Sunday, December 31, 2023

Senses of Cinema World Poll 2023: my favourites


Donata Wenders: Komorebi Dreams. Her dream sequences appear in Wim Wenders: Perfect Days (2023). Wenders was at his best this year. From: Tokyo Art Beat, 22 Dec, 2023. 

Antti Alanen
Senses of Cinema World Poll 2023
In viewing order. Seen in the cinema unless otherwise noted.

I  NEW
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Laura Poitras, 2022)
The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg, 2022)
Walad min al janna / Conspiracy in Cairo / Boy from Heaven (Tarik Saleh, 2022)
Asteroid City (Wes Anderson, 2023)
Armageddon Time (James Gray, 2022) Sodankylä
Tori et Lokita / Tori and Lokita (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, 2022) Sodankylä
Saint Omer (Alice Diop, 2022) Sodankylä
Kievski protses / The Kiev Trial (Sergei Loznitsa, 2022) Sodankylä
Monica in the South Seas (Sami van Ingen, Mika Taanila, 2023) Sodankylä
Universumin kaiut - Kaija Saariahon musiikki / Echoes of the Universe - The Music of Kaija Saariaho (Riitta Rask, 2023) Sodankylä - audio only outside the sold out cinema screening
Kuolleet lehdet / Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurismäki, 2023) Sodankylä
Barbie (Greta Gerwig, 2023) Barbenheimer day 21 July 2023
Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, 2023) Barbenheimer day 21 July 2023 - film of the year
Anselm - Das Rauschen der Zeit / Anselm (Wim Wenders, 2023) Telluride
The Holdovers (Alexander Payne, 2023) Telluride
The Pigeon Tunnel (Errol Morris, 2023) Telluride
Perfect Days (Wim Wenders, 2023) Telluride
Past Lives (Celine Song, 2023) Love & Anarchy
20 dniv u Mariupoli / 20 Days in Mariupol (Mstyslav Chernov, 2023) Ukrainian Film Days
Banat Olfa / Les Filles d'Olfa / Four Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania, 2023) Love & Anarchy Campaign
Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese, 2023)
Drive My Car (Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2021) Yle Areena online
Kimitachi wa do ikiruka / The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki, 2023)
Neljä pientä aikuista / Four Little Adults (Selma Vilhunen, 2023)
Valoa valoa valoa / Light, Light, Light (Inari Niemi, 2023)

II  STUDENT FILMS: AALTO ELO FILM SCHOOL 2023
The Hotel Room suite of eight films: ASAP, Doggystyle, Wrist Shot, Hookup, Lollipop, The Piston, Satisfyer, and Glance (by Reeta Annala, Hannu-Pekka Peltomaa, Veera Lamminpää, Josefina Rautiainen, Gyöngyi Fazekas, 2023) total 68 min also edited to a short resume Huone 409 - siivottu sinua varten / 409 - Please Make Up My Room, but the full cycle is definitive for me

III  GOLDEN OLDIES
Sois belle et tais-toi ! / Be Pretty and Shut Up (Delphine Seyrig, 1981) 2023 re-release, seen at Luminor Hôtel de Ville Paris
Danza macabra / Danse macabre (Antonio Margheriti, 1963) 2022 Lyre restoration, Toute la mémoire du monde
Istoriya grazhdanskoi voiny / History of the Civil War (Dziga Vertov, 1921) 2021 restoration Nikolai Izvolov, Toute la mémoire du monde
Mary Sweeney Morning Discussion, 17 June 2023 Sodankylä, hosted by Otto Kylmälä
Twin Peaks S2.E7 Lonely Souls (David Lynch, 1990) in the presence of Mary Sweeney, Sodankylä
Yam daabo / The Choice (Idrissa Ouédraogo, 1986) 2022 restoration, Bologna
Ceddo / The Outsiders (Ousmane Sembène, 1977) 2023 restoration, Bologna
Amok (Fedor Ozep, 1934) 2023 restoration, Bologna
Al-makhdu'un / The Dupes (Tewfik Saleh, 1972) 2023 restoration, Bologna
Gharibeh va meh / The Stranger and the Fog (Bahram Beyzaie, 1974) 2023 restoration, Bologna
Cherike-ye Tara / The Ballad of Tara (Bahram Beyzaie, 1979) 2022 restoration, Bologna
Macario (Roberto Gavaldón, 1960) 2023 restoration, Bologna
The Straight Story (David Lynch 1999) 2023 restoration, Bologna
Man Ray: Return to Reason. The 2023 restoration of Le Retour à la raison (1923), Emak Bakia (1926), L'Étoile de la mer (1928) and Les Mystères du château de Dé (1929). Love & Anarchy screener
Laurel & Hardy Year One: The Newly Restored 1927 Silents (Flicker Alley 2023) blu-ray
Rêves de clowns (René Hervouin, Blanche Vigier de Maisonneuve, 1924) Pordenone
Pierre Loti (early cinema compilation 1897-1923 by Elif Rongen Kaynakçi, 2023) Pordenone
Merry-Go-Round (Rupert Julian, [Erich von Stroheim], 1923) 2023 restoration, Pordenone
Amazonas, Maior Rio do Mundo (Silvino Simões dos Santos Silva, 1918) 2023 identification, Pordenone
Pêcheur d'Islande / The Iceland Fisherman (Jacques de Baroncelli, 1924) Pordenone
Die Strasse / The Street (Karl Grune, 1923) 2023 restoration, Pordenone
Hindle Wakes (Maurice Elvey, 1927) Pordenone 
Der Berg des Schicksals / The Peak of Fate (Arnold Fanck, 1924) 2022 restoration, Pordenone 

IV 
The film year 2023 was better than 2022. Big films got bigger, others suffered. Film industry and film culture are in an existential crisis. Although big films were successful, there are not enough of them. Most streaming services suffered also. There was a revival of home formats such as blu-ray, in reaction to the dearth of quality on streamers. Film festivals thrived. After the pandemic, people enjoy the common experience of cinema-going.

My life changed. In May I established an office of my own and started my independent working life as a historian, critic and teacher, also continuing as a member of the board of the Finnish Film Foundation (major funder of Finnish film production, distribution and exhibition). I am now also a FIAF Supporter.

The topic of the year was generative IT, such as ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer), based on a large language model. Machine learning and data mining are transformative, indeed, and for their champions they change everything while for critics, they are a big bubble. A wise friend of mine finds both claims correct. In 1941-1954, the term "AI" ("artificial intelligence") was launched (first called "machine intelligence" by Alan Turing), but I avoid it. For me, intelligence, or at least intellect, is a defining feature of the human being, and probably to an unknown degree of animals. In the core is logos, a combination of consciousness, language and intention. In 1950, Alan Turing launched the concept "the imitation game". The Turing test is about a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour indistinguishable from that of a human. My conviction is that the machine will never pass the Turing test. In 1966, Joseph Weizenbaum built the first chatbot, and early enthusiasts thought that soon we will not distinguish the man from the machine. But Weizenbaum thought different, because in communication, we never fully know the other. More profoundly, we never fully know ourselves. We are secrets to each other and ourselves. Communication is always a journey to the infinities of the partners in dialogue. In the machine, there is imitation but no infinity. The imitation is based on pre-existing material. No true creativity can take place. Just an imitation game.

The world is burning because of the climate change and the warmongers. Grave injustice is being committed to young generations. But I keep being an optimist on all counts. "Peace is a question of will. All conflicts can be settled, and there are no excuses for allowing them to become eternal. " Martti Ahtisaari (1937-2023) Nobel Lecture 2008

Antti Alanen
Film historian, critic, teacher
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