BAMcinématek's Best of 2013

As at most film institutions, the tradition of the best-of-the-year list is alive and well at BAMcinématek, and this year we have a whole lot to celebrate. Our version of every cinephile's favorite parlor game does away with the usual listological parameters, so below you'll find us expressing a loose, free-floating love for the moving image with shout-outs to everything from repertory favorites and new releases to GIFs, TV, and Beyoncé's visual album. Enjoy!

Gabriele Caroti, Director

1. Model Shop, Jacques Demy (Film Forum). I only rent convertibles—sorry, cabriolets—when I visit LA, and this movie is precisely why.
2. Saxondale. I can’t believe I went eight years without watching this and I am thankful that this was the year. Steve Coogan plays an ex-70s arena rock roadie that runs a small pest control operation in an mid-size English town. He also goes to an anger management group and drives a muscle car. A TV show that aired for two seasons—and a mere 12 episodes.
3. Without You I’m Nothing, John Boskovich (BAMcinématek). Sandra Bernhard’s one-woman show put on film in 1989—hilarious, moving, complex, difficult, probing, weird, of its time (yet timeless!), and most of all, badass.
4. Computer Chess, Andrew Bujalski (BAMcinemaFest). I know everyone talks about the cinematography, but whoever production- designed this should get a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy.
5. We Are The Best, Lukas Moodysson. 12-year-old pro riot grrrls in Sweden. Need I say more?
6. Frances Ha, Noah Baumbach. I resisted seeing this film for whatever reason and it really struck a chord with me when I did. I think it was a G diminished 7th.
7. Robert Palmer’s “Looking For Clues” video. Just watch it straight through and try to argue that 80s designer drugs didn’t go into making this—seriously. Also, this aired on MTV’s first day of broadcasting.


8. Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling, Richard Pryor (BAMcinématek). The most self-lacerating and frank autobiopic I’ve ever seen (and the only film Richard Pryor directed).
9. The Night of the Following Day, Hubert Cornfield (92 Y Tribeca). The title sequence is outta sight—and the movie ain’t so bad either. Why this film is not more well known is… understandable, actually. Thank you, Nic ‘n’ Nick.
10. The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer. I wanted to take a 10-day-long shower after seeing this. And this is coming from someone who takes long showers!

***

Andrew Chan, Marketing Coordinator

1. Before Midnight, Richard Linklater. Makes most films about the trials of long-term grown-up relationships from the past decade or so (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Blue Valentine) look like child's play. It's hard to think of another contemporary romance that balances the equally legitimate desires, resentments, and anxieties of its characters with as much grace and lightness of tone. And I love the perversity of setting a film against a gorgeous Greek backdrop, then holing it up for its climactic 20 minutes in a drab hotel room.
2. Museum Hours, Jem Cohen. With the influence of John Berger and Bruegel among its guiding lights, this little masterpiece is an uncommonly sensitive act of observation that finds an unlikely intersection between melodrama, art criticism, and travelogue. Cohen's richly textured mix of DV and 16mm deserves to be seen on the big screen.
3. Stray Dogs, Tsai Ming-liang. This movie haunts my dreams. While most fans are enraptured by the agonizingly long final shot, my personal favorite occurs near the beginning of the film and features Lee Kang-sheng clutching a real-estate advertisement at a traffic median in the middle of a rainstorm, bitterly singing in classical Chinese as his nose drips with snot. Heavy, heady stuff, Stray Dogs is Tsai's most intensely moving work since What Time Is It There? more than a decade ago.