Top 08 for '07: A Cinematic Homage.

You've been waiting and waiting for this day: The New Year's come and gone, the Oscars are over. "Will Wes ever publish his picks for the best in filmmaking in 2007?" Your sleepless nights are over, my friends—that is, unless you spend the next week catching up on the films you missed.

I feel it is my duty to relay the best in film to any and all who care. Film is—or ought to be—the great human experience, for they epitomize of that most ancient of art forms: Storytelling. Films inspire, films unite, films provoke, films evoke—they take us away from it all, while putting us in the middle of it all. I love cinema.

What I am really saying: I believe you should see this films. I believe they will affect you, change you; I believe—if you let them—they will make you better in some real way.

I will leave small comments with each, in case you're interested.

This year they ARE in order, least favorite to most favorite—but ALL are favorites:

8. JUNO. No comments needed. You've all seen it. Great film.


7. THE ASSASSINATION...Very long title. Very long film. Wonderful. Psychological and powerfully non-verbal. A truly mythical man and his enigmatic killer brought to life.


6. ROCKET SCIENCE. You never heard of it. But it was better than Juno for me. Teenage angst fully captured in the story of a young man with a debilitating speech impediment who ends up on the school debate team. Classic.

5. THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS. The best documentary I've seen in years. Proof that Truth is Stranger, Funnier and Quirkier than Fiction. You MUST see this film, and it's very PG, excepting the extreme nerdiness of some of the characters---which may not be suitable for aspiring cool people.


4. THE DARJEELING LIMITED. Wes Anderson is Brilliant. He doesn't care if you think so—he knows so. While it's not as wonderfully original as The Royal Tenenbaums, it was and is still a handsome addition to his growing legacy.


3. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Be sure to use the bathroom prior to viewing this film, for it will frighten the living you-know-what out of you. But beyond that is a fascinating story told as well visually as it is verbally. Tommy Lee Jones is GENIUS, and Javier Bardem takes on the scariest role of this new millennium.


2. THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY. Ah, the French. This is classic French storytelling: Full of witty, First-Person narration. It's the story of a man who suffers a stroke, his struggle to communicate with only the ability to blink one eye, and his enormous accomplishment in writing a novel: one letter, one blink at a time. It is very, very touching. This film is also my favorite for cinematography, because Janusz Kaminski is pure brilliance.


1. INTO THE WILD. My favorite film of the year. It's based on a true story of a young man who abandons everything—and I do mean everything—for an Alaskan adventure, and self-discovery. I think identify most with this film. It is a beautiful tragedy. I won't say more, other than you would do yourself a great favor to see it. It's about appreciating life at its most elemental level.

I love this film.

So get yer asses off the couch, pick up these films, then plant 'em back down. Take a journey with me, though the many miles part us, through these wonderful collaborations: These 'Flickers,' These 'Talkies.'

wesman.