Top Movies of the Decade (already?)

Hello world. Again.

After years of staying dormant, The Wong Thinking is now active.

Last Friday, the Toronto Star posted an article about the Top 10 movies of the decade, rated not by their box office report card, but by their importance and influence. In the order of the year of release, here is the list.

• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
• In the Mood for Love (2000)
• Memento (2000)
• Donnie Darko (2001)
• Y tu mamá también (2001)
• The Passion of the Christ (2004)
• Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
• A History of Violence (2005)
• Borat (2006)
• The Dark Knight (2008)

I agreed with may be a few of them, disagreed with most, and puzzled by a few.

Crouching Tiger was a master piece which left me with powerful and stunning imagery. Memento was a challenge to viewers' perception of time. Dark Knight offered a rare perspective of Joker's psyche.

But Borat? Really? If I couldn't stand the movie for more than 15 minutes, how on earth would I be able to "appreciate" its deeper meanings? While A History of Violence was a decent movie, the story seemed so linear and anti-climatic that it discouraged repeated viewing.

On the other hand, Donnie Darko was an interesting choice. It was one of the most eerie and unsettling movies I have ever seen. It didn't use the usual cinematic gimmicks, exaggerating camera movements, or overwhelming special effects to attract/distract the audience. Instead, it weaved a story with strong human emotions using a quietly disturbing premises as the background. That, and Frank, a giant 6 feet fall bunny, captured my attention.

The movie did leave me with a good impression, but I must admitted that I did not fully grasp the message that the director was trying to convey. It puzzled me to learn that it was named one of the top 10 movies of this decade. The puzzlement (or was it pride) urged me to revisit Donnie Darko.

So I spent the weekend looking for the Blu-ray version of the movie (any reason for me to get a BD version of a movie that I have already owned was good for me), which I found at BestBuy for $14.99 (what a steal) and enjoyed the thrilling vision of the young Richard Kelly (the same person who directed the soon-to-be-released movie, The Box) during the not-so-quiet Sunday evening. At the end, I was reminded why this movie totally bombed at the box office (according to Wikipedia, it grossed US $4.1 million worldwide, US $400k short of its budget) but thrived as a cult movie - the story line was so utterly bizzard *and* complex that it escaped most movie-goers and critics. With every viewing I understand the movie a bit better - the concept of time travel, each character's role in the unraveling of the event that follows, the deep emotional bonds that bounded those characters, and their intertwined fate before and after the event. In turn, I appreciate the movie a bit more.

Can't wait to watch it for the 4th time. Hmm, may be during the Christmas holidays? Or is that too soon?