For its 10th birthday, Midnight Eye has picked the best japanese films of the past decade. Something is strange though, it ignores the world of anime series. Of course, few animated films are listed, so why not going further? There’s nobody to blame here. Just, why this difference still exists in 2010?
Some directors are going back and forth between cinema and animation, Masaaki Yuasa or Hideaki Anno are the first to come in mind.
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Who cares? I dont need experts to tell me what I need to watch to be cool. You dont like anime «becuz its 4 kidz», go fuck a duck then. Who cares?
Ten years ago moviegoers thought TV shows were worthless. Who’s laughing now? Different place, same problem. You can blame the lack of curiosity among film fans, experts, scholars..
Am I the only one liking “Linda Linda Linda” so much?
Midnight Eye has always been a joke.
What’s with all the negativity? Midnight Eye has done a lot to bring international attention to important innovators in Japanese cinema and animation. I personally enjoy reading these kind of lists because it tells me more about reviewers I enjoy reading. One shouldn’t take them too seriously. They just reflect the viewing tastes of the listmakers in the moment of writing not as some kind of filmic canon.
p.s. I liked Linda, Linda, Linda, but may be one of the few people who liked A Gentle Breeze in the Village (Tennen Kokekko) even better.
Not the only ones liking Linda 3 so much. It’s a wonderful film, even if not as funny as Yamashita’s earlier films.
Pretty good lists at Midnight Eye. Many of my personal favourites (United Red Army, It’s Only Talk, Love Exposure…) are included on multiple lists, plus several other great films (Air Doll, Tokyo Sonata ), stuff that has been on my shopping list for ages (Moon and Cherry, Canary), and dvds that are sitting in my shelf waiting for viewing (The Hanging Garden, Adrift in Tokyo).
Midnight Eye is certainly the best JP cinema publication out there… the only one writing about films and topics that aren’t entirely boring.
Opinion’s about films are a different matter, of course. I’ve never given any value to what other people think about a film’s quality, good or bad. But that doesn’t take out my enjoyment of reading lists, commenting them, and making my own.
@Cathy: I also really liked “A Gentle Breeze in the Village” though I’m not finding it superior to “Linda Linda Linda”.
The lack of consideration for animation appears even stranger when you know that some ME’s reviewers are writing about the “diverse aspects of manga and anime in their purality” (see this book).
Via FB
On their list there’s 41 films and 5 animations. I don’t see any point in cheating for the sake of common good, and adding more animations to the list even though you didn’t really care for them. Personal taste, that’s all.
If I made a top 10 list there wouldn’t be a single animation there. Top 30 might have 2 or 3. The number is not low because I have anything againts anime, but because because
a) I prefer live action over anime
b) I haven’t had time to watch half of the interesting live action, let alone the interesting animations. Can’t list what I haven’t seen. Nor can they.
Besides, not including animations on a top list does not suggest one doesn’t like the genre. For example I’m a huge fan of Japanese 70′s action movies, such as pinky violence, but very few of these films ever made to my top lists. The genre just happens to be full of 4 star films, rather than 5 star masterpieces.
It’s not about Midnight Eye. It’s the same for any other japanese film publications/mags/blogs/… (WG included). That’s just too bad to neglect animation (films+series), especially nowadays when:
- unlike films, any westerners can watch them (simulcast, fansubs, torrent);
- it has become one of the most interesting thing produced in Japan;
- it offers some amazing cinematic experiences (absurd, isn’t it?);
- is part of the japanese popular culture;
…
So when we talk about these last 10 years/the future, I don’t understand how animation can be that ignored. And I guess I’m not the only thinking this (lurkers are shy).
J’ai trouvé la trilogie des Battle Royal assez médiocre ainsi que celle des Dead or Alive. Avalon je n’ai pas compris le but ni la porté de ce film, je crois être tous simplement passé à côté. Par contre la B.O est superbe.
Audtion m’avais bien plus. Mais je suis plus sûr d’aimer le style de Miike aujourd’hui, il est toujours dans cette outrance un peu comme tarantino. Dommage.
Je suis par contre surpris de pas trouver “Departures” de Yojiro Takita . Film d’une grande beauté, un esthétisme à couper le souffle et surtout qui a été oscarisé. Ce film est beau et grand.
Ce classement est étrange. Aucun film d’animation ainsi que de film de Kitano.
Si il y a Zatoichi de présent. Mea culpa.