Pretty much every movie related website on the Internet has come up with some sort of Best of the Decade list over the past month. But while the majority of them focused on straight up “Best of” lists featuring relatively well known films, I figured in the spirit of this website that I would instead focus on the lesser known films that have been made over the past ten years.
But one question I had to figure out was just how should I whittle down films as “Long Tail” films. Plenty of films started out as smaller films that eventually found their audience, while there is certainly a fair share of films that were initially given a wide release. So I decided I would use two different determining factors to help figure out which films would be considered part of the long tail.
The first is the amount of screens the film was released on during its theatrical run here in the US. I decided to go with a relatively small number of screens as the ceiling (100 at the films widest release) and that any film that broke that would simply be dismissed. This number essentially acts as the films initial chance to gain potential viewers. Films eliminated by this include The Proposition (158 screens), City of God (242 screens) and The Triplets of Bellville (463 screens).
Secondly I went off of reviews on IMDb.com. Once again I selected a fairly small number of reviews as the ceiling (no more than 10K). This number reflects the film’s total audience, as the films that are more popular with mainstream audiences, or those that have rabid fan followings, typically break that number quite easily. Film eliminated by this number include such seemingly smaller films like Oldboy (28 screens, 87016 votes), Dead Man’s Shoes (2 screens, 16286 votes) and Let the Right One In (53 screens, 45413 votes).
While still far from a perfect system, this seemed to work pretty well in eliminating a fairly large chunk of lesser known films, making it a far more manageable task for me to select some of my favorites from what remained. One interesting note, this process seemed to favor documentaries as twelve ended up making the list. So while the quality of documentaries has grown throughout the decade, it still seems like the form still has a ways to go to capture the public’s attention.
And without further ado, I give you this decades 30 Best Long Tail Films.
Some shuffling of the schedule again as a few moves have their release dtaes pushed to help make room. You should expect this for the remainder of the year at the very least, as their are simply too many strong releases and not enough screens. Don’t be surprised if a few interesting films end up falling off completely as well. Hopefully some of the other Independent theatres in town will snag them.
A couple of documentaries make the booking sheet this week, with We Live in Public being the most well known of the two. But the big addition is clearly the Amelia Earhart bio-pic Amelia, starring Hilary Swank, that will open on October 23rd.
But while that is the marquee addition, the one I am most anticipating is the re-release of the Akira Kurosawa classic, Rashomon, on February 12th of next year. This will be a brand new print, and as Kurosawa is one of my favorite directors, this will be a must see event. Hopefully it will be for you as well.
*** – Denotes recommended viewing
All dates subject to change
09/09 9 Lagoon ***
09/11 The Baader Meinhof Complex Uptown
09/11 Afghan Star Lagoon (NEW DATE)
09/11 The World’s Greatest Dad Lagoon (NEW DATE) ***
09/11 Captain Abu Raed Lagoon/Edina
09/11 Play the Game Edina (tentative)
09/11 The September Issue Edina
09/18 Bright Star Uptown
09/18 The Informant! Lagoon***
09/18 It Might Get Loud Lagoon
09/18 The Beaches of Agnes Edina
09/25 Burning Plain Uptown (tentative)
09/25 Somers Town Lagoon***
09/25 Thirst Lagoon (NEW DATE)***
09/25 Paris Edina
09/25 The Other Man Edina (tentative)
10/02 A Serious Man Uptown***
10/02 Capitalism: A Love Story Lagoon
10/02 No Impact Man Lagoon
10/02 Flame & Citron Edina
10/09 Earth Days Lagoon
10/09 The Boys Are Back Edina
10/09 Amreeka Edina
10/09 Unmistaken Child Lagoon (NEW)
10/16 Still Walking Lagoon
10/16 Coco Before Chanel Edina
10/16 More Than A Game Lagoon
10/16 The Road Edina***
10/23 An Education Uptown
10/23 The Horse Boy Lagoon
10/23 Damned United Lagoon
10/23 Amelia Lagoon (NEW)
10/30 Canyon Lagoon
10/30 New York, I Love You Lagoon
10/30 Skin Edina
11/06 Antichrist Uptown
11/13 Crude Lagoon
11/13 Young Victoria Edina
11/20 We Live in Public Lagoon (NEW)
11/20 Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire Lagoon (NEW DATE)
11/27 RED CLIFF Uptown
11/27 Oh My God? Lagoon
11/27 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Lagoon
12/11 William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe Lagoon
Just got back from a screening of The Cove and I have to admit I didn’t have very high hopes for the film going in. The film was being marketed pretty heavily as a blatant message movie, and I worried that it would be far too much message and not enough movie, and I am happy to report the film struck a an excellent balance.
Showing that it is following in the footsteps of Man On Wire, The Cove immediately sets itself up as a heist film with an opening scene that sets up the crimes the team must commit to simply get some video footage of the small cove where dolphins are being slaughtered in the small fishing town of Taijii, Japan. But rather then focus solely on this element, The Cove rather deftly alternates between explaining the backstory of how the world dolphin trade originated, currents efforts to curb it, and the activists planning their secret mission.
Eschewing the standard talking head format, The Cove also manages to educate as well as entertain through a series of interviews, clips and bureaucratic International conference meetings that should be boring, yet are both infuriating and captivating. Spliced in-between these are the carefully designed and carried out plans to secretly video tape The Cove.
And while all the evidence, data and angry activism makes for a compelling case, none compares to the video evidence that is eventually gathered that shows the actual dolphin herd being slaughtered for consumption. That a group of people must go to such lengths to record these events is not surprising, as the slaughter is stunningly brutal as it bathes the ocean in a sea of blood. But even more saddening then the slaughter, is that the meat is filled with such high levels of mercury that it is toxic to eat. Making Japan’s push to have the meat available to school children perhaps even a more heinous act then the killing itself.
The Cove is not an easy film to watch, and even more difficult to not be swayed by its compelling message. But without a doubt it is one of the best documentaries of the year.
Probably because this documentary film is about overfishing. That’s right, yet another documentary film this year telling us how awful we are for eating things. Though to be fair they aren’t angry that we eat animals, but rather how corporations abuse the animals and produce cheap, low quality food that they can net a high profit on. But honestly, I’m pretty damn sick of documentaries that focus on corporate greed. I think they’ve clubbed me over the head enough already with the subject. And releasing this the same week as The Cove? That seems less than bright. Granted I know these are message movies, and the people that rabidly follow these movies are a curious lot, but I can’t see them finishing up one of these movies then turning right around and running across the street to see another version.
All that considered, the one sheet for The End of the Line is flippin’ sweet.
Interest level: Sinking faster then the Titanic
The End of the Line opens at the Lagoon Theatre on July 31st.
Lots of new additions this week, and most of them look incredibly promising. Francis Ford Coppola’s newest film, Tetro, is possibly the most highly anticipated from the group, but The World’s Greatest Dad, Meserine: Part One and Somers Town look incredibly promising as well. Toss in Jerichow and a pair of documentaries, The End of the Line and Afghan Star, and you’ve got a pretty diverse group of films being added to the booking schedule. Hopefully they all stay on there and see a release.
*** – Denotes recommended viewing
All dates subject to change
05/22 Brothers Bloom Uptown
05/22 Gigantic Lagoon
05/22 Every Little Step Edina
05/22 The Girlfriend Experience Lagoon ***
05/29 Rudo Y Cursi Uptown
05/29 The Song of Sparrows Lagoon
05/29 Adoration Edina (NEW DATE)
05/29 Up Lagoon (NEW)
06/05 Revanche Lagoon
06/05 Little Ashes Lagoon (tentative)
06/05 Summer Hours Edina
06/05 Easy Virtue Edina (tentative)
06/12 Away We Go Uptown/Lagoon ***
06/12 Enlighten Up! Lagoon
06/12 Departures Edina
06/19 Food Inc. Uptown
06/19 O’Horten Lagoon
06/26 Cheri Uptown/Edina
06/26 The Country Teacher Lagoon
06/26 The Stoning of Soraya M. Edina
07/03 The Girl From Monaco Uptown/Edina
07/03 Whatever Works Lagoon
07/03 Tetro Edina (NEW)***
07/10 Seraphine Edina (tentative)
07/10 MOON Lagoon (NEW DATE)***
07/10 Jerichow Edina (NEW)
07/17 The Hurt Locker Uptown (tentative)
07/24 500 Days of Summer Uptown/Lagoon
07/24 Betty Blue: The Director’s Cut Lagoon ***
07/31 In the Loop Uptown
07/31 $9.99 Lagoon ***
07/31 Shrink Edina (tentative)
08/07 The Cove Uptown***
08/07 The End of the Line Lagoon (NEW)
08/14 Cold Souls Uptown (tentative) ***
08/14 Not Quite Hollywood Lagoon***
08/14 Adam Lagoon/Edina (tentative)
08/21 Lorna’s Silence Edina
08/28 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg Edina
08/28 The World’s Greatest Dad Lagoon (NEW) ***
08/30 The Bride of Frankenstein Edina (One Night Only) ***
08/30 It Happened One Night Edina (One Night Only) ***
09/04 Mesrine: Part One Uptown/Lagoon (NEW)***
09/04 Afghan Star Lagoon (NEW)
Pretty much every movie related website on the Internet has come up with some sort of Best of the Decade list over the past month. But while the majority of them focused on straight up “Best of” lists featuring relatively well known films, I figured in the spirit of this website that I would instead focus on the lesser known films that have been made over the past ten years.
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