End of the Decade: Alien Nation
Notes on unseen masterpieces, great performances, and movies as a form of solitary confinement
I hope, early in 2010, on the IFC network, you will watch the trilogy of English films with the collective title Red Riding. These come from novels by David Peace, and they are the story of a serial killer and the serial brutality of the local police. It is as good as anything I saw in the 2000s, and the trilogy includes some remarkable acting.
If you can find it, see Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky, another trilogy of films about the same characters (all from books by Patrick Hamilton), directed by Simon Curtis, one of the best new directors around. These stories are set in the ’30s and they use a color scheme that often seems black-and-white — have you noticed this happening with color movies?
What rates for me as the movie of the decade? Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher, with Isabelle Huppert, from the Elfriede Jelinek novel. Impossible to be comfortable with it, but impossible to forget it. Yes, I know, cinema is dying (for the second or third time), but these great experiences do not stop. So recently, our movies were great public parties, and now they are like the gestures of a resistance movement — for America is occupied by aliens.
Now Showing
Find capsule reviews, showtimes & tickets for all films in town.
Join My Voice Nation for free stuff, film info & more!
Now Trending
Movie Trailers
-
Voice Places
Find everything you're looking for in your city
-
Happy Hour App
Find the best happy hour deals in your city
-
Daily Deals
Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%
-
Best Of...
Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city
- Profile
- Newsletters
- Mobile
- Logout
-
Publishing:
ONOFF
