Adam Hartzell's Two Eyes

Since my own two eyes were not nearly enough to see and evaluate all the repertory/revival film screenings here on Frisco Bay, I'm honored to present local filmgoers' lists of the year's favorites. An index of participants is found here.

The following list comes from writer Adam Hartzell, who regularly contributes to sf360, koreanfilm.org, and Hell On Frisco Bay:

10 & 9) DIARY OF A LOST GIRL (G.W. Pabst, 1929, Germany) THE FLYING ACE (Richard E. Norman, 1926, USA) - Silent Film Festival at the Castro Theatre in mid-July
　
Of the four films I saw at 2010’s SF Silent Film Festival, these two are the standouts, particularly THE FLYING ACE due to my interest in portrayals of disability, in which a character played by a single-leg amputee finds a clever use for his crutch when (if I recall correctly) chasing a villain.
　
8) SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE (Park Chan-wook, 2005, South Korea) at VIZ Cinema in early August.
　
VIZ provided us a chance to revisit THIRST and Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy this summer. It was a pleasure to re-visit SYMPATHRY FOR LADY VENGEANCE, more awake this time, since my first viewing was a drowsy one in Toronto. I must ask, though, when will we ever get a chance to see his first two films before JSA?
　
7) BEFORE TOMORROW (Marie-Helene Cousineau and Madeline Piujuq Ivalu, 2009, Canada) at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as part of a curated FASTRUNNER Trilogy of Canadian First Nations films in early April.
　
This was a film where the discussion with Cousineau afterwards added so much to the film. The YBCA film series makes me so happy so often.
　
6 & 5) M. HULOT’S HOLIDAY (Jacques Tati, 1953, France) & TRAFIC (Jacques Tati, 1971, France) at YBCA as part of a Jacques Tati retrospective in late January/early February.
　
Tati is so much fun. And although nothing compares to a 70mm screening of PLAYTIME, these two films didn’t disappoint. Now onward soon to the Tati screenplay animated in THE ILLUSIONIST.
　
4) WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE at the Clay Theatre in mid-March as part of the San Francisco International Asia American Film Festival, a curation of omnibus shorts by Apitchatpong Weerasathakul, Jia Zhang-ke, Tsai Ming-liang, and Hong Sangsoo.
　
Let me sneak this one in here, because film festivals do provide an opportunity for first-run theatres to have a brief flash of repertory-ness. And, come on, Weersathakul, Jia, Tsai, AND Hong!!!??? It’s an Asian all-star omnibus! And possibly my new favorite film by my favorite director, Hong Sangsoo.
　
3 & 2) EARLY SPRING (Ozu Yasujiro, 1956, Japan) & RECORD OF A TENEMENT GENTLEMEN (Ozu Yasujiro, 1947, Japan) at VIZ Cinema as part of a brief Ozu retrospective in mid-June.
　
I will never tire of watching Ozu, so to every SF rep house, feel free to bring his films anytime.
　
1) REFRIGERATOR FETISH: VINTAGE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN FILMS (various ephemeral films) as curated by film archivist Dennis Nyback for a series on Architecture and Design films at YBCA in July and August.
　
Freaking amazing! Underscores how important our film archivists are. The gem of the collection was the sumptuous, dazzling color of the National Film Board of Canada documentary on the making of pencils. Seriously, it’s mesmerizing.