Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 12, 2008 at 04:51 PM
An exceptionally well-cut tribute to the best 2007 dramas from Matt Shapiro, who regularly posts at http://www.worldofkj.com. The genius stroke is the use of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova's "Falling Slowly" as the "score." Notice Shapiro's choice of just the right cuts to accentuate the song's final four chords. One error: using a line of Juno dialogue at the very end. It messes with the mood.

Last updated: October 3, 2007
Obviously I'm light in several categories.
Suggestions and disputations are welcome.
BEST PICTURE: Australia (20th Century Fox), The Argentine (Focus Features), Guerilla (Focus Features), Milk (Focus Features), Seven Pounds (Sony), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount/Warner Bros.), The Soloist (DreamWorks), Body of Lies (Warner Bros.), Revolutionary Road (Paramount Vantage/DreamWorks), The Changeling (Universal Pictures), Frost/Nixon (Universal), Doubt (Miramax), Blindness (Universal Pictures), Defiance (Paramount Vantage), The Duchess (Paramount Vantage), Valkyrie (MGM-UA), The Reader (Weinstein Co.)
BEST DIRECTOR: Fernando Meirelles (Blindness), David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon), Brian Singer (Valkyrie), Baz Luhrmann (Australia), Steven Soderbergh (The Argentine and Guerilla), Gus Van Sant (Milk), Gabriele Muccino (Seven Pounds), Joe Wright (The Soloist), Ridley Scott (Body of Lies), Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road), Clint Eastwood (Changeling), John Patrick Shanley (Doubt), Edward Zwick (Defiance), Saul Dibb (The Duchess), Stephen Daldry (The Reader)
BEST ACTOR: Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road), Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Ralph Fiennes (The Duchess), Hugh Jackman (Australia), Tom Cruise (Valkyrie), Harrison Ford (Crossing Over), Sean Penn (Milk), James Franco (Pineapple Express), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Synecdoche, New York), Heath Ledger (Dark Knight), Will Smith (Seven Pounds), Jamie Foxx (The Soloist)
BEST ACTRESS: Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Keira Knightley (The Duchess), Nicole Kidman (Australia)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Leiv Schreiber (Defiance), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), John Malkovich (Changeling and Burn After Reading), Bill Nighy (Valkyrie), Robert Downey Jr. (The Soloist), Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic thunder), James Franco (The Pineapple Express), Alan Alda (Nothing But the Truth)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Meryl Streep (Doubt), Amy Adams (Doubt), Vera Farmiga (Nothing But the Truth)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who (20th Century Fox)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Peter Straughan (How to Lose Friends and Alienate People)
SPECIAL EFFECTS: Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Michelle discovers a couple of comedy films thanks to the power of Netflix.
Adam joins the Elsewhere crew from the Windy City and hits the ground running this week.
July 2
July 3
July 4
Diminished Capacity
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson
We are Together
July 9
July 11
August
Eight Miles High
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
July 18
A Very British Gangster
Before I Forget
Felon
Lou Reed's Berlin
Transsiberian
July 22
July 23
Comments
I agree with that assessment Jeff. I was getting swept away by the song and the images, but then the Juno dialogue at the end kinda killed it.
Nice video, but I wish it featured a few shots of 4 MONTHS, BOURNE ULTIMATUM, and THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE. At least LUST, CAUTION and ZODIAC made brief appearances.
Posted by: NDH
at
January 12, 2008 05:48 PM
Pretty damn cool. Glad he stuck Sunshine in there. But it just makes me sorry I missed Michael Clayton, Darjeeling Limited, and a few others.
Posted by: Joel
at
January 12, 2008 05:57 PM
Yeah, I'm nitpicky, but I would have liked to see clips of CONTROL and THIS IS ENGLAND in there too.
Otherwise, that was beautiful.
Posted by: The Hoyk
at
January 12, 2008 06:17 PM
Wow, that was fucking awesome...thanks Wells...just got back from seeing Charlie Wilson (LOVED it) and it was nice to see it included. This video reminds me of how amazing 2007 was and how it was probably the best of year of my life in terms of going to the movie theater. And now of course, after trying to get that song from Once out of my head for the last few months, it's now back in there! I gotta see There Will Be Blood again on the big screen.
Posted by: actionman
at
January 12, 2008 06:36 PM
am i really the only one who found this (and all other things jeff posts of its ilk) to be utterly worthless? moreover, i hardly believe it to be "exceptionally cut" just because he matched a few explosions. would have been far more effective if it were cut thematically rather than for the occasional aesthetic match, and the juno quote at the end suggesting that all of these films were somehow connected but the sentiment therein expressed... is patently ridiculous. wow, i don't know why i'm so grumpy about this, the rangers won tonight and everything...
Posted by: Aguirre
at
January 12, 2008 06:55 PM
It's not just you, Aguirre; I dunno, the idea that someone could take scenes from the worst and the best films of the year and intercut them into some flat faux-middlebrow "epiphany" is depressing in a way that I don't even want to fully own up to...
Posted by: Glenn Kenny
at
January 12, 2008 07:31 PM
That song is so gorgeous that I think you could set it to footage of someone washing their car and it would seem poignant and touching.
Not a bad little thing but I guess I don't expect to see clips from Knocked Up and Ratatouille in a short titled "A Year for Dramas". Not that they don't have dramatic moments, I guess...
Posted by: Zac Bertschy
at
January 12, 2008 07:33 PM
I guess this guy really liked sunshine and across the universe.
Posted by: insidah
at
January 12, 2008 08:14 PM
Hey Glenn...what's wrong with being reminded of how great a year it was at the movies? That's what this clip package did.
Insidah--Sunshine is flawed but excellent throughout much of its run time. I am sad I missed Across the Universe on the big screen
Posted by: actionman
at
January 12, 2008 09:56 PM
Yes, and in 9-10 months, HBO could just rip this wholecloth and use it as their preview for movies coming in December.
But at the same time, I have a profound and inexplicable weakness for HBO's snappy little promos.
Posted by: MickTravis
at
January 13, 2008 12:08 AM
But to play devil's advocate ... some of the clips do lose something if you know the context in which they occur.
Chigurh drawing antibiotics into a syringe, for example, looks awful dramatic but if you know the movie, it's kinda hard to see that in the heroic context that the music implies.
Posted by: MickTravis
at
January 13, 2008 12:13 AM
Zac: "That song is so gorgeous that I think you could set it to footage of someone washing their car and it would seem poignant and touching."
OK, that notion seems to be worth testing out...though please forgive me for neither using a car wash nor starting at the lion's third roar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPUz2R0F9C8
Posted by: Major Calloway
at
January 13, 2008 02:33 AM
Are you automatically seen as too low- or highbrow if you think that song is a derivative tweeinie-pop-mixed-with-dad-folk piece of crap? Nice images, but the music is like nails on a blackborad. Was going to see Once, but seriously... THIS is the "great" music we have been hearing about for months?
Posted by: MAGGA
at
January 13, 2008 05:29 AM
MAGGA,
Whatever. The music on the ONCE soundtrack is gorgeous and heartfelt (though I actually like IF YOU WANT ME and LIES almost better than FALLING SLOWLY, and Glen Hansard has been my top-secret boyfriend ever since I first saw this film. Derivative tweenie-pop? What crap. And Jeff, I must say, I'm impressed that you appreciate this song.
It's not often a movie moves me to tears, much less a song, and I cried my eyes out throughout this film (although admittedly, it hit a chord for personal reasons).
Posted by: Kim Voynar
at
January 13, 2008 07:16 AM
That song gets old really fast. During his best years (70-75) John Martyn could've written a better song while comatose. Sounds like Cat Stevens singing a song from Al Kooper's score for THE LANDLORD. I did enjoy the movie, though, except for the scene halfway through when he sings to his laptop. They should've cut that scene out.
Posted by: George Prager
at
January 13, 2008 10:42 AM
I agree with George...the song is like very rich chocolate...
I wondered throughout 'Once' if Hansard is a bastard child of Cat Stevens...at times the similarity is uncanny...
...as for the clip posted here, I thought the transitions were done too quickly and rotely (with EVERY beat of the song) and didn't find anything exceptional about them. Wells characterized this as a tribute to the "best" dramas...that's hard to support, more likely just movies this guy liked.
Posted by: delbomber
at
January 13, 2008 11:48 AM
I saw this movie with some like-minded people who enjoy the kind of music that is featured in this movie and we agreed that it had too much music in it. I think this is one of the reasons why it never took off the way people want it to take off. After a while you get exhausted by it. And a lot of chicks just don't dig guys with beards.
Posted by: George Prager
at
January 13, 2008 12:58 PM
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