I’ve been watching Michael Phillips & Tony Scott enumerate “the best of the decade” every week on AT THE MOVIES, patiently waiting (OK, not so patiently waiting) to see if either of them would include a woman filmmaker on his list. Yesterday I got at least half the answer: no chance Tony Scott will find any women worthy enough for his list. Worse than that, in yesterday’s New York Times Sunday Magazine piece he not only had no space to discuss any women directors (barely deigning to include Claire Denis in a longer list of “outside Hollywood” guys of interest), he actually ended his 2K+ piece as follows: “Movies seem to be, increasingly, for and about men and (mostly male) kids, with adult women in the marginal roles of wives and mothers, there to be avenged, resented or run to when things get too scary.” Well, how to begin a reply??? For now, let’s just say that although we see many of the same films (something I know for a fact because I know what he’s reviewed since arriving at the NYT ~ 10 years ago), we clearly value them differently. If I ruled the world, here are some of the films I would consider among the best of the decade to date: ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, BROTHERS, THE COMPANY, FRIDA, FROZEN RIVER, THE HURT LOCKER, LOOK BOTH WAYS, THE NAMESAKE, THE PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE OHIO, SHUT UP & SING, TALK TO ME, and TROUBLE THE WATER, You can find out more about these films (& many, many more wonderful films by women filmmakers) in the TWOZIES section of my website (where hubby Rich & I post our annual Ten Best lists). For more thoughts on Scott’s list, see the always astute Melissa Silverstein. Meanwhile, I need some recovery time to gather my thoughts because reading Scott’s article again just refried my brain L
