lotus the benefit of the doubt this last year; not so much Get Back.

as far as medieval tales go, thought The Green Knight was more interesting than The Last Duel

can we discuss The Souvenir Pt II, not its prequel?

Went to see this yesterday. Her breaking that pot is my fave jump scare of 2021.

Was the "experimental" bit towards the end her actual student film? Looks terrible if so, but I guess that's fair for a student film.

She's great with the needledrops.

if I can only catch one, should I see Drive My Car or Memoria?

Where is Memoria playing? The fact that I have to ask may give you your answer.

I'm in London, and it's playing at both ICA and Close Up, which is weird because I thought the concept was to only have it play at one place?

They seem to have abandoned or badly screwed up the concept, at least as it was originally described. If you can see it now I’d do it right away.

I think it’s only the US distributor that was doing that in the end?

Maybe. It’s only played in 2 total theaters here as far as I can tell, so they’re not even doing that.

i haven't seen DMC yet, but i feel like the ease of seeing that at some future point is way more guaranteed than Memoria. Memoria is also very much a set of painting as much as it is a series of scenes, so i am glad to have seen it very very big. it didn't blow me away exactly, but it was a distinct experience and one which i dug.

"i haven't seen DMC yet, but i feel like the ease of seeing that at some future point is way more guaranteed than Memoria."

agree. at least in the US, Drive My Car will be on HBO starting March 2nd. there's no telling when Memoria will ever be available to be seen

As someone who's seen Memoria twice and Drive My Car not at all I'm confident in saying Memoria. Not least because it genuinely wouldn't make sense outside of a theatre on anything but the most immersive home entertainment system

Finally caught up with The Worst Person in the World at Lincoln Center the other day, although I guess now you can pay to stream it as well. I happened to glance at Richard Brody's review a little too soon after my viewing. He hated it, except for the lead performance. I can see what he is saying, maybe some of it was a little slick or glib or whatever, but there was still some kind of sweetness and melancholy that really came through for me. Elegiac might be the word I want. In its mood it reminded of certain post-Nouvelle Vague films by Jean Eustache and Alain Tanner.

Also thinking that I was inclined to want to not like Aksel and then be wary of being manipulated into liking him later on, but ultimately I think he was a sympathetic character. Tricky to make that work. Now I think I want to see the earlier two films of the trilogy with him in them.

Saw it recently too. Brody's review made some good points but mostly commented on all of the intellectually promising roads it left out or could have taken. I thought the film's portrayal of her shallowness and rootlessness - and her eventual nascent growth - was what was interesting.

Anders Danielson Lie was good in all three films

What Do We See When We Look At the Sky? is a long and meandering film centered on a magical realist tale of love in Kutaisi, Georgia, but it consists mostly of digressions involving the surrounding ordinary lives, their circumstances, and images of the city, diversions that you eventually see are the real focus of the film

Had no recollection of initiating, collating, tallying, preparing, or rolling out this poll, so just read through the entire thread. It's a classic! A pointless moan about procedure at the start, some surprises in the reveals, lots of good & earnest discussion, speculation about upcoming films long after they've placed, and I laughed at two of my own visual jokes.

Anyway, voting is open for THE 2022 ILX FILM POLL, now that everyone's had time to cross off their watchlists.

(apreeshed Whiney appreeshing two of my indica jokes, too.)

there isn't that i can find a thread for green knight which im watching again at home this evening and so ill say it here- i think it the best film ever made