Top Films of 2008

Now that everybody's coming up with their "Best of 2008" list, I figured I might as well come up with my own. You know naman me, gaya gaya.

Let me start my "Top of 2008" list with films.

Any cineaste in Bangkok would find a wide diversity of films shown here year-round. The city has a couple of major world film festivals and a slew of smaller ones from the embassies. Local films, however, have still so much left to be desired, at least to my view.

The films included in the list need not to have been released in 2008, but simply I watched them in 2008 (ditto for my upcoming list of top books and music). And since I'm really the laziest bayot around, I'm keeping this to three movies. Just like in the Miss Universe, there is the title holder and two runners-up.

Ok, without much further talak, shall we start with this list?

Second runner-up: The Savages (2007)

A very intelligent take on sibling rivalry and filial duties, The Savages is not your typical dysfunctional family movie. Such engaging performance from Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

First runner-up: There Will Be Blood (2007)

A gut-wrenching tale of unbridled greed. The movie is both infuriating and captivating, my mouth was agape throughout the whole film.

And the top film of 2008 is...

Up the Yangtze (2007)

This masterpiece of a documentary unflinchingly probes into the lives that are forever altered by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.

On a larger scale however, Up the Yangtze is an effective portrait of the average Chinese as he is carried by the strong currents of modernization. The documentary certainly has an agenda, that of showing the repercussions of "progress", but the way it is told is deeply personal, without being too muddled by the politics of modern China. I pick this as my top film because it is memorable and relevant.