The 34th Best Actress of All-Time: Maggie Cheung
best film: In the Mood For Love is a colossal achievement for Cheung, Tony Leung and of course, WKW. I think Days of Being Wild is clearly her second best film but it can’t touch
The 35th Best Actress of All-Time: Sigourney Weaver
best film: Alien (1979 from Ridley Scott) is the best film in the series Weaver is most associated with but it’s not a landslide- Aliens is right there and, along with another Weaver film, Avatar,
The 36th Best Actress of All-Time: Kate Winslet
best film: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It reigns over Titanic by a decent margin here for the best film of Winslet’s career. Michel Gondry directs Charlie Kaufman’s wild dream world. I love all
The 37th Best Actress of All-Time: Janet Gaynor
best film: Sunrise is a giant masterpiece and amongst the greatest films of all-time. It’s Murnau’s best and the best silent film. It’s a director’s medium so Murnau’s triumph is greater than Gaynor’s but the
The 38th Best Actress of All-Time: Nicole Kidman
best film: Eyes Wide Shut. I could easily go with Moulin Rouge and may very well just do that the next time I revisit them both. They’re both masterpieces and feature strong performances from Kidman
The 39th Best Actress of All-Time: Julie Delpy
best film: Before Sunset is the peak of Linklater’s “Before” trilogy and, frankly, Linklater’s oeuvre. Broken Flowers is also a strong candidate for Delpy’s best just pure film but she’s a minor character in that
The Honeymoon Killers – 1970 Kastle
The one and only film from opera director Leonard Kastle He famously hated Bonnie and Clyde for being so glamorous and beautiful so this is his answer- “real” people and a 1970 doc-like stark black
A Hen in the Wind – 1948 Ozu
A superior formal work—poetic and beautiful Post-WW2 of course with his cohorts Sakamoto in Ryu in support but it’s really a simple story of Kinuyo Tanaka (superb) who has to prostitute herself to pay for
The 40th Best Actress of All-Time: Holly Hunter
best film: The Piano is a masterpiece, Jane Campion’s best film, and I constantly go back and forth with Schindler's List as to which one is the best film of 1993. So, needless to say
The 41st Best Actress of All-Time: Uma Thurman
best film: Pulp Fiction. It’s a seminal film in the 100+ year history of narrative cinema and a fine choice to have as the best film for any actress. Her other collaboration with Tarantino, Kill
Ocean’s Thirteen – 2007 Soderbergh
It’s a minor revelation for me- first time seeing it since theater in 2007 when I liked it as an entertaining movie, but was largely oblivious to Soderbergh’s clear mise-en-scene brilliance on display-- it's an art
Record of a Tenement Gentleman – 1947 Ozu
It’s a blending of Ozu’s brilliant style and a bit of post WWII neo-realism—truly works Ryu and Sakamoto in support here but Chôko Iida is superb in the lead performance—full arc, gruff and indifferent at