Hello, my name's Justin Klu, and I'm here today with Will Sloan, and you're listening to

The Important Cinema Club, Best of the Year edition.

Boy, I hate this annual episode.

Oh, I love it. I'm chomping at the bit because, you know, Galaxy Brain, look at it.

I don't remember what I picked last year or the year before. So it doesn't really matter. And that's the way to do it. I mean, oftentimes you'll see, you know, film people, cinephiles, movie buffs around the end of the year. They're marathoning stuff. They're getting their, their 20, 24 viewings all in in those last couple weeks of December or even the last couple

weeks of November to try to get their definitive top 10 list, you know, which everybody

cares about.

I did not see one list this year that I'm like, ah, yeah, that's a good list.

And I think it says more about the year for movies.

Let me bring up my blog where I wrote an article about the year in movies. Oh, oh, is that about me? Yes. What I'll say about this annual exercise is I no longer, well, except for today a little bit. Yeah. I no longer marathon like, oh, I got to get it in so I can do my top 10 list. Because let's face it, lists like this are always going to be biased to stuff you just saw. And especially they'll be biased to stuff that's everybody else is already talking about. Yeah. So that's the problem I have with these kind of lists is that I look at them and go, oh, wow, Justin thought this movie was the best. Yeah, you know it's best. It's on everybody's list. You don't need to put it there. You don't need to champion it. These lists are more interesting to do really like 10 years or 20 years later when you can think about what you've had time to realize what movies have resonated with you.

Other movies, you know, start to emerge. Like there's a whole like world of cinema. And these list tend to favor movies that were released by big companies towards the end of the year, you know? I think the argument would be that people just want to be in the moment and they know what's out now. But the problem with us doing this list is a lot of the movies we're going to talk about, it's like, oh, well, I thought it's a film festival or it's not available in North America, which kind of defeats that purpose. Yeah. And also, uh, I prefer living in the past these days. Me too. You know, I like this podcast because we can talk about things that we're interested in. And I remember, oh no, we're switching to an all news format. Will you didn't get the email? Uh, I remember what's going on at Marvel, uh, cinematic universe right now? There was a moment during the pandemic when, do you remember that Judd-Apitao movie, King of Staten Island? Yes. So that was one of those movies that was being released. Like they hadn't quite figured out how to respond to the pandemics. And they were like, well, we're going to release it online for $25, which is the cost of two movie tickets, basically.

So get your loved one, which I'm sure you're with living in this pandemic time. Gather on the couch. And I remember seeing that and thinking, boy, I've seen every Judd-Apatat movie up till now. And now that it's just on a TV competing with the rest of film history, I don't really want to see it anymore. You know what? as someone who actually enjoyed King of Staten Island,

you made the right choice.

Yeah.

Because you're not going to enjoy it. Why would you go see it? And that was a crucial moment in my evolution that made me realize, you know, I think I kind of prefer older movies. I think that was my problem this year too, which is that I had no real interest in keeping up with what was new. So like a lot of friends would say, oh, you know, this movie, I was like, I don't know what it is.

They're like, well, it's playing all the festivals. I'm like, well, I'm not going to those festivals. So I'm not really keeping track. I mean, you have a new child, too. Yes. Oh, but it sleeps, it poops, it pees. I put it on a high shelf.

I'm good.

I don't have to do that much stuff with it.

Cats and the cradle and the sill of a spoon.

But I did see enough movies this year,

especially... I put it on a high shelf. I'm good. I don't have to do that much stuff with it. Cats and the cradle and the

saddle of a spoon. But I did see enough movies this year, especially at festivals that I have a list here of movies that I really liked that I think I stand by and that I think I will continue to like as the years go by. All right. Let's get the first one out of the way.

...